Lord Reiseng's Rambles

Anonymous asked: I'd thought someone would ask that for you, or maybe someone asked and you didn't answer, so still I'll try. How did you feel about Sakura character after these 2 chapter? I mean, it's not even an anti-SS complaint, it's how it happened. I think the way it happened was really bad for her character and I'm seeing a lot of people complain. You think she should accept him like that?

gabzilla-z:

This is gonna be long and a lot of people are not gonna like it, but I’m tired,

I love Sakura. I wish Kishimoto treated her better. I wish her (and Kakashi) had a bigger role in Sasuke’s redemption. I wish she got her own arc outside Team 7. I wish Sasuke was redeemed 3 arcs ago so it wouldn’t look so rushed. I wish Kishimoto hadn’t wasted chapters and chapters on stuff that didn’t really mattered. I could go on for weeks.

But I also have to accept she’s his character, not mine.

In the world of Naruto, forgiveness is a weird thing, it does not work the same way it does in real life. Kishimoto seems to believe that the worst thing you can do is breaking or giving up on your bonds. 

The fans, of course, don’t have to agree with this. A lot can be said about how good or bad his execution is. But I have noticed a lot of people are very selective when it comes to judging relationships in this manga.

Let’s make a short list of people that have done pretty fucked up things and were forgiven by those they hurt:

- Neji: Physically and mentally beat Hinata. He almost killed her. He beat her up so bad her heart was still weak weeks after. I don’t remember if he ever apologized onscreen. She forgave him and they were cool with each other.

- Gaara: threatened his siblings to the point they were terrified of him. They forgave him. He destroyed Rock Lee’s leg and almost killed him in his sleep. Forgiven.

- Sasuke: Ran his arm through Naruto’s body. Threatened him plenty of times. The Sasuke situation put him under such emotional stress he hyperventilated and fainted when confronted with the possibility that he couldn’t be redeemed. Naruto lost his arm because of him. Forgiven.

- Itachi: Killed his whole family and then mentally tortured his brother, traumatizing him for life. Then he mentally tortures him again, years later, when Sasuke was starting to heal with the help of Team 7. Joined the Akatsuki, an organization responsible for killing a lot of people. Forgiven.

- Obito: Probably one of the worst contenders. Responsible for half the bad things in this manga. Strangled Konan. Is responsible for every death in the Kyuubi attack, including Naruto’s parents. Not only is he forgiven, he gets to meet his crush in the afterlife, who receives him with open arms.

So why is Sakura singled out? Why is her character thrown into a trashcan because she decides to forgive the person that hurt her? Is it because she’s a girl? Is it because she’s in love with the person she forgives? Is it a bit of both? If you can accept that all the people above were forgiven but you can’t accept Sakura forgiving Sasuke, ask yourself: why is that?