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cthebigb · 7 months ago

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This was the first thing I read to my wife. I just wanted to know if Kishi supported trans people and ended up here....

hi, so i’ve wondered what you think about kishimoto and his take on women. do you think he doesn’t know how to write strong, independent women? and how do you think did the fact it’s a shounen influence him on writing women? are there any women in naruto who had potential but were ignored due to the very fact they’re women? and what female characters do you personally wish you saw more about? love your blog!!

Okay.... I think people who follow my blog almost consider me to be the 'Defender of Kishimoto'.... And that's why I am receiving Asks based on his Misogyny or Treatment of Women.

KISHIMOTO & HIS “SO-CALLED” MISOGYNY - MY TAKE

Can I simply say "Yes, Despite me being an Independent Tomboyish Girl who always picked fight with Misogynistic Boys on a Regular basis, I liked Kishimoto's work and I am completely satisfied with Naruto, the Series without any resentment" ???....

That’s because I never approach any media by wearing GENDER LENS OR SEXUALITY LENS..... I don’t desperately look for any female characters to get inspiration or motivation from.... If I like a Character... I will love them and get inspired from them.. I don’t care what’s between the ‘said’ Character’s legs. It’s Simple. I got motivated by few male characters in this series and they DEFINITELY CHANGED ME IN GOOD WAYS.

This doesn’t mean I am slandering everyone who looks for female representation in any media. It’s just that this Series never hinted at anytime that this was going to be about Girls kicking Ass or something. So, it’s pointless to expect something from nothing and criticizing the Author for it.

But I just couldn’t understand one thing from SNS Fandom, especially. We all scream to other shippers that “Remove your Hetero Normative Lens to understand SNS”..... Yes, I whole-heartedly agree... Which means, we all acknowledge the fact that we are supporting a ship where 2 Boys Love each other and we want people to remove their Hetero Lens. Fine. Agreed.

But why expect 50-50 representation for Women in a Gay Media??? I seriously don’t understand this logic. AT ALL.... Which Gay media had a strong women portrayal???? Why are we still wearing our Gender Lens and criticize something pointless???? Male Characters are also Humans, you know...

You may now ask “Why can’t a Gay media have strong and independent women Characters?”

Ummm... It’s very similar to asking a Gay Boy, “Why can’t you like a Girl?”

And this is not a Joke.... If you have some time, you can visit [this link]... It’s a list of Highly Rated Yaoi Novels from China with respective links to the Novels which is translated in English. Among the top 20 novels in that list, I’ve so far read 4.... All 4 of them were written by Women... And one of the Writer actually became insanely rich because her Novels were adapted into Anime, Live Action, Manga, Merchandise, International Broadcast and what not....

In all those 4 novels I’ve read so far, I’ve never found a single women Character to have made an impact to the story in a big way and to be honest I don’t even remember most of their names except for 1 or 2... And the joke is that they were all written by Women. So, Can we call all those Women writers to be misogynistic???

There is pattern for Women Characters in those BL novels.... A Girl who lust for the body of a Main Character... Her purpose is to show the readers how Handsome he is...

Handsome Main Character who rejects girls like some annoying pest because he only has eyes on the other Main Character...

A Girl who is there to create some stupid Love Triangle between 2 Main Characters... [[Usually Chinese women readers hates these girls... And begs the author to kill this Character because they don’t want anyone to come between their OTP]]...

Don’t you think all these patterns conform to Naruto Manga as well????

I wonder if only Naruto loved Hinata & Sasuke loved Sakura passionately.... Will this claim that “Kishimoto being Sexist” arise????

I don’t think so.

My Point is, we, SNS fans know the nature of the relationship between the main characters and yet why are we expecting A Strong, Independent Women Characters from this piece of Media???? Have we ever found any importance for Sakura in those SNS fanfictions???? Fic Writers change her into somewhat pleasant girl with no Assholery and THAT’S ALL.... She won’t be playing any important role in any of those fictions... Because it’s all about how N and S love each other and their struggles.... No body gives 2 fucks about how Sakura kicks Ass in SNS Fictions. Kishimoto also employed the same logic.

If Fanfic writers treats Sakura into a Marriage broker for SNS, then that’s fine... But if Kishimoto does the same in his Manga but in a despicable way, then it is called Misogyny, eh???? I find this claim to be Extremely hypocritical.

Anyways, Let me tell you what attributes I want from a Woman Character to consider her as strong....

A Woman Who

Can make her own life choices without having to be subservient under any Man

Fight for the same respect as a Man....

Has her own dreams to pursue...

Has the Ability to be intelligent and diplomatic rather than acting foolish before Boys in order to attract them... (Eeeshh.... I just hate them)

Has the Ability to hold a Leadership position

Can be Kind and Empathetic or can be a vile bitch who could screw up other people by making clever plans..... I don’t care which side she falls into.... All I need is a personality with a strong Conviction...

Possess strong Emotional Strength

Has the Ability to endure severe harsh life circumstances because women are damn fucking strong enough to endure a lot......

Has weakness and how she overcomes it...

And there are many more which I possibly can’t list here... But all these attributes are applicable to Married, Unmarried, Housewives and Working women too....

If I find three or four of these attributes in any Women Characters.... Then I consider her as Strong.

Now just look at these basic Attributes, I repeat Basic.... A Complex woman Character has even more attributes to portray but I think this is enough considering Shonen... and see how many points Tsunade, Kushina, Konan checks as compared to Sakura & Hinata... [[Konoha is where the story revolves around and Tsunade is a fucking Hokage for God’s Sake!!!!]]

i’ve wondered what you think about kishimoto and his take on women. do you think he doesn’t know how to write strong, independent women?

Many girls in this fandom don’t even know What is mean by an Independent and Strong Women and start to write some stupid post that Kishimoto is a Misogynist....

Because Majority of Girls in this fandom believes.... Punching Stuffs and Bossing around subservient men is a measure of Strength... They don’t care about her emotional development and all they care about is her physical strength which is not needed at all, you know. What they want is a Mary Fucking Sue....

If Kishimoto can able to write Tsunade.... Can’t he give the same tropes for his ‘supposed’ Main Female Character????

He can.

But he simply chose not to.

And Here’s the thing.... If Someone is not a Feminist Icon..... It doesn’t mean they are sexist or misogynist... There is something called INBETWEEN...

I consider Kishimoto to be INBETWEEN..... or maybe by the end of this post.... You might be have a differing opinion.....

But before that let me answer your Questions....

What female characters do you personally wish you saw more about?

Konan and Tsunade.

Konan had a wonderful fight with Obito... But her name was never mentioned again.... Naruto could’ve referenced her & Nagato in Chapter 700 and give a closure for Amegakure... But it was abandoned entirely....

Tsunade... I wish I could see her even more.... Can’t specifically say where... But I loved her.

Are there any women in Naruto who had potential but were ignored due to the very fact they’re women?

For sure, I won’t be saying Sakura’s and Hinata’s name here..... He would never make them into anything other than some despicable dolls... That’s a given.

But Why nobody was talking about Choji, Neji, Kiba, Lee who had no development since forever????

Neji was in Kazekage retrieval Arc.... And.... That’s all... He died as a Love Broker...

Choji... He got his Butterfly wings when fighting with Edo Tensei Asuma... And that’s all.... I don’t remember him doing anything since Sasuke retrieval Arc...in Part 1...Same with Kiba and Lee....

So, Male characters also had potential but were ignored mercilessly... So... If Kishimoto was a Misogynist... Then those fake feminists are called Misandrist.... Because they don’t care about any male characters and they are okay with them being ignored.

how do you think did the fact it’s a shounen influence him on writing women?

I haven’t watched any other Shounen other than Naruto (Currently watching JJK)... So, I couldn’t comment on this.

But I am sure about one thing....

Kishimoto wants his Heroine to be Strong. Even stronger than his Hero. I had this feeling when I was re-watching Naruto.... And I became 100% sure after reading his other One-Shot Manga named Mario.... [Link]

Let’s see....

This is a quote from Naruto’s Official Data Book named Meigenshu Kizuna ‘Bonds’ where Kishi explains about Sasuke.

“Since Naruto is to be considered the “hero”, from the beginning he’s receiving growing popularity as the protagonist, while Sasuke; who is usually being chased by numerous characters (in a romantic sense), even if he’s a guy, roughly speaking, Sasuke has the heroine status in this story.”

[[Am not bring this NaruSasu/SasuNaru thing in this post... Am just pointing what Kishi said about Sasuke]]

With all this being said....

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE WITH A SPECIFIC LOOK

I can’t find any difference other than the hair style.... Can you able to????

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE TO FIGHT HIS HERO BACK

Even today people are crying that, “Kishimoto is a Misogynist because he made Sakura into a Doormat for Sasuke.... He probably wants his woman to be like Sakura...”

But this comparison proves otherwise....

Saori is just someone who will shoot your Brains if you touch her... And here, Saori is not a Doormat to Mario.... She is just like Sasuke. I wonder, How come Kishimoto can be a Misogynist in one Manga whereas he becomes a Normal person in his other Manga???? Is this some split-personality disorder????

Well... Both pairs starts their ‘thing’ with Hate!!!!

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE TO BE STRONGER THAN HIS HERO

LOL.... No explanation need, eh???

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE TO SNEAK ATTACK WHILE HIS HERO ACTS AS THE DECOY

Naruto usually attacks his enemy with his Shadow Clones and Sasuke analyze the battle from behind using his Sharingan. If the enemy attacks Naruto, Sasuke always saves him. This is the dynamics that was established in Land of the Waves, Forest of the Death and even against the battle with Jigen.

Similarly Mario acts as the decoy and if someone attacks him, Saori analyze it very carefully and blast them off from behind... Like she does in this panel.... Both Naruto and Mario looks back to see their Heroine...LOL

(I promise you all, I never intended to make this into an SNS post.. I only wanted to talk about Saori. Like I was sort of joking when I started this section, but I’m convincing myself now... Saori is Sasuke and viceversa.)

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE’S LOVE TO BE UNCONDITIONAL & PURE....

Now... Just because I bring the word ‘Love’.... Don’t even imagine it’s something Romantic. It’s just not.

Mario, the Hero is a Money minded A-Class Asshole and a sell out... (which he himself agrees...)

Here, They both come to meet this fat guy for some job... But that Old-Fatty wants to spend some ‘lonely’ times with Saori.... His assistant even offers Mario some money, for him to leave this girl alone with them....

As expected he leaves her alone... Poor Saori got horrified... But Saori is not very innocent... She escaped her way out somehow but it was implied that she killed that old-fart when in reality his Assistant killed him and put the blame on Saori.... She is not some damsel in distress, you know.

And because Saori ‘seemingly’ killed those Old fart, She carries a bounty on her head worth of $500,000.... To which Mario, the Asshole, agrees half-heartedly and concocts a plan with his friend to finish her off....

As it happens.... Mario distracts her and his friend shot her from behind... Asshole!!!

Now, his friend turns the tables and pointing the Gun towards Mario’s head in order to steal all the money for himself....

But then,

SAORI’S BODY MOVED ON IT’S OWN.... To protect this worthless betraying jerk.... Even Mario himself was surprised...

This is a clear parallel to this Land of the Waves scene

Naruto, unlike Mario, is not a jerk here... But he never did anything profound for Sasuke for him to give up his life easily.... At this point, they are not even acquainted with each other.... Sasuke just loved Naruto and did what he did without expecting anything back....

Similarly Saori also worked with Mario on many missions and ended up liking him because he never tried to flirt with her or make any ‘unusual’ advances on her unlike other men... (this is her childhood trauma which you will know if you read that manga)... She liked him to the point of saving him even though he betrayed her 2 times for money.

In both the cases, I really want to scream at Saori and Sasuke, “Why are you going so far for this betraying/useless jerk??”.

KISHI LIKES HIS HEROINE TO RESEMBLE HERO’S MOTHER

Uhhh.... ???

I’ve made a post about how Sasuke resembles Kushina in many ways.... [Link]. And Mario openly confesses that Saori resembles his mother!!!!

Anyways.... You can read the manga and understand Saori’s character even better.

Kishimoto saying Sasuke holds the heroine status in Naruto Manga and giving Sasuke’s character attributes to Saori is not coincidental. It’s very clear that he want his heroine to be like Sasuke which explains that Accidental Kiss and that Femme Fatale scene in Orochimaru Lair. LOL. Mario is just a 52 page Manga and his characterization of Saori is very impressive. He drew her in a very dignified manner... Meaning, he didn’t sexualize her.

She is the definition of Independent, Strong, Vulnerable “Don’t mess with me, you MF!!”, “Touch me, I’ll Shoot you right **there**” kind of badass and Motherly woman.... She has every potential to be developed into a complex character and is very capable of having her own arcs, if this Manga was developed further.

There is no way an author can be an Asshole in one Manga and becomes a Saint in Another one... Not to mention that Mario manga was conceptualized in 1998, that is way before he started drawing Naruto in 1999... So, all these proves that Kishimoto can write wonderful woman Characters like Saori, Tsunade, Konan, Kushina. He simply didn’t want to give any scope for Sakura or Hinata.

He gave all the tropes he envisioned for Saori (in 1998) to Sasuke in Naruto Manga.... by officially calling him as Heroine.

To finish off,

I seriously don’t understand the logic behind the expectation of Independent, Strong Women characters in a media where the story is all about how 2 boys finds love in each other... But still, the author went on to give us Tsunade, Temari, Konan, Kushina, Granny Chiyo...

People getting petty about female side characters getting ignored whereas Kishi ignored many male characters equally. But no one bothers about that. This blatantly shows their hypocrisy in consuming this media.

Female Characters getting knocked down by male characters using a Jutsu doesn’t qualify under Misogyny or Sexism. Writing despicable female characters also doesn’t come under Misogyny. I am saying this for the Umpteenth time, Sakura and Hinata were intentionally designed to be mocked and ridiculed. Don’t consider their portrayal as a sample for Kishimoto’s take on Women characters. Honestly, those kind of characters does exist in real world.

I have to appreciate the way Kishimoto characterize his Heroines in both the Manga (Sasuke & Saori). They both are really layered and complex... And definitely not some Mary fucking Sue at all.... If this is not the proof for his wonderful take on Women, then what is???

I think it’s about time we have to start removing our Gender Spectacles and see the characters as Human First rather than what’s between their legs. In that way, we can able to enjoy this series very much. This is applicable to any media. Or atleast for Gay media.

Kishimoto might not be the Flag Bearer for feminism. But he is definitely not a Misogynist or Sexist... That’s what I felt after watching Naruto and reading Mario.

#naruto

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