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“you’re cute when you’re mad”: the inherent impotence of female anger in Naruto

I wish I had the time/mental energy/focus to write something really long and important about this but it’s bugging me enough that I had to get something out.

One of the things that is really, really useful about genderbend/rule 63/sex swap/whatever you want to call it (and I understand there is Discourse around this issue, but I don’t want to get into it here because that’s Another Issue Separate From This One), is examining how audience reaction to certain personality traits and behaviours changes or doesn’t change.

One thing you’ll notice about Naruto characters (and many other media, but here we’re talking specifically about Naruto to narrow the focus) is that there are many female characters who:

1. have a Temper 2. express this temper by hitting male characters (and it is Always Male) 3. distortion is used to emphasize that their hitting is a silly thing, comic relief

This trope relies heavily on the idea that women can’t really be a threat to men.

It’s notable that Sakura, who was probably #1 for this trope in original Naruto, is never shown hitting her daughter Sarada or even getting scary-angry at her; instead, she once (and only once!) takes out her frustration by striking the ground and accidentally destroying her house.

In contrast, Hinata, who never shows this kind of temper in the original series, several times is depicted in this light with regard to her son Boruto. But she is never shown doing this to Himawari. Poor Temari gets reduced to only this trope in Boruto.

There’s a misogyny to this trope and it’s made worse by people often reacting to it by blaming the female characters themselves, as if they were actual people with agency instead of characters written almost entirely by men.

“If Sakura were a man, people wouldn’t find him smacking Naruko around funny” they say, and I say “Yes! That’s true!” and then they continue “and that’s why Sakura is a bad character and a bad person” and I’m like “Nooooooooooo how can you get so close yet so far!”

The key aspect about this female character behaviour is that female anger against men is impotent. It has no lasting power. The male characters are always fine in the very next scene.

We don’t assume male violence is impotent, ever. We take furious men, especially when their fury is turned against female targets, as a serious threat.

This cannot be separated from the fact that in canon Naruto, female characters never, not once, have a solo victory against a male character that isn’t immediately undercut. (Sasori “let himself be stabbed” etc.)

Female characters are only allowed to have unqualified victories against other females. And this is why this comedic female anger is not directed against female characters.

This does relate to male victims of female abusers in real life and how they are often dismissed. But M//RA types get it wrong when they think that women/feminism is to blame for this. This trope props up toxic masculinity and misogyny–real male victims are collateral damage. Truly dismantling this trope is not about making women be sweet; it’s about taking female anger and female power seriously. That’s why I’m vehemently against bashing female characters for engaging in this trope. Especially because fandom bashing of this kind of character almost never involves actually showing her violence as being serious; instead, her violence is still ineffectual (can’t let Naruto be actually physically hurt by Sakura! he’s not a real man then!) but everyone in-universe suddenly hates her for it. This is not an improvement.

(As a last aside, this is not to say that all comedic violence is misogynistic; it’s quite possible to have slapstick that isn’t gendered like this. It’s just about this specific kind of female comedic violence and how it relies on a shared agreement between creator and audience that Golly the Wimmen Sure Are Cute When They’re Mad, What A Laugh.)

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Oh boy apparently Snakebert was in the newest Burrito as well

Calling Mitsuki his “dear child” which predictably is being treated as heartwarming.

Unfriendly reminder that Snakebert told Mitsuki he was his “precious child” in the context of wiping his mind with drugs, having his subordinates attack him with deadly force, and lying to him about literally everything.

So uhhhhhhh yeah when Snakebert calls somebody dear, precious, etc. That shit ain’t heartwarming.

Snakebert cares about one and only one thing: himself. He hasn’t changed. The only thing that’s changed is that the series has decided the “heroes” now don’t care enough to stop him. He might be useful to The Village some day, you know.

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I was so interested in your last asks answer, when did orochimaru abuse Mitsuki? AND WHERE DID IT SAY THAT NARUTO FORGOT ABOUtT YAMATO, that doesn’t sound like my sun child.

Here’s the facts about Mitsuki’s sordid childhood, illustrated with manga caps from Naruto Gaiden: The Road Illuminated by the Full Moon.

In Naruto Gaiden: Scarlet Spring (the one that was just adapted for Boruto the tv show), it’s fairly clear that Orochimaru’s abuse of his clone-children is well-known:

“Who do you think you are? Orochimaru?” says Sakura to Shin, who is using his clone children as involuntary living organ donors.

Regarding Naruto and Yamato:

“Lord Sixth (Kakashi) filled me in for the most part…”

Naruto is the Seventh, and yet he and Yamato don’t seem to have been in any kind of communication, not even regarding Orochimaru.

“You know about me, Naruto.”

And Boruto-era Naruto does nothing.

And that’s why he’s a shitty hero. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

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Uncle Suigetsu approves.

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like theres a lotta bullshit with the naruto ladies: tenten and ino basically not existing, sakura being constantly ignored, etc

but what gets me the most is mei terumi- 4 chakra natures, 2 kekkei genkais, leader of possibly the single most infamous shinobi village; and a full 80% of her lines are about how she isnt married yet like CMON 

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Novel:Naruto is given the title of Jounin after studying and a test. Canon:Naruto was never offered the Jounin title and stayed Genin until he became Hokage.

Novel:People make Tailed Beast pills using Naruto’s DNA. Canon:DNA has nothing to do with Chakra and Naruto and Kurama have different Chakra networks,in the first place.

Novel:“That’s because you have people who love and protect you.” Sasuke:*thinks of Sakura* Canon:“That’s because you have people who love and protect you.” Sasuke:*thinks of Naruto*

Novel:In the bubble Genjutsu on the way to the moon,Sakura sees Sasuke standing by a lake and waving at her to come over,helping Sakura figure out she was a Genjutsu. Canon:Genjutsu shows memories,not things they wanna see.

Novel:Boruto says Sakura could make a suitable replacement for Naruto as Hokage. Canon:Borut never mentions Sakura and says anyone could sit at a desk and act bossy all day.

Novel:Sakura gives off glow after being with Sasuke in the apartment,which apparently means they had sexual activities together. Canon:Sasuke never sets foot in that apartment.

Novel:Sasuke gives a private smile to Sakura at the end. Canon:Sasuke stands 5 feet away from Sakura and looks miserable as hell.

And people wonder why I consider the novels as fillers. (￣▽￣) As far as I’m concerned,the novels are nothing more then fanficition that Kishimoto was kind enough to let be published and draw covers for.

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Oh God yes. Please. Give me a really good rant about Orochimaru and how bullshit it is that the series keeps jerking us around. "He's an absolute monster who literally tortured and left for dead character X as a small child! Wait never mind he's a lovable comedy relief character. No he's an absolute monster who is torturing and manipulating this other character Y! Nope, lovable comic relief. No, he's an abusive parent who is drugging and manipulating his own child! No, he's comic relief." AHHHHH

Warning: salt. duh.

Ehem yes it’s time for my first, proper anti-oro post here, thanks to you. It’s so frustrating. Like, what the hell are you trying to do with his character???

Let me begin this rant by saying: WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE THEY DOING TO OROCHIMARU. HE’S A CRIMINAL. WHAT HE DID WAS JUST PLAIN HORRIBLE. WHAT THE HELL. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL.

Okay then let me talk about his most “basic” crime: his experimentation on children.

Sasuke, is of course, one of his victims. Oh, and not a lot of people know this but the Sound Four were fourteen  when they died so make of that as you will. Kimimaro was fifteen and Juugo was of the same age. Karin and Suigetsu were of Sasuke’s age. Genyumaru was seventeen when he was made Orochimaru’s vessel. 

I think that should give you an idea of the point I’m trying to put across. We’ve seen the state in which Orochimaru’s “test-subjects” lived it. They were experimented on, tortured, kept as prisoners. And Orochimaru had hideouts all over the place and each hideout housed a bunch of prisoners. So we’re talking about a lot of people, and given how the strongest of the were children, it’s safe to say that most of them could’ve been children as well.

And is it just me, or was he seriously coded as a p/edophile? With the way he kept licking his lips, lusting for Sasuke’s body…Idk.

He also killed two Kages. Two. Kages. From two nations. The leaders of two great nations. Killed by this man. Nice.

Skipping to the end of the war, not only is he let loose– oh, my bad– kept under close observation, but he’s also allowed to continue on his experiments. He’s allowed to have children of his own. This monster, who has caused nothing but harm to children, is made a parent. Of course! That makes perfect sense! I mean who would’ve thought he would drug and mindfuck his own son, right? Right?

You want to talk about Naruto-standards-of-forgiveness? Let’s talk about Naruto-standards-of-forgiveness. Even Sasuke, the one who was excused because of his significant contribution to ending the war, was tried and was implied to be imprisoned for some time (the anime actually showed him being sealed and imprisoned). But for Orochimaru? Oh yeah let’s just let him roam around the village and do odd jobs around town and let’s make one of his victims devote his entire life to watching over this monster ahahaha how extremely funny what a brilliant closure man, I love this ending. 

Oh, and Yamato isn’t even the one getting the worst of it. Team Taka is still working for Orochimaru like nothing happened. It’s been fifteen years and they’re still working for Orochimaru. Suigetsu, a victim himself, actually helps Oro in mindfucking Mitsuki.

I mean, in the Gaiden adaptation, we have Naruto going “he’s a vewwy dangewous man uwu” LIKE SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU SHITTY AS SHIT HOKAGE IF HE IS THAT DANGEROUS YOU WOULDN’T LET HIM BREATHE FRESH AIR LIKE THAT MUCH LESS ALLOW HIM TO CONTINUE WITH HIS EXPERIMENTS TO HELP HIM MAINTAIN HIS UGLY YOUTH

Fuck outta here.

Look, I loved Orochimaru as a villain. He was one of the most engaging things about part 1, if not the most. What I don’t understand is why his “villain” title was replaced with a “shitty comic-relief character” title. If they didn’t know what they were supposed to do with him, at least they could’ve tried redeem him (which is impossible when it comes to this series) or just let him stay dead. 

Actually, let him stay dead. Just kill the bitch off. Thanks.

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Haku said it himself are there honestly people who don’t know this in 2017 or there be trolling afoot?

im not 100% confident that obito’s heterosexuality is more chaotic than jiraiya’s, but u cant debate the rest

bonus:

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Maybe it is Sarada’s fault…..

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault that she was born in a crinimal hideout because Sakura “best medic ninja eva!” Haruno didn’t care where she was as long as she was with her precious Sasuke kun

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault that she was in so much pain that she awakened her sharingan at such a young age and her mom never told her.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her father is emotionally manipulating her to have a “bright future”

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother won’t answer her questions about her father

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother has the emotional capacity of a child and threw a tantrum when she was confronted with the facts of her broken marriage

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her father never even sent a letter in 12 years

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her father spent 20 years and her entire life on a mission that just resulted in Naruto and Killer Bee being kidnapped and nearly killed anyway

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her classmate is her dad’s favorite kid

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother never told her about her godmother Karin who keeps providing her with the glasses she needs

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault that since before she was born her mother chose Sasuke’s wants and needs over her.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault she was born to a man that was on a mission since he was 17 yet still created her knowing he didn’t want to raise her.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault the situation her mother put her in caused her such emotional trauma which is much less than what Sasuke went through so she should be thankful.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault she doesn’t know about Itachi or her father’s family

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault she’s missing her father and watches all her classmates enjoy theirs her whole life.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother is so incompetent that she can’t keep a roof over her ONE child’s head

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother belittles and insults her for asking questions

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault her mother doesn’t want her using her powerful dojutsu to protect herself because “she’ll be a target” yet has no problem slapping giant Uchiha fans everywhere.

Maybe it is Sarada’s fault she was born into this terrible family. She’s an Uchiha after all she should expect this. Dumb bitch.

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Sakura told sarada not to show off her sharingan cause she could be targeted, which makes perfect sense if the people bashing her for that remembered that their fave was kidnapped for her eyes.

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I’ve seen a lot of people focusing in this particular part of the dialogues. So, for those interested, when he almost lost Karin, Sasuke’s Sharingan was indeed affected. His Mangekyo did not change, but rather, the Mangekyo in his right eye finally awakened a power: Enton Kagutsuchi, the power to craft and manipulate at will the flames of his Amaterasu (the power in his left Mangekyo). It’s explained in more detail in the link, alongside pictures and the likes~

All of it, to save Karin.

It’s also worth pointing out that in that very same chapter, Kishi hyped the flames - reminding us of their ‘eternal’ nature - through commentary from Juugo:

And Kishi does not forget to highlight how amazing and note-worthy the whole thing (Sasuke actually being able to stop them) truly was:

Not even Sasuke himself can believe it lol

This is also the only ‘positive’ (as in, not revenge / hatred induced) power-up that Sasuke has in Part II (so far) that was provoked by a single individual: that being Karin (as it’s been pointed out countless of times, by irrationally refusing to let Juugo drag him away from Karin, Sasuke was risking not only his, but also Juugo’s and Suigetsu’s lives for her.)

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Homage to Sasuke’s expressions when Karin’s life was in danger

Because they’re always a sight to behold.

Three out of three times, Sasuke, who was in this state, was the one to immediately notice the danger Karin was in.

He was also the only one to react to it:

Notice how, in that last panel, Sasuke is actually turning toward Karin so swiftly that he freed himself from Juugo’s hold.

And speaking about Juugo. Juugo lays the logic down to Sasuke (Karin was done for, the fire could consume them too, they had to run), but Sasuke won’t bulge.

Notice how Juugo tries to drag him away, but Sasuke simply won’t let him.

He outright refuses to abandon Karin. At the prize of risking his, Suigetsu’s and Juugo’s lives.

Then calls her name in his mind while making THIS face:

Actually manages to do what he, for all intents and purposes, believed was impossible:

And when Sasuke and Juugo were arguing?

Unlike Juugo’s refusal, Sasuke’s yell of “Wait, Juugo!” was bolded. To highlight just how passionate he was about saving her, much like how the motion lines in every single panel highlight the urgency of the situation.

A situation we’re basically seeing from Sasuke’s POV.

  And then there’s even this. And this is all without even bringing up the context of c619.

So, honestly, and with all due respect, those who claim Sasuke ‘never cared about Karin’ or ‘cared very little about her’ due to his betrayal of her during the Danzou fight, pretty much missed the point of the Kage Summit arc.

Kishimoto would never showcase Sasuke “entering true darkness” through Sasuke stabbing someone he did not care a lot for. Fiction just does not work that way.

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Is Sasuke a deadbeat dad?

So I just googled this, and this answer made me laugh:

“He’s basically Vegeta. The only difference is is Vegeta is kinda around for Trunks, but Sasuke doesn’t beat his child.”

Uh, WHAT?? Kinda not giving Vegeta much credit there. Vegeta lives with his children, is with their mother, doesn’t need to work because his wife is rich, trains with his son (DOESN’T beat him, BIG difference), saved the planet a good couple of times, is violently protective of his family, has died for them, AND he’s held/hugged his kids.

Sasuke on other other hand:

-Has a cell phone. Doesn’t call home for 10 YEARS. -Has a messenger hawk. Doesn’t write home for 10 YEARS. -Does not support his family financially in anyway. In consequence, Sakura and Sarada often remark about financial issues they’re having. -Is often IN THE AREA. Doesn’t visit his family, but will meet up with Naruto over unimportant BS. -Has been on one, alleged, 2.5 minute date with his now-wife on a park bench (and frankly, I think they were actually referring to that time when she was sitting with Naruto disguised as Sasuke when they were twelve). -Would not even be with Sakura when she was pregnant, even though there was NOTHING EMERGENT going on at the time that necessitated him to gallivant like a lunatic. In consequence, his pregnant wife had to follow him around until she gave birth. -Did not recognize his own daughter. -It is implied that he has NEVER KISSED Sakura.

Gaiz, I’ve tabulated the data. Sasuke in fact IS a deadbeat.

The most hilarious thing is the look on Ino’s face in Boruto episode 17 when she’s DEFINITELY thinking, Holy shit, I lucked out.

SasuSaku may be cannon, but it’s certainly pathetic.

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Like

You

Can

Have

A

Say

On

This

Sakura

I guess her friends/classmates can’t know bc it “will make her a target” but slapping that uchiha logo on everything you own is fine

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Pros: Honestly, the haters are destroying the Naruto fandom. They write pages overanalysing everything and compalining about how it should have turned out, when they really are just salty about the ships.

Me:

Pros: They accuse us for silently enjoying Naruto and Boruto, when they are the ones disrespecting the creators’ choices. As if they know better than Kishimoto himself!

Me:

Pros: They are why this fandom is so toxic. Will they ever just grow up and let go?

Me:

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Don't you think it's unfair that Orochimaru was never imprisoned and Sasuke was despite them both trying to destroy the village? Not to mention Sasuke only wanted to kill the elders and had a huge role in saving the world. It's nonsensical.

Of course it is.

From Kakashi words, it seems that Konoha still thinks they’re responsible for Sasuke since he’s originally from their village, they’re still acting like he belongs to them, like they’re the ones who get to have the final say in his case. 

Not sure why they no longer feel responsible for Orochimaru as well but going by their logic, they should be. If simply being an ex-citizen of Konoha is what decides it then there is no difference between Sasuke and Orochimaru, they’re both missing-nins who were originally from Konoha. If one can never escape his past then Konoha should be dealing with both, not just Sasuke who agreed to help with Naruto’s BS plan.

I guess Kishimoto wanted to make sure people sees that Sasuke was at fault… You can imagine my disappointment with such a lazy ending that lets the actual guilty party gets away with it while making sure to punish the victim of their guilt…