#more of a dig at fandom than at sakura who doesn't deserve so much of the shit people pile on her

[renaerys]

what is it about sakura that makes her just so… shippable?

There are a few answers to this question. I suspect you may not like most of them, so I’m putting this under a read more. But you did ask, so here it is.

Rather than answer this with some sqeeing agreement over our flawless shippable queen being just That Hot, I'm going to try to answer this seriously. This is your second warning that what I'm about to say may not be warm and fuzzy to read.

Prefacing that Sakura is a character I have deeply loved and appreciated for many years, but it is exactly my love for her that makes me critical of her and the way I've seen her portrayed and, in some ways, mismanaged by fanfic authors over the years. Take all this with a grain of salt. These are just my own observations and opinions. I'm not here to ruin your faves, shame you in any way, or make you feel bad.

1. She’s got very self-insert protagonist-chan vibes that allow all types of people (us) to project onto her. This is admittedly an uncharitable answer (and, fwiw) not really in line with canon. Because in canon she actually does have some unique personality and she definitely does have some glaring character flaws that make her more closely resemble a real person. Kishi doesn't go very far with this, but it is absolutely there. So we're not working with cardboard here.

But unfortunately, so many fanfics erase a lot of that about her, or borrow parts of other characters/the idealized girlfriend experience and superimpose them onto Sakura as a catch all to make her "cooler" or "more interesting" to suit whatever they are trying to accomplish with her. I'm talking about how Sakura is portrayed as some combination of all or some of the following: a gorgeous, insanely empathetic woman who also has a temper (but only in the Strong Female Character way, not a true-to-life feminine rage way that addresses and unpacks her canon deep insecurities and demonstrated emotional insensitivity toward others, because that would be unattractive), is able to see past her love interest's issues and secrets and "understand" them perfectly (often without any real substantive work put into exploring how or why this makes sense in the context of the story), is both therapist and powerhouse in all that she does, is possessed of unparalleled kindness but also """"she's so sassy!""" type of shit. She's full of so many contradictions yet somehow the perfect, ideal girlfriend that my head spins. Who is she anymore? I don't know this person. That’s the protagonist-chan shit I’m talking about (see also, relatedly: Mary Sue, but I think that only captures one dimension of the problem). I think we’ve all seen those fics. There are a lot of them, and they are egregious or not to varying degrees. It’s boring as hell.

2. For some reason (no, I know the reason and I’ll get to it in a sec), people tend to like only Sakura and not care about maining any other female characters. Like the number of people I have encountered over the years in this fandom who outright (and, bizarrely, quite proudly) proclaim that they only read Sakura fics and will not entertain any other female main is…well, it makes me sad for them. Not that you can’t main your faves, but to wear it as a badge of honor feels red flag-y to me. What is it about the other ladies that offends you so? Have you questioned what it is about those other female characters that puts you off without giving them a shot? (I have some possible answers to these questions below.)

Anyway, we know why. The generous reason is that she is simply the main character of canon and has the most screen time, so it’s understandable that she’d have more fans than the other girls with comparatively less screen time. Nothing wrong with that on its face. It just makes sense.

However, my cynically in-this-fandom-for-15+-years ass also knows that, to a certain degree, this aversion to other female characters who are not Sakura is related to #1 above. She’s protagonist-chan, an easy personality to obliviate and make vanilla/ideal in a way that is simultaneously reductive and inoffensive, and that makes her approachable. Safe. An aspirational "that could be me." Characters like Ino, Karin, Mei, Tsunade, etc. don’t flatten as easily. They have more polarizing personality traits you can't squirm your way out of like you can with Sakura (I say you can with Sakura only because people do it, not because it can actually be done well or in any way that is satisfying to me personally). Those polarizing personalities put a lot of people off. It’s not unique to Naruto, it’s just the way people tend to write and consume stories in general. That’s why we get the “sassy best friend” trope and "women be catty". Sassy BFF is generally a more interesting character because she is allowed to be a chaotic fuck up on screen or horny on main, but she rarely gets the spotlight because that very same leeway makes her unrelatable to too many people. Some very "I'm in this picture and I don't like it" type of reactions.

Here's the part where I say "not every fan". Obviously, it's not every fan. If you don't want to read an Ino fic, don't. I'm not going to arrest you. But these generalizations are helpful in identifying patterns and for forcing ourselves to question our unconscious biases and unpack them. Which, personally, I find interesting.

3. All this to say that I'm honestly dismayed by how far fandom falls astray wrt Sakura at times. She actually has a lot of cool traits, interesting personality, and plenty of cracks in the plaster to make for a well-rounded, relatable character while still proudly repping the "normal girl" or "everyman" position. All she needs is some care and extrapolation, the same as most of the other characters. The foundation is there in canon even if it isn't fleshed out well enough on its own. But it's more than enough to build upon in fanon, which a lot of very skilled authors do super well! I previously talked about why I think Sakura is so much more than just protagonist-chan in this post and why it isn't a bad thing on its face. There are plenty of authors who understand that and write it well, and those fics are some of the best in the fandom imo. Unfortunately, there are also many authors who don't. Those stories are not bad and those writers don't suck. They just don't appeal to me personally because that's not what I'm looking for in Sakura fic.

4. Why is Sakura so shippable? I suspect that people take her "everyman" positioning and find very little that is offensive when you put her next to other characters. Like a staple food, rice or beans or potatoes. Goes with everything, and it gives room to sweat over the character you pair her with who, typically, is allowed to be more interesting and complex (the patient to Sakura's therapist). And if that's what you like, awesome! I wholeheartedly support you and I hope you create and find the content you wish to see. There's nothing at all wrong with this preference, and the Sakura fandom is very blessed to have a lot of good content to choose from. There is literally something for everyone, which is such a nice perk of being a Sakura fan.