man. the sasunarus have given me a new perspective on the naruto manga i have never even considered before. it's seriously eye opening. i'm rereading naruto for the first time since it ended and the subtext (if you can even call it that) is just so obvious?
i've grown a lot as an artist and have made my own comics, and along the years i consumed a bunch more manga. with the skills i gained and the things i learned in mind, it just becomes so plain to see the intention a mangaka has behind everything they do; from panelling, to micro expressions, the angles they wish to portray something, and what they decide to put speech/thought bubbles against/over, the composition, the use of specific sfx, literally everything and anything. there is intent behind every single pen stroke.
not saying you need to be an artist for any of that but it gives me a new perspective. also. over a decade has passed, i'm gonna have different eyes from when i was a teenager.
with that framework, reading through naruto again seeing the homoerotic/homophobic under(over)current to the whole story and the relationship between sasuke and naruto. like. it's literally just the most doomed yaoi of all time? yes you can make a platonic argument, soul brothers, whatever, but that doesn't erase the fact that the whole thing can easily be read romantic but never to be fulfilled.
even the sarada-centric chapters that came out after its end. kishimoto consciously CHOSE to depict an empty relationship where sasuke pretty much abandons his family for 13 years. he doesn't recognise his own daughter when she seeks him out? sakura looks haggard and tired? and for what? reasons that are totally unconvincing if you were meant to believe that they had a real love story.
the homophobia often depicted in the manga is always directed at naruto and sasuke's relationship (naruto being the receiver of these jabs time and time again).
the uchiha clan, a clan's power that comes from love, might have been the few people in the naruto world that didn't frown upon the idea of homosexual relationships because they understood that love could come from anyone and transcended arbitrary barriers placed by people. perhaps that was also a reason why they were so ostracised from regular society and viewed as a threat to the norms.
idk i'm just blabbing half formed thoughts after reading some shit and going through the manga but it really puts it all to perspective when you see how empty ssk and nh are as endgame couples. and that's not counting their lack of development throughout the whole series.
AND, (i haven't done my fact checking on this but) that interview way back when kishi said that if either ino or sakura were a man they would make a great couple ? like what is THAT about
and him hesitating to answer which of his female characters would he like as a gf and then when it came to the male characters he answered shikamaru no question 😭
and tHIS? these pages being back to back is crazy work. kishimoto's gay ass............
kishimoto is perfectly capable of writing good and even 'almost' romances in obito/rin, minato/kushina, jiraiya/tsunade, asume/kurenai. so... why with the flagship pairings you just suddenly don't know how. it just doesn't make sense unless he intended it in the story or felt the pressure not to break societal norms himself by defaulting to heteronormative relationships and mirroring that with the characters themselves. idk man. just makes you think and ask why.
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