On Thursday, the official Naruto web site posted the outcomes for Naruto99, its first recognition ballot within the final 11 years. Though Sakura Haruno, the punching bag inside the Naruto fandom, didn’t win Naruto99, she stunned each the creator and followers alike by getting greater than double Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha’s votes mixed.
Sometimes, recognition polls for shonen manga collection assist creators work out which characters to characteristic extra prominently and gauge which character’s premature demise will hit followers the toughest. The final time Naruto held a recognition ballot was when the collection was nonetheless in publication again in 2011.
Nevertheless, apart from permitting Naruto followers from all over the world to vote for his or her favourite anime characters, the winner of Naruto99 will obtain their very own particular one-shot (standalone) manga chapter written by creator Masashi Kishimoto, in line with the official Naruto web site. In layman’s phrases, the most-voted characters in Naruto99 are characters the Naruto fandom possible needs to learn extra about.
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From December 17, 2022, to January 31, 2023, Naruto99 garnered an estimated 4.6 million on-line votes. The winner of the recognition contest was finally Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage (ninja president) and protag Naruto Uzumaki’s father. However we’re not right here to speak concerning the “yellow flash.” We’re right here to speak about how Ms. Haruno, who’s usually been ragged on for being the worst character within the collection, got here via within the ballot. In line with the official Naruto web site, Itachi Uchiha barely managed to protect his second-place spot after Sakura’s “last-minute, meteoric rise via the rankings.”
Listed here are the highest ten hottest Naruto characters in ascending order:
- Minato Namikaze (792,257 votes)
- Itachi Uchiha (505,014 votes)
- Sakura Haruno (489,619 votes)
- Shisui Uchiha (279,062 votes)
- Kakashi Hatake (212,403 votes)
- Naruto Uzumaki (182,911 votes)
- Sakumo Hatake (170,940 votes)
- Sasuke Uchiha (170,665 votes)
- Madara Uchiha (144,947 votes)
- Hinata Hyuga (144,484 votes)
Kishimoto was actually happy with Sakura regardless of how poorly he wrote her
The rationale Sakura is taken into account by many inside the Naruto fandom to be a “ineffective” character is a fault on Kishimoto’s half for his horrible monitor file for writing ladies. Normally, every time Kishimoto introduces a robust feminine character in Naruto, he inevitably shackles no matter company that might be explored of their characters by tying it to the boys of their lives. For instance, Kurenai Yuhi went from being a robust illusionist ninja to being a stay-at-home housewife with zero-to-no display screen time from Naruto to Naruto Shippuden, its sequel collection. Principally, each feminine character in Naruto suffered the identical destiny by the top of Shippuden, which was disappointing to see.
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Throughout a 2014 Q&A with journal Weekly Shonen Bounce, Kishimoto admitted to being “no good with feminine characters” when discussing the time his editor introduced up the thought of creating Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke’s relationship a love triangle initially of the collection. When requested why he thought Sakura and Rock Lee resonated with followers in a 2006 interview with Shonen Bounce, Kishimoto stated it was as a result of they had been “straightforward to empathize with” as a result of “they symbolize human weaknesses.” Rock Lee is without doubt one of the few Naruto characters who can’t use ninjutsu. Sakura, in Kishimoto’s view, was “bodily weaker than the others” as a result of she was a woman.
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Whereas Kishimoto would inevitably do higher by Sakura by making her one of many strongest characters in Naruto Shippuden, it’s laborious to not really feel like he revereted again to writing her as an afterthought, having her sole goal for current be serving to Sasuke “restore his clan” by having his daughter, Sarada. Realizing all this, I couldn’t assist however guffaw at Kishimoto congratulating Sakura’s excessive placement within the Naruto99 ballot.
“I used to be shocked to see Minato on the high for all areas, and the truth that Sakura is so beloved by many individuals all over the world made me proud as a author,” Kishimoto wrote.
Finally, I consider Sakura dodged a bullet by not successful the Naruto99 ballot. Whereas her stark victory over her fellow Workforce Seven teammates is a candy victory to delight in, the very last thing the Naruto group wants is a poorly-written one-shot concerning the Leaf Village’s strongest feminine ninja. Imagine it.
