Let's break Naruto !

Et je parle de Naruto au sens large comme du personnage. Pour moi, c'est assez clair depuis le début que ce type a un énooorme problème. Quelques indices ici.

Random Tumblr Writter a écrit:

There is a lot in the Naruto story that’s problematic. The accidental undoing of the show’s moral about hard work. The Kyuubi’s personality makeover into a misunderstood tsundere. Kaguya’s existence. But more than anything else, what bothers me most about the show is Naruto’s “friendship” with Sai and Shino.

Both these characters are obviously foils for Sasuke. For non-English majors, basically it means that they are aloof genius characters whose main purpose is to be compared to Sasuke. Sai was the so-called “temporary teammate” who was meant to show how Sasuke would never be replaced in Team 7’s hearts. Shino, meanwhile, was the genius who was always second-best to Sasuke. He was meant to show what a normal “prodigy” could accomplish. (i.e. one who WASN’T the reincarnation of Ninja Jesus’ son.) Basically, they’re beta-Sasukes.

My problem is this: Naruto will go to the ends of the Earth for his uber-powerful friend, no matter how often his busom-buddy attempts to murder him. But he treats these slightly less cool but completely loyal friends like trash.

The Beginning of the Problem.

Honestly, considering how Naruto’s relationships with these two began, I’m surprised they became friends in the first place. Take Shino. From Bugboy’s introduction, Naruto doesn’t like Shino. He can’t give us a reason why – he just doesn’t. Fine. Naruto can like who he likes. But then the Chuunin exams happen and the Konoha 12 get all buddy buddy. The two are acknowledged as comrades.
Then the Bikochu arc happens. Shino discovers a way to track Sasuke down (true, he does this for Hinata’s sake, but he’s doing Naruto a HUGE favor). But Naruto doesn’t like how Shino’s the leader, and he asks (in Shino’s earshot, mind you) how anybody could possibly be friends with a guy like him. Even when Shino saves his life on the cliffs, all Naruto can do is act annoyed and blame his fall on Shino. He’s a brat the entire time, and Shino just takes it.

Naruto’s attitude towards Shino does get better…and by better I mean mostly apathetic. The dominant emotion he feels for Shino seems to be disgust. I find it a bit hypocritical that someone with a demon in him constantly screams at harmless bugs. To be honest, the two are friends more in name than in deed.

Naruto’s friendship with Sai began even worse. I’ll admit, Sai did not make the best first impression with Sakura and Naruto. However, they sink to his level when they physically attack him for asking a reasonable question (i.e. Why do they care about someone who betrayed them?). Naruto sinks even further when he attacks Sai to prove his abilities. After the “sparring” match, Naruto cheerfully says that he is only using Sai so he can get Sasuke – the second Naruto gets his friend back, Sai will be gone. He’s using Sai as a tool, which goes completely against his philosophy in Part 1.

Then the whole betrayal thing happens, Sai gets caught, Naruto lectures on Sasuke’s wonderfulness, etc. Funny thing is, Naruto doesn’t actually do anything that amazing for Sai. All he did was say “Sasuke’s great, friendship is the best”. But because of talk-no-jutsu, even the mention of friendship converts Sai. He recovers from decades of brainwashing, betrays the closest thing he has to a father-figure, and cashes his cards in with Naruto against some of the most dangerous people on the planet. Only after Sai sacrifices everything for the team does Naruto make the small concession of being friendly to him.

Now, if Naruto’s obnoxious behavior had ended there, that would have been fine. He could have had the whole “hated each other then grew to understand each other” relationship with each of them. Or Naruto could have said “hey, nice to meet you,” then moved on and just been acquaintances. But he tells both these people that they are his friends, and he relies on them as such. The problem is, he has a habit of taking more than he gives.

The Problem.

All right, I’ll admit this: Naruto does act like a friend to Sai on occasion. He introduces him to people, includes him on missions, etc. However, that doesn’t change the fact that he is incredibly self-centered. Sai reads whole libraries in an attempt to understand Naruto’s lifestyle and mindset. However, Naruto rarely tries to see things from Sai’s perspective by, say, researching Root or asking Sai about his life.

In fact, whenever Sai tries to strengthen his bond with Naruto, the blond acts incredibly put upon. “Ugh, Sai’s given me an ugly painting.” “Ugh, Sai’s trying to nurse me back to health.” Naruto never just accepts the gesture for what it is. Now I understand that most of these scenes are meant for laughs. But it’s a little painful to watch Sai try and try and get misunderstood every time. By the time the “Sai’s Day Off” episode comes around, Sai’s still not entirely sure whether he and Naruto will ever be friends. He’s received so many mixed signals that he truly can’t tell. In a show that’s about the power of friendship, Naruto’s teammate should not be having those doubts this late in the game.

If Naruto’s treatment of Sai is questionable, his relationship with Shino is plain horrible. He can’t even remember Shino’s name when he returns to Konoha. You could argue that Shino was wearing clothes that covered his entire face, and was therefore really hard to recognize (but come on, who else does Naruto know that wears four jackets at a time?). Being bad at faces is forgivable. The problem is that instead of apologizing, he acts like Shino’s overdramatic for being offended. And when Shino refuses to abandon his already-assigned mission to join Naruto’s team, he has the nerve to call Shino the bad friend.

Heck, when Sai is introduced to Shino, he knows more about Shino than Naruto does. Shino tries to fix the situation by telling Naruto a little bit about himself (albeit awkwardly). Naruto shuts him down. Naruto is perfectly fine with telling others his life story. He’s also fine with having Shino risk his life to rescue his homicidal teammate. But taking five minutes to learn the rudimentary facts about Shino’s life is considered to be above the call of duty.

But the most aggravating moment between these two is the Torune episode. At the beginning, Shino (like Sai) is questioning whether or not Naruto is his friend. Whether anyone is his friend. He and Torune perform various flashback-no-jutsus as they spar. Eventually Shino gets knocked into the air, and Naruto “rescues” him. That is a plus for Naruto, but not a big one. A) Shino was more than capable of landing on his own two feet. B) His clone was assigned to look for Torune by HQ. Shino just kind of happened to be there. It was less “My friend Shino is in trouble” and more “Oh somebody’s fighting, I’m gonna check it out.”

So Naruto tries to fight. Shino saves his clone’s life (I’m not going to count that one for Shino though, because Shino had his bug a shield.). Then Torune is sealed. Now, Naruto was present during the part where Shino and Torune acknowledged each other as brothers. And even if he was daydreaming about Sakura during that part, he KNOWS Torune is an Aburame. He’s Shino’s relative.  But when Torune is sealed, does he stop to comfort Shino? Does he offer a single word of condolences? Nope. He sprints off to the next battle, then tells Shino to “hurry up.”

And then Shino turns to his brother, smiles, and says “Yes, I have friends.” That’s it. Those are Shino’s standards for friendship right there: acknowledging his existence, and remembering his name. He no longer expects anything else from Naruto, and is in fact grateful that the great glowing Messiah deigns to speak with him.

Now, Naruto doesn’t HAVE to be Sai and Shino’s friend. But he claims he is. The fact that he thinks these one-sided relationships are okay says a lot about his psychological issues. If Naruto were literally ANYONE else, he wouldn’t get away with half the @#$ he does.

Why the Problem is a Problem.

I wondered for a long time why Sai and Shino’s stories bothered me so much. It wasn’t that I liked their characters. It wasn’t the bad writing. Something about their stories disturbed me. And I think I’ve finally figured out what it is.

It’s obvious to anyone who watches the show that Sai and Shino are not normal people. People often say Sai is autistic (Personally I think his behavior is more reminiscent of sociopathy than autism, but that’s another rant entirely.). Shino is almost a pitch-perfect demonstration of Aspergers Syndrome, but is rarely diagnosed as such (He cares for others but has trouble connecting with them; he’s extremely sensitive to physical stimuli, he has narrow but obsessive interests; he has tangential speech patterns that are hard to follow, et cetera.).

The point is, they have poor social skills. But they try desperately to improve these skills and connect with others. They are always going above and beyond the call of duty to prove to their friends that they care. And yet…people rarely do the same for them. They’re expected to give and give, and when Shino complains about reciprocity, he’s teased and put down. Naruto has this attitude that he pulls his weight just by “putting up with them”.

Keep in mind, this is a guy who befriends mass murderers on a regular basis. Sasuke has tried to kill him repeatedly, and Naruto calls him his best friend without reservation. So what does it mean, when Naruto-the-all-loving-Messiah can empathize with the man who began the apocalypse, but he can’t understand two people who are a bit socially awkward? I’ll tell you what it means: People who are powerful and dangerous are worth reaching out to, but people who are weird and unpopular aren’t worth the trouble, because they’ll be loyal to anyone who shows them a little kindness.

I’m not trying to start a social justice rant here. You could replace “abnormal” with “weak” or “uncool” and it would still apply to the Naruto’s social life at large. I’m just saying that for a show about friendship, Naruto is awfully cliqueish.
I don’t know how to end this rant, so… I’ll just leave you with this:

Naruto is one crazy MOTHERFUCKER ! My advice is KILL HIM !

Oui et ben justement, parlons-en de son amitié ! Lui qui n'oublie jamais ses amis, qu'est-ce qu'il faisait de Yamato depuis tout ce temps, hein ?! Le pauvre est dans le coma depuis des mois si ce n'est plus et personne n'a l'air de s'en carrer. Vous vous rappelez de lui et de ce qui lui est arrivé, vous, ne ? Le prof sévère qui faisait peur aux ados avec ses grimaces ?


Et ben attention HE WAS FOUND ! Holy shit shit shit ! Je sais pas pour vous, mais je le voyais déjà mort moi depuis tout ce temps ! Je sais pas si c'est pour ça en tout cas on a eu droit à des épisodes - canons, non-canons, j'en sais rien - sur lui pendant qu'il était à la Racine.


Not sure I'm ok with that look though. Ah oui et juste un détail que j'arrête pas de voir, le genjutsu qui piège les gens à cause de la lune a été lancé - et le pauvre Yamato est sortit de sa cage pour rentrer dans une autre imaginaire tout de suite après, lol, je veux dire il a même pas le temps de se réveiller - et du coup tout le monde est coincé dans un rêve et ils ont tous des rêves de chiottes ! xD Y'a juste Shikamaru qui rêve que ses parents et Kasuma sont vivants. C'est montré d'une manière légère - vu que c'est un rêve il se rend pas compte - mais c'est mignon ~ ! Et puis Tsunade rêve de Jiraiya en train de comploter avec son p'tit frère dans son dos. ^x^ Kawaii ~ !