Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-31278419-20170331010234/@comment-734582-20170331144907

BakumatsuWarrior wrote: 1. Get rid of Sakura, OR the shitty version that Kishi ended up making. I think the problem with Sakura is that she easily could be made into a compelling main character, without much change. The biggest problem by far is not that she's weak or annoying at times, but that so much emphasis was being put on her being weak and annoying. Every time there's this setup to her doing something great, only for it to go wrong. Even when it's not really her fault, or when she simply could not have known.

Strip that extremely annoying part out, and she becomes a 10x less annoying characters. Switch around some powers and themes and she becomes a 100x better character.

BakumatsuWarrior wrote: 5. Change Tobi into Izuna or some other contemporary Uchiha of Madara instead of Obito aka Discount Darth Vader. Make clan politics, personal ambition, betrayal and the quest for power as Tobi's main motivations. IMHO Obito was a fine villain and in many ways is among the most interesting. The biggest problem with Obito is that i think a lot of people misunderstood him for being redeemed whereas it's clear from the Manga that he knew he was scum and could never atone for his sins. There are some weak points (The extreme secrecy of his identity while design gave his true nature away, Naruto calling him "the coolest guy" and the philosophical battle during the 10 tails arc) but in many ways he's truly interesting.

I quote these two specifically because they're the point i want to make: I think Naruto suffered from a poorly pre-developed world (It took 333 chapters to introduce the concept of an Elemental release and Kekkei Genkai, despite this being introducing in the first real big arc versus Zabuza). I think it's over-reliance on themes made people think (including myself) that there were more themes than really intended (IE a big misunderstanding and poorly communicated plot point is that Obito went evil over Rin, but he didn't)

The second point i wanted to make is that some really strong themes are employed but not to the full extent. IE Naruto as the whole "strong body" theme and Sasuke as the "strong eyes" theme. But Kakashi embodies the Strong Mind theme, yet this is not really used. Despite experiencing many of the same things Sasuke experienced, Kakashi didn't go off into the deep end. He overcame his own weaknesses and survived due to his smarts. He embodies the life experience of the Sage, whereas Sasuke embodies his privilege of power and Naruto his privilege of strength (by being Jinchuriki). Sakura was shown as a human being with Booksmarts but no streetsmarts, an interesting contrast to the rest of Team 7 (Kakashi possessing a bit off all but limited by his own self-doubt. Sasuke possessing untapped potential but blinded by hatred. Naruto possessing untapped potential but limited by his social status.) She could've fought her way up to stand among Team 7 as an equal by using her intelligence.