Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26320097-20150423120614/@comment-24357950-20150703095349

Sakurakouji wrote: It's not a canceled out plot twist if stuff actually happens. What we perceived as a plot twist was simply a red herring used to help develop a character (ie. have Sarada's insecurities regarding family be resolved). You say cancel out, but that choice of word implies that the plot twist had no impact, which is what the person you've been butting heads with has been trying to argue.

When you say canceled out, it implies that you think the plot twist was pointless and did nothing. But we don't end where we began, because Sarada was changed by the twist, even if it turned out not to be real.

Without the brief moment of angst presented by the twist, you have Sarada who doesn't know how to feel about her family because she never gets to see her father. Her suspicions of her mother not being her mother stems from the fact that she doesn't really feel loved. You can easily see this from the fact that Sarada, while still resolute in her desire to save Sakura despite the now-false revelation of her lineage, questions her father over whether his feelings are truly connected with Sakura's or not.

I would actually argue that this was very smart of the author. Not because I believe it's brilliant writing or anything like that, but it allows him to have a more realistic Sarada. It would be strange to have her feel like nothing is wrong when her father is never home. So in order to resolve this without having to factually change that 1. Sasuke is her father and 2. Sakura is her birth mother, he introduces a mini-arc to help develop her and curb her of a reasonable insecurity. First of all, the plot twist had no impact. But let's put that aside for second, because a plot twist is still cancelled out when you revert the situation. You twist a rubber band, your twist it in the opposite direction again, and you're where you were at the beginning, even if you hurt your thumb in the process. The only way a double plot twist wouldn't be cancelled out would be if the second twist was reverts to an entirely different solution as well. For example: Sakura is the mother, no it's Karin, no it's Temari. Going back to the original situation cancels the twist out though. Now back to what has changed. Nothing has changed. That was not a character development and that was not a story progress. Sarada learned that parentage doesn't have to be biological. A beautiful message indeed, just not one that concerns her. She is the biological daughter, so why would she learn to love her adopted mother? It's like I learn to accept the homosexuality of my son, although he is heterosexual. Or accepting the death of someone who isn't dead. Except that in my examples, the lesson can be used for other people too. If you can accept your son's homosexuality, even if he's heterosexual, you may be able to accept other people's homosexuality too. Or if you accept the death of someone who's well and alive, you may have an easier time processing the death of someone else. However, Sarada will always have only one mother. One biological mother. The drama may have gotten her to meet her father, but its background was completely empty. Kishimoto could have very well just skipped the entire mother thing, made Sarada overhear that Sasuke is in town and do the story without the whole mother scenario. Because in the end, it was absolutely pointless.