Board Thread:Episode Discussions/@comment-1018594-20150319124409/@comment-24757127-20150320160218

Hawkeye2701 wrote: Gotta say, I really liked this episode, though it highlights some bad things.

Not the whole, Tenten is convenient or "Fight Your Rival" rubbish.

But if you think about it, in an arc that should really be focusing on the last member of Team 7, Sakura, we've barely seen anything of her, in fact, every hurdle and solution so far has come from Team Guy, with Team 8 dealing with Team Kazami, who were set as unique characters this arc.

So with Guy's team fighting the main Ame group, the main Suna group and Team 8 fighting the main Kusa group, there's woefully little for Sakura and co. at the minute besides having met Fu.

I've always thought Kishi was bad with female characters, basically always delegating them to support and such, but this arc really isn't helping when seemingly the best the writing staff could come up with was that "Tenten is convenient" and such.

As it stands, this arc, which should have been the opportunity to show Sakura as a strong and independant member of Team 7, with neither Naruto, Kakashi or Sasuke to back her up or outshine her, has been utterly lacking so far, and of the unique teams remaining, there's one Suna team with another Female Med Nin to act as rival. Which, if that's the direction they take, doesn't help Sakura to stand out in the slightest from anyone else in this arc.

Whoa, completely forgot about Sakura. You are right, this arc is supposed to showcase her hard work and evolution in becoming a formidable ninja that doesn't need to rely on Naruto or Sasuke. I hate how they have portrayed Sakura and all the other females in Konoha 11. Tenten: Forgettable and like Guy and Lee said, she is convenient because she can summon a million things. Ino: Probably the most powerful konoha 11 female when it comes to ninjutsu because her clan's jutsu but really doesn't get to show it off. She lacks confidence like Hinata but to a lesser extent. Hinata: Always shown to be swooning over Naruto and daydreaming about him. Extremely shy and passive. Gets annoying and predictable. Sakura: Always needs rescuing by Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi. Supposedly the strongest medical nin other than Tsunade but doesn't show it until 4th Shinobi World War.