There are educated and then there are literates. Masashi Kishimoto’s series, however, has a mix of both with a majority of illiterates. But that isn’t limited to his work entirely. Shonen series like Bleach and One Piece fandom is laden with the criticism of “lack of comprehension” and here’s why.
Now, illiteracy here doesn’t equate to the inability to read but has more to do with the inability to comprehend. The fandom took to addressing this issue on Reddit and it was brilliantly done. This also fits perfectly with the problematic culture of haters and glazers in the anime community on the whole.
Are Masashi Kishimoto “fanatics” illiterate?
Decades back, Masashi Kishimoto made quite the splash with his ninja series in the Shonen genre. His manga is iconic, legendary and phenomenal in every single way. Pain, loneliness and the complexities of emotions were brilliantly unpacked by the mangaka. However, it isn’t exempt from pitfalls either.
One of the major criticisms of the manga is its problematic writing of female characters. At this point people are bound to interject and give Tsunade’s example. Yes, she is a strong female character, however she didn’t bear the brunt of a fandom’s hatred.
We all know how Pierrot diluted Sakura and reduced her to a fodder character. There have been major discrepancies between the anime and the manga, which misdirected fans’ hate toward the mangaka. Despite that most fans fail to acknowledge her character’s feats until the manga fans finally spoke up.
On r/Naruto a Redditor posted a thread explaining the difference between manga panels and the scene
The reason illiteracy thrives in this fandom is because of you.
byu/Slight-Diver6167 inNaruto
Needless to say, Pierrot’s fumble overshadowed her true character in the manga. This is evident with the fans’ hate and disdain for her character. Illiteracy here has more to do with fans’ inability to comprehend the differences and reality itself.
This is also the case with the toxic fans treating her as a scapegoat by blaming her for the hero’s situations and circumstances. Manga readers know the truth and this is precisely how the story seems mapped out. Anime, on the other hand, rendered it shallow and gave rise to the hater and glazer culture.
Haters, Glazers and all that jazz
Like most Shonen series, Naruto has its fair share of haters and glazers. A large part of hate has to do with Sakura, but most of them misread Sasuke’s trajectory. His villainy, of course, didn’t sit well with most fans and it makes sense to disagree. Hate, on the other hand, would be too extreme in this case.
Sasuke Uchiha’s path isn’t linear. But does it have to be? The guy witnessed a massacre and was exploited by Orochimaru. If that wasn’t enough, he was at odds with his brother because of Konoha’s wrongdoings. He unalived him to only immerse himself with guilt.
But that is not all, considering he was tortured relentlessly by Itachi. The elders failed him, which catalyzed his villainy. It is only valid for his character to go down the path of being an antagonist. And fans, more often than not, miss out on these subtleties and here’s how.
In their glazing of characters, most fans do not see the characters as flawed. Be it Sakura, Sasuke or even Karin, the toxic fans turn a blind eye to intricacies. Which is why it is important to be in tune with both manga as well as anime to get a better understanding of the plot and characters on the whole.
Naruto is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is available for reading on Shueisha’s Manga Plus app.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
