The show up for discussion today is Naruto (which includes Naruto: Shippuden too). It is my favorite anime show right now, because it is full of ninjas! And I love ninjas. I could go on and on and on and on….but that would take up more space than I think the boss would allow for, so I’ll limit myself to one specific thing: the female characters of the show. Seemingly random, yes? Actually, no, because this is a matter that irks me to no end. I have talked to fellow fans of the show, surfed the net, and read lots of forums/surveys regarding the merits of the characters, and do you know what they think? Most people seem to think the guys are the cool ones, and that the females aren’t that important. Now, I’m no hard-core feminist or anything like that, but um, excuse me? How unfair is that?! Clearly, these people are not watching the same show as I am. And it’s not just males I’m talking to either…it’s the girls that are thinking this way too. Granted, not everyone shares the same opinion, and I’ll admit that the guy characters are pretty awesome, but that’s no excuse to discount the kunoichi (that’s the word for female ninjas, if you didn’t know). To prove it, let me introduce you to my top three favorite Naruto gals. With pictures!
WARNING: There could be some spoilers in the following paragraphs for people who have not seen the show or are not as far into it as I am. Read at your own risk!
Temari is my number one favorite kunoichi, despite the fact that she is not one of the main characters. She isn’t even from the same village as Naruto and the rest of the gang. Hailing from the Village Hidden in the Sand, Temari is the older sister of Gaara, who is one of my favorite male characters, but I’m not talking about him right now. I liked Temari right from the start because of her don’t-mess-with-me-or-I’ll-mess-up-your-face attitude and her snide and sarcastic sense of humor. What made her even more awesome was her ability to manipulate the wind element with her giant battle fan. Yes, I did say giant battle fan. She totally crushed her opponent in the first real fight we see her in, and she almost beat Shikamaru (another male character and a certifiable genius, but again, not talking about him!). She also clearly cares about her younger brothers, though she does her best not to make it too obvious. To me, this just makes her even cooler, because the best characters are supposed to have those complex emotions and stuff. It’s what drives the story! Temari only gets better in Shippuden, becoming more proficient with her fighting techniques and getting promoted to Jonin (which is like a senior ninja). She may not be a major character, but she still deserves a badge of awesomeness!
She’s probably one of the most prominent female characters of the series. She was part of Team Seven alongside Naruto and Sasuke (who make almost everybody’s “Top Ten Favorite Characters” list). Since these two boys are mostly the main focus, seeing as the show is named after Naruto and Sasuke is his rival, Sakura gets pushed aside in people’s minds. Admittedly, this is mostly due to her role in the first part of the series, when all of the kids are twelve or thirteen. She wasn’t really a character to be proud of back then. Her voice was annoying (in both the Japanese and English-dubbed versions), she beat on Naruto and put him down almost every episode, she shamelessly crushed on Sasuke and made it obvious in a way that was definitely cringe-worthy, and her only real skills were her intelligence and flawless chakra control, which were both overshadowed by her overall irritating nature (Note: Chakra control is the ability the Naruto ninjas have to manipulate the energy in their bodies to create their techniques. The better your control, the better your techniques are. Having perfect control is practically unheard of.) I hated Sakura at first. With a passion. But then, she started getting better. It hardly made a difference in the first half of the Naruto series, but during the three-year time skip before Shippuden, Sakura improved a ton. She trained under Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin (basically, a Sannin is a super-awesome ninja), and learned a bunch of medical techniques and kick-ass taijutsu (hand-to-hand fighting). Oh, and did I mention her monstrous strength? Yup, she can punch huge craters in the ground and pound giant boulders to dust. It’s awesome. She’s also matured a great deal, though there are times when she still annoys me. So yeah, she may not be great when compared to Sasuke and Naruto, but with super-strength, high intelligence, perfect chakra control and the ability to heal almost any wound, Sakura is still a force to be reckoned with.
Hinata is from the Leaf Village, a member of Team Eight, and one of Naruto’s friends. She…really wasn’t much of a character at first. She was just too shy, had no confidence in herself, and we really didn’t get to see her in action. I thought she was nice, but not very interesting. Oh, and there was the matter of her romantic obsession with Naruto that bordered on creepy. During the Chunin Exams, though (it’s the Exams ninja have to take to advance to Chunin level, which is just under Jonin; they have to fight each other and stuff, it’s quite brutal), Hinata really made her mark. She stood up for herself against her cousin, Neji (who was a real jerk, I’ll say that much), and if it had been any other opponent she probably would have won that fight. She continued improving from that point on into Shippuden. Her chakra control is nearly as good as Sakura’s, she has a bloodline ability called the Byakugan that lets her see through walls and stuff, and she’s got this awesome Taijutsu style where she can shut down people’s chakra pathways (it basically makes them unable to use it, which is very bad for a ninja). She’s still a bit shy, unconfident, and too into Naruto than is probably healthy, but she has a lot more courage than she used to. And in Naruto’s fight against a super-powerful evil guy named Pein, she risked her life to save him. If not for her, Naruto would have died! Oh, and she’s also next in line to lead her clan. That makes her pretty dang important.
These are only three examples, but trust me, there are tons more awesome females in Naruto. Those that I haven’t mentioned, but who are still amazing, include Tsunade Senju, Mei Terumi, Tenten, Shizune, and Konan. If you want to find out what makes them amazing, go ahead and look them up. Or just watch the show. That would be awesome too!
Go and do not falter!
Rachel
Anime/Nintendo Nerd