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Day 03 of Tifaweek2022 | @tifa-daily

SAKURA’S TOXIC LOVE

Sakura’s “love” towards Sasuke has never been a positive thing either for Sasuke or Sakura herself. When introducing Sakura, Kishi described her as a person who pursues “selfish love”.

誰でも内なるサクラのような心の声を 持ってますし、それに自分勝手な恋な んかも含めてリアルな人間らしさがあ っていいと思っています。 “Everyone has an inner voice in their head like Inner Sakura and I think her pursuing a selfish love is very realistic.”

The word used here is 自分勝手な 恋な, (jibungattena koina) which means selfish/self centered/egoistic love. It’s a negative word.

Now the argument from stans would of course be that Sakura and her love “matured” but this is not the case and Kishi made it very clear. He was really consistent in how he drew Sakura’s confessions and Sasuke’s reactions to them, and to her.

Notice how Sasuke only reacts when Sakura refers to herself. He’s amused. At first, Sakura makes sense, but the self centered person that she is, she just had to make it about herself. She could have left it at “revenge for its own sake won’t make you happy” but she’s not that kind of person or character. And Sasuke knows this. Since the beginning, Kishi showed Sasuke as someone who is extremely perceptive of people. He could tell multiple times that Naruto wasn’t the real Naruto but a fake, when Sakura couldn’t. He could tell Sakura was acting off while Naruto couldn’t. He could tell Naruto was changing. He knew there was something off about Kabuto even when everyone else had accepted him and trusted him. He could have cared less about all the fangirls and their shallow infatuation on him. When Sakura spoke cruelly about Naruto, Sasuke was angry. When she implied she immediately wants to give up on the bell test, Sasuke was angry. Sakura’s lack of honesty and resolve as well as her selfishness and ignorance annoy him. Her taking her family for granted annoys him, because family is everything to Sasuke, it’s his character motivation. However, when Sakura starts to cry and talk about loneliness and family, he tries to comfort her calmly, telling her that they have different paths and it’s time to part. But this sets Sakura off.

Not only she starts to confess her love in order to sway Sasuke, despite the fact not only he has never given her any reasons to think he returns her feelings, he has also told her that he won’t change his path for her sake. This whole conversation has been all about Sakura being wrong, having complete lack of tact and compassion by insisting even if she has a family, Sasuke leaving her would leave her feeling just as lonely as he is, and talking about how SHE hurts. Literally how dare she? Regardless, she goes on, and makes it worse.

She not only does not try to understand Sasuke’s reasons, but she completely flips on what she just said a moment ago about how revenge won’t make Sasuke happy and shows that at the end of the day, it is not about Sasuke’s well being or needs but about her and her selfish desires to have Sasuke be with her. And Sasuke knows. This is why he was amused before when Sakura added his revenge won’t make her happy. And after her showing her true colors once again, Sasuke says this:

A direct translation would be “I knew it (yappari), you are annoying.” But both definitely fit Sakura’s character. It’s not a coincidence both of these “I knew it” come after she makes it about herself. And Sasuke is again amused because he was right about her. That she’s insincere and selfish. Him thanking her doesn’t change this, it’s simply Sasuke being kind and trying to leave on good terms.

So in part 1 Sasuke saw Sakura as a comrade, but in part 2 of the manga Sasuke and Sakura do not have a relationship at all. When Team 7 first sees Sasuke, Kishi shows Sasuke only looking at Naruto, they have direct eye contact for multiple pages, and Sasuke is constantly addressing Naruto as well. Sasuke only acknowledges Sakura by saying her name when he sees her, but not further, they do not have a conversation. In the Kage Summit arc Sasuke treats Sakura like any fodder ninja. He’s not at all surprised Sakura has come to kill him nor does he hesitate to kill her in retaliation. Again, Kishi shows only Naruto having an effect on Sasuke when he arrives to save Sakura and gets through to Sasuke.

I mentioned all this because it’s important to acknowledge Sakura hasn’t gotten a real reaction out of Sasuke throughout the whole part 2, when her second confession comes.

Not only does she once again degrade herself in front of Sasuke, which to anyone possessing any emotional intelligence is not a sign of love, but she also makes it about herself again, her “place” in Sasuke’s heart. First of all, degrading yourself to your “loved one” is to make them feel pity or guilt. Secondly, she does not address Sasuke’s reasons, or try to understand them. She talks about how things can go back to the way they were, but Sasuke doesn’t want that, he knows he used to live a lie when he didn’t know the truth. She thinks crying and asking Sasuke to think about HER would make Sasuke sway just like during her first confession. Please point out to me where is the change in the dynamic? There is none. She acts like she understands at first, but then she turns irrational, she degrades herself, she howls and cries and begs. And makes it about herself. She is still selfish. And Sasuke again acknowledges that he has always been right about her.

And what does Kishi has to say about Sakura’s “love” after the ending? The link to the full interview is here but I will crop it because the image is so big. The part I’ll bring up is near the end (which is on left):

そうでtね・でも サクラはサスケ中毒で Sakura is addicted to Sasuke.

Kishi uses 中毒 to describe Sakura’s feelings/addiction.

I’m showing the details because addiction itself doesn’t even cut it how negative the word is. Is pictures of skulls and bones what you’d expect when you google this word? Because it’s used for general poisoning and drug addiction. If he wanted, he could have used a more light-hearted word (there are those) for addiction but he didn’t because that’s not how he sees it. Obviously, some jp fans on forums were offended too, said Sakura sounds like a crazy stalker who should be locked up in mental asylum.

And finally, Kishi’s NYCC 2015 interview:

Kishimoto: Sakura… she’s kind of a hard woman. (laughs) Interviewer: (laughs) That’s Sasuke’s problem now. Kishimoto: (laughs) Yeah you’re right. Interviewer: (laughs) He deals with it by not being home. (everybody laughs)

Is it surprising Sasuke does not want to be around Sakura? He looks miserable and uncomfortable around her in Gaiden, while he is smiling and looks relaxed around Naruto in Boruto movie, both written by Kishi. And Sakura looks tired the whole manga and like she has resigned to her fate, she knows things aren’t completely okay but she would rather possess Sasuke in any way she can. Because her love is toxic.

UNDERRATED KATAANG MOMENTS [FEATURING KATARA]

1. S2E4 “The Swamp”

Katara sees Aang get knocked back by the monster and goes full Kyoshi with quick succession waterbending slices.

SHE’S ANGRY, FOLKS. THAT’S HER FUTURE HUSBAND.

— — — — —

2. S2E5 “Avatar Day”

Katara stares at Aang longer than usual with a mixture of admiration and love.

NOTICE THAT SOKKA DOESN’T LOOK AT HIM LIKE THAT. NOR DOES SHE LOOK AT SOKKA THE SAME WAY.

— — — — —

3. S3E1 “The Awakening”

The gang enters Aang’s room on the Fire Nation ship, asking him if he wants to come with them to go get dinner in town. Katara smiles in a ~particular way~ upon seeing him.

SHE FLASHES HIM A VERY SWEET SMILE IN THIS SCENE 🙂. THIS SEASON KEPT US WELL-FED WITH KATAANG. THEY SHOULD HAVE NAMED IT BOOK 3: KATAANG.

— — — — —

Bonus: S3E21, Final Scene

Not underrated but definitely the best❣️

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If you were serious about that third wheel energy ask thing...bottom left, Zuko + Katara/Aang?

yeah anyways, sokka took the pic