But really, Sakura's development is not the best. Now, I'm not one of those people who put much stock in the idea of her needing to have a "good and prestigious" background to have a chance at being well written. No, having a good background is overrated in terms of development. For example, Orochimaru, Danzo, Kakashi, Jiraiya etc are all decent at worst to well written at best, yet have no special background.
What would have been better, in my opinion, is for her goals to not revolve around Sasuke so much. Maybe she could have been someone who was bullied for not being from a special family, like her friend Ino to name but one example. That would be far more promising than what we got at first, which was basically "I wanna be with Sasuke-kun", which was a harbringer of things to come for her character. The other issue is that her dialogue doesn't impact the plot in a positive manner. The most emotional lines from her are "I love Sasuke", or the "I'm useless, I can't save Sasuke" one at the bridge.
But the bullies were not from some special family either so that would be stupid... And frankly that would have been awful - it would project Konoha as a village which favoured only those who had special powers. It kind of would have defeated the theme and ideal Kishi was going for.
And while her dialogues at times could use more efforts, her most emotional lines are not centered around Sasuke only. You completely missed many of her emotional lines around Naruto which made so many Naru/Sasu pairing fans so hopeful or with other characters like Ino or Chhiyo.
"I may not have amazing weapons like a puppet in me, but what I do have is my master's contempt for losing!"
"Same as always… I can only do those of things for Naruto which anyone can…" ( the episode where she was healing him after going 4 tails. She asks to be taught and Yamato tells her she cannot that jutsu to suppress Kyuubi since it needed Senju cells. That's sadness for not being able to help Naruto in more ways. She also lied to him and didn't tell that she was hurt because Naruto had hit her with Kyuubi chakra in that form so that he doesn't feel bad.
"I'm the one who made Naruto suffer the most… I've just been getting it wrong… just been messing it up… I don't want to get it wrong anymore… don't want to screw it up anymore."
^ Again - Kishi didn't really drop his initial idea of a girl who is well intentioned but keeps making faux pas or in a wrong way. She feels thankful to Naruto and understands his attraction for him but was unable to reciprocate it. And that made her confession to him less than convincing too. She could lie more convincingly about getting hurt by kyuubi chakra but she couldn't bring herself to make that convincing because she was conflicted and affected by what she was going to to do next- try to kill Sasuke or die trying. The very fact that Sasuke or her one of them was sure to die pretty soon.
I agree with the point that the dialogues and time given to this side could have been little more elaborate but in the panel slotted to it was not handled that badly. It's just that one has to stop and think about Sai and then Shikamru's words and then her decision to free Naruto of his promise to her in one way or another.
Frankly that whole part sounded like a big flaw in strategy of someone like Shkamaru more. For even if Sakura didn't ditch others they all were heading towards suicide. Sasuke was not alone. Tobi was there. Did Shikamaru really think he could take care of Sasuke without even trying to find out his current power level or finding out his associates? All the problems he was counting to convince Sakura to agree would have only quadrupled if so many died. So in the end it was a set up to make Sakura Naruto and Sasuke meet. So that Sasuke could show how far to the deep end he had gone and Naruto could decide to bare his hate, yet without giving an inch.
That leads me onto my next point: Given how Kishi chose to follow the route of Sakura's character revolving around Sasuke, it would have been nice if she had at least played a small part in Sasuke changing. I'm not saying she had to be on Sasuke's level powerwise, but perhaps if she could have played a small role in talking him out of it alongside Naruto, instead of being knocked out immediately, and playing no further role until Sasuke had already reverted to the good side.
Sakura's character surrounds her team. Everything is for story of Naruto. Even Shikamaru acts less than smart in the scenario above to facilitate a chance for Naruto. Her playing an active role during the fight would have lessened the show of power and yet friendly compassion and understanding between the guys. The shonnen goal. Giving Sakura a bigger role here would have been on Naruto's cost. Writer doesn't seem to want to make him share the spot light with anyone else even slight bit in the finale.
But saying this all, I do agree with you in general terms. I think they could have let Sakura save herself previously at least once , instead of Kakashi saving her. And her jump away from Kaguya should have been more clear too - before Kakashi flashed his PS. and there the rushing the manga in the end was clearly on her cost.
I guess the movie date being set was also a big factor. Kishi's father died giving us an unexpected break of two weeks and yet manga ended on due date even if they had to publish two chapters in a single day.
With all that being said though, given her background, Kishi developed her well powerwise. She's one of, if not the best medic in Konoha, and has great fighting feats for someone "normal". So, in sum, Sakura had good power development, but her impact on the plot via her dialogue is not good enough for a MC, which is why she's always compared to side characters like Hinata and Karin on occasion, and not MCs like Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, or even well written side characters like Itachi and Danzo.
Both the girls - Sakura and Hinata were never meant to be the lead anyway. They are called heroines for the sole reason of being love interest of the two lead males. And Sakura incidentally connects to both of them in one way or another. They are only supporting cast in the story even if either of them is called a heroine for that reason.
I guess you and I just see things differently. You think facing Madara as a deliberate and smart move. I think of it as a confused and wasted one.
You see her going to kill Sasuke as Sai's and Shikamaru's idea. I see it as her weak resolve.
So I guess we have to agree to disagree
I didn't say that. So what made you to conclude that? Agree to disagree is just fine, you are missing my point anyway.
1. She says that she wants them to "look at her back" in both part 1 and part 2. As in, to be on par or above them.
2. "Brought back" as in what SkyFall mentioned.
3. No she couldn't. She was focusing on Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura knew that.
1- She feels left out- be it any team if two people are doing things together while not letting in the third one on regular basis no matter small contribution the third one can make then it's often annoying by itself even if the other two didn't mean anything by it. Kakashi talked a lot about team work but what does he do as a teacher- he shelters Sakura while pays extra attention to just one guy. Shouldn't he have taught rasengan to the student with best chakra control at the time even if he couldn't teach chidori?
2- They were having typical Guy moment of shonnen so she was put in genjutsu to keep out of it. Notice that Kakashi doesn't try to help her free from it. They just let her sleep or break it on her own. Maybe he knew she would need to rejuvenate herself too before fighting again. No I don't like it that much from Sakura's angel. But, I can see why writer chose to do it that way. She was there for them in the end and ensured they get to live. :shurg: There is really not much to do about it.
3- She ninjaed her. Kakashi planned it seeing how Kaguya was evading Naruto and Sasuke. But it still means Sakura was included in the equation. Something she was asking for a long time. She had to keep insisting for even this much. Not that much of a high point to get hyper over but technically she succeeded as it was still a crucial hit.
One can ask for more since it's fantasy and push for other social agendas but they may not necessarily fit in "shonnen" - which is mostly about the guys. Female characters sharing the stage at finale itself is rare for it would take at least some focus away from the guys.