Now before you yell at me, I would like to point out something on the fact of the matter please, as much as I love the series Naruto I do truly question sometimes on Kishimoto's treatment of the female characters, with some exceptions here and there which was shown in the form of Mei and Konan. Despite what some may claim I actually try my hardest in attempts to like Sakura Haruno as a character, but unfortunately I can't, and the reasons will be written below in a lengthy description of my perspective. Feel free to argue with it or not once I am through.
Part 1:
To be all in fair, she was essentially a plot device for the majority of the first chapter, and to some degree in fillers where it concerned her being as the "motivation' in Team 7". This greatly differs from Naruto and Sasuke, who'm had defined goals; whereas she did not ("Why did I become a ninja?").
Naruto and Sasuke fought tough battles against the likes of Zabuza, Orochimaru, Gaara(One Tails) in the initial Chunin Exam(damned fillers), battle at the bridge and many countless more that would motivate specifically Naruto for who he is today. Though
since it's a shonen manga, character development typically occurs while the character is fighting; since she didn't fight nearly as much as Naruto or Sasuke, her character progression was greatly less. She definitely changes over Part I: she went from a over-obsessive Sasuke fangirl to someone much more serious, but at the end, her '
goal' was highlighted in only a slight variation of panels as she trains under Tsunade to assist Naruto and Sasuke, also to put her place as one of the "New Sannin" in an ironic sense.
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In
Part II, it is periodically getting better but immediately became worse again. Along with her maturely, it was displayed that she gained some new changes throughout the introduction in terms of her combat and medical capabilities, stemming from her tutelage from Tsunade(as shown on the omake fillers).
After that, she drops from the spotlight to become a plot device again. She's injured by Naruto during his rampage as the Nine Tails which transpired him into learning to control it, leading up to the Pain Invasion. Then she performs one of the most idiotic things that a character can quite possibly do.
A) Pissed off a lot of the fans for outright lying to Naruto, doing one of the most damning things a female character can do which is lie about your emotions, especially in terms of love.
B) Pretty much took a step back in her character development since she's literally "trying so hard but still fails." It reached a certain point at the middle of Part 2(after the encounter with Sasori) where her focus was once again to gloat about Sasuke, and to fill that "gap" for background character fill.
C) Refused to assist Naruto during his battle with Pain, whereas Hinata Hyuga took the spotlight.
If Kishi had continued the sort of development we saw in the beginning of Part II, it would have been nice. Instead, he neglects her as a character until the Five Kage meeting, which is once again where her character seems to drastically drop.
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"Combat Prowess":
There is a primary reason why I can't seem to respect Sakura Haruno
as one of the protagonist, it's not her character in general, it's
the direction that the character has went throughout this point.
It's not the fact that she's "useless and cries". No, she doesn't. She's damn useful and
is very much needed actually for this story to progress concerning her role. But one of my many reasons for disliking her stems from the fact that Sakura is pretty much an exact replica of Tsunade in terms of her combat capabilities, and her involvement(or lack therefore) in Part 1.
It's not Sakura as more than it is Kishimoto. He just does not seem to develop female characters well as compared to most manga series where they play a primary role. Tremendous characters like Temari, Tenten(who I love dearly) and even Ino, all of them where they just seem to fade away into completely obscurity. Sakura is the best developed female character and it is only due to Tsunade herself.
What does she specifically have that is going for her in terms of her combat capabilities ?
Super strength
Medical Jutsu
Regeneration
Katsuyu.
No connections whatsoever to Hamura(Hinata) or Hagoromo(Sasuke and Naruto), no background capabilities that is displayed, something that she should had revealed at some point through her parents(which never happened).
Naruto Gaiden: A step back in proper adulthood and parentage:
Recently in Naruto Gaiden, it seems that she failed her part as a parent to indulge in the life of her child(at least I hope she's her child...) which is in Sarada, as compared to the others parents shown in the earlier panels who are going out of their way to train their kids in preparations for the upcoming Chunin Exam, easily passing out for
something that honestly should be considered a comedy skit.
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This is something is now getting on my nerves, it's something I personally wished would stop with this character. Why did she had to lie to Sarada concerning the circumstances of her father, why did she went through such great lengths to obscure Karin's existence to what may potentially be her child after all ? Unless it's one of my predicted reasons that Karin passed away and entrusted the child to Sakura.
Though there better be some damn good explanation as to why the things are transpiring as they are in the introduction of Naruto Gaiden manga, because if I get "
I was in denial from telling the truth, because I still love him" speech or even SOMETHING remotely close to that, I will legitimately pass the line where I can never respect Sakura again.
Sorry if this went longer than expected and may have potentially turned into a rant, but it was just something that I personally felt and needed to get off my chest, my personal justifications on not liking the character and wanting a legitimate reason to take this character seriously, it's been one damning fault after another with her.
Thanks for the long read, and hope you all enjoy Naruto Gaiden.
