 In this series, if you can't offer love or healing to the men, what is your value? Because you'll never be as strong as them, so forget about that. Naruto's biggest weakness is not respect for elders or time-honored values, but rather it is its astonishingly anachronistic gender roles. Its representation suggests that men are men and women are women, and that they differ naturally in regard to aptitude and vocation. This is a line from Professor Yukari Fujimoto's insert in the study Manga's Cultural Crossroads, edited by Jacqueline Burnt and Bettina Kummerling-Maibawer, and it is a line that perfectly encapsulates some of the issues of how the women in Naruto are written. From Professor Fujimoto's findings, she states that Naruto's female readership compared to male readership was much lower than opposing manga, specifically comparing Naruto to one piece. This can be attributed to its poor treatment of its female characters and how rigidly they adhere to antiquated gender roles. In a world of fiction where foxes are sealed into the stomachs of ninja and shinobi have the ability to control aspects of time and space, the women were always one step behind compared to the men. Now this obviously is not anything new or groundbreaking, but I wanted to talk about it so I am. I want to look at the women of Naruto through two lenses, a shorter look at these aforementioned gender roles and then focusing on Sakura and Hinata, while also glossing over all of the other women of the series and how they are depicted in this story. I'll be using Fujimoto's findings and others to frame this dialogue. I think it's also important to say that if any of these characters are your comfort characters or you find inspiration in them, or you just like them, this isn't meant to tell you that you shouldn't, because all the more power to you if they do. These are simply my views on the series and how I felt they could have been given more care and thought. The professor iterates that antiquated gender roles are actively cultivated, fighting men and healing women. A common gender stereotype that the women are supposed to be the healers, the nurses, the medics, the life givers. Now, healers are tremendously important in any setting, but in Naruto they are all women. Even the ones who have shown skill in other areas are relegated to healers. For example, Sakura, whose true skill lied in Genjutsu, became a healer. Out of the 11 Konoha Gen'in to become healers, all of them were women. Aside from them, the prominent women of this series, Tsunade, followed far behind by Karin and Chiyo, are all healers. Kabuto is the only male medical nin and he's hardly displayed healing. Again, fighting men and healing women. Naruto solidifies this idea of women being one step behind, taking a look at combative skills specifically. Women are seldomly represented carrying much weight in battle. In the words of Professor Fujimoto once more, she says that, Female ninja who could overwhelm men purely through their combat skills do not make an appearance in this manga. Naruto has plenty of feared shinobi when it comes to combat. Madara, Naruto himself, Hashirama, Pain, Obito, Kakashi, and so many more. And the only female character to make this list would be Kaguya, quite frankly the worst antagonist of the series. Out of dozens and dozens of men, there's only one. On a lower level amongst the weaker shinobi in this regard, Inata, Kurenai, Tenten, and Inno, the women all pale in comparison to their male counterparts in combat. Even Hashirama's never before seen healing Jutsu was supposedly so much more advanced compared to Tsunades. This is an idea that is reflected throughout Naruto countless times. Fujimoto then continues to give this idea as a potential reason for why, after researching many internet boards, that the female characters are often the most disliked characters. With Sakura perched at the top of that list. A major issue with the women of Naruto is that many of their characters' motivations and frankly their existence are tied to the male characters of the series. While the majority of the focus will be on Sakura and Hinata, it's important to review the side characters as well. Naruto's goal is to become Hokage and Sasuke's goal is to restore his clan's honor. Throughout the series these stories are fleshed out and developed. They are emotional and compelling, filled with twists and turns, made with genuine thought and care. We have Naruto, the son of the late 4th Hokage, battling and growing with the 9-tail sealed inside of him, Sasuke who's chasing the man who killed his entire clan, who also happens to be his brother. Moreover even Lee fights to chase his dreams, Neji fights because it's his destiny, but Sakura and Inno fight for the unreciprocated love of some kid. Now sure it's a childish crush, but these were the roots of an idea that blossomed into a major issue. Looking at Sakura in particular, she never needed an emotional or dark backstory to have depth or to even be interesting. It's the fact that she doesn't have goals throughout the series other than wanting to be with Sasuke or wanting to catch up to him in Naruto. Her character's whole existence is driven by Sasuke. They seldomly have actual conversations in Part 1. And in Shippuden he still remains the driving force of her character trying to become stronger. Sakura has no agency, no goals or dreams of her own if it isn't tied to Sasuke. How amazing would it have been if Sakura was given even an inkling of the thought that was given towards all of these other supporting characters? And if she was given the care that Naruto and Sasuke were given, she'd have become an ideal for other writers to pursue. Sakura is a shinobi without any genetic or special advantage. She's become strong off of the merits of her own hard work. She's proven herself. But these moments always felt fleeting. Against Sasuri with Lady Chiyo, Sakura really proved herself. It felt like the beginning of actual depth to her character. It felt like she could actually catch up to Naruto and Sasuke. But she didn't prove herself again until the war. We never even saw her work towards the ability she developed during the war, not even a training montage. During Pain's assault, Sakura healed people and destroyed a summon, sure. But her defining moment during that arc was calling out for Naruto. Even Konohamaru got to defeat one of Pain's paths. It's these moments that truly disappoint. When asking a few of my friends what they thought of the female characters of this series, a common idea was the fact that the women who are quite physically powerful constantly needed saving. They were never strong enough. They never got to die as Shinobi's death on the battlefield. Which again relates to the idea that women in Naruto are only medics and healers. To get back to the point, for a main character, Sakura could not be more uninteresting and underutilized. I want to reinforce the fact that this is supposed to be a main character. She should have been as important as say Obito or Kakashi in Madara. However, from the very beginning, the audience was never given a reason to emotionally connect with her or with her infatuation over Sasuke. To close Sakura's section, Sakura's justification as a good character cannot be because she is physically strong. Physical strength doesn't equal a well-written character. And it's baffling to me that in order to defend Sakura's character, you have to point out obscure moments and feats, not actual plot points. Because aside from that, she's just not interesting at all. She isn't a relatable or compelling character. Let's call a spade a spade. She's just there to fill the quota, to be the role of nurse to Naruto and Sasuke. Moving on to Hinata, while her reasons for latching on to Naruto were valid, lacks any sort of internal motivation that is unrelated to the male characters. She once had an interest in gold, which was to navigate her way through the burden of her father's expectations, though her younger sister was stronger than her. But that was never fully explored. Instead it turned into her wanting Naruto's attention and gaining her courage because of him. Hinata had the potential to be an interesting character and her personality could have been used to further complement her development. The young Hyuga is shy and weak, but is supposed to be this ever-compassionate and kind girl. But when Naruto gets berated by the whole village and his youth, she never wants to fence him, showing that true compassion. Taking a chance in being Naruto's friend and saving him for a change. Instead she becomes a character who exists to please Naruto and to further his motivation, finally being brave and she decided to do it when he was fighting pain. But it's motivation that Naruto already has plenty of, motivation that he's had since his birth. Further pain had just killed Jiraiya, his sensei, but Hinata is what takes him over the edge. Hinata, as a shinobi, never felt comfortable to be on the front lines. For one of the first times we have a shinobi who actually belongs with the medical nin. I think she could have become a powerful healer, using her biakugan to complement her abilities and to find her true strength. Instead she's put on the front lines and Neji dies for her, reassuring the audience of her weakness. As stated earlier, the women of this series always need to be saved, what a moment it could have been for Hinata's development if she had saved him, taking us back to their battle in the Chunin exams, further exploring the themes of family and destiny. Hinata is a character who just doesn't do much. It's very realistic to be a shy, anxious and passive person, but you can be shy or anxious and still be strong, still be motivated, still have dreams, etc. Hinata has shown instances of being resilient and being brave, but it's disappointing to me that she's never been strong because she desired it for herself, and for her own reasons. Hinata never discovered that strength on her own. What would she be if it weren't for Naruto? She wants to be cool for Naruto, she wants to protect Naruto, she loves Naruto, she's courageous because of Naruto, it's boring. Love is never a bad motivation, but looking at it in this context, when you already have countless pieces of media telling them that their dreams should be geared towards pleasing or being protected by men, it is a failure that nearly every prominent woman in this series has the same goal. It tells nothing about independence or agency. It tells nothing about self-worth. It's so boring. Even Tsunade, who has become one of my favorite characters, while much less than others, her dreams were still never her own. It was protecting the dreams of others, of Don Noaki, Naruto, and Jiraiya. The other two women of the Konoha 11 weren't as present in this series, but Ino falls in line during part 1 to this idea, though she does improve after the death of Asuma, coming into her own. But out of the 11, Tenten was the most distant of this idea, and she might have the least amount of screen time out of them all. Outside of the Konoha 11, Tamari, who was equally powerful and showed her potential throughout the series, went sorely underused. Many of the minor characters either fall to this concept or do not get used throughout the story. Take Kushina for example, who wanted to become the first female Hokage. She became a housewife, Rinohara, who always needed to be saved, and Karin, who was just another of Sasuke's accessories, Anko, who was a student under Orochi Maru, but is unseen after the tuning exams. It's easy to dismiss them as minor or side characters, but we can all name the distinguished personalities and motivations that many of the male characters have. Shikimaru, Donzo, Zabuzan Haku even. These were all individuals who had motivations and stories that were emotionally compelling, and rarely were these characters tied to a woman. But it's telling that in this series, if you can't offer love or healing to the men, what is your value? Because you'll never be as strong as them, so forget about that. In this story, the men are the strongest fighters, the best mentors, the smartest, and they are the most present. Among the two female antagonists, Kaguya and Konon were just there. Kaguya was extremely underwhelming as the series' final antagonist. She appeared out of thin air and was defeated just as fast. And Konon had the stage set to be interesting, a unique and creative ability and a good motivation, but she too was relegated to being the silent accessory to Nagato and Yahiko. When it comes to the themes of family, again the men of Naruto excel. Brotherhood is strong in Naruto. Look at the relationship between Sasuke and Itachi, Kakashi and Obito, Hashirama and Tobirama, Naruto and Sasuke. They were all well done and were captivating stories with different ideals and parallels. But sisterhood doesn't exist in that universe. Sakura and Inno fighting over a boy. Sakura and Karin vying over unrequited love. Hinata and Hinabi would have made an interesting angle, but again potential squandered. I need to say that when it comes to romance, it's so abundantly clear that Naruto and Sasuke would have made much better romantic partners than anyone other than maybe Shikomaru and Tamari, the best couple of course. I believed much more in Naruto and Sasuke in their emotional tension as friends and enemies, rivals, much more than I believed in Naruto and Hinata, and definitely way more than the absent relationship that is Sakura and Sasuke. To get back on topic, as expressed earlier, the women of Naruto do not have value if the men are not involved. Their personal goals do not matter. From Sara G. Dardi's article, she states that the women in Naruto are all shadows of real women, but they all fall within the Shonen framework that places women either in the male gaze, or in the position to later fulfill the very good wife wise mother ideal, the idea that women should aspire to be nothing more than wives to husbands and mothers to children. The ones who have shown agency were either sorely underused, or they were forced into that good wife wise mother ideal, like Kushina. And the only one to stray from this is Tsunade, one out of dozens and dozens of characters. To finally close, I know I'm going to get comments saying that Shonen is written only for young males, and that just isn't true. Sure it might be their target audience, but women, girls, men, seniors, non-binary folks, everybody in between reads and watches Shonen. That's not an excuse to not write good and multi-dimensional female characters. It just isn't. The Naruto series will have a place in my heart forever, and I have made that clear, but nothing is above criticism. The women of this series were let down on so many levels, and reducing these characters to single moments, having them be defined by the men around them, further perpetuates an outdated and unfair gaze and purpose of women in entertainment, TV, anime, and manga, whatever. For the creative abilities and unique character designs that were produced for these characters, it is potential once again squandered. I've always said that representation matters, and it will always matter. But critical representation is even more important. Representation that stays with the audience after an episode, or after the final battle. I understand that there is more than just writing that is important to these stories, but there are a plethora of different cultural and societal implications that go into it. Ideas that were approved or disapproved of. But the fact of the matter is that these characters could have been written with so much more meaningful thought behind them. For all of the breathtaking heights that Naruto reached, it had its fair share of low points. But the way Naruto failed its female characters, to me, is the series' lowest point.