There are very few female characters in the anime and manga industry who are hated as much as Haruno Sakura from Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto. Her character development throughout the series is one of the main reasons why fans dislike her so much. Initially, it was just the way she treated Naruto, but as the story progressed, it became more and more about her individual persona.
While many believed that the hate towards Sakura was justified, Kishimoto did not expect it to be so intense. Originally, Kishimoto wrote Sakura’s character for the singular purpose of seducing the female fanbase, which is a tough one, as most shonen manga have never been able to crack the liking of the female audience.
Kishimoto once not only revealed his original intentions with the character of Sakura but also talked about the hate she got, especially from the female fanbase. So much so that the mangaka started regretting his decisions about the team 7 member.
Masashi Kishimoto’s Intentions with Sakura’s Character in Naruto
In 2015, an interview between Masashi Kishimoto and Japanese comedian Kobayashi was featured on Fuji TV. This interview was later translated and summarized by KirinNOTKarin98 for the Naruto fandom. When Kishimoto was asked about Sakura, he revealed the exact reason why he created Sakura and what he had planned for the character.
The summary stated:
Kishimoto says he tried to write her more realistically [than other characters], and tried to show a girl’s ‘real’ self/ feelings [through inner Sakura]. He thought she would appeal to female fans, but was surprised when she actually became hated.
According to the mangaka, Kishimoto wanted Sakura to appeal to female fans, which is one of the toughest crowds for any kind of Shonen manga. Kishimoto decided to write Sakura more practically and accurately by portraying the real feelings of girls in her situation. However, it backfired, and Kishimoro was surprised to find out that she became one of the most hated characters.
Masashi Kishimoto’s Plan Heavily Backfired
While talking about Sakura’s character, Masashi Kishimoto was asked about what he thought of the hate that Sakura got. The mangaka stated that although he was surprised to see Sakura getting hate from the general Shonen audience, he did not expect that the female fanbase would also start to dislike the character. He revealed that even young girls hated her.
The summary read:
Kobayashi asks if there was a lot of Sakura hate, and Kishimoto says there was, and even young girls told him they hate her. Kishimoto said that he continued on regretting Sakura’s character. Kobayashi apologizes for bringing up the painful memories as Kishimoto apologizes for tailing off (lol).
The hate towards Sakura as a character grew to the point that the mangaka started regretting his decision for Sakura’s character in Naruto.
While there were other characters who were not liked by the Naruto fanbase, none of them were able to reach the level of hate that Sakura got from the beginning of the series until the end. And even after so many years, the Sakura hate is still going on.
You can watch Naruto on Hulu.
