If you were asked to name the most complex characters in Naruto, surely you would recall Kakashi, Itachi, Orochimaru, or even Madara. As it turns out, author Masashi Kishimoto’s opinion is far apart from any fan’s expectation.
It’s not the intense background-wielding characters that scare the author; it is the stubborn yet complex personality of a Team 7 member that gave him a run for his money. By now, you must have guessed the character already, yes it is Sasuke Uchiha, the deutraginist to Naruto who will be discussed in this article.
Which character was the most difficult to maintain in Naruto?
Masashi Kishimoto claims that depending on how he wanted his characters to work, there were no particularly difficult characters. However, Sasuke was the one who bothered him the most, because he he didn’t act until given an appropriate enough situation.
Kishimoto confesses that it was hard to draw many scenes in Naruto that included Sasuke. The author was afraid that in order to push the plot, he would make Sasuke do something uncharacteristic. Since the characters’ settings and personalities are decided from the beginning, you cannot just make them do anything.
Kishimoto then uses a hypothetical example to make it easier to understand. If Sasuke is a character who likes tea and is served so in a scene, he will drink it. But if it’s juice, he will leave it alone. However, if the story demands Sasuke to drink juice so it could progress, it would be difficult to set up a situation where he does so.
A different pattern has to be established so the juice is acceptable to Sasuke. The established character breaks down if he drinks juice out of the blue. Kishimoto comments that during Naruto’s run, Sasuke was put in many situations where it was difficult to make him act in character.
Similarly, Naruto could not be made to say complex things all of a sudden. If he said something mature, it would look like a lie, as he had never experienced it. Since the characters are decided first, they cannot act in a straightforward manner.
How did Masashi Kishimoto decide on the romance between the characters in Naruto?
Kishimoto claims that he was never aware of romance blossoming between his characters. He just went with the flow. He did not draw Sakura as the heroine at any point. In fact, other than Naruto, no one seemed like a main character to him.
“I didn’t draw Sakura as a heroine. Naruto was special because he was the main character, but the other characters were all equal, with no one being the main character or supporting character.”
Kishimoto only thought about how the characters would move along the way. However, in his mind, he already knew that Naruto and Sakura were different. The author tries not to pay too much attention to setting up romances, and it’s something he doesn’t like drawing.
Kishimoto’s approach could seem unorthodox to some, but it is because he pays utmost attention to character development that we have such a well-rounded story as Naruto.
You can read Naruto on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
