The anime industry and its writers are notorious for making female characters a stereotype of themselves. From being hyper-feminine to exclusively for the sake of fan service, they aren’t treated right and this is most noticed in Masashi Kishimoto’s writing in Naruto. The severe hate for Sakura Haruno and how underwhelming the arcs for other female characters, like Tsunade, end up becoming is historical.

Sakura and Tsunade from Naruto. [Credit: Studio Pierrot]

There are, however, mangaka out there who portray women with respect and don’t see them as objects. Naoshi Arakawa, the creator of Your Lie In April, has this exact sentiment. His female main characters in Your Lie In April were flawed but had their own personalities and storylines. Kaori, especially, was the driving force of the overall plot and Kousei Arima’s healing. In Naruto, however, it seems the girls are cursed to stay stuck in shonen limbo.

Kishimoto Could’ve Learnt From Arakawa’s Approach to Writing Women

Kaori Miyazono from Your Lie In April. [Credit: A-1 Pictures]

Masashi Kishimoto has admitted to not knowing how to write girls and it is honestly quite evident in Naruto. While there are several interesting aspects of his female characters, he doesn’t explore them at all. They are left hollow and hated by the entire fandom and in Sakura’s case, the anime community. It’s honestly disheartening to see how lazily he wrote them or that a seasoned writer like him refuses to get better at it.

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Despite the disappointment of how male mangaka write women in anime, there is hope. Naoshi Arakawa brings out the essence of humanity in his female characters and doesn’t think of them as objects. In an interview, when asked about how his characters aren’t “girly girls,” he states:

I’m not interested in drawing girls who are just cute or “moe.” I want to draw girls who are cool and awesome. Of course later down the line, I would like to introduce more unique characters.

The story of Kaori Miyazono is incredibly sad and complex. With limited time to live, she decides to finally build up the courage to befriend Kousei Arima and get him back into the music she loved so much. While many fans found her rather selfish for embedding her beliefs onto him, she also sacrificed her own feelings towards him to let him heal. Her death didn’t hurt any less, thanks to Arakawa’s beautiful writing, but she did the right thing, no matter how convoluted the plan was. Her flaws with her strong personality are what make her human and a brilliantly written character.

Did Kishimoto Make A Huge Mistake With The Women of Naruto?

Hinata Hyuga from Naruto. [Credit: Studio Pierrot]

A writer who can write a character like Madara or Itachi Uchiha well should also be able to write about women. It’s not hard to make them have a personality and story arc relevant to the plot, especially one as vast as Naruto. However, Kishimoto doesn’t seem to even care to write about the women in Naruto with some essence. Even Hinata Hyuga, who is basically a blank slate, could’ve written much better.

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To this day, Naruto fans begrudge the way Kishimoto has written women and are even critical of it, rightfully. If only all mangaka could understand that anime doesn’t have to be for fan service, they would write their women with grace and detail.

Naruto and Your Lie In April are available on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire