There’s a certain inkling to hate that seems inherently and vitally true to the Human genome. So much so that it is hardly an understatement to say that to hate is second only to love. Yet from a psychological perspective, it feels viable to concur that to hate is to project – that is to project one’s own shadow into the other. But what about when people hate a certain fictional character, and that too with rigid passion?
We take that question as a method and take Sakura Haruno as our reference.
A hypothesis on the psychology of hating fictional characters
When tackling topics such as these, it is important to notice that everyone has their own specific opinions as to why they hate a particular character. My objective today is to accurately try and pinpoint why people hate one character collectively, contrary to hating individually but not sharing the said hate. What sense of belonging do they absorb from such en-masse hating?
The Beginning of the mass hate of fictional characters
Seeing Niggas hate on this fight jus tells they gonna hate on sakura no matter what pic.twitter.com/jH0jGDztF5
— Bam²⁵ (@The25thNigga) April 8, 2023
FIRST Identification of dislikeable characteristic traits
It seems hate first comes out as a collectively unconnected marriage of feelings. Initially, let’s say there’s this character B- upon which certain traits are publicly held unlikeable. Such characteristics then sprout dislike from different audiences from all around the globe, perhaps even simultaneously and at the same time.
SECOND – Expressing the inner experience of hate outwardly, namely in Social Media
They then find the closest outlet they have to express their inner experience – social media. Covered in Twitter, Reddit, Youtube, and Instagram – primarily. They then find other people, who are expressing the same thing. In their finding of the other, they see a sense of togetherness.
Because they have now been brought together by a shared sense of inner experience – that of hatred. Ironically quite similar to how it is to love something. In the same way one is brought together by their love of something, shall they be brought for their hatred as well.
THIRD – A Call to the primal nature of men to join the crowd
Now that this is figured, we then see a barrage of posts dedicated to elaborating such hate. Because to expand what’s within is the common human psyche and behavior.
Then people are swayed by a series of posts that they see of people hating on some particular character. And because of the nature of the human genome, it is common for social creatures to join in the crowd.
To not join the crowd is death
- In some sense, this may also be hereditary – because it feels to me that in the ancient ages, social expulsion was quite similar to death.
- As human beings are such social creatures, we are equally fragile when alone. And when expulsed, or excommunicated, we are close to death as we can be.
Maybe this inherent drive within us is triggered when we see the crowd either loving or hating, a particular thing. One may notice this when they feel subconsciously triggered to support a particular cultural trend, a song, a film, a community when others are doing the same.
On Why do People hate Sakura Haruno – an example
Sakura’s character has received considerable backlash from anime fans due to various reasons. I have tried to pinpoint some common characteristics that define why people hate her. As such, take the below pointers as what the collective seems to use to hate her, instead of my personal opinion.
- Lack of Development: Sakura is a main character but doesn’t have significant character development, especially in the anime. People feel like the writers often ignore her development in the anime, making her a boring character.
- Indecisive: During the War arc, Sakura couldn’t decide who to save first between Naruto and Sasuke despite knowing that Sasuke was their enemy who tried to kill her. This indecisiveness made many viewers angry and frustrated.
- Inconsistent Characterization: Sakura’s characterization in the anime is inconsistent, making her come off as mean and constantly punching Naruto for no reason, unlike in the manga where she only hits him when he’s being perverted.
- Poor Writing: In the movies, Sakura is often the worst part because of how poorly the writers write her character, making her unlikeable.
- Shipping Communities: There is a lot of hate towards Sakura in the NaruHina and NaruSaku shipping communities. People tend to hate the character in the rival ship, making it difficult to separate their feelings towards the character from their ship preferences.
Nah the way some of you are acting because Sakura Vs Chiyo won Best Naruto Fight is crazy
If y’all didn’t want it to win that badly simply vote for the other fights. But the fact that people are calling this fight trash because it won. I’m sorry but I don’t agree with that. pic.twitter.com/1xTqO4l0EW
— Zero Gravity 💫 (@Z3RO_GRAVITY_) April 7, 2023
Sakura’s lack of usefulness during crucial moments has resulted in disdain from the fandom. While Sakura had a significant impact on the series, fans thought she was weak and useless, especially when compared to Naruto and Sasuke, who were also on her team.
Additionally, Sakura’s character growth was uneven, which hampered her character arc. While she displayed great power and skill on certain occasions, she was helpless and indecisive at other times.
This inconsistency was evident in her fighting abilities as well. For instance, in her fight against Sasori, Sakura displayed her impressive skills, but in the battle against Kaguya, she struggled to make a significant contribution.
Concluding
Sakura’s inconsistent character growth during pivotal moments in the series has led fans to resent her and doubt her abilities. Aside from this, her attitude (which seems ungrateful for the most part) towards Naruto has also been similarly hated.
- But a crucial understanding in this part might be that despite her flaws, Sakura indeed has had tremendous character growth.
- From the point when she decided to lie to Naruto about loving him so that she ends his relentless pain of having the burden of finding Sasuke. To fighting an Otutsuki bare-fisted in Boruto. She has been given much more hate than she should be warranted.
And while to hate is human, so is to empathize and love. And ultimately the devil lies in the choice, but so does god. Be god.
Also Read: Misty in Pokemon Anime: Why she receives hate similar to Sakura from Naruto
That’s it for now. You can hit me up personally on my Instagram if you feel like discussing any pivotal Anime points that I cover in my articles here in Spieltimes. Until then, I am signing off. See you in my next article. Till then, happy Anime Binging, and keep updated with spieltimes.
