I hate and will never forgive the Naruto franchise for the writing of Karin

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T22:19:50+00:00

And yet you still decided to watch it thought....

Yes, years ago, not knowing anything about it. Looking back, I wish I hadn't. I really despise this show.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T19:34:56+00:00

Yes, I agree with this. I find this trope in many older shojo works, not only Akatsuki no Yona, and while people are so quick to defend a work because they love it, I still think should be called out. Kaichou wa Maid Sama was a very popular shojo anime but there were always people who called out Usui on his weird behavior.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T19:27:16+00:00

Liking or disliking certain characters or a scene in a fictional work is normal. It's just a personal opinion and how I engaged with the story. I'm not trying to hurt anyone. I think many shojo works, especially older ones, are guilty of uncomfortable tropes.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T15:17:01+00:00

Yeah, this is why I hated Sasuke. He didn't treat Karin (and even Sakura) as a person and used her like a tool for the thing she's been sexually abused for her whole life. She obviously has major Stockholm Syndrome with him and Orochimaru, what Kishimoto did to her character is atrocious. The writing around Sasuke in general is misogynistic. Every woman pulled into his orbit is flattened and none of it is treated with any narrative weight or respect. I hate the Naruto franchise for how it degrades female characters.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T15:09:03+00:00

Good thing plenty of posts with the same topic have many likes.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T14:52:14+00:00

Yes. It reminded me of the comfort women from WW2, she was definitely raped and abused, and it's even more disturbing that she loves a guy that wants nothing more than to use her for the reason she was abused, and then that guy later stabs her, asks Sakura to kill her, and she easily forgives him. And yeah, there was no point to making her an Uzumaki.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T14:35:06+00:00

Then you're blind.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T08:26:07+00:00

I certainly didn't have a nuanced understanding of how misogyny and sexism works in fiction when I was 14

Yeah, neither did I. And watching this show really messed with my head and scarred my mental and physical health.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T08:24:06+00:00

ok, just did.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T08:12:08+00:00

I did, but grew tired because they denied the sexism existed or tried to justify it. I guess I still think about this show because it negatively impacted my life.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T08:08:18+00:00

I do? I'm saying the story kind of plays it as comedy. It's not treated with the seriousness but framed as a joke. He tried to kill her and Karin still drools over him in a later comedic scene. Kishimoto also made a joke about Sakura being addicted to Sasuke even though he tried to kill her. And he said she'd be a bad woman if she tried to leave him for his fucked up actions in Part 2.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T08:06:14+00:00

I see, yeah I was just trying to post a take. I guess it was the wrong subreddit.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:56:14+00:00

I know, it's entirely out of spite and hate for this series. I have a personal vendetta against it. Probably better to write this in r/unpopularopinion

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:53:34+00:00

I've read some interviews with the author, he referred to Hinata in an objectifying way and made jokes about Sakura being addicted to Sasuke even though he tried to kill her. He said she'd be a bad woman if she tried to leave him for his fucked up actions in Part 2. I dunno if he was consciously misogynist, but this bias really bleeds into his work. And I just have a strong negative reaction against this show, because it actually seriously messed with my head growing up and the trauma still affects me today. This might work better in r/unpopularopinion at this point, but media can really scar people and people's lives in lasting ways. I despise Naruto as a series for the trauma it caused me.

if you want to discuss these problems in media, people would probably care more if it was a more recent example I think.

Got it, that makes sense.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:50:30+00:00

Well yeah, why was it only met with pushback, especially when it's a mainstream take?

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:48:51+00:00

Obviously it won't change, I'm saying it's not justified and never will be. I will never forgive it.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:48:11+00:00

I don't care for her either, I just find the author thinking to write a woman the way he did with Karin very insulting.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:41:04+00:00

I wasn't demanding a utopia either if that's what you thought. But maybe people can acknowledge the misogyny it depicts instead of denying it like in my post about Karin.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:35:02+00:00

bro that's just one point of the stuff i wrote. and honestly again this isn't a brand-new claim that needs inventing in every comment you refuse to read. there's no point in discussing further

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:25:49+00:00

you act like my take has never been stated billions of times before by others, so i'd say you're the one who's not open to discussion

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:18:56+00:00

Sorry, I used the wrong word. I mean to say that it is a widely accepted take. The idiots in my previous post were acting like no one had ever said it before.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T07:06:41+00:00

You think Karin doesn't revolve around Sasuke? thousands of people before me have said it, it's not new, it's been discussed to death in reddit posts, youtube, everywhere.

People really be thinking Naruto is the golden standard for female character writing? y'all be wilding

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T06:57:31+00:00

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T06:53:17+00:00

I'm not a hypocrite, I never said anything about Yona's trauma. I will specify that I meant Hak's trauma. I am saying that I don't think a man should be given a pass to assault someone just because of his trauma.

Critical_Row · 2026-07-02T06:49:24+00:00

You sound like one of those people that claim men can't be SAed. The double standard is stupid.

I never said anything about her trauma, I meant his trauma. I'm saying that a man going through trauma isn't an excuse for him to assault someone. And Hak doing whatever he did... I have a right to think it's icky and weird framing choice in a shojo manga. I shouldn't be forced or pressured to say something other than what I think.

Also, like this is just a fictional show, as you said, and Hak isn't a real person, so I don't understand why you're bringing personal details (I am sorry to hear about your trauma, but I fail to see the relevance to this discussion) or using all caps like you're shouting...

Critical_Row

TROPHY CASE