Shikamaru, the structural anomaly
Note: This is neither a pro-Shikamaru nor an anti-Shikamaru essay.
Actually, I don't particularly care about Shikamaru, especially after his rather cheesy fight against Hidan. But I'm a structure freak and from a structural point of view, Shikamaru is quite the anomaly.
Besides, I needed to get this out of the way so that I can concentrate on other essays without needing to repeat some of the things here. ^^
NF version
Foreword
I. Shikamaru's presence besides Naruto
I.1. Shikamaru's near ubiquitous presence
I.2. The lack of thematic connections
II. Shikamaru's themes
II.1. Shikamaru's flexible main theme
II.2. The ability to form his own mini-themes "out of nothing"
III. Shikamaru, the pseudo main character
III.1. The hype
III.2. The "return on theme"
III.3. Personal fodders
III.4. Temari
III.5. Akatsuki
Conclusion
Foreword
In order to understand what the hell I'm talking about, it's best to be familiar with my rather old but mostly still valid themes essay.
It explains, to a point, what is likely Kishimoto's character design process, and from there it's easier to see why Shikamaru departs from the norm.
I. Shikamaru's presence besides Naruto
I.1. Shikamaru's near ubiquitous presence
Consider this:
Shikamaru starts like just another support cast. He's an apparently lazy loser. Naruto's opinion of him was pretty bad, and the feeling was pretty much mutual. Naruto is actually pissed when Shikamaru wins against kin. Shikamaru is actually surprised when Naruto wins against Kiba.
But when Naruto was at the hospital after learning Kuchiyose, Shikamaru actually went to visit him and waited for him to wake up. Nothing structurally or otherwise would have necessitated that however: the fruits excuse was random, and nothing would have forced Shikamaru to wait for "the annoying person" to wake up. Of course, their opinion of each other could have improved during the prelims, but it's still random.
After that...
- Shikamaru was then alongside Naruto when Naruto confronted Gaara at the hospital.
- During the third test, Shikamaru congratulated Naruto for winning against Neji, and Naruto pushed Shikamaru down and was actually disappointed when Shikamaru quit (contrast with the attitude in the prelims).
- Then the two were together when they encountered Gaara again, this time narrowly missing being attacked.
- Shikamaru was then the only one of the supporting cast to participate in both part I rescue missions
- in the second rescue arc, he was actually team leader
- Shikamaru was actually there to greet Naruto when Naruto came back with Tsunade (prompting a father/son talk about women)
- Shikamaru was there when Naruto was about to leave (so were the others, but...)
- Shikamaru was actually there at the hospital, with Naruto, after the failed rescue attempt. He's team leader yes, but he could have very well been meeting someone else, or stayed with Chouji. When Naruto re-iterated his promise, the only ones in that room were Naruto, Sakura, Tsunade and Shikamaru.
- Shikamaru was actually among the first of the supporting cast to greet Naruto back in part II
- Shikamaru was there in the second arc of part II as well (even getting a short fight against Sai)
- we don't have to mention the third arc of part III again, do we?
Hinata's fan once made a character panel appearance count. By chapter 356:
Naruto: 7251
Sasuke: 3677
Sakura: 3573
Kakashi: 2766
Shikamaru: 1577
Gaara: 1383
Lee: 1208
Neji: 1127
Tsunade: 988
Jiraiya: 921
Tenzou/Yamato: 694
etc
And here's table I've made:
AP = arc presence:
- * : the character shows up.
- ** : the character shows up and has a decent presence in the arc.
- x: the character interacts with Naruto. Team Gai, for example, showed up in the rescue Gaara arc, but didn't really interact with Naruto.
AB = arc battle:
- * : the character had a minor fight, at least like Shikamaru and Chouji vs Sai in the Penis arc.
- ** : the character had a major fight. Examples include the fights of the Rescue Sasuke arc. Team Gai getting trapped in water and then fighting clones, by contrast, isn't what I'd consider a major fight.
- x : the character had a special role in the arc, such as Shikamaru being team leader during the rescue Sasuke arc.
Since the chuunin exams, the only arc where he hasn't had the opportunity to talk to Naruto was:
- the Sannin arc in part I (sandwiched between two rescue arcs where he did have a presence)
- and arc IV of part II (after he nearly single-handedly offed an Akatsuki!)
If you don't find that out of the ordinary, realize that no other supporting character has had such regular presence besides Naruto. In fact, in some arcs, even Sakura hasn't had such regular presence besides him!
Among the support cast, only Gaara comes close (at least in terms of panel time). However:
- Gaara is the one who connects to Naruto most (besides Sasuke) because he's also a jinchuuriki. He's also the support cast that's most relevant to the central plotlines (the Akatsuki plotline). Gaara Only connects to Naruto on the jinchuuriki aspect.
- Shikamaru has nothing in common with Naruto, no connections to Akatsuki, no nothing. He can connect to Naruto on things he really has no business in, like Sasuke and just casual interactions (and think about this: how many characters in Naruto actually get to have regular casual interactions with Naruto? Think about it!).
I.2. The lack of thematic connections
Structurally-speaking, the most unusual part is that Shikamaru doesn't fit into the character creation structure that Kishimoto employs with most of the other supporting casts.
In my old Themes essay, I had noted that for characters that have significant interactions, Kishimoto's character creation process basically goes like this:
- find as many variations of "boo-hoo my past sucked" as possible (okay, so I didn't put it that way), in connection to Naruto's
- take one of the resulting themes, and create the character so that his or her whole background reflects this common element with Naruto
- have the character convert to Naruto's way of dealing with said theme, after a few punches or just a few yelling sessions (Sai takes the cake here)
But Shikamaru interacts with Naruto, even though he has nothing significant in common with him. Sakura and Shikamaru are perhaps the only two friendships that Naruto has formed through regular and constant interaction, not through dramatic background connections.
And Shikamaru isn't even on the same team as Naruto.
Ironically, most of Naruto's more dramatic interactions (those that aren't on his teams, in any case), often turn out to be one-trick ponies thematics-wise, and no significant interactions happen between the two afterwards (the characters can achieve various levels of resolutions in separate battles but without interacting with Naruto anymore, that's about it).
Gaara is somewhat better, as he's the one with the most common elements with Naruto, since he's also a jinchuuriki. But even Gaara disappears again after an arc. Shikamaru's role actually manages to gain in importance. Most of the time Shikamaru is very low profile, and because of the lack of a dramatic past, it's easy to overlook his presence and his bonds to Naruto. But whenever you do look... there he is again! He'll probably show up next arc again.
II. Shikamaru's themes
II.1. Shikamaru's flexible main theme
An observation I had made in my support case essay was this: no matter what happens, Kishimoto has to show something new in each chapter, be it:
- a new character development
- a new jutsu
- or a new plotline development.
Some of it can be incredibly half-assed, but it must be enough to convince the editors that he's not getting Too repetitive.
As a corollary, a character screentime is thus limited by two factors:
- jutsu arsenal: especially with so many characters around, so there's only so many new jutsu Kishimoto can give each character. And yet the characters Do have to fill that "something new" quota if they appear.
- themes: I've noted in my themes essay that Kishimoto does not repeat themes between characters (well... in theory at least, some Do look awfully similar though). Theme resolution is apparently not considered repetition, but there's only a finite number of resolutions a character can get as well.
Shikamaru, however, is not limited by any of these, because his "theme" is not a moral one, and his fighting style is not just his jutsu arsenal. Indeed, Shikamaru's central "theme" is his intelligence and tactics.
As a result, Shikamaru has a comparatively infinite number of trump cards: as long as Kishimoto can think of a new tactics in response to a new situation, he can re-use Shikamaru over and over. Shikamaru can even "borrow" someone else's arsenal, by ordering them around!
This makes him a sometimes even more versatile card than some of the main characters: the main characters are also limited by their jutsu arsenal, they just happen to have a bigger one because of power-ups.
Shikamaru, by contrast, has as many new jutsu as just about any of the other supporting cast. Yet he has one of the highest battle counts in the manga (amazingly enough, none of them in direct connection to Naruto): the Sound 3, Kin, Temari, pursuing sound nins, the Sound 4, Tayuya, Sai, and Hidan and Kakuzu twice.
That's more than even Sakura and about as many as Kakashi! And the rest of the support cast is lucky to get half as many battles.
II.2. The ability to form his own mini-themes "out of nothing"
Even though his main stand-out point is his intelligence, Kishimoto still bothers to support many of his battles by additional mini-themes:
- the explanation of what truly makes a chuunin (third test of chuunin exams)
- the #1 at running away mini-theme (mini-rescue arc)
- the team leader (!) theme (main rescue arc)
- the friendship theme with Chouji (main rescue arc)
- the revenge + shougi theme (the Immortals' arc).
The most structurally odd aspect to these is that he conjures up many of these themes "out of nothing."
Basically, most characters have their entire background created in a way to maximize a single theme: Hinata's rejection by her family, Gaara being a jinchuuriki, Tsunade with 3 Hokage-themed loved ones dying, etc.
There are a few exceptions, but they are extremely rare and get forgotten quickly (Lee got variant on the "precious people" theme, for example, but that was arguably fodder for Sakura picking up the theme instead).
Otherwise, Kishimoto tends to make his characters stick so exclusively to their initial theme that it's awkward at times (team Gai's non-reaction to Gaara's kidnapping, team 8's non-reaction to learning about Akatsuki and Kyuubi, hell Ino and Chouji's relatively little reaction compared to Shikamaru).
When you consider how "stingy" Kishimoto is on the matter, Shikamaru's lack of background on most of these themes is even more unusual:
- the "team leader" aspect would normally have been addressed by say... someone with a low self-esteem and who gets convinced by Naruto that he can lead after all
- Shikamaru's speech on companionship before the rescue mission was surprisingly deep coming from a support cast
- The friendship theme? Shikamaru accepted Chouji "just because" (only Ino got something similar, with Sakura, but she was created nearly exclusively for that role)
- The revenge theme itself would have been more logically used on someone close to Sasuke. Instead, team Hebi connected through the curse seal aspect, the team parallel aspect (Suigetsu is there to parallel Kisame), and the "obligatory female (fangirl)" aspect.
Only the "running away" and "shougi" mini-themes connect somewhat more to Shikamaru's character.
This ability to otherwise conjure up themes non-related to his character (especially so many of them) is really unusual, when you consider that not even Naruto is capable of doing that: all the themes he's had an influence on have a direct connection to his troubled past. Neji might as well suddenly find a new goal in growing flowers (okay, I'm veering off here...)
III. Shikamaru, the pseudo main character
And finally, Shikamaru has things surrounding him that are normally reserved for main characters.
III.1. The hype
Shikamaru had a healthy amount of hype in part I:
- winning unexpectedly against Kin
- then winning against Temari.
- during the exams, Kotetsu and Izumo also noted that he had the true qualities to become a chuunin.
- he also managed to deflect Kabuto's genjutsu, and went chasing Sasuke
- he did become a chuunin, the only of the Rookie 9
- then he fought against Tayuya, and showed off even more of his intelligence
- he even slipped in a dramatic speech at the hospital on becoming greater
The thing is, this only grew in part II:
- Kakashi complimented his intelligence several times, first by comparing his own to Shikamaru's in the rescue Gaara arc, then by noting his strategic-making process against Hidan and Kakuzu.
- then Asuma noted that he can even become Hokage. Gaara made Kazekage, but then again Gaara paralleled Naruto's jinchuuriki aspect. Shikamaru did not.
The Hokage mention is not a light one, when you consider who else gets this praise: Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura perhaps (by surpassing Tsunade), Sasuke perhaps (as Naruto's rival). In short, the main characters. And of those, Kakashi himself gives praise to Shikamaru's extraordinary level of intelligence, and even submits to his leadership skills against Hidan and Kakuzu.
III.2. The "return on theme"
Only Naruto usually "converts" characters to the better over a theme, and get a "return on theme" where the character wins a fight in the name of the theme.
But Shikamaru got to use the friendship theme with Chouji (not exactly a small theme!). And that's despite not being created in a way to bring out this theme: he just befriended Chouji and that's it, no dramatic background as ulterior motive.
The only other support cast with a similar return is arguably Ino (with Sakura), and that's because she was specifically created to fit into that role (as Sakura's rival). Shikamaru got the role without any structural conditions.
III.3. Personal fodders
- Team 7 has their personal development fodders in the form of the Legendary Sannin.
- Naruto had additional fodders such as Haku and Yondaime
- Sakura also had Chiyo
- Itachi will likely be additional fodder for Sasuke fodder
Shikamaru had Asuma (not a Sannin, but not that bad either, being the son of Sandaime) die off just for his personal development, and to a lesser degree, got a talk with Kurenai.
Even his dad got more limelight than the other parents. Shikaku was bought in to advance the development of his son on no less than 3 aspects: women, becoming greater and uh... shougi? Lee may still have Gai as his personal fodder later on, but that's about it.
III.4. Temari
Shikamaru even has above-average coverage on his potential romantic life (I'm not a ShikaTema fan by the way, so if you don't like ShikaTema, don't kill me, I'm just noting that they interact a hell lot):
- he fought Temari during the chuunin exams
- then Temari saved him during the rescue arc
- after which Kishimoto went as far as establish a parallel between Shikamaru/Temari and Shikamaru's parents
- then the two had a talk at the hospital
- then the two had a talk before team Sand departed (even Gaara didn't get the opportunity to talk to Naruto)
- post-timeskip, they showed up together from the start, and it was implied that they've had lots of opportunities to interact during the timeskip.
Despite the very limited time Kishimoto grants the support cast, he somehow even manages to squeeze in Shikamaru's love life, whereas things such as Lee's infatuation with Sakura and Ino's pursuit of Sasuke got completely forgotten. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Shikamaru's last fight is alongside Temari (though this is far from certain).
III.5. Akatsuki
And yes, to top it all off, Shikamaru even got his personal Akatsuki defeat.
Conclusion
So what am I saying? Nothing, really, I just wanted to get this out of the way. In fact, you're probably wondering what the big deal is.
In fact, there is no big deal. Looking at it from a normal point of view, Shikamaru's situation may not seem out of the ordinary. If anything, what could be considered weird is Kishimoto's structural process in creating and using characters, a narrowly focused process that usually excludes the expansion of a character's purpose beyond what the character is created for (leading, as said, to rather awkward situations such as team Gai's filler-like non-emotional reaction to Gaara's kidnapping, etc).
Shikamaru, when viewed that way, is an exception to that process. He doesn't always stand out much. He has no dramatic past, no connections to the main plotlines, no nothing. But he's always there anyway, and his role actually manages to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if at the end of the manga, he somehow gets an even bigger role, maybe leadership-themed again (ack, I wouldn't want that though, I'm fed-up of him).
Honestly, I just find it weird. If you ask me the point of this essay though, I'll have to reply that there really isn't one. *shrugs*
Actually, I don't particularly care about Shikamaru, especially after his rather cheesy fight against Hidan. But I'm a structure freak and from a structural point of view, Shikamaru is quite the anomaly.
Besides, I needed to get this out of the way so that I can concentrate on other essays without needing to repeat some of the things here. ^^
NF version
Foreword
I. Shikamaru's presence besides Naruto
I.1. Shikamaru's near ubiquitous presence
I.2. The lack of thematic connections
II. Shikamaru's themes
II.1. Shikamaru's flexible main theme
II.2. The ability to form his own mini-themes "out of nothing"
III. Shikamaru, the pseudo main character
III.1. The hype
III.2. The "return on theme"
III.3. Personal fodders
III.4. Temari
III.5. Akatsuki
Conclusion
Foreword
In order to understand what the hell I'm talking about, it's best to be familiar with my rather old but mostly still valid themes essay.
It explains, to a point, what is likely Kishimoto's character design process, and from there it's easier to see why Shikamaru departs from the norm.
I. Shikamaru's presence besides Naruto
I.1. Shikamaru's near ubiquitous presence
Consider this:
Shikamaru starts like just another support cast. He's an apparently lazy loser. Naruto's opinion of him was pretty bad, and the feeling was pretty much mutual. Naruto is actually pissed when Shikamaru wins against kin. Shikamaru is actually surprised when Naruto wins against Kiba.
But when Naruto was at the hospital after learning Kuchiyose, Shikamaru actually went to visit him and waited for him to wake up. Nothing structurally or otherwise would have necessitated that however: the fruits excuse was random, and nothing would have forced Shikamaru to wait for "the annoying person" to wake up. Of course, their opinion of each other could have improved during the prelims, but it's still random.
After that...
- Shikamaru was then alongside Naruto when Naruto confronted Gaara at the hospital.
- During the third test, Shikamaru congratulated Naruto for winning against Neji, and Naruto pushed Shikamaru down and was actually disappointed when Shikamaru quit (contrast with the attitude in the prelims).
- Then the two were together when they encountered Gaara again, this time narrowly missing being attacked.
- Shikamaru was then the only one of the supporting cast to participate in both part I rescue missions
- in the second rescue arc, he was actually team leader
- Shikamaru was actually there to greet Naruto when Naruto came back with Tsunade (prompting a father/son talk about women)
- Shikamaru was there when Naruto was about to leave (so were the others, but...)
- Shikamaru was actually there at the hospital, with Naruto, after the failed rescue attempt. He's team leader yes, but he could have very well been meeting someone else, or stayed with Chouji. When Naruto re-iterated his promise, the only ones in that room were Naruto, Sakura, Tsunade and Shikamaru.
- Shikamaru was actually among the first of the supporting cast to greet Naruto back in part II
- Shikamaru was there in the second arc of part II as well (even getting a short fight against Sai)
- we don't have to mention the third arc of part III again, do we?
Hinata's fan once made a character panel appearance count. By chapter 356:
Naruto: 7251
Sasuke: 3677
Sakura: 3573
Kakashi: 2766
Shikamaru: 1577
Gaara: 1383
Lee: 1208
Neji: 1127
Tsunade: 988
Jiraiya: 921
Tenzou/Yamato: 694
etc
And here's table I've made:
AP = arc presence:
- * : the character shows up.
- ** : the character shows up and has a decent presence in the arc.
- x: the character interacts with Naruto. Team Gai, for example, showed up in the rescue Gaara arc, but didn't really interact with Naruto.
AB = arc battle:
- * : the character had a minor fight, at least like Shikamaru and Chouji vs Sai in the Penis arc.
- ** : the character had a major fight. Examples include the fights of the Rescue Sasuke arc. Team Gai getting trapped in water and then fighting clones, by contrast, isn't what I'd consider a major fight.
- x : the character had a special role in the arc, such as Shikamaru being team leader during the rescue Sasuke arc.
Since the chuunin exams, the only arc where he hasn't had the opportunity to talk to Naruto was:
- the Sannin arc in part I (sandwiched between two rescue arcs where he did have a presence)
- and arc IV of part II (after he nearly single-handedly offed an Akatsuki!)
If you don't find that out of the ordinary, realize that no other supporting character has had such regular presence besides Naruto. In fact, in some arcs, even Sakura hasn't had such regular presence besides him!
Among the support cast, only Gaara comes close (at least in terms of panel time). However:
- Gaara is the one who connects to Naruto most (besides Sasuke) because he's also a jinchuuriki. He's also the support cast that's most relevant to the central plotlines (the Akatsuki plotline). Gaara Only connects to Naruto on the jinchuuriki aspect.
- Shikamaru has nothing in common with Naruto, no connections to Akatsuki, no nothing. He can connect to Naruto on things he really has no business in, like Sasuke and just casual interactions (and think about this: how many characters in Naruto actually get to have regular casual interactions with Naruto? Think about it!).
I.2. The lack of thematic connections
Structurally-speaking, the most unusual part is that Shikamaru doesn't fit into the character creation structure that Kishimoto employs with most of the other supporting casts.
In my old Themes essay, I had noted that for characters that have significant interactions, Kishimoto's character creation process basically goes like this:
- find as many variations of "boo-hoo my past sucked" as possible (okay, so I didn't put it that way), in connection to Naruto's
- take one of the resulting themes, and create the character so that his or her whole background reflects this common element with Naruto
- have the character convert to Naruto's way of dealing with said theme, after a few punches or just a few yelling sessions (Sai takes the cake here)
But Shikamaru interacts with Naruto, even though he has nothing significant in common with him. Sakura and Shikamaru are perhaps the only two friendships that Naruto has formed through regular and constant interaction, not through dramatic background connections.
And Shikamaru isn't even on the same team as Naruto.
Ironically, most of Naruto's more dramatic interactions (those that aren't on his teams, in any case), often turn out to be one-trick ponies thematics-wise, and no significant interactions happen between the two afterwards (the characters can achieve various levels of resolutions in separate battles but without interacting with Naruto anymore, that's about it).
Gaara is somewhat better, as he's the one with the most common elements with Naruto, since he's also a jinchuuriki. But even Gaara disappears again after an arc. Shikamaru's role actually manages to gain in importance. Most of the time Shikamaru is very low profile, and because of the lack of a dramatic past, it's easy to overlook his presence and his bonds to Naruto. But whenever you do look... there he is again! He'll probably show up next arc again.
II. Shikamaru's themes
II.1. Shikamaru's flexible main theme
An observation I had made in my support case essay was this: no matter what happens, Kishimoto has to show something new in each chapter, be it:
- a new character development
- a new jutsu
- or a new plotline development.
Some of it can be incredibly half-assed, but it must be enough to convince the editors that he's not getting Too repetitive.
As a corollary, a character screentime is thus limited by two factors:
- jutsu arsenal: especially with so many characters around, so there's only so many new jutsu Kishimoto can give each character. And yet the characters Do have to fill that "something new" quota if they appear.
- themes: I've noted in my themes essay that Kishimoto does not repeat themes between characters (well... in theory at least, some Do look awfully similar though). Theme resolution is apparently not considered repetition, but there's only a finite number of resolutions a character can get as well.
Shikamaru, however, is not limited by any of these, because his "theme" is not a moral one, and his fighting style is not just his jutsu arsenal. Indeed, Shikamaru's central "theme" is his intelligence and tactics.
As a result, Shikamaru has a comparatively infinite number of trump cards: as long as Kishimoto can think of a new tactics in response to a new situation, he can re-use Shikamaru over and over. Shikamaru can even "borrow" someone else's arsenal, by ordering them around!
This makes him a sometimes even more versatile card than some of the main characters: the main characters are also limited by their jutsu arsenal, they just happen to have a bigger one because of power-ups.
Shikamaru, by contrast, has as many new jutsu as just about any of the other supporting cast. Yet he has one of the highest battle counts in the manga (amazingly enough, none of them in direct connection to Naruto): the Sound 3, Kin, Temari, pursuing sound nins, the Sound 4, Tayuya, Sai, and Hidan and Kakuzu twice.
That's more than even Sakura and about as many as Kakashi! And the rest of the support cast is lucky to get half as many battles.
II.2. The ability to form his own mini-themes "out of nothing"
Even though his main stand-out point is his intelligence, Kishimoto still bothers to support many of his battles by additional mini-themes:
- the explanation of what truly makes a chuunin (third test of chuunin exams)
- the #1 at running away mini-theme (mini-rescue arc)
- the team leader (!) theme (main rescue arc)
- the friendship theme with Chouji (main rescue arc)
- the revenge + shougi theme (the Immortals' arc).
The most structurally odd aspect to these is that he conjures up many of these themes "out of nothing."
Basically, most characters have their entire background created in a way to maximize a single theme: Hinata's rejection by her family, Gaara being a jinchuuriki, Tsunade with 3 Hokage-themed loved ones dying, etc.
There are a few exceptions, but they are extremely rare and get forgotten quickly (Lee got variant on the "precious people" theme, for example, but that was arguably fodder for Sakura picking up the theme instead).
Otherwise, Kishimoto tends to make his characters stick so exclusively to their initial theme that it's awkward at times (team Gai's non-reaction to Gaara's kidnapping, team 8's non-reaction to learning about Akatsuki and Kyuubi, hell Ino and Chouji's relatively little reaction compared to Shikamaru).
When you consider how "stingy" Kishimoto is on the matter, Shikamaru's lack of background on most of these themes is even more unusual:
- the "team leader" aspect would normally have been addressed by say... someone with a low self-esteem and who gets convinced by Naruto that he can lead after all
- Shikamaru's speech on companionship before the rescue mission was surprisingly deep coming from a support cast
- The friendship theme? Shikamaru accepted Chouji "just because" (only Ino got something similar, with Sakura, but she was created nearly exclusively for that role)
- The revenge theme itself would have been more logically used on someone close to Sasuke. Instead, team Hebi connected through the curse seal aspect, the team parallel aspect (Suigetsu is there to parallel Kisame), and the "obligatory female (fangirl)" aspect.
Only the "running away" and "shougi" mini-themes connect somewhat more to Shikamaru's character.
This ability to otherwise conjure up themes non-related to his character (especially so many of them) is really unusual, when you consider that not even Naruto is capable of doing that: all the themes he's had an influence on have a direct connection to his troubled past. Neji might as well suddenly find a new goal in growing flowers (okay, I'm veering off here...)
III. Shikamaru, the pseudo main character
And finally, Shikamaru has things surrounding him that are normally reserved for main characters.
III.1. The hype
Shikamaru had a healthy amount of hype in part I:
- winning unexpectedly against Kin
- then winning against Temari.
- during the exams, Kotetsu and Izumo also noted that he had the true qualities to become a chuunin.
- he also managed to deflect Kabuto's genjutsu, and went chasing Sasuke
- he did become a chuunin, the only of the Rookie 9
- then he fought against Tayuya, and showed off even more of his intelligence
- he even slipped in a dramatic speech at the hospital on becoming greater
The thing is, this only grew in part II:
- Kakashi complimented his intelligence several times, first by comparing his own to Shikamaru's in the rescue Gaara arc, then by noting his strategic-making process against Hidan and Kakuzu.
- then Asuma noted that he can even become Hokage. Gaara made Kazekage, but then again Gaara paralleled Naruto's jinchuuriki aspect. Shikamaru did not.
The Hokage mention is not a light one, when you consider who else gets this praise: Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura perhaps (by surpassing Tsunade), Sasuke perhaps (as Naruto's rival). In short, the main characters. And of those, Kakashi himself gives praise to Shikamaru's extraordinary level of intelligence, and even submits to his leadership skills against Hidan and Kakuzu.
III.2. The "return on theme"
Only Naruto usually "converts" characters to the better over a theme, and get a "return on theme" where the character wins a fight in the name of the theme.
But Shikamaru got to use the friendship theme with Chouji (not exactly a small theme!). And that's despite not being created in a way to bring out this theme: he just befriended Chouji and that's it, no dramatic background as ulterior motive.
The only other support cast with a similar return is arguably Ino (with Sakura), and that's because she was specifically created to fit into that role (as Sakura's rival). Shikamaru got the role without any structural conditions.
III.3. Personal fodders
- Team 7 has their personal development fodders in the form of the Legendary Sannin.
- Naruto had additional fodders such as Haku and Yondaime
- Sakura also had Chiyo
- Itachi will likely be additional fodder for Sasuke fodder
Shikamaru had Asuma (not a Sannin, but not that bad either, being the son of Sandaime) die off just for his personal development, and to a lesser degree, got a talk with Kurenai.
Even his dad got more limelight than the other parents. Shikaku was bought in to advance the development of his son on no less than 3 aspects: women, becoming greater and uh... shougi? Lee may still have Gai as his personal fodder later on, but that's about it.
III.4. Temari
Shikamaru even has above-average coverage on his potential romantic life (I'm not a ShikaTema fan by the way, so if you don't like ShikaTema, don't kill me, I'm just noting that they interact a hell lot):
- he fought Temari during the chuunin exams
- then Temari saved him during the rescue arc
- after which Kishimoto went as far as establish a parallel between Shikamaru/Temari and Shikamaru's parents
- then the two had a talk at the hospital
- then the two had a talk before team Sand departed (even Gaara didn't get the opportunity to talk to Naruto)
- post-timeskip, they showed up together from the start, and it was implied that they've had lots of opportunities to interact during the timeskip.
Despite the very limited time Kishimoto grants the support cast, he somehow even manages to squeeze in Shikamaru's love life, whereas things such as Lee's infatuation with Sakura and Ino's pursuit of Sasuke got completely forgotten. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Shikamaru's last fight is alongside Temari (though this is far from certain).
III.5. Akatsuki
And yes, to top it all off, Shikamaru even got his personal Akatsuki defeat.
Conclusion
So what am I saying? Nothing, really, I just wanted to get this out of the way. In fact, you're probably wondering what the big deal is.
In fact, there is no big deal. Looking at it from a normal point of view, Shikamaru's situation may not seem out of the ordinary. If anything, what could be considered weird is Kishimoto's structural process in creating and using characters, a narrowly focused process that usually excludes the expansion of a character's purpose beyond what the character is created for (leading, as said, to rather awkward situations such as team Gai's filler-like non-emotional reaction to Gaara's kidnapping, etc).
Shikamaru, when viewed that way, is an exception to that process. He doesn't always stand out much. He has no dramatic past, no connections to the main plotlines, no nothing. But he's always there anyway, and his role actually manages to grow. I wouldn't be surprised if at the end of the manga, he somehow gets an even bigger role, maybe leadership-themed again (ack, I wouldn't want that though, I'm fed-up of him).
Honestly, I just find it weird. If you ask me the point of this essay though, I'll have to reply that there really isn't one. *shrugs*