Study of the usage of themes in Naruto
A much more recent study of mine. ^^ It can be seen as a companion piece to the Plotlines study. Or not. Ah well.
First posted on NF in April 2006.
Major Naruto themes
I. Major themes, especially those centered around the main character: Naruto
I.1. A quick study of influences (with return) on Naruto
I.2. Naruto's confrontations and influences: his near-unique capability of generating a "return" on theme
I.3. Other themes, non-related to the main character
I.4. Personal opinion of "theme resolution" and degree of relevance to the actual plot
II. Reversing the analysis: Kishimoto's character design process
II.1. The characters are designed to best fit a role and theme, not the other way around
II.2. A (good) lack of "redundancy" in themes, both present and future
II.3. Unthemed battles
II.4. The two newest characters: Yamato and Sai, designed to help bring out the Jinchuuriki and Brother aspects respectively
Conclusion
I. Major themes centered around the main character: Naruto
I chose to center the thematic study on Naruto because it'll soon be obvious that it's by far the biggest part. Naruto, as the main character of the series, is characterized by his main character "bitch-slap'o'doom" so to say. What does this mean exactly?
Naruto influences people in several ways: either through "direct"-ish influence by setting the example, or through confrontation over a theme, with him drilling the lesson through by having the upper hand. The "return" you see me referring to is how the character then assimilates the theme as his or her own and fights in that name. I'll start though with outside influence on Naruto.
I.1. A quick study of influences (with return) on Naruto
There is only one really: "Protect precious people." Two people were essentially responsible for this, with the rest of team 7 each contributing to it in his or her own way:
- Iruka is the first to show him the meaning by taking a shuriken for him.
- Haku spelled it out: "When you have precious people to protect, that's when you become truly strong."
- team 7 as a whole, helped remind that lesson through various examples. Sasuke is the strongest here, as he specifically protected Naruto against Haku's attack with his life, then attempted to protect Naruto and Sakura again against Gaara.
The "return" manifested itself in the Naruto vs Gaara fight:
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8785/protect23oc.jpg
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8092/protect35wb.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3683/protect49au.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/7409/protect54xy.jpg
By now you probably see what I mean by "return".
I.2. Naruto's confrontations and influences: his near-unique capability of generating a "return" on theme
Ah yes, the infamous Naruto "bitch-slap" so to say. Though he didn't "slap" in every case. Basically, the graph:
The "return" on theme should be immediately visible now. It's Naruto's "power of inspiration": whatever he influences or confronts a character on, that character then uses the theme for a fight or two of his own. This graph is a simplification by the way, if you have any question on a particular segment of this graph, do ask. Sakura in particular, is the object of several returns: her first determination to protect her teammates was a result of the joint influences of Naruto, Sasuke and Lee (Forest of Death), so I didn't want to put it up here since Naruto didn't have the sole merit. On the other hand, his determination to bring back Sasuke did rub off her on a one-on-one basis. I'm not detailing every other scenario because I don't want to repeat a majority of "obvious". ^^;;
Kishimoto himself has spoken of the themes in part 1 in the first databook, unfortunately the link seems to have died... I only saved the part about Hinata (theme 2).
Theme 2 || "Believe in Yourself"
Humans are separated by differences they are born with but I want to believe that people can change and wanted to express that. Hinata's theme is "by believing in yourself, you can become a new person."
The rest was something like:
Theme 1: Something about whether shinobi are tools. Haku.
Theme 3: "Those who fight against destiny". Neji.
And with Gaara, he wanted to show a jinchuuriki who unlike Naruto did not get the same acknowledgement he did.
I.3. Other themes, non-related to the main character
Inuzuka Kiba: protect Akamaru
Of the various confrontations I've made, you might have noticed the Naruto vs Kiba fight? This one is acually an interesting case: the Naruto vs Kiba battle was "unthemed". As a result, Kiba could not manifest a "return on theme" during his own major confrontation against Sakon/Ukon: you couldn't exactly have him recalling any of Naruto's speeches or the likes (how's a Hokage speech going to help him here? =\ ). As a result, he had to be given his own theme, which turned out to be "protect his dog".
Nara Shikamaru: fights more focused on form than theme, though he's also gained a theme.
The majority of Shikamaru's fights weren't on a given theme actually, but centered instead on his style: the very strategic style which Shikamaru unfortunately has to use against troublesome girls more often than not. He gained a theme on top of that however: become greater for those he leads, so that they may return safely. Shikamaru also has his own mini-return on theme with Chouji: the friendship theme.
Yamanaka Ino: Sakura's rival
Ino is mostly unthemed, however she's designed as the person who first accepted Sakura, and the Sakura vs Ino battle uses the theme of rivalry. Ino has a semi-return (though not necessarily on theme) by Sakura "blooming" by becoming her equal, just as Ino said she would ("bloom", I mean). Apart from that, she is shown caring for her teammates (Chouji in any case), so it may manifest itself as a future theme.
Kankurou and Temari
Not really a theme, but they seem to have gained a purpose in wanting to protect Gaara.
Other characters have their own themes. Sasuke has the revenge theme of course, with a brother and rival theme he shares with Naruto. Rock Lee has the genius of hardwork theme, Chouji has the friendship theme, Shino's fights also centered more on form than on theme, though he seems to have obtained the "teamwork" theme, and um... Tenten is the only one left unthemed really. She might acquire one in the future. The anime has her say "girls aren't weaker than boys" at one point and Lee seems to have started poking at her lack of "discipline/training" so she might acquire this theme in the future. Or not.
What's the significance of themes? Basically, the themes show their "nindo", their motivation. Thus giving more purpose to the character. They can manifest themselves in future battles, allowing the characters to show introspection and giving them more personal reasons to push at their limits.
I.4. Personal opinion of "theme resolution" and degree of relevance to the actual plot
A small personal side-study. In some ways all the characters have found some form of "resolution" in part 1 since they're all alive and kicking and basically happy (save the main characters of course). I feel that some resolutions aren't as complete as others. I'll add in a relevance to story. When I say "half", it basically means that on a personal level, I consider the resolution "half-assed"...
Gaara: pre-timeskip, "half" resolution, full resolution post-timeskip. By fighting against Kimimaro, Gaara had already shown that he rejected his past life, so it might have counted as resolution. He only did get full resolution post-timeskip though, when he was actually Shown fully accepted by his village as Kazekage and everything else. Relevance to main story: High because of the jinchuuriki aspect. High enough to have the actual story directed by his (even though the arc ended up as a means to show off Sakura's growth instead *cough*).
Neji: "half" resolution. He's had a fight against Kidoumaru where he brought out the "no one can control another person's destiny" theme, he's currently trained by Hiashi, and he's a jounin. That's about it though, it isn't exactly proof that he's on his way to defeating destiny or the likes. Relevance to main story though: low. The result is that just like the rest of team Gai, he was essentially set aside as the main story progressed *kicks clone fights*.
Lee: "half" resolution. It's obvious he's a great shinobi. Pre-timeskip, he's been shown training longer than Gai, which is a great foreshadowing that he'll surpass Gai. On the other hand, he still hasn't won a fight yet. Relevance to main story: low.
Tenten: has to get a theme first.
Aburame Shino: it's really hard to tell, as we still don't know if he really does have a theme. Like Shikamaru, his fights up till now have mostly centered around form: the "strategic" aspect, than anything else. Still, the "teamwork" aspect might be brought out. Relevance to story: low.
Inuzuka Kiba: "half" resolution. Akamaru's alive. On the other hand, he still needs to prove that he can um... protect it? Added to this, Kiba's relevance to the main story is also low, so we don't know if this theme will be brought up again.
Hyuuga Hinata: basically, I think her pre-timeskip resolution stands at around the same level of Gaara's pre-timeskip resolution. She's stood up for herself, she's gained more confidence and become a chuunin, the "person she admires" has finally given her the thumbs up, and her family seems to be slowly healing. However, she still hasn't got the full acknowledgement of her family (Gaara gained full resolution by becoming a fully-loved kazekage, for example), nor has she shown how much stronger she's become. Unfortunately, unlike Gaara, her relevance to the story is low, so we don't know if we'll see her full resolution before nearing the end of the series.
Nara Shikamaru: unknown. Basically, he's smart before, and for the sake of his teammates, he's probably become smarter (on the tactical aspect). But he's never fought in the name of a theme before, so we don't know if he will, since he could just do what he usually does by thinking things out as much as possible.
Akimichi Chouji: "half" resolution? He defeated Jiroubo, and gained a lot of friends. And? He has to prove how great he's become?
Yamanaka Ino: She seems to have lost her relevance as "rival". It may still be brought out, but Haruno Sakura has bigger things to worry about than focus on her. The databook says however that she places her teammates first, so it might be her future theme.
Those who haven't received a "full" resolution might further build on the aspect in a future fight. However, as most of the characters do not have any relevance to the story anymore, it is unlikely that they will be the central focus of the story. Instead they'll probably have side, hopefully themed fights like in the rescue arc.
II. Reversing the analysis: Kishimoto's character design process
II.1. The characters are designed to best fit a role and theme, not the other way around
I realized this after thinking about themes and about Kishimoto's interview. Kishimoto, when creating a character, especially one that will deal with Naruto in a major way, Specifically designs the character's background and even personality to best suit the situation and interact with Naruto, instead of creating random characters he thinks are cool and just sticking them into the story:
- Iruka had lost his parents as well.
- Haku was in the same scenario of "not acknowledged, until finally finding someone who accepted him"
- Gaara was a jinchuuriki as well, one hated by the whole village
- Hinata was not acknowledged by her clan, much like Naruto wasn't acknowledged by Konoha
- Neji has a seal like Naruto does
- Tsunade just happened to have two precious people who hoped for becoming Hokage but died before.
- um... Jiraiya was the loser of the group like Naruto was? Plus he had his own confrontation against Orochimaru.
So basically, Kishimoto designs the character so that they'd fit into the specific role and theme he's given them. Not that he does it badly: even though he creates those characters with a specific moment in mind, those characters do end up as independant characters with their own history and personality.
Even with the background baggage in place, Kishimoto still sets up a healthy amount of foreshadowing and building up before the characters play their role: Haku met Naruto before their confrontation and asked him about precious people. Hinata was shown looking at Naruto on several occasions, and helped him during the first test. Neji had a whole set-up in the form of the Hinata vs Neji fight. Naruto confronted Gaara (at the hospital) before the fight as well.
It makes sense really. Kishimoto is maximizing relevance to the current story and current drama. The downside though is that once they've lost that sole purpose, they risk being completely set aside (team Gai for example, could have been shown thinking more about Gaara, but it wasn't in their roles so they behaved instead as fillers here...)
Interesting thing about Sakura: she is 0% background relevence. Rather... her "background" is the entire part 1, during which her future purpose was slowly built-up until she finally asked Tsunade to train her to save her teammates. Her "return" is the entire part 2. Sasuke's background in the meantime, is rather somewhat independant of Naruto's. Basically, these two are main characters, their purpose lies more in constant interaction and development rather than expressing a one-time theme with Naruto.
We also see why Yamato and Sai were created here, but I'll address something else first.
II.2. A (good) lack of "redundancy" in themes, both present and future
Precisely because Kishimoto looks at "theme" first, he's actually surprisingly capable of avoiding "redundancy", while fully bringing out each theme (unlike the fillers *cough*). People are somewhat annoyed that he inspired so many people, but Nobody will claim that Neji and Gaara are the exact same characters. Because they're not: they've been influenced on different aspects.
- Haku: precious people, whether shinobis are tools or not.
- Hinata: "proud losers".
- Neji: "destiny".
- Gaara: yes, "protecting precious people" again, but as the "return" on Haku's influence. Mostly though, fellow "jinchuuriki".
- Tsunade: Hokage.
- etc.
Compare this to the anime fillers, where we have:
- a watered-down Haku (Curry of Life arc)
- a watered-down Sasuke (Noroimusha arc. Revenge wtf?)
- a watered-down "monster" (Anko arc)
- a watered-down "kage" (current star arc)
- did I miss any?
So what? Well basically, this leads me to the following belief: in the manga, Naruto will NOT confront others on a theme he's already used. If he were to confront another jinchuuriki for example, you can't get a fuller resolution than Gaara's acceptance by his whole village as "kage", so Kishimoto will probably avoid "watered-down" existing themes. Naruto could still confront a jinchuuriki, but it'd either be unthemed, or use a completely different scene than "being rejected then fighting for acceptance".
Basically, each of Naruto's bitch'slap'o'dooms only work once. He's used up the "protect precious people" one, the "Hokage" one, the "fellow rejected jinchuuriki" one, the "proud loser" and "hardworker" ones... The number of themes is actually running low. This is a pretty good thing really, Kishimoto most likely realizes this and so Naruto won't be spending part 2 changing as many people. The few he does, it'd be through completely new themes. But because there aren't an infinite number of themes out there, Kishimoto will probably be limiting the number of occasions Naruto convert people from now, quite suitable given that Naruto has his own major problems now so shouldn't be the one to speak.
On the other hand, some themes already used by Naruto might be reused by the supporting cast, as their own "return" on Naruto's influence (possibly getting "full resolution" this way).
II.3. Unthemed battles
At this point you might ask me "hey, if it's true that Kishimoto doesn't create random characters with no more purpose to the story, what about Chiyo and (to a lesser degree) Sasori?" Well, Sasori was the obligatory Akatsuki they had to confront on the way, with the added bonus of leading team Kakashi towards Orochimaru. He's also been given ties to Chiyo for added depth. That's it though. Chiyo... how should I put this... Chiyo's interactions were with Sakura, not Naruto, so it wasn't "necessary" to use a theme on her. =\
Basically, I've already detailed the themed battles. There are two other sorts of battles though:
- battles used to just show off something new,
- battles used to forward a plot.
Usually when a battle is unthemed, both of the above are used at the same time. The Sasori battle was to show off Sakura's improvements, but also to forward the plot at the end. The Kisame battle was to show off Gai and Kisame's abilities, and indirectly, the Akatsuki leader's. The more important one was the Itachi fight, which showed off Itachi's genjutsu, Naruto's anti-genjutsu and left a big foreshadowing for the Mangekyou Sharingan, which will probably be important to the plot. The Deidara battle was to show off MS and KN2, the Orochimaru battle to show off KN4 and put in place the plot device that'd convince Naruto to stop using Kyuubi as much.
Wait a moment, don't all battles serve one of the purposes above? Nah, just look at the filler battles that lead to nowhere. Unless it's to a watered-down expression of an existing theme, that is. So whenever you see a new battle, especially by Naruto, you can expect it to occur not just for the sake of fighting. We're bound to get something new, be it theme, jutsu or plot.
II.4. The two newest characters: Yamato and Sai, designed to help bring out the Jinchuuriki and Brother aspects respectively
This part finally.
For those who have read my plotlines essay... Naruto's two major problems stem from the Jinchuuriki aspect on the one hand, and the Sasuke problem on the other. Since Kishimoto creates characters to emphasize a situation rather than stick random ones in, enter Yamato and Sai.
Yamato
Basically, Yamato is to Naruto what Kakashi was to Sasuke. He's the new adult, the new "teacher" of the lot, thus picking up where Kakashi left out. Kakashi's main influence was on Sasuke though, who had the most personal problems then. Now similarly, Yamato now takes on a main influence on Naruto (though Kakashi will probably gain back his relevance as soon as Sasuke shows back up. Him gaining the mangekyou should also help him tie into the story better). In bried, Yamato is:
- the handy-dandy jinchuuriki suppressor (with a background to build to this role)
- and tying more into the jinchuuriki-controlling role, he's the first we see notice the negative effects of Kyuubi chakra as much, but also recognize Naruto's own role in suppressing all that
- and since he's in the teacher role, he gets to tell Naruto about all this
Sai
I have a seperate Sai essay. Sai is:
- the medium for a brand-new plotline that is "Konoha internal political conflicts" (role #1)
- but his background is also such that he'll probably be used to advance the "brother" aspect as well (role #2)
Basically, Yamato and Sai are both FAR from random new characters whose sole purpose is to take the limelight away from the existing cast and die off within one arc. Quite the contrary, they are created in a way to help with the necessary advancement of the main aspects of the story. That's why they had to be introduced instead of the existing cast: None of the existing cast have the background or purpose necessary to help with these aspects. So a bit more respect for them, eh (oy, don't start calling me biased, personally I don't like either, I just recognize their significance within the story). They might even become permanent support cast.
Conclusion
Um... yes? Well, a few major points that can be deduced from all this though:
- Naruto's main influences are around a theme. Characters he's influenced are designed in a way to best meet this influence, rather than just be random "cool" characters thrown in. As a result of the influence, they might manifest a "return" on the theme. Basically, Naruto's "power of inspiration," the scale of which is unique to Naruto. Which is why he's the main character.
- Kishimoto doesn't repeat themes. This means we won't have two of the same type of characters. Yay! And since the number of themes is probably running low, Naruto won't be spending his time in part 2 bitch-slapping people, and focus on his own problems instead. Yay!
- there are very few "filler" battles: either they serve to show off something completely new (character development, new abilities that more often than not, show a significance to the story) and/or advance the story, or they serve to illustrate a theme.
- Sai and Yamato's introductions are far from accidental. They have major roles in the current storyline.
So yeah.
First posted on NF in April 2006.
Major Naruto themes
I. Major themes, especially those centered around the main character: Naruto
I.1. A quick study of influences (with return) on Naruto
I.2. Naruto's confrontations and influences: his near-unique capability of generating a "return" on theme
I.3. Other themes, non-related to the main character
I.4. Personal opinion of "theme resolution" and degree of relevance to the actual plot
II. Reversing the analysis: Kishimoto's character design process
II.1. The characters are designed to best fit a role and theme, not the other way around
II.2. A (good) lack of "redundancy" in themes, both present and future
II.3. Unthemed battles
II.4. The two newest characters: Yamato and Sai, designed to help bring out the Jinchuuriki and Brother aspects respectively
Conclusion
I. Major themes centered around the main character: Naruto
I chose to center the thematic study on Naruto because it'll soon be obvious that it's by far the biggest part. Naruto, as the main character of the series, is characterized by his main character "bitch-slap'o'doom" so to say. What does this mean exactly?
Naruto influences people in several ways: either through "direct"-ish influence by setting the example, or through confrontation over a theme, with him drilling the lesson through by having the upper hand. The "return" you see me referring to is how the character then assimilates the theme as his or her own and fights in that name. I'll start though with outside influence on Naruto.
I.1. A quick study of influences (with return) on Naruto
There is only one really: "Protect precious people." Two people were essentially responsible for this, with the rest of team 7 each contributing to it in his or her own way:
- Iruka is the first to show him the meaning by taking a shuriken for him.
- Haku spelled it out: "When you have precious people to protect, that's when you become truly strong."
- team 7 as a whole, helped remind that lesson through various examples. Sasuke is the strongest here, as he specifically protected Naruto against Haku's attack with his life, then attempted to protect Naruto and Sakura again against Gaara.
The "return" manifested itself in the Naruto vs Gaara fight:
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8785/protect23oc.jpg
http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/8092/protect35wb.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3683/protect49au.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/7409/protect54xy.jpg
By now you probably see what I mean by "return".
I.2. Naruto's confrontations and influences: his near-unique capability of generating a "return" on theme
Ah yes, the infamous Naruto "bitch-slap" so to say. Though he didn't "slap" in every case. Basically, the graph:
The "return" on theme should be immediately visible now. It's Naruto's "power of inspiration": whatever he influences or confronts a character on, that character then uses the theme for a fight or two of his own. This graph is a simplification by the way, if you have any question on a particular segment of this graph, do ask. Sakura in particular, is the object of several returns: her first determination to protect her teammates was a result of the joint influences of Naruto, Sasuke and Lee (Forest of Death), so I didn't want to put it up here since Naruto didn't have the sole merit. On the other hand, his determination to bring back Sasuke did rub off her on a one-on-one basis. I'm not detailing every other scenario because I don't want to repeat a majority of "obvious". ^^;;
Kishimoto himself has spoken of the themes in part 1 in the first databook, unfortunately the link seems to have died... I only saved the part about Hinata (theme 2).
Theme 2 || "Believe in Yourself"
Humans are separated by differences they are born with but I want to believe that people can change and wanted to express that. Hinata's theme is "by believing in yourself, you can become a new person."
The rest was something like:
Theme 1: Something about whether shinobi are tools. Haku.
Theme 3: "Those who fight against destiny". Neji.
And with Gaara, he wanted to show a jinchuuriki who unlike Naruto did not get the same acknowledgement he did.
I.3. Other themes, non-related to the main character
Inuzuka Kiba: protect Akamaru
Of the various confrontations I've made, you might have noticed the Naruto vs Kiba fight? This one is acually an interesting case: the Naruto vs Kiba battle was "unthemed". As a result, Kiba could not manifest a "return on theme" during his own major confrontation against Sakon/Ukon: you couldn't exactly have him recalling any of Naruto's speeches or the likes (how's a Hokage speech going to help him here? =\ ). As a result, he had to be given his own theme, which turned out to be "protect his dog".
Nara Shikamaru: fights more focused on form than theme, though he's also gained a theme.
The majority of Shikamaru's fights weren't on a given theme actually, but centered instead on his style: the very strategic style which Shikamaru unfortunately has to use against troublesome girls more often than not. He gained a theme on top of that however: become greater for those he leads, so that they may return safely. Shikamaru also has his own mini-return on theme with Chouji: the friendship theme.
Yamanaka Ino: Sakura's rival
Ino is mostly unthemed, however she's designed as the person who first accepted Sakura, and the Sakura vs Ino battle uses the theme of rivalry. Ino has a semi-return (though not necessarily on theme) by Sakura "blooming" by becoming her equal, just as Ino said she would ("bloom", I mean). Apart from that, she is shown caring for her teammates (Chouji in any case), so it may manifest itself as a future theme.
Kankurou and Temari
Not really a theme, but they seem to have gained a purpose in wanting to protect Gaara.
Other characters have their own themes. Sasuke has the revenge theme of course, with a brother and rival theme he shares with Naruto. Rock Lee has the genius of hardwork theme, Chouji has the friendship theme, Shino's fights also centered more on form than on theme, though he seems to have obtained the "teamwork" theme, and um... Tenten is the only one left unthemed really. She might acquire one in the future. The anime has her say "girls aren't weaker than boys" at one point and Lee seems to have started poking at her lack of "discipline/training" so she might acquire this theme in the future. Or not.
What's the significance of themes? Basically, the themes show their "nindo", their motivation. Thus giving more purpose to the character. They can manifest themselves in future battles, allowing the characters to show introspection and giving them more personal reasons to push at their limits.
I.4. Personal opinion of "theme resolution" and degree of relevance to the actual plot
A small personal side-study. In some ways all the characters have found some form of "resolution" in part 1 since they're all alive and kicking and basically happy (save the main characters of course). I feel that some resolutions aren't as complete as others. I'll add in a relevance to story. When I say "half", it basically means that on a personal level, I consider the resolution "half-assed"...
Gaara: pre-timeskip, "half" resolution, full resolution post-timeskip. By fighting against Kimimaro, Gaara had already shown that he rejected his past life, so it might have counted as resolution. He only did get full resolution post-timeskip though, when he was actually Shown fully accepted by his village as Kazekage and everything else. Relevance to main story: High because of the jinchuuriki aspect. High enough to have the actual story directed by his (even though the arc ended up as a means to show off Sakura's growth instead *cough*).
Neji: "half" resolution. He's had a fight against Kidoumaru where he brought out the "no one can control another person's destiny" theme, he's currently trained by Hiashi, and he's a jounin. That's about it though, it isn't exactly proof that he's on his way to defeating destiny or the likes. Relevance to main story though: low. The result is that just like the rest of team Gai, he was essentially set aside as the main story progressed *kicks clone fights*.
Lee: "half" resolution. It's obvious he's a great shinobi. Pre-timeskip, he's been shown training longer than Gai, which is a great foreshadowing that he'll surpass Gai. On the other hand, he still hasn't won a fight yet. Relevance to main story: low.
Tenten: has to get a theme first.
Aburame Shino: it's really hard to tell, as we still don't know if he really does have a theme. Like Shikamaru, his fights up till now have mostly centered around form: the "strategic" aspect, than anything else. Still, the "teamwork" aspect might be brought out. Relevance to story: low.
Inuzuka Kiba: "half" resolution. Akamaru's alive. On the other hand, he still needs to prove that he can um... protect it? Added to this, Kiba's relevance to the main story is also low, so we don't know if this theme will be brought up again.
Hyuuga Hinata: basically, I think her pre-timeskip resolution stands at around the same level of Gaara's pre-timeskip resolution. She's stood up for herself, she's gained more confidence and become a chuunin, the "person she admires" has finally given her the thumbs up, and her family seems to be slowly healing. However, she still hasn't got the full acknowledgement of her family (Gaara gained full resolution by becoming a fully-loved kazekage, for example), nor has she shown how much stronger she's become. Unfortunately, unlike Gaara, her relevance to the story is low, so we don't know if we'll see her full resolution before nearing the end of the series.
Nara Shikamaru: unknown. Basically, he's smart before, and for the sake of his teammates, he's probably become smarter (on the tactical aspect). But he's never fought in the name of a theme before, so we don't know if he will, since he could just do what he usually does by thinking things out as much as possible.
Akimichi Chouji: "half" resolution? He defeated Jiroubo, and gained a lot of friends. And? He has to prove how great he's become?
Yamanaka Ino: She seems to have lost her relevance as "rival". It may still be brought out, but Haruno Sakura has bigger things to worry about than focus on her. The databook says however that she places her teammates first, so it might be her future theme.
Those who haven't received a "full" resolution might further build on the aspect in a future fight. However, as most of the characters do not have any relevance to the story anymore, it is unlikely that they will be the central focus of the story. Instead they'll probably have side, hopefully themed fights like in the rescue arc.
II. Reversing the analysis: Kishimoto's character design process
II.1. The characters are designed to best fit a role and theme, not the other way around
I realized this after thinking about themes and about Kishimoto's interview. Kishimoto, when creating a character, especially one that will deal with Naruto in a major way, Specifically designs the character's background and even personality to best suit the situation and interact with Naruto, instead of creating random characters he thinks are cool and just sticking them into the story:
- Iruka had lost his parents as well.
- Haku was in the same scenario of "not acknowledged, until finally finding someone who accepted him"
- Gaara was a jinchuuriki as well, one hated by the whole village
- Hinata was not acknowledged by her clan, much like Naruto wasn't acknowledged by Konoha
- Neji has a seal like Naruto does
- Tsunade just happened to have two precious people who hoped for becoming Hokage but died before.
- um... Jiraiya was the loser of the group like Naruto was? Plus he had his own confrontation against Orochimaru.
So basically, Kishimoto designs the character so that they'd fit into the specific role and theme he's given them. Not that he does it badly: even though he creates those characters with a specific moment in mind, those characters do end up as independant characters with their own history and personality.
Even with the background baggage in place, Kishimoto still sets up a healthy amount of foreshadowing and building up before the characters play their role: Haku met Naruto before their confrontation and asked him about precious people. Hinata was shown looking at Naruto on several occasions, and helped him during the first test. Neji had a whole set-up in the form of the Hinata vs Neji fight. Naruto confronted Gaara (at the hospital) before the fight as well.
It makes sense really. Kishimoto is maximizing relevance to the current story and current drama. The downside though is that once they've lost that sole purpose, they risk being completely set aside (team Gai for example, could have been shown thinking more about Gaara, but it wasn't in their roles so they behaved instead as fillers here...)
Interesting thing about Sakura: she is 0% background relevence. Rather... her "background" is the entire part 1, during which her future purpose was slowly built-up until she finally asked Tsunade to train her to save her teammates. Her "return" is the entire part 2. Sasuke's background in the meantime, is rather somewhat independant of Naruto's. Basically, these two are main characters, their purpose lies more in constant interaction and development rather than expressing a one-time theme with Naruto.
We also see why Yamato and Sai were created here, but I'll address something else first.
II.2. A (good) lack of "redundancy" in themes, both present and future
Precisely because Kishimoto looks at "theme" first, he's actually surprisingly capable of avoiding "redundancy", while fully bringing out each theme (unlike the fillers *cough*). People are somewhat annoyed that he inspired so many people, but Nobody will claim that Neji and Gaara are the exact same characters. Because they're not: they've been influenced on different aspects.
- Haku: precious people, whether shinobis are tools or not.
- Hinata: "proud losers".
- Neji: "destiny".
- Gaara: yes, "protecting precious people" again, but as the "return" on Haku's influence. Mostly though, fellow "jinchuuriki".
- Tsunade: Hokage.
- etc.
Compare this to the anime fillers, where we have:
- a watered-down Haku (Curry of Life arc)
- a watered-down Sasuke (Noroimusha arc. Revenge wtf?)
- a watered-down "monster" (Anko arc)
- a watered-down "kage" (current star arc)
- did I miss any?
So what? Well basically, this leads me to the following belief: in the manga, Naruto will NOT confront others on a theme he's already used. If he were to confront another jinchuuriki for example, you can't get a fuller resolution than Gaara's acceptance by his whole village as "kage", so Kishimoto will probably avoid "watered-down" existing themes. Naruto could still confront a jinchuuriki, but it'd either be unthemed, or use a completely different scene than "being rejected then fighting for acceptance".
Basically, each of Naruto's bitch'slap'o'dooms only work once. He's used up the "protect precious people" one, the "Hokage" one, the "fellow rejected jinchuuriki" one, the "proud loser" and "hardworker" ones... The number of themes is actually running low. This is a pretty good thing really, Kishimoto most likely realizes this and so Naruto won't be spending part 2 changing as many people. The few he does, it'd be through completely new themes. But because there aren't an infinite number of themes out there, Kishimoto will probably be limiting the number of occasions Naruto convert people from now, quite suitable given that Naruto has his own major problems now so shouldn't be the one to speak.
On the other hand, some themes already used by Naruto might be reused by the supporting cast, as their own "return" on Naruto's influence (possibly getting "full resolution" this way).
II.3. Unthemed battles
At this point you might ask me "hey, if it's true that Kishimoto doesn't create random characters with no more purpose to the story, what about Chiyo and (to a lesser degree) Sasori?" Well, Sasori was the obligatory Akatsuki they had to confront on the way, with the added bonus of leading team Kakashi towards Orochimaru. He's also been given ties to Chiyo for added depth. That's it though. Chiyo... how should I put this... Chiyo's interactions were with Sakura, not Naruto, so it wasn't "necessary" to use a theme on her. =\
Basically, I've already detailed the themed battles. There are two other sorts of battles though:
- battles used to just show off something new,
- battles used to forward a plot.
Usually when a battle is unthemed, both of the above are used at the same time. The Sasori battle was to show off Sakura's improvements, but also to forward the plot at the end. The Kisame battle was to show off Gai and Kisame's abilities, and indirectly, the Akatsuki leader's. The more important one was the Itachi fight, which showed off Itachi's genjutsu, Naruto's anti-genjutsu and left a big foreshadowing for the Mangekyou Sharingan, which will probably be important to the plot. The Deidara battle was to show off MS and KN2, the Orochimaru battle to show off KN4 and put in place the plot device that'd convince Naruto to stop using Kyuubi as much.
Wait a moment, don't all battles serve one of the purposes above? Nah, just look at the filler battles that lead to nowhere. Unless it's to a watered-down expression of an existing theme, that is. So whenever you see a new battle, especially by Naruto, you can expect it to occur not just for the sake of fighting. We're bound to get something new, be it theme, jutsu or plot.
II.4. The two newest characters: Yamato and Sai, designed to help bring out the Jinchuuriki and Brother aspects respectively
This part finally.
For those who have read my plotlines essay... Naruto's two major problems stem from the Jinchuuriki aspect on the one hand, and the Sasuke problem on the other. Since Kishimoto creates characters to emphasize a situation rather than stick random ones in, enter Yamato and Sai.
Yamato
Basically, Yamato is to Naruto what Kakashi was to Sasuke. He's the new adult, the new "teacher" of the lot, thus picking up where Kakashi left out. Kakashi's main influence was on Sasuke though, who had the most personal problems then. Now similarly, Yamato now takes on a main influence on Naruto (though Kakashi will probably gain back his relevance as soon as Sasuke shows back up. Him gaining the mangekyou should also help him tie into the story better). In bried, Yamato is:
- the handy-dandy jinchuuriki suppressor (with a background to build to this role)
- and tying more into the jinchuuriki-controlling role, he's the first we see notice the negative effects of Kyuubi chakra as much, but also recognize Naruto's own role in suppressing all that
- and since he's in the teacher role, he gets to tell Naruto about all this
Sai
I have a seperate Sai essay. Sai is:
- the medium for a brand-new plotline that is "Konoha internal political conflicts" (role #1)
- but his background is also such that he'll probably be used to advance the "brother" aspect as well (role #2)
Basically, Yamato and Sai are both FAR from random new characters whose sole purpose is to take the limelight away from the existing cast and die off within one arc. Quite the contrary, they are created in a way to help with the necessary advancement of the main aspects of the story. That's why they had to be introduced instead of the existing cast: None of the existing cast have the background or purpose necessary to help with these aspects. So a bit more respect for them, eh (oy, don't start calling me biased, personally I don't like either, I just recognize their significance within the story). They might even become permanent support cast.
Conclusion
Um... yes? Well, a few major points that can be deduced from all this though:
- Naruto's main influences are around a theme. Characters he's influenced are designed in a way to best meet this influence, rather than just be random "cool" characters thrown in. As a result of the influence, they might manifest a "return" on the theme. Basically, Naruto's "power of inspiration," the scale of which is unique to Naruto. Which is why he's the main character.
- Kishimoto doesn't repeat themes. This means we won't have two of the same type of characters. Yay! And since the number of themes is probably running low, Naruto won't be spending his time in part 2 bitch-slapping people, and focus on his own problems instead. Yay!
- there are very few "filler" battles: either they serve to show off something completely new (character development, new abilities that more often than not, show a significance to the story) and/or advance the story, or they serve to illustrate a theme.
- Sai and Yamato's introductions are far from accidental. They have major roles in the current storyline.
So yeah.