thatshinobilife:

whitevastninja:

thatshinobilife:

I’m almost too lazy to make this post because God it’s just so self explanatory but my loyalty to Temari runs too deep so here goes: 

They did exactly what I called they were gonna do and made her an over aggressive nagging house wive. This is why I complained over and over again three years ago when I saw they had moved her to Konoha because I KNEW someway somehow they were going to subject her character to this. They want her to be Yoshino 2.0 even though that’s NEVER been who she is because “lmao get it Shikamaru is just like his dad! Parallels!!”. They don’t take the time to think about how her character would actually react because none of that matters now – she exists solely to be Shikamaru’s wife. 

Some people are crying “abuse!” at what she did but I don’t really want to go there tbh. It’s very clear that in the Naruto universe things we find abusive are just par for the course. Calling out Temari in this instance would require we call out basically ever other female character which is not realistic. Domestic violence in Naruto is always played for laughs which is obviously fucked up but not something I think it’s fair to fault the characters for as we’re not intended to see it as abusive (even though realistically it is). No, what I really take issue with is the fact that being an overbearing and strict mother/wife is basically all Temari is given to do. 

This woman was born in one of the most fucked up situations of any character we see. He father was a walking human disaster, her mother was dead, and her youngest brother had a nasty habit of slaughtering anyone who looked at him the wrong way. She has always been strong and confident but throughout the series she softens considerably as she learns caring is not a weakness. She is a better diplomat than either of her brothers and remains calm and collected in even the tensest of situations. Her dynamic with Shikamaru has always been one of mutual respect and understanding which is what makes their relationship work so well (and IMO better than any of the canon relationships we got). Yes, Temari is a take no shit kind of person who probably WOULD chastise her son for his pitiful behavior – but not in the way we’re shown. In Boruto her parenting method basically amounted to “I’m just going to hit you and intimidate you until you get the picture and ultimately just end up listening to your cooler nicer wiser dad.” She doesn’t actually say anything of significance to Shikadai at all – that is reserved entirely for Shikamaru as he’s the influential one in their sons life. Temari is just there to be the ol’ ball-and-chain ~what a drag~ mom whose only dominion is the house she is confined to. THEN there’s the fact that Temari refusing to make dinner inevitably meant neither Shikamaru nor Shikadai could eat – as if a grown man could not make his own dinner and HAD to have his wife do it because it’s her domestic ~duty~. This is extra and dramatic but it actually makes me sick that they’re doing this to her. After everything she went through she would have something worthwhile to add to the conversation other than “bah you’re too easy on him I’m going to withhold meals to prove a point!!!”. She doesn’t treat her brothers like this and they’re consistently shown to value her opinion because her opinion is worth hearing. 

Temari played a crucial role in Suna politics prior to the end of the series. She sat on the council and came with Gaara to all the kage summits/meetings. She was one of the best kunoichi in the series just brimming with potential and strength and ferocity. During the war I began to get annoyed with how much they were making her revolve around Shikamaru’s character because after a certain point basically all her dialogue was in relation to him. That’s when I knew things were about to take a hard left turn for shits-ville and boy was I right. In chapter 700 ALL we see her doing is sitting in a house chastising her son and serving her brothers tea before they head out to a kage meeting without her. We don’t get any indication that she’s still affiliated with Suna, hell we don’t even get any indication that she’s still a ninja. In the boruto manga/movie she doesn’t interact with her siblings ONCE and is not with them in the pit with all the other Kage/advisors. I was happy to see she still had her fan but other than that I left highly unimpressed. Now in the anime she is ONCE AGAIN pictured in a house, serving people drinks and nagging away as if that’s all she’s good for anymore. I know it was played as a joke but that’s exactly what makes me so mad – her character has become nothing more than a trope meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator. The nagging housewive angle truly is the lowest hanging fruit but studio peirrot really could not resist could they.

Nevermind the fact that it would have been way funnier had they subverted the whole “why did you marry such a strict woman” thing by having Shikadai side with his mom instead, saying something to the effect of “why did you marry such an unmotivated slacker”. Can we stop treating Temari like she’s just an overly aggressive loaded gun that’s just one mistep away from going off. I mean I genuinely love Shikatema but I do not think the Boruto anime understands Shikatema. Part of me still wishes they just hadn’t got together because they don’t actually feel like “them” when they’re portrayed like this. No one is being respected as a character. 

Anyway all this to say I’m basically done with the Boruto anime now. I might still watch the next couple of episodes because curiosity is gonna get the better of me but emotionally I have severed all connections. It just comes down to the fact that I cannot handle them so grossly mischaracterizing characters that I have loved since I was 11 years old. I actually don’t mind the new gen when they’re on their own but every damn time they show one of the original characters they manage to fuck them up in some way. We see it with Temari, with Naruto, with Yamato, with Sakura. Hell I can’t stand Sasuke and even I’m mad about what they did to him post chapter 699. I am never going to like the new gen characters more than the original cast so if watching Boruto means seeing them get completely decimated then I’m not gonna watch it. Simple as that. Naruto being an absent father is the worst crime but I have no doubt they’ll continue to top that in future episodes. 

Maybe you just don’t know these characters as well as your trying to pull off. First of getting onto a kid because they got I trouble at school is not fucking nagging…ok so Temari is know to be a serious no bullshit having woman right. The Nara clan is know for having lady ass but genius men right. You know shikadai is like his the other lazy Nara clan members. If you know anything about the Nara clan or Shikamaru then you would know they start of lazy and need some serious motivation or someone to really start taking things seriously(for Shikamaru it was Asuma’s death and Naruto that really set him into motion). Like I said Temari has always be a no nonsense type of person so to see you sit up here bitching about how see is OOC and a naggin house for getting onto her son who BY THE FUCKING WAY GOT INTO TROUBLE AT SCHOOL….what good caring wouldn’t get angry when their kids act up at school and scold or punish them for that…man fucking cruel world…wtf are you surprised that she is getting on to him when she knows for a fact he has potential and could be doing so much better(one of the reason she fell in love with Shikamaru was because she saw what he was really capable of…you should know that since you say you know these characters). Did u call Temari nagging in Shikamaru hidden(novel not anime) when she went to save Shikamaru out of his genjustsu. Funny how SP made here a blushy fan girl at the end of Naruto but here made Temari basically back to her serious once again no nonsense self and u get butthurt but you know this character right or maybe they aren’t showing shikatema the way you personally want and it’s fucking sad that people actually agree with this post

I feel like you’re massively missing the point. As I stated in the post, it’s not Temari getting on to Shikadai that bothers me and I even affirmed that she WOULD chastise him for his behavior. It’s the way in which they portrayed her in that scene coupled with how they’ve treated her character for the last 3 – 4 years that bothers me. 

She gets on to her son by yelling a whole lot of nothing into his ear and then delegating the responsibility of disciplining him to Shikamaru. She doesn’t give him any advice or her take on the situation at all beyond “stop making excuses it’s unmanly!!!” The way she’s framed in this scene is so obviously meant to imply she’s a scary overbearing mother there’s basically no way around it. She’s standing above them cloaked in shadow as they sit dumbfounded below her. The situation was completely neutralized at that point and Shikadai had admitted he was wrong but she’s still not satisfied. At that point she could have maybe….offered some words of wisdom the way Shikamaru did but instead she continues to go off in a non-productive way. It’s not like Shikadai was shown to take what she said to heart, he learned nothing from her rant which isn’t surprising as it solely existed to provide some low brow comic relief to the scene. Shikamaru is who got through to him and Temari was a drag. This anime doesn’t exist in a vacuum, the nagging housewife is a very common trope (especially in anime) and it’s very obvious that’s whats being implied here. Their intentions for making her a Yoshino parallel could not be more transparent. 

But you know what I could probably forgive this if she was ever given anything else to do. That’s the root of the problem. When she’s ONLY shown as a strict housewife its a disservice to her character as she’s so much more than that. She’s doing the same damn thing in 700 as she’s doing now and she’s not allowed any role in the narrative beyond being Shikamaru’s wife and Shikadai’s mother. You could argue “she might be doing something more productive in the future” but like….when’s that gonna be exactly. The new gen are now the main characters, she’s more than likely going to be delegated to cameos so these precious few moments she’s afforded really shouldn’t be wasted on showing the most surface level part of her personality. And it actually does make my blood boil that Gaara and Kankuro get the luxury of being portrayed as they always have – competent capable shinobi running Suna’s government. They’re both men so this is basically a given but it’s fucking ridiculous that Temari’s being left in the dust when she was with them through everything. Again, she didn’t interact with them ONE TIME during the boruto movie/manga. Like pull the trigger piglet. 

I also hated the way they were portraying Temari in the final episodes of Naruto and have made other posts to reflect that. It is just possible that there’s more than one way to mischaracterize her and over aggressive housewife is just as off base as blushy fangirl. This “gotcha” attitude you have surrounding this argument is fucking ridiculous in the face of how little you know about my thoughts and opinions on anything but the topic at hand. 

The fact that people agree with my original post probably just implies something greater about the Naruto resolution in that everyone is sick of female characters getting the short end of the stick in the relationships they’re put in. Naruto has no shortage of problems when it comes to writing/portraying female characters so when they pull shit like this it’s VERY obvious what their intentions are and pretending like anything different is gonna come out of it is completely delusional. Like, this is not rocket science. The writing in Naruto has been on a decline for years and a lot of people have lost faith in it completely. Female characters more times than not are made to revolve around their respective love interests even if it means putting aside their own personal goals, achievements, and futures. Every single one of the main kunoichi in the series is shown to be married with children by their mid 20′s (with the exception of Tenten). That’s not inherently a problem but it becomes one when “mother and wife” turns into their main identity instead of “powerful capable shinobi who is also a mother and wife”. Guess which one the writers are going with. 

Side note: I love how you’re claiming everyone is butthurt and needs stop bitching when a quick glance at your blog shows you literally cannot handle the fact that people dislike this take on Temari. Go be a “true shikatema fan” somewhere else.