The interviews from masashi kishimoto mangaka about the manga naruto and his characters are legion, and concerning his favorite characters, several names often come up. But yet, one of them comes back more often in the mouth of its author, here is why.
Naruto: a more interesting character than Ten-Ten?
Masashi Kishimotoauthor of the manga naruto has already publicly stated who are his favorite characters in his most famous work. This list changes very often. For example in 2012, before the publication of the Great Ninja War, Kishimoto’s favorite characters were Chōji Akimichi and Killer Bee. Earlier still, it was Gaara, Rock Lee or even Hinata. But apart from the main character and the many powerful but forgotten ninjas, it was the Uchiha family that most interested the author and more particularly the little brother of the family. It is quite easily verifiable in his work by seeing the story of the manga. From a somewhat dark rival serving to counterbalance Naruto’s ardor and show the duality between training vs genius, he became the deuteragonist fairly quickly, especially in Naruto Shippuden. His abilities and lineage both become key plot points. Several arcs talk about him or are interested in his story via the tragic fate of the Uchiha. And to illustrate all this, we thought you’d be curious to know Sasuke’s laugh in 5 different languages, don’t thank us.
What is difficult to imagine, however, is why after all these years Sasuke has remained his favorite character. It has nothing to do with his personality or anything he does in the story. To find out, it is necessary to peer deep into Sasuke’s creation and design, since Basically… Sasuke didn’t exist. Or at least it shouldn’t exist. Kishimoto never wanted it, he never even thought of it. It was his editor and friend who convinced him to give Naruto a rival. It was necessary for the proper development of young Uzumaki that he could refer to a rival, already more powerful on all fronts than him, but resembling him however on the central point of the manga: the family. In addition to that, Kishimoto had great difficulty inventing and drawing the character. In his original design, the latter had several necklaces and ties around his arms and legs. A very Final Fantasy look quickly abandoned because Kishimoto could not draw so many elements each week, he preferred to focus on a more refined style contrasting with the outfit of naruto.
A difficult character to draw
Kishimoto, in his Interviews, talks a lot more about Sasuke than about Naruto or other characters. In 2012, he already explained that he had a lot of trouble keeping Sasuke’s childish features, because he couldn’t help but draw him older.. The transition to Shippuden was a real relief since he no longer had this drawing constraint. Despite these difficulties, Sasuke remains the character that the author of the manga Naruto prefers to draw, and this is seen in the evolution of the character whose style and look evolves much more than that of his rival and eponymous character of the manga. Going from blue to black strappy back to a high-cut white outfit and other looks in Boruto. Even Naruto only changes his outfit occasionally (and often into a green frog). Sasuke never goes back to an old look. When you spend so much time drawing a manga, it is necessary to appreciate what one draws. The pressure of the speed of publication of the chapters is an argument to offer the characters always the same look, in order to facilitate the drawing. The fact that Sasuke changes his outfit and haircut regularly is proof of his importance to the author..
In 2017, he explained that he wanted to explain the whole story of the manga from the point of view of Sasuke or Jiraiya.. Even if Sasuke’s point of view is used a lot in the anime because of the (too) many fillers and flashbacks. Besides, he was recently treated to an alternate history with his wife Sakura. The story is not signed by Kishimoto, but it was he who provided the drawings. If you liked this article, do not hesitate to take a look at our article in which we explain why Naruto is so far the worst Hokage that the village of Konoha has known.