This Was Too Good A Question To Answer Anonymously

[redbrunja]

Okay, over on the Naruto what-if meme someone asked the question, "What if Kishi actually decided to make Sasuke and Naruto a couple at the end of the manga? Would fandom explode? How would this be seen by different cultures/the media (Naruto is a fairly popular manga)? Would this affect the way kids veiw gay couples at all?"

My instinctive thought was 'they wouldn't get it.' I think a lot of the casual, non fandom readers of Naruto would be REALLY confused and I would bet money on the American and Japanese parents flipping the fuck out.

However, what I'm pondering is whether or not having Naruto and Sasuke being gay for each other would change some children's perceptions about homosexuals. Would it make them more accepting? Would they start to see gay people as human beings who deserves the same rights everyone else does?

You thoughts, flist?

Comments

[the-sun-is-up.livejournal.com]

Okay I am REEEEALLY out-of-it right now due to a) being sick and b) taking the wrong cold meds by accident. However I really want to answer this question! So if this is unintelligible, just ignore it. :FFF

My first instinct would be to say that non-fandom people would be really confused by Naruto/Sasuke turning out to be a romantic relationship. HOWEVER my own personal experience begs to differ. When I started shipping NaruSasu, I had never shipped any slash pairings (except as crack/for-the-lulz), my hoyay-detecting goggles were nigh nonexistent, and if anything I actually disliked slash because I found yaoi fangirls so irritating. But even with all of that, I was still like "HOLY CRAP THESE GUYS ARE REALLY GAY FOR EACH OTHER. ... *brain breakage*"

I think some confusion might come from how Kishimoto has made a big deal out of the traditional love triangle of Naruto -> Sakura -> Sasuke. People might be like "hang on a sec, isn't Naruto supposed to be in love with Sakura? wtf?" However even that was mostly a Part 1 theme. The thing I keep coming back to is that this ENTIRE manga, the core theme has been Naruto and Sasuke's relationship and more recently, Naruto's growing obsession with bringing Sasuke back. Sakura has all but become part of the wallpaper.

Re. Japanese fans: I think they'd be less confused than American fans, just because shounen-ai is such an established genre in Japanese lit and so they're used to having teh ghey pop up in their fiction. What would be confusing is a shounen-ai relationship showing up in a fighting shounen manga like Naruto. That would be hugely revolutionary, would totally screw with the genre conventions and how things are Supposed To Be Done, especially since Naruto and Sasuke don't at all follow the Seme/Uke archetypes, and actually I would have so much more respect for Kishimoto if he took that subversive a leap.

Re. American fans: Since we have so few gay relationships in media, I think it would make a lot of people's brains explode from shock. Parents/Moral Guardians would have a field day. The fanboys would be in denial. There would be wank. I would be deeply amused.

Re. changing kids' perceptions about gays: Absolutely it would. Even if they were also subjected to their parents ranting about Teh Ebil Ghey, the kids who've been reading this manga have grown attached to these characters and have come to see Naruto and Sasuke as three-dimensional people just like you and me. And to have such characters turn out to be gay makes the kids go "oh, gay people are people too." It'd be especially influential (and revolutionary, at least in this country) becuase Naruto and Sasuke don't fit any of the usual gay stereotypes we have in this country. They weren't labelled right off the bat, either explicitly or by hints, and so they really are "just people like you and me." Who just happen to be gay.

Aww man, now you're making me wish it would actually happen. Which I doubt it will, but then again, I've given up on trying to read Kishimoto's mind. He be trippin balls.

THE END OF THIS LONG AND INCOHERENT COMMENT.

[anat-astarte.livejournal.com]

The thing I keep coming back to is that this ENTIRE manga, the core theme has been Naruto and Sasuke's relationship and more recently, Naruto's growing obsession with bringing Sasuke back. Sakura has all but become part of the wallpaper.

Yes, this! Also, shippuden!Naruto hasn't expressed all that much interest in anyone butSasuke, even post-confessions Y/Y?

That's why, if it ever actually happened, it would so totally make sense.

I especially love that Sasuke has never seemed to express any romantic interest in anyone either let's ignore his obsession with Itachi. Part of me wants to see a resolution to the whole Sakura/Sasuke and Karin/Sasuke issue to finally know what his deal is there, especially if he once entertained the idea of resurrecting his clan. XD

Warning: am still very out-of-it

[the-sun-is-up.livejournal.com]

Also, shippuden!Naruto hasn't expressed all that much interest in anyone butSasuke, even post-confessions Y/Y?

Yes! And both the Hinata and Sakura confessions ended up sort of weirdly cockblocked, so that it made it difficult for any actual romance to grow out of them. And it comes back to what you said: I hear a lot of people joke about how the Part 1 love triangle has sort of flipped in Part 2, so now it's Sakura -> Naruto -> Sasuke, where Sakura (esp in the beginning of Part 2) was showing more interest in and care for Naruto, while Naruto's crush on her had faded into the background and he was just SASUKESASUKESASUKE all the time.

Sasuke has never seemed to express any romantic interest in anyone either

True, although during Valley of the End, he did make a big thing of how Naruto was his dearest friend EVAR and that was specifically (ironically) why he wanted to kill him (because blah blah Sharingan). So... that's interesting. :P

Also, did Sasuke ever canonically touch on the issue of restarting his clan? I hear people in fandom joke about it a lot, but I can't remember him actually ever adressing it in the series.

Ahhh your icon. *___*

Re: Warning: am still very out-of-it

[anat-astarte.livejournal.com]

<3333333

Oh yeah, for Sasuke it has always been about ItachiNaruto! Not just at the Valley of the End, but after that too- in Sound, thinking about him on the Great Naruto Bridge....XD

Yes, in canon when Kakashi is first introduced he asked Team 7 what their dreams were, and Sasuke did say his ambition was the resurrection of his clan and to "kill a certain man."

Thanks, I love this icon too :D

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Your thoughts are basically my thoughts.

Honestly, the massive brain-breakage and the killing of two ships I dislike (Naruto/Sakura, Sasuke/Sakura) makes the idea of canon Sasuke/Naruto SO DAMN APPEALING.

I'm so sorry you're sick - you sound like you have a nasty, nasty bout of it.