Naruto is the Main Character. Sasuke is the Plot.

[mrsticky005]

Some people are saying that Sasuke is the main character and that the
series should be renamed "Sasuke Shippuden" while I'm not clueless and
do understand that most of these people are joking, Sasuke can never
actually be the main character. If you consider the core of what Naruto
is you'll see that Naruto HAS to be the main character. This is the
entire Naruto series in a nutshell

Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage but first he must save his friend Sasuke Uchiha from forever falling down the path of hatred.

Naruto is the main character and Sasuke is the plot. Being Hokage, the top ninja is Naruto's goal. That is the story's resolution. Sasuke is the climax.
Many stories will be about a character with a goal in mind and there will
always be some kind of challenge in the way. More often than not this
challenge is personified. It's just easier to tell stories that way. It's easier
to identify with. Sasuke is the personification of that challenge. Naruto
could have just as easily been

Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage but first he must save his friend Shikamaru Nara from forever falling down the path of hatred.

Sure what happens in the story would change but the core of the
story probably wouldn't change much. Naruto is about the main
character saving other people from themselves.

Also the main antagonist of Naruto is Madara Uchiha. He is THE bad guy.
However Sasuke remains the plot because it's about saving him not
defeating Madara. (Though defeating Madara will likely save Sasuke.)

as far as other series...

One Piece is about Luffy trying to be King of the Pirates.
The challenge is other pirates and the world government.
This is personified in the character of Black Beard.

Bleach is about Ichigo and his challenges as a Sub Soul Reaper.
The challenge is Hollows and corrupt Soul Reapers. This is
personified in the character of Sosuke Aizen

Hunter x Hunter is about Gon finding his father Gin.
The challenge is everything that gets in his way of doing so.
This does not yet have a personification and true antagonist.
Some people might say Hisoka is but he's not. Hisoka is
definitely a big baddie but he's not the big baddie.
Chrollo isn't the big baddie either because he is
Kurapica's rival. Genuthru was the big baddie of the day
and the same goes for The Chimera Ant King.
They are not the main challenge and that has yet to
be revealed. However it is likely that the main challenge
what keeps Gon from finding his father is either
going to be personified in Gyro or the new chairman
of the Hunter Association. Though it might have
no personified challenge at all. It could just be the system.

[TheAkatsukiClanPM9999]

Sasuke Shippuden don't make sense don't listen to them.

[Narutorious]

Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage but first he must save his friend Shikamaru Nara from forever falling down the path of hatred.


He wants to save Shikamaru, and here I thought it was Sasuke this whole time. :cool:

[mrsticky005]

Sasuke Shippuden don't make sense don't listen to them.

He wants to save Shikamaru, and here I thought it was Sasuke this whole time. :cool:

Most of them are probably joking about that and even I will joke around
that Sasuke is stealing the show (he is after all.) But I think some people
might actually be mistaken and think Sasuke is the main character.
The main character of a series is synonymous with the protagonist which
isn't always the good guy. Light Yagami is the protagonist of Death Note
though whether or not he is good or bad is debatable. Title characters
aren't usually but not always the main character. For instance a manga
by Osamu Tezuka called Dororo the protagonist is not Dororo though
Dororo is the plot of the manga. Naruto is both protagonist and title character.

Of course changing it to Shikamaru would change a lot of things but the
idea of having to save someone from themselves in order to win is
what Naruto is about. At the end of the day Sasuke's actions only
matter as much as how much more difficult it will be for Naruto
to save Sasuke.

[Wooster]

I think the problem is the focus on Sasuke, and by this I don't mean Naruto's focus on Sasuke.

If Sasuke is supposed to be the obstacle Naruto has to overcome, we should see this from Naruto's perspective. Instead, we get a whole arc from Sasuke's perspective. Essentially, we are following the story of the villian. That not how a writer should tell a story.

Of course, the reader has to see the villian from time to time, so they get feeling what that character is like. However, these should be brief glimpses not long drawn out stories. Here's an example, when Orochimaru was the villian, we mainly saw him confronting other characters of Konoha. Once in a while we get a couple panels of him plotting the destruction of Konoha. That's how to do it. It leaves the reader wondering what the villian will do next and excited when the hero confronts this evil mastermind.

Instead with Sasuke we see his development into a villian, this I contend is dull and bores the reader. Here's the exception: his fight with Danzo. It's was interseting because Danzo played the role of the minor "good guy", and it revealed Sasuke as the villian. Of course, now our hero, Naruto, must defeat this powerful villian. This would have worked even if the last time we saw Sasuke was with his conversation with Madara, so why did we have to see all that other crap in between?

So the problem isn't that Sasuke is important, it's that Kishimoto is trying to give him as much panel time as Naruto.

[J-Sun Tasogare]

Actually I still think Oro will be the main antagonist since he tipped the dominoes and is still alive.

[mrsticky005]

I think the problem is the focus on Sasuke, and by this I don't mean Naruto's focus on Sasuke.

If Sasuke is supposed to be the obstacle Naruto has to overcome, we should see this from Naruto's perspective. Instead, we get a whole arc from Sasuke's perspective. Essentially, we are following the story of the villian. That not how a writer should tell a story.

Of course, the reader has to see the villian from time to time, so they get feeling what that character is like. However, these should be brief glimpses not long drawn out stories. Here's an example, when Orochimaru was the villian, we mainly saw him confronting other characters of Konoha. Once in a while we get a couple panels of him plotting the destruction of Konoha. That's how to do it. It leaves the reader wondering what the villian will do next and excited when the hero confronts this evil mastermind.

Instead with Sasuke we see his development into a villian, this I contend is dull and bores the reader. Here's the exception: his fight with Danzo. It's was interseting because Danzo played the role of the minor "good guy", and it revealed Sasuke as the villian. Of course, now our hero, Naruto, must defeat this powerful villian. This would have worked even if the last time we saw Sasuke was with his conversation with Madara, so why did we have to see all that other crap in between?

So the problem isn't that Sasuke is important, it's that Kishimoto is trying to give him as much panel time as Naruto.


I agree that Sasuke has had too much panel time and that it worked
against the development of his character. It takes away the shock
of Sasuke turning evil when we see it coming from a million miles away.

Hm, I think telling the story from the villain or antagonist's point of view
can be interesting. It worked quite well with Death Note. However DN
was much better at balancing the two opposing forces.

Yeah, Oro was developed well as a villain. He teased us just enough
to keep us interested but not to bore us.

I think Sasuke vs 8 tails and Sasuke vs Kages were what's made it bad.
They served little purpose to Sasuke's plan for revenge nor do they make
much more sense for Madara's plans. Rather it seems like they are Madara's way of keeping Sasuke busy while he waits for the right moment.

Sasuke vs Danzo works because it had a dual purpose. Sasuke gets revenge and Madara got Shisui's eye (though Danzo crushed it.)

Sasuke vs 8 tails served as an excuse for the Kage Alliance and to
have Sasuke be enemy of the Ninja States. Also it set 8 tails up
as Naruto's future teacher.

Sasuke vs Kages were basically a preview of Sasuke's power.
But it was too much of a preview and should have been shorter.
Raikage's fight was way too long and Tsuchikage and Mizukage's fight
seemed extraneous and unnecessary especially when Zetsu heals Sasuke.

But yeah. Too much panel time.

[Xx--Mana--xX]

i think sasuke shippuden is weird because we've grown up with naruto being the main character so we are all used to the characters around him but if we went to sasuke then it would confuse lots of people.
plus *personality wise* naruto is better than sasuke :)

[Wooster]

I agree that Sasuke has had too much panel time and that it worked
against the development of his character. It takes away the shock
of Sasuke turning evil when we see it coming from a million miles away.

Hm, I think telling the story from the villain or antagonist's point of view
can be interesting. It worked quite well with Death Note. However DN
was much better at balancing the two opposing forces.

Yeah, Oro was developed well as a villain. He teased us just enough
to keep us interested but not to bore us.

I think Sasuke vs 8 tails and Sasuke vs Kages were what's made it bad.
They served little purpose to Sasuke's plan for revenge nor do they make
much more sense for Madara's plans. Rather it seems like they are Madara's way of keeping Sasuke busy while he waits for the right moment.

Sasuke vs Danzo works because it had a dual purpose. Sasuke gets revenge and Madara got Shisui's eye (though Danzo crushed it.)

Sasuke vs 8 tails served as an excuse for the Kage Alliance and to
have Sasuke be enemy of the Ninja States. Also it set 8 tails up
as Naruto's future teacher.

Sasuke vs Kages were basically a preview of Sasuke's power.
But it was too much of a preview and should have been shorter.
Raikage's fight was way too long and Tsuchikage and Mizukage's fight
seemed extraneous and unnecessary especially when Zetsu heals Sasuke.

But yeah. Too much panel time.
What doesn't make sense is that Kishimoto seemed to understand how to do this. Take Hidan and Kakuzu. When they captured the Two Tails, we saw the beginning of the battle and the end. That leaves impression of awe of the strength of these two mysterious new characters and leaves us excited to see them in action.

Kishimoto could have done the same with Sasuke. He could have hinted at a battle with Killer Bee, showed us the beginning, then the handing over of Killer Bee, and finally Bee's ingenious escape. Likewise, he could have done the same with the Kage summit.

I want to stress that this would do more than remove tedious panel time. It would make the recent story itself better. How you ask? Think about it. I will start with something mundane first: Killer Bee vs. Kisame. I think we will all admit that this battle was dull. Why is that? Because we have seen both battle before. But what if we never saw Killer Bee fight before? Much better. Then it would be a interesting fight and a surprise ending.(Double fake-out as we now know.)

Let's move on to the Danzo fight. It was great from both Sasuke's and Danzo's perspective. However, think about how surprising it would have been if we had barely seen Sasuke since the Madara conversation. Sasuke's transformation would have been a severe shock to most of us. Kishimoto could have hinted at Sasuke's transformation through secondhand information(like trying to capture Killer Bee), but actually seeing it for the first time would have been great.

Think of all these events: Sasuke yelling at Danzo trying to compare him to Itachi, his almost killing Karin and Sakura, his evil smile amd Whooop-Whooop laugh, and finally his taking of Itachi's eyes and intent to crush Naruto. Imagine what your reaction would have been if you hadn't seen an evil Sasuke yet. You would be completely shocked. Instead, while they were great moments, none of them were that unexpected.

What I'm saying essentially is: "Kishimoto don't show us everything keep us in suspense. It will quicken the pace of the strorytelling and lead to greater emotional highs when you finally reveal your awesome plot to us."

Edit: I forgot this part. Yes, mixing things up and telling the story from the villian's perspective can work. Particularly if the villian's actions and plans are intricate and not "I want to rule the world." However, I don't think Sasuke is that interesting. He is essentially Darth Vader, thus Madara's conversation and the Danzo fight are the perfect amount of story needed to explain Sasuke's actions.

However, if Kishimoto went another way and completely told the Part II from Sasuke's perspective that may have worked. Sauske has gone through many changes, but Kishimoto didn't do this. Nor has Naruto really been a story told through many character's perspectives changing frequently, which is another good way to tell a story.

Kishimoto should stick with the storytelling method he chose for Part I and most of Part II: Naruto's perspective. Fortunately, I think that is exactly what is coming up next.

[mrsticky005]

What doesn't make sense is that Kishimoto seemed to understand how to do this. Take Hidan and Kakuzu. When they captured the Two Tails, we saw the beginning of the battle and the end. That leaves impression of awe of the strength of these two mysterious new characters and leaves us excited to see them in action.

Kishimoto could have done the same with Sasuke. He could have hinted at a battle with Killer Bee, showed us the beginning, then the handing over of Killer Bee, and finally Bee's ingenious escape. Likewise, he could have done the same with the Kage summit.

I want to stress that this would do more than remove tedious panel time. It would make the recent story itself better. How you ask? Think about it. I will start with something mundane first: Killer Bee vs. Kisame. I think we will all admit that this battle was dull. Why is that? Because we have seen both battle before. But what if we never saw Killer Bee fight before? Much better. Then it would be a interesting fight and a surprise ending.(Double fake-out as we now know.)

Let's move on to the Danzo fight. It was great from both Sasuke's and Danzo's perspective. However, think about how surprising it would have been if we had barley seen Sasuke since the Madara conversation. Sasuke's transformation would have been a severe shock to most of us. Kishimoto could have hinted at Sasuke's transformation through secondhand information(like trying to capture Killer Bee), but actually seeing it for the first time would have been great.

Think of all these events: Sasuke yelling at Danzo trying to compare him to Itachi, his almost killing Karin and Sakura, his evil smile amd Whooop-Whooop laugh, and finally his taking of Itachi's eyes and intent to crush Naruto. Imagine what your reaction would have been if you hadn't seen an evil Sasuke yet. You would be completely shocked. Instead, while they were great moments, none of them were that unexpected.

What I'm saying essentially is: "Kishimoto don't show us everything keep us in suspense. It will quicken the pace of the strorytelling and lead to greater emotional highs when you finally reveal your awesome plot to us."


Agreed.

[Narutorious]

Actually I still think Oro will be the main antagonist since he tipped the dominoes and is still alive.


The Orochimaru era is over, it was proven that he is no match againist an elite Sharingan user, there would be no point of his return, that's why we now have a stronger Orochimaru(Kabuto), and the 3 Legendary Ninjas are the past while Naruto, Sasuke & Sakura are the present/future.

[J-Sun Tasogare]

The Orochimaru era is over, it was proven that he is no match againist an elite Sharingan user, there would be no point of his return, that's why we now have a stronger Orochimaru(Kabuto), and the 3 Legendary Ninjas are the past while Naruto, Sasuke & Sakura are the present/future.
Nope I don't think Oro's era is over he is the only good villian this series has had and with Kabuto becoming more like Oro this makes me believe that Oro will take over in a time we least expect it it's just like with Tsunade she arose at a time unexpected.

[Bohica]

Sorry I didnt read through all the posts, however in responce to your topics title.

Yes Naruto is the main char. however the Sauce can not be the plot he is a char. in the story, the plot is what a story is about and the story is about freindship and an ever endouring spirit.

What we are having now in the story is a build up of the main Antagonist (sasuke) he has been Naruto's propelling force from the begining.

[mrsticky005]

Sorry I didnt read through all the posts, however in responce to your topics title.

Yes Naruto is the main char. however the Sauce can not be the plot he is a char. in the story, the plot is what a story is about and the story is about freindship and an ever endouring spirit.

What we are having now in the story is a build up of the main Antagonist (sasuke) he has been Naruto's propelling force from the begining.


The goal of Naruto is for Naruto to become Hokage.
In order to do that he must overcome the challenge
of saving his friend Sasuke. That is why Sasuke is the plot.

[quinnzy]

sasuke shippuden is kinda stupid... it's naruto shippuden and naruto is the original main character... dont belive them.

[garra12345]

Sasuke shippuden that's just stupid don't listion to them it is Naruto shippuden.

[zerosameri]

Sasuke is the Main Character. Naruto is the Plot.

[Wooster]

Main character is the plot. Naruto is the Sasuke.

[mrsticky005]

Main character is the plot. Naruto is the Sasuke.


Is plot Naruto the character is main the Sasuke.


:D

[tyler]

Main character is the plot. Naruto is the Sasuke.

woah...thats deep

[Wooster]

Is plot Naruto the character is main the Sasuke.


:D
Sip alot to run. He tar cat. Her man is in the Sasuke.

Okay that was too much work.`|(

[Kuroda Taishi]

Of course changing it to Shikamaru would change a lot of things but the
idea of having to save someone from themselves in order to win is
what Naruto is about. At the end of the day Sasuke's actions only
matter as much as how much more difficult it will be for Naruto
to save Sasuke.

That person was pointing out that you mistakenly put in Shikamaru's name in place of Sasuke's.

[zerosameri]

Is plot Naruto the character is main the Sasuke.


:D
Sasuke = Naruto we all know that therefor

Naruto/Sasuke is the Main Character. Mogi is the Plot.
Main character is the plot. Naruto is the Sasuke. Mogi owns everything, screw Naruto and Sasuke

[Wooster]

woah...thats deep
How sad is it that I laughed uncontrollably for minute when that popped into my head?

Mogi owns everything, screw Naruto and Sasuke
Main character is the Moegi? Moegi is the plot?

[zerosameri]

Main character is the Moegi? Moegi is the plot?
Yup `:P

[jdomino7]

in the words of the great and wonderful fioriparty,



Fiori party-"I know, it's all part of a plan right? first you kill off the best characters in the series,(itachi and deidara) then you get the main role right?"

Sasuke-"No... you're wrong!"

Fiori party-"then how?! How did you become the main character in the series???"

Sasuke-"...I made out with kishimoto...."

Kisame- "I f*****g knew it!"

[Risa Ichigo-Chan]

[QUOTE=mrsticky005;2843050]Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage but first he must save his friend Sasuke Uchiha from forever falling down the path of hatred.[QUOTE]



Naruto is also a story about true friendship, it shows how far a true friend will go to save another friend. How much people push themselves just to tell their friend to stop and think. Naruto is more then just a main character trying to save a plot from destroying itself, it about friends and the true meaning of friendship.

thats why friendship is incorperated into the story so much, it's becuase the story is a metaphor for true friend ship. Naruto CRIED for Garra when he died. He had done everything to save him. This shows many different stories from many points of view around the world. Friends loosing otehr friends to drug abuse and such other things. Naruto is determined to save his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha from the path of hatred he is taking. This is a metaphor for someone in real life who is going down the wrong path and is coming near to their end. Naruto is the peer trying to stop this friend from doing the wrong thing, Sasuke is the other friend who doesn't want to, and is driven by his hatred to do the wrong thing.

I'm probably getting way to into it, but, thats the basic jist of Naruto in my eyes. A story about true friendship :)

[jz333]

naruto shippuden sounds way better than sasuke shippuden.

[mrsticky005]

[QUOTE=mrsticky005;2843050]Naruto Uzumaki wants to be the Hokage but first he must save his friend Sasuke Uchiha from forever falling down the path of hatred.[QUOTE]



Naruto is also a story about true friendship, it shows how far a true friend will go to save another friend. How much people push themselves just to tell their friend to stop and think. Naruto is more then just a main character trying to save a plot from destroying itself, it about friends and the true meaning of friendship.

thats why friendship is incorperated into the story so much, it's becuase the story is a metaphor for true friend ship. Naruto CRIED for Garra when he died. He had done everything to save him. This shows many different stories from many points of view around the world. Friends loosing otehr friends to drug abuse and such other things. Naruto is determined to save his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha from the path of hatred he is taking. This is a metaphor for someone in real life who is going down the wrong path and is coming near to their end. Naruto is the peer trying to stop this friend from doing the wrong thing, Sasuke is the other friend who doesn't want to, and is driven by his hatred to do the wrong thing.

I'm probably getting way to into it, but, thats the basic jist of Naruto in my eyes. A story about true friendship :)

Pretty much. It's the whole "The Power of Friendship can never be Broken!"
It's like Ryu and Ken...if Ken decided to be evil and Ryu was like "No! I will save Ken from the darkness of his heart" and M. Bison was like "Mwhahahaha! Ken is mine! Mine!" And Ryu was like "You can't have Ken!"
and M. Bison was like "Do tell me why! For the way I see it, I own Ken!"
Ken then fights Ryu but Ryu doesn't fight back and then M. Bison is like
"Enough is Enough! I'll finish you off myself!" and M. Bison started pummeling Ryu and as Ken watches, M. Bison says "See, Ken? This is how worthless friendship really is! True power comes from yourself!" And then
Ryu grabs M. Bison's fist. M. Bison says "Gasp! It can't be!" He doesn't
gasp he actually says "Gasp." Ryu says "You know nothing of friendship!
Ken is my best friend...' Ken's eyes go wide. Ryu continues "FOREVER!!!"
Ryu says to Ken "Let's work as a team and as friends" and Ken replies
"Cool, man. I like that." And then high five and yell "Friendship Explosion!"
Then they combine their powers and shoot a magical energy beam
at M.Bison who before getting blasted away (of course he doesn't die.
They need sequels) says "So...this is the true power...of FRIENDSHIP!"
Then Ryu and Ken look deep into each others eyes and smile. We question
whether or not they are more then just friends. People argue about whether or not Streetfighter or Mortal Kombat is better. Blood is spilled.


Ok maybe that never actually happened
but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

[mrsticky005]

Once again this post has become insignificant

[TheAkatsukiClanPM9999]

Sasuke is the *beep* and Naruto is the main character.