When Naruto ended, the final chapter revealed Naruto had married Hinata, while Sasuke had married Sakura. As these pairings had not been properly addressed in the series, people had questions about how they ended up together, leading to The Last: Naruto the Movie being made to specifically resolve it by revealing Naruto was Oblivious to Love towards Hinata, and that his crush on Sakura was only because of jealousy towards Sasuke, essentially Loving a Shadow. The issue is that this doesn't line up with the details from the original story; Naruto had shown enough instances to know what romantic love was, even chewing out Sakura for a fake confession she gave him, and even asked his mother about how she met his dad, showing on some level he understood what romantic feelings were. His crush on Sakura was also genuine, since Part One had a scene showing him reacting sadly to Sakura tending to Sasuke in the hospital, showing he very obviously was jealous of Sasuke for it. If Naruto really was Oblivious to Love, why did he call Sakura out for a fake love confession, when he should have thought it was real by that logic, and then go on to still imply even during the final arc he had a crush on her? Why did he react to negatively to Hinata's seeming death at the hands of Pain right after she confessed to him, as Naruto and Hinata weren't super close, yet Naruto seeing her nearly die almost is the Darkest Hour for his character? Furthermore, Naruto's Oblivious to Love moments were almost always created in filler or non-canon movies, yet now Naruto is supposedly Oblivious to Love as to opposed to just developing feelings for Hinata and naturally moving past his feelings for Sakura, which felt like it raised more issues than it should have.
This stems from a fundamental misunderstanding:
Naruto understands the concept of attraction (after all, as it's mentioned above, he had a crush on Sakura, plus all the other examples mentioned) but has a very skewed understanding of love:
It was shown since chapter 1 of the manga that for Naruto, love was something that had to be won or earned. This was in the scene when he told Iruka that he'd become Hokage one day because he knew that Hokages are the strongest ninja and that way, everyone would acknowledge him. This fits very well with the concept of Naruto's "love" for Sakura being born of his rivalry with Sasuke: Sakura, a pretty girl Naruto has a crush on, is constantly fawning over Sasuke, a guy he perceives as a rival and an obstacle to overcome. So, in Naruto's mind, the only way he would attain love was if he became strong, defeated Sasuke, and (with that) won over Sakura's affections.
Now, about Hinata: Naruto was indeed Oblivious to Love with her. The trope is about a character who, for various reasons, including outright denial, is unaware of another character's romantic feelings towards them. Naruto fits this since, for him, Hinata was a girl who constantly blushed and became embarrassed whenever he was around her, and thus thought she was "weird". Despite this, Naruto is always shown acting warmly and positively towards her throughout the canon.
As explained above, Naruto didn't fully understand love; the idea that someone would love him for who he was did not fit his mindset. As shown in The Last, after Hinata's confession, Naruto went into denial of Hinata loving him, which is why Sakura said that, for Naruto, love was like the love for ramen: For him, that was the closest concept to unconditional love. This is why Naruto goes into a Love Epiphany in the movie after he's shown all the scenes where Hinata stood with him, including the Pain scenes. It's him realizing that he's always been worthy of love and that he loved Hinata all along, which is why he reacted so violently when Pain seemingly killed her.
It's okay to criticize the execution of the romance in the series, but to say that it opens plot holes is simply not true.
There's this entry:
This stems from a fundamental misunderstanding:
Naruto understands the concept of attraction (after all, as it's mentioned above, he had a crush on Sakura, plus all the other examples mentioned) but has a very skewed understanding of love:
It was shown since chapter 1 of the manga that for Naruto, love was something that had to be won or earned. This was in the scene when he told Iruka that he'd become Hokage one day because he knew that Hokages are the strongest ninja and that way, everyone would acknowledge him. This fits very well with the concept of Naruto's "love" for Sakura being born of his rivalry with Sasuke: Sakura, a pretty girl Naruto has a crush on, is constantly fawning over Sasuke, a guy he perceives as a rival and an obstacle to overcome. So, in Naruto's mind, the only way he would attain love was if he became strong, defeated Sasuke, and (with that) won over Sakura's affections.
Now, about Hinata: Naruto was indeed Oblivious to Love with her. The trope is about a character who, for various reasons, including outright denial, is unaware of another character's romantic feelings towards them. Naruto fits this since, for him, Hinata was a girl who constantly blushed and became embarrassed whenever he was around her, and thus thought she was "weird". Despite this, Naruto is always shown acting warmly and positively towards her throughout the canon.
As explained above, Naruto didn't fully understand love; the idea that someone would love him for who he was did not fit his mindset. As shown in The Last, after Hinata's confession, Naruto went into denial of Hinata loving him, which is why Sakura said that, for Naruto, love was like the love for ramen: For him, that was the closest concept to unconditional love. This is why Naruto goes into a Love Epiphany in the movie after he's shown all the scenes where Hinata stood with him, including the Pain scenes. It's him realizing that he's always been worthy of love and that he loved Hinata all along, which is why he reacted so violently when Pain seemingly killed her.
It's okay to criticize the execution of the romance in the series, but to say that it opens plot holes is simply not true.
Edited by matruz