Is Naru♥Sasu (becoming) canon?

[Kondarou]

Hi everyone. As you can see (maybe), I just registered, and this is my first post. I really just had to ask around a bit about this issue (if it's even a real issue?) - it's been on my mind for a while, but after today I just could not let it slip.

A small warning to those who dislike the notion of love between boys, it is what this post is about. So please feel free to not follow through the reading if the subject is in any way offensive to you. (n///n) I apologise in advance for even bringing this to your sight if that is the case. (_ _) *bows*

On an extra note, I am not aware of how topics such as this are viewed as on a regular basis (maybe they are laughed at or looked down upon?), but I am somewhat familiar with the way some fans act when it comes discussions on (romantic) relationships. So it might be a good idea to assure everyone that the point of this post is to present a genuine, serious ponderation, inspite of its controversial nature. Hence, no fangirl/boy-ism bias here.

Now that that's out of the way - this caught my attention the first time only a few episodes ago. Before, I would never have even remotely considered the possibility of there being canon boy love in NARUTO. The reason for my thinking that is strangely simple - it's a mainstream, blockbuster, shounen manga. And to the best of my knowledge, mainstream manga rarely encompasses (canon) homossexuality. (CLAMP comes to mind.)

Regardless, BlueBird (current awesome, beautiful, catchy opening theme) has been running for a while, but then, during my nth time watching it at the beginning of one recent episode, this suddenly caught my attention:

Screencap #1:

Does that, by any chance, have any sort of meaning? It may have no meaning at all, and I may be the one looking too much into it, but I guess this is what this discussion is for. I can ask this in a simple way:

Naruto's broken heart, as represented in that frame from the opening... does it seem a little too broken by someone that is only 'his best friend; like a brother'?

To continue, comes the next frame:

Screencap #2:

The fateful day they found Sasuke, only to loose him again.

There is a fine, almost invisible, line between friends' love and lovers' love, but... is that level of adoration and devotion that Naruto displays toward Sasuke... just a bit too much? Just a tiny bit too much to genuinely be only a friend's?

I could mention things like this (the sobbing), or older ones such as this one, but I do not believe they even make an argument: it's natural that he was sad for loosing Sasuke a second time, and friendship can be strong and deep enough to bring physical closeness such as displayed by Sasuke on the day he left.

It's strange - the minor things alone, the single pages such as the two above, seem too farfetched, too subject to interpretation to prove anything, yet when looking at the bigger picture, what do you see?

I guess those frames from the opening were the trigger to this ponderation for that very reason - in a way, they; with a crying, miserable, Naruto on the first, and a hopeless, almost adoring one, on his knees, on the second; struck me with the broader picture of their relationship. Most of all, of Naruto's feelings for Sasuke.

And then came what eventually brought me here with this ponderation.

Spoilers for current episode(s) (64-65):

The new ending, Broken Youth by NICO Touches the Walls (which in itself causes me to nosebleed), which began airing on the current episode(s), 64-65. Did it basically just drag the whole thing over the line once and for all, or is it totally unrelated and unintended?

My knowledge of Japanese is limited, but I caught this:

だから

"Dakara So..."

プリーズキスミー

"Puriisu Kisu Mii Please Kiss Me..."
And then the camera shows Sasuke and the vocals repeat:

プリーズキスミー

"Please Kiss Me..."

And then:

ALNIGHT

"So please kiss me please kiss me all night."

First thing, the fact that an "all night" came at the end of that sentence sort of rules out the chance that they meant a friendly kiss.

A small second: I do not know what the rest of the song says. Its contents could very well deconstruct this ponderation in its entirety.

Third thing, Japanese people are different from us, so even though they placed a "romantic" song on top of an ending featuring only Naruto and Sasuke, even though the timing of the words very crucially implies that it is, in fact, about the two, it could very much so not be at all.

That song, quite simply, may mean nothing at all.

The words of openings and endings can be about anything, right?

This concludes my ponderation. To sum things up, the question is what the topic says.

I hope I have provided enough "material" to encourage you guys to share your views on this. I am really curious to know everyone's opinon!

Just for the heck of it. (^-^)

Thank you for reading this far. It's been ages since I posted on an Internet board, so I am a little unsure of myself. Hopefully im doin' it rite, as they would say on 4chan. (n///n)

De wa ne.

Kond'o

Edit: Many of you rightfully pointed out that OP/ED's don't mean anything. Here is my second post in this thread, where I use only the storyline as reference. (^-^)

[Chee]

No. This is a shounen, meaning no yaoi pairings.

[Creator]

NaruSasu?

No. There is no Yaoi pairings in Naruto. Well except SasuKishi. But thats been canon from day one.

[Inuhanyou]

No, what naruto and sasuke have is only brotherly

[Bobateababy16]

....SasuNaru is canon as friends and "brothers",I admit the anime endings are filler,they kind of mean little to the actual anime and less when compared to the manga and are a bit of fanservice.I think in the endings and openings and anime itself it may hint or throw some bones at the fangirls/boys but nothing in the aniem I'd take as full proof for any pairing...they can be bias.The manga is what you should go by and what is canon,and I admit Sasuke and Naruto had/have a strong bond as friends,but I don't think we'll see any real canon confirmed yaoi from Kishi at all,he's just teasing the SasuNaru fans I think with the accidental kiss scene that one time,but no I don't think NaruSasu is becoming canon or is going to become canon at all.The only pairings I see happening are SasuSaku,NaruHina,or NaruSaku as teh big pairings involving Team 7.

[zuul]

No. It's not a shonen-ai.

There is already a yaoi pairing canon in Naruto, it's ZabuHaku, but Kishi can't turn his 2 main characters into gay.

But you can expect some crypto-shonen-ai hints between the 2. Nothing obvious.

[Dragonwolf]

Well I'm one of those people that watchd the anime and thought something was up between these two. *big smile*
The later I found out that there was a whole fandom called SasuNaru. *laugh*

But truthfully; I don't think these two will end up in the canon manga. Probably (if everyone survives and all that ) Kishimoto will just leave it open with no pairings in the end. He wouldn't want to dissapoint any of the big fandoms (SakuSasu, SasuNaru, NaruSaku).
Maybe he would let the three of them get together. *snicker* But I don't think so. There's too many out there who wouldn't like that.

But he can still tease us. *laugh*

And I should't trust anime openings/endings too much. It's the manga you should look at, since that's Kishimoto's true work. *wink*

[Yαriko]

hell no..is fucking gross

[Ayana]

No.
This is a shounen manga.

[Xyloxi]

As much as I'd love it, no seeing as there is not much romance in shounen, especially Shounen-ai.

[Disturbia]

I don't think so. They're only friends. And besides Naruto is a shounen manga not shounen-ai.

[Xyloxi]

Spoiler:

Itachi'scrowNaru is totally canon though and so is ItaGirlfriend.

[mednin]

Originally Posted by Yariko

hell no..is fucking gross

SasuNaru sucks and will never be canon. It's shonen.

[The-Phat-Kat]

First of all ive been thinking hard about thoes openings and the endings as well. it is shouenen please donnot become bias because you dis-like yaoi or homsexual pairings b/c i do not become bias with hetrosexual pairings. Yes there is a lot of tension and i dont care about what anybody says. The sasunaru not Narusasu. Is there alot of people cannot become adult enough to handle a homosexual pairing in a shounen but the shippuuned series is aimed more at older teenagers and lots of females. Who enjoy this pairing I really dont care what people say it's more obvious thna sasusaku or narusaku.
Not only that KMS has made it obvious that he likes the couple by always puting them together in the beging and ending themes. To him it doesnt matter its the fact, that his two favorite characters are being paired makes him happy. People would not dislike sasunaru if naruto was naruko which i find insulting. To the whoel series and to homosexual people every where. I'ts saying we dont want your kind in our manga at least not in our shounen manga. But it's there agree or not. I see and people who are anti-yaoi see it too thus become angry and bitch about it. Even my friend see's it and he is straight as an arrow.( by together i mean shounen-ai friendly no kissing but close like sSasunaru fan art but no Sasusaku. If you notice that)

[Xyloxi]

Originally Posted by The-Phat-Kat

First of all ive been thinking hard about thoes openings and the endings as well. it is shouenen please donnot become bias because you dis-like yaoi or homsexual pairings b/c i do not become bias with hetrosexual pairings. Yes there is a lot of tension and i dont care about what anybody says. The sasunaru not Narusasu. Is there alot of people cannot become adult enough to handle a homosexual pairing in a shounen but the shippuuned series is aimed more at older teenagers and lots of females. Who enjoy this pairing I really dont care what people say it's more obvious thna sasusaku or narusaku.
Not only that KMS has made it obvious that he likes the couple by always puting them together in the beging and ending themes. To him it doesnt matter its the fact, that his two favorite characters are being paired makes him happy. People would not dislike sasunaru if naruto was naruko which i find insulting. To the whoel series and to homosexual people every where. I'ts saying we dont want your kind in our manga at least not in our shounen manga. But it's there agree or not. I see and people whoa re anti-yaoi see it too thus become angry and bitch about it.

YouTube Video

When theres happy meal toys, you know its aimed at kids .

[Ashiya]

Kishi wouldn't do that for them, since that would defeat the purpose for him creating the subtle undertones of SasuSaku and NaruHina.

[Sacrilege of Uchiha]

I don't think so. I read the manga, and I have read every single chapter, there is no sexual love between Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto loves Sasuke in a brotherly way, but Sasuke dosen't seem to return that love in any way whatsoever, Shippuden is animation of the manga, what Kishi writes is canon, not what the animators put in. This isn't really spoilers because we've seen this from the valley of the end as well.

[halfhearted]

I have to admit that like most of the responders, OP, seeing the fact that the original story is published in Shounen Jump and you were drawing your information from the anime (which is an adaptation and thus any "hints" made but not found in the manga can't be true evidence for possible plot movements), I can't agree that your evidence points to Sasuke and Naruto consummating their relationship or coming together romantically.

However, I do greatly commend your picking up on such subtelties in the OP. And considering the blatant placement of images and music, it's hard not to think that Studio Pierrot was pourposefully giving a nod towards the BL fanbase or just the fans who think that Sasuke and Naruto's connection goes past that of brothers/friends/etc.

More than that a well-written first post and nice use of actual hard material, even if it wasn't exactly canon. Hope to see more from you on the boards ^^

[Dana]

No, its a shounen manga.

Shounen manga is mainly about the bonding of friendships. If you want a boy/boy romance relationship happening, you'll have better luck reading a shounen-ai manga instead. :/

[Kondarou]

Thanks everyone for your replies - I see that the majority doesn't see anything going on.

To those who mentioned that OP/ED's don't count, I could not agree more. In fact, the title of this topic was going to be Are the anime people trying to make Naru♥Sasu canon? but that seemed a bit too long. xP

It's hard to say why they hint at it so fiercely like that - I mean, is the yaoi fanbase actually that large to even bother drawing in? Or is there something else going on? Mmm, questions, questions.


Let's forget about OP/ED's and focus on the manga, which is the real deal.

I see that some you are pointing out that there has been no solid proof of anything, and rightly so. But kindly let me attempt to take you somewhere else:

This is not about physical love.

It is not about anything we have seen actually happen on the manga between the characters, be it an exchange of words or something physical that would imply romance clearly and directly. Indeed, as far as physical love goes, Kishimoto has drawn little to nothing to even hint at a romantic relationship between them; nothing beyond brotherly love, a strong bond.

But feelings don't always take shape, do they? Feelings don't always have to be shown, spelled out, or in any way demonstrated, through words nor actions that are obvious and clear, in order to, well... exist.

Indeed, it would be somewhat of a debacle if Naruto and Sasuke eventually got around to confessing to eachother and walking hand-in-hand into the sunset. But that isn't what this is about. How many times, on how many manga, anime, novels, movies, anywhere you can think of, have there been moments where love went unspoken? Relationships that never bloomed directly before our eyes, be it due to circumstances or to the inability of those involved to even realise that what they feel is love. Feelings that, rather, were just there, paralised, silent, from beginning to end.

This is not about what they have spoken out loud to eachother, or to anyone else, even to themselves. After all, we all know Naruto is a kid when it comes to romance. He would certainly be majorly freaked out about the sheer thought of liking a boy (his reaction to Sai trying to be friendly by putting his arm around Naruto). And I have no idea if it's even possible to remotely consider it coming from Sasuke.

And so, what caused me to ponder about this was not the hard proof of love through anything physical that happened, or anything that was said, be it in the manga, or on the anime, or on openings and endings, because such proof does not exist: it was the very opposite. Everything that is left unsaid, everything they don't do. If one looks at the two of them, no matter how hard, one wouldn't be able to squeeze a single, tantigle, drop of "evidence". However, if any evidence does, in fact, exist, it lies solely inside themselves.

In other words, beyond the physical layer or even any verbal interaction that has thus far taken place between them, others, or with themselves: somewhere deeper; their feelings. Feelings can be solid proof indeed, but are much harder to accurately interpret.


And where am I getting this from, the theory that their feelings for eachother are that of love beyond brotherly feelings? I go back and pick up something from my first post: the way Naruto reacts to anything Sasuke. The way he cries, sobs, screams, goes berserk, falls down on his knees, among so many other little reactions that pass by unnoticed. And those things were, indeed, drawn - they are solid proof. Proof of what, however? The answer is subject to interpretation.

There is an easy way of asking this.


Would you feel that strongly about, go that far for, give so much of your body and soul to anyone but a lover?


To me, his reactions cross the line of friendship. It seems a bit too much.


What about you guys?

Once again, thank you for taking the time to read. (_ _) *bows*

I look forward to reading anything further anyone may have to say. (^-^)b


Genma icon just because he was awesome last eps!