Kishimoto reveals his struggles with Sasuke's character

Masashi Kishimoto has written many inspiring characters over the years. It's safe to say that Kishimoto's story is one of the best in recent times, and its incredible popularity is proof of that. At the heart of Kishimoto's stories are adorable ninjas, with the protagonist being a pale-haired boy named Naruto Uzumaki, and his main rival is none other than Sasuke, a rather reserved but equally popular character.

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Of course, writing each character is a very complex task for any writer. However, in Kishimoto's case, he struggled extra with Sasuke's character for various reasons which he revealed in an interview.

How Kishimoto struggled to draw Sasuke

• Sasuke gave Kishimoto a design headache

• Sasuke became Kishimoto's favorite

One of the biggest struggles Kishimoto had with Sasuke's character was coming up with a proper design in the early parts of the beginning. NarutoBecause of its various complications. Sasuke had a more complicated costume compared to other characters, and at the same time, Kishimoto struggled with his facial expressions, simply because he wanted to convey a certain emotion with Sasuke's character. When it comes to Sasuke Uchiha, Kishimoto tried early on to give him many important moments so that fans realize how important he really is. Although he certainly succeeded in designing Sasuke, over the years, he tried to simplify it by reducing the number of lines used to draw the character. But, as far as Sasuke's face goes, Kishimoto still can't do much to change it. According to him, Sasuke's face is very complex to portray and is easily one of the most difficult Naruto series.

Sasuke has some facial expressions that are difficult to tell, as he always maintains a certain level of calmness, and rarely ever shows any emotion directly from his face. Here's what Kishimoto had to say about Sasuke:

This is the first picture of Sasuke. Not much has changed so far. The big difference is that he's lost that thing on his neck. It's the same for all characters, the more you draw them, the more and more lines you add. You add accessories and so on. And with a main character, you get really excited and keep adding stuff. Later, I thought, “Can I really be a character with so many lines in a weekly series?”

So I reduced the amount of lines and made Sasuke's image closer to Naruto's.

In my opinion, Sasuke's face and movements are the hardest to draw. And if I'm not careful, his face looks very adult. I've never had a child character with eyes like this in any of my manga, so it's very difficult to draw.

He's the character I care about the most, and probably for that reason, he's my favorite character. – Kishimoto

Apparently, Kishimoto struggled a lot to portray Sasuke. In fact, at one point, Kishimoto realized that he wanted to pay more attention to Sasuke's facial expressions, and it was only because he wanted fans to understand his point of view more. After all, Sasuke is not an irrational character who acts on his mind. However, he felt that facial expressions failed to convey proper emotions. It was at this point that Kishimoto's editor decided to force him to redraw Sasuke's facial expressions on several occasions, until he finally got them right. According to Kishimoto, it was very difficult for him to complete it. Sasuke certainly wasn't the only character that gave him trouble when it came to facial expressions. Sakura, who later became Sasuke's wife, was also very difficult to portray, especially when it came to facial expressions. Naruto series.

Sakura appeared for a good portion of the story and, like Sasuke, forced Kishimoto to redraw several panels. Kakashi was another character who gave Kishimoto a lot of trouble, and in his case, things were especially difficult because of his face mask. Kakashi's mouth being closed meant that there was very little to work with but his reactions had to be expressed all the same.

Kishimoto didn't know how to proceed with Sasuke's character arc

Sasuke's character arc gave Kishimoto a problem

While Sasuke's character design and facial expressions caused many problems for Masashi Kishimoto, he certainly wasn't. There was more to Sasuke that gave Kishimoto so much trouble, and it was his character arc. When Sasuke was introduced, Kishimoto had a general idea of ​​what to do with him. To give him a proper target and strengthen him, Kishimoto introduced a certain person whom Sasuke wanted to kill. This person is Itachi Uchiha after all. In his quest for power, Sasuke left the village and Naruto tried to bring him back. Then, the battle between Naruto and Sasuke at the end of part one finally happened. When Sasuke left Konoha, it was a very depressing moment for Kishimoto.

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According to him, after realizing that he did not know which direction to take Sasuke, Sasuke went down the line. Of course, the plot would still revolve around Sasuke's final battle with Itachi, but as far as Sasuke's personal growth, Kishimoto didn't know what to do next. That said, it's safe to say that one thing led to another and Kishimoto successfully managed to create a very compelling character in Sasuke. Even after Sasuke left the village, Kishimoto continued to make his plot incredibly exciting. While he accomplished his goal of killing Itachi, Sasuke still remained one of Naruto's most exciting characters, until the end. In fact, Sasuke could easily pass as the best character in the entire series, and that's what makes him truly special.

Sasuke's difficulties made him Kishimoto's favorite

Kishimoto has his heart set on Sasuke Uchiha

All the struggles eventually made Sasuke her favorite character. Kishimoto has never hidden the fact that he likes Sasuke and that he is one of his favorite characters, if not his favorite. Along with Naruto Uzumaki, there doesn't seem to be any character that he likes more than Sasuke. From Akatsuki, he mentions Hidan as his favorite, but overall, it's likely that Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto are his favorite characters. Kishimoto's focus on these two characters throughout the run of the Naruto series is testament to this.

There aren't many characters that Kishimoto loves as much as Sasuke, and his bias towards the character is pretty obvious for fans to see as well. After all, he spent a lot of time writing his complex character arc, and at the same time, drawing his incredible character designs. Kishimoto created a phenomenal character in Sasuke Uchiha, and one that will be remembered for ages to come.

Naruto is available to read on MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.

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Naruto

Release date

October 3, 2002

the creator

Masashi Kishimoto

Number of episodes

220

streaming service(s)

Netflix, Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Amazon Freevee, Hulu, Hoopla, Pluto TV, Tubi