it do be like that fr sometimes

I do think Kishimoto intended to glorify Sasuke's non-conformist individualism though -- even while reinforcing that love & interconnectedness are what make us truly strong.

I see it as Kishimoto saying "you can do your own thing, your own way, and still be amazing."

To be clear, I'm not talking about his desire to destroy Konoha out of revenge, I'm talking about him thinking FOR HIMSELF and even receiving tacit approval from the founder of shinobi society.

Of course, he loses in the end. Most thoughtful fans understand thematically why.

Sasuke is WAY more popular in Japan than in America, and I think his bravery in carving his own path is partly why.

To us, the notion of "REVOLUTION" isn't that shocking. Sasuke's journey is just another person making their way in the world. But I think the Japanese audience sees it differently.

Unable to Conform, Unwilling to Rebel? Youth, Culture, and Motivation in Globalizing Japan This paper investigates the effects of globalization on Japanese young adults from sociological and psychological perspectives. While Japan’s socio-economic institutions have shown mainly resistant (o...

Japanese society is HEAVILY conformist. The very idea of "success" is intertwined with existing institutions to an extent that your average American probably can't understand.

This paper goes into it a bit pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

I think a lot of us in the West didn't get how subversive Sasuke was as a character when the manga was coming out. In Japan, I mean.

For a shonen deuteragonist to openly reject the norms of his peers and decide to destroy "the system" for (flawed) ethical reasons is pretty rare as far as I'm aware.

Hidden Leif on X: "[1/8] THREAD: why I vanished & brief update (all is well!) ...I found my first year or so researching theories & connecting dots in the story of Boruto incredibly fulfilling. Just like Naruto, Boruto filled me with a sense of wonder, & I always tried to convey that in my content https://t.co/qn4MaBnS1l" / X [1/8] THREAD: why I vanished & brief update (all is well!) ...I found my first year or so researching theories & connecting dots in the story of Boruto incredibly fulfilling. Just like Naruto, Boruto filled me with a sense of wonder, & I always tried to convey that in my content https://t.co/qn4MaBnS1l

I did a thread on twitter on why I stopped posting, I will just link it here for reference, but I intend to use this platform to try engage in a somewhat different manner. Still Naruto/Boruto-focused, of course.

x.com/Hidden_Leif/...