Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto has charmed its viewers with its gripping plot and compelling storylines with an action-packed storyline that has elevated the Shonen series’ status to a modern classic. Despite so much greatness, the series could never run too far away from the fans’ criticism of how poorly the manga author decided to treat its female characters.
When she was introduced initially, Tsunade Senju, who played a key role in the overall story, was also believed to receive a similar treatment. However, that is not true because Kishimoto-Sensei decided to go all out on her, giving her unmatched medical ninjutsu prowess and superhuman strength.
Surprisingly, that’s not all because the mangaka also gave her a tragic backstory, which was heartbreaking to watch but not caring enough to remember it.
Masashi Kishimoto’s underrated backstory for Tsunade will break fans’ hearts
This comes as no surprise that Masashi Kishimoto is indeed one of the greatest storytellers of this generation. His magnum opus, Naruto, is a fine example of how fictional characters and their backstory can have a profound impact on their viewers that can leave them in pieces. Popular names like Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi Uchiha, Gaara, and so many more had a tragic story that gives us a clearer understanding of their actions.
The male characters in the series have received all the spotlight for having the best tragic story in the series, while their brave kunoichi counterparts have often been labeled as sidelined or underdeveloped. Tsunade Senju silences those critics because she stands tall as one of the few female characters who silently carries all the hardships and grief that were thrown her way.
Initially, fans thought that she was a mere gambler who drinks and loses all her money. However, all those losses were nothing compared to the ones that she faced during the Second Ninja War; her younger brother, Nawaki, died right after celebrating his 12th birthday in a battle protecting the Hidden Leaf Village.
Later, her love, Dan Kato, also met his grim fate, where he too was killed in the battle. When approached by Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki to become the next Hokage, she turned it down, believing her heritage was a curse and she was not fit to lead the village that was established by her grandfather.
However, Naruto played a crucial role in changing her mind, thus accepting her fate and walking towards another tragedy. While she was silently grieving the demise of her close ones, she had to take the hard decision of sending Jiraiya to the Hidden Rain Village, from where he never returned.
Sadly, she never had enough time to mourn his demise, as Pain attacked the village, sending her into a coma, to where she regained consciousness to find that she was in another war.
During the war, she played a major role, where, after getting annihilated by an overpowered foe, Madara Uchiha, she continued to heal the other Kages. With being immensely cursed in love and having so many hardships, she indeed has a backstory that goes on par with Itachi’s.
The fans don’t remember and just think of her as another fan-service element of the show, where the number “106” became infectiously popular in the Otaku community.
Naruto fans react to Tsunade being a tragic character in the Shonen series
Written with grief, Kishimoto-Sensei ensured that most viewers would not remember the tragedy that stormed in her life. However, ardent followers of the Fifth Hokage were summoned on a Reddit post, where they explained how too much had happened to her and demanded that she too “deserves a break.”
The fans commented,
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Though there are valid points on how the women in Naruto are often sidelined, Tsunade is definitely not a part of this notion, as she is an example of how Kishimoto-Sensei could have done things differently and treated everyone a little better.
Naruto can be streamed on Netflix.