“She is DEFINITELY a top tier baddie”: Not Hinata, The Last: Naruto the Movie Wasted a Female Character Right After Giving Her the Mother of All Glow-Ups

SUMMARY

• After all these years, one thing that most Naruto fans would agree with is that Masashi Kishimoto can't write good female characters.
• Ino Yamanaka exemplifies why that is the case as she had immense potential but the only development she got was in terms of her appearance during The Last: Naruto the Movie.
• Ino had a few great scenes throughout Naruto, and it's a shame that we didn't get much of an exploration about her great traits

The mention of Masashi Kishimoto and female characters in the same sentence is enough to make fans frown, and The Last: Naruto the Movie reinstated that fear. Throughout the Naruto series, there are many memorable characters who can easily make it to the list of best anime characters of all time. With how good the male characters in the series are, the female ones miserably pale in comparison.

Ino Yamanaka in Naruto Shippuden | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

Even the good ones often get reduced to their physical appearances, as Kishimoto fails to write decent developmental arcs for them. This is exactly what happened with Ino Yamanaka. She is one of the few characters whose design post-Shippuden didn’t disappoint fans. Although, the same can’t be said about her character arc in The Last: Naruto the Movie.

Ino’s glow-up is easily the best out of all Naruto characters and fans agree

The progression from Naruto to Boruto isn’t the favorite part of many Naruto fans, for numerous reasons from the power scaling to the character designs. However, The Last: Naruto the Movie was a great addition to the series in terms of the character designs. Most characters had a great glow-up, and their new designs fit their age as well. 

Naruto, Ino, and Sakura have ramen at Ichiraku Ramen in The Last: Naruto the Movie | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

The characters looked like adults transitioning to a new phase of their lives. From the Five Kage to Sasuke, the characters looked great with their suave outfits and new hairstyles. While all the characters looked great, Ino Yamanaka looked the best of them all. To this day, fans can’t stop praising the changes Ino underwent.

Even though Masashi Kishimoto did a brilliant job at enhancing Ino’s appearance, he couldn’t do the same for her overall presence in the story. Like the rest of the story, Ino didn’t do much in The Last: Naruto the Movie either. 

Ino is the best example of wasted potential 

Ino’s character arc throughout the series was quite rough. She was initially introduced as Sakura’s rival, but that arc didn’t go anywhere beyond the Chunin Exams. The peek into her backstory and how she helped Sakura was a great insight into her kind-hearted nature. While for the majority of Naruto Shippuden, she barely had any great moments, she won hearts during the war. 

Ino uses her abilities to help Sai | Credits: Studio Pierrot Co. Ltd.

At the time when Shikamaru and her dad were about to die, she composed herself and continued to assist the battlefield, even outdoing herself in the process. Her determination during those few moments was admirable and if we could do more of that, her character arc would have been one of the best in the series. 

Kishimoto should have followed the approach he did during the war arc to elevate the female characters in the series. Compared to that, throughout The Last: Naruto the Movie, all Ino did was comment on Naruto’s popularity and had a few scenes where she helped Kakashi. Ino is a baddie and we know it, although it would have been great to see a proper demonstration of it too! 

The Last: Naruto the Movie is available to stream on Crunchyroll.

Written by Laveena Joshi

Articles Published: 398

Laveena holds a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism with a keen interest in entertainment journalism. Known to defend Naruto with her life, her love for anime has turned into great appreciation for the Japanese Culture. Besides considering herself a veteran weeb, she's also a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur. Better if the perfect brew is paired with a random video essay from YouTube. Blending her love for anime with the know-hows of content writing, she is now an anime content writer at FandomWire.