Kaizer Rambles: Flash Sentry and Hinata Hyuga

Greetings and Bienvenue, my lovely watchers. Crimson Kaizer here with something a tad different.

A few weeks back, during my usually walks around the area I live in, I began to think about Team 8/Kurenai and how they are the least interesting/active/dynamic/anything of the main four teams. While for the majority of it, I focused on Hinata and her weak character which got me think about Flash Sentry.

I want to make something perfectly clear; I do not hate Hinata in any way, shape, or form. I hold her in pretty high regards. Not as high as some other female characters(Sakura, Ino, and Tenten) but I have no feeling of hate in my heart for her….That being said; I would be lying to you if I said she was a good or strongly written character.

She isn’t.

In a similar vain; I love Flash Sentry(the dozen or so things I made revolving around him are proof of this) and I hate seeing people giving him so much shit. I honestly hope that the writing staff takes advantage of the great deal of potential he has and uses it…That having been said; I would be lying if I said he was a good or strongly written character.

He isn’t.

So, why did I decide to talk about these two very similar, yet very different characters? It’s simple really; It’s all about potential….and how Hinata’s got wasted.

Let’s do a quick compare and contrast. Hinata has appeared in about 30-40 of the 700 chapter long Naruto manga, While Human Flash has around 5-6 minutes of overall screen time between the two EQG movies and Pony Flash has appeared twice. Why is this important? Because you can’t really establish a personality in that little time (that. And given how sporadic his appearances were, it’s even harder to do so). Hinata’s first appearance didn’t really so a great deal of her personality either (in the anime the only line she does have is related to Naruto). When we first meet Flash (human) he says four words(“Whoa, are you ok?”), helps Twilight up, and leaves. We don’t see him again until the second time he and Twilight bump into each other, then one more time in the cafeteria, when he clears her name and (his longest scene at that point) the dance where he was largely a non-entity. When first meet Hinata she silently hopes she can be on the same team as Naruto (Note: This only happened in the anime and this will be the only time I use something from the anime). She doesn’t appear in the manga until chapter 34 where she doesn’t have any lines (and neither do Shino or Kiba) we don’t get a full introduction to her until chapter 39 where it’s shown she likes Naruto.

So, what can we take from these two introductions? Flash’s intro is fairly quick (this being a movie and all) so, it makes sense that he doesn’t really get much in terms of deep personality(since he’s not the main focus of the move). But we do know a few things about him;

He is a musician, which implies a love of music.

He is gentlemanly, as seen when he helps Twilight up.

He has a pretty decent sense of right and wrong, as seen with the scene with Luna.

He and Sunset use to be an item.

He has a car.

He’s not afraid to get a bit weird.

He has some signs of social awkwardness.

It’s not much, but there it is something to salvage from. Hinata, on the other hand…not so much. We know she likes Naruto and she has an inferiority complex when it comes to both her sister, Hanabi, and her cousin, Neji.

She doesn’t get much development until her fight with Neji, wherein Naruto encourages her. While she does still lose, she does vow to become stronger….Then, she’s just kind of taken out of the story.(Note: I know she has another scene with Naruto before his fight with Neji, but that really doesn’t do much for her in terms of character) but the next time we see her, she passed out from her injuries, and once more at Sarutobi’s funeral. Hinata’s last appearance in part 1 is chapter 139. Her next appearance is in part 2 at chapter….Oh my god….Uh…chapter 282. And has she changed in all that time? Well, when she first sees Naruto she passes out, so….no she hasn’t. In fact I believe she has become worse.

After that we don’t see her again until, oh sweet chirstimas! Really?! Really?! *Sigh*The next time we see Hinata(and the rest of team 8, sans Kurenai) is chapter 354 and while very prominent in this arc, she hasn’t and doesn’t change much( granted this arc isn’t about her, but any form of character growth would have been nice)

Long story short, Hinata hasn’t had a chance to grow as a character. Her best moment in my eyes was her (failed) attempt to try and stop Pain from taking Naruto, and her confession to Naruto. She has another moment later after Neji’s death in chapter 615(and her last important role in the manga) where she snaps Naruto out of his stupor.

Then "The Last" happens, and the less said about that…thing, the better. So, during the course of 15 years, Hinata has gone through very little growth. She started obsessed with Naruto, and ended slightly less obsessed with Naruto. But, hey she married him. It came out of fucking nowhere with little build up on Naruto’s end(or in general), and it felt like the only reason it became canon was because Kishimoto felt sorry for Hinata, and believe she deserved a pity prize instead of actually working for her happy ending.

If you can’t tell I’m being bitterly sarcastic. This is exactly what happened. I’m angry at the ending for many reasons. The character derailment/assassination, out of fucking nowhere ships ( Choji and Karui never said a damn thing to each other, and I’m pretty fucking sure Sai INSULTED Ino at one point) the numerous plot holes, etc. One of the biggest crimes in my mind the ending and the series did was the complete waste of Hinata’s potential as a character. During the intervening time where we didn’t see her, it could have been some real good development time for her. She could have become much less shy and reserve, we could have seen her and Neji’s relationship grow instead if just being told about it( Hell, the only real signs of growth we see in their relationship is in the Ninja War) I l would have loved to see Hinata grow out of her crush in Naruto and become stronger because of it. I would have cheered if she realized what she felt for Naruto wasn't love, but admiration for his strength and willingness to never give up. And, while she does adopt his nindo, due to her very limited role, we don’t see her do much with it.

Many fans are angry with Hinata for the ending. Saying things like “She ruined Naruto!” or mockingly referring to her as “Hinata-hime-sama”. I don’t think any of this is fair. It’s not her fault. Hell, we should be just as angry that the only NH happened was out of pity and not because of any actual development. If anything, we should be furious with Kishimoto and Studio Pierrot; Kishi for giving her so little to do and writing her so poorly. SP for only thinking with their wallets.

So, how does any of this retain to Flash? Flash Sentry isn’t a popular character in the MLP fandom like Hinata is/was. And Naruto only had one writer while MLP has a full staff. The possibility of this happening to Flash seems really low, right?

Maybe…

I’ve mentioned before that the staff loves to please the fandom too much. And, while everyone is getting hyped for episode 100, I’m more ambivalent about the whole affair. Don’t get it confused, I’m super excited too. An episode dedicated to the background cast? That sounds awesome! But, it could also just be an episode filled with fandom jokes and references which would be a terrible thing in my eyes.

So, image the staff, desperate to make the fandm happy, turns Flash into a Blueblood clone, or a second butt monkey, or just put him in horrible situation after horrible situation just to make the fans who hate him, the more vocal fans, happy?

Suddenly looks a lot more possible now, doesn’t it? I have a great deal of faith in the writing staff. I know they can take this lump of coal and make it shine like the diamond he truly is. But, at the same time, I realize that Hasbro is a toy company first, and the main thing on their mind is making money. And for any comic book fans reading this, you know corporate meddling is a thing that can kill a good book dead.

Flash, much like Hinata did, has a great deal of potential , and not just for himself, but for Twilight too(that, however, is a discussion for a later time) and I would hate to see it all go to shit just because of money and pleasing the people who hate him.

Hinata, I am sorry for everything that happened to you. I am sorry your potential got squander for money, and your character was so poorly treated.

Flash, I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to you. I hope someone does give you the chance you rightfully deserve.

This is the Crimson Kaizer saying; Be fandom, not fandumb, and watch some goddamn cartoons. Peace.