Quote:
Originally Posted by Flinch
Having big boobs does not make you a well-written character, nor does it inherently give you a personality.
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Now, now. That's uncalled for.
Now Keroko, I think you might be mistaken about Nasu putting it on too thick with Sakura's backstory, you've already said that you dislike Sakura (and before you say anything about that, I'll say it verrrry slowly, you don't
hate Sakura, but you don't like her either.), and through that you are unable to empathize(something different than sympathy or pity) with her. Her story is more than just a story of pity, she endured, and endured without hating the world or hating her abuser. That's real strength to me. In this story we have her facing many different things at once that is:
1.) The state of her body
2.) Being possessed by Angra Mainyu
3.) Having her personality altered and twisted as a lesser Grail
4.) Her past, and trying to pick up a bit of what she lost so long ago.
5.) A love she had almost given hope on
And all within the span of less than two weeks.Sure it was a lot to swallow, but this was her story. Saber and Rin both had an allegiance to duty and honor, Ilya had her lonliness and regret. Shirou had his heroism. These themes were all over the VN, and Nasu pointed them out over and over. But I hear too often that people felt like Sakura's story
made them pity her. Like it was a chore. But really you can't
make someone do anything, they either like the character or they don't, they can either feel for them or they cannot. You see a starving kitten mewing for food, and let's say you feed it. It was you who decided to feed it, it was you who thought about its well being. Its fine if one doesn't like a character, but it doesn't mean that the character did something wrong, you just merely didn't resonate with it. People like Kotomine, however reprehensible he may be, because they found something sympathetic and decided, "hey this guy ain't so bad." Hell, the same is said for Gil and Shinji, even Zouken. Rather paradoxical isn't it?
So I wanted to go over a few things I think about her and comb through the route with a bit of analysis, maybe we all might learn something.
I think that saying Dark Sakura could ever been seen as just strong is wrong. There is no strength there. There is none of the quiet strength that endured there. Sure you can like her for being powerful, but that 'strength' she had was
empty. That power perverted who she was, and almost cost her a great deal. It wasn't worth it. But we can be thankful for the regeneration that took care of the mother worm, that was pretty much the only good thing about it.
What quite a good of people fail utterly to realize was that Sakura is in no way a yandere. Nasu very blatantly would show her 'yandere side' and right after that you would see the tell tale signs of shame, regret and frustration at a self emerging that she was disgusted with. She had no information with which to combat it and since AM was eating away at her sanity, along with every Servant absorbed, the human being known as "Sakura" was eroded down. This was akin to the way Shirou was breaking down with Archer's arm, where she lost memories, and had trouble figuring out where she was, who people were,and what day it was, and it got worse and worse as the route went on. Hell, after that gold bastard skewered her, she had to hold together herself with magical energy to even move, Rin even said that surviving such an ordeal would cause her to go insane. But even as her mind was breaking apart, and she went through unimaginable pain, she would show Shirou a smile. When he tried to kill her the second time, I doubt anyone can fathom what she was thinking that night, under those covers. But what we saw was that, no matter how guiltless she was of the situation, the only thing on her mind was, "Someone like me broke the pure boy that ran under the setting sun and fought for a dream." That isn't a selfish person. The selfish people would be the ones who orchestrated this war, the selfish people are the ones who experiment on children and hurt innocents in the name of power and ambition, the selfish people would be the magi who know that there are people who are willing to use that great power for a disastrous end and yet allow such a ritual to continue.
Now as to her real strengths, look at the scene "Distant Twilight" where you could see that Sakura may not have liked the way she was raised, but she didn't complain about it. She told Shirou the nature of the magics that were engraved upon her, but she never asked for pity. As she spoke, he noticed that Sakura had the same level of level-headedness and sharpness of mind that Rin had, just she wasn't as blunt. It was amusing how she teased him but gave him tips at the same time. Doesn't this sound like someone to you? Shirou was telling us of her strength all along, and it is a strength that goes unseen in the limelight of tsundere magic slingers and blonde swordswomen, and that was the strength of her heart.
In summation, when you think of Sakura and her story, I'd say, look between the lines and see that she was a worthwhile and strong person, in her own way. I may like Sakura the most, but I won't say anything in detriment to Saber and Rin, because I found things to like about them too. Look beyond pity, and try to understand, even a little of what Nasu was trying to say about her in this story. It wasn't about pity. It is yet another tale of the cruelty and callousness of magi and their road to ambition.
Oh and here are a few fanfiction I wish to endorse for just this topic:
http://nrvnqsr.proboards.com/index.c...ay&thread=5842
http://nrvnqsr.proboards.com/index.c...ay&thread=5856
http://nrvnqsr.proboards.com/index.c...ay&thread=6043
Ironically enough, this was written by a forum member who openly admitted to disliking Sakura.