Naruto

[pluralsinmedia]

Lets just kick this off with one of the most well-known series with plural characters, Naruto.

NOTE: This is not including Boruto.

Spoiler Free Overview:

• Number of canon plural systems: more than ten, only 3-4 are both relevant and not posthumous
• System types: Spiritual - Fantasy Possession, Unknown - possibly Traumagenic
• Personhood: 7.5/10
• Dynamic: 8/10
• Narrative Sympathy: 5.5/10
• Consistency: 5.5/10
• Edge: 7/10
• Singlet Nonsense: 6/10
• Overall series grade: 6/10

Full Spoiler Overview Below Cut

Plural Characters: All jinchuuriki and Sakura Haruno

The Jinchurikki:

The jinchurikki will be all graded together, as they all mostly exhibit varying levels of the same tropes.

The Jinchirikki are people who have been forced into being the containers for extremely powerful spirits called ‘biju’. There are no more than nine of them at any given time.

System type: Spiritual - Fantasy Possession

Personhood- The biju and their hosts are very canonically distinct entities, and while most are side characters and therefore not focused on enough to be more than a handful of traits and in the first series Kurama is a stock evil trope, he gets as much development as any other major character by the end of the series. 8/10

Dynamic- They make sense for what they are, and while mostly dysfunctional, several of them start to or have already forged friendships with their biju by the end of the series. Much of the second series is Kurama and Naruto learning to work together.

They are capable of talking internally, and can switch if one or both wish it. Eventually, Kurama and Naruto become capable of a special fighting technique that only works if they are cofronting. 8.5/10

Narrative Sympathy- At first the sympathy other characters AND the narrative express towards these characters(in particular the biju) is quite poor, however this swings around by the end of the series and the biju are framed in more of a positive light. For the first half of the show they are entirely malevolent. Furthermore, most of the hosts are killed by the end with little development for each. 5/10

Consistency- We do not get enough of the other jinchuriki to really get and accurate read, but Kurama only occasionally is brought to notice when the plot doesn’t demand it, however it is hard to forget that he is there. 6.5/10

Edge- There is so much edge, especially in the beginning. The edge drives the plot a lot, even. Most of the jinchuriki express dislike of their plurality, and view it as a necessary burden- with the exception of Killer B, who is fond of his biju, and Naruto only warming up to Kurama towards the end. 8/10

Singlet Nonsense- By the end of the series there are only two in canon left- as the rest of the biju were torn from their hosts, and no one has resealed them since.

Gaara had Shukaku be taken from him. This was framed as sad, but more that the villains got their hands on Shukaku and Gaara temporarily died because of it. Many of the hosts died permanently. Only Gyuki&Killer B, and Kurama&Naruto remained plural. Considering their state was against their will, and many of them were unhappy being as such, this dampens the irritation.

While the jinchurikki change their appearance when they access their biju’s power or the biju is trying to control the body, as shinobi canonically shapeshift plenty in the series, it is simply a plausible magic-setting thing. 6/10

Possibly Upsetting Tropes Present: nonconsensual demon possession, superpowered evil side, shapeshifting alters, singletification through alter death, singletifcation through seperate bodies, berserk alter, headmates rarely if ever front, headmates rarely acknowledged by others, dislike of being a system, prejudice towards systems, alter suppression

Overall Score- While personhood of the biju and their hosts is very solid, and later on they gain quite a lot of depth and sympathy, for the majority of the series they are very much the ‘possessed by evil demon and angsting about it’ trope and the sympathy for the biju is only in the last leg of it all. This overshadows the higher scores heavily. 6.5/10

Other Plural Characters

Plural Character: Sakura Haruno

Sakura is a girl with a ‘split personality’ who has ‘inner’ who is rough and violent and loud, while Sakura and is feminine, passive, and quiet. Over time, Sakura gains character development and becomes more open to not being within a narrow definition of feminity and expressing herself.

She seems to have become plural due to severe bullying and proceeding to repress everything about herself that was considered ‘unacceptable’.

System Type: Unknown, possibly Traumagenic. Could be easily argued as median.

Personhood: Inner is validated as existing externally by Ino, who does a mind possession thing and is thwarted by Inner’s presence. The narrative tends to describe her as a ‘manifestation of Sakura’s true thoughts’ but this is not what is shown to us.

Later Inner is dropped in favor of Sakura taking on more of Inner’s traits. It is dubious if they forgot Inner existed or if they intended for them to integrate. 6/10

Dynamic: They work in a reasonable enough manner, though it doesnt really go a ton into detail. 7/10

Narrative Sympathy: Both Inner and Sakura are protagonists, though Inner is often very rude and prone to violence. This is usually played as slapstick, but its hard to read it as all that funny when it comes off as barely provoked sometimes. 6/10

Consistency: In the beginning Inner shows up with great frequency in day to day life. However, about halfway through the first series when Sakura gains her character development, Inner is thrown to the wayside with the excuse that ‘Sakura didn't need her anymore’, and only appears very infrequently. By Shippuden, she barely shows up at all. It is dubious if the writer forgot Inner existed and hoped the audience would too, or if it was intended for them to have integrated. It had a strong start, but peters out quick. 4/10

Edge: Its a little edgy, as Inner is rude and violent, but she is mainly a tool of slapstick. 3/10

Singlet Nonsense: ‘Manifestation of Sakura's Inner Desires’ language despite what is shown to us is a actual at least semi-seperate person, for one. The dubious handwavey attempt at integration is also extremely notable. They are also often portrayed as a comedy ‘look at the crazy mean bitch’ deal. Which is. Not great. 6.5/10

Possibly Upsetting Tropes Present: violent alter, singletification by integration/poor writing, alters mostly used as comedy prop, shoving the plurality under the rug

Overall Score: While they are validated and have a nice banter going and aren't heavily vilified by the narrative, Inner is a slapstick comedy tool first and foremost and a person who acts reasonably second. When it was clear the author didn't know what to do with her or how to develop her once he gave most of Inner’s confidence and bravado to Sakura, he got rid of her. 5/10

Media overall score: While Naruto really developed personhood for the all of the headmates and eventually all of them were sympathetic, the majority of the plural rep is extremely edgy and only two of the plural characters remain so at the end of the series. The fact that there are so many plural characters and that they are all validated as being ‘real’ is often overshadowed by the edgyness and the singletification. 6/10