I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY SOME PEOPLE DON’T THINK KARIN WAS EVER IN LOVE WITH SASUKE.
Ugh, there’s a post in the Karin tag that I don’t want to reblog and argue with because there’s not really a point…but ugh.
The post I’m discussing is mostly respectful of Karin and recognizes the fact that she’s not a jealous bitch (which a lot of people assume for some reason, despite all the evidence to the contrary at this point in the plot). However, it greatly misinterprets her in a way that could be due to ignorance but is most likely due to SasuSaku shipping bias.
The person who made this post talks about how Karin was never really in love with Sasuke and she just flirted with him because he was powerful and she needed him to survive. I can only hope that they were simply unable to properly interpret the evidence that Karin was deeply in love.
I’ve posted all of this before, but it bears repeating in light of this fundamental misinterpretation of her character I see again and again. You can’t really fully respect her unless you at least try to understand that she was in love.
I really don’t see how her love for him can be denied. He saved her life, which is why she fell in love with him. Not because he’s cool (that was an animé filler scene), but because he saved her and she sees in him a man who, as she has said “is nobody’s pawn.” Her whole village was destroyed and it is likely that he was the last soul in whom she could confide.
Karin said “And she loves him too” in the scene in which she meets Sakura and is remarking on their shared love for Sasuke. Kishi makes it clear with this line that Karin is in love with Sasuke. Karin is on her deathbed, why would she make up feelings like that when she thinks she’s going to die?
She saved his life multiple times and stuck with him through thick and thin. Karin’s a tough girl. This isn’t surprising considering all she’s been through - her village being burned to the ground and being experimented upon by Orochimaru. So we’ve only seen her cry twice: once for Sakura and once when she sensed that Sasuke’s chakra had disappeared. Another important thing to note is that we have never seen her smile in canon - only smirk and frown (except for one time - when she found out that the Tsuchikage had not succeeded in killing Sasuke - she had begun to cry right before this). She usually keeps a straight face. And we hardly ever see her shocked expect in battle situations. So her shocked and desperate expression when it seems that Deidara has obliterated Sasuke is very uncharacteristic as well. Both of these panels indicate a deep desire to ensure that her loved one is safe, the panel in which she is crying in particular. If Karin is crying, she has to have been hurt very deeply indeed.
So it really makes no sense to deny that she was absolutely in love with him, in every sense of the word.
I think it is the height of human decency to want the one you love to be happy more than you want him/her all to yourself. And Karin exhibits this kind of selfless love that seems to be an Uzumaki trademark. Even as Sasuke didn’t openly reciprocate her feelings, Karin stuck by him. There’s a lot we still don’t know about their relationship yet which will likely be revealed in time, INCLUDING WHATEVER HAPPENED BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM IN OTOGAKURE, but this we know for sure: they both lost their families in a horrible fashion and it is likely that Karin understands how Sasuke feels about this more than almost any other character could. So it is likely she wants him to be happy for this reason.
Yet this didn’t prevent her from leaving him when she knew that he was too far gone to help. She respects herself. That doesn’t mean she won’t go after him again, but she is only going to try to help him if he comes to terms with the darkness in himself and overcomes it.
ACCORDING TO UNBIASED OBSERVERS WHO ACTUALLY SPEAK JAPANESE, Karin was very uncertain when she said she was “done with Sasuke.”
There was an interesting panel during Naruto and Sasuke’s most recent fight in which it looked as if Karin was analyzing Sasuke’s chakra (and this occurred not long after she said she was “done with him” in a very uncertain fashion). She is acutely aware of someone’s goodness or evilness just by observing their chakra fluctuation - she sensed that Naruto’s chakra was “warm and bright” and that Sasuke’s had gone very cold. She will know when it’s good again. And she can also detect lies (this is a CHEKHOV’S GUN, as we haven’t seen her use it yet), so she would know of his sincerity.
Here is Karin’s observation of the change in Sasuke’s chakra after he awakens Susanoo (notably left out of the animé):
Then there is this scene, which occurs right after Naruto gives his “you are my friend” speech, which occurred some time after Karin said she was “over” Sasuke, however uncertainly. A lot of people have speculated that she sensed some goodness still in his chakra. Kishi’s panels of this sort tend to be purposeful, so I’m inclined to believe this theory, because why else would he draw Karin’s observation otherwise?
All speculation, of course, but it’s interesting to consider.
Basically, Karin would only ever take him back if she could sense it in his chakra - both his goodness and his sincerity since she can detect lies, and that wouldn’t be disrespectful of herself, nor would it devalue her in any way.
And her thoughts on the verge of death about wanting to see Sasuke’s smiling face once more imply a lot. If it’s his smile that she was in love with and not how hot he is or how cool and badass he is, then it is his happiness she loves and desires. That is most likely what that flashback was meant to convey. Again, there’s still a lot we don’t know, including why Sasuke smiled at her that way and what happened between them in Otogakure, and it will all be revealed in time. Karin’s past is very mysterious (we also don’t know why her village was destroyed), but I’m certain it will be explained, given that we know she’s an Uzumaki now (indeed, that was the last time she was mentioned in the plot - to reveal her lineage).
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