A SMALL APPRECIATION POST FOR KARIN’S BADASSERY
Karin is not a useless, whiny, fawning slut. I know that the problematic use of the word “slut,” which would require an entire post to thoroughly address, and that Karin’s supposed “whininess” and “uselessness” have been addressed by me elsewhere, but I thought I’d just post a few panels blatantly showcasing how epic she is.
Please note that someone’s goodness as a character should not base itself on his or her “usefulness.” Having badass powers can certainly make a character more interesting, but…that’s it. It can’t make them complex or admirable unless you only admire characters because of their power levels, in which case I guess you weren’t looking for complexity anyway.
Moreover, according to the Databook, Karin is from a village with few to no shinobi that was destroyed when she was 12, which explains not only her physical weakness, but also the reason why she does not run like a shinobi, with her arms stiffly at her sides, and why she knows few jutsu. She works at a disadvantage, using her combination of keen intellect, sensing, and healing abilities.
The Databook specifically says that “Not only is she able to use sensory skills, but Karin has extensive knowledge at her disposal. With this, she comes up with brilliant strategies that contribute to the mission.” An example of this is when she throws Konoha’s tracking dogs off Taka’s scent. And with regard to her sensory powers, Kishi says that they “surpass ocular jutsu.” [X]
Even Kakashi points out how good her plan was for scattering Sasuke’s scent by tearing up his old shirt and having Juugo’s birds scatter the pieces to throw Konoha’s tracking dogs off the scent:
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She also has extremely powerful “yang” chakra (the chakra of the Uzumaki), which is what enables her to heal almost any wound (though she needs about a day to recover her chakra afterwards). When Sasuke stabbed her, she lay there bleeding for a long time before Sakura healed her, and this is probably (though I don’t know for sure) because of her high Uzumaki stamina, based in her chakra, like Naruto.
Although Karin was helpful in many situations scattered throughout the manga, let’s look at the fight in which she saw the most action - the fight against the Hachibi.
The Hachibi fight is the first fight in which we get to see Taka fighting as a team, and the only one in which we really get to see the potential of their teamwork and how much they care about each other (this was also the case in the Raikage fight, but by that point, Sasuke cared little for any of them). The first thing we see Karin do is run right into the danger zone to drag Sasuke out of it and then heal him.
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Which of course results in this scene, a pretty big deal considering I can’t remember Sasuke saying this to anyone other than Naruto (probably, though I’m unsure).
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Then, when it looks like Killer Bee will escape, Karin is able to sense where he is so the rest of Taka can go after him again. Even Killer Bee is impressed. He saw her healing Sasuke earlier, and now it turns out that she’s a sensor as well.
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Despite how worried Karin is about Sasuke when he is almost killed by Killer Bee, she remains calm and keeps a clear head:
Then she drags a weakened Sasuke and Juugo out of the way, almost sacrificing her own life in the process.
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She also healed Sasuke right after his fight against the Raikage, and in the middle of the fight with Danzo. If it weren’t for her, he’d be dead.
Is she “badass”? Well, that’s a subjective term. Is she “useless?” Objectively not.
#KARIN#SASUKE#SUIGETSU#JUUGO#TAKA#UZUMAKI KARIN#JUGO#HOZUKI SUIGETSU#UCHIHA SASUKE#THEORIES
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