Highlights

  • Female Naruto characters lack development and representation in the Ultimate Ninja Storm game series.
  • Sakura and Tsunade's abilities are overlooked, while male characters with more challenging abilities to adapt have better representation.
  • Ino, Kushina, and Kurenai also suffer from poor representation and character development in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections.

The Naruto manga and anime series has a diverse cast, but many of its female characters don't live up to their potential. Characters like Sakura, Tsunade, and Hinata are often criticized by some fans for not getting the same amount of narrative and character development as their male counterparts. Female characters in Naruto are often developed in a single episode or story arc, and are then forgotten.

Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, and the Ultimate Ninja Storm game series in general, is the main game series for the Naruto series, and the way it treats its roster of female characters is arguably worse than the manga or anime. Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections had the opportunity to update characters such as Sakura, Tsunade, and Ino, and instead, these key characters have been left on the sidelines with very lacking Ultimate Jutsus.

Naruto's Next Fighting Game Should Diverge From Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' Roster
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Naruto's Next Fighting Game Should Diverge From Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections' Roster

The enormous playable cast in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is impressive, but the next Naruto game would be better off leaving it behind.

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Needs to Live Up to the Potential of the Manga

Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections ignores key characteristics and abilities of female characters, while the male characters get multiple versions based on their abilities or ones created specifically for the game. A glaring example is Sakura, who has two Ultimate Jutsus that are visually and functionally indistinguishable from each other. Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections essentially overlooks her ability to wield the Byakugo, or Strength of a Hundred Seal, and only features it in a Team Ultimate Jutsu with Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura's ability to use the Byakugo transforms her abilities as a shinobi, and allows her to dip into a massive pool of chakra which becomes a major plot point in the story. In addition to giving Sakura another form on the roster, it would potentially create the opportunity for a Team Ultimate Jutsu with Obito. Likewise, Tsunade's Byakugo is also overlooked. While she is the most prolific Hokage in the series, she's also the Hokage with the fewest Ultimate Jutsus, while every other Hokage has at least two, Tsunade only has one.

While it can be argued that a healing ability like the Byakugo could be difficult to translate to a fighting game like Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, other male characters with abilities that are difficult to conceptualize have better representation on the roster, such as Shisui Uchiha. Shisui's Ultimate Jutsu is Kotoamatsukami, a genjutsu that controls a person's mind without their awareness, and in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections, the ability is translated on screen in a visually cathartic way. Shisui also barely appears in both the manga and the anime, and yet this allowance is made for him. He also shares a Team Ultimate Jutsu with Itachi.

Ultimate Ninja Storm's Pattern in Overlooking Its Female Roster

Ino's character in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections hasn't received a single update since the very early versions of Ultimate Ninja Storm, where her character is reduced to throwing flowers at her enemies. In the actual series, she plays a pivotal role during the War Arc and is a key member of her team. Kushina, one of the jinchuuriki's of the Nine Tails, has a form in Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections where she beats her opponent with a frying pan, despite displaying shinobi abilities in the series and being a capable fighter. This form is supposed to be a joke, but it relies on sexist stereotypes that have no foundation in the source material.

Kurenai was recently added to Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections in an update and, while the other male teachers get Team Ultimate Jutsus with their genin students, Kurenai's Team Ultimate overlooks her relationship and bonds with her students and, instead, she's teamed up with her boyfriend. With so many female characters not meeting their potential of even their manga and anime counterparts, it becomes a pattern. It would be easier to overlook this if only one or two female characters on the roster didn't meet their potential, but this happens over and over again in the Ultimate Ninja Storm series with no signs of abating.