How is it that Shikamaru and Temari, the SIDE characters, have a better relationship than Naruto and Hinata? You would figure since the show is called Naruto, they’d spend more time on his romantic relationships at least.
Bare minimum.
Cause I mean how is it possible that the MC relationship is being overshadowed like that? The same can be said even in DBZ. Like if you think about it, Vegeta has a better relationship than Goku. Isn’t that kinda…sad?
It's no secret that most of the Naruto community is either toxic or always at odds, but I feel like if it's one thing all of the Naruto fans can agree on, it's the fact that Shikamaru and Temari’s relationship makes A LOT more sense than most of the relationships in the series.
Think about it, we got Naruto and Hinata.
Sakura and Sasuke.
Sai and Ino.
Choji and Karui.
Kiba and some random girl.
While Tenten and Shino are alone.
And, on the other hand, I can't figure out Rock Lee's situation and Neji just didn't quite make the cut.
But without a shadow of a doubt, Shikamaru and Temari is easily the best couple. I'd even say that they are the most developed couple. And y’all know I’m a big sucker for development.
I think the best part is that it felt natural the whole way, so much so that it wasn’t even a surprise when they got together.
At least not for me.
Because Shikamaru and Temari kinda got together in the same way Asuma and Kurenai did. Like with both couples, they were always around each other and it was just hinted and strongly implied.
Like I think it got to the point where we were all just rooting for Shikamaru and Temari to become a thing.
I mean they're both intelligent and strategic, and they seemed to really balance the other out.
I started shipping them extra hard when Temari was getting teased for liking an intelligent guy during the Fourth Great Shinobi War - whom we all knew was none other than Shikmaru.
I know their were some Ino and Shikamaru shippers, and while they do look pretty good together, I just didn't see them getting together because Ino never expressed any interest in Shikamaru and they both had clans of their own.
Like it seemed like ino-shika-cho needed three people because the team formations were a mix of each of the three clans and I didn't see that breaking any time soon personally.
And let's be honest: Shikamaru and Temari were far more interesting than Shikamaru and Ino.
I mean think about it.
Shikamaru is from the Leaf village while Temari is from the Sand.
Shikamaru is of the Nara clan and the only sibling.
Temari, on the other hand, isn't really from a clan yet she is the sister of a jinchuriki - turned Kazekage of the Sand Village.
Not only that, but these two have really awesome development. I think is probably the main reason why I like them so much.
These two met during the chunin exams as enemies. Then from enemies, their next meeting was when Temari saved Shikamaru because she was ordered to. Shikamaru kinda wasn’t having it because they had just helped the sound village destroy the Leaf village but Temari was basically like it’s the nature of the business type thing. Get over it.
In filler, Shikamaru saved Temari so that was kinda cool to see.
I mean basically they kinda developed a mutual respect, a friendship, to an eventual romance. And these are probably my favorite kind of love stories.
Hence why I like Gajeel and Levy.
Vegeta and Bulma.
And Shikamaru and Temari.
I just really tend to enjoy love stories where there's development, work is put in on both sides, and then the pay off is romance.
Plus I used to love reading the fanfiction about these two. Back when I was super heavy into fanfiction and all. I'm not in it as much, but it's something I'm trying to get back into because I do enjoy writing.
I just get overwhelmed with all of my ideas and then I tend to hop around when I get an even more exciting idea, and leave things a bit incomplete.
Anyway, with this couple, they were so developed that there wasn't much left to the imagination. And I think the blank period definitely contributed to that.
I'm very grateful for that because I always saw Temari as this tough girl, which she is, but we got to see a more softer side to her and I personally would have never imagined that. But it makes sense because naturally, you do show a more softer side to the people that you love and to the person that you are intimate with.
And the more you're around someone, the more you can pick up if something is wrong.
Which is exactly what we saw when Temari noticed how different Shikamaru was acting when he started being all secretive and stuff. ( Investigating/Land of Silence)
So that was pretty nice to see because Temari clearly cares about Shikamaru.
Overall, like I said, Shikamaru and Temari are arguably one of the most developed couples in the series. They're not toxic, they have a good head on their shoulders, their similar but not too similar and they just overall really balance the other out.
I honestly have nothing bad to say about this couple and I'd be very surprised if other people had anything bad to say about them.