

The Naruto anime gave Hinata a lot more to work with than the manga did, and there are a variety of factors to explain it.

As such, Studio Pierrot likely thought it would be good for the anime to capitalize on Hinata’s popularity, which led to them creating scenes that fleshed out both Hinata’s relationship with Naruto and her character as a whole. Hinata constantly ranked highly in the manga’s popularity polls, sometimes even beating out Sakura, so even without Masashi Kishimoto’s favoritism, people were taken with Hinata.

Why Hinata Became A Bigger Character In The Naruto AnimeĪnother explanation for why the Naruto anime gave Hinata more to work with could simply be because she was popular. All of those moments and more show the anime giving Hinata far more to work with than the manga did, and since Kishimoto has been involved with the Naruto anime to varying degrees, it would make sense if his favoritism played a part in their creation. Finally, there’s how Naruto Shippuden created the idea of Naruto protecting Hinata from bullies when they were children to add more to their romance, which ended up being canonized in The Last: Naruto the Movie, a movie dedicated solely to showing how the two ended up together. Not only that, but a filler arc from the first anime gave Hinata a character arc about resolving to become stronger that led to her developing a new technique, and it even gave her relationship with Naruto a lot more development. One example is how Hinata’s fight with Pain in the Naruto Shippuden anime was greatly extended from what it was in the manga and gave her a much better showing than she originally had. Masashi Kishimoto’s favoritism toward Hinata might also explain why the anime gave her so much extra material. Related: Every Ninja Eye Technique In The Naruto Franchise Because of that, it makes sense that the later parts of the manga would go out of their way to establish Hinata as one of Naruto’s strongest pillars of support. Not only has Kishimoto outright stated that Hinata was his favorite female character (via Viz), but he had even decided that she and Naruto would be together by the halfway point of the series (via Anime News Network). Even though Sakura had always been the main female protagonist of Naruto, the female character who Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto cared the most about was Hinata.
