The Naruto Character Who Always Maximized Their Screentime
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A massive shonen anime like Naruto, despite its episode count, only has so much screen time to spare for each character. It’s a given that a shonen protagonist like Naruto Uzumaki will get ample screen time and make the most of it, but the other characters might not be so fortunate. As Naruto‘s cast of charcters kept expanding, there was less and less room for each character to shine, so it was truly impressive when certain characters like Sasuke Uchiha still made the most of their limited time on-screen.
The Naruto anime had some characters who might have made the most of all their screen time, like the taijutsu expert Rock Lee and the redeemed Neji Hyuga, but the plot abandoned them after a point. Meanwhile, Sasuke Uchiha always maxed out his screen time in Naruto, whether or not it’s relative to the number of episodes he got, and it was always a joy to watch him in action. There are three key reasons why Sasuke made such excellent use of his screen time in Naruto, some of them more commendable than others.
Shonen characters rarely stand in the spotlight alone. It’s common for anime series to feature a main trio, and Naruto helped set this trend that later anime followed. Just the way Yuji Itadori had Nobara and Megumi by his side in Jujutsu Kaisen and Tanjiro has Inosuke and Zenitsu with him in Demon Slayer, the characters of Naruto tend to form trios, most of all Team 7. That’s the team Sasuke Uchiha belongs to, so of course he benefits greatly from this well-established anime trope. Being part of a shonen trio sets the stage for characters like Sasuke, Nobara, and Zenitsu to make the most of their screen time, since the anime will give them preferential treatment when it comes to how much screen time they actually get. But as anime fans have seen, not every trio member makes the most of this opportunity, but Sasuke absolutely lives up to that role’s potential.
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