Current Events > Is Sasuke the only rival that gets more or the same amount as focus as the MC?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Not gonna lie, it has always bothered me that Sasuke get so much fucking attention by both fans and show creator than Naruto especially since the show is named after him.

Vegeta, Shadow the Hedgehog, Kaiba and Gary Oaks are all the MC's rivals and often compared to have similar rivalry style and yet none of these characters come close to getting the same focus and attention Sasuke has in Naruto.

Only two rival characters I can think:

1. Ken to Ryu. Ken gets almost the same amount of attention as Ryu though their relationship is completely different from the rest I listed.
2. Hyde to Eric Foreman from 70s Show. Can you argue that Hyde is Eric's Sasuke?

Once upon a time that was the case with Shadow. I mean, he's like the only Sonic character other than Sonic himself to get his own game. He's certainly become less and less prominent since Sonic 06 though.

Megatron

Questionmarktarius posted...

Megatron

Megatron isn't a rival.

VeggetaX posted...

Megatron isn't a rival.

Luigi

Luigi is also not a rival. They are companions through and through.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/7/AAEhCpAAEWqV.jpg

Questionmarktarius posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/9/7/AAEhCpAAEWqV.jpg

These are real people.

Does dio count here

itachi15243 posted...

Does dio count here

I don't watch the show to make a decision. You tell me if he fits the mold.

Dio is more relevant across the series than the protagonists

Scorpion and subzero

cjsdowg posted...

Scorpion and subzero

Neither are really the MCs.

Irony posted...

Dio is more relevant across the series than the protagonists

Nah, he's about equal with Jotaro and Joseph

VeggetaX posted...

These are real people.

Lister and Rimmer, then
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/9/AAEhCpAAEWqh.jpg

Zuko

Captain Eustass Kidd am i right folks

Johnny Lawrence

I don't think anything will come close to Sasuke given how much focus was placed on him. We had an entire arc dedicated to trying to rescue him because he was important to Naruto.

But there's plenty of other anime where the rival gets time to shine. Bakugo in My Hero Academia gets a lot of great moments.

There's also Yuno in Black Clover. He's basically the genius prodigy where everything comes easy to him, while the MC has to work his ass off to get stronger.

Srk700 posted...

Once upon a time that was the case with Shadow. I mean, he's like the only Sonic character other than Sonic himself to get his own game. He's certainly become less and less prominent since Sonic 06 though.

This. Shadow absolutely got a ton of attention when he was introduced. So many kids liked him more than Sonic back then, myself included.

Do Gon and Kilkua count, or are they just companions that boost each other up?

How does Vegeta not get as much focus as Goku? They are literally always together now.

Swagger_Dagger posted...

How does Vegeta not get as much focus as Goku? They are literally always together now.

Vegeta is literally a jobber for Goku. Sasuke has gone to beat a ton of big named characters.

DIO doesn't count because he doesn't actually have much screentime compared to Jotaro or whoever the JoJo of that part is. His influence is far reaching, but he himself doesn't have much going on.

YoungMutual posted...

Nah, he's about equal with Jotaro and Joseph

Dio is relevant in every part except 2 and the ones after 7.

Joseph is relevant in 2 and 3 and is a stage prop in 4

Vegy posted...

Zuko

I feel this is a good comparison to Sasuke in terms of the amount of focus given to their series' respective main characters/personal foils

Irony posted...

Dio is relevant in every part except 2 and the ones after 7.

Joseph is relevant in 2 and 3 and is a stage prop in 4

Dio is only alive in 1 and 3, and he only really appears at the end of 3.
Dude is only present in flashbacks in 6, has zero relevance to the plot of 4, his only relation to 5 is connecting Giorno to the Joestar line, and is completely absent from part 2.

I don't want to understate his influence and prevalence through the series, but you have to put some asterisks about his influence in most parts that aren't 1 and 3, which I feel applies just as much to Jotaro and Joseph.

Spider-man and Venom

VeggetaX posted...

Vegeta is literally a jobber for Goku. Sasuke has gone to beat a ton of big named characters.

I think thats just you being biased towards Naruto over DB. Vegeta literally beat Android 19 who would have killed Goku at the rate they were going. Sasuke usually beats people that are relevant to only his storyline.

Geoglow93 posted...

Vegeta literally beat Android 19 who would have killed Goku at the rate they were going.

That's it though. That's the only time Vegeta got one over on an opponent that Goku couldn't, and the only reason why that even happened at all was because Goku was succumbing to heart disease.

Light & L in Deathnote, but it is a bit cheating because the whole point of that show is the rivalry between the two and the mental chess game they are engaged in.

Garou gets MORE focus than Saitama in his arc. Too bad the manga kind of butchered it.

Ivynn posted...

Spider-man and Venom

They get their own stories so far apart from each other that you can't really call them rivals anymore.

GiftedACIII posted...

Garou gets MORE focus than Saitama in his arc. Too bad the manga kind of butchered it.

TBF, everyone gets more focus than Saitama.

Kazuma and Ryuho from Scryed. They only meet up a few times to scream their names at eachother, but are mostly doing their own thing. They're both covered pretty equally

i don't know that Aizen Sasuke got as attention as Kurosaki Ichigo but whatevs

Ninjas_Beat_Me_Up posted...

i don't know that Aizen Sasuke got as attention as Kurosaki Ichigo but whatevs

Aizen does not get as much focus as Ichigo and Aizen is also not his rival comparable to Sasuke or Vegeta, Renji is the Sasuke/Vegeta to Ichigo and he's a bigger jobber than Vegeta LMAO.

The guy in black clover gets a bunch of coverage if I remember correctly.

Han & Luke in the Original Trilogy. Luke is the main protagonist, but Han gets just as much screen time-- and they are rivals for Leia's affection over the first couple of movies at least.

Scooby-Doo and Red Herring

VeggetaX posted...

Aizen does not get as much focus as Ichigo and Aizen is also not his rival comparable to Sasuke or Vegeta, Renji is the Sasuke/Vegeta to Ichigo and he's a bigger jobber than Vegeta LMAO.

???

the topic title asks about Sasuke and the MC. I answered the question.

Srk700 posted...

Once upon a time that was the case with Shadow. I mean, he's like the only Sonic character other than Sonic himself to get his own game. He's certainly become less and less prominent since Sonic 06 though.

Tails Adventure, Tails Skypatrol, Knuckle's Chaotix, and Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine beg to differ, but I see what you mean. Once Sonic went 3D Shadow was the only one who got his own game, then when Sonic 06 came out Sega stopped with non-Sonic playable characters for years

Samurai Champloo

Sasuke was a really good example of balancing a rivalry. He was handled in such a way that he actually felt more like a second main character. There were many times in the story where he was definitely stronger than Naruto. That made him interesting to watch.

Seto Kaiba. To the point i dont think many even realized just how irrelevant he was to the main story and was essentially a plot device for a good chunk of it. From creating duel machines and disk, hosting tournaments or etc.

Hell most of the filler antagonist were adversaries of his even. And when they arent he's being dragged into the storys for other reason. Likely due to his company.

I don't know. It seems like Yuno from Black Clover gets quite a bit of attention.

Sora and Riku