One of the joyous days for anime fans, Jump Festa 2024, turned out to be one of the darkest days after Yui Itō was stalked for portraying Sakura Haruna.

SUMMARY

One of the most popular anime of all time, Naruto, has several characters, with some of them being likeable and others, not so much.

Out of them, Sakura Haruno remains one of the most hated characters, and as a result, her voice actors and cosplayers have been the target of hate for a long time.

Recently, at the Jump Festa 2024, Yui Itō, who was going to cosplay Sakura Haruno on live stage, was stalked and felt harassed to the point of crying.

Naruto’s popularity knows no bounds. Being one of the Big Three of anime, it has millions of fans worldwide. Several characters in Masashi Kishimiot’s magnum opus are loved, some are hated, and some are given a mixed reaction. Characters like Naruto, Hinata, Kakashi, Sasuke, etc., received a lot of love, including Madara Uchiha, who happens to be a major antagonist in the anime.

But out of all the hated characters, Sakura Haruno is probably hated the most. She is a skilled medical kunoichi, but her childhood behavior towards Naruto has often led the fans to believe she is useless.

The hate has extended to the people who cosplay or give voice to Sakura Haruna. Recently, at Jump Festa 2024, Yui Itō, known for portraying Sakura Haruno on stage, was stalked and harassed.

Yui Itō Suffers From The Sakura Curse

Yui Itō

During the Jump Festa 2024, Yui Itō portrayed Sakura Haruno in Live Spectacle Naruto: Song of the Akatsuki. Even though it was a joyous occasion, it was one of her darker days. She was stalked during the event.

Ito felt harassed and depressed to the point of exhaustion. She posted the whole incident on her Instagram page. Unfortunately, there was no security footage of the harrowing event.

An X (formerly Twitter) user, @uchihassasusaku, posted her Instagram story mentioning every detail. She and the Naruto actor, Masaki Nakao, were present to attend a talk event for their live Naruto play. But within a span of a few minutes, all this happened.

Most anime fans feel that Sakura is ‘trash,’ and thus comes the hatred. But the hatred went to such a point that the people who portray the characters are not safe from the harassment.

Chie Nakamura(Sakura’s VA) talks about meet & greets-for years “fans” called HER weak & useless; which made her depressed. Seeing Sakura place top 3 world wide made her emotional. They’re both finally receiving the support they deserve 20 yrs later🥹🫶🏽

🔗 https://t.co/B3Z5x4luJ8 pic.twitter.com/RrKAsFsJVw

— 𝓜 ❀ ◓ (@uchihassasusaku) April 14, 2023

Stalking and harassing someone to the point that they start crying and feel depressed is not acceptable. Maybe that person hated Sakura and wanted Yui Itō to apologize, or they might be a fan desperate to meet and greet her.

Neither hatred nor over-affection is welcomed. These sexist behaviors should be addressed and taken steps against. Several pages are solely dedicated to spreading hatred for certain anime characters.

Sakura Haruno

Sakura Haruno is judged chiefly because of how she treated Naruto Uzumaki in the past. But people often forget that it is because of her that he is alive. Moreover, people who portray her, give voice, or cosplay Sakura Haruno are also human.

Treating them differently is not the answer. The incident with Yui Itō at the Jump Festa 2024 should be an example of preventing it from happening.

Yui Itō Is Not The Only Sakura To Face Harassment

Yui Itō is the latest Sakura to be harassed. However, several others have had the same behavior in the past. The German voice actor of the character, Katharina von Keller, received hate comments on her TikTok page. The comments were so harsh that the voice actor for Gaara had to intervene and ask the fans to respect her.

Yeo Min-jeong, the Korean Voice Actor for Sakura, speaks up about how much hate she recieved just for doing her job. She loves Sakura was so upset at the backlash that at times she didn’t even want to record her lines.

🔗 https://t.co/r8dJci55Ti pic.twitter.com/6pooS9cOaM

— 𝓜 ❀ ◓ (@uchihassasusaku) April 14, 2023
Another incident occurred in 2021 with the Korean Sakura Haruno voice actor Yeo Min-Jeong. During an interview, she said that she loved Sakura, but a few Naruto fans hated the character, which resulted in a lot of swearing.

But the most horrific incident took place with Chie Nakamura. She is the Japanese voice actor for Sakura Haruna. She is the original voice artist who gave voice to the character since 2002. She mentioned that whenever there were meet and greets, Sakura would be considered trash and useless, which had been happening for the last 20 years.

Yui Itō and Chie Nakamura

As a massive Naruto fan, it is sad to see people like Chie Nakamura and Yui Itō receiving hatred for their profession. People can have their perspective, but it is better if it is limited to the anime and not brought out to the voice actors. It is the least they can do for their favorite anime.