Culture question

[jade-wynds.livejournal.com]

I have been wondering this for a very long time, and it finally occurred to me that someone on here might be able to help out.

You know pre-timeskip, when Itachi shows up and Sasuke goes after him? And then he finds Itachi, activates chidori, and informs his brother that he's survived at the top of his voice while pulling down the collar of his shirt? Why on earth does he pull on his collar? Is it some sort of gesture, like raising your pinky in some countries means you need to pee? Is he just weird? Did Kishi want him to look cool and failed miserably? WHAT'S GOING ON?

Comments

[laury-kos.livejournal.com]

can't remember that exact moment, could you plz show a screencap/scan or indicate the chapter or episode @_@

[helike]

http://onemanga.com/Naruto/146/12/ this. It was in the manga, too.

[darksideofstorm.livejournal.com]

Nice Story. Unfortunately untrue. (http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/the-v-sign/biography/the-anti-french-gesture)

[toboe-lonewolf.livejournal.com]

...Maybe it's because his collar is so high it partially muffles his voice? And if Sasuke wanted to really yell at Itachi he needed to yank it down?

......I got nuthin'.

[laury-kos.livejournal.com]

oohh i see
yeahp, I remember now

hmmm, maybe Kishi was trying to make him look cool, but he does looks crazy
i rly dunno :S
sorry

[morissamorimo.livejournal.com]

Maybe he wanted to show Itachi his cursed seal, but he messed up and pulled down the wrong side of his collar. But he didn't want to look like a dumbshit so he just went along with it.

Seriously, I have no idea. I've always wondered about that too. xD

[phlogistics.livejournal.com]

I had always been under the impression that he was pointing out the curse seal, and all that he would do to gain the power to defeat Itachi... and at the angle he's pulling at in the manga, you might be able to see it...

Eh. Who knows. These things often seem kind of random. ^_^;;

[demondreams.livejournal.com]

hmmm at originally I thought it might be to show his curse mark but looking at the pic it's the wrong side.
My guess?
he tore it to give him range of movement? So his shirt wouldn't restrict the movement of his arm

Is it some sort of gesture, like raising your pinky in some countries means you need to pee?
really? funny considering that gesture can also mean "girlfriend"

[nekokatsu.livejournal.com]

Why does Sasuke do anything he does...
that manga panel just about made me piss my pants in a mixture of lulz and wtf. XD

[darksideofstorm.livejournal.com]

That's the nice thing about an urban myth: it doesn't discriminate. It's remarkably like gullibility in that way.

[xinda.livejournal.com]

I've ALWAYS wanted to know that and just... never could figure it out.

[taichikun14.livejournal.com]

Who knows...maybe it's kinda like saying "BITE ME"! Mmmm but then again Itachi's not a vampire so it doesn't work...

[perilouslips.livejournal.com]

I agree, but leaning more towards the "screw you" side of the phrase "bite me". It looks like a slightly defiant gesture, albeit not a common one or else everyone would do that accompanying their middle finger or something.

My other theory is this: at this point he just ran to another village because his brother is there and oh my god he wants to kill his brother SO BAD because his brother killed his whole family and he's been waiting and training and training and waiting and OH MY GOD WHAT THEY WANT TO KILL NARUTO TOO NO NO NO CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN ITACHI I WILL KILL YOU KILL KILL KILL and maybe he has just worked himself into such a frenzy that when the moment finally happens, he feels like he's suffocating a bit. So he pulls on his collar.

But again, 'tis all speculation.

[okroginator.livejournal.com]

In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, the signal for the conspiracy to rise up and stab Caesar to death was that one man, standing high above the crowd, would pull the front of his robe down, symbolically baring his neck.

I don't think that's why Sasuke did it; I just thought it was an interesting connection.

[ladygizarme.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about this, as well. Like others have mentioned, I wondered if he was trying to gesture to his cursed seal, like "I've even gone this far!" except that it's on the other side (and Sasuke didn't exactly ASK for the cursed seal, but in Sasuke's case that doesn't really matter under these circumstances...).

As far as speculation goes, yours sounds pretty plausible to me, at least until someone can find an actual cultural reference for that gesture.

[ladygizarme.livejournal.com]

Indeed! Very interesting.

[bean-chan.livejournal.com]

Best answer, period.

[anguisel.livejournal.com]

I agree with the defiance thing but maybe a little anger in it too. Here's the brother that took everything from you and you find out he's jonesing for your teammate. I think he's pissed not only at Itachi but Naruto as well and just needs to do something to keep himself focused.

[jaded-priceless.livejournal.com]

Crack theory of the day

Sasuke lowered his collar to assist with the Chidori. The back of the cloth touched his hair. When he pulled it down the friction caused static electricity which traveled over his head, spiking his hair to generate more static before traveling down to his hand.


Seriously I think it is related to beheading and the whole concept of wash your neck and wait. At first Itachi said Sasuke was too weak to kill. Now that he's stronger he's challenging Itachi to kill him if he can.

hmm

[jamina-chan.livejournal.com]

I've blamed it on trying to be epic but just looked stupid...

Although in my mind he kept going "It IS a onesy!! D<"
XD
Who knows why that bit of epicness happened.. Although it was important enough apparently to be animated (extra money for what?)...

So yeaaah... *smacks sasuke* Quit being weird =__=

[pippins-nose.livejournal.com]

omg I have always wondered about this too!! ...I hope someone knows xD

[jade-wynds.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with anything, but I love our icon

[libraire.livejournal.com]

maybe it was just in his way? because it's the wrong side for the curse seal, and if it was something cultural, someone would know the explaining/we would've seen it in other manga, i think.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Maybe he's doing it to keep his sleeve pulled up, so it doesn't get it the way of his chidori? Or it's to show off his face, which would otherwise be covered by the collar...XD

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

like morissamorimo mentioned, he's pulling the wrong side down... XD but he can't really pull down the other side since he uses his left hand for chidori

[centimetre.livejournal.com]

[umaken.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about that too. And (being a european :) I thought it might be something like Japaneese analogy to a berserk typical signs. Like when berserks tore apart their mail-shirts or bit their shields in legends. I thought it might be a way to show that a person is in mad-for-battle spirit, or something like that...

I would gladly hear the author's explaination %). If you know it some day - please, share it with us here!! :)