OMG, yes. I love shonen series, don't get me wrong, but sometimes, they can be so utterly boring. Almost universally, they're more interesting in the beginning before they start massively powering up every other chapter. And in general, they have this one awesome female character who gets less and less screentime as the series goes on until she's basically removed. ;_; I remember Bulma from Dragonball.

Sakura was soooo awesome, even in the beginning. Kishimoto said her obsession with Sasuke was a deliberate character flaw and I loved that. The only unfortunate thing is that she grew out of it and then wasn't given much further screen time. ALAS.