Might Guy, the Sublime Green Beast of Prey, has been a large part of the overall Naruto story since its early days. He is the leader of Team Guy, which also includes powerhouses Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga, and Tenten. He is mostly seen as the surrogate father of Rock Lee and the lifetime rival of Kakashi.
Guy is notably styled after Bruce Lee, though with a different color scheme. He is also a notable example of not letting machismo get in the way of real emotions. While Guy is a mostly well-developed character, there are plenty of parts to his character that leave us scratching our heads.
10 Duy Guy
The naming conventions in Naruto have never been subtle when it comes to lineages. The Nara clan has Shikaku, Shikamaru, and Shikadai, all based on the same naming style. When Might Guy’s lineage was released, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, yet learning that his father’s name was Might Duy was shocking.
The biggest issue with Might Duy was that his character was exactly the same as Might Guy, down to his rivalries and abilities. There is no problem with introducing the family of sidelined characters from a series, but to make what is essentially a carbon copy is not as exciting as it could have been. Though the progression of the Eight Gates from Duy to Guy is the only redeemable part of the Eternal Genin.
9 His Rivalry With Kakashi
Guy believes wholeheartedly that Kakashi is his rival, even though Kakashi outmatches him in almost every way. This rivalry has lead to Guy being able to work well against Sharingan users, which would be fine if there were more than three to four left in the world.
The rivalry is there so that fans can get a contrast to Kakashi’s personality. The problem is that Kakashi is contrasted by his squad, particularly Naruto, so Guy ends up being over the top for no reason. Also, Guy seems confused whenever Kakashi goes through with killing
8 His Favoritism Towards Rock Lee
Somehow not his illegitimate son, Rock Lee is a better version of Guy in almost every way. It is understandable that Guy would step in and care for Rock Lee when things get hairy, like during the Chunin Exams, but Guy takes it way further with him than any of his other students.
His squad consists of Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten, yet fans really only see him with Lee. This is so prevalent that the two of them have team moves for the Naruto fighting games, but Guy doesn’t have this bond with Neji and Tenten. In a way, it is Guy’s fault that Tenten didn’t get more screen time, and for that, he cannot be forgiven.
7 Jutsuser
Guy is the weird middle stage between his father who had no abilities outside of Taijutsu and Rock Lee who also has no abilities outside of Taijutsu. The problem here is that Might Guy does have ninjutsu abilities. He even has his elemental releases known to be fire and lightning.
It doesn’t feel like his character was as fleshed out as the Konoha 11 or Kakashi because even when he is introduced fully, he is accompanied by a summoned creature, which is a high-level Jutsu. Adding him in as a Rock Lee mentor is fine, but acting like he is solely a Taijutsu user is weird given he is regularly seen using other Jutsus and hand signs.
6 The Deadly Eight Gates
The Eight Gates is a power that only four people in the world can use, being Might Duy, Might Guy, Rock Lee, and Metal Lee. While the others haven’t been seen using the technique as much, Guy regularly throws down the first two gates for fun.
Everything we know about the Eight Gates says that every new gate opened is supposed to hurt, cripple, or even kill the user, which makes the many times Guy uses them seem overzealous. Even in the final big fight he participates in, he unleashes his eighth gate move “night guy” which is supposed to kill him, yet it only leads to a mostly damaged right leg, which is significantly better than death.
5 Kisame Who?
Guy’s rivalry with Kisame makes absolutely no sense for several reasons. The first is that, though Guy and Kisame have fought several times, near enough to death to be memorable, Guy cannot seem to remember him. This is explained by Guy’s inability to remember faces, but that doesn’t explain why he doesn’t remember Samehada, a living sword.
Outside of their own bouts, Guy’s father Duy died fighting the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, including the original wielder of Samehada, Fuguki Suikazan. Being part of the reason his dad died, it stands that Guy would remember a fishman using a demon shark sword much more than he does.
4 He's A Medicine Man
In addition to spending all of his time training to be the very best (ninja, not Pokémon trainer) Guy has had several stints in making medicine from herbs. This part of his character is never explained past the fact that he can do it and it has come in clutch several times.
It feels like something that the writers needed to add to the character to make him seem less useless, even though he is a skilled fighter. Rather than making him more healing ninja than Sakura, Ino, Tsunade, and Shizune, Guy was written to be a medicine man. Let’s not forget that some of that medicine is booze, which Lee takes every so often.
3 He's A Madara Puncher
This was a plot thread that fans should have seen coming during the Pain Arc, but it was a bit disruptive to one of the major battles of the series where only Guy was able to fight against Madara as the Ten Tails Jinchuriki. As a master of (mostly) Taijutsu, he was the perfect candidate as Guy was the only one who could hit him.
The problem comes with ensemble media in general as, sometimes, the big fights have to be fought by lesser characters. Up to this point, Madara was the big bad, so having a smaller character like Guy be the major attacker would be like having Riza Hawkeye be the only one who can fight Father in Full Metal Alchemist. They’re good characters, but not one-v-one final battle good.
2 Youth!
It is fine to have a catchphrase, most of the characters in the Naruto universe have one. Naruto’s is “Believe it,” Shikamaru’s is “What a drag,” and Sakura’s is “Cha.” Might Guy has a catchword that is surrounded by different words seemingly every time. That word is a heartily yelled “Youth!”
It would be a different issue if he just yelled “springtime of youth,” but he is constantly spouting that things are about youth when they are mundane parts of life. It is overall just confusing to have a ninja in his 30’s constantly yelling about “Youth” unironically. We’re pretty ready for Boruto to hear Guy say “youth” and scream “okay boomer” at him.
1 Seasickness and Tortoises
This is going to be a problem for any ninja in the world of Naruto, but how does seasickness exist in a world where you can walk on water? The most prominent use of seasickness is Guy when he has to travel along with Naruto to the tortoise island.
In addition to seasickness, the series makes his relationship with Tortoises varied. His summoning Jutsu allows him to summon a variety of tortoise and turtles, from small ones to Ningame. The giant island that the heroes go to is on the back of a giant tortoise, who, presumably, is a much more advanced part of the tortoise family. When Guy learns the island is a tortoise, he reacts with fear, not intrigue which, would make more sense since he has a pact with its kind and could potentially use it in the future.