MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes connects many beautiful memories with the anime and manga of Naruto, but he still cannot understand the handling of the series’ best villain years later.
Which villain is being referred to? Like many people my age, I followed Naruto as a child on RTL 2 and was excited with each new episode. What stuck with me the most was the Chūnin Selection Exam, especially the forest. Because this was where Orochimaru made his first real appearance.
To this day, his fight against Sasuke and Naruto gives me goosebumps. I will never forget his snake attacks, combined with his melting face and the fantastic soundtrack. Even the cool
Sasuke had no chance against the enemy that seems to have come from a horror movie.
Later, he destroys half the village in a plot and kills the Hokage, the strongest ninja of the village, with zombie Hokages. Orochimaru was a villain that people feared. In addition, there were his terrible experiments.
But then Naruto Shippūden came, and Orochimaru’s great potential was not fulfilled.
From the evil scientist to an unimpressive side character
What happened to Orochimaru? On April 23, 2009, Naruto Shippūden premiered on RTL 2 (source: fernsehserien.de). After Sasuke’s escape at the end of the first Naruto series, of course, one wondered how the ninja, and especially Orochimaru, who wanted to use Sasuke as a vessel, was doing.
And the arc wasn’t actually that bad. Orochimaru’s lab has its own atmosphere, and his fight with the Four-Tails Naruto was exciting. But after that, hardly anything was done with Orochimaru. He was brought back in the war to revive other characters, but all of his horror aura had vanished.
Orochimaru worked well because he acted solely out of a sense of self-optimization
. Even though he looked like a human, one could only vaguely perceive him as a real person. The snake as his animal also fit with that. Orochimaru was the crazy scientist who showed no sympathy for anyone.
Naruto as an anime has always tended to give villains a comprehensible motivation. It started with Zabuza and continued with Pain and Obito. Orochimaru was like the antithesis to that. Almost the only one for whom Naruto’s clichéd Talk no Jutsu
would not work.
That he remains part of the story to observe Sasuke? That’s a waste of the character, who could have simply been taken out by Sasuke. It’s particularly regrettable because he is so different from other Naruto villains.
Orochimaru could have been one of the best anime villains of all time
What made Orochimaru so special? Orochimaru is driven by self-optimization. He wants to learn all jutsus and find the optimal vessel. This distinguishes him from the other villains in the series, who pursue noble goals on paper.
That’s why his appearance in Naruto Classic is so effective. His past doesn’t matter, and he not only teaches the characters within the anime to fear. Orochimaru loses that presence at the latest when he loses to Sasuke.
In the great war, he is only there for one thing: to resurrect the Hokage. Absurd is his reasoning, which only refers to Sasuke. This turns Orochimaru, who previously did everything for his goal, into a boring side character.
The biggest nonsense happens at the end of the series, though. In the anime, there is the wedding of Naruto and Hinata. Not only is Orochimaru, a ninja who has done the most horrible things, free. He is also invited to the wedding and causes all sorts of nonsense in the village. He even seems to still be conducting experiments.
This not only makes Orochimaru look like a fool, but also the entire village of Konoha and the Hokage. If you deal with extreme crimes like that, I would no longer take Konoha seriously as a neighboring country.
Naruto Shippūden unfortunately could not fulfill the potential of many characters. Most people probably think of Rock Lee right away. But with Orochimaru, it pains me especially because he has one of the best appearances I have seen in an anime. To this day, I get goosebumps when he appears or fights against the Hokage in Naruto Classic. But that’s exactly why my anger is still so great. His fight against the Hokage is also one of the best fights from Naruto
