The Tragic Downfall of Orochimaru's Character

Orochimaru was a great villain introduced in the Chunin Exams, in that great Orochimaru vs Sasuke fight. He then became an iconic character in the series after the assault on the Leaf Village and the Orochimaru vs Sarutobi fight. Orochimaru managed to bring Sasuke to him and become his master, so that one day he could get an Uchiha body and the Sharingan.
In Naruto Shippuden we have the Orochimaru vs 4 Tails fight and Orochimaru vs Itachi, when Orochimaru dies during the Itachi vs Sasuke fight. But Orochimaru returns in the Naruto War Arc through very weird circumstances to bring back the first 4 Hokage with Edo Tensei. Orochimaru's character is then ruined and turned into a joke that continues al the way through Boruto.
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[@DygoKnight]

What's your favorite Orochimaru moment?

[@germanbertrand8676]

When he said "It's snaking time " and snaked all over the place

[@ThermalVoid]

When he autographed his SSR card for Denki & friends. 🤣

[@ThermalVoid]

​@@germanbertrand8676 Sh*t! Now I will have to watch Naruto to find out whether he said that or not.

[@coldestbeer]

When he defeated 3rd hokage

[@Anthonydavis65]

The hokage level combat he and Sarutobi had in part 1 is peak and vs Tsunade and Jiraya

[@loliH9]

You know an author gave up on a character when he forgets the attire he's been using this whole time was just a disguise.

[@kandihustty5610]

XD

[@kandihustty5610]

My thoughts exactly, Orochimaru's still a person who just threw away humanity so he could reach immortality, and now that he has it he's got his whole life to live now, to re-become human.

[@thehourman4053]

​@@kandihustty5610 Wasn't his goal to learn all jutsu? Immortality was just a tool he needed to accomplish his main goal. Also, I strongly suspect that Orochimaru is still straight evil and just keeping his nose clean on the surface to avoid having his activities halted by Konoha

[@zekicakir]

Wait for Orochimaru's time until he collects all needed part of Otsutsuki's dna and searches them appropriately. 😅

[@kandihustty5610]

@@thehourman4053 The goals were intertwined, he sought jutsu to keep him immortal and immortality to learn all the other jutsu. Mixed with trying to grab the peak body for again immortality and jutsu.

[@user-bn7oy1xv7e]

From absolutely terrifying monster, nihilistic scientist to a single mom 😂

[@khairilanam3020]

"We have Orochimaru at home" momment

[@tchoythao5579]

wth did they do to him? he literally went from 100 to 0. there was literally no explanation why he wanted to be a "good guy". literally died, and came back good.

[@abhay9052]

​@@tchoythao5579 he is neutral character not good

[@respectfulevil9022]

Goals

[@bigkirbyhj666]

​@@tchoythao5579figured he might get further by being a doting mather than cruel despot

[@AzA609]

The Otsutsuki are downgraded versions of Orochimaru. Orochimaru did everything the Otsutsuki currently do and plan on doing, but Orochimaru actually succeeded. He is the "ultimate being". Whenever he supposedly dies, he refuses to remain dead and revives because he can.

[@Jc_lightningmaster]

Literally, the curse mark is a cooler looking version in my opinion, then the karma and he is everything that they hope to be because dude has many ways how to get out of the situation, one of the smartest ninja alive and just to downgrade him to a mom/dad’s and let’s not forget the only reason that the 1st 2st 3rd and 4th hokage are back was bc him opening a literal seal to the devil they downgraded to him so bad

[@zeppelincraft1443]

I have a feeling Orochimaru in the end would be the one to represent the planet itself and go on a voyage in space for eternity to seek out all the secrets he craves.

[@drigon1630]

He could be otsusuki too

[@superitgel1]

Karma 1 person limit. Curse mark unlimited!!

[@zeppelincraft1443]

@@superitgel1 Not only that, the marks do not disappear when the master is resurrected. Absolutely nuts. I think that is the point where Orochimaru stopped being a “life form”.

[@elsavic]

To me Orochimaru was the only villain that was scary, not a single character comes close to instilling fear like Forest of Death Orochimaru. Everything with Orochimaru in part 1 felt so tense and evil. He was the top villain of the show, now dont get me wrong the Akatsuki and Madara were great villains but they always felt powerful and badass, but never have I felt fear or dread from them.

[@filipmajewski8382]

Orochimaru is the scariest, but i think i remember being very intimidated by pain

[@Aripuni1]

Pain and Akatsuki is terrifying too

[@elsavic]

@@Aripuni1 Nah they were just average shonen antagonists when it comes to threat, Orochimaru was more classical horror and fear

[@carlocacho5733]

gaara part one was also eerily scary

[@elsavic]

@@carlocacho5733 Uhh yeah, with that I agree. Naruto up to Konoha crush was way more scarier I guess

[@Ajwad99]

Orochimaru is the kind of person YOU FEAR, not Pain or Madara. Orochimaru is actually scary and creepy and you just never know what he is up to, he always laughs and giggles even facing the 4 tails like everything is fun to him, even if you “killed” him you’ll still be looking over your shoulder cuz you know he’s not dead and sooner or later you’ll hear that he appeared somewhere

[@TheBillhs]

nah pain is pretty fucking scary too...i get what you mean tho

[@TheChattounet]

@@TheBillhs yes, pain and madara are scary and ruthless, pityless and all, but it's true that orochimaru embodies perfectly what it's like to face a predator !

[@TheBillhs]

@@TheChattounet madara is only scary because of his power if not he's just a megalomaniac,pain is as scary it's just that orochimaru is "horror movie" scary

[@asdfghj13579fly]

⁠​⁠@@TheBillhsThe word y’all are looking for is creepy. Orochimaru is very creepy and the scary part is it’s not just your imagination. The danger is real with this guy.

[@zoazede2098]

Pain and Madara are to be feared, but that doesn't mean that they're scary, you just know that they're f*ng strong sociopaths, which could be scary, but honestly isn't if you don't fight them. Now, Orochimaru is both scary (since you know he's a psycho that do awful human experiments and stuff like that, aside his strength) and creepy (he's definitely like a yurei in aspect and like a yokai in his unreadable personality), he's a character that was made to be feared in the most primal way

[@freddarteagavaldez725]

never forget konoha pardoned a war criminal that conducted terrorist attacks on them and experimented on children he kidnaped. also kabuto.

[@zeppelincraft1443]

It's because it was actually sanctioned by the leaf village itself. This whole cluster of awful decisions made by pacts and deals with village to village was what made Sasuke go to the summit and say "I'm taking over the world". The thing is Kishimoto poorly presented it to be impressive or logic.

[@jackmakila3776]

From a ninja village prospective its a good idea to have one of the smartest character in the series whos also immortal, and can revive the dead in times of need to help the villiage around just in case shit happens Rather then kill him and be forced to deal with him again in a few years because he's probably not staying dead

[@jackmakila3776]

Plus orchimaru gave them mitsu whos top 10 in the village at this point

[@AlteredNova04]

My headcanon is that the reason Orochimaru acts like a completely different person after being resurrected from Anko's curse seal, is because he literally is a different person. The original Orochimaru's soul is still sealed inside the Totsuka blade dimension, the new Orochimaru is a clone who decided not to follow in his predecessor's footsteps. This also explains why he isn't punished by Konoha in Boruto, it would be wrong to punish an innocent clone for crimes committed by the original person. But Konoha still needs to keep an eye on him since he does have Orochimaru's memories and thus can't be fully trusted.

[@druski888]

that makes a lot of sense.. idk how the curse seal works, but maybe he's partially Anko too?

[@r.a.panimefan2109]

​@@druski888 didn't nc hammer say this

[@justinarzola4584]

This was my thought too, the evil orochimaru was sealed by sasuke and itachi and the new one is more calm and reserved with no plots to destroy the leaf.

[@leobuana7430]

​@@druski888 look like It work similar to 2nd tsuchikage split,but better since Orochimaru can regain his full power after the split

[@The__Deadman]

No, that's just a bad theory imo. Kishi didn't even hint that it's a clone and that would've been absolute crap if that was true, getting rid of the og character just to bring back a clone. If that was true he wouldn't still be missing the soul of his hands, which he got back from the Reaper Death. Why is it so hard to believe that after losing his hands and "dying" twice made him learn from his mistakes and become more chill to achieve his goal? Especially when 2 demi-gods(Naruto and Sasuke) are watching you. He got a perfect zetsu body and continues to do his experiments. He might be plotting something now. He def knows about the Otsutsuki much more than he shows.

[@NeoBoneGirl]

The reason it happened is because Kishimoto didn't have the guts to say any character besides Kaguya was actually a bad person, and she's not even really a person. Every main villain had someone above them controlling them to free them of all responsibility, except for Orochimaru who was doing it cuz he's just a psycho, but Kishimoto forgot that and went "Well he's a good guy now because everyone gets redeemed"

[@elimDBZ]

Plus in all fairness Jiraiya wanted orochimaru to return to the leaf but he failed. Naruto and Sasuke succeeded where Jiraiya failed I'm certain that if Jiraiya were alive he'd feel a sense of happiness knowing that the man he considered his friend finally had a change of heart

[@NeoBoneGirl]

@@elimDBZ Maybe but Jiraiya is also kinda insane for thinking this guy should come back. It's like how Naruto is crazy for begging Sasuke to come back so much, but easier to see since everyone knows Orochimaru is objectively worse than Sasuke as a person

[@mlh1367]

Uhhh Kishimoto had MULTIPLE people in the series deem Orochimaru a terrible person. He literally wrote Sasuke to kill Orochimaru bc of how much of a disgusting person he was. Had Hiruzen take the soul out of his arms. Had Itachi seal him. Just bc Orochimaru decided to stop doing the bad things he was doing and SOMEWHAT got redeemed doesn’t mean he want thought to be a bad person. Like wtf reason did he have to be evil anymore? His plan to take Sasukes body was impossible. Sasuke to too strong at that point just like Itachi was too strong. Plus Sasuke didn’t have the curse mark anymore. Orochimaru had always been invested in Sasuke. So rather than try to take his body, he wanted to see where he’d end up in life and just continue to research immortality without doing that evil things he was doing that got him killed twice and got his arms snatched. He literally is STILL considered a threat and a bad person by Naruto and Sasuke in Boruto. But they have the power to keep him in check while using him as the valuable Leaf asset that he is. Zetsu didn’t get redeemed. Kakuzu didn’t get redeemed. Madara still died. Obito still died. And the ENTIRE point of Naruto is that no one is born evil, but a product of their environment and life circumstances and the ninja system had bred hateful people bc of its historic tragic nature. And Naruto broke that. It’s very simple.

[@Synnamon27]

This a really bad analysis of the villains. The manga is about how th shinobi system was horrible and experiencing that system traumatized the main villains into doing horrible things. The manga’s main theme is about people’s ability to change, reflected in how they changed the system, but it still acknowledges that you can change and still be held accountable for the bad things you’ve done. That’s why Obito and Itachi redeem themselves, but they still die

[@NeoBoneGirl]

@@mlh1367 Zetsu didn't get redeemed because he was the final step to absolving everyone's sins. No one can be at fault for their actions and Madara is okay and Obito is the coolest guy because all of ninja history was puppeteered by Zetsu. Kakazu isn't even a character so he doesn't even count. With better writing, Kakashi would've had some internal turmoil, but ultimately have known that Obito HAD to die because he killed 20,000 people in a day, and Naruto wouldn't have cared about him at all. He would've said "My life was pretty bad too, but I didn't kill 20,000 people in a single day, what's your fucking excuse?" and Obito would've had no answer to him because he was a bad person. The point is that letting Orochimaru live even for all the horrible shit he did because he's a "Leaf asset" is unjustifiable and something that a horrible and corrupt society that cares more about itself than right or wrong would do. It doesn't matter if it makes "strategic sense" to keep Orochimaru alive and basically free, he should've been fuckin killed because he chose to do all those awful human experiments for objectively selfish reasons. Sure he wasn't born evil, but he certainly BECAME evil of his own free will, and should have been punished for his choice, but gets away scot free because "Oh Zetsu was the REAL big bad!" even though Zetsu has fucking NOTHING to do with the reason Orochimaru is so evil.

[@kandihustty5610]

mans is 80 years old and has had his soul passed around between a drunken nightmare and eternal hell before being pulled back out just to revive some dead people. Then he got his immortal body from a idiotic sentient plant... that usually changes people.

[@zeppelincraft1443]

Orochimaru in Naruto has the right to say "I seen everything" because technically he has.

[@penelopelewis7775]

😭😭😭 spoken like it’s an everyday occurrence god I love the internet W comment

[@adorns]

Exactly and now the village that i use to torture every single day has 2 nukes walking around has protecters what can he even do at this point💀

[@kandihustty5610]

@@adornsSummon Juubi madara now that the two nukes are nerfed? Bide his time till he can aquire more power then the two of them? He's got options and nothing but time.

[@adorns]

@@kandihustty5610 yes they’re nerfed but not that nerfed to the point where orchimaru can just do whatever he wants naruto is still a perfect sage and sasuke can still use susanno and then you have kawaki and eida and deamon who would all rock orchimaru along with all of the other 5 great nations including gaara and bee

[@matus19971]

Part 1 Orochimaru was so good, it's insane to think about what was done to his character and how he was sidelined for villains that don't hold a candle to his presence when on-screen

[@kilopopki4947]

He simply got replaced by villains 100 times better than him. Obito, madara and pain clear him in almost every category.

[@YskarAlbumLuna]

It's because of lack of time. Kishimoto clearly is always in a hurry. I'm certain if Kishimoto had time, he would make it better.

[@ayham418]

​@@YskarAlbumLuna kishimoto editor was rushing him even in the hospital look what happened to kauza

[@jacinto1477]

​@@kilopopki4947Obito and Madara are definetly not better than him,lol.Pain is debatable,but part 1 Orochimaru is definetly better than edgy uchiha terrorists lol

[@Hanson032]

@@kilopopki4947 Man really said that Obito and Madara were better villains than Orochimaru lmao.

[@kakseto8757]

Almost every main antagonist in naruto is a sympathetic villain. What i like about orochimaru is that his sad backstory is minimal but he not too cartoonishly evil.

[@MiloticFan]

Back in the day when I was really young, I'd be watching Naruto at night. Whenever Orochimaru appeared on screen, with his menacing theme playing in the background, I'd literally run to turn on the lights cause I was genuinely afraid of this character lol. His presence demanded respect, created fear. Fast forward to today, and they turned Orochimaru into someone who could literally help a grandma bag her groceries. Character assassination at its finest fr man.

[@aanthonyy_]

FRRRR i was like 5 when i started naruto and orochimaru made me feel like i was in danger too😭💀

[@MiloticFan]

@@aanthonyy_ 😂😭yeah man, they truly did him dirty😔

[@Slavolko]

Agreed. There could've been other ways Kishimoto handled Orochimaru that maintained the integrity of his character, but alas, we got what we got.

[@Shark-hn4mv]

@@Slavolko, Orochimaru is amoral. Seeing as he already has immortality and lost interest in revenge, there's no reason for him to go an evil streak.

[@Slavolko]

@@Shark-hn4mv That sounds like Orochimaru after Sasuke revived him, which is what this video talked about as being part of his character assassination. I simply meant that there were plenty of other ways to write Orochimaru's involvement in the story, keeping his personality in check and not throwing him away as a gag character.

[@Iwannaeatlasagna]

The biggest offence was the way they changed his hair to look that undetailed for absoulutely NO reason. Like, idk why but it looks so undetailed💀

[@kiravampira1456]

While I agree, I still wish I could play with it. Despite his lifestyle, his hair has always looked smooth :)

[@tonito_el_tigre]

I feel like everyone’s hair became undetailed.. Naruto’s In the beginning has a lot more spikes giving a messier cool look

[@alexprus7953]

Probably to make it easier to draw, because deadlines

[@eemilyy]

EXACTLY. I want his scene cut back so badly😭😭😭

[@armorbearer9702]

I like how you used Gaara as an example of good monster redemption story. Orochimaru observing Kabuto is not a good way to redeem him. What would have been better is if a part of Orochimaru escaped in the small white snake. He is eventually capture by the Leaf and is given a choice. Orochimaru either gets crushed to death by Tsunade or becomes an advisor to her. Although it is hard for Tsunade to admit, Orochimaru's extensive knowledge of the Akatsuki, Leaf secrets, and ninjutsu makes him a valuable asset. Over time, Orochimaru proves to be a creepy yet reliable advisor. When Pain attacks the village, Orochimaru knowledge of Danzo's treachery and schemes greatly mitigate the loss of civilian casualties in the village. After the attack, Tsunade begins to trust her old Sannin buddy again. Not surprisingly, this is all a cover to find out what happened to the Uchiha eyes and where are they located. Kabuto uses the Summoning Impure World Reincarnation to bring Orochimaru's main body back from the dead before the war arc. With an immortal body and infinite chakra, Orochimaru joins Sasuke's attack on the Five Kage Summit. There, he manages to hold off the five Kage in time for Obito to rescue him and Sasuke. Additionally, Orochimaru reunites and absorbs his white snake. With the memories of his time as Tsunade's assistant, Orochimaru ponders what to do next. He finally has the immortality he craved for so long. The only problem is that he learns of Obito's plans of Infinite Tsukuyomi. Being in an infinite genjutsu would stop him from learning every jutsu in existence. Orochimaru comes to a conclusion that he needs to betray Obito quickly. He secretly sends Kabuto to the A and Tsunade. He proposes a deal with them. Orochimaru will be pardoned for every crime he committed in exchange for destroying all the reanimated shinobi. At first, both Kage are against the plan, but Shikaku reminds them of how much damage these reanimated Shinobu are. Tsunade is still against the idea until Orochimaru himself appears. He fully admits that he has been deceiving her, but he does care about her. He promises to not do the unethical experiments that he performed on so many people. Tsunade scoffs at this idea. Orochimaru reminds her that he is immortal now and can find ways to progress his research without resorting to the methods of the past. He then reveals that he changed when he reabsorbed the white snake. He was reminded of the feelings he had for his team and her. Although he is never going to stop trying to learn every jutsu, he is willing to slow down progress a little to accommodate her. After hearing his sincerity, Tsunade relents and advices A to accept Orochimaru's deal.

[@Appletank8]

That's a pretty good way to ""redeem"" Orochimaru, or at least explain why he doesn't just get nuked afterwards. Having massive character development offscreen just feels ... lazy?

[@penelopelewis7775]

Yea this was a way better way to go about it.

[@Mewtic1]

I wanna be crushed to death by tsunade

[@villain9482]

I swear I've heard this plot somewhere before.

[@IIIISai]

@@Mewtic1 lmfao

[@bismuth_j]

What I like about Orochimaru is that out all the characters in the series, he looked and felt the least human. Like every time I looked into his eyes it felt like he views everyone nothing but prey to his amusement kind of like the devil in the story. Now when I see him in Boruto I don’t feel intimidated and I can’t take him serious anymore. I know being a manga author/artist is stressful with timing, but I wish that Kishimoto kept Orchimaru in that light.

[@VirgilHawkinsIs]

Orochimaru is a special character. I love him, am afraid of him, and hate him all at the same time. He's a better villian than any other villain in the show and somehow I'm still glad hes not gone.

[@robertminnie782]

I think that Orochimaru deserved more focus, especially in Shippuden. The story moved on from him, and I think that that's a shame; he and the rest of the Sannin are some of the coolest characters in the franchise. Also, I think that his character assassination began with him being easily absorbed by Sasuke-who even got trapped in Orochimaru's vore realm genjutsu nightmare thing, but he just said "no u," so it didn't work. Wtf? That's some blatant plot armour imo. Didn't like the way it was done. Orochimaru was supposed to be a genius in his own right, but Itachi and Sasuke dwarf him just because Uchiha, and I don't think that that's very interesting. Also, I might even say that the inception of his "assassination" was when his arms were sealed. That was simultaneously one of the best ways to defeat him and one of the worst things to ever happen to him. And he basically never recovered from it, until the end of Shippuden. But at least he remained a menacing presence for the rest of Part 1 and was taken seriously. In Shippuden, he's outright disrespected, and I really don't like that. He's one of the coolest characters and has some awesome lore, but results in another missed opportunity among the many in the Naruto cast. You'd think that one of the Great Sannin would be treated better...

[@n.6847]

The worst offending moment for me is the Itachi-Orochimaru flashback. Like Kishimato really expect us to believe that a devious snake like Orochimaru, planned to capture one of the most powerful Uchihas ever by walking past him, turning around, and getting a hold of him and basically going 'gotcha' and tell him how he was gonna take over his body.. like c'mon. That was soo disrespectful to a goated character like Orochimaru, thats not how he operates. Its like Kishimato doesnt understand his own character or dont care. Orochimaru could have easily taken Itachi if Kishimato wasnt bending over backwards to hype up Itachi and neutering Orochimaru in Shippudden. The same way Danzo made Shisui take the L. Poisioning him either by using an Aburame or other means. Orochimaru could resurrect an Aburame using Edo and make them poison Itachi like how Sugaru Aburame poisioned Shisui. This is more in line with Orochimaru's MO. But noo, he tried to capture Itachi in the stupidest way imaginable.

[@ashlinthomas4500]

@doodlehobbo2142 Sasuke and Orochimaru have the most diverse moveset, they could've definitely had an epic battle that was both creative and strategic. Kishi definitely had time constraints or was too lazy to draw an entire fight. Edit: also, it’s a pretty shitty way to show “the student surpassing the teacher” when the teacher is bedridden and on deaths door while the student is the strongest he’s ever been in and one taps.

[@robertminnie782]

@Doodle Hobbo 2 Yeah, I can agree with that. Beating Orochimaru is one thing... but the way it happened made such little sense lol. Sasuke is just cracked, apparently.

[@robertminnie782]

@@n.6847 You're right, I forgot to mention that humiliating defeat. It's like, what WAS his plan there? XD Kishimoto just made it so that if a fully-developed Uchiha *looks* at Orochimaru, he loses. Because snek lose to birb, or some shit. And Orochimaru is supposed to be really smart, knowledgable and also far more experienced. But no, he just tries to brute force his way to through. 🤦

[@kiravampira1456]

@doodlehobbo2142 I can't see what do some people find gross about him. In an unconventional way, he's really hot.

[@DarkAuraLord]

I love Orichimaru because Kishi was really commenting on our society with him. In real life, the bad guys win and get to keep doing bad things with the support of the government.

[@kap1618]

Your giving kishi too much credits. Its most likely he stubbornly refuse to respect the characters he made and gave him a hasty redemption because killing makes kishi feel icky.

[@Rowansfears]

Yeah I'm pretty sure the commentary was an accident. Kishi is not smart enough to make a commentary like that.

[@MrTomlette]

@@Rowansfears Kishimoto actually stated things that go a bit in line with what @DarkAuraLord says. He said that for him, Naruto represents idealism, whereas Sasuke is the one who confronts the uglier aspects of society, and that while he has a bit of both, he leans more towards Sasuke when it comes to how he views the world. So it's not like it's not in him, and you see that conflict repeated over and over in the series, Danzo and the Third, Hashirama and Tobirama, and Naruto and Sasuke, obviously. That being said, I think Orochimaru was nothing more than a plot device towards the end. Someone needed to summon the four Hokages, and that's about it.

[@ericacano9057]

Kishimoto didn't write the Boruto version. So it's even more likely that the new author didn't know or care alitle about orochimaru to keep him as a looming menace. I know it had to have been looked over by Kishimoto, but I doubt he cared or thought it would be a success so he let the writer do what they wanted with their version.

[@rizkiramadhan9266]

In what universe? The good guys almost always win irl

[@ivanbluecool]

Killed two kage. Lost his arms but still was a menace. Made a whole village with technology and experimental treatments that makes sense compared to Boruto. Early part 2 wasn't afraid of 9 tails chakra Naruto and so much more I actually underestimated orochimaru thinking back on it now he was just a beast and honestly probably still is one.

[@nopressure6986]

When you have a list like that, I feel like you simultaneously do and don’t deserve to settle down, have a kid, and take it easy

[@nopressure6986]

You do because you’ve done enough with your life, but you don’t, because gahddamn

[@brumtownmiller6130]

Yh but embarrassingly bodied by sasuke and seeing how OP the previous hokage were and how far naruto surpassed them, humble him lol also he achieved his perfect body so he's good lol that was the main reason for his evil behaviour

[@vexingocir3154]

@@brumtownmiller6130 Oro wasn't at 100% when he got bodied lmao Sasuke knew that himself, otherwise Oro would've manhandled him at that point

[@brumtownmiller6130]

@@vexingocir3154 I never said he was 100% but that being said, sasuke was a kid by the time orochimaru was brought back, sasuke was slap orochimaru for fun and grown sasuke vs prime orochimaru wouldn't even be close, sas would dominate with ease

[@futanarilordkudo1879]

To be fair orochimaru does have some sense of morals. He did shed a tear when he was about to attack the 3rd. I think that's a cool part of his character

[@kiravampira1456]

That moment (along with others) made me wish I could hug him tight.

[@kapetankaragianis5381]

He said that he was getting sleepy and then stabbed himself to wake up

[@futanarilordkudo1879]

@@kapetankaragianis5381 he was lying

[@PineappleOnPizza69]

His Will of Fire did not really fade, it was just eaten by greed.

[@dragowolfraven3806]

IMO Orchimaru should have been the main antagonist in Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. The dude was a mad scientist/ninja who was terrifying as hell and damn near impossible to kill.

[@thermophile1695]

I still think Orochimaru should have taken Kabuto's body in the war arc, as kind of a "he doesn't have the body he wants, but look how scary he still is!" deal.

[@justinarzola4584]

Yeah, i thought that was the direction they were going with at first but since kabuto didn't have the curse mark to be fully possessed by orochimaru it didn't happen, missed oppurtunity.

[@thermophile1695]

@@justinarzola4584 It seems an odd choice not to give Kabuto a curse mark.

[@chrono9503]

I like how: - a literal God among shinobi died to a slime - his right hand man died to a stick - Rabbit Moon Goddess died to 2 hands - the man who exterminated the strongest clan in the world died to ninja cancer but Ninja Voldemort is the one who survives

[@kitsunekage12]

What's funny to me is that Orochimaru basically won in Naruto. Like, out of the whole series, he's achieved basically all of his actual goals and is now living with his achievements in relative peace having lost effectively *nothing* of real value to himself because he didn't really value anything *but* himself for the longest time. Like, surviving the whole series after *all* the fucked shit that he did, and then being able to just happily go about his business as if he'd never even left the village basically? It's hilarious. He literally won. Like, that's why he's just kind of vibing lmao. He *won* and doesn't need to do anything else because he got what he wanted basically in the form of effective immortality. Now he has all the time in the world to learn everything he wants to learn and he's *not* a war criminal to boot. Like no wonder he acts different, you probably would too after you got everything you ever wanted and survived the damn apocalypse. xD

[@thewanderingartists]

😂😂😂

[@NewAb22]

He's still a war criminal. It's only the leaf villiage that pardoned him for his contributions to helping the war. He most likely still cannot travel to other nations freely since he has yet to atone for his past actions in those other places.

[@kitsunekage12]

Fair enough. But... he's kind of immortal. And other people aren't. Give it a couple natural human lifetimes and suddenly he'll be free to roam again. @@NewAb22

[@donovan4222]

Orochimaru started going downhill at the end of Shippuden when he started turning good and having a change of heart for absolutely no reason

[@lalajun5902]

It's like Itachi, A lot of people like him so Kishimoto turned him into a good guy

[@donovan4222]

@@lalajun5902 No because Itachi’s character got better and more interesting the more we learned about him, and it made Sasuke’s character better. It was also foreshadowed that there was more to Itachi’s character from the very first time we see him. (The data books even say something like “what is this mysterious characters true motivations?”) Orochimaru on the other hand is shown to be a total psychopath mad scientist type of character and by the end of the show he just turns good for no reason. Itachi didn’t have a chance of heart (other than for how he treated Sasuke) they just re contextualized his actions. With orochimaru we are expected to believe he just stopped being evil despite being fully evil before that lol

[@sonomni]

@@lalajun5902 Not the same thing, from the very beginning Itachi was a mystery, we only saw everything from Sasuke’s perspective, then much later we hear everything about Itachi’s side from Obito.

[@IIIISai]

@@sonomni if was a bad retcon

[@sonomni]

@@IIIISai How lol

[@tylermason140]

Just as an aside, the three-tails didn't reincarnate into the lake 13-ish years after Rin's death. He would have reincarnated much sooner and then been subsequently sealed into Yagura. Since we see an adult Obito controlling Yagura while the latter was the three-tails jinchuriki. It was after Yagura's death that the three-tails would have eventually reincarnated into the lake and been captured by Obito and Deidara.

[@user-bn7oy1xv7e]

Orochimaru has depth. I understand why he became like this. He was an orphan and Hiruzen took under his wing. Then he found skin of white snake and asked Hiruzen about it. Then he said it represents luck and rebirth. I think this moment explains why he is so messed up, why he is obsessed with immortality, rebirth and etc. That's why Orochimaru will never die, he will always come back

[@Deniska_UKR]

"Springtrap flashbacks"

[@cerensahin1430]

@@Deniska_UKR PLS THE ULTIMATE CROSSOVER

[@villain9482]

I don't get why the damn KZbinr doesn't just ask someone about the things he doesn't know about.

[@i.r.3016]

Like... Like Springtrap???? 😳😳😳

[@darken2417]

I always assumed that Orochimaru was just immensely salty about not getting chosen to be the Fourth Hokage. Like I imagine him starting out with experiments to help the village but after getting scolded by Hiruzen this made his experiments get worse and worse until he eventually got expelled. This would explain why he'd hate the village and it wouldn't be for no reason. And of course the worse the experiments got the more insane he would become. I think this is a natural fit considering he was once a hero of the Leaf village.

[@zeppelincraft1443]

No, his mental deteriorated over the war by losing his parents. And when Jiraiya and the Third was preoccupied, he just totally snapped before they can check. Both of them regretted that they did not acknowledge or conceive how much damage their “perfect genius” of their group was taking. Orochimaru was a war hero, but he did not have the capacity to handle it more than Jiraiya or even Tsunade.

[@darken2417]

@@zeppelincraft1443 Yes I know the canon but I meant prior to that reveal. It also doesn't really translate into him hating the Leaf and wanting to wipe it all out and to start experimenting on Leaf shinobi which got him expelled. My point is that its a more natural progression and so its what I always assumed even after the canon reveal. It also makes sense since through the experiments he became more powerful than the other sannin and was older and more accomplished than Minato who got chosen instead. And of course he would have started the research on only enemy shinobi which would have been pretty normal like with how other villages used to operate.

[@cyreneorfano2721]

​@@darken2417 I always thought of him wanting to destroy the leaf is because konoha was at fault of why his parents were killed. I think his parents didnt died naturally so they are probably ninjas that time.

[@exiledhebrew1994]

@@darken2417 I think he only wanted to become Hokage so he could learn every justsu. i think he only attacked the chunin exams so he could assassinate the third Hokage and take his place.

[@Gabrielzinho7891235]

You can show the character assassination really easily, just listen to Orochimaru's old OST while looking at him in Boruto

[@AwedecaiMusic]

Thank you, DygoKnight. I knew I wasn't the only one. One thing I noticed about a lot the villains in Part 1, is that they weren't just your standard baddies, they were horror villains. And Orochimaru was the most psychologically imposing and terrifying antagonist in the entire show. I will never forget that scene in the Forest of Death, where he forces Sasuke and Sakura to see the moment of their own deaths, completely paralysing Sakura and making Sasuke, the "too cool for school" elite student, vomit and completely lose his composure. Orochimaru wasn't just a typical demon like Zabuza, he was more like a force of nature/evil incarnate. He could raise the dead, possess people, transport through solid objects and make people see visions. Ninja would often speak of trying to find him and his hideout, almost as if they were talking about an urban legend. In fact, Orochimaru quite literally represented "The BiblicaI Serpent," seducing Sasuke with perverse power, but at the cost of severing bonds. And then Kishimoto dropped all of that, in Shippuden. Everything that made Orochimaru a ruthless, terrifying, unrelenting force for all ninja, was stripped away and later forgotten about, all because Kishimoto wanted to focus on Dragon Ball Z fights, space aliens and kaiju battles, rather than giving Orochimaru a full, resolute story. The worst crime, was that Orochimaru got everything he wanted: he's seemingly still young and able-bodied, he never received punishment (Konoha does have a prison,) and he was never forced to confess his crimes. This man kidnapped, m_rdered, and experimented on both Konoha ninja and civilians! Aren't some of the villagers still looking for their brothers, sons, fathers etc? How is Mizuki still in prison, but Orochimaru is a free man? Instead of punishment, he was even given a new life, a student and apparently access to a his own laboratory apparently too... Old Man Hokage would be rolling in his grave, watching esteemed warriors of Konoha cozy up to that decrepit snake. This is one of the many reasons why Shippuden, to me, is one of the biggest disappointments in fiction. I was so invested in Naruto and it just... lost itself.

[@benjaminwinnick1051]

I actually think Orochimaru's development is a little more realistic than you claim. I have heard that while true sociopaths like him cannot learn empathy or develop a conscience, they can decide to act more morally if it suits their purposes. Once Naruto and Sasuke completely outclass him, he probably decided that he was better off cooperating with Konoha and accepting their restrictions than he would be if he continued his old ways. And once he cannot just intimidate everyone, he might have decided to be friendlier to get what he wants. Plus, why can't he be a little bit funny? The Joker is funny and terrifying at the same time, afterall.

[@KiaStout]

I think this is the best explanation for why he acts the way he does in Boruto. He's a pure psychopath but not a dumb one. And despite what this video says he's not weak in Boruto, in fact he seems stronger than ever. Making allies with Naruto is not weakness it's intelligence.

[@areanaangel8964]

so true. his latest experiment is mitsuki, which requires naruto's help to enroll him into school. huh... he really is intelligent @@KiaStout

[@piyushraj8109]

being realistic is not equivalent of being good that maybe real but that completely ruined his character

[@Hashashin_]

Yeah no he's definitely up to something, in the background but still. When he goes to save Mitsuki, there's a moment where he barely lifts his finger and the ninja in front of him simply disintegrates. So yeah he's still after then jutsus.

[@3_14pie]

I love Orochimaru being a completely chaotic neutral character, sometimes wanting to destroy the leaf, other times wanting to chill and watch Sasuke do Sasuke things, but that shouldn't be handled as a mood swing, I think it should be tense, like he's good now, but who knows when he won't be anymore; also him changing his personality a bit when he changes body is also a very interesting concept, but the evidences to that being a thing are probably incidental

[@giannixx]

Regarding Orochimaru "absorbing chakra", it is implied that he can do that because he's absorbing his own chakra from Kabuto's body. Also, Kabuto showing up in SM later probably isn't a plothole if we assume that appearance has to do with the snake/dragon SM, not necessarily with Orochimaru's cells*, as Kabuto still had Juugo's cells within him, so he was able to go back into SM after he broke free from the Izanami. *For that we would have to assume Orochimaru is always in a pseudo-SM ("pseudo" bc Kabuto says he wasn't able to master it) because even as a child he always had the white skin, the purple eye marks and the snake eyes. Now, about what to do with him in the story, it's complicated. I think it would have been fine if he got sealed by Itachi and that was it. If he somehow escaped then he should have replaced Kabuto in the War Arc, maybe even mastering SM after being extracted from Sasuke and once again humiliated by Itachi. Then Itachi could have used Izanami, we could have had some insight into Orochimaru's past as a child before and after his parents died and flash out a little better the process of him becoming the psycho he became, obsessed over being the most powerful and overcoming death. That way he goes away as more than a pure evil type of character. You could do that in the rewrite, Dygo. Sacrificing or moving to another place Kabuto's backstory for Orochi's. Then, after releasing the Edo Tensei either Itachi or Sasuke could have just hit him with Amaterasu. But Orochimaru was kinda the only way of bringing back the Hokage, so one either needs to find another way of releasing their souls from the shinigami and bringing them back with Edo Tensei or Orochimaru can't replace Kabuto. If we are going to keep the decision of bringing the Hokage back and restoring Orochimaru's arms, there should have been a proper battle for him in the war, even if against Guruguru. Kishimoto tried to do that with him fighting alongside Hiruzen, but it was mostly offscreen and what we were shown wasn't that impressive besides Hiruzen using all five elements at the same time, I guess. In this scenario there needs to be a proper battle set piece for this awkward situation that is Hiruzen fighting alongside his former student who ended up killing him. Orochimaru is arguably in his prime with his arms and a Hashirama-enhanced Zetsu body and Hiruzen is at least stronger than when he died. Master and student against one of Madara's shadows enhanced/powered by one of Orochimaru's very experiments (Yamato), then put some OG Naruto fight OST in the background. Now in regards to what to do with Orochi after that, that's the most complicated part. He can't simply be pardoned like in the canon, and either Sasuke or Naruto could easily kill him, but that's an underwhelming ending for him. I suppose it would also be bad if he became the Jinchuuriki of the Juubi so he could be the final villain as it would take away the spotlight from Madara, and that's never good. So it's probably best to end him in the Dragon Sage Mode Orochimaru vs Itachi & Sasuke scenario in which we see more of his past and development via Izanami. But then you have to find another way to bring back the previous Hokage.

[@Junior4565]

I remember when bodies and genetics predicted your jutsus. That was his main point of his body switching but then as the story progressed it showed that all Hutus came from one person that then had two sons that branched off only to have descendants in the First Hokage and Madara. I feel Orochimaru motive just became irrelevant since leaf village was ground zero for strong jutsu after the history got revealed

[@jaredgreathouse3672]

Not every villain needs redemption. Some do! Some can. Sometimes it's interesting. Not everyone though. Orochimaru was framed as comically evil from the jump. A sadistic force of nature who aspired to live forever and master all power. Orochimaru was awesome because he embraced this idea. We never even really find out his backstory, do we? Back story? Didn't need one! He was awesome, mysterious, and more importantly, a truly intimidating foe who would've beg just fine sealed in the Totsuka blade........ but no. He needed to have this weird change of character where he's now not bad anymore. To anyone who's watched Power, Kanan (while not as powerful, obviously) is a great villain for just this reason. He went down shooting. He went down being a true gangster. A killer. He didn't have a change of heart. He was violent, intimidating, and unpredictable. He didn't NEED a redemption moment. He was fine the way he was. Same here with Oro, he didn't need some strange come to Jesus moment. EDIT: if every villain was a fist waving, muahaha-ish villain, then that would be bad. But Naruto, for all it's flaws, has a pretty solid cast of well written villains. It's part of the reason it was popular, and still is, for as long as it's been. You can get away with having one or two pure evil villains, it's alright

[@The__Deadman]

This video is crap and you don't understand his character at all. When tf did the show tell he became "good"? He "died" twice, came back, learned from his mistakes and chose a more careful approach for reaching his goals. Why the hell is it a surprise for you that he started laying low after the war when 2 demi-gods were watching him? Orochimaru got a perfect body, so no need to steal bodies anymore and he's been continueing his experiments, getting more powerful. He made his greatest experiment yet(Mitsuki) and is observing his growth. You don't know what Orochimaru is plotting right now. He will 100% have a more important role in the future.

[@GeteMachine]

They also don't all need sad backstories either, just believable ones.

[@Calithilhel]

The worst part is they didn't need to change Orochimaru's personality to have him play the role he's playing for literally any of it. He was resurrected to a situation where if he didn't help he'd be placed under Infinite Tsukiyomi, and then post war Kakashi decided it'd be safer and more productive to keep Orochimaru prisoner and have him work for the village. This is possible because Naruto and Sasuke could kill him instantaneously if he acted up and it's a good deal for him because he gets to a) live, and b) keep studying jutsu while using white zetsus for his immortality ritual. He is being sketchy in Boruto so he *could* be threatening actually too. They could have kept him evil for all of that and it would have worked out just fine for the plot and kept Orochimaru scary.

[@superitgel1]

Curse mark is superior version of karma. Karma can only be placed on 1 person. Curse mark can be placed on any number of people.

[@1BadAssArchAngelvs14]

The whole point of karma is possessing the old Otsutuskis combat Data such as jutsu knowledge and combat skills and DNA for resurrection. The curse mark all it does is boost power while the karma seal allows the user to use any combat skills the previous Otsutsuki learned in that Otsutsuki's life time ,but only if the Karma user knows what combat skills the Otsutsuki has in order to use it. only one of the same Otsutsuki can exists at a time if there were multiple of the same Otsutsuki clan karma user's running around then that Otsutsuki member will not be able to transmit DNA to 100% its a 1 host 1 body type of situation.

[@goodguycwyzz4768]

When they made him afraid of bugs I lost all hope. The guy lived underground like his whole life

[@madaratobi321]

As a kid Orochimaru was the most terrifying villain I've seen ever written in shonen. There wasn't anything like him at that time. He wasn't a villain who relied on brute force that you know the protagonist can easily beat just by getting stronger. Orochimaru was sly, calculative, and always a step ahead. He gave the feeling that no one really could ever permanently kill him. That's why it's always felt like team 7 never really had the capacity to actually beat him. He also had vast knowledge and info of the protagonists, which made always in control in their encounters. That's why it it another genius, Itachi, to actually beat him. But even then it still felt like a stale mate. Yes, Itachi was far superior with his sharingan and it was demonstrated in their time with the Akatsuki that Orochimaru is miles below Itachi. But, despite all that, Itachi had to prep very carefully and even acquired weapons (Totsuka Blade) to specifically counter Orochimaru. And even then, I knew it wasn't the last time I would see Orochimaru. He's like cancer that you can never really cure. Despite looking like he has been obliterated out of existence, he somehow finds a way to come back. That extreme resilience and genius intelligence combined, made him a very terrifying and creepy villain. Heck, he even outlived most of the powerful shinobis of his era and the generations that came after.

[@areanaangel8964]

damn what an apt comparision

[@ReigoShirofficial]

He lost his jawline big L

[@Justanothaguy]

Orochimaru achieved his goal, so honestly we're just seeing what the villain does when they achieve their goal, now that's he immortal he's just chillin.

[@demetriuslucas5003]

Orochimaru wasn’t the antagonist in the war because the Madara was going to take everything from everyone including him, which he had to stop. Also Orchimaru’s purpose was to learn all Justu’s and to gain immortality. Maybe he calm down once he became immortal because he had more time.

[@liu3chan]

He calmed down because the world became a better place thanks to Naruto.

[@yoyomayne]

Orochimaru still Stomps and is destined to outlive everyone and take over the verse

[@Ultima1134]

I think the idea of Orochimaru being 'redeemed' in the end, maybe not turning all the way good, but at the very least, not doing horrible things anymore is an interesting direction and I personally like Mitski (Though I only watched Boruto up to the Chunnin Exams). But I do agree that the execution was shoddy at best and his motivation seemed off. I do believe that under the right circumstances, Naruto would be willing to allow Orochimaru to live and continue his work with the obvious caviat of him not doing horrific shit anymore, and that makes sense to me because during Boruto, Orochimaru surely knows that Naruto and even Sasuke outclass him, and wouldn't allow him to run free if he tried anything too crazy. And it fits with the ongoing theme of redemption that the story has and I think Hiruzen would be proud to see that they accomplished what he tried to do way back in the day. TL:DR I like the result, but the journey there was rough and bumpy. They could have done better.

[@nikamoreillus661]

Honestly I agree it was bumpy and shaky though I liked what they tried to do with him by redeeming him.

[@darkice60000]

He basically became fodder for the "everybody deserves a second chance" moral. Doesn't matter how morally bankrupt you are or how heinous your crimes are. Deep deep DEEP down, you're still a good person that just needs to be understood and accepted. It's a stupid moral that I think is categorically false, but that's just how it goes I guess. Wild that even tsunade catches heat for rightfully being upset at naruto for just letting this dude chill in the village.

[@KongGig]

I find it interesting how much 2 out of the 3 legendary sanings abilities revolve an certain Creature. However It seems that they forgot to give a theme around tsunade...Yes she can summon an slug creature and use it to mass heal, but that was like as far as her Creature ability style go.

[@SuperPianogirl123]

They were supposed to be based on the threeway deadline, but Kishimoto hates women and so Tsunade can only be allowed to heal.

[@liabstrait8306]

Her slug is quite color coded like her but it wasn't that bring up bc she was first of all a descendent of senju clan/hashirama so it took more part of her story than her way to merge the character with the "assigned" creature, i dont think she has sage mode ? That's unfortunate, too... And bc she was a descendent of senju, she has that sealed and like is a like "force of nature" and that made her the strongest taijustsu women of her era. She still had something but not as much as orochimaru and jiraya... with the trio kinda be a reminiscence of team 7 trio with sakura character growth and habilities being left out and underlooked

[@badpope]

Why isn’t Orochimaru in ninja jail? I know he helped out during the war but he murdered a hokage, attacked the Leaf causing casualties, conducted unethical experiments on people. And he still experiments on people. Naruto just gives him a pass. It’s like the ninja equivalent of operation paper clip.

[@digimonvirtual00]

Orochimaru is a bit like Japan: It was a menace until a grater power put him into a dark corner, forcing him to become Kawaii.

[@kiravampira1456]

I laughed at 16:50 - 17:00 Jokes aside though, you're right, I also found that part to be very forced for someone with his dark and menacing allure. Since I find Orochimaru very good-looking, I enjoy watching him no matter what, but yes, he definitely should've stayed a villain - and not just any villain, but the main one. He's a *snake* Lord, for crying out loud. He looks, talks and moves like a snake, even in his "human" form and even as a child. He's one character that really shouldn't have been "redeemed".

[@HexManiac-nf1yg]

Man died twice, one od which was almoat beinf sealed away forever, saw his right hand man do exactly what he'd do and fail, gets put into a immortal body which was one of his main goals in life, then like a few hours later got put into his dream world for a while until Kaguya was defeated. It would be weird for him to not mellow out to the degree he has

[@Synthia17]

He was the most interesting villain, he didn't do things just to be evil tho. His main thing was seeking knowledge and he did so with abandoning morality and at any cost like you said, that made him the creepy, uneasy and terrifying person. Kishi forgot that the world of shinobi was supposed to be brutal, wars between nations, horrid things done by special forces just to get an edge yet Konoha had all this unicorn and friendship talks all the time even though it spawned the most "evil" villains like Orochimaru and Danzo. Itachi twist doesn't make sense either, there's no way in hell he was supposed to be a good guy from the start. Sad to see an anime that was about killing and ninjas go this ridiculous family friendly route with all the darkest themes.

[@motherplayer]

No, I'm pretty sure taking advantage of the trust those under bad circumstances (Kimimaro and Zaku come to mind) gave to him because he helped them in such dire times and using one for a battery when his usefulness was done and the other just becoming a glorified obstacle to get another because they were sick and of no deeper use anymore beyond that is pretty evil. No amount of cold scientific curiosity will justify playing with someone's emotions to satisfy your ends because now you're bringing morality back into it.

[@Synthia17]

@@motherplayer I meant he didn't care for morality at all and would kill children without batting an eye if it gave him some sort of knowledge and well, he sure did do just that.

[@user-bn7oy1xv7e]

One moment that I found stupid about Orochimaru is that all the time he had a scroll with the knowledge how to undo the seal on him and return his arms and Edo Tensei. Which means that everything he has done after his fight with Hiruzen and before he released the seal has no sense

[@helenhomunculus5044]

yeah thats a p massive plothole, kishi put zero thought into oro's revival

[@user-bn7oy1xv7e]

​@@helenhomunculus5044 As massive as Madara's meteors

[@bl4ckm4mba1]

Damn you on point with these he had much more to give.

[@RyanWilliams-ez1rh]

Loving the vids man!

[@emanuelzbeda1420]

Do you think it’s at all possible that Orochimaru adopted the personality traits of his host? Adding White Zetsu’s weird, sometimes tender nature to Orochimaru could result in something like Orochimaru 2.0.

[@anyamiranda9452]

This sounds like the best possible explaination.

[@darnitgarnet2887]

The progression of Orochimaru into Boruto makes sense, considering their motives during and after the war. Upon revival, his purpose was only to revive the Kage for the sake of knowledge. His inheritance of a White Zetsu was probably the best thing to ever happen to him. By being revived, he achieved immortality in the form of a body of almost equivocal utility and potential to an Uchiha's, for example. Orochimaru even stating that he would rather watch Sasuke's growth from then onwards, as well as his disinterest in global conquest allied with Obito and Madara, also gives weight to his genuine development in character. His creepiness and unsettling demeanor being absent in Boruto is likely a design choice, considering he is supposed to be feared less. Regardless of what opinion the outfit change garners, the development feels pretty natural, but more screentime would always help in fleshing out the unseen changes to his character. He's criminally underutilized in modern canon, and his potential is still enormous.

[@poeticdavide]

I had never before read an opinion as wrong as this one. Probably in my entire life.

[@heavenlyarianator6335]

Hahaha I mean I can see the idea that he stopped wanting immortality if he actually got it from the white zestsu and therefore became a nicer person that makes sense but is that true

[@littleninja8003]

THANK YOU FOR MAKING AN OROCHIMARU VIDEO!!!

[@Eficiente_VSB]

Moving the png of him into a gray box was a neat visual.

[@apostatecactus5355]

We liked Part 1 Orochimaru for his Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent.

[@motherplayer]

I think my problem is that I would have enjoyed Orochimaru's change if he wasn't played so broadly, comically evil in his ways that I might have understood him as being the dispassionate type in his methods, but no, he had to be written to enjoy generally causing trouble and earning the trust of people just to turn them into expendable tools while the show also went out of the way with examples like Zaku and Kimimaro who genuinely trusted him and he laughs at them for that. So you're telling me to forget what an unrepentant and egotistical bastard he had been portrayed as just because he helped out at the end, which people justify as him wanting to help and not, you know, not wanting to be trapped in a cocoon and made into a zetsu clone like everyone else, which you don't need to be good to want to avoid.

[@umarb7325]

war arc retcons fucked up this series so bad.

[@sarafontanini7051]

plus he murdered literal children. for science.

[@PersonsUnknown]

I like that Orochimaru is multi-dimensional and isn't purely good or purely evil

[@Acesilvergaming]

Im pretty sure his shift in character stemed from him being sealed away in the sake dimension. (The gourd of the totsuka blade) he could have been loopy the whole time and probably just mellowed out due to the effects of the dimension.

[@_Ciosu..]

KZbin title nowadays 😂 Good one 👏🏻

[@ivanbluecool]

I do wish the story added more to orochimaru not liking the village and their old ways wanting to have a technology revolution and thinking he could improve on it but it's seen as witchcraft due to the village wanting to stay in that fuedal state Even his parents could have been more important like them dying due to healing ninjutsu not being enough to save them so be decides to help the village in his own way like danzo Technically by this logic orochimaru would have won at rhe end as the world did change to have more technology

[@JadeTurtle15]

I'm always disappointed when I see what happened to Orochimaru's character

[@Eficiente_VSB]

His theme song is sick too, I will never get tired of it.

[@7rhymes599]

They honestly could of had him captured at the end of the war and given a deal: You get to live as long as you work for us. Not by Konoha though, have him captured by someone like the Mizukage or Raikage. Make him work for another village with Konoha later finding out and only accepting it if they can have constant surveillance on him. You now have him mostly out of the story, a prisoner who's stuck working with a different village which has him working on their projects with him finding ways to send resources towards his own research.

[@singingsquirrel2030]

I'll tell you the world where Orochimaru is allowed to live in the aftermath of a great war; this one. The Imperial Japanese had a lab called Manshu Detatchment 731, where they did all sorts of evil biological experiments on POWs and locals of conquered regions. The researchers that were captured by US forces were given immunity for their war crimes in exchange for their research. This series has political themes, and Orochimaru's intelligence is too valuable for a military superpower like Konoha to execute like a common criminal or even a deposed head of state. The problem is this a story- so you can't redact their reasons from the audience like a government can from its citizens IRL. So they came up with that BS 'redemption' without any real catharsis, so that they could mirror this reality without sullying the hands of characters you're supposed to like.

[@YukiSoulassassin]

It still bugs me how afraid Suigetsu was of Orochimaru (as he should be) during the war arc - but later goes on to call him "Master" and goes back to working for him... after being kidnapped, imprisoned and experimented on by him. So now Orochimaru's supposed to be this nice guy Suigetsu can work for? Makes no damn sense....

[@rayrayraydio]

One of the biggest things that explains this character shift for me is Rock Lee and Ninja pals. During the Naruto wedding prep, there were some big callbacks to the Rock Lee series, including his strange behavior and rivalry with Neji. It's worth the watch if you like Naruto and comedy. I think it's good but most fans ignore it completely

[@zenkairanger]

Orochimaru reminds me of the way the world is today. He used to be a chad. Now he’s a femboy.

[@KongGig]

From final villain to an side character.

[@dezmas9332]

Orochimaru is a fantastic concept and character in part 1, I feel that he was made grey to good just to keep him in the story, but the reasons for doing so are murky and it just lowers his impact to the story, they should have found a way to make him into something of a villain that the heroes have to work with at times due to his vast knowledge and open goal to learn all jutsus(something that can open up a lot of negotiation over and that Orochimaru can scheme with since he would most likely try to find a way to get a jitsu without being a pawn in the plan).

[@austinbevis4266]

Something I didn’t like about orochimaru in part 1 is that he doesn’t die or take damage until it’s time for him to. He takes so many mortal wounds and just somehow tanks them or molts. I never understood it. It’s implied that’s it’s because he stole someone’s body, but a stolen body is still just a body…

[@ChaosSpell]

I think people forget, that he was introduced as a villain but the expansion on his past and his motives are not only sad, but came from a place that was originally good. Orochimaru, before being a true villain of the series, is the epitome of the phrase, "Good intentions can pave the path to Hell." He was affected by the war severely at the time as a child. His parents both died to the war, his friends were dying around him, and he watched as those he was close to lose their loved ones and see how it hurt them and affected their lives as well. *hint hint* Tsunade losing Nawaki and Dan! He was there when she lost the closest people in her life! He was intimidated by her raw strength but watched as she crumbled to loss and blood. It started off as an interest to not lose people around him and for loved ones to not have loss(immortality)and to do that, he needed knowledge. It turned into a love for power and once he was villainized for seeking this out(because he WAS being a mad freaking scientist), he was resentful of the leaf and his allies for villifying him and deflecting them as being weak. People forget, Orochimaru wanted to become Hokage at one point before he abandoned the village! His interest in immortality and reviving people all started at his parents' graves with Hiruzen. I wish his character developed over time more than it did BUT him being less antagonistic makes sense. He knows when he's cornered, trapped, and overpowered. He acts as a literal snake, finding any opportunity to survive(literally look at every fight he's run from or avoided). So it does make sense that now he was able to get a body made of Hashirama's cells(Zetsu), he achieved finding immortality and now looks to follow the next step AS HE SAID the ENTIRE time. Learn every posisble jutsu and everything else he absolutely can. Creating Mitsuki as an alternative lifeform and learning how conciousness works(especially in that one shot/short Mitsuki background story) is definitive of him still being a scientist through manipulative means, even if it means he's not a main antagonist to the story. He manipulated a cloned child to believe in a certain existance to see if he would deflect and gain independent interest(which he did and now studies). That's some cold a$s parenting. I enjoyed Orochimaru as the main villain and as more powerful people came and went that obviously were beyond his 'level', I'm thankful he's still around. He was a reason for many characters to gain strength and evolve, and he seems to be a reason for others to be(Mitsuki) though I wish Mitsuki had some expansion for himself. Then again, that was Kishimoto's story and publication and not Ukyō Kodachi's. Kodachi already contradicts the Naruto-verse canon but that's another story.

[@Jc_lightningmaster]

This dude was literally one of the most feared ninja and now he’s a mom/dad

[@mlh1367]

Okay? What reason is there to fear him now when there are several people who can defeat him? Plus he’s an asset to the leaf. Plus Naruto and Sasuke are still wary of him and have him under surveillance

[@Jc_lightningmaster]

@@mlh1367 I said one of no not is the most

[@juangarzon584]

I agree with the whole point of the video but, i dont really like that you use effeminate as a negative descriptor for later orochimaru tbh. Hes ALWAYS been effeminate, thats not what makes him worse after the fact.

[@BN-xq7lm]

It just completely baffles me how you could set up a villain that well in Part 1 - and then do absolutely nothing with it in Part 2.

[@dumpsterman2054]

I really hope that with Kishimoto takes orochimaru into a new age, and finally closing off the loose ends with his story. With the knowledge of shibai, and that orochimaru is the only non-alien like human in the story, and the fascination to know all jutsus. I always felt like Orochimaru was eluded to be the main protagonist's Black Beard. The yin to the yang. Being able to witness a character ascend back into a celestial godhood and ultimately still fall to the coming dawn.

[@thatsthamove]

I swear to all my friends that Orochimaru introduction is the best villain introduction ever committed to screen bar The Dark Knight. Establishing what Hokage level combat is and what peak ninja skill is supposed to look like. They murdered my boy after he body switched and got his ninjutsu back

[@GeteMachine]

His first fight with Saskuke came out of nowhere in part 1 and is still one of my favorite villain introductions in anime. Next to Imperfect Cell and Super Buu in DBZ.

[@llllB06llll]

I mean he achieved his goal right?

[@betterlatethannever4529]

Since Minato took half of the nine tails with him , would Kurama actually return in the event that Naruto was killed? Or would it have to wait for the other half to regenerate?

[@TurrettiniPizza]

Isn’t the thing about Orochimaru not being able to use his arms a retconn? In part 1 he solved that problem by switching bodies and it never looked that he had any issues with his arms after switching bodies. Then way later it was stated that even his new body is affected by the arms thing

[@justinarzola4584]

As far as i know his arms were only temporaily healed whenever he got a new body and then the body would reject him after a long period leading to him getting weaker again,

[@TurrettiniPizza]

@@justinarzola4584 yeah that’s the retconn explanation.

[@austinjackson2574]

Yo I don't even need to watch most of the video to know this is a bad take. Orochimaru's arc is literally SO fitting. He's the perfect example of a terrifying force that wasn't necessarily good OR evil from your typical standards. Lots of anime characters are evil for the sake of evil, or are acting on some tragic backstory. They attempt to justify what they're doing with twisted logic or they're 'tee hee random crazy bad guy' doing it for the keks. Orochimaru, however, full stop admits he's just a scientist without any moral barriers. Hell, the WHOLE reason he was trying to get a better body and become both powerful and immortal is because he thought he'd be able to do even MORE science if he lived forever. That's also why he was the villain for a lot of arcs, and a background character in Boruto. And specifically why it's important he's Mitsuki's parent. Because the entire premise of a LOT of naruto and ALL of Boruto is that you pass your future onto your children. And it's up to them whether or not they embrace your legacy. It's why there are entire arcs about Boruto struggling with Naruto's reputation as the strongest and best. It's why there's entire arcs about how an era of peace was effecting the number of viable ninjas in the village, and why entire arcs surrounded kids not following into the same ninja lifestyle their parents did. Orochimaru refused to pass on his legacy and wanted to carry it on himself, but because that would require being infinitely strong enough to fend off all attackers, and it would require living forever, he would have to use taboo means to do that. And he did, often. Which not only made him a villain in that sense, but also when you consider the clear social/societal beliefs of those in the village, which is to pass it on. It basically made him a villain to them literally AND figuratively. Orochimaru is way more passive in Boruto because while he's basically achieved the immortality part of what he wanted to achieve, he's been forced to realize there will always be a bigger fish. And not only that, but he could be the one to raise the bigger fish. A better person, and a more successful person. He's realized WHY a lot of people have children to begin with. To continue their legacy for them, and he's decided to go that route instead. Sasuke was his wake up call, as the only person who's ever beaten him totally and completely, but also being a person he trained himself. I feel like Naruto was too, as the person who defeats sasuke. But also, I feel like after Orochimaru's attempt with raising his first kid Log, he realizes that these people he's raising are people. He realizes that in order to grow strong they need a powerful goal to strive for, and allies. They need emotional connections to drive them and other things he knows he isn't suited to provide. Thus, sending Mitsuki to school and encouraging him to make friends. Ect. ect. In essence, Orochimaru has changed, but barely. He's still a scientist. His behavior in Baruto is just a culmination of all the realization's he's come to, and the absence of a need to rush himself. Because he's now depending on his legacy to carry on for him.

[@AnonnaMous-rk3fn]

Nice observation 👍

[@austinjackson2574]

lol thanks. i've been watching naruto since i was realllly young and orochimaru was lowkey always one of my favorite characters! @@AnonnaMous-rk3fn

[@Oblivion___]

Itachi was actually 11 years old when he defeated Orochimaru. Itachi was officially 21 years old in Naruto Shippuden, and at the beginning of Naruto Shippuden the Akatsuki mentions that it has been 10 years since Orochimaru left the organization.

[@TrenchCoatDingo]

im hoping hes playing the long game in boruto and we will see him be a menace again.

[@KaiWorld]

Orochimaru had a massive glow up into boruto

[@Force-Multiplier]

He got to a point where he could create bodies to get closer to his dream of possessing all Ninjutsus there was literally no need for him to be doing shit to people anymore so i don't think he's a better person now he's just beyond the need to use others for his purpose at this point also the 3 tails didn't appeared on that lake after Rin died he appeared on that lake after Yagura died and Yagura was the Mist Mizukage for enough time to get his village a very cool nickname so it doesn't take that long for Bijuu to respawn that being said you did made some good points about how abrupt his change was but he got beaten up so much that maybe that's the real reason he started playing "nice"

[@elpsykongroo8308]

I actually like the curse seals being Orochimaru's horcruxes, if things had been changed just a bit I think it could have worked better.... first show Sasuke killing Orochimaru instead of absorbing him (atleast he thinks he killed him). Then you can slowly show Orochimaru speaking inside Sasuke's head, (especially when he uses curse mark in fights), sasuke and Orochimaru struggle to take control of Sasuke's body like Ichigo and his hollow self (the struggle is shown with Sasuke's one eye becoming Orochimaru's eye). We find out that getting curse mark is actually the first step to becoming Orochimaru's new body. In Sasuse vs Itachi fight instead of Orochimaru bursting out of Sasuke he takes over Sasuke's body, Itachi uses totska blade to absorb him from Sasuke's body. Finally we find that even Kabuto had the curse mark. After Itachi traps Kabuto in Izanami and after Itachi is gone Kabuto opens his eyes and greets Sasuke as Orochimaru... slowly Kabuto's body turns into Orochimaru.

[@smoothjulio]

Even during the 4th war, Orochimaru helps out, but it feels like he has an ulterior motive the entire time. He’s rightfully questioned. Now, it’s like, yeah he killed two Kages, ruined countless lives through kidnapping, murder, conspiracies, human testing, etc…..but that was in the past. That being said, Danzo was just as bad and he could meet with feudal lords whenever he wanted. So it somewhat makes sense to covertly have ties to him, I guess.

[@opdragon8069]

Bro fell off so hard he started signing merchandise (the boruto episode where the glasses kid wanted orochimaru to sign his card lol)

[@Sojoboscribe]

I think part of it is confusing immorality with amorality. Orochimaru's goal has always been clear since the beginning of the show, he wants to learn or acquire every possible jutsu and to live forever. He's WILLING to do literally anything to achieve that, but he has no wish or desire to inflict pain just for the sake of inflicting pain, it's always for research. He's non-empathetic, but that isn't the same thing as being sadistic. As he said, he's now curious as to where Sasuke's wind will take him and, now, I think he's curious where Naruto and the rest of the village and Ninja world are headed. He's laying back and seeing what's going to happen. Doing that doesn't require him to commit overtly evil acts, so he isn't right now. Maybe, after seeing how far friendship got Naruto, he's now curious about what it could do for him if he starts using it again. Likewise, maybe he created Mitsuki because he was curious what actually being a parent and caring about someone would result in. He's bad, but he's bad in the same way Mayuri Kurotsuchi is in Bleach. He doesn't actively like hurting people, he just doesn't care if he does. He sees everyone and everything as research subjects.

[@lupusdei9022]

Orochimaru is my favorite character, I was so disapointed to see what happened of him in shippuden and especially in boruto. I always thought that they didn't execute him in boruto because he could be a very powerful asset against otsutsukis, especially by training anbu agents (like he did with sasuke) specialised in sage mode and taijustu (since it's the best weapons against otsutsukis), but apparently he runs a lab with no purpose, doesn't train his gifted son, doesn't fight, doesn't do research and looks less menacing than sakura

[@kiravampira1456]

While I agree with everything else, I'm not sure about the last part. Apparently, even his Boruto version is terrifying for some children. How do I know? I semi-cosplayed him one day at their school, and not only two of them recognized the character without me saying anything, but they seemed genuinely confused on why would I want to look like him. By their tone of voice alone, they were clearly frightened by the character.

[@lupusdei9022]

@@kiravampira1456 Hahaha that's so cool to know! That's surprising though, I don't think i've seen orochimaru being scary in boruto, apart that he has weird powers and runs a suspicious lab

[@kiravampira1456]

@lupusdei9022 Thank you :) well, after no longer being kids ourselves, we can never know for sure what the little ones think. To some of them, his viper eyes alone could be enough. In another classroom, there's a girl that would get scared even of a snake or crocodile plushie. Thankfully, she wasn't at school when I decided to show off my own makeup experiment🐍 Probably a good thing such children didn't grow up with Naruto's version of Orochimaru, haha

[@womenhavehivemind9043]

Nah but he escaped punishment, he did more evil things than obito and madara

[@lupusdei9022]

@@womenhavehivemind9043 I know right? That's why I thought they were going to make him a trump card against otsutsukis because of his forbidden knowledge. He must have gotten Naruto a very great wedding gift to earn that miraculous redemption haha

[@conhecidodesconhecido5502]

Orochimaru was simply traumatized. He realized that he became an insect and is just existing, and that makes naruto questionable too, this kindness of his is even omission, but basically he is kept like an animal in his laboratory away from everything. He is so disgusting that they don't even let him lock up in the village. They killed his soul, like the end of game of thrones or shingeki no kyojin.

[@rexchance5598]

Orochimaru's OG goal is one of the most sensible amongst shonen villains. In any world with a magic system as powerful as chakra is known to be, it should be clear that the first group to master the underlying mechanics, the first ones to understand exactly how the magic works deep down at baseline level will become gods or at least godlike. Their only rivals would be unkown others that have gotten there before them and the ones they allow to follow in their footsteps. Assuming you are really the first ones to master magic and reach the peak of knowledge: Kick the ladder, destory all the knowledge generating institutions and all of your previously leaked research and rule as king of the earth. Or do w/e else you want. Combined with immortality you should be able to realize just about anything at that point. But in Naturo it suddenly became about aliens and rabbit gods and eye powers and orochimaru is none of those things, so he stopped being all that impressive. Also, there's obviously a connection with Oro being more woman-like in apperance and charackter (!) and being less menacing. Systematically analysing and categorising the entire world until you understand it all is such an maximally male-typical drive... but I'm not even gonna waste my time trying to talk sensibly about that with people online.

[@n0tjim]

Okay commenting this before watching but imo Orochimaru is like the best character development in Boruto. Might be an unpopular opinion but I personally really like how most of his plans failed and he just accepted that and started doing other things. Of course he is still experimenting and maybe he still wants to be immortal but he is not evil and I love that

[@lightner6924]

It's not about a change it's what he changed into. He's a pussy now and that's just a sample of society now. Men are becoming weak.

[@zeppelincraft1443]

A man can always look back and make reconciliation it's just a matter of how and when. This is one of the key messages of Naruto. As long as you are alive you can do good deeds and that is what truly means to repent.

[@Xax992]

Actually it's more reasonable explanation that one Kishimoto make.

[@mlh1367]

He’s for sure still researching immortality. He has Kara level regeneration now. And he’s still creating artificial beings, like Mitsuki and Log.

[@SeveredEverlastingWorldLore]

A big part of your argument seemed to be Orochimaru's past. In that regard, I believe there's room for a bit of forgiveness. As a remedy for his past, he helped tremendously during the war against a common enemy. After that, he quietly turned a new leaf while occasionally helping without causing further problems in the world. So I think Orochimaru is on the right track of redemption, it's just that he still has a long way to go. Now if Orochimaru was still causing chaos in the world without any reciprocation, then I'd understand. Orochimaru is definitely not the same level of scum as Frieza. His return in Dragon Ball Super actually made no sense. Still, I think Orochimaru's character could've been handled better.

[@justingame4459]

What's before real here literally almost every villain has been redeemed or forgiven even if they die at the end. They tried to use their misfortunes as ultimately their excuse. What had happened to them in the past is not their excuse and that should not make them be forgiven Yes they may had sad but they ultimately made their decisions.

[@shadowstorm252]

I would say the reason he changed would be from litterally growing from ankos charkra and body and as we know charkra can majorly affect your personality and choices doesnt completely make sense but thats the only thing I got