By the Pricking of my Thumbs...

…something wicked this way comes!

Villains. Antagonists. Bad guys. Effective storytelling would be difficult without them. There are villains we hate and villains we love to hate. But have you ever encountered a villain you hate to love? Have you ever felt your loyalties torn when watching the climatic confrontation between the "good guy" and the "bad guy?" Have you ever mourned a villain's demise?

As a bit of a creative writer myself, I've found my conceptions about villains and their role in storytelling completely turned upside-down by watching anime. Villains are never the all-out-evil masterminds in Western fiction. They are just as multi-faceted, sympathetic and emotionally deep as their protagonist counterparts.

We're used to back stories; their primary use is to explain why said villain is such a cold, heartless bastard. Perhaps some compassion or pity is generated as a result, but the initial loathing of the villain usually trumps whatever compassionate we feel. Naruto is a series in which I feel just as strongly connected to the villains as I do the heroes. And, I find myself changing views on characters, as they change slowly as the story continues and the characters mature.

"Good guys" and "bad guys" are never clearly defined in Naruto. My estimation is that 'enemies' in Naruto are those who stand in the way of Naruto achieving his goals. That doesn't mean that 'enemy' is necessarily evil or a villain--they simply have a different goal than Naruto. Conflict arises as a result of opposing goals.

The first true villain introduced in Naruto is Orochimaru. In many ways he is the closest thing to the all-out-evil mastermind. He's creepy as hell and completely inhuman. Throughout the series we're given flashbacks of when Orochimaru was young and innocent and his gradual descent into evil. He was completely consumed and corrupted by his desire to attain immorality. Even after his death (or deaths, as it seems he keeps popping up in different manifestations), Ororchimaru remains an integral figure of the Naruto universe. He and his teammates (Jiraiya and Tsunade) are legendary ninja, having earned the title of "Sannin" -- The Three Ninja. They are also the immediate predecessors of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto = Jiraiya, the legendary sage
Sasuke = Orochimaru, who mastered and created his own taboo jutsu
Sakura = Tsunade, highly skilled in medical arts

Naruto's abilities surpass Jiraiya's. Sasuke's prowess and powers grow to eclipse Orochimaru's, eventually leading to the latter's destruction by Sasuke's hands. But, I digress.

With Orochimaru out of the way, the Akatsuki entered. I love the Akatsuki. I even love saying Akatsuki. The Akatsuki are 12 rogue ninja who have defected from their ninja villages to form their own organization. They work only for themselves and the goal of the organization. Their goal remains a mystery, but it's quite obvious they have some form of world domination on their checklist. My favorite member of the Akatsuki is Deidara.

Actually, Deidara is one of my absolute favorite characters in Naruto. He first shows up in Shippuden, and at the time, his mouth-hands completely grossed me out. The chewing and spitting out his weird clay-bomb-things. Ew. But really…who came up with a character who has mouths in the palms of each hand which mold special clay into long range missiles?! I found Deidara very entertaining to watch--his battles with Gaara, Naruto and Sasuke were beautifully choreographed, inventive and filled with many "Oh, shit!" moments (my personal favorite). He always seemed to come up short though -- he lost one arm to Gaara and another to Kakashi…poor guy!

Many characters in the Naruto universe have vocal quirks. Naruto ends probably 90% of his sentences with the verb ending "dattebayo" (or "--ttebayo); it's really a nonsense ending in Japanese created in part by Kishimoto himself. Konahamaru ends many of his sentences with "-kore" (a sort of laughing signal in Japanese). Deidara frequently punctuates his sentences with a very Japanese (to my western ear) nasal grunt "un," which is equivalent to ending English sentences with a ponderous and rhetorical "hm?" or "yeah?," as in "isn't that so?" It endears you to him without you even realizing it.

He views himself as an artist; his jutsu are materpieces. His favorite line is: "Art...is an explosion!" which is usually followed by one his his 'masterpieces' exploding. He also like to exclaim "KATSU!" (lit. 'bang!') whenever said bomb is detonated. He's such an intensely likeable villain, though I'm sure Naruto would disagree with me.

Other favorite characters, you ask? (Oh, I'm rambling...) Well, my favorite character is Naruto, OF COURSE! He's the #1 best ninja of all time.

I have lots of favorites, actually. All the characters are so different and likeable. There's Naruto, Deidara...and also mysterious Sai, friendly and fear-inducing Yamato-taichou and the fearless Temari. So many great characters!