Orochimaru

Orochimaru (大蛇丸 ?) is a fictional character  from the  Naruto   universe  created by  Masashi Kishimoto  and developed into a  media franchise, which consists of a series of  manga ,  anime ,  soundtracks ,  OVAs ,  movies ,  video games , and other  collectibles. He was created as one of the series' main antagonists, and intended to represent the opposite of the protagonists' morals and values.| [7]

In the anime and manga, Orochimaru is a former ninja  of the village of  Konohagakure, and leads his own ninja village,  Otogakure , in hopes of destroying his former home. During his time in Konohagakure, Orochimaru distinguished himself as one of the village's most powerful ninja; however, his desire for power led him to obtain a means for immortality by transferring between different host bodies. This desire for a host is one of his driving motivations throughout the series, resulting in his desire to acquire Sasuke Uchiha  due to his powerful  genetic heritage. Orochimaru has appeared in media outside the Naruto anime and manga, including several video games.

Several anime and manga publications have praised and criticized Orochimaru's character. As one of the series' premier villains, he has been praised in this regard; IGN  compared his character to  Darth Vader  of  Star Wars  fame.| [8]  His lack of redeeming qualities and open malevolence was also praised by reviewers, with Mania.com calling him the "first real villain" of the series.| [9]  Among the Naruto reader base, Orochimaru has been popular, ranking within the top twenty characters in several polls.| [10]  Numerous pieces of merchandise in Orochimaru's likeness have also been released, including action figures and plush dolls.| [11]  | [12] {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[| hide ] *| 1 Creation and conception
 * | 2 Appearances
 * | 2.1 In Naruto
 * | 2.2 Appearances in other media
 * | 3 Reception
 * | 4 References
 * }

edit ] Creation and conception
As one of the villains in the story, Kishimoto created Orochimaru as an antithesis to the protagonists' values. His snake-like appearance and related features were intended to make it easier for the reader to recognize that he is a villain. In an interview, Kishimoto asserted that making the villains "flamboyant" was one of his "guiding principles," and attributed this to his desire to have the villains have a "powerful aura."| [7] When asked if Orochimaru was still good, Kishimoto answered that Orochimaru is "truly good" and that he is one of the several "hopeless evil characters" that appear in the series.| [13]

Following this theme of distinguishing villains, Kishimoto attempted to make Orochimaru's face appear "pasty and sickly," which serves to emphasize the "scary looks" that Kishimoto frequently has Orochimaru performing in the manga. Orochimaru's nature type is fire, earth, and wind. As these occurrences are his "trademark," Kishimoto modifies Orochimaru's appearance and the scene to focus on Orochimaru's face; for instance, highlights that are normally added to Orochimaru's hair are removed and the background is blanked out to create a "creepy atmosphere."| [14]

edit ] In Naruto
Orochimaru acts as the primary antagonist for the first part of the series. After his parents died when he was young, Orochimaru's only source of affection was received from his teacher, the Third Hokage, and his two teammates.| [15]  As they grew older Orochimaru,  Jiraiya , and  Tsunade  collectively became known as the "Legendary Three Ninja" (伝説の三忍, Densetsu no Sannin ?) due to their exemplary ninja abilities.| [16]  Much of Orochimaru's arsenal of abilities deals with  snakes. By summoning  them to his side during battle, Orochimaru can battle multiple opponents at once and simultaneously keep himself out of harm's way.| [17]  Through his experimentations he has also been able to add some snake-like characteristics to his own body.| [18]  <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Extend_18-0">| [19]

Orochimaru, however, craved more power than could be obtained from training with his master, and began abducting villagers of Konohagakure  for experimentation.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortality_19-0">| [20]  Unwilling to bring himself to harm Orochimaru, the Third allowed him to escape and flee the village.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">| [21]  In time Orochimaru joined the criminal organization  Akatsuki, where he tried to get close to and steal the body of  Itachi Uchiha  through a forbidden jutsu so as to gain the  Sharingan .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Sharingan_21-0">| [22]  When Itachi was easily able to repel his efforts, Orochimaru was forced to flee the organization.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-22">| [23]  Orochimaru then founded his own ninja village,  Otogakure , populated with ninja loyal to him.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Purpose_23-0">| [24]  Once accomplishing his goal, Orochimaru hopes to be worthy of the title of "ultimate being". Because a human's lifespan does not allow enough time to learn every jutsu, Orochimaru also experiments on others so as to achieve immortality. By living throughout the ages, Orochimaru need never worry about death and thus all the knowledge he gains will never be lost.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortality_19-1">| [20] |   Orochimaru's true form after many experiments.During the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru plans the invasion and eventual destruction of Konoha so that he can kill the Third Hokage and gain the body of Itachi's brother,  Sasuke Uchiha .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Immortality_19-2">| [20]  When the Third is able to fight back during their battle and take away Orochimaru's ability to perform jutsu, he is forced to put his plans for Sasuke on hold, calling off Konoha's invasion and pulling his forces back.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24">| [25]  Wanting to regain the ability to use jutsu, Orochimaru seeks out a way to cure himself. When all his efforts prove unsuccessful, Orochimaru sends his Sound Four  to fetch Sasuke, hoping that a body-transfer will undo the Third's seal.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25">| [26]  Though he waits as long as he can, Sasuke takes too long to arrive and Orochimaru is forced to switch to the body of one of his prisoners instead.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-26">| [27]  Once Sasuke arrives, Orochimaru begins molding him into the ideal body, coveting the day that he will be able to take the body for himself.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-27">| [28]

Two-and-a-half years later, in the second part of the series, Orochimaru prepares to take Sasuke's body. Orochimaru, being in a severely weakened state due to his need of a new host body, has no other choice but to proceed with the body-switch sooner than expected. Sasuke, unwilling to give himself up to a weakened Orochimaru, fights the attempted body-switch. Using the Sharingan to void Orochimaru's technique, Sasuke retains control of his body while trapping Orochimaru's soul within him,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-28">| [29] giving him access to many of Orochimaru's abilities in the process.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-29">| [30]  In the aftermath of Orochimaru's defeat one of his subordinates,  Kabuto Yakushi, absorbs his remains, which have since begun to slowly take over Kabuto's body.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-30">| [31]  During Sasuke's later fight with Itachi, Sasuke is left too weak to continue suppressing Orochimaru's spirit, allowing Orochimaru to escape and try to take his body again. Before he can do so, Itachi, using the legendary sword of Totsuka, traps him in an inescapable dream-like realm, robbing Orochimaru of his chance to gain the Sharingan and releasing Sasuke from his influence.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-31">| [32]

edit ] Appearances in other media
Orochimaru so far has only appeared in the fifth Naruto film,  Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-32">| [33] He is not present in the other four films in the series, and only in the fifth OVA "The Cross Roads" in which he has a small part; however, is a playable character in nearly all  Naruto video games, including the  Clash of Ninja series  and the  Ultimate Ninja series .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-33">| [34]  <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGNCoN3HandsOn_34-0">| [35]  <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GUIDE1_26_35-0">| [36]  In some games, he utilizes variations of his techniques not seen in the anime or manga, and in the  second installment  of the Ultimate Ninja series, his state after his arms were sealed by the Third Hokage is available as a separate character.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-GUIDE2_21-30_36-0">| [37]   Naruto Shippūden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen EX 2  marks the first appearance of Orochimaru in a video game set in  Part II , with the second one being  Naruto Shippūden: Narutimate Accel .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Accel2_37-0">| [38]

edit ] Reception
Orochimaru has been featured consistently in the  Weekly Shonen Jump  popularity polls, commonly placing in the top twenty characters.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-JumpPopularityPoll_9-1">| [10] However in the last popularity poll, he was out of the top thirty characters. <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-PopularityPoll2_38-0">| [39] Merchandise based on Orochimaru has also been released, including action figures,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AmazonActionFigure_10-1">| [11]  <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AmazonActionFigure2_39-0">| [40]  plush dolls,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AmazonPlushDoll_11-1">| [12]  and key chains.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AmazonKeyChain_40-0">| [41]   AnimeCentral  listed him as tenth best villain in anime owing to his objectives and methods, most notably how he scares Sasuke Uchiha the first time seeing him despite Sasuke's strength.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-41">| [42]

Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other related media have provided praise and criticism on Orochimaru's character. IGN compared Orochimaru's search for power and subsequent fall into villainy to that of  Darth Vader, and labeled Orochimaru as "something more than just pure evil."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-IGNEpisode72Review_7-1">| [8]  Mania Entertainment considered Orochimaru the "first real villain" of the series, noting that he had no redeeming qualities, as versus  Zabuza Momochi , the villain of the previous arc.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-AnimeOnDVDReview_8-1">| [9]  DVDTalk celebrated the introduction of Orochimaru into the series, as well as the potential plot development from the curse seal Orochimaru placed on Sasuke, noting it was one of the best parts of the series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-DVDTalkReview_42-0">| [43]  Instead,  Anime News Network  labeled Orochimaru to be a character that can not be killed.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-43">| [44]  However, they considered  Kujira , Orochimaru's Japanese voice actor, as one of the best ones from the series.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-44">| [45]  Despite the character's small appearances in Part II, most of them were well-received. The way Orochimaru angers Naruto Uzumaki in their battle as well as how he manages events ever since his reintroduction have been deemed as "near perfectly" by Mania's Chris Beveridge.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-45">| [46] Orochimaru's fight against Sasuke in later parts from the series was praised by Mangalife's Park Cooper due to how it changes "the nature of things" in a short time.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-46">| [47]