Summary
- Some Naruto characters face horrid character assassinations, while others are love-to-hate figures due to strong writing.
- Characters like Sakura and Boruto evoke mixed feelings from fans due to their actions and portrayals.
- Villains like Orochimaru and Danzo are despised for their evil actions, while characters like Rasa are seen as terrible fathers.
Naruto is one of the most popular shonen series of all time, boasting a passionate fandom that has dissected every inch of Kishimoto's epic masterpiece. While the mangaka should be lauded for crafting unique character designs and personalities, there's no denying that some of these ninja have experienced horrid character assassinations as the show went on.
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In other instances, Kishimoto's writing has been so strong that fans can't help but love to hate some of the most notorious characters in the series. Fans may have differing opinions on these particular figures, but it's hard to ignore how easily they fit in among the most hateable Naruto characters.
8 Sakura Haruno
The Hate For Her Is Overblown, But Her Actions Do Her No Favors
- Worst Action: Constantly relying on Naruto instead of trying to make things right on her own.
It's easy to pile on Sakura for being a bit too helpless for her own liking. Despite being a talented part of Team 7, fans are often left frustrated when she just stands around helplessly as other, more capable ninja rise to the occasion.
This is why so many fans cheered for her character when she stood up for herself after the timeskip and took on Sasori. Unfortunately, her character regressed once again, which led to many developing a begrudging hatred for her.
7 Kabuto Yakushi
The Writing Makes It Easy To Hate This Despicable Villain
- Worst Action: Resurrecting unwilling ninja to fight for the Akatsuki.
Orochimaru's underling is just as diabolical as Naruto's first serious villain. He posed as a genin failure who used his abilities as a spy to infiltrate Konoha and initiate an attack that had dire consequences.
He's been easy to hate ever since, which is why many fans cheered when Naruto landed a Rasengan flush on him and Itachi trapped him in the Izanami. Even when the show tried to make viewers sympathize with Kabuto via a series of flashbacks, it was too little, too late for this heinous villain.
6 Boruto Uzumaki
This Spoiled Kid Really Needs To Check His Privilege
- Worst Action: Being thankless despite having a loving family.
Boruto is one of the most divisive characters in anime history. While his father's absence in his life is certainly a reason to be frustrated, Boruto tends to ignore the many other things that are going for him and why Naruto has to dedicate himself to serving the village as a Hokage in the first place.
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As a result, many fans can't resonate with his struggles Still, fans who give Boruto a chance will see that there's more to this character than what meets the eye, although the glacial pace of the anime means that he's easy to hate for the vast majority of the pre-timeskip runtime.
5 Karin
Her One-Dimensional Character Makes Her Pretty Annoying
- Worst Action: Being infatuated with Sasuke to a ridiculous extent.
Instead of being a unique healer with a Curse Mark that could enhance her power, Karin is yet another woman whose entire personality revolves around the fact that she is hopelessly infatuated with Sasuke.
This leads to a tense betrayal when Sasuke sacrifices her comrade to land the killing blow on Danzo. This should've served as a turning point for her character, but Karin continues to harbor romantic feelings for Sasuke, making it easier to hate her one-dimensional motivations.
4 Orochimaru
One Of The Most Hateable Villains In The Series
- Worst Action: Launching an attack on Konoha, leading to the Third Hokage's death.
One of the most diabolical and riveting villains in the series, many fans can't help but ball up their fists whenever they see Orochimaru on-screen. His serpentine powers make him uncomfortable enough to witness on-screen as is, but it was the Konoha Crush that cemented him as one of the most diabolical villains of all time.
As such, fans will understand Naruto's hatred when he goes berserk as he faces off against the man who kidnapped Sasuke. For some reason, he becomes a good guy in the Fourth Shinobi World War arc, which is hard to fathom and does nothing to eradicate the distaste that fans share for a character who caused the death of the Third Hokage and encouraged Sasuke to walk down a path of hatred.
3 Black Zetsu
Ruins Naruto's Impressive World-Building In A Single Scene
- Worst Action: Bringing back a villain no one asked for after completely ruining Naruto's amazing history.
Black Zetsu is one of the most disappointing characters in the series, mostly serving as a background character before revealing his true motivations at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War. No matter how verbose his reasoning was, fans refused to believe that the Curse of Hatred on the Uchiha was fabricated by this monster.
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He serves as the catalyst for Kaguya's revival, making him even more irritating for fans who know what's coming. Zetsu was fine as an ancillary to the plot, but he crossed a line after somehow managing to fool someone as smart and calculating as Madara.
2 Rasa
Arguably The Worst Father In Anime History
- Worst Action: Traumatizing Gaara after testing him as the One-Tails' Jinchuriki.
Naruto is full to the brim with great father figures, which is why Rasa is such a frustrating character. He went to great lengths to gaslight his youngest son just to test whether he was worthy of harboring Shukaku's power.
This trauma caused Gaara to walk down a dark path, only to be saved by Naruto. He might be dead by the time the events of Naruto start, but many fans still can't help but hate this man for being arguably the worst father in the series by a country mile.
1 Danzo Shimura
A Despicable Character Who Deserved What He Got
- Worst Action: Ordering the culling of the Uchiha.
As cunning and diabolical as Danzo may be, it's hard to appreciate his intelligence when he played a hand in some of the most evil actions in the village. He was a staunch supporter of eliminating the entire Uchiha clan and manipulated Hanzo into neutering the threat of the newly formed Akatsuki, back when it strove to bring peace to Amegakure.
To top it all off, he was a pathetic Hokage who couldn't hold onto the title for more than a few episodes before revealing his treachery to all the Kage. This is why many fans cheered for Sasuke when the Uchiha made Danzo pay for his heinous crimes and took him out for good.
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- October 2, 2002
- Network
- Adult Swim
- Creator
- Masashi Kishimoto
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube
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- 2007 - 2017-00-00
- Network
- TV Tokyo
- Directors
- Masaaki Kumagai, Naoki Horiuchi, Kazunori Mizuno, Yuki Kinoshita, Kazuya Iwata, Hiroyoshi Kishikawa, Yusuke Onoda, Hisashi Ishii, Yoshihiro Sugai, Shu Watanabe, Akitaro Daichi, Takuma Suzuki, Kiyoshi Murayama, Tsuneo Tominaga, Kunitoshi Okajima, Kenichi Nishida, Hideki Takayama, Masaharu Watanabe, Akira Shimizu, Ayataka Tanemura, Hiroaki Nishimura, Atsushi Nakagawa, Kentaro Fujita, Masayuki Matsumoto
- Writers
- Yasuyuki Suzuki, Shin Yoshida, Junki Takegami, Katsuhiko Chiba, Yuka Miyata, Satoru Nishizono, Kento Shimoyama, Daisuke Watanabe, Hideto Tanaka, Masaya Honda
- Franchise(s)
- Naruto
Cast
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Junko TakeuchiNaruto Uzumaki (voice) -
Noriaki SugiyamaSasuke Uchiha (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming- Creator
- Masashi Kishimoto
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Hulu
-
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- April 5, 2017
- Network
- TV Tokyo
- Creator
- Masashi Kishimoto
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll
