First off, Rwanda was not a country about to conquer and press forward in battle like the Uchiha were in Konoha. Itachi's actions are more similar to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In order to prevent the loss of lives of more Japanese and American soldiers, two cities, each with men, women, and children were eradicated from the face of the planet in an instant. It doesn't matter whether or not the children of the Uchiha were badasses as you say. Even one that remained alive would more than likely seek revenge as seen by Sasuke. The cycle would have never ended. Hell just by leaving Sasuke alive, everything he worked for was simply washed away. I'm sure Itachi did feel the guilt of all of this, and just because you don't see anything does not mean it doesn't exist. Also your definition of serial killer needs to be looked at. A serial killer can sometimes feel guilt for killing people, but cannot stop because of a psychological breakdown that causes that compulsion.
Hmmm.... When one entity sets out to exterminate another entity, be it race, religion, culture, etc. that is genocide. It may be uncomfortable to look at Itachi in such terms, but it was still a genocide.
I'll repeat what I said earlier. Itachi's motives for these killings are very muddied. You can't just fall back on him being a good soldier working for the good of Konoha, because he had this moral motive to cleanse his clan. That hidden agenda is what keeps him from being a completely heroic figure.
"Even one that remained alive would more than likely seek revenge as seen by Sasuke." Seriously? That's your justification for killing children? If that was truly the case, then why did Konoha allow Sasuke to remain alive after Itachi left the clan?
Itachi was working to stop a coup, not a group of troops amassed at the border. To prevent a coup, he would only need to wipe out those involved. But he had this other shady motive involving Madara to cleanse the clan, hit the reset button. For that, every person needed to be killed.
So if his motives were to squelch the revengeful nature of the cursed clan, and if we stick to that as the reason that he killed, then he would have known that by leaving Sasuke to live he was creating a vengeful monster. So again, I cannot go look kindly on Itachi's actions because he twisted Sasuke into what he is today, by forcing Sasuke to become the savior in this massive game he's playing with people's lives.
By following Itachi's reasoning, that the whole clan was bad, cursed and vengeful, then Sasuke is acting exactly how he should be acting today. It was only Itachi who thought that wiping out your family and your parents before your eyes would bring about a positive change in Sasuke.
Like I said, Itachi is a complex character with a complex set of motives. He could be so much more than just a flat cheerleader for Konoha. But his past the wobbily explanation of why he set the ball rolling, his character is never explored. He sheds a few tears, so the audience is meant to understand that he feels some guilt. But even that is skimmed over. Itachi's role in the story was filled, and there his complexity ends.
Kishi has spent much more time making the case against Sasuke — who imho is acting pretty authentically as being mad at the world — than he has against the ones who have done the real villainy. Kabuto? We know
nothing about him. Yet he is one of the two main villains right now. We're robbed of the joy of really hating Kabuto!
Last chapter, I was on the fence as to whether Kishi was talking about himself when writing that Part 1 with Jiraiya was good, Part 2 with Nagato was a failure, and now Naruto will come in and fix it with Part 3. It's so overt, it's kind of hard to believe that he was being literal. But thinking about it this morning, and the many different plot twists he could have taken to get to this point, I'm now leaning the other way. All that development with Team Hebi, where did that go? And we're getting new characters at a whirlwind rate, about every three chapters or so, when there were very few new characters introduced from the beginning of Shippuden to around the meeting of the Kages. The tone and pace is so different now, which makes the Sasuke focus look so slow and sluggish. I just wonder if it wasn't Kishimoto acknowledging that he might have done things differently.
For instance a more developed Itachi backstory, told from his pov, instead of Madara's flashback. Or missions/altercations with the other countries as laying the groundwork for the battle to come. And certainly more character development of Sasuke. To really give the audience a reason to still root for him alongside Naruto, allowing us to see that little glimmer of humanity that Naruto still clings to in him. Instead of being worn out from the focus on the same old angry Sasuke and Naruto's near obsession with him.
In this chapter, someone mentioned above that they were bummed that Itachi wouldn't get to see Sasuke apparently. Yeah, my thoughts too.
Honestly, that a cheap way out on Kishimoto's part. Because if Itachi saw Sasuke then he would have to confront the fact that his organized plan didn't work. And it would place Itachi in a very negative light, really making the reader question why he killed all those people (like I regularly do). Again, a chance for complexity here that is missed. Because if they don't see each other, then the lines are never blurred: Itachi is still seen as the hero of the master plan and Sasuke is still firmly the villain who is fighting against it. And Naruto is the one who has to redeem him.
Again, I sometimes think Sasuke is the only one acting true-to-life in the manga. Which is why I still like him. Not because of Team 7 idolatry. But simply because he won't give in, to anyone. His motives are uncomplicated and rooted in deep pain — pain caused by some of the ones who are touted as the heros in the story. He's angry and lashing back at everyone's master plans, from Itachi to Madara to Danzo. He wants none of it and is on his own side. To me, his motives are more clear than anybody else in the manga.
edit: I've been thinking about Itachi lately because I'm considering doing the NaNoWriMo in November. I think the complex characters are much more interesting than the flat ones. So as I'm writing up my OCs, whether the heroes, villains or anti-heroes, I want to make sure that their complex decisions carry on intact. I don't want it to end up like Itachi, a challenging character doing thought-provoking deeds, only to let them wither away as a plot device later in the story.
At least Itachi admitted that he screwed up with Sasuke, and figured out that any more involvement on his part wouldn't help.
just saw your post! — Yeah, I thought that was interesting too. I was glad he did it. But how did he know? Was he watching Sasuke from the afterlife or did someone mention it to him specifically. I can't remember. (Naruto may have said something in the last chapter or two that I'm forgetting....)
Edited by tricksie, 25 August 2011 - 01:51 PM.
This topic is locked
It's more in response to all the I-heart-Itachi stuff floating around. I just don't have anymore love for Itachi than I do for Danzo or any of the other characters that have been given a redemption back story. Danzo especially.
