Reception
Itachi has ranked highly in the Weekly Shonen Jump popularity polls for the series, continuously placing in the top ten. The last such poll was in 2011, in which Itachi was in 5th place, his highest ranking till date. Several pieces of merchandise based on Itachi have also been released, including key chains, plush dolls, and figurines.
Several publications for manga, anime, video games, and other related media have provided praise and criticism on Itachi's character. IGN reader Jason Van Horn characterized Itachi as "badass" and jokingly mentioned he is a character to be afraid of since in his first fight in the series he did not make any remarkable move. He found that "there is just something about the cold and numb Itachi", that makes the viewer "want to breakout in chills". IGN's Charles White liked the episode where young Sasuke and Itachi's relationship were revealed, and hoped to see more on their past to resolve the mystery of Itachi's character commenting that learning about their "past has been intriguing". Jason Van Horn criticised the first battle between Itachi and Sasuke, as "good" but not "as epic as it should've been". James Musgrove commented that Itachi and his partner Kisame "make a dramatic and well-timed entrance into the story".
In the Shelf Life section from Anime News Network (ANN) Bamboo Dong comments that Itachi is one of their favorite characters from the series noting his background and his introduction as the best parts of the series. Activeanime writer Davey C. Jones celebrated Itachi's fights as the best ones in the series remarking his abilities to be as amazing as a "sci-fi ninja". Holly Ellingwood from the same website agreed on this, noting his fight against Kakashi Hatake as one "few will be able to forget." The reviewer also praised Itachi's attitude commenting that he "is as cold and as ruthless as any villain yet." In a review of the volume 16 from the manga, Deb Aoki from About.com listed Itachi's introduction in the series as one of the cons from the volume. She praised his first fight in the series to be very entertaining and that was meant to "whet readers' appetites" for future fights between Konoha ninja and the Akatsuki. Additionally, his last fight with Sasuke before dying was considered "epic" by Casey Brienza from ANN. She found it to be more to be "a battle of minds" since even after Itachi's death Sasuke changes his thought about him when learning about his past. She also anticipated the impact of Itachi's past revelations on the future storyline of Naruto.
Read more about this topic: Itachi Uchiha
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
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—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
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—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)