There’s so much wrong with this character in the show that I’m going to try to focus specifically on Sasuke in Shonen jump–the first series. If you want me to address my issues with him in Shippuden I’d need to write a great American novel or an entirely separate article. If you have other feelings about this character feel free to let me know in the contact page, I’m genuinely curious as to why this guy is a favorite. 

What he had going for him:

I’ll try and start by giving this character some credit–or sympathy for lack of a better term. Sasuke had all of the backstory and set up to be a great character. 

• Sasuke has a horribly tragic backstory in which his entire clan was slaughtered by his elder brother whom he used to love. Now he has to swear revenge on his once beloved elder sibling and lives for no other purpose. 

• Sasuke has the potential to be the brother character Naruto never had, he’s a complete opposite to him but he has shown multiple times over the course of the first series that he’s willing to die for him. 

• Sasuke’s elder brother is one of the most pivotal characters in the show and in the first series he’s one of the most formidable antagonists any of our heroes face. Sasuke training for an encounter with him is both a long awaited but tragic confrontation as they are brothers. 

Basically Sasuke had all of the material to be written as a great character with whom I’d have sympathy. Why then, you ask–am I occasionally left feeling tempted to tell Itachi: “Hey…you missed one.” 

Let’s dive in.  

Where it all went wrong: 

Having a character have a dark path in which they sway from heroics to villainy is a tough thing to write but not impossible. If anyone had the tragic backstory to lead them down the road to villainy and revenge it’s Sasuke. However, what else is going on here that makes it look off?

• When most characters slip to the dark side it’s because they feel isolated, alone, betrayed or hated. Gaara decides to thrive on the pain of others and live only to inflict suffering and death because everyone he loved abandoned and hated him. He was left to the harsh cruelty of the world and decided to hurt the world back. No one showed him any sympathy.

 It’s hard to pity Sasuke when he decides to abandon his friends for revenge because the whole world is on his side. Sasuke not only has the love and attention of literally every female he meets in the show, but he has the adoration and admiration of the entire Leaf village. Throughout the entire Chunin exams everyone is betting on the “great Uchiha” to win the day even though he’s done nothing but beat one ninja from the sound. Sasuke has a teacher, a best friend, a girl who's madly in love with him, and a bright future. But he decides to take his anger out on all of them and betray them by selling his soul to Orochimaru–who literally attacked the leaf village and killed his Hokage. Sasuke is in the Hospital when Naruto goes on a mission to find someone to cure him, and Sakura is waiting by his bedside with flowers and food but when he awakes he treats both of them like trash. I understand he's dealing with trauma, but it's difficult to pity him when he's taking it out on everyone whose fault it isn't. 

• Sasuke never grows or matures. Sasuke is proud. That’s like his fatal flaw from day one and Kakashi points it out during the bell test. However, after that point no one feels the need to address that Sasuke is full of himself and many times overconfident without justification. All the girls praise him, Naruto is jealous of him, and all the viewers of the Chunin exams think he’s the choice to win. Even moments where Sasuke might have matured were lost because other characters don’t talk about them. 

-Before the Chunin exams Rock Lee beats Sasuke in two minutes. He beats him without breaking a sweat and it's the only short fight in all of Naruto–but no one talks about it. Sakura just keeps thinking “there’s no way Sasuke could lose to anybody that lame!” And Sasuke still thinks he hasn't been beaten. Only Naruto points it out and no one speaks of it after. Characters still act like Sasuke’s the best.

-Sasuke only survives against Gaara because of a move he took from Kakashi. He only beats the ninja from the sound because of the move he stole from Rock Lee. Once again, no one mentions it. Rock Lee fights Gaara down to the wire for much longer than Sasuke does and nearly wins, no one mentions it–they simply overhype Sasuke.

-Naruto beats Neji who’s so good Rock Lee wants to fight him. When Sasuke finds out all he can say is, “Good,” and then imply that Naruto can go on to fight him. Once again, I don’t know what Sasuke did to earn all this recognition and attention. It’s hard to feel bad for a guy who's taking all this unmerited credit and getting tons of attention.

This is one of the biggest problems with some characters, the people around them don’t call them out for what they are. Sasuke has plot armor from everyone around him. People aren't allowed to point out when he’s being proud, or a jerk, but to everyone else they are. 

• Sasuke is entitled. He’s never kind to Sakura for all of her affection and devotion to him, he never appreciates Naruto for being so loyal and supportive. Naruto is always looking back on him fondly but all I remember Sasuke ever doing for Naruto is calling him, “Loser.” He calls Sakura “annoying” despite how deeply she wants him to like her. Initially calling her annoying is a good moment because she’s insulting Naruto for no reason and needs to be put in her place. After that though, Sakura is just following him around like a puppy but still all he does is ignore and insult her. Sasuke was never a particularly good friend to Sakura or Naruto.

Such a poor portrayal of going to the dark side:

I already went over how much of a jerk Sasuke is when he wakes up in the Hospital and treats his friends like trash, but this gets even worse. Sasuke tries to kill Naruto using the chidori which Kakashi taught him strictly for fighting the enemy. Later on Sasuke fights Naruto nearly killing him. Naruto ends up in the Hospital when he’s only trying to help Sasuke. The worst part in all of this is no one calls out Sasuke for all this horrible behavior except Kakashi. Naruto is delusional and wants to “bring Sasuke back” after he hospitalizes him. No one addresses that Sasuke left and betrayed the leaf village of his own free will. 

If you want to have a character's redemption be convincing, you have to make their trail to darkness be realistic and tragic. To do that you have to address all the pain and havoc they’ve caused. A good example of this would be Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender. Zuko has a tragic backstory and spends most of the first part of the series pursuing Ang to take his life. When Zuko is offered a chance at forgiveness and rejects it over and over, he’s treated with more contempt and distrust for his betrayal. It takes all of the characters time to forgive Zuko and no one but Ang is ready to show him mercy. Everyone addresses Zuko’s shortcomings and people are wary of him because he’s tried to kill Ang. However, in Sasuke’s case, he tries to kill Naruto and leaves to work with Orochimaru but no one seems to regard him as a villain for any of this.             

In a nutshell, Sasuke had potential–but he’s mishandled grievously throughout the show. Sasuke isn't my favorite person in the first series…but in Shippuden–oh boy. Let’s just say he looks like a dream boat in this series by comparison.