Quick Thoughts: Why Do Black Anime Fans Love the Akatsuki So Much?

Why your affinity for Naruto’s fearsome villain group actually makes a lot of sense

What you’re about to witness is what happens when a pretty interesting conversation or debate I’m having slowly consumes my thoughts until eventually I just have to get it all out on paper (or screen I guess) in the most surface-level way possible.

While debating a recent anime-themed video from one of my favorite podcasts, Waving the Red Flag (it’s about dating, not Marxism, still great though), the subject of Naruto came up.

While Naruto isn’t my favourite manga, owing largely to its increasingly small world, lack of thematic cohesion, neglect of its side characters, ridiculous power escalation, Orochimaru’s tongue etc etc; it’s probably one of my favourites to discuss and debate purely because it’s such a mess of phenomenal character writing and baffling writing decisions.

It’s a bit like Champion on BBC/Netflix in that it will do something great in one scene (Bosco’s clash) and then do something horrendous in the next (pretty much anything to do with Vita). This constant coming together of the good and bad creates a wealth of things for me to analyze and discuss.

Also… I promise I’ll write about Champion one day, it’s just… I was kinda mean about Queenie, and I know Candice is pretty online so I’m just… I’m afraid…

Anyway! While debating Naruto, the discussion turned to how we engaged with the manga/anime as Black fans, and specifically why some see the Black experience reflected in the fate of the Uchiha clan (I’m still iffy on that one tbh). Now, while that is an interesting thought experiment in and of itself, it’s not what I’m writing about, largely because immediately after discussing this, an even more interesting question was asked:

Why do so many Black anime fans feel such an affinity for the Akatsuki, an antagonistic group of mercenary ninja who come to blows with our protagonists over the course of the series?

My initial answer was a surface-level one, they’re drippy as f*ck and there’s something about the combination of the colours, black, blue, and red that you’ll find on a lot of brands that are popular with Black people. But when I thought a little bit deeply about it I realized something:

The Akatsuki are quite… Black-coded.

Like… if you think about it, there are a few core elements to the Akatsuki that I can imagine many Black people across the diaspora finding particularly poignant. Elements that raise an eyebrow when held up against certain elements and sub-cultures within our communities.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s get into it.

A Group of Powerful Outkasts

One of the core aspects that defines each member of the Akatsuki is that they are all, in some way or other, outcasts from their respective societies. Whether it’s Itachi’s status as a Uchiha, Kisame being a shark man whose dogmatic loyalty to his village cost him, or Deidara’s dedication to his art; each member of the Akatsuki draws their power from a uniqueness that saw them ostracised from their home. Simply put, they are social and political outcasts but defiantly find strength and camaraderie in their lack of belonging.

If you know even the basic origins of genres of music like the blues, hip-hop, or garage music, this might sound fairly familiar to you. Black people across the diaspora have famously harnessed their feelings of societal exclusion to create sub-genres of art, communities, organizations, activist groups, and events where they could channel their own uniqueness into a shared goal that would allow them to embrace their unique skills, passions, and identities to create something powerful. It’s this solidarity among outcasts that I could definitely see being a parallel drawn between Black fans and the Akatsuki.

A Fascination with Organized Crime

Now hear me out with this one.

I’ve often found it interesting that within areas of Black artistic culture, there’s a fascination with organized crime groups like the mafia. It might be due to their excessive wealth and lavish lifestyles, their iconic aesthetics, their ruthless efficiency, or their unique code of honour; but early hip-hop is full of homages and even direct ties to organized crime. Hip-hop pioneers like Nas, Mob Deep, Jay-Z, Tupac, B.I.G, Eazy E, and Cool G Rap all pay homage to the criminal life that was seen as the pinnacle of masculinity in the same way that Western and samurai movies had been before them. These were men born into adversity who took matters into their own hands and procured notoriety, purpose, freedom, and wealth for themselves and those they cared about by any means necessary. Now who does that sound like…

The Akatsuki is a group of mercenaries, each with their own particular codes of honour and born into adversity; they’re outcasts who come together to achieve widespread fame and notoriety by doing whatever it takes to prosper. They operate outside of the law, unburdened by the same rules, responsibilities, and flawed moral codes that our protagonists must adhere to, meaning that they are free to express themselves and exercise their own personal goals and ideals as they see fit, gaining freedom, power, and fame in the process. The parallels are pretty striking when you think about it.

Masculine Friends

I need to think of a better title for this section.

The way that members of the Akatsuki interact with each other is fascinating and endlessly entertaining to watch. While they are a large group, they tend to carry out their missions in pairs, being partnered up based on complementary skills like Kakazu and Hidan’s perceived immortality, Sasori and Deidara’s dedication to art, or Itachi and Kisame’s complimentary temperaments and statuses as traitors to their respective villages. It’s because of these pairings and their determination to maintain their freedom and individuality that members of the Akatsuki often bicker with each other, threaten each other, and act as if they’d be better off alone; however, at the end of the day, they are often incredibly formidable as a team and share a begrudging respect for their partners.

Speaking from my own experience here, I find a lot of similarities between how members of the Akatsuki interact with each other and how many Black men show affection for each other. Rather than wearing our feelings on our sleeves and simply stating our appreciation for each other, these positive feelings often go unsaid, and we instead show affection through roasting each other, begrudging compliments, playful violence, collaborating to help reach a shared goal, or defending each other from outside threats. In many ways, the Akatsuki reflect the stoicism, and quiet but efficient shows of strength through comradery that is so key to the self-perception of Black masculinity.

F*ck The Establishment

This is a pretty big one but I’ll tryyyyyy to keep it brief. As I’ve become more politically active and read a bit more political theory, the contradictions and failures of the establishment within Naruto have become a little more jarring. Now, it’s important to state that many of these failings are intentionally written by Kishimoto as commentary and a central theme is how the shinobi system doesn’t work; however, the big glaring problem is that these themes are never really resolved. Peace in the Naruto world is achieved largely by beating the bad guys, all differences are just put aside until ALIENS and Naruto himself becomes the new figurehead of an establishment that still gleefully uses child soldiers (remember Zabuza, and how the whole point of his character was that this system is f*cking awful?).

All this to say that the Akatsuki is a group of individuals all driven to a common cause to destroy a political and social system that has utterly failed them. Think of how Konaha’s historic failure of leadership forced Itachi to murder his own clan and become an outcast, how Kisame is disillusioned with the corruption and deceit of the leaders who gave him orders, how Sarori, Obito, and Pain lost their parents, loved ones and even parts of themselves to the brutalities of wars that were started for reasons they couldn’t comprehend (maaan don’t even get me started on Pain).

Now think of how many Black organizations, artistic endeavors, political groups, and ideologies have come as a result of systemic failures that led to issues of poverty, persecution, discrimination, death, and general suffering. Think of how grime music began on a rooftop in East London as a group of young people, declared public enemies of Tony Blair’s England, came together to pour their rage and frustration into a mic. So many Black sub-cultures exist in defiance of the establishments they were created under, some come together to try and tear these systems down, and others simply want to carve out a space where they can be free to enjoy and express themselves with those who feel a similar sense of persecution and exclusion.

Honestly one of my favorite things about Naruto is that when most members of the Akatsuki are defeated and killed, these are rarely moments of joy and euphoria. Instead, our protagonists are made to reflect on the systems that forced them men to shun society and cause so much destruction. Kisame, Nagato, Sasori, Itachi, and Obito all leave behind ideologies and motivations that deeply remain with the people who defeat them, and in some ways they are redeemed as men who perhaps could have walked a different path if only the system were fairer.

Sure, the shinobi are “the good guys”, and our protagonists fight to “keep the peace” but to members of the Akatsuki, keeping the peace merely means maintaining the same status quo that has failed them, and to be honest, the narrative largely ends up proving them right. As a Black fan, I can imagine that it’s quite easy to sympathize with a group that wants to tear down a failing establishment.

Seriously Tho… The Drip

Ending on a much lighter note, the Akatsuki are just brilliantly designed. Their iconic dark cloaks with red clouds are incredibly pleasing to the eye and visually striking, even small details like their personalized rings make them incredibly fun to emulate, giving the impression of a crew that can never be f*cked with. Pretty much every shot of them standing together could be any hip-hop album cover if you slapped an EXPLICIT CONTENT label on them.

It’s important to note that these are just shallow general musings I’ve been having as opposed to any concrete social commentary. Of all the things I’ve written so far — and I’ve written a lot of bullshit maan — this is probably the one where I’d put up the least resistance if you were to dispute me on it, purely because it’s kind of a fun thought experiment in response to a fun discussion I’ve had. I’m also writing this as a Black fan of the show, so while some of my points are specific to my experience and the history of a diaspora that I’m a part of, maybe it also rings true for your demographic, who knows?

That being said, feel free to add in your own reasons for why you love the Akatsuki, if you think there’s anything I’ve missed or any inaccuracies (a lot of my knowledge of hip-hop history comes from either FD Signifier or reading and research I did a while ago.)