The Akatsuki began innocently enough, founded by three young ninjas – Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan – who dreamed of bringing peace to the shinobi world after enduring immense personal suffering during wartime. However, with the cruelty of these villains, there is a really terrible mistake the anime team has made while adapting the story from manga, and we are going to reveal this.
United by tragedy, they vowed to promote understanding between villages and stop others from enduring the same pain they had.
However, their noble ambitions were soon crushed when Hanzo, a ruthless village leader, confronted the youths and delivered an ultimatum: kill your friend Yahiko or die together.
Heartbroken but determined to see his dreams survive, Yahiko walked willingly to his death at his friend’s hand.
This soul-scarring event forever changed the course of the Akatsuki, transforming it from a movement for peace into a refuge for criminals and outcasts from across the ninja world.
Under the covert guidance of the vengeful figure known as Obito, the group began to attract rogue shinobi tempted by promises of power and redemption.
Though from disparate backgrounds, each member possessed unique gifts and deadly mastery of their craft, be it deception, forbidden jutsu, immortality, or puppet mastery.
Bound by tragedy and anger toward the current shinobi system, this gathering of volatile talents posed a major threat to the stability of villages everywhere.
Where once the Akatsuki symbolized unity and healing, it now stood for retribution at any cost.
Akatsuki Originally Only Had One Sleeve
After nearly two decades of following the Akatsuki’s story arc, long-time fan u/goldensungoku was startled to learn that the signature cloaks worn by its members were misrepresented in the anime adaptation of Naruto, and he posted about this on Reddit.
In Kishimoto Sensei’s original manga artwork, the black robes with red cloud motifs that became the terror group’s trademark actually had only one sleeve – the other arm left completely exposed.
Yet, in turning the static images of the manga into animated movement, the animation team made the fateful decision to complete the cloak with two sleeves, shrouding both arms in mystery.
One can only speculate why such a choice was made – perhaps to create symmetry in the flowing garments or to project an added air of uniformity among the band of rogues.
Whatever the reason, it resulted in an inadvertent discrepancy between Kishimoto’s vision and the acclaimed anime series that popularized his creation globally.
For the fans who grew up following the Akatsuki’s exploits on screen, discovering this small but significant costume detail betrayal after nearly nineteen years came as a real shock.
Though a subtle difference, it serves as an important reminder that adapting the richness of the manga format into animation – as superb as the Naruto anime achieved – often requires sacrificing faithfulness for more practical considerations.
Nonetheless, for purists, the revelation of the single-sleeved cloak is an itch that can never be scratched, symbolic of the anime’s unavoidable flaws next to Kishimoto’s masterful pen and ink artistry bringing the Akatsuki to life in his singular style.
What Fans Think About This Mistake?
One fan thought Itachi had just been trying to look aloof by keeping one hand in his jacket, but now realized it was because the anime gave him two sleeves incorrectly. They had assumed he was posing that way as a “flex,” even though it seemed like he felt cold.
Another fan speculated that Pain made the members wear the conspicuous cloaks to limit their arm movements and jutsu speed.
Otherwise, the entire group could have blitzed across the ninja world, captured the tailed beasts easily, and completed the Moon’s Eye Plan in early episodes.
One commenter wondered if the single sleeve tied into masterless ronin warriors in Japanese history, who wore open kimonos in a similar fashion.
They thought they remembered reading that somewhere but also heard it might be mythical. Still, they felt it was an interesting symbolic parallel.
Finally, one fan had endlessly reproduced Itachi’s signature pose but found the sleeve perspective made no sense. After years of being bothered by it, discovering the cloak was meant to have one sleeve from the manga blew their mind with the answer.
