We’ve mentioned that we want to give our characters a complex personality. And you know what they say: the better the bad guy, the better the story. In our opinion, villain Oroshimaru gives Naruto a whole new dimension. His nearly metaphysical ambition to master all forms of combat is a welcome alternative to the usual ambition of world domination. “Goldfinger” (the movie) remains one of the best Bond films because the confrontation between hero and villain is not only physical but also psychological. In the ensemble film “Syriana,” Christopher Plummer’s Dean Whiting only makes a few appearances but each time, his presence electrifies the scene. The same goes for David Strathairn’s role (Bourne Ultimatum), which, thanks to the work co-director Noah Vosen, is imbued with the strength of conviction. This villain doesn’t wake up in the morning looking forward to eating babies. Just like the good guys, he just wants to see his businesses succeed. We’ll come back to this topic later.

In movies or TV shows, it may be tempting to make simplifications to make it easier for the target audience to understand. For instance, how many Nazis actually spoke English with that ridiculous German accent? This may have been acceptable 40 or 50 years ago, but in our global society, this type of shortcut can be a little ridiculous. On the TV series “24,” you see Arab bad guys talking English even when they are alone together. We use different languages in the webcomic not because we want the viewer to feel lost, but because we want to give the story setting more credibility.