In a review of Volume 16 of 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 as very entertaining, meant to "whet readers' appetites for future fights between Konoha ninja and the Akatsuki". James Musgrove commented that Itachi and his partner Kisame "make a dramatic and well-timed entrance into the story". However, Jason Van Horn criticised the first battle between Itachi and Sasuke, as "good" but not "as epic as it should've been". His last fight with Sasuke before dying was considered "epic" by Casey Brienza from ANN. She found it to be "a battle of minds" since, even after Itachi's death, Sasuke changes his mind about him when he learns about his past. She also anticipated the impact of Itachi's past revelations on the future storyline of "Naruto". Despite disliking how the anime "Shippuden" used Itachi's light novel as part of the series, Chris Beveridge from the Fandom Post enjoyed Itachi's impact on both Sasuke and Naruto. Writer Jason Thompson highly praised his visual tortures, due to the effect it has on the victims, reminding him of the antagonist from Kiyoshi Kurosawa's film "Cure" notable for its horror scenes. Nevertheless, he criticized Itachi's death scene as a result of his disease rather than being killed by Sasuke, taking all the blame from his brother in the process. In 2014, IGN listed him as the fifth best "Naruto" character when the series ended.