I'm curious to the opinion you guys have of his progress in the story.
In one hand there's a lot of hate towards him ever since the reveal of the masked man, but on the other we have to remember that this is the main antagonist (besides Sasuke) that Kishi has been building up ever since the creation of Kakashi Gaiden.
Is the amount of hate given to him fair or an overreaction? Could part of the hate simply come from the bitterness of being proven wrong? From what I hear people got really aggressive when claiming Tobi was not Obito, so after the reveal they might've taken it too hard, and thus prefer to unfairly criticize Obito to make themselves feel better.
Maybe since Obito is clearly a parallel to Naruto there was a too high expectation for his start of dakrness, but it being thanks to Rin's death might show how Obito in reality wasn't up to Naruto's standards of endurance. Despite the parallel Obito proves to be a lesser man thanks to the path he chose, and that's what will ultimately change with his redemption. If Obito gets redeemed he'll finally achieve Naruto's level of emotional fortitude.
From what I gather the moment Rin dies and he brings carnage to the mist ninja he concluded that the real world is a living hell and will just continue on and on forever if left alone. Therefore he seeks to change it with the moon's eye plan since he refuses to just go on living in hell.
While Obito does think his actions will bring happiness to everyone left to experience the illusion he's ultimately doing it for himself because the current world makes him sick. He seeks a world where he can be happy, and is unapologetic for his crimes maybe because he views the people wanting to preserve "Hell" as obstacles that needed to be put down.
Do I sympathize with his desire to see Rin once again? Yes
Do I sympathize with how he's chosen to view the world and his bonds? No
And I think that's how Kishi really intended it to be.
First of all, I'd like to address the Anti-Tobito theorists. Ok, seriously. Did anyone not see it coming from a mile away? I have to facepalm everytime I saw someone saying if Kishi proved the Tobito theory true, the manga would suck and it's bad storytelling and an asspull yadda, yadda. Seriously? To be honest, I saw the Tobito thing as one of the best things that happened in the manga. Why? because it directly triggered a certain underdeveloped character's development. Fans had been begging for it, and now they don't want it? Hypocrites.
The moment Kishi revealed there would be a huge spotlight for Kakashi somewhere down in the future (waayyy back in 2008) I knew instantly Tobi had to be Obito. Because anyone with half a brain would know that if Kakashi were to get development, Obito has to be the trigger because Kakashi's present self was shaped by Obito himself.
What I love about Obito is how I have a love/hate relationship with him. I love him for how this deranged psychopath will not back down from anything. Not even the freakin' Juubi can make him submit. What I also love is how twisted he is, standing on top of people's sufferings all so he could achieve his selfish happiness. And yet, the last one is also what I hate about him as well. Funny, isn't it?
Also, Obito's reasoning for doing all this.... I honestly am annoyed at how people say Obito's reasoning for all of this is lame and how he's a loser not meant to be sympathized. Why, you ask? because these people don't know it's like to lose your loved ones. I can't say that for myself, either but however I can empathize with Obito. If you push someone enough, they will snap. There are lots of cases like that in the world. Nagato lost his best friend and went off the deep end as well, so why can't this be applied to Obito? I'm seeing double standards here.
That said though, I really hate how 619 cheapened Obito's reasoning. It's one of the worst chapters ever IMO. But I wouldn't be surprised if Obito is aware of it and doesn't care because of his belief that genetics doesn't shape who you are, it's how you shape your character itself. That, and genetics is a bunch of flawed reasoning to explain what people can't explain (in his opinion).