For the longest while Nobunaga has always been treated as an almost comically evil supervillain in pop culture. Rounding up women and children and burning them alive, drinking wine from the skulls of his enemies, etc. But Ive been noticing that for the past decade or so there seems to be more and more instances of him being interpreted as a neutral or even heroic figure. Has there been a discovery/revelations recently that could have contributed to this change of perception?
I dont know if this counts as political or not. If so, I apologise, and mods can remove this as they see fit.
While you wait for fresh answers by qualified experts, you may be interested in a past thread related to your topic.
Top Eight most common misconceptions about Oda Nobunaga that will completely change the way you view the Sengoku Era. You won't believe number four! with a detailed response by /u/ParallelPain.
Don't let the thread title fool you. It was an April Fool's thread from a few years ago, but the content is legit and specifically about Oda's reputation as particularly evil.
As already explained in the April Fools thread (lol) Nobunaga's reputation really changed with the times and depend on the story teller. But in reality he's really not much more ruthless than the other lords of the time. The increased instance of his neutral or heroic depiction probably stems from academic knowledge slowly but surely making itself known in popular culture.
Today, it's important to remember that pop culture is dedicated to a popular, casual audience, who would likely judge historical characters by today's standards. And by today's standards, Nobunaga was no doubt a "tyrannical mass-murdering demon." So that's how he's likely portrayed as (when not being portrayed as a time-traveler or girl or dog). However we also need to note that more serious portrayals of the man also exist, and they are much more nuanced.
As for some of Nobunaga's "atrocities" and other acts of the man, I've written about a few:
As for the skulls, the Chronicles of Nobunaga says on new years of Tenshō 2 (January 23, 1574) during a party with his mounted guards Nobunaga displayed the skulls of Azai Hisamasa, Nagamasa, and Asakura Yoshikage, which he had lacquered gold. There's some debate of whether or not this was actually a sign of respect. It wasn't until the late 17th century Azai Sandai-ki, which as the name suggest tells is pro-Azai and anti-Nobunaga, that says something that could be interpreted as the skulls being made into cups. However, it's not actually unambiguous, and in fact I personally would not interpret it as such, but rather that they were shown with a round of alcohol and fish. The popular depiction of drinking from skull cups (like many other false historical anecdotes) I would blame on post-WWII novelist Shiba Ryōtaro, specifically his novel Kōmyō ga Tsuji.