Retsgip’s Anime Blog

Apparently, the previous episode wasn’t considered an episode, and no she doesn’t die this is just a painting

Rating: 5/10 (Gai + Kurenai saved it from imploding, although that might have ended the fillers..damn)

Hey, I have a great idea about what to do for the next Naruto episode! Someone grab a pencil and write this down, it’s gonna make millions. And not only is this going to be pure gold, but we can kill a good 4-5 episodes without anyone even noticing. It’s genius!

Here, I’ll lay it out so even the Naruto staff can understand:

1. First, we’ll introduce a new female character and draw the audience in by her mysterious nature. Lets not make her too important because we either have to kill her off or ignore her once the 4-5 episodes are over in order to restore the natural balance of the Naruto Universe.
2. Then, we need to create a new back-story for one of the characters that doesn’t get much screen time. This will not only make up for the lack of development for this character in previous episodes, but also allow the viewers to catch a glimpse of the past! We’re practically killing two birds with one kunai.
3. But, wait, wait! Here’s the best part! To boost our ratings, lets make it longer than a normal episode! Hmm, forty minutes seems too short, so lets make it an hour long! Then we can even call it a special! Hell yes, this rocks!
4. To add more frosting on this already perfectly baked cake, after we force them to sit through an hour of this episode, lets fool them and make it a cliffhanger! Lolz! That way, all the people who expected a real special will have to watch another episode! *throws head back and laughs mechanically**high-fives everyone in the room*

Oh wait, they just did that. Damn, I’m way too slow with these sort of things. There’s always next time, I guess.

On a more serious note, I was extremely disappointed by this “special” episode(e-special-ly lame that is). Not only was it boring as hell, but it was long as hell. There was maybe, MAYBE, 5 minutes of action in the entire episode. Isn’t this supposed to be a Shounen Jump series, not a drama? Where’s all the action that I fell in love with 190 episodes ago? It’s depressing!

Good old Gai, you really can’t beat it

Only two things saved this episode from sure and udder failure(yes, glandular failure in an area generally found beneath cows–serious business): Gai and Kurenai. Gai always brightens my day with a shiny smile and a hearty thumbs-up. I can’t hate any episode which features Gai, it’s just not possible. I can bad mouth it a lot, but I can’t entirely hate it. Kurenai is just absolutely sexy. She’s one of the few mature looking women in anime that I think actually look extremely sexy. For that, I love this episode. She also kicked major ass during various scenes, and won super brownie points. Unfortunately, the episode still sucked (obviously, I make tons of sense).

Akamaru knows what’s up

I’m not even going to go into the plot. It’s horrible. Why is it that we’re seeing a side of Kurenai that was never there before? They made her out to be a complete dick almost the entire episode, even though we knew something “was up.” I was also getting really tired of Naruto running into 4203 genjutsus and having to be released by Sakura every time. Then what happens? Yeah, he fucking defeats the badguy with his Naruto combo. For those of you who didn’t watch the episode, this is how the scene pans out: Naruto points at the guy, screams some random shit about “here I come,” casts kage bushin, runs straight at the guy, Naruto combo is completed.

Gimmie a break! What the hell? Was I supposed to cheer, or just be disgusted at how easily Naruto got his combo off on someone Kurenai couldn’t defeat. There’s a big difference between saving a character’s dignity and adding a completely retarded scene that seems out of place, even for Naruto standards. Brb, crying.

So, tell me again why they killed off one of the better characters in the show?

One last plus side, which I wont count towards this episode, is the OP. I actually enjoyed this OP, despite my rather high standards in OP/ED music. The artwork was also pretty creative, which featured a few “video camera-esque” scenes of people around Konoha. I also enjoyed the way they animated Lee fighting Naruto towards the end of the song, it’s incredibly realistic despite them being 2D silhouettes. I blew by the ED since the first few seconds didn’t appeal to me, although I did catch the time-skip glimpse we get at the of it (thanks to flou who reminded me to mention it). Possible fillers ending? Psh, yeah right, you’re dreamin’ or maybe its Genjustu?!?

Crappy plot featuring crappy badguys leading to a crappy cliffhanger. Next episode? Probably, no, definitely more crap–dattebayo.

-Retsgip