Naruto: Shippuden - General Discussion

[Sandman87]

I'm just glad they show us what Itchy and Scratchy are experiencing, rather than what's really happening. Otherwise it'd just be a half-hour of them standing there.

This time around we get to learn the secret unpleasant history of the Uchiha clan. Eyeball stealing is apparently a tradition with them.

[Sandman87]

Sasuke and Itachi fight some more. They unleash their fire jutsu simultaneously, and it turns out that they're evenly matched. Then Sasuke tries it again, and Itachi whips out his Amaterasu, which sets the fire on fire and burns it out. It also makes his left eye bleed, and nearly kills creepy Venus flytrap guy Zetsu , who's been watching the whole fight from a "safe" distance. They both end up exhausted and out of chakra, but Sasuke says he has one more trick up his sleeve. To be continued...

Was that the first time they've shown a snippet of the current opening ("Sign") during the [as] run? I can't remember seeing it here before. I like it a lot. The bit with Jiraiya clicking his clogs together, then the frog's head rising up while they both engage in separate fights is a thing of beauty.

I was amused at the hundreds of kunai all over the floor when the fight inside the building ran down. I wonder what all that cutlery weighs.

Incidentally, Amaterasu is exactly two letters off from the name of the elf queen in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books.

Edited December 6, 2016 by Sandman87

[Lantern7]

"Got your eye." "Arrrrrrgh. Except not." "Shit, is that what the curse mark did to you? You look like  a lab rat with a hand growing out of your back. Is this what you went through in your quest to murder me? Most boys would've turned to masturbation by now."

Abrupt credits were abrupt. Thanks for the link, @Sandman87. Why doesn't Toonami run that? Not like they're airing the weird-ass videos in that slot these days.

[Terrafamilia]

Is it just me or did that Uchiha hideout look a bit like Las Noches crossed with the Seireitei?

[Sandman87]

I have no idea what you look like. (rim-shot) But seriously; yes it does, now that you mention it.

Sasuke and Itachi both pull some new techniques out of their asses. Sasuke even squeezes out the Essence of Orochimaru (available at perfume counters everywhere) that he absorbed, which does no good whatsoever. Itachi finally backs him up against a wall, staggers up to him, and...smiles and gives him one last brotherly finger-poke to the forehead. Then he falls over dead. Zetsu is impressed.

[lathspel]

I liked the strange Sasuke animation at the beginning, and then I really liked how Itachi did nearly the same thing near the end.

So Itachi used a technique called Susanoo, has the Kusanagi sword, and summons a Titan as his trump card?   Somebody's been watching some other shows!

Edited December 13, 2016 by lathspel

[Lantern7]

In case you're coming in late:

1. Itachi is dead. Really, really dead. He manages to tell his little brother something before keeling over, but we don't hear it.

2. The Leaf ninjas try to snare Tobi. Since he's way more than meets the eye, he evades capture.

3. Shino is still pissed off that he wasn't part of the original Sasuke Retrieval Team. Dude, take it up with Tsunade and Shikamaru; she gave him about ten minutes to assemble a squad. Not his fault he couldn't find you.

4. Kekkashi figures out Tobi has a Sharrigan. Crapping of the pants ensues.

5. The Akatsuki take Sasuke and Itachi's corpse to their hideout. Tobi tried to play up his entrance, but then a power-up Itachi gave Sasuke activates, and Tobi gets enveloped in black flame. Apparently, Itachi didn't want One Eye Mask Guy to get ahold of his brother.

6. Karin still likes Sasuke that way.

[Sandman87]

21 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Shino is still pissed off that he wasn't part of the original Sasuke Retrieval Team.

You might say that it really bugs him. (rim-shot)

I noticed that Tobi dropped his wacky scatterbrain persona as soon as he got the news about Itachi.

[RosaritaCisneros]

On 12/12/2016 at 9:11 PM, lathspel said:

I liked the strange Sasuke animation at the beginning, and then I really liked how Itachi did nearly the same thing near the end.

So Itachi used a technique called Susanoo, has the Kusanagi sword, and summons a Titan as his trump card?   Somebody's been watching some other shows!

All of Itachi's jutsus are based on Shintoism. I did a college research paper years ago about the religion. Amaterasu is the Sun Goddess and is believed to be the progenitor of Japan. Susano is her evil brother, who abused her.

What I always found strange about Itachi's Amaterasu Jutsu is that it has black flames. Considering that she is the Sun Goddess, I would've expected for the flames to be yellow or orange like fire and not black.

On 12/19/2016 at 11:35 PM, Lantern7 said:

In case you're coming in late:

1. Itachi is dead. Really, really dead. He manages to tell his little brother something before keeling over, but we don't hear it.

2. The Leaf ninjas try to snare Tobi. Since he's way more than meets the eye, he evades capture.

3. Shino is still pissed off that he wasn't part of the original Sasuke Retrieval Team. Dude, take it up with Tsunade and Shikamaru; she gave him about ten minutes to assemble a squad. Not his fault he couldn't find you.

4. Kekkashi figures out Tobi has a Sharrigan. Crapping of the pants ensues.

5. The Akatsuki take Sasuke and Itachi's corpse to their hideout. Tobi tried to play up his entrance, but then a power-up Itachi gave Sasuke activates, and Tobi gets enveloped in black flame. Apparently, Itachi didn't want One Eye Mask Guy to get ahold of his brother.

6. Karin still likes Sasuke that way.

Spoiler

Tobi is actually Madara Uchiha.

[Lantern7]

This week: Leaf Village 101 with Madara Uchiha. I know we'll be getting one more episode of this, and now I'm hoping he slips and does the Tobi voice for Sasuke.

[lathspel]

What I learned from this episode:  Itachi took Sasuke's curse mark ...and his nipples apparently?

Also, Sasuke is pretty quick to take on a new mission in life.  I think he's got a bit of a rebound thing going on. 

[Lantern7]

Didn't think about the curse mark until I saw that area on Sasuke. Poor guy. He got what he wanted, but now he has an entire village to hate. Also, darn near everything he knew about his brother was a lie.

Shit . . . no curse mark = no transformation into a wacky Japanese creature. At least Naruto has the fox cloak that looks menacing as hell.

[Sandman87]

Lucky for Sasuke that Madara was around to give him a new enemy. After spending his entire life motivated by hate, he might have had trouble adjusting otherwise.

My main question is: Will he ditch the stupid looking Team Orochimaru uniform with the giant purple rope bow in the back?

[Sandman87]

In this nin-tastic episode: All the audio sounds like it's coming through a cardboard tube for some reason. Naruto & friends search for Sasuke. They search and search and search. And then they give up.

Meanwhile, Sasuke sits on some sort of giant skeleton thingy and remembers happy stuff about Itachi that he couldn't remember before. Sasuke decides not to take Itachi's eyes.

Tobi reveals to Zetsu that he's really Madera. Zetsu is pleased as can be. Sasuke decides to work with the Akatsuki and go after the Eight-Tails.

Sasuke and friends, now going by the name Taka (which means "hawk") and sporting Akatsuki robes, track down the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, who turns out to be a hip-hop rhyming sort of guy named Killer Bee who carries eight swords and likes to call everyone "fool." Bee proceeds to make Suigetsu and Jugo look like..well...fools.

[Lantern7]

I've heard about Killer Bee. And damn, he delivers. Like a cross between Hulk Hogan, Eminem and Mr. T. I'm thinking I should check out the original version, but the dub isn't too bad. It's like the anime somehow knew it would be in the same block as Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and One Piece and went, "Man, we gotta up the insanity."

[lathspel]

Yeah, Killer Bee was appropriately nuts.  Sasuke may have his hands full.  I wish Karin were less of a caricature though   

I like the new end title - it was cute!

[Sandman87]

Killer Bee vs. Sasuke: KB wields all seven of the blades that he carries around against Sasuke's one. He's like a super-sized rappin' Zorro. They both also play with Suigetsu's sword a bit.

KB turns out to be (bee?) so tough that Sasuke needs to be healed twice during the fight. Old Duck Hair ends up unleashing the Amaterasu against him because it turns out that KB has complete control over Eight-Tails, and unleashes it to help with the fight. And the Eight-Tails? A "monstrous ox" with eight tentacles. An oxtapus! KB is unconscious at the end of the episode after inflicting a sound beating on Team Taka. Also, for some reason Jugo literally turns into a child after healing Sasuke.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Sandman87

[Lantern7]

Been a while since I've been motivated to do this.

Killer Bee: CHECK IT! I wield eight blades! My flow is quite sick! Roronoa Zoro can eat a fat dick!!!

Suigetsu: He's not black. (shouting at Killer Bee) You're not black . . . you know that, right?

Killer Bee: Yeah, I know. I'm one culture's interpretation of another culture. I'm basically light refracted from a prism. (beat) FOOL!

Sasuke: Meh. He's not the most obnoxious blonde asshole I've had to deal with.

Karin: Sasuke, my love. You may not survive this battle. Bite me. Take my chakra unto yourself!!

Jugo: You know the battle has barely begun. Are things that bad?

Karin: (grabbing Jugo's head) THERE'S NO TIME!!! Bite me, Sasuke!!!

Sasuke: If that will reassure you. And shut you up. (chomp!)

Karin: OOoooooooooo!!!! Oh, Sasuke!! My nipples are SO hard!!!

Jugo: Want to know something weird? So are mine.

Suigetsu: And I'm . . . .you know what? Not finishing that sentence.

[Sandman87]

So glad you stopped it there. I really don't want to know what uses Suigetsu has for the hole in his sword.

[Lantern7]

Totally wasn't thinking that. Also . . . what is the purpose of having a hole in a giant sword? Aside from KB using that for twirling, I don't get the purpose.

[Sandman87]

To make it lighter? So the user can hang it from whatever nail happens to be handy? I dunno.

[lathspel]

Bravo and ew.

I was expecting Suigetsu to be really mad that Killer B almost sliced through the sword.  I guess since he ended up dehydrated, we never really got his take on it. 

It drove me crazy that Killer B only had seven blades though.  Dude, you're the Eight Tails!

This was one of the better fight sequences I think I've seen on this show.  It was almost constant for the whole episode, with few of those long pauses for exposition or angst.  Nice job!

[Lantern7]

I could have sworn B/Bee said he had eight swords, not seven. Sorry for the mistake, though I insist he would say that about Zoro.

ETA: Watched the latest episode again. Tickled that Bee stopped the fight to write in his book. I can't understand kanji, but "YEAH" and "YO" were in English. For some reason, this tickles me. I'd like to see a translation, though.

[Lantern7]

"DON HO NO JUTSU!!!!"

Is this filler? I'm not familiar with the manga, but this feels like filler. Also, nothing says "alarming" like a giant slug hung over a tree branch.

[lathspel]

Definitely feels like filler, which means the Forbidden Jutsu will have exactly zero real world (ok, canon) consequences   

Tall emo guy is like Glinda the Good:  he travels by bubble.  

Also, he has serious Sensei issues (or else formerly lost a padawan?).

[Sandman87]

The young lady who wants to learn all about blowing bubbles has, as far as I can tell, the largest human forehead in all of anime. Sakura has nothing on her.

Yeah, this looks like filler. The best they could come up with for a Forbidden Jutsu is some sort of chakra nuke. Not even trying to make it interesting.

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

"DON HO NO JUTSU!!!!"

Alternately: "Lawrence Welk no Jutsu!"

[lathspel]

It took me more than a week to get the Lawrence Welk joke :/ .

Sai and the giant slug - nice touch.

Leader of the band of thieves is of course the village uncle, right?  The face folds give it away.

Edited February 15, 2017 by lathspel

[Sandman87]

Nice callback to the Chunin exams, where they had the giant leeches that drop from the foliage in the Forest of Death. That must be where Naruto got the idea.

So five random thief ninjas think they're a match for four ninjas from the Leaf? Plus "master" and "student" guest ninjas? Yeah, that'll work out for them. Especially since Mr Bubble-pipe blew away multiple pursuer ninjas all at once in his flashback.

[Sandman87]

Yet another episode where the audio sounds like cardboard tube. More about Bubble-Ninja and his would-be student, but now Naruto is gonna join in.

[Lantern7]

How long is this filler arc?

To review: Bubble Ninja killed his master, and that's why he's reluctant to become a master himself. Also, dudes are hunting him, and they look to be from Haku's village. Minimum, they shop for masks at the same place she he did.

[Terrafamilia]

I am completely lost on how ninja girl with a nuclear bomb implanted in her thinks keeping it around will somehow restore "honor" to her clan. Isn't the fact that it was used and then classified as forbidden that caused her clan's honor to take such a hit in the first place? What does she expect to do, go around and demand people honor her clan or she'll blow them up real good?

[Sandman87]

Somehow she has the technique implanted in her, not a bomb. Which also doesn't really make any sense. Whatever. It's the MacGuffin. It doesn't have to make sense, just so long as everyone is willing to fight over it.

[Lantern7]

So. Much. Filler. I am bitter that Toonami decided to axe One Piece instead of Shippuden. It's not a bad anime, but the bits of awesomeness are further away from each other. It doesn't help that the guy that would be a fan of women's undergarments is dead. Like, unanimated dead.

Lady MacGuffin finds her savior, and everything works out for about half a minute. Then the guy reveals that he killed his father -- the ninja she really wanted -- and basically takes her for extraction and humiliation. A lot of the episode is a comparison about the value of masters between Naruto (who doesn't know Jirayah is dead) and Bubble Ninja. Naruto's pals come in for reinforcements. Sakura punches Naruto for going off on his own, and then he tries to feed her "special" food pills to Sai. I don't think Choji would eat those, and he'd probably chow down on Shikamaru if he was soaked with soy sauce.

Why did we see the full credits? I like. The song's from FLOW, who did "Go!!!" in the original anime. You know . . . "WE ARE FIGHTING DREAMERS!!!" In case you missed it, here it is:

[Sandman87]

In this episode: Bad guy hits Naruto and Mr. Bubble with a technique that paralyzes them, then gets ready to detonate the Forbidden Jutsu.

You may be amused to know that when this episode first came out a few years ago, the subtitles had Shiranami referring to Hotaru as his "tool" rather than his "vessel", which led to amusing lines like "Don't think you can get close to my tool so easily!" and "You can protect my tool!"

[Sandman87]

Word reaches the Hidden Leaf that Pervy Sage is dead. Tsunade calls Naruto to her office to break the bad news to him. Naruto manages to be a colossal asshole about it.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki drain the Six-Tails out of Mr. Bubble.

[Sandman87]

Naruto is sad! Tsunade is sad! The frogs & toads are sad! Flashbacks all around. Shikamaru says "Hey, dumbass! There's a pregnant woman!" and then Naruto isn't quite so sad.

Meanwhile, the best code breaking ninjas at the Leaf can't figure out Pervy Sage's last message. Looks like they're going to punt it to Naruto to figure out. Because he's an analytical genius! Bwahahah...sorry, couldn't keep a straight face there.

[Lantern7]

Latest episode: So. Much. Emphasis on kanji. I know, can't be avoided, but dang. At least we know Naruto is literate. If somebody at the Ninja Academy (or whatever) had a learning disability, how would they know? Anyway, Yoda Toad (Toada?) takes Naruto to his kingdom for the Sage Training that Jiraiya-chan got all those years ago.

[Lantern7]

Has anybody else been watching? Good storylines, with Naruto in Toad/Frog Kingdom, learning Sage Jutsu. There are the usual difficulties, but he's not being a huge brat about it. Of course, Pain decides to make this the time to rain hell down upon the Leaf Village. If the ninja at the beginning who quips about nothing bad happening (or something along those lines) survives, I hope the others murder him.

Hey, Ino's dad does psychic interrogations! And Neji isn't above cheating at cards. Also: Konohamaru's friends without Konohamuru. That last bit isn't really interesting.

[Terrafamilia]

The best part was frog sage beating Naruto with a stick. Sure, he gave some chakra blah blah excuse for it but I'm sure it was just because he thought Naruto needed it on general principle.

[Sandman87]

It's hurting me tremendously to resist the urge to use every frog pun that I know after this episode. At least we found out why "Ma" and "Pa" were perched on Pervy Sage's shoulders during his fight with Pain, as well as why he looked like Karl Malden during Sage Mode.

[Lantern7]

36 minutes ago, Terrafamilia said:

The best part was frog sage beating Naruto with a stick. Sure, he gave some chakra blah blah excuse for it but I'm sure it was just because he thought Naruto needed it on general principle.

It served two purposes: to keep Naruto still, and to prevent him from sucking up too much nature energy and becoming a toad. Or frog. I don't blame the kid for being freaked out at the prospect, or finding it disturbing that he's liking Ma's "cooking" a little more.

[Lantern7]

Last episode:

Tsunade: Okay . . . we're off to combat Pain!

Messenger Toad: Hey! Wait! Aren't you going to see me off?!?

Tsunade: We have no time!

Messenger Toad: Hey, I'm not making this about myself. I'm just saying that in the time you close the door and when I vanish, something very bad can happen. Then we wouldn't have Naruto to go sickhouse on all of the Pains.

Tsunade: NO TIME! Off to summon my giant slug with the butthole mouth! And maybe get some veggies for Tonton! (entourage leaves the office)

Messenger: *sigh* I am getting too old for this sh-

Danzo: (wielding a knife) Not for much longer you won't.

Messenger Toad: Oh, COME ON!!!!! (stab)

[Sandman87]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Off to summon my giant slug with the butthole mouth!

It's about what a real slug's mouth is like, but a real slug's has a ring of tooth-like things on it.

You have to wonder about the ninja who made the first ever contract with a giant slug for summoning. Did they wake up one day and think to themselves "Ooh, you know what would be cool? A giant slug! I think I'll go find one and make friends!", or what?

[Lantern7]

Caught last week's episode. Not much hope for the Leaf, as Pain fucks everything and everybody up, including brutally taking down Choji's father and murdering Kakashi. I know, the latter won't stick. And Choji is just the biggest wreck, with tears and snot. Not a great look.

Will we be seeing all of our favorite ninja before Naruto shows up? I want to see Rock Lee and/or Might Guy deal with a Pain. I think The Power Of Youth!!!! can only be so effective.

[Sandman87]

The Leaf is screwed. Pain tries to screw Kakashi, with an actual screw. Kakashi screws himself with a fatal case of chakra depletion. Tsunade tells the two counselors to screw off. No sign yet of the Neon Orange Ninja Screwball.

I like the fact that Kakashi's Mud Wall jutsu has dog sculptures on it. Do the decorations come free, or do they cost extra chakra?

[Sandman87]

Giant slugs! Giant multi-headed dogs! Giant water buffalo! It's like a ninja version of Destroy All Monsters all up in here. The ANBU ninja strut their stuff, and it would be terrifying against anything other than Pain's giant monsters.

Danzo is making his move. Last week he killed the frog who was supposed to fetch Naruto, and this week he instructs his henchninjas to lay low until the current situation is resolved so that he can oust an exhausted Tsunade and install himself as Hokage.

Naruto is still training in the Toad Village. Turns out he won't be able to have Ma and Pa toad perch on his shoulders to gather nature chakra because of the 9-Tails. Bummer. Guess he might have to settle for having merely ungodly amounts of chakra, unless he can figure out a way to apply his swiss-army jutsu (clones) to the problem.

[Lantern7]

Caught last week's episode: (A) Pain vs. Konohamaru. The little guy has grown up, though expecting Naruto to teach him a new "sexy jutsu" is a little squicky . . . especially when Naruto mentions "rotation," and we get Konohamaru imagining a pole dance.

I'm hoping that Konahamaru's Rasengan isn't anywhere near as powerful as Naruto's, and that he needed it in order to get Ebisu the hell out of Dodge. The kid has lost his grandfather and uncle within a few years, but I don't think he's had somebody he's liked murdered near him.

I'm filing the tongue grabbing demon that looks like the mad scientist from Bleach under "Because Japan, That's Why."

[Sandman87]

Yeah, I'm going to assume that the tongue jutsu was a lethal illusion since no one else can see it when it happens.

[Sandman87]

Pain has a little chat with Tsunade. "There is too much pain in the world because nobody really knows pain, so I'm going to inflict pain in order to make sure that there's no more pain", or some such stupidity. Then he casually kills Shizune, floats up into the sky, and nukes the Hidden Leaf Village with the Godzilla-sized version of his push jutsu. All I can say is that I'll be pissed if Tonton got hurt.

Sakura manages to survive the Big Push because Katsuyu protected her (along with everyone else, probably). She starts crying and yelling for Naruto, who magically appears perched on a giant toad, who's perched on an even more giant toad. And he has Sage-mode toad eyes! He's Narutoad! Presumably he's going to inflict some pain on Pain now.

[Lantern7]

Apparently, Team Guy was out on a mission. He and Lee could probably clear up the mess quicker than Naruto with his new mojo, but they're not the main protagonists. Still, it would be funny if one of the Pains accidentally got Lee drunk.

Nice to see family members for the first time since the end of Orochimaru's invasion arc in the original series. I'm thinking Shino and his family need sunglasses because they had hordes of insects where their eyes should be. On a cute note, I like Akamaru marking (a) Pain.