Naruto: Shippuden - General Discussion

[Sandman87]

Naruto is all "WFT happened to my village?" Ma Toad says "This is it." Meanwhile, Tsunade is utterly drained of chakra, and even the storage battery on her forehead has disappeared. The usual crowd of Leaf characters digs itself out of the rubble and takes stock. Notably, Hinata scores some clan leadership points with a subordinate. Quite a step up from her "barely tolerated" status at the beginning of the first series.

Naruto confronts Pain. He wipes out the newly resurrected Mechanical Pain with a single punch, tells Tsunade to go have a lie-down, and finds out that Kakashi is dead. The toads take on the summoned critters (one with a lethal butt-smash), while Naruto punches a Pain in the face and then throws his Giant Rasengan.

[Terrafamilia]

I wonder how long it will take till someone tries pulling out those chakra sticks from some of those Pains, and summoned beasts. After all, there were others there when Shizune figured they were chakra transceivers.

[Sandman87]

Naruto has figured out how to use his clones as Sage Mode Chakra reload, summoning them up and dismissing them for a quick rexharge. He uses this in conjunction with his new Rasengan o' Doom to take out a couple of the Pains, including the resurrecting one. No more do-overs for Pain!

Seems to me that the Pain who absorbs chakra based attacks would be a good opponent for Sakura. She could just crank her strength setting up to "Godzilla" and punch him.

[Lantern7]

Nice that Naruto and Geezer Toad came up with a work-around for the Nine-Tails problem. Sadly, Pain is proving to be a real pain.

I thought Mt. Ninjmore Hokage Rock was destroyed by one of the Pains.

[Sandman87]

One of the Pains gets stoned. Pa Toad gets gigged. Naruto gets pinned to the ground like a butterfly on National Lepidoptery Day. The remaining Pain blathers endlessly about how he's going to create an endless cycle of pain to stop the endless cycles of pain. Maybe he's onto something, because listening to him gave my head a pain..

And for some reason the closing credits music has been stuck in my head for three days now.

[Lantern7]

I fast-forward through the end credits, like Toonami does. Nice to be reminded by Hinata still having feelings for Naruto at the start.

Damn, Pain likes to talk a lot. I'd rather listen to Obito deliver a five-minute monologue in his Tobi voice. Also, I'm fearing for Iruka right now. Every other teacher of Naruto has been murdered.

[Terrafamilia]

Naruto finally notices Hinata in that way. Too bad it took her getting gigged like old geezer toad.

[Sandman87]

Well, it only took 13 seasons and 386 episodes, but Hinata finally dropped the "I love you" bomb on Naruto, then got impaled. Remember kids; flashbacks can be hazardous to your health. Naruto is gobsmacked, then enraged. And here comes the Nine-Tails! If I remember correctly, Naruto also still has a chakra recharge clone waiting to be summoned. I don't think Pain will enjoy whatever happens next.

[Lantern7]

In terms of the female chunin of the Leaf Village, I think only Sakura can take a beating better than Hinata. Holy crap. I mean, love her for defending the guy that got her through some bad shit, but she was overmatched as hell. And Pain isn't related to her, so he would have no problem murdering her. Bright side: the Nine-Tails is coming out, and the fecal shall hit the fan.

Still waiting for Team Guy to make the scene. Still convinced Rock Lee could solve everything in two episodes, three if Guy gets him to drink a "special elixir." "Damn, yur're a real pain, Pain. Heh. Pain Pain. So funny. Are there more than one of you? I think I'm fuuuuuuuuuucked up."

[Lantern7]

Heads up: Shippuden has been moved back from 2:30 a.m. to 2.

[Sandman87]

The Nine-Tails comes out to play and ends up manifesting eight of its tails, enough that the only thing missing from it is its skin. It turns Pain's nice neat crater into an even deeper crater, breaking through to the water table and flooding parts of it. And then it proceeds to literally pound Pain into the ground like a tent peg. Pain counters by trying to destroy it with a new moon of his own creation, with little success.

Meanwhile, Naruto is moping in his inner world. The Nine-Tails nearly gets him to release it completely, but he's stopped at the last moment by...the Fourth Hokage, aka his dad! It's worth mentioning that he still hasn't been told who his dad was.

[Lantern7]

Dang, @Sandman87 beat me to it. The Nine-Tails cuts loose, the animation gets wonky as he fights Pain, we learn that Yamato exists as he panics at Naruto's transformation, and Naruto is stopped from releasing the Nine-Tails in full by his dad.

The pounding of Pain is friggin' epic. Thanks to the Toonami Tumblr for capturing that. I think the part where Pain goes flying over the ground for several seconds before getting his head jammed in a crevice was equally awesome and amusing.

ETA: Looks like Toonami didn't have a weird video to fill time, because we got the latest credits in full. Here they are in case you missed them.

[Sandman87]

Naruto has a nice talk with his dad's ghost. Dad reseals the Nine Tails and explains why he decided to make Naruto's life a living Hell put the critter inside his own son. Naruto wakes up in the real world and proceeds to pound Pushy Pain.

[Lantern7]

This week: filler! Actually, it's cute, taking place before the final round of the Chunin Exam. You know, the one where Naruto fucked up Neiji, Sasuke and Gara's battle was interrupted by Orochimaru's machinations, Shikamaru tried to get out of defending the Village by faking unconsciousness, and the Third Hokage sacrificed himself. Also: Naruto shoved an explosive-laden kunai up Shukaku's ass. Good times. Anyway, the plot is kindasorta related to the Pain story, because Naruto goes off on a wild goose chase to find the Fourth's "legacy," not knowing that was his father. We also have Sakura, Shikamaru and his team, and Might Guy advancing the plot in a very painful manner. Of course, only Naruto doesn't see through his "elder" disguise. Oh, and Konahamaru breaks out Sexy No Jutsu: Pole Dance. Hard to believe he'd face down a Pain one day.

[Sandman87]

An episode made possible only by the fact that the adults in the village have all sworn never to tell any of the kids about "the Fourth's Legacy" (aka the Nine-Tails).

 

1 hour ago, Lantern7 said:

Oh, and Konahamaru breaks out Sexy No Jutsu: Pole Dance. Hard to believe he'd face down a Pain one day.

I expect that eventually he'll break out a Sexy Jutsu Armageddon (or similar grandiose name) which will somehow do devastating amounts of real damage, purely through the power of sexy.

[Lantern7]

How long is the filler? I liked the episode from Saturday, but I'd like to get back to the main stuff. "Old School" amounts to "Naruto acting like an idiot," and everybody else sticking to what few character qualities they possess. That includes Guy still trying to play the role of "Elder," even as he has to readjust his wig midway through his final speech. As much as I've like Shippuden and the epic turns in recent episodes, I miss Guy. And Lee. Great mixture of power and insanity.

[Sandman87]

Last week: Pain brings the action to a screeching halt while he explains how painful his painy-pain pain is, part one.

This week: The snooze fest continues.

Pains parents got killed, he met his friends, they met Pervy Sage, Honzo killed one of Pain's friends with an assist from Danzo.

[Lantern7]

I'm okay with the flashback. It's a depressing story, but it's not a level of maudlin where the viewer hasto roll the eyes.

[Terrafamilia]

I just found it odd that Iruka-sensei goes to bed wearing his forehead protector. I guess he's reallly loyal to the Leaf.

[Sandman87]

Maybe he sleepwalks and bumps his head a lot.

I'm a little more concerned about the fact that that the white liquid which Naruto drinks for breakfast has a picture of a bull on the carton.

[Terrafamilia]

Danzō makes his move and is named Hokage (candidate). I can't tell whether it is because King Fire just likes forceful men or he expects Danzo to fall on his face in time for Tsunade to recover. And since this is Naruto most of the episode is made up of flashbacks.

[Sandman87]

I like Danzo's pitch to the king: "You should hire me for the job, because your previous choices all sucked."

[Sandman87]

Does it count as a flashback if it's new material? Because this week's was all about stuff we've never seen before that happened just after Team 7's first mission together. Bandits...teamwork...ramen coupons...learning to stick up for yourself.

[Sandman87]

More flashbackery about how awesome people think Naruto is. This time it's Gaara, remembering how Naruto not only saved his bacon in a joint mission, but also acted as the catalyst for his own villagers to start accepting him.

[Sandman87]

More of the same, but this time with Tenten in her only (so far) focus episode in the entire franchise.

Kinda wondering why no one remembered that they can run across walls and ceilings when they were confronted by the annoying pendulum-blade bridge.

[Lantern7]

I've fallen way behind, and I'll try to catch up before the series comes back.

One question: how much more Naruto is there? From what I understand, there's still a long distance before the finale. After that, would Toonami pick up the follow-up anime Boruto? With that name, doesn't that sound like Sascha Baron Cohen trying to be a ninja? "Shadow Clone no Jutsu. Is nice, yah?"

[Sandman87]

20 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

One question: how much more Naruto is there?

Shippuden goes up to episode 500. We're up to number 184. With all the marathons and specials and other assorted crap, it'll probably take Toonami about seven years to get through it.

[Sandman87]

The cavalcade of faux flashback filler continues...

[Terrafamilia]

Sooo muuuuch fiiiilllleeeeerrrrrrr!!!!!!!!! Ninja ostrich, ninja pollen, ninja conch. How much more? My brain is melting.

[Sandman87]

This is nothing. There was one stretch of something like 80 consecutive episodes of filler in the first series. Not quite sure how I survived that.

There really is a summonable giant ninja version of every creature in existence, isn't there?

[Sandman87]

Even more filler flashbackery, this time involving the cat ninja lady that the Uchiha clan buys its weapons from.

[Sandman87]

This week: A romantic Kakashi pseudo-flashback.

[lathspel]

Took me a while to catch up - my Genin squad originally promised to watch with me, before bailing out for other shows :/ .

I’m enjoying the fillashback episodes, although I’m almost ready to be done.  So far, the Eternal Genin was my favorite.  He could cook and had a fricken sword-leg, for Pete’s sake!

[Sandman87]

More flashbackish stuff. Konohamaru and his friends interview Neji for their article about Naruto, and he punks them with a long story which ends up not being about the knucklehead at all.

[lathspel]

This week: the synopsis said “three legged race”, and I swear that’s what we got.  

The animation style seemed a bit different - more Samurai Champloo than normal.  Someone was definitely showing off with all the sunlight through the leaves, but it really looked pretty. 

I’m finding these flashbacks mildly entertaining, but I miss our prior hardcore dedication to plot.  Are we officially in filler territory, these were omake, or what?

[Sandman87]

Yeah, it's filler. An entire season's worth. We're close to the end of it though.

The latest episode seems like the sort of thing one would get if a Sasuke x Naruto shipper wrote an episode.

[Sandman87]

Some Sasuke-related flashback filler where a spoiled princess type with colon eyebrows demands that Sasuke be her bodyguard. Sasuke, wearing a grey onesie, is unavailable, so Naruto uses a Transformation to impersonate him. Bad guys ensue, Sasuke to the rescue, etc.

[Terrafamilia]

"I want Sasuke!!!"

You're preachin' to the choir, girl.

[Lantern7]

There's a backlog of episodes on DVR. Has the filler ended yet? I scanned a few episodes, and it looks like the flashbacks are bookended by more recent stuff. Am I right?

[Sandman87]

The flashbacks are over. Current episode: Hidden Rain ninjas show up to complain about Sasuke running off with Killer Bee, but are perturbed to discover that the Leaf is a crater full of wreckage. A couple of the visitors want whatever info Naruto has on Sasuke, and they threaten to beat it out of him. Naruto defuses the situation by talking to them. Yeah, I know, where's the fun in that?

Meamwhile, Sasuke wants nothing more to do with the Akatsuki.  "Tobi" tells Sasuke that he still owes him a tailed beast, because the Killer Bee that he brought back was a substitution. Oops! There's still a rappin' octopus junchuriki ninja out there somewhere.

Also, Danzo tells Sai to keep an eye on Naruto. Sakura wants to know more about this Danzo jerk, but Sai literally can't talk about him because of a seal on his tongue. And I don't mean the marine mammal or the singer.

Edited April 14, 2018 by Sandman87

[Sandman87]

Naruto lets one of the Rain ninjas try to beat the stupid out of him. Then he finds out from Kakashi who his father really was. Finally.

[Sandman87]

We meet the Kages of the various villages setting out for the summit, and they're all oddballs of some sort. We already know Gaara from Sand. The Tsuchikage is an old duffer who insists that the young whippersnappers get off of his lawn. The Misukage is easily offended by anything that reminds her of having been dumped at some point. The Raikage is...not subtle about anything.

One of the Raikage's bodyguards demonstrates the almost unheard-of Common Sense Jutsu when he decides to take the stairs rather than jumping through a broken window in the Raikage's office as they set out for the conference.

Meanwhile, Danzo and his bodyguards are waylaid by vengeful ninjas. Danzo reveals that he has a Sharingan!

Team Sasuke looks for a way to sneak into the conference, which takes place in the Land of Iron where they have samurai instead of ninjas.

And finally, Naruto catches up to the Raikage and insists on having a little chat.

[Sandman87]

The Land of Iron Rumble is on. Sasuke is holding his own against the Raikage ninjas and the samurai, but his other two fighters get their butts handed to them. He whips out his "black flames" jutsu and makes a shield to defend himself, but the Raikage demonstrates exactly how hardcore he is by deliberately sacrificing his left hand in order to land a punch. He tries to sacrifice a foot too, but Gaara intervenes to have a quick convo with the Sauce. Meanwhile, Karin very wisely stays behind cover and uses her abilities to monitor the situation.

[Lantern7]

Going through the filler flashbacks, fast-forwarding through a lot of it. "Naruto: Patient Zero" was a fun idea, as was Tenten's episode. She should hang with Winry.

[Sandman87]

Sai tells Naruto why Sakura tried to lie to him, and informs him that all of his classmates have decided to take Sasuke out.

Meanwhile; Sasuke and Madera vs. Danzo! And Danzo's right arm is covered with stolen Uchiha eyes! Ew.

[Lantern7]

Still working through the backlog. Some of the filler was fun.

On 3/28/2018 at 11:47 PM, Sandman87 said:

Some Sasuke-related flashback filler where a spoiled princess type with colon eyebrows demands that Sasuke be her bodyguard. Sasuke, wearing a grey onesie, is unavailable, so Naruto uses a Transformation to impersonate him. Bad guys ensue, Sasuke to the rescue, etc.

 

On 3/29/2018 at 7:37 PM, Terrafamilia said:

"I want Sasuke!!!"

You're preachin' to the choir, girl.

I kinda wanted Sakura to realize the irony of a little girl getting all gushy over Sasuke. Naruto: "Oh, wow, a girl wants that guy. Must be reeeeeeeeeal annoying, huh, Sakura?" Naruto-as-Sasuke as cute as well. I liked the hastily-renamed Lion's Barrage, as well as the VOTW jumping up and down on Sasuke's berserk button.

Oh, and I forgot about Tonton in her little hazmat suit. So cute.

[Lantern7]

Still catching up. Just finished the one when Killer B and his brother the Raikage decapitated the fishman Akatsuki. I'm kinda falling for B all over again. He's just so over-the-top, and even his tailed beast is tired of it.

[Sandman87]

Just for fun, direct from my TWoP backup archive, here's what I posted about this episode seven years ago:

Shippuden 210 - The phrase "knock-down, drag out" can probably be safely applied to this fight. By the end of the episode everyone involved is injured, and everyone has figured out Danzo's transplant jutsu. Danzo summons up something that looks like it was invented by Lewis Carroll (a traditional critter from folklore which devours dreams). Wait...an ugly critter that devours dreams? He's summoned Simon Cowell!

[Lantern7]

So, basically, the Foundation came about because Hanzo got beat to the punch by Saratobi? So weak. And Danzo went out like a punk. I will say that an arm loaded with Sharingan eyes makes for an impressive and intimidating weapon. Over on Hunter x Hunter, Kurapika wanted vengeance on the Phantom Troupe for killing his clan. Imagine his rage had those guys wore the eyes in some manner.

@Sandman87 . . . what, did you archive all your old posts?

ETA: Also, I noticed all the bite marks on Karin’s arm. I don’t think she orgasmic all the time . . . just when Sasuke bit her.

Edited July 28, 2018 by Lantern7

[Sandman87]

20 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

@Sandman87 . . . what, did you archive all your old posts?

Yes, I did. I used a script that someone made available in TWoP's last week to completely back up all of the discussions that I frequented. All of the posts, not just mine.

 

ETA: Sakura rushes to stop Sasuke, hitting her friends with a tranquilizer bomb in the process. Madera inhales dead Danzo to recover one of the eyes that he stole. Sasuke is about to kill Karin, but Sakura intervenes at the last minute.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Sandman87