Naruto: Shippuden - General Discussion

[lathspel]

It has been so long, I had to lookup who Tenten was :( .

Looking forward to seeing Tsunade's assistant out in the field. But, did I hear correctly that four of them will seal the three-tails without Yamato's help?

[lathspel]

Guren has an emotional attachment... so she is totally dead, right?

[Lantern7]

In other news, Sai still sucks at taking the temperature of a room. "Billboard Brow" and "Ino-Pig" are as forbidden as saying fat slurs around Choji. Getting two fists to the face meant that the girls went easy on Sai.

[Sandman87]

Guren's henchninjas get owned by half of the new and improved Leaf team, while the other half get started on containing the Three Tails. Akamaru demonstrates that whizzing like a lawn sprinkler can be useful. Those wacky ninjas; they'll weaponize anything! Lee shows off his ability to see with his heart. I bet his feet smell and his nose runs too. Naruto pisses Guren off with repeated accusations that she doesn't care about The Kid.

[Lantern7]

Shino: It's interesting to see that a stranger knows more about me than you do, Naruto.

 

Naruto: Aw, who put a bug up your bu- . . . oh. Geez. Sorry about that.

 

Shino: I keep a capsule up there to ease my discomfort.

 

Of course Lee can weaponize heart. And we get new end credits. Not as much fun as the preceding set, but it's still interesting.

[Sandman87]

Shino's anti-crystal bugs make their debut, and the combined efforts of the Leaf are able to force Guren to flee. Meanwhile, Tobi has to make his own way after annoying Deidara, and manages to find "a suspicious lake." What makes it suspicious? Was it lurking in the shadows, wearing a trench-coat? Turns out that it's the lake where everyone is fighting over the Three Tails.

 

Ino is still the weak link in setting up the seal on the Three Tails.

[lathspel]

If I were Daedara, I might have bit on the "I'll let you see inside my mask." Funny how the Akatsuki seem to arrange teams based on maximizing the annoyance factor. (If they knew they were going after an aquatic tailed beast, why not send their shark guy?)

Orochimaru understanding human nature is pretty creepy, really.

Edited March 25, 2016 by lathspel

[Lantern7]

I'm not too hard on Ino. Girl is walking on water. That's a thing with these ninja . . . it's not even a special move. You don't shout "JESUS NO JUTSU!!" before doing it. You just have to have chakra control. Which reminds me . . . how does Rock Lee do that, when he's supposed to be a putz at ninjutsu and genjutsu? Or is it just that big of a badass that he can overcome his shortcomings?

[Sandman87]

Obviously, Lee walks on water with THE POWER OF YOUTH!!

[lathspel]

Yeah, that fragile giant sealing bubble thing was never going to work.

I'm just waiting to see if the Akatsuki can capitalize on it now. I like having three competing elements in this battle - should be fun when everyone finds out that there are three.

[Sandman87]

Four if you count the Three Tails. Five if you count Guren and the Kid gradually splitting off from Orochimaru's faction.

 

Naruto managed to use the Frog Spit technique in a combat situation! Not with particularly spectacular results, mind you, but he managed to do it. Maybe that's his new hammer, and everything looks like a nail to him.

[lathspel]

My favorite part was of course when Guren almost cast Senbon Sakura on the Three-Tails.

[Lantern7]

Naruto is trapped in the belly of the Three Tails. The possessor of a Tailed Beast is trapped within a Tailed Beast. Is this the anime version of a turducken? Anyway, he and Guren fight, talk, and end up trying to escape mini versions of the Beast. Kabuto gives the remaining supporting villains a deadly power-up. It looks like his version of Orochimaru's Curse Mark. And I kinda hate Toonami for showing GIFs of Rock Lee in action, only for that footage not to air this week.

[Sandman87]

Ready, set, go! Only Naruto could turn escaping from a life or death situation into a contest. The look on Guren's face when he did that was priceless.

 

Don't you just love the way that none of the hench-ninjas bothered to ask Kabuto what he was going to do to them, especially after he hinted that it would be bad?

[lathspel]

Please let Naruto be filled with millions of tiny adorable nine-tailed foxes!

I'm kicking myself for not calling it earlier, but obviously Renji and Kabuto are the same person. I just can't tell what Kabuto gets out of it, other than maybe a closer eye on Guren.

[lathspel]

So the Three-Tails is a big turtle, filled with small and tiny turtles? It's turtles all the way down, isn't it?

[Sandman87]

lathspel called it: Renji is Kabuto.

[lathspel]

I'm loving how there's a terrible storm on the lake, except over here where it's really calm.  

I did not think Guren would live out he episode, so color me surprised.  

[lathspel]

Ok, now we are Guren-less.  

I liked the reveal that Renji was safe from the crystal style the whole time.  

I did not like that the three tails just sat still for a couple minutes while Team Toad came up with a plan.  

So Kabuto is a skin collector?  I vaguely remember that.  Nice that his weapon is a scalpel, although head to head Naruto seems to have an edge.  

[Sandman87]

Here's a question: If the Leaf Village has this technique that will seal a tailed beast without needing someone to seal it into, then why didn't they use it on the Nine-Tails instead of saddling Naruto with all that misery? I know, I know...filler.

4 hours ago, lathspel said:

So Kabuto is a skin collector?  I vaguely remember that.  Nice that his weapon is a scalpel, although head to head Naruto seems to have an edge.  

I never really thought about it before, but it makes sense that he would be. His boss Orochimaru was wearing someone's skin when we first met him.

[Lantern7]

I liked the teamup, even if it felt Toad Ex Macchina. Orange Toad knew fire style all along? Okay, then.

[lathspel]

Toad ex Machina - nice!

I assume the Leaf came up with the sealing jutsu so they could avoid creating any more Jinchuriki?

Honestly, the toughest part of this arc has been watching them try to seal and seal again, knowing that from a story perspective it will never be accomplished.  (Because: Akatsuki, I suppose.)

[Sandman87]

Orange Toad did mention once before that he didn't have water based chakra, so the fire style isn't a complete surprise.

[lathspel]

So basically nobody died (except the supposedly tough Anbu Black Ops and Kabuto's minions), and Yukimaru is back with some female monks?  I'm a bit dissatisfied with how quickly that wrapped up, it's like we were going to be late for Naruto annoying people back in the Leaf village or something.  

Of course the way you capture a turtle is to flip it on its back, why didn't I think of that?  And presumably it's easier for the Akatsuki to drain a Tailed Beast with no Jinchuriki to deal with?

[Sandman87]

I dunno about that, but...filler, you know?

Now I understand why Tobi was allowed to join the Akatsuki: He's the designated chew-toy, like one of those indestructible rubber dog bones.

I wonder what the deal was with all the little three-tails that were inside the Three-Tails. Was it getting ready to unleash a flood of little walking disasters on the world? As if nine Tailed Beasts wasn't enough.

[Lantern7]

I'm spoiled as to who Tobi is. Odd that he'd be such a dork in this time. I like his look, with the mask that has a single eyehole.

Anybody else a little put off that Deidara took out the Three-Tails so easily, when it gave the Leaf and Kabuto so many problems?

[lathspel]

I am kicking myself for being partially spoilered on that too, and I suspect it will unfortunately be a while before we get there.  

I love the world building of Naruto, but when I try to scratch even the smallest itch to know more, it bites me every time :( .

Sandman87 - this one was good enough that I forgot it was filler (!).

[Terrafamilia]

I only just now realized that Kabuto is essentially Orochimaru's Smithers.

[Sandman87]

Heh. I can just hear it: "Ex-cellent. Kabuto! Unleash the snakes!"

This week: Orochimaru isn't feeling too well, and Kabuto is worried. Orochimaru wants Sasuke's body...er, that is, he wants to get inside his...wants to use...uh, take over! He wants to take over Sasuke's body. Sasuke decides that he wants to keep his body Orochimaru-free, and tries to kill him. O-chan reveals that he's made of snakes, which should surprise no one. They fight! Meanwhile, back in the Leaf, Tsunade receives reports.

[lathspel]

Sasuke, that power up at the end was not a good look.  You look like you're made of plucked chickens.  

That said, I liked how the season opened with a bang. 

[Sandman87]

On Monday, May 23, 2016 at 8:32 PM, lathspel said:

Sasuke, that power up at the end was not a good look.  You look like you're made of plucked chickens.  

Made of plucked chickens and he still has the "duck on my head" hair. I wouldn't be surprised if he were pigeon-toed too.

[lathspel]

I really enjoyed the Orochimaru back story.  How much, if any, was shown in the original Naruto?

I'm not convinced he's gone, of course.  

[Sandman87]

That's probably the most blatant example of Death By Flashback that I've ever seen. Up until now Orochimaru has had approximately 30 seconds worth of character development over the entire franchise, but this episode gives him almost 20 minutes and then kills him. That's the sort of thing you expect to happen to a minor character, not one of the major forces of a show.

And O-chan's big motivation for being such a naughty ninja? He wants to learn all the jutsu, which means that he needs time, which means that he needs to be immortal, which means that he has to be a bad guy. Talk about a bad case of hoarding.

2 hours ago, lathspel said:

I really enjoyed the Orochimaru back story.  How much, if any, was shown in the original Naruto?

I'm not convinced he's gone, of course.  

Very little of it was shown until now. I think there was a brief bit of the scene where he was caught studying Bad Jutsu by the Third Hokage shown previously, but that's it.

Ah well, at least we still have Kabuto.

[lathspel]

Ok, if that's really all we ever learn about Orochimaru, that is disappointing.  

[Lantern7]

Saw a close-up of Young Tsunade. Kinda thought she looked like Edward Elric. And yeah, I don't think we got many flashbacks from the original series, if any at all. We get stuff with Orochimaru and the Sonin (Tsunade and Jirayiah), working with Anko, and meeting up with the Akatsuki, but the Chunin Exams and the war on the Leaf? Not covered. I'm guessing that would have taken two episodes. And no, I don't think Orochimaru is dead. Just seems too easy.

For your entertainment, here's Orochimaru getting kicked out of the Akatsuki from VGCats.

[Sandman87]

I would have described Young Tsunade as looking like a blonde Sakura, in the same way that Naruto looks like Young Jiraiya and Young Orochimaru resembles Sasuke. Funny how each of the Legendary Sannin ended up with an apprentice that looks a lot like them. Seems a bit narcissistic to me.

[Sandman87]

Loads of flashbackery this week as Sasuke recruits an Orochimaru research subject named Suigetsu, from the Hidden Mist village, who has the ability to transform into water and back. Suigetsu has pointy teeth and a powerful hankering to obtain the Executioner's Sword which was last seen being used by Zabuza back in the first season of Naruto. Much to-ing and fro-ing follows, along with a certain amount of fighting and bullying, and the sword is finally recovered. Next up: Getting a new recruit named Karin for the new Team Sasuke.

Incidentally, Suigetsu means "water moon", and there's a Lake Suigetsu in Japan.

Edited June 13, 2016 by Sandman87

[Lantern7]

They actually named the bridge after Naruto. This amuses me greatly.

LittleKuriboh's spoof on the abridged series based on Naruto isn't that big of a priority to him, but it's a fun way to look back at the early days of the anime. Here's the playlist . . . for the Bridge/Zabuza arc, start with "Milkshake no Justu."

[lathspel]

It's funny how training with that infamous monologuer Orochimaru has made Sasuke even more enigmatic.  By the end, Suigetsu is practically skipping and yapping around him like the little puppy orbiting the stoic bulldog in Looney Tunes. 

[Terrafamilia]

Sasuke continues his recruitment drive and picks up Karin. After some will she or won't she, she says yes, for now, as long as she's going the same way he is. But really it's yes! because she's in love with Sasuke's aura/chakra.

Spoiler

And since she's another Uzumaki why wouldn't she be? ;-)

[Sandman87]

Sasuke says that he's recruiting Karin for her chakra sensing ability, but I think he really just wants to have someone around who has worse hair than he does.

[Lantern7]

Is it okay to refer to Karin as "Four-Eyed Hinata"? Or "Budget Boa Hancock"? Chick falling for the sexually ambiguous ninja? That works.

Gotta love how Sasuke took out the escapees in the flashback. "Kidney punch! Aaaaaaaaand . . . kidney punch!!" And I have the feeling we're not going to see Naruto on his own show for some time.

ETA: I have to share . . . I'm watching American Ninja Warrior, and one contestant had at least one fan waving a "REAL NINJAS WEAR ORANGE" sign. That amused me greatly.

[lathspel]

I'm hoping Karin has some real skills, beyond mooning after Sasuke.  

It occurs to me that Naruto may be ticked off once he sees that Sasuke has built himself a new team, without any help from the Leaf.  

I like the new end title, very summery. 

[Sandman87]

Sasuke, Moisture Guy, and the Chakra Detector go to the Northern Hideout and recruit the guy that Orochimaru used to create Curse Mark Juice (now available in many different flavors!). Naruto manages to piss off both Sakura and Tsunade, resulting in minor injuries for himself and Pervy Sage. He also gets the news that his boy-crush/rival has killed Orochimaru, and that no, it doesn't mean that Sasuke is coming back to the Leaf.

On Monday, June 20, 2016 at 7:43 PM, lathspel said:

It occurs to me that Naruto may be ticked off once he sees that Sasuke has built himself a new team, without any help from the Leaf.  

Given their past rivalry, the logical course here would be for Naruto to build a new team too.

[lathspel]

It's been several episodes so I have to say:  man, Sasuke walks slooowly.  I know he has all this intense emo solemnity to project, but I swear we could fit twice as much in an episode if he walked at a normal pace. 

Also, I like how Naruto says "Pervy Sage".  It's always such a happy greeting. 

[Sandman87]

Sasuke recruits Jugo, who's kind of an uncontrollable death machine except when Sasuke is around. We learn all about his sad history with Kimimaro. You might recall Kimimaro as the guy who used his own bones as weapons, and who nearly killed both Lee and Gaara near the end of Naruto. Sasuke dubs his new group Hibi (snake or snakes), and he still plans to kill his brother.

[Lantern7]

I knew Kimmimaro looked familiar. Looks like Sasuke is ready to murder Itachi. It'll probably take over a year to get a resolution to that story. Also liked the cut to the Leaf in the end. "Oh, shit! This anime isn't titled Sasuke! We gotta get the real lead on screen!!"

[Sandman87]

We take a break from current events this week, and get some flashbackery about Young Kakashi on the cusp of Jonin-hood. Back in the day he was all about "screw your comrades; follow the rules", which is the exact opposite of what he taught Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura when they were playing "grab my ding-a-ling" out in the forest as a training exercise. We see that one of the Uchiha clan was a teammate, and that Kakashi didn't have his Sharingan yet. There was much squabbling over the teammates vs. rules issue.

[Lantern7]

I found it funny that the characters and traits were shuffled among the males. Sadly, Rin came across as a less-annoying Sakura. Funny that Kakashi had his back to the "camera" sans mask. I'm guessing he'll wind up short one eye and get Obito's soon, as well as the Sharrigan.

[Sandman87]

Lantern7, you are correct! Pick up your free internet at the home office.

All the classic (or cliche, your call) bittersweet moments are there: Kakashi reconciles with Obito before his death, and in turn Obito gives him the Sharingan, with assistance from Rin's medical techniques. Also, Kakashi kills the Bad Ninja who killed Obito, and he uses the Sharingan to do it.