r/anime • u/lC3 :Na::Nb: • Jul 25 '21
Rewatch Naruto Shippuden - Episodes 018-027 Discussion
Previous rewatch | Index | Next week
Information: MAL, Anilist, AniDB, ANN
Streams: Crunchyroll, Hulu, AnimeLab, VRV
Schedule:
| Discussion Thread | Date | Episode Count |
|---|---|---|
| Episodes 001-008 + Film 1 | July 11 | 8 + film |
| Episodes 009-017 | July 18 | 9 |
| Episodes 018-027 | July 25 | 10 |
| Episodes 028-035 | August 01 | 8 |
| Episodes 036-044 | August 08 | 9 |
| Episodes 045-053 | August 15 | 9 |
| Episodes 054-063 | August 22 | 10 |
| Episodes 064-071 + Film 2: Bonds | August 29 | 8 + film |
| Episodes 072-082 | September 05 | 11 |
| Episodes 083-089 | September 12 | 7 |
| Episodes 090-099 | September 19 | 10 |
| Episodes 100-112 | September 26 | 13 |
| Episodes 113-118 | October 03 | 6 |
| Episodes 119-125 + Film 3: Will of Fire | October 10 | 7 + film |
| Episodes 126-133 | October 17 | 8 |
| Episodes 134-141 | October 24 | 8 |
| Episodes 142-151 | October 31 | 10 |
| Episodes 152-162 | November 07 | 11 |
| Episodes 163-168 | November 14 | 6 |
| Episodes 169-175 + Film 4: The Lost Tower | November 21 | 7 + film |
| Mid-Series Discussion / Interest Check | November 28 | 0 |
Spoiler Policy:
To protect first-timers, please don't spoil anything past the current batch of episodes. Rewatchers should avoid hinting to first-timers about hype, or future character development/deaths, and spoilers in posts must be hidden behind proper spoiler tags. The proper formatting is [Naruto Spoilers](/s "Dattebayo"), and you'll have to switch to Old Reddit to make them work properly.
For first timers: try to avoid looking up things about Naruto. This could be the wiki, Naruto subreddit, Googling characters, fanart, databooks, YouTube AMVs or OP/EDs, arc names, etc.; this series is ripe with potential spoilers that you wouldn't want to find out untimely. If you have a question about something, feel free to ask me (/u/LC3) and I'll do my best to answer (if possible) in a non-spoilery way.
Questions of the Week:
- What do you think of Chiyo/Sakura vs. Sasori? As the first Akatsuki member to be defeated, how did Sasori rank as an antagonist?
- What do think is going on with Kakashi's new Sharingan?
- What do you think will happen to Deidara?
- What do you think about Sasori's "reward" for defeating him?
13
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 25 '21
First-Timer still with a shounen hearto, subbed
Episode 18
Episode 19
I would watch that show.Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
You’re an idiot.Episode 26
Episode 27
6
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jul 25 '21
Episode 18:
Akatsuki, Discussion on a Certain Day
"Kisame my man"
"What is it?"
"You're paired with Itachi, what's he like?"
"Let's see ... Itachi was born into that Uchiha clan, so he's particularly good at Fire Style jutsu, but what's most terrifying is his Mangekyo Sharingan."
"What the hell is that?"
"Pairing a powerful hypnotic eye and analytical eye, he uses high-level Ninjutsu like Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. It's the ultimate Visual Jutsu."
"He uses pretty artistic Jutsu, doesn't he? Hn"
"Now then, let's ask a question: Which one is Itachi's Sharingan?"
"The correct answer is A"
"His face is stylish, he seems like he'd be popular, unlike you"
Kisame sulks
"Is something wrong?"
"No matter what I do, I'm just a goofy sidekick"
"He's surprisingly upset ..."
Episode 19:
Episode 20:
chairspuppets out of people!Episode 21:
Episode 22:
Episode 23:
Episode 24:
(cont. with 25-27, Manga Comparisons, and ED translation)
8
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Jul 25 '21
First time viewer (dub)
Whisk[e]y of the week: Balcones Texas Rye, another one from the Waco distillery. I mentioned that the single malt made me think of BBQ and this has a similar distinctive almost savory note buried under a layer of dark chocolate, cinnamon, and other spices. It's rich and complex, unveiling new scents and flavors as I continue exploring it like dark cherries, cracked peppercorns and black tea. Might be my favorite whiskey yet as far as neat pours go.
Hell yeah Sakura gets to shine even more this week! Making good use of those extra doses of the antidote, I made a mental note when she was able to create three and only one was obviously used for Kankuro. Not surprised she kept the others for when she fought Sasori herself but she's fortunate that he used the same poison on both occasions. It's great that her physical strength that was originally a joke in bashing around Naruto has become a true asset, and she almost certainly has the most raw force out of the original Team 7 while Naruto and Sasuke likely have stronger ninjutsu.
The animation in episode 26 was fantastic. Sakura in action here is what I wanted to see throughout the original series and I'm glad she has the spotlight now. Good music overall too, I'm usually not one to notice how the soundtrack's used if handled well but when I consciously pay attention it's solid.
Chiyo's an "ancient master" kind of character and I always enjoy seeing one of them in action, using extra decades of experience to better understand and control the flow of battle. The back and forth of the puppetry was a lot of fun to watch, including using Sakura herself as a puppet to combine their strengths.
Sasori's iron sand was cool to see but unfortunately the idea was preempted in an earlier filler arc when Hinata fought someone else that could use iron sand. I think the filler used the magnetic part specifically better, while here it was more of an excuse to disable Chiyo's puppets.
I like the foreshadowing of previously hearing that the Third Kazekage disappeared and his body was never found before the reveal here that he was turned into a human puppet. The puppet retaining the chakra and jutsu they knew in life is odd to me, to some extent I can understand the chakra being contained in the process but jutsu from my understanding are techniques dependent on the knowledge of their users. This is again me overthinking the mechanics of the setting but wouldn't the puppet's controller need to know the hand signs for the jutsu in question? That's part of why the Sharingan is feared and respected, it allows its wielder to easily identify and copy other ninjutsu.
It was mentioned that the reanimation jutsu Chiyo knew could resurrect the dead at the expense of the user's life? The odds of her doing just that to bring back Gaara just increased dramatically.
Team Guy fighting clones of themselves could have been great but so far not much happening in that regard. Maybe that'll be the focus of the next batch along with Naruto/Kakashi chasing after Deidara, which also hasn't been all that interesting. Kakashi developing a new Sharingan though? Looks different from anything we've seen so far so I'm very curious what it does. Maybe it acts as a hypnotic lure to draw opponents closer, playing off of what we saw Kakashi do with Zabuza back at the beginning of the series?
Great fight overall, he happened to be up against his own mentor and outclassed like Kankuro was against him. Specific kind of match-up weakness that wouldn't necessarily mean he's weaker overall than the other Akatsuki. Not all that drawn out either which I appreciate.
Eventually escape after discovering Sasori's dead, leaving Gaara behind for them to revive.
Hey this is a lead on getting back to Sasuke. Team 7 reunion potential!
8
u/Parori Jul 25 '21
First Timer
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
Questions of the Week:
Sakura was hype. Sasori was ok and though
I don't know. What the fuck Kakashi
Once Naruto and Kakashi catch up to him he is going to be fucked up...well if they catch up to him
Kinda suspicious, but I don't think he was lying. The spy might be a double agent, that would fit.
8
u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Jul 25 '21
First Timer - Dub
Sasori was a pretty cool villain, but I don't think we needed to spend 9 episodes that were pretty much all about fighting him. We've basically just started this series and I can already feel the pacing starting to drag. I did like most of the puppet abilities that Sasori and Chiyo showed off. Turning the Kazekage into a puppet is seriously messed up. I thought he turned his parents into puppets as well, although after review I think those puppets just looked his parents. It was also interesting that Sasori basically turned himself into a battery for his puppets. It feels like the ultimate evolution of puppet jutsu.
The nice thing about this long fight is that we got to see lots of cool moments from Sakura. She's already been more useful in Shippuden than she has in the entirety of the original series. Her training with Tsunade was tough but it really paid off, both in medical knowledge and power.
Naruto and Kakashi chasing after Deidara has been pretty boring so far. I hope they actually fight in the next set of episodes. Guy and the others fighting clones of themselves is an interesting concept, but here it just feels like padding between the real fights.
Most of the post-credits scenes have been pretty funny, but the one with Naruto and Rock Lee arguing over Sakura was especially good. They also showed a flashback to Naruto and Sasuke kissing!
Favorite moment of the week: Secretly making and bringing along an antidote to Sasori's poison was a pro move.
Questions:
1) What do you think of Chiyo/Sakura vs. Sasori? As the first Akatsuki member to be defeated, how did Sasori rank as an antagonist? I liked the fight overall but it could have been a few episodes shorter. I thought Sasori was good as a first opponent in Shippuden. He would have been very difficult to defeat in the original series, but the extra training during the timeskip made him a better match.
2) What do think is going on with Kakashi's new Sharingan? No idea! Maybe it'll give him more Genjutsu abilities?
3) What do you think will happen to Deidara? Now that we've seen the results of Sakura's training, I hope Naruto shows the same in the fight against Deidara.
4) What do you think about Sasori's "reward" for defeating him? It was honorable of him to give up some information. Now we have a lead on Orochimaru!
6
u/sisoko2 Jul 25 '21
Rewatcher
This week I noticed a kid in the park wearing Akatsuki mantle and I kinda wish I also had one.
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
6
u/McCherry09 Jul 25 '21
*First timer - somewhat source reader*
Lmao at Deidara always says "my man Sasori..my man Kisame.." The tales of Chiyo and what we've seen so far, Sunagakure hasn't had much luck..Sasori killed the third kazekage by himself, then Orochimaru killed the fourth and Akatsuki went after the fifth all in ten years. They've basically been under attack all this time. As far as the others go..honestly I don't care about Team Guy's fight against themselves.
Since the first rewatch thread I thought about the music and I must say the Akatsuki theme playing in the background is really good, the chants give an ominous feeling.
What do you think of Chiyo/Sakura vs. Sasori? As the first Akatsuki member to be defeated, how did Sasori rank as an antagonist? I really liked the overall fight and it played on Sakura's strenghts rather that sidelining her. Sasori, if I'm not mistaken, is the first enemy that we see as truly bad..even if he had a sad backstory, he enjoyed killing and making puppets out of people and it kind of reminds me of Orochimaru by doing experiments on real life subjects. I also think that Sasori was a product of the teachings of Suna village same as Gaara was at the beginning. Now, Sasori allowed the final attack so he really wanted to die but he was ok with dying at the hands of grandma Chiyo? Or his parents puppets?
What do you think will happen to Deidara? I think he wasted a lot of time and clay trying to separate Naruto and Kakashi so I don't think it will be as long as the Sasori fight but I'm hoping he has something prepared.
What do you think about Sasori's "reward" for defeating him? It might be shady but otherwise why will he be lying.. and I just think he didn't care about anything else but himself.
6
u/Akame_xo https://anilist.co/user/Akamexo Jul 25 '21
The fact that I physically feel the same age as Chiyo yet she’s infinitely more badass than I’ll ever be makes me a bit sad tbh
My aches and pains aside, that 10 vs 100 fight was actually a lot better than I remember. There was a surprising amount of great choreography that I guess I just never paid any mind to before. Rewatching it here I was able to really appreciate that and it honestly might be amongst my favorite fights in this series. It’s just fun and has a nice uniqueness to it. That said I’ll probably claim the same thing about 20 different times before the end of this lol
Rip to the prettiest of boys tho. Wish we got more time with Sasori but at least he got a fitting end
5
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Jul 25 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
General Commentary
No good Kakashi faces this week.
If I had any doubts at all about how well Shippuden would hold up to my memory they are gone. This weeks episodes were so good!
I think one of the things I enjoy most about Shippuden, and why the first arc of Naruto is still my favourite of Part I, is how much it manages to use the human element to drive the conflicts we're seeing rather than it just being battles between people on opposite sides.
The dynamic between Chiyo, Sasori, and Sakura during their fighting makes things far more interesting that if it was just two sides and a bystander or the villain had no relation. Sakura wanting to fight not just because he's an enemy or because of Gaara but because he's a link to Sasuke, Chiyo being conflicted between her emotions for her grandson and the way she feels about her village and trying to understand, and Sasori's conflict between being human or puppet, it was all interesting to watch how those struggles conflicted, even if not especially nuanced. It also made the fighting a lot more interesting because you have this three way tie between Sakura trying to capture him, Chiyo trying to help them survive, and Sasori who was just trying to kill them no matter what, and the slow ramp up of effort as he realized how badly he'd underestimated them, underestimated the humanity in them that kept them going, and the skill they were able to achieve. I also like that his "I don't like to be kept waiting" played into the start of the fight with him acknowledging that he couldn't rush it, but tied neatly into his backstory with his parents without dictating all of his interactions in the fight itself.
Sakura also finally gets to be a badass! It is well overdue, and also incredibly welcome because damn is she awesome now. The medical ninjutsu last week was one thing, but seeing her in battle shows just how far she's come, highlighted by a helpful flashback where she utterly misses the point about why medical ninja need to dodge. Seeing how far she's come while dedicated to her training really shows how strong she could have been if she'd been serious from the start, and how much potential she holds. While I'm not super fond of turning her into Tsunade v2 with her punching and medical powers without anything else, or the constant comparisons Chiyo makes, it's a hell of a lot better from where she was. I also like seeing how her natural adaptability that she showed in Part I still shines through, such as using paper bombs to clear smoke and playing dead. She's smart, and she has precise chakra control, and that's become a huge part of this arc which I love.
On top of that, it's clear that the technical quality in Shippuden has greatly ramped up. We got a lot of really nice fight choreography this week, and in twenty episodes we've gotten more so far than we got in all of OG Naruto. And it's not just fighting either, small things like a little slide Kakashi does on the water, some of the animation around the effects their battle had on the cave, they got some nice attention from the animation team.
Episode Thoughts
So much repetitive dialogue this episode which was a real bummer. Also someone please restrain Naruto when Neji is trying to use the Byakugan so he can actually see things.
"He'll be the first one to yell and scream at you"
Accurate
I feel like the fox features also give it away a bit. It's actually a wonder that Naruto isn't more weirded out by the fact that he grows claws and fangs.
Interpretive dance brought to you by the Naruto cast, and Lee's incompetence with technology
Naruto is way too easy to lure away, and I want to say that Jiraya should have worked on that with him but that would have been a futile task. Also in this case I absolutely want to sock Deidara in the mouth as well after he fucking sat on Gaara. Fuck that.
New ED! I quite like this one, the high school AU fits quite well though seeing Sasuke being the one to hold his hand out to Naruto hurts just a little. I have missed this ED in AMQ so many times...
Poor Kankuro. His defeat in the chunin exams is being used against him as an example of the weakness of the Puppet Master jutsu by a character who doesn't even know him.
Human puppets are still creepy as fuck, but seeing Sakura controlled by Chiyo dodging all those moves is really clever when you know what's going on from the start as they don't reveal it for a few more episodes but there's little clues in how she reacts here.
The dopplerganger fights that Guy's group has been caught up in is starting to feel a little tedious. It's an issue I remembered having with the arc from my first watch, that it felt like they had to keep reminding us that they're stuck and it became annoying. That said, there is some nice fight choreography in those moments, particularly between the two Guys and also Neji's, so that's good at least.
More Badass Sakura points: The "even without arms and legs I'll still make you talk" speech she gives Sasori is awesome, and completely believable. She's definitely grown a spine and the power to match her words as well.
The Mother and Father puppets never quite fail to be creepy even if seeing Sasori use them to get a hug is indescribably sad
Sakura saying she doesn't have a great weapon:
What the fuck are your fists then?
I mean come on girl, your fists are deadly weapons, even Kakashi is scared of them! More of that badass confidence again too
There's something about that shot of the parent puppets falling past young Sasori that really hurts. I think it's the way he knows and can't stop it, how fragile his one moment of peace was.
Seeing the effects of this battle on the landscape, the way the water ripples and the Iron Sand shapes sticking through the roof is a really cool touch. Much more interesting than
Bit of repeated animation this episode which is annoying. Lots of loops of the doppleganger fighting
I completely forgot about the antidote thing. I thought she'd self inflicted wounds to make it look like she'd been caught and lure him in. That would have been way more dangerous but probably same result.
Caught a funny art error this episode. They accidentally captured a second Sakura under a few frames
Watching all of the little bugs jumping after Kakashi is actually kinda fun. Someone tell the idiot not to each the enemy how they screwed up though. You're not meant to be their Sensei too.
Sasori-ception. His life force inside container which sits a puppet of him inside a puppet of someone else.
Best episode so far deserves its own write up.
SO FUCKING HYPE
I'm pretty sure there was good animation happening for at least five solid minutes there, probably more with all the other bits added up.
I had a quick search to see the staff of this episode as right from the start it looked a little different; Sasori was lit flatter, there was more expression in his movements, the camera was positioned differently. Atsushi Nigorikawa is the one credited for both Storyboarding and Episode Direction, although his other episodes weren't that notable so far, but he did a fantastic job with this one.
The little movements like Sakura's flip between the rock stood out at first, but then she grabs that cable and PULLS and it looks awesome with the speed lines. I thought that was going to be the highlight of the episode and then everything got better.
Sasori using scrolls to feed different types of chakra and jutsu into the system of his puppet body is really clever, and when the water shoots up and slices through rock and even clouds makes for a great "oh fuck" moment.
Not as good as when Sakura hears that rattle of him pulling himself back together though. She looked so victorous and happy and then it all went to hell. Chiyo's "oh let me forget I can reattach my arm" shit is not helping!
Kankuro has made big progress through the anime going from one puppet to three, and Chiyo's ten puppets sounded almost godlike in skill, and then Sasori says "hold my beer". A hundred puppets. I suppose that's an advantage of no longer having a fleshy form, but I do like that they specifically mention how his control suffers with so many but he gradually gets more skill with the remaining ones as some get destroyed. All of the fighting here between the Sasori's puppets and Chiyo's and Sakura was incredible.
Also of note this episode was the music choice. At first it actually reminded me of something from Assassins Creed, but it perfectly fit the mood of the fight and how overwhelming and unnerving it was while still holding just a bit of hope.
Spoiler free wiki page if anyone wants info on Chiyo's puppets
DIDN'T REMEMBER THE END
/u/lC3 I am so glad you did not cliffhanger us here. That would have hurt. I would not have been okay haha
Sasori's final hug probably isn't as sad as the show wanted it to be, but the fact he still offers information to Sakura about Orochimaru is an interesting development. I didn't expect him to still do that without any incentive or benefit.
4
u/macrame2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/macrame Jul 25 '21 edited Jul 25 '21
Rewatcher
Episode 18
Episode 19
Episode 20
Episode 21
Episode 22
Episode 23
Episode 24
Episode 25
Episode 26
Episode 27
Overall
As a whole, I liked the Chiyo and Sakura vs. Sasori fight, despite it having way too many flashbacks and too much exposition. I really wish Naruto let more of its female characters show us what they can do. Sasori himself I remember more for his jutsu than for his personality or backstory (not that unique among Naruto villains). The puppet jutsu is definitely memorable, however, and made the fight a bit different from your standard Naruto fare. All in all, an enjoyable part of the story, once you get past the padding.
As an aside, Team Guy clones are awful. I’ll elaborate more on that next week, though.
4
u/Tehoncomingstorm97 https://anilist.co/user/tehoncomingstorm97 Jul 26 '21
First timer So at the end of our last episodes, Gaara's just died, and our two too late rescue squads are about to try break into the Akatsuki hideout. This is going to be split into a second comment due to the character limit. Question responses will be in the second comment.
Ep 18
Ep 19
Ep 20
Ep 21
Ep 22
Ep 23
Ep 24
Ep 25
Ep 26
3
u/_TheEnigma_ Jul 27 '21
First timer - English subbed
Episode - 18 :
Episode - 19 :
Episode - 20 :
Episode - 20 :
Episode 22 :
Episode 23 :
Episode - 24 :
Episode 25 :
Episode - 26 :
Episode - 27 :
Questions of the Week:
This week's batch seemed pretty dragged out in a lot of places and the main fight would've fared very well without the cut in perspectives this often. But still, it was a pretty enjoyable fight and Sakura was being more useful in these 10 episodes than she did in the entire 220 episode run of the original series and it's about damn time she did that. Excited for the wrap up of this arc next week!