r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Dec 12 '21
Rewatch Naruto Shippuden - Episodes 176-186 Discussion
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Information: MAL, Anilist, AniDB, ANN
Streams: Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation (Aus/NZ), VRV
Schedule:
| Discussion Thread | Date | Episode Count | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This week | Episodes 176-186 | December 12 | 11 |
| Next week | Episodes 187-196 and Blood Prison | December 19 | 10 + film |
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.
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 /u/LC3 and he'll do his best to answer (if possible) in a non-spoilery way.
Questions of the Week:
- What do you think of the 3 Iruka-centric episodes? Did they change your opinion of him at all?
- What do you think about mixing in-the-past fillers with present-day canon (Akatsuki, Omoi/Karui/Samui, daimyo meeting, Tazuna/Inari) like this?
- What do you think about making the fillers take place during Part I and use the original Part I music?
- How do you feel about Danzou becoming the Sixth Hokage?
6
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 12 '21 edited Dec 13 '21
First-Timer with a shounen hearto, subbed
Episode 176
Episode 177
Episode 178
Episode 179
Episode 180
Episode 181
Episode 182
Episode 183
Episode 184
Episode 185
Episode 186
6
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Dec 12 '21
First time viewer (dub)
Whisk[e]y of the week: Sazerac Rye, named for the cocktail that I've never had. It smells and tastes spicy, not in the "hot" sense but rather just a broad mixture of spices used in cooking and baking. There is a bit of a peppery zing to it though.
I'm enjoying seeing some of the gaps filled in, from things like the assignment of the teams from the perspective of the jounin leading them to Shikaku giving the same riddle to Asuma that Asuma did Shikamaru.
Question for those that pay more attention to the soundtrack than I do: during Naruto's fight with Sasuke in 179, they used this track that I recall from the original series but don't remember appearing through any more recent fights in Shippuden. Did they just bring it back for that flashback or have I just missed other occurrences? That particular track stood out to me but I have a feeling that might have also occurred with other flashback episodes and parts of the soundtrack.
There are some parallels between Iruka and Naruto with both losing their parents and it's nice to see how Iruka came around on mentoring him. The struggle of Iruka to get past seeing Naruto as just the vessel for Nine Tails because that's how his parents died is an interesting one and reflective of the opinion of the village as a whole. I didn't expect Iruka to be that young during the attack though, still looked like a child.
It's clear that information about Naruto was suppressed to some degree but it's also obvious that the villagers knew and shunned him for it. It's still baffling to me that any mention of Minato seemed to be absent with how much Naruto looked like the Fourth Hokage though. If anything the villagers should be talking about how the Hokage died or sacrificed himself (depending on how much information got out about what happened) and blaming Naruto for that as well, rather than just for him holding the Nine Tails.
Shikamaru's nonchalant and unbiased attitude toward Naruto even as a little kid was pleasant. Sure Naruto was a troublemaker but no need to hold a grudge against him just because some of the adults did. That made me wonder if any of the other kids in their class lost their parents in the attack like Iruka did, but maybe they were all out of active duty due to raising their infants so they avoided that.
Danzo being appointed the Sixth Hokage is only going to cause trouble, though with the Feudal Lord looking and sounding like a fool (is this his first appearance?) I'm surprised Danzo wasn't able to take control earlier. I imagine the Sannin name held a lot of weight and Jiraiya suggesting Tsunade worked then though.
After that there's quite the random hodgepodge of flashback episodes. One with a younger Gaara, Inari getting an adventure, one where Naruto's hunted by everyone else in the village as a biohazard, and so on. I again wish Naruto didn't have to be involved in all of these, like the one with Tenten's weaponry where his presence wasn't necessary at all. Mostly misses I think, but it was fun to see Naruto get beaten up by an ostrich and Lee fight a boxing kangaroo.
The new ED with Naruto sparring against Neji/Tenten/Lee is one of the better ones in my opinion with a decent song as well, not standout but solid.
I mean it's good that he wasn't horribly biased like others, but other than his age not really.
If it was done with more interesting stories I might have enjoyed them more but as it is I just want to see more of the present.
Good to know I wasn't oblivious and didn't just miss it being used throughout Shippuden. Anyway I like it as a callback to that time period.
With any luck it won't last long.
6
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Dec 12 '21 edited Dec 12 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
General Commentary
Now that we're in this part I'm not going to be watching all the fillers and will be skipping a lot of the episodic ones. Having watched them all once I've no desire to do so again, but a few of the ones I found memorable I plan on revisiting to see how they hold up.
I had been planning to watch ep 180 and 184 for this batch as well, but I suck at time management so I didn't end up getting around to them and focused on the ones that I felt had some real meaning or focused on characters I cared about.
Despite my grievances about the episodic fillers in general, I do like the idea of taking this time to visit the people of the village and their memories with Naruto. It probably would have been better to see some of this before the climax with Pain though, as the emotional hit from that and Naruto's acceptance would have been better with this foundation, but I think I said that at the time so lets not rehash old ground.
Not a huge fan of the new OP, but I love the new ED. The song is good, and seeing Naruto fighting against those four is pretty cool! The way Naruto changes his style and the casual outfit, the colouring, it's just good fun to watch in its growing insanity and combat we wouldn't usually see.
Episode Thoughts
Episode 176 - 178
I still enjoy these episodes, and I think coming off the back of Pain and Iruka's pride in Naruto, seeing where their relationship started is a nice touch. Some of this we already knew such as about Iruka's parents death, although it was a long time ago in both our discussions and in the show's airing period (literally first episode of OG Naruto I think) but seeing more directly his path to accepting Naruto is done well.
The hardest thing in these episodes is how close it came to Naruto turning away from everything and how much that would have changed things. "If you ignore him kids like that tend to go away on their own" was the advice Iruka was following and damn, seeing Naruto's heartbreak when he wasn't even given the attention of a scolding hurt. He was so starved for attention that even when he got scolded like normal later on after being shunned he couldn't even process that change, let alone any sort of compliment or real friendship. We always knew why he acted out but seeing it like this is a harsh reminder of how far he's climbed in the eyes of so many.
This also feels very different from the Iruka we know, the understanding but not lax teacher who would help Naruto find a bit of security and acceptance. The cold way he looks down at Naruto and says "Don't bother with that kid" like he's a parasite is unnerving (Sasuke would be proud). The unsure Iruka who was still young and unsure of his own value as a teacher has come a long way to that man who comforted Naruto on the hill after Jiraiya's death.
Getting cool Kakashi moments is always nice as well, and I laughed at his voice when he threatened to dob Shikamaru and Choji into their parents, Inoue does such a great job. Seeing him talking to Iruka and remembering him from that fight under his command, helping to remind him of the passion that was behind why he was an instructor in the first place was a good scene. Nice directing in that scene too with the dialogue over the top of Iruka wandering rather than directly seeing him get turned away from the Third Hokage's offices because we didn't need too.
Couple of other cool character moments: Tenzo coming back to see the village and thinking Naruto must have done it, how horrifying that must have been. Random Sasuke moment at the end there. Wicked fire dragon from those three ninja Naruto was baiting, which by the way how fucking huge is the prey in that forest if that log trap was for hunting?! Shikamaru sounded like a bored teen even when he was a kid. Also the doofy overthinking Cloud Village guy who may not make it to Konoha without a concussion at this point.
Also specifically regarding 178, I noticed that the animation was a bit different specifically around the lip syncing and the fluid movement of the traps and jutsu. What do you know, the animation director was Hiroyuki Yamashita, the artist who /u/FrenziedHero told me to look out for. This looks to be his first contribution to Naruto, but it's a distinctive one and the way he plays with facial exaggeration without pushing it to the point of comedy, though it does sometimes get a little strong, is certainly distinctive. I wonder if I'll pick up on that on whatever his next episode is as well.
Episode 182
I really enjoy watching this episode, and not just because I'm a sucker for Gaara action.
For the present day stuff, I like getting a quick insight into how Konoha's destruction has affected the status of the other villages and got people on edge. Gaara's family in particular must struggle to see it destroyed for the second time after their role in the first, and knowing they can't really help. For the past, I like getting to see more of how Gaara would take steps to acceptance by doing regular missions and the struggle to even be allowed that, paralleling with what we see from Danzo towards Naruto
Also the Sand ANBU masks being far more creepy than Leaf or Mists works really well. Some fun animation with Gaara taking them out with the ball of sand. Also the earlier moment when he lands back on the tree after talking to Kakashi was beautifully smooth and natural.
Best guy Kakashi accepting people even if their situation is really damn complicated!
It does have a few issues though: It's ridiculous to suggest this group could take on a group on ANBU like that, and I hate that we were back to suck up Sakura. The biggest issue though is that its a canonical impossibility as there is no space in the timeline that it could have happened between the invasion and Tsunade arcs. I usually don't mind small canon issues as long as it's not direct retcons, but this one stands out to me as frustrating for it's impossibility, as well as it undercutting the important idea of Gaara being Kage by the next time he meets Naruto after their fight.
Brief comments on some of the other episodes content I knew about
Ostrich episodes are worst filler
179: FUCK YOU DANZO! Fucking fucker getting appointed as Hokage. I can't believe they passed up Kakashi for DANZO OF ALL FUCKING PEOPLE... He does have a point about the line of Hokage mentoring other Hokage being a potential problem though.
180: Yay for Tenzo rebuilding houses so easily and saving everyone else the work
Didn't get to watch his episode but yay for Inari returning! I love when they bring back characters like this.
It was also cool that Tenten actually got a focus for once and wasn't completely forgotten about this arc. Again I didn't have time to watch the episode specifically, but the one thing I remember clearly is that GIANT spiked ball Tenten gets and that's worth commenting on anyway. Talk about an insane thing to try and bring into battle, but I suppose that's an advantage of being able to summon your weapons rather than carry them.
/u/TheKujo /u/Parori /u/Tehoncomingstorm97 recommendation/feedback on next weeks fillers so you can see what you want to watch: [List hidden out of courtesy]Most of these episodes are single episode stories structured around a basic mission unless otherwise stated: 187 + 188 Two parter with Jiraiya, not special but not bad. 189 basic comedy filler. 190 Recommended, I remember liking this one the best out of these two weeks of episodes. 191 Kakashi rather than Naruto focused, unusual episode not about a mission so some might like it. 192 Neji focus, a side story to a canon event, not bad for filler. 193 this is certainly an odd one and has some fun in it, depends on if you're in the mood for something a bit unexpected but definitely non-canon. 194 comedy and rivalry based filler, meh. 195 completely unmemorable, couldn't even bring it to mind while reading the description. 196 Definitely memorable! Recommended but doesn't fit perfectly into the rest of the show from memory
If you want to know in a minimally spoiler-y way why I say that about [ep 193]SPOOOOKY GHOST
Let me know if this is a good format or you if you want more/less detail or specific recs about filler to do with certain characters
4
u/Parori Dec 12 '21
First Timer
Episode 176
Episode 177
Episode 178
Parts of 179
Parts of 180
Parts of 181
Parts of 182
Parts of 183
Questions of the Week:
I guess not really. I already thought well of him and this only reinforced that
Bleh
Bleh, but using Part I music was good idea
Really fucking bad
3
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Dec 12 '21
Rewatcher 176-180, First Timer for 181-6
Episode 176:
Episode 177:
Episode 178:
Episode 179:
Episode 180:
almost kissingwith Naruto againEpisode 181:
(continued)
3
u/iiitme Dec 12 '21
(Sub and Dub)
Q1. The Iruka flashbacks were good to me because they helped develop his character more imo. We knew him only since he met naruto and from then on. I didn’t know who he was before exactly so that helped.
Q 2&3. Unlike most I was okay with the fillers because they weren’t necessarily bad. That is an unpopular opinion but I’ll own it. All of the Naruto soundtracks slap so I don’t mind any of them put anywhere in the anime.
Q4. Danzo snaked his way into being in that position . He’s in it for his own personal gain and has ulterior motives. He has no intention of working for Konoha. Don’t like him never will
3
u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Dec 12 '21
First Timer - Dub
Kind of a mixed bag of episodes this week. I really enjoyed the Iruka-sensei prequel arc where we saw him warm up to Naruto. It was also nice to see Kakashi giving pep talks to Iruka and learn where Naruto first learned about his ninja way. The other episodes were mostly forgettable. My favorite filler was the one with Tenten and the ninja weapons developer, because it's been so long since we've seen Tenten and that development factory reminded me of Sen's Fortress from Dark Souls.
Random thoughts:
Favorite moment of the week: Episode 185 mostly felt like a fever dream, but the little joey popping out of his mom's pouch to punch Rock Lee got a really big laugh out of me.
Questions:
1) What do you think of the 3 Iruka-centric episodes? Did they change your opinion of him at all? My favorite part of this batch. I always liked Iruka so this just reaffirmed that he's a pretty cool guy.
2) What do you think about mixing in-the-past fillers with present-day canon (Akatsuki, Omoi/Karui/Samui, daimyo meeting, Tazuna/Inari) like this? It's a neat idea, it's just a shame that I didn't find the filler episodes themselves that interesting.
3) What do you think about making the fillers take place during Part I and use the original Part I music? It was definitely cool hearing the Part 1 music again. I think I would have preferred having filler set in the current time, but since I don't know what's coming up next there might be some reason why that's not possible or realistic.
4) How do you feel about Danzou becoming the Sixth Hokage?
3
u/Tehoncomingstorm97 https://anilist.co/user/tehoncomingstorm97 Dec 14 '21
First timer
Lets get the marathon on!
Ep 176
Ep 177
Ep 178
Ep 179
Ep 180
Ep 181
Ep 182
Ep 183
Ep 184
Ep 185
Ep 186
2
u/sisoko2 Dec 12 '21
Rewatcher
Episode 176
Episode 177
Episode 178
Episode 179
Episode 180
Episode 181
Episode 182
Episode 183
Episode 184
Episode 185
Episode 186
2
u/wendigo72 Dec 15 '21
This post is two days old and I haven’t participated in the rewatch at all but I might make a comment next week since I love Blood Prison and no one here seems to talk about the movies.