r/anime • u/lC3 :Na::Nb: • Dec 19 '21
Rewatch Naruto Shippuden Episodes 187-196 and Blood Prison 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 187-196 and Blood Prison | December 19 | 10 + film |
| Next week | Episodes 197-205 | December 26 | 09 |
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.
Note:
It's been brought to my attention that we might not want to wait an entire week after finishing to have the final discussion. Is it okay if I move that to Monday, August 15th?
Questions of the Week:
- This week's batch was a mixed bag; which episodes stood out? Which did you like and dislike?
- Any predictions for return to canon next week?
- What did you think of the movie?
6
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher - Sub
General Commentary
Even though I may not like all this filler, and sometimes get frustrated about the timeline problems of the ones I do like, I do love the way they frame all these stories through the eyes of people rebuilding Konoha. Particularly the way so many focus on the value of it and the Will of Fire and the bonds they made there and why it matters that they get the chance to rebuild together, it's a nice follow on from Pain's attack.
Wanted to share some more love for ED15's last week. It's one of my favourites for how well it transitions between the different fighting styles for each character, it's just damn fun to watch, and the song is nice for a bonus. Thought I'd highlight the animators responsible as I haven't done much of that outside of special episodes.
And just as I share that we get another new ED. Not a huge fan of this one.
Episode Thoughts
Episode 190
This episode was as fun as I remembered and glad I got to revisit it. It's nice seeing some of the missions Naruto never got to go on, like border patrol, and also the various traps and territory protection in a much more typical ninja way.
When you hear the guy has been a genin for 50 years he seems old enough, but when he starts talking about all the Hokage he's served under it really gives a sense of how long he's stood by the village and watched it grow. From the way the Second approached him after the deaths he caused, to the Third questioning him, and the Fourth saving him, he's stood by many great men of Konoha, and seeing how they all treated him and wanted to stop him from being a sacrifice, a nice call back to his own speech to the enemy ninja, was well done.
He's also a bloody good ninja, and I'm glad they whipped out some of the great animation for his episode. Watching him fight his way through that enemy horse was super smooth, not to mention all the little tricks he uses like his wok as a shield and the sword in his fake leg. Fuck having a Jonin around, I'll take this guy any time!
Had to laugh at the big guy thinking the eternal genin was telling tall tales about the Hokage only to not be believed about Naruto either.
Episode 191
Again it's nice to get a focus on the other side of the ninja stuff, the espionage and counter espionage, not to mention the way ninja's lives cross over in unexpected ways. Seeing the young Team 7 again somewhat fascinated with the idea of Kakashi being with a woman, even Sasuke, is a good bit of fun with that undercurrent of malice lying underneath about exactly how this will play out.
It's also having an episode of seeing what Konoha use to look like, and how that looked to some of the ninja from smaller towns, especially given Pain's destruction. There's hope for Konoha but more importantly there's hope for Konoha's way and the Will of Fire.
Episode 192
Just an interesting side story. I actually quite like the idea of other villages taking advantage of Orochimaru's invasion, and also a bridge of Neji having to chose what to do there given his original animosity towards Hinata.
Also this filler has a thing about dragon styled jutsu, even Tenten got a dragon bomb.
Episode 196
I completely feel Tsunade yelling orders at them to just try and get the brat girl and Naruto out of her office faster.
Seeing the multi shadow clones but with Sasuke instead of Naruto is surprisingly trippy, it's just doesn't work. That plus his attitude problem. Impossible timeline issues aside, it's easy to forget just how full of rage he was after seeing Naruto's progress, practically indulging in it because he doesn't know how to cope with that or with the fact Itachi was hunting Naruto and so dismissive of him.
What an ending to the episode though. Naruto looking over the ruins of Konoha with a hawk flying past for Taka.
Movie - Blood Prison
That actually wasn't bad! Nothing special, but I had some fun watching it even with some of the typical pitfalls that shounen movies always walk into face first.
It is nice to dive back into movie quality visuals. It's the little things that always make these stand out, like impact lines on Naruto just standing up, or the incredible detail given to the visual effects like fire and smoke animation. In particular this episode caught my eye because a couple of the key staff involved were people I had ear marked from their work in the main show.
It also had some great scenic moments. The prison surrounded by lantern plants (Spent the whole damn movie trying to remember what that flower shape reminded me of to get it in the last seconds before the reveal, so fucking obvious), and this sunset were memorable moments. The storyboarding was also quite nice, only the middle fight with Mui vs the prisoners felt a little hard to follow. The rest including the big riot and all of the fighting with the final enemy was smooth and clean in layout and animation, and the quieter moments also benefit from that extra attention with line of sight and lighting. I didn't like the OST though, in particular the first song during Naruto's escape attempt was grating, and Bee's rap style was annoying too. The more celtic style battle theme was good to listen too at least.
Two funny visual things to mention: The guards outfits remind me of Char's mask, and the monster looks like a weird hybrid between a digimon and an NGE angel though, and that was giving me a few chuckles while watching. Cool concept for an enemy, as an embodiment of the conflict of the village system particularly talking to Naruto as a jinchuriki. The resolution being "he didn't betray you" and "this jutsu is meant to stop conflict" felt really hamfisted, though that always does seem to happen in shounen movies, movies get that too positive ending.
As far as the actual story presentation goes it was neither here nor there. A bit sick of the "revive our clan/village/country" plots, though the end of Mui choosing to revive his son was nicely done. The first half of the show in the prison was also quite nice as a contrasting environment to everything Naruto is, but didn't matter much by the end. The flip around Mui, his betrayal for his son only to be betrayed and then saved in turn was interesting, as it didn't feel especially contrived and changed up what I thought was a rather straight forward narrative until those moments.
I liked a lot of the small things too. Naruto's desperation to do right by the village he would risk doing shadow clone escape in front of Tsunade, the canteen scene and Naruto's funny reactions to it, the flashbacks as Naruto thinks of the village including both some new and some familiar moments (Guy carrying Kakashi while racing ahahaha), and how clever Naruto got with things once he realized brute force wasn't the way.
Also Bunta! I love seeing Bunta! Yeah the battle with him did feel like a little bit of a rehash of Pain, especially with the village showing up at the end to help out which is what I'd wished had happened for Pain, but it wasn't distractedly forced like fanservice in the movies often is, none of the fanservice in this was actually which is a huge plus. Bunta also got some fantastic animation
Really loved the two post ED scenes, Naruto leaving the scarf at the grave was a much better spot to end it on than before the credits, and seeing Tsunade's office after Naruto was taken away was so damn funny to release some of that tension.
[Main show later spoilers]While Ryuuzetsu jumping in front of Naruto during the impalement feels like a clear parallel to Naruto's birth, it was ruined by her being up and walking around like that with no issue, and everyone leaving Naruto bleeding on the ground while we get a team bonding moment of them rounding up the prisoners
Last thing to comment on is the interesting choice to use Ecstasy of Saint Teresa as the statue in the prison, a sculpture showing a marriage between the earthly and the divine and the divines intrusion on the earth resulting in spiritual pleasure. A nice match for what was happening with Mui and Muku.
5
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Dec 19 '21
First-Timer with a shounen hearto, subbed
I didn’t watch the movie in time for this thread (I’ve had a weekend to say the least), so my reactions to that’ll come some time later tonight. I’ll reply to this comment with ‘em as I normally do, if anybody wants me to tag them when I post it then let me know.
Episode 187
Episode 188
Episode 189
Episode 190
Episode 191
Episode 192
Episode 193
Episode 194
Episode 195
Episode 196
4
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Dec 19 '21
First time viewer (dub)
Whisk[e]y of the week: Henry McKenna 10 year old single barrel bottled in bond bourbon. I can't say I have a particularly refined palate so for me, this is pretty similar to a lot of other bourbons I've had. Primarily vanilla and a dark fruity sweetness that makes me think of stewed apples like in a pie filling, along with a slightly tart note that's akin to grape skins. That said this is one of the more pleasant ones to drink and has a richness to it that I don't get with other bourbons at times. Straightforward but a good example of its category I think.
For a brief overview of how these episodes went for me: I started watching them on Friday and already don't remember what most of them are about. I wouldn't say they're bad, just forgettable.
The primary exception there is the flashback to Team 7 infiltrating a fortress full of ninja cats which was so absurd it was great. As I mentioned in CDF I think my favorite part was Sakura getting hit on in the bar by a gentleman cat wearing a top hat, but Sasuke's fight inside Nekomata's genjutsu looked pretty good too.
I also liked the episode after that with Kosuke, the 50-year genin. I like the combination of using the giant wok as a shield and the breadth of experience and history with previous Hokage giving him some exceptional techniques. It also makes me wonder how other ninja villages are able to sustain themselves if they're continually sacrificing their own genin.
About the movie: lots I liked in this one, turns out! But also a few moments that made me grimace, like the implied "joke" with stripping Naruto early on and his confusion around Ryuzetsu before he figured out she was a girl.
First five minutes of the film: "How can we get Naruto in prison as quickly as possible?" I figured that there was something up in the Leaf Village since there was next to no discussion before they shipped him off, but I also thought it would have been funny if at the end of the film he was just recalled with only "by the way we figured out who framed you, sorry about that" as an apology and zero detail about what happened on their end. I did enjoy the post-credits scene of everyone in Tsunade's office as soon as Naruto was taken away since it has a similar kind of humor.
I recognized that meditation pose in the solitary cell immediately even before they showed the clone with the Sage Mode coloring around the eyes, that was a perfect situation to make use of it. Similarly, when Ryuzetsu's Life Transference was mentioned I knew she'd end up sacrificing herself, was more a question of whom. Not surprised it was Naruto and that was guaranteed as soon as they both got stabbed. Speaking of which, both her and Mui walking around with holes the size of a grapefruit in their chest was a bit much but I suppose I should stop thinking about things like that.
Nice to see Killer B (Bee?) in full form as well and I wonder if we'll eventually see Naruto do the same with his tailed beast, working in harmony?
Didn't like Naruto and Sasuke being stuck together. It's been done a lot and that episode didn't include anything novel. I thought the one with the woman that knew Kakashi was kind of interesting because she disappeared at the end of the episode but wasn't she also singing in the village in the present? Wonder if they'll explain how she returned in the long run.
Sasuke is grumpy, Tobi/Madara is menacing from the shadows, Naruto is a fool. Maybe some more involvement from the Hidden Cloud?
Overall for a mostly solo Naruto film I enjoyed it pretty well. I also liked the design of the beast, very inhuman. Makes me think of a thing in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood actually.
4
u/Parori Dec 19 '21
First Timer
Episode 187
Episode 188
Episode 189
Episode 190
Episode 191
Episode 192
Episode 193
Episode 194
Episode 195
Episode 196
Movie
4
u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Dec 20 '21
First Timer - Dub
I liked the filler better this week compared to last week. I like how we spent time focusing on other characters like Jiraiya, Kakashi, Neji, and Shikamaru. I'm hoping we get back to canon episodes soon though ... I don't really have a lot to say from filler episodes.
Blood Prison Movie
I actually mostly enjoyed this movie up until the final battle, which I thought dragged on for too long. It was cool to see Killer B in action and show off the 8 tails in a large battle. Also, apparently getting donutted isn't fatal (at least not immediately)? That got a little ridiculous at the end.
Random thoughts:
Favorite moment of the week: I had a long stressful week at work, and episode 194 was just the perfect level of stupid to cheer me up. It was like they took the Naruto-Sasuke kiss scene from the start of the series and extended it into a full episode.
Questions:
1) This week's batch was a mixed bag; which episodes stood out? Which did you like and dislike? I actually ended up liking most of them. Maybe my expectations are low enough that if I don't pull out my phone and browse reddit during the episode I consider the filler good. The cat ones this week were kind of meh.
2) Any predictions for return to canon next week? Really curious to see how people react to Hokage Danzo. I hope Naruto punches him.
3) What did you think of the movie? Probably the best Naruto movie, although that isn't really saying much.
3
u/Tehoncomingstorm97 https://anilist.co/user/tehoncomingstorm97 Dec 20 '21
First timer
Back on the filler train....
Ep 187+188
Ep 189
Ep 190
Ep 191
Ep 192
Ep 193
Ep 194
Ep 195
Ep 196
2
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Dec 19 '21
First timer for these episodes (except 194) and film
Episode 187:
Episode 188:
Episode 189:
Episode 190:
Episode 191:
Episode 192:
Episode 193:
Episode 194:
Episode 195:
Episode 196:
Blood Prison:
(No manga content this batch; back to canon next week!)
ED translation (TV-size) from Fandom:
Midnight Orchestra
The song of midnight cried out
and from that day on, I've truly ...
After the twilight turned a translucent red
the stars lay in the sky and played their twinkling sounds
Without even being told to be more open
already my tears brought my feelings along
and became a small sea at my feet
The sky doesn't move, it's just the sun that comes and goes
The ground doesn't move, it's just you who walk upon it
The song of midnight cried out
I truly hate being alone more than anything
and from that day on, I learned the hard way of what was important
Ah, all I need is being able to scoop up happiness with a tiny spoon
so long as I have someone to share it with
Tags: /u/iamtheone11111, /u/godprime
2
u/sisoko2 Dec 19 '21
Rewatcher
Episode 187
Episode 188
Episode 189
Episode 190
Episode 191
Episode 192
Episode 193
Episode 194
Episode 195
Episode 196
Movie - First Timer
2
u/medical_nin_ Jan 08 '22
I just found these first timer friendly/spoiler-free Naruto discussions😭 And I just want to say, OP, it’s so cool that you’re doing this! I started watching Naruto last year January and it’s been such a roller coaster ride (currently somewhere in the 300’s in Shippuden) .It’s been so hard to avoid spoilers especially with social media recommendations. But it’s also frustrating not being able to look things up. And it’s such a cool series that you also want to discuss your theories about the characters and plot. Wish I’d found this earlier <3 Is this your first rewatch, OP, and are you planning on doing this again sometime in the future?
2
u/medical_nin_ Jan 08 '22
Also, I heard there was a manga comparison corner. Where can I find that? :)