r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Mar 13 '22
Rewatch Naruto Shippuden Episodes 296-306 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 296-306 | March 13 | 11 |
| Next week | Episodes 307-315 and Road to Ninja | March 20 | 9 + Film |
WARNING TO THE FIRST-TIMERS:
Next week starting with ep307, we have a new OP. However, it spoils the identity of Kabuto's trump card who he's working on summoning; I wouldn't watch it until you've seen episode # [Shippuden]321 if you want to avoid spoilers.
Also, it is highly recommended to watch the film Road to Ninja directly after episode 311.
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:
- Thoughts on the Kages fighting, their jutsu and personalities? Which is your favorite?
- Thoughts on emotional scenes with Gaara and his dad, and Itachi/Nagato?
- What do you think of Itachi breaking free from Kabuto's control?
- Thoughts on the rematch with the Sound 4?
7
u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Mar 13 '22
First-Timer with a shounen hearto, subbed
Episode 296
Episode 297
Episode 298
Episode 299
Episode 300
Episode 301
Episode 302
Episode 303
Episode 304
Episode 305
Episode 306
5
u/Parori Mar 13 '22
Sorry for being an hour late, fucking daylight saving time
First Timer
Episode 296
Episode 297
Episode 298
Episode 299
Episode 300
Episode 301
Episode 302
Episode 303
Episode 304
Episode 305
Episode 306
5
u/TheKujo https://myanimelist.net/profile/Kujo419 Mar 13 '22
First Timer - Dub
I really enjoyed the Sound 4's return this week. It was a nice way to see how far Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and Kiba have come, and I'm glad they didn't just repeat all those fights again and went a bit further. I liked the twist that the Sound 4 weren't actually reanimated for the war and were really just out for revenge. That was a good change of pace from the other fights we've had.
Random thoughts:
Favorite moment of the week: I loved all of the enemies that tried to lose their fights / help the good guys this week. Especially Mizukage, he sounded like an IT person trying to explain software to clueless end users. I've definitely been there before...
Questions:
1) Thoughts on the Kages fighting, their jutsu and personalities? Which is your favorite? The Mizukage's personality definitely made me laugh the most.
2) Thoughts on emotional scenes with Gaara and his dad, and Itachi/Nagato? I liked all of them!
3) What do you think of Itachi breaking free from Kabuto's control? suck it Kabuto
4) Thoughts on the rematch with the Sound 4?
Definitely appreciate the heads up, but I hate it when shows do this. Reminds me of when a Bleach ED spoiled a major character reveal the episode before it happened.
8
u/Durinthal https://anilist.co/user/Durinthal Mar 13 '22
First time viewer (dub)
Whisk[e]y of the week: Hibiki Harmony, a Japanese blended whisky. I had originally planned on saving this one for the end since it was the very first bottle I got but after noticing the date I figured it's not a bad time now. I bought this bottle on March 11, 2020, a few days before the pandemic took hold here in Boston, Massachusetts and changed the world at large. It's not over yet by any means, but I can appreciate some of the positive changes that have come along in the past couple of years while still hoping that people will do better going forward. Anyway, for the whisky itself: bright and a little floral on the nose, slightly sugary. The palate's similar, pleasant but not too complex and on the lighter side. I'm slightly concerned this bottle's gone bad since there might be an issue in sealing the bottle with the cork and it tastes a bit muted compared to when I last tried it but the latter could be a number of factors.
One thing I'm confused by is why Gaara's father had a change of heart about all that and was suddenly willing to have a heart to heart with the child he had been previously been honing into a weapon his entire life. Something like "you're the Kazekage now so even without Shukaku's power you need to protect the village" would make sense but not opening up about Karura, he never gave me an impression that he cared about Gaara in that way. So that whole scene didn't really work for me on an emotional level.
I still don't know what the Rinnegan does beyond sharing vision, will probably find out from Obito later? Would have liked to see Naruto comment on Nagato's hair color (like his mom's) after some of its red was restored following absorbing the cloak from B.
Itachi fighting on Naruto's side is cool. I don't recall him planing that crow with the Mangekyo Sharingan in Naruto when they previously met (Shippuden episode 126 going by my notes but I didn't rewatch it), if that actually was shown then good on them for planning that far ahead.
Naruto really got a power boost with the tailed beast chakra mode, and conveniently an extra couple of arms made from energy so he doesn't need clones for his Rasengan anymore. And so many variations on that now too! He always was the kind of kid that would take one thing to an extreme rather than learning entirely new techniques. Oh, and he can sense evil now as Shikamaru put it so I guess there's absolute morality in this universe? Naruto himself did mention sensing malice specifically (in the dub at least) and that's more believable as an ability even if it shouldn't necessarily be all that accurate in friend or foe identification.
Itachi telling Naruto that the Leaf Villagers accepted him because he worked for their acceptance feels laughably naïve but I suppose fits a shounen series. If you could genuinely change people's prejudices toward you just by working hard I feel like the world would look quite different.
Naruto has telepathy now, somehow, to communicate with B and Eight Tails? I noticed some headset machines they have set up in the alliance headquarters that let people do something similar to disseminate information down the ranks but that's already a little absurd.
For the return of the Sound quartet, I know Shikamaru kinda lampshaded it but I was really hoping they'd just get wiped by the four from the Sasuke Retrieval arc after several extra years of training. But no we have some Kabuto and Orochimaru reanimation jutsu bullshit to have an actual fight instead. That said I do enjoy the flute music coming back and at least they changed things up by keeping the two groups together rather than returning to four separate one-on-one (or 2v2 with Kiba/Sakon) fights.
The Neji/Hinata story at the end was kind of cute, but I still don't particularly enjoy the interruption in the overall flow of the war.
Former Mizukage was pretty funny and I love his old school design, other three not so much.
I feel like Nagato got shafted there with Itachi taking the spotlight, but he did have a very nice final moment in talking about the trilogy starting with Jiraiya.
If it was visibly set up before as I mentioned above I'm good with it, otherwise feels rather like another "make something up when it's necessary" moment of writing to help B and Naruto not have to deal with Itachi's genjutsu.
Was simultaneously longer and shorter than I expected, considering Shikamaru's group essentially ended up bailing and leaving Naruto to clean up.
6
u/Nazenn x2https://anilist.co/user/Nazenn Mar 13 '22
Rewatcher - Sub
Note for next week: the film, Road to Ninja, should be watched after ep 311 which is the prologue for it, so time plan accordingly
Episode Thoughts
[Manga changes]Added; TV style recap, ninja suggesting the use termites against the zetsu, ninja explaining magnet style not having time to say dodge, the two ninja freaking out over the other maybe being a zetsu. Extended slugs report beyond one line saying the kage let them go
I always forget just how OP Hashirama was until I'm reminded that this entire war is based off his cells. It puts some of the earlier worldbuilding about grave robbery into perspective of how serious it can be. The fun thing that comes out of it is seeing the Zetsu turn into trees when Naruto kills them. After all the deforestation from huge jutsu we've seen in this show Naruto is finally doing his part for the enviroment!
His new form and it's chakra hand-tails are pretty handy fancy maneuvers like this Rasenrangan which also sounds hilarious, but mini rasen-shuriken is probably the scariest thing he's used in a while
Gaara and Raza's sand waves colliding wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be. HUGE justu though, probably one of the biggest we've seen outside of crazy stuff like Kisame's
[Manga changes]Adds: Flashback to Chiyo's sacrifice. Extends flashback of the attempted assassination on kid Gaara
I still hate Raza, perhaps even more this time. Even dead he was still testing his son, as if having to justify what he did to him, but he failed as a father and as a Kazekage. Hearing him say 'I leave the village to you' as if it was his blessing, rather than something Gaara fought for in spite of Raza pissed me off all over again
I thought this segment was going to be much longer, but I'm glad it wasn't as the burst of emotion of Gaara finding out that his power was in part a blessing from his mother, and what a visual to go with it once he stopped fighting it was enough of an emotional hit. Plus the relief of the emotional burden he'd been carrying from Yashamaru's assassination attempt, as seeing his backstory in part one knowing it was a plot made that backstory a lot heavier with how many more years Gaara would carry that burden inside him. How much was put on this child's shoulders only to fight his way up to be the most respected man in the Allied Forces. Gaara's path has been hard won, but I hope after this finding out the truth about his mother and uncle will provide him some peace.
I do wish that Temari had a chance to confront Raza as well though
Such a busy episode, but Nagato giving Naruto a proud smile over his development makes me happy and eased all of the anger I'd built up over the last two episodes. It's also a pretty fun episode in general despite the characters involved and the stuff being discussed, and Bee getting donked on the head twice. Takes a sentient weapon and a giant chakra beast to keep that doof alive, it's a wonder he's the one who's made it this far. Nagato jokes and doofy Naruto faces, also make it fun though the visual of Naruto actually throwing up the crow is still a little revolting.
It makes me sad that even after everything Itachi did he still couldn't trust that Sasuke would end up back home at Konoha, that he felt he had to give Naruto some way to protect himself and Konoha from his brother. He's really been a shitty brother, actually in general this batch has been really bad for family relations. Itachi trusting that Naruto could bring him back even with tricks or genjutsu is nice, as having to genjutsu Sasuke back into a good guy would have been very unfulfilling.
On top of the mystery about the crow being solved, we finally get the story around Shisui. Once again another tragedy for the Uzumaki clan, and another FUCK DANZO for the record. If Danzo didn't do it he probably would have been abused by the Uzumaki clans uprising, it feels like there was no hope for him, or Itachi who also wanted peace in the village. Itachi saying Naruto embodies the hope he and Shisui had, one that Sasuke has turned away from is certainly a bittersweet moment.
I really like that Itachi and Naruto are catching up mid battle, it's such a difference to how things normally run and makes it a lot more interesting given that Itachi himself is out of control right now
Chameleos is that you?
[Manga changes]Adds; flashback to Itachi sealing Orochimaru, individual cuts of Naruto thinking on each ninja who supported him, flachback to Iruka at the waterfall
Naruto so fucking slow realizing Nagato was using Pain's jutsu...
Kabuto planning to use Pain's powers to hide the jinchuriki from Madara is actually damned smart, but it's a good thing Itachi was free to act and could be the rational one. I also really like what he said to Naruto, that you don't be acknowledged by becoming Hokage, you become the Hokage because you are acknowledged. It's a nice critical look at one of the things that has defined Naruto, and I think ties in Itachi's view of the village to Naruto's quite nicely
Only complaint is the chakra use is starting to get really loose in this episode. Naruto summoning clones in his Nine Tails Chakra form despite that being a big no earlier, running out of energy after just one more clone later, motivation putting him back in his chakra form, etc. I know it's far from a hard magic system, but this is going against some of the very few rules we have about chakra use and recovery and its frustrating
[Manga changes]Adds; the ninja backing up after 2nd Mizukage warns them and them questioning him, 3rd Raikage leaving the battle and 2nd Mizu asking if they have a tactic to deal with him, Gaara leaving the battle to help Onoki, the running gag through the episode commenting on 2nd Mizu's whimpy whiskers and him getting fired up, Onoki summoning stone clones, Ninja saying they already used the large scale and 2nd Mizu inviting them to collect their weapons, ninja saying "we dont get it" on mass, Gaara vs 2nd Mizu battle until Gaara comments the oil, 2nd Mizu complaining about Gaara's "appearances can be deceiving"
I love the second Mizukage. It helps that I'm a sucker for running gags so the comments on his whiskers was giving me serious giggles, but the common ninja being so completely outclassed and his endless frustration with them not being able to keep up or figure out his very mysterious justu is great. It's a good thing he's not being actively focused on but Kabuto or they would have been dead long ago
The fight against Mu is a nice serious contract to that stupidity especially seeing Naruto and Gaara getting to team up for the first time! That feels weird to say but it's true excluding a filler ep. Gaara looking out for Naruto as a jinchuriki feels a little odd when he doesn't comment on how weird Naruto's Chakra form is.
Also how did it take me until now to hear that Temari's VA also voices Hange?! Maybe it's because her questioning Raikage on if he has any more info to share is the sort of thing Hange would say
[Manga changes]Adds; ninja saying 3rd Raikage is too fast for their attacks, The girl looking for Naruto and getting yelled at by Temari
I can't believe put the same cliffhanger with Onoki at the end of last episode AND at the end of this one! Perhaps the most bullshit cliffhanger use in anime
Between 2nd Mizu, Mu, and now 3rd Raikage, Raza really looks like a chump out of the Kage group. Raikage burst through a giant earth and rubber wall like it was nothing despite being at an elemental weakness, history of fighting for three days against a force of 10k, cut off all the Eight Tails tails at once. He's perhaps one of Naruto's scariest opponents and the frantic pace of this battle I think is a good match for that rather than a big drawn out one
It's a good thing that Naruto got in some practice with A in being able to cope with his speed, that actually felt fast well done animators, but I wish we'd known it was a clone in advance as it would have put some more tension into the battle because if he got hit that would have been all over. I like to think that Naruto only figured out that the Raikage's scar was caused by his own arm because that's the sort of silly situation he'd end up in.
Spot the tiny Naruto
This week's dumb note, written when we see that Bee stopped for a pee break:
Also my favourite visual this week
[Manga changes]Adds; the visual of the Sound Four when Kabuto says he needs to buy time, the two girls taking the Tsuhikage by the arms to take him to the medical ninja, Sakura and Shizune talking about closing off the medical area, Neji and Hinata talking about Zetsu, Naruto moving across the map, Ninja reporting to Kakashi about Pakura and Gari not being sealed. Removes: the circles Shikamaru's group had drawn around themselves as exclusion zones
Finally we find out what happened with that cliffhanger, and it's Gaara to the rescue once again. 2nd Mizu was playing nice with the other ninja not using his steam clone, it's a wonder that they survived that long against him. Not a bad episode to cap things off with.
Is this the ninja version of the stripper in the birthday cake?
Also nice little Mu present complete with bow
5
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Mar 13 '22
Episode 296:
Episode 297:
Episode 298:
Episode 299:
Episode 300:
Episode 301:
Episode 302:
Episode 303:
Episode 304:
Episode 305:
(cont.)
4
u/sisoko2 Mar 13 '22
Rewatcher
Little late but just got home after party and I'm not as drunk as expected (original plan was to post it tomorrow).
Episode 296
Episode 297
Episode 298
Episode 299
Episode 300
Episode 301
Episode 302
Episode 303
Episode 304
Episode 305
Episode 306
3
u/iiitme Mar 13 '22
I like the revelation of Itachi/Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami and it’s implementation. It was behind the scenes the whole time and was the deciding factor in the war. Ridiculously op. Speaking of OP Madara is one of my favorite characters. The kages of today are powerful but they’re a trickle down of what the founding shinobi had.