Time for Naruto scout for members of the…. animal unit?
What They Say:
The Leaf and Cloud ninja prepare to relocate Naruto and Bee, as the Akatsuki may already have knowledge of their location. Aoba assigns Naruto an S-rank mission to distract him from learning about their true mission: keeping the two Jinchuriki hidden from the enemy.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a good mix of back story and some pieces from the present used in recent episodes, the show is now trying to manipulate Naruto a little bit to get him to do what needs to be done while not letting him in on some of the true nature. So through a bit of fun, they’re able to get him to move on to a new mission that involves him organizing and selecting members of a third unit of the army that’s being built, one that’s made up of various animals. With the scale of the fight that’s to come, having an array of forces to throw against the enemy certainly makes sense. And with Jinchuriki able to communicate with them, Naruto is hugely excited about this opportunity that he feels has come from Tsunade as she understands the kinds of things he’s keen on doing.
You just want to shake your head a little, but with all the serious material lately, getting some time with a sillier Naruto that’s not as insulting as Filler Naruto is kind of welcome. Seeing how he deals with the giant ape first and then the ostrich that’s going to help him make the deal is cutely comical, but it just leaves you giggling when you get others like Don the Koala and Chuji the Penguin involved. While the reality of them isn’t what Naruto’s mind envisions them as, it is fun to have this giant set of animals that are all rough and tumble in a way that gives them a good sense of power yet still that strange level of cuteness as well.
While this takes up a good part of the first half, it’s not the sum whole of the episode which is a big plus. We get some time with Madara as he deals with others in his group and some wrangling is starting to move there that will set the hunt for Naruto even more as Madara truly wants the Nine-Tails. That’s been a given from the start but the inner workings of this group continues to be fun to watch. The same can be said of the new Shinobi Alliance as they’re more in the open to a degree but no less difficult to deal with when you get down to it. The planning of the war is coming along but they all view their strengths differently and work to accentuate it to their advantage, though without the kind of bluster one might expect.
In Summary:
While the episode does have some action, at the start with the animals and at the end with a neat little segment that’s ready for larger things to come, the show is for the most part pretty dialogue based here and it’s to its advantage. We get some cute stuff as it gets rolling with the animals, which isn’t over with as they’ll be here for a bit as it’s moving towards the next arc with what Naruto is being sent to really find, but we also get a good bit of serious material as well as the inner workings of the villains is shown as well as the time spent with the Shinobi Alliance. Both sides have some neat things to it as they deal with the coming war but also their own individual goals. While not a standout piece and I can see why some would really hate the whole animal army unit, there’s a lot to like here as it balances different things well.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
