Nothing spells trouble like a class trip for this gang.
What They Say:
Lee and Naruto are both vying to be on Sakura’s team for a research trip to the old capitol city. But when they’re stuck with Neji instead, they settle for tailing her. Evening falls and Lee wants to slip away from the senseis to go hang out with the girls. He sends Konohamaru in to do some recon, While the young ninja is caught, he manages to leave behind a single scrap of paper..
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With so much of the show focusing on training and bettering themselves, it’s a lot of fun to watch the varied match-ups that happen in order to help Lee becoming better at being a ninja. We’ve had a range of characters arrive in the series that have done this kind of training but we’ve also had some good villains show up to offer some fun as well, which really surprised me with how enjoyable it turned out to be. With this episode, things shift around a little bit as it plays up the whole class trip angle and puts Naruto back in the show for awhile in a bit more of an active way. I’ve been glad to see Naruto used sparingly, but it also makes sense to give him a story here and there to work with.
With the class trip, the gang is off to the old capitol city where one of the focal points becomes Sakura’s research team. We get some fun time with everyone enjoying the sights, sounds and food of the city, but that’s just the start of it all. Naturally, as much as Rock wants to be on her team, he doesn’t get it and instead is paired up with Neji and Naruto. And none of those three are happy about that situation to say the least. What Naruto and Rock decide to do though is to tail Sakura’s group, which has them putting their skills to use in a fun way while running into the strange things they can come across in the capitol. Unfortunately, the boys have to keep out of trouble or Kakashi will give them what for, which means they have to hold back a lot, something that’s near impossible for them.
The second half deals with the other part of class trips that are so much fun as you have everyone hanging out in their rooms at night. And while the guys are doing alright together, they also want to go hang out with the girls. That’ll require some skill in order to pull off, but everyone is in for different reasons. Well, except for Shikimaru. The story works through some awkward moments as they try to find the right rooms in order to hang out with them and enjoy candy and other treats, but mostly it’s just a series of comical errors that keeps it from going right. I rather enjoyed the bits that showcased the teachers and how they were unwinding in their room together, especially since they’re watching TV shows featuring familiar characters.
In Summary:
While the overall show concept here is one that I like, and it does have its amusing bits, it falls short in actually making me laugh all that much. Especially in comparison to the rest of the series. Keeping the boys and girls apart certainly makes sense but it feels like it would have worked better if it had brought them together a bit more than they did. Kakashi has some good stuff here and watching how the guys interact with each other is reminiscent of things that would happen at that age myself, though not without all the jutsus. There’s definitely fun to be had here, but it left me feeling less than enthused compared to the previous run of episodes.
Grade: B-
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.
