What They Say:
Team 7 is finally reunited when Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke join forces.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Naruto: Shippuden had a pretty good closing bit with the previous episode in having Sasuke arrive to essentially join in on defending the Leaf Village and making clear his intentions to become the Hokage. With all that he learned from the other Hokage during the history lesson side, it certainly makes sense for him to take this direction and find a path towards his larger goal. Announcing it after shocking everyone with his arrival definitely makes an impact and we also get the fun of seeing how Naruto views that as the right kind of challenge that he lives for. It’s what defined their relationship together for quite a long time and having Sasuke back and in that form brings it all back up. Naruto’s excitement is palpable and exactly what he needed to move forward at this point.
Giving us Team 7 again after all this time is also quite a treat, though there are of course uncertainties to be dealt with as nobody is sure what the real goals are. But the initial aspect is dealing with this massively powerful enemy, which is making it clear that there’s a lot going on with it. But having the combined power of the Team 7 guys and all the other Hokage from the past in their form stepping up to the plate to protect everyone, it’s impressive. While we get a few nods to the past in the mix here, which is natural considering that we get these two young men fighting side by side again, the first half is well balanced in what it does with the action, with Sakura’s realizations of what’s gone on over the years and how she was always standing behind them and the nature of the battle that they’re dealing with. It feels like, even as it is drawn out a bit, it’s given the proper respect.
As it goes on, things build well enough and we do see some good competition between the Team 7 members, now fighting back to back, and there’s a good bit of amusement to that. Seeing them not miss a beat is also welcome and that in turn inspires others to step up their fight as well since they don’t want to get left behind in the chaos of it all. This helps to raise the stakes nicely as we see them coming up with creative approaches to the enemy creatures that are now populating the area, but mostly it’s a chance to see more of those involved in that fight that we’ve known over the past decade of watching the show to have their moment in the sun as events ramp up even more. Certainly, it’s nicely done.
In Summary:
Though there’s a bit more flashback here and general thoughts to the past than I’d care for, it’s understandable to do so considering that the team is finally back together, even for a little while. That’s going to inspire some thoughts of what’s gone on over the years and Sakura is the ideal one to draw this through. That said, I also just wanted more of a push forward and strong moments with the fights themselves. There’s some nice scenes with it, but it’s also just a kind of passing the time series of attacks and back and forth to adjust to the new dynamic ahead of the real battle that’s about to come, so it’s a little anti-climactic in that way.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
Great Review, and pretty accurate. I thought the flashbacks were a bit much but the episode had a nice nostalgia to it.
The entire series is plagued with flashbacks but I’ll have to admit that lately there has been little to no flashbacks but the ones in this episode actually worked in their favor a bit so I’ll let this one slide. I remember earlier episodes when they’d have a flashback of something that happened earlier in the SAME episode and then in the next episode they’d have the exact same flashback, It was probably one of the Uchiha massacre flashbacks. I mean seriously, how many times do we have to be shown that?