Let’s slow things down even more.
What They Say:
Guy releases his Eight Inner Gates against Madara, but the Seventh Gate of Shock does not work against him!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While it’s been very welcome to get the main show back on after the season or so of filler that we had with dull flashback stories, it’s also been frustrating because we got a different layer of flashback here. This stuff actually meant something though as it further established the relationship between Kakashi and Obito with a healthy dose of Minato thrown in along the way. The problem is that we had a good chunk of that before and this just felt like overkill to make a point. Thankfully, the series started to turn its focus back towards the present the last time around and we even got a nod or two towards our title character. Not that he’s active or anything.
Though there’s not a ton of characters directly involved in events here, there’s a lot going on. The show opens with some creepy stuff as we get Kabuto helping to revive Sasuke, though it looks really disturbing with the visual design used. There’s some fun in seeing Orochimaru amid all of this and Kabuto as well with them both, for the moment, aligned the same as the various shinobi to deal with Madara and the threat there. With a touch of background and a sense of really uniting for the moment to do what must be done, it works well in establishing the nature of what’s going to have to step up to fight and the support level that’s going to be needed. The first half also spends some time regrouping and talking through the attacks that have happened so far, after Guy bought them some time, and that allows for a little bit of strategy to be discussed. Of course, they’re all just standing around, Madara included, not doing anything for a few minutes. Which is just frustrating to watch on both sides.
The second half is a mixed bag though as we get more flashback material of a different nature. Because we needed a Young Guy flashback, right? Going back to when he was in the midst of training, failing the test, and doing all that he can to pass, it’s essentially what we’ve seen many times before from Lee so it doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises. It does have some connections to other characters of the same age though, but a lot of it is just dull and even the amusing moments of Guy’s father can’t salvage it. This takes up the entirety of the second half and while there are some minor moments that might make you crack a smile, most of it really does just leave you sitting there with the word “why” being said repeatedly.
In Summary:
While the first half provides a little more context and a touch of time doing a bit of strategy since there’s a small break in the midst of the fight, the second half is just junk for the most part. It’s not bad in the traditional sense of bad, but it’s just so utterly unnecessary at this point in regards to the main story. Getting more flashback material that focuses on Young Guy and his difficulty in training and becoming a shinobi as well as his presumably first encounter with Kakashi is essentially the material of fanfic. Yes, it’s all part of the overall lore and it’s a story to be told, but is this really the place to tell it? Perhaps those that read the manga can see the great significance of it, but for those just watching the anime like myself it feels like another drag on the property.
Grade: C
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.
