Naruto’s got a beast in him to be sure that needs to be tamed, not just locked down.
What They Say:
Naruto and Killer Bee rush to the battlefield when Nine Tails suddenly speaks to Naruto inside his mind.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Naruto having largely been out of the picture for a bit as he’s gone through is training, his final release from it with Killer Bee has the pair of them making their way towards the battlefield now so Naruto can get involved in the war. Of course, there’s that underlying piece where his coming out into the open will make things easier for the enemy in the end, but that’s not something Nrauto really takes into consideration. With the path of events for so long and what he’s learned and knows, he’s intent on taking the fight right to the enemy and ending the war. He’s been so central to so many big events now that while he’s not overconfident or full of ego over it, he’s certain that he has to be the one to do things no matter the cost.
Because of this journey, we get some interesting dialogue early on as Nine-Tails confronts Naruto internally about what he intends to do, his place in things and the fact that Naruto doesn’t really accept what’s out there that he has to face when it comes to the enemy. It’s a good bit of an attempt to humble Naruto a bit, but he’s just intent on getting out there to save as many as he can, to save Sasuke and to do what’s right. For better or worse, the show has Nine-Tails shifting the narrative to a flashback piece that shows us the two young men during their ninja training days as children and some of the struggles that happened while Naruto was on the outside, much as Sasuke was as well.
In Summary:
This and another brief flashback segment with an older Sasuke has Nine-Tails working his manipulations, but it’s something that Naruto has to firmly take control of and not be influenced by. While the crux of the episode is right in what it does, it’s the execution that will bother most of the long time follows simply because it does give us more flashback material. Seeing Naruto master what’s in him is definitely key and important, but this is all material that should have been dealt with along the way in the arc so far when he was with Killer Bee underground going through his understandings. Bring it all to conclusion here does work well in the end, showing Naruto’s master of Nine-Tails in a visually pleasing way, as it really sets the two of them into a conflict role. If it had excised the flashbacks and just focused on the present, it would have worked far better.
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.