Trapped in a cavern, one of these things is not like the other.
What They Say:
Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are sent to investigate an area where the Akatsuki are supposedly getting through. There, the three are ambushed by a White Zetsu and get separated.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the infiltration that we saw in the previous episode with one of the White Zetsu having made it close inside and almost taking out Sakura, there’s a growing sense that something bad is going on with the war. While the battles are being fought, there are the quiet periods as well of recovery where the Allied Forces reside within their barrier. But the White Zetsu that got in has the senior leadership fearing that something is amiss and there may be a gap, hole or something else that’s allowing them to get in. Or even that some may have been planted inside beforehand, allowing them easy and relatively unrestricted access to the various Forces so they can do whatever they want to, both in body count and intel.
With this story, building off of what happened to Sakura, we get to follow a small group as Kiba, Shino, Hinata and a Red Shirt end up going after some of the enemy in an underground cavern only to have the whole situation turn badly. The Red Shirt dies after the fighting, which leads them to understand that the White Zetsu survived and is now impersonating one of them, making for some tense moments as nobody trusts anybody now, but they have to work together to figure out who else is down there they may have take on an Allied Forces body. This puts a lot of pressure on things as it goes along and it’s a fairly straightforward piece as tensions right, fighting breaks out and for most of it you can’t be sure who is who, though you also become hard pressed to care in a way. Unlike the previous episode though, it doesn’t feel too forced in some ways and isn’t a bad side story.
In Summary:
With the side stories at least focused on the war in the present and not another flashback to the past, there’s something to like about it. The focus on this particular group of characters from the Hidden Leaf village is pretty nicely done since it does call back to the way that they’ve worked and trained together over the years so it doesn’t feel off or forced, at least outside of how they ended up all alone in this cavern dealing with a White Zetsu. The action is decent and I continue to like the characters, but it was for the most part a treading water kind of episode. Decent, does the job, adds almost nothing to the overall narrative.
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.
