What They Say:
The identity of the masked man is revealed to be Kakashi’s old friend Obito, previously believed to have died in the battle of Kannabi Bridge. Naruto and the others are further shocked when they learn that Obito has been working with Madara Uchiha for years to orchestrate Project Tsuki no Me.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This time last year as we were in the midst of the holiday break just before the new season of series started up, Naruto: Shippuden managed to do something neat. They gave us four episodes of a side story with seemingly theatrical quality about the animation and told essentially a standard Naruto feature film story in four parts. That was a nice change of pace from things than just weeks of the usual filler. This year, we got some time off between the last episode and this one but instead of going into filler material outright, it’s back to the story as we left off to some degree. Which means Naruto actually manages to get a bit more screen time as the Allied forces try and reconcile what they’re facing and the kinds of losses and injuries that have been sustained so far. Which are significant.
With the reveal we had previously regarding Obito, it’s certainly sent a shock through some of those present, particularly with Kakashi since he can’t understand why this would happen. That in turn leads us back to another flashback to Obito’s past where he was saved after being crushed only to have Madara save him and put him into a huge debt. One that amusingly includes helping the old man with his difficult bathroom problems. Obito is kind of good to see in this context as even though half his body was crushed, he feels like he can go back to the Village and work with and protect his friends because his Sharingan has been awakened. But positive energy and dreams like that are meant to be crushed and we see that come through slowly but surely here, which helps to show how he further walked down the path that he’s in now.
The lengthy flashback piece does a decent job of recounting what happened with Kakashi and reliving how Obito ended up in the situation he’s in, which reinforces the kind of problem that he’s going to have in getting back to who he was. The more that he deals with Madara in this secret place, not knowing that it’s Madara, just reinforces and builds up his anger. When he does realize who he’s dealing with, it changes things dramatically for him since it’s hard to realize that it’s true, but then that if it is true, that Madara is cheating death in the way that he is, it’s something that you can’t turn away from. Not that Obito can turn well anyway considering the state of his body. It’s a long winded way to getting to where it wants to go by having him work with Madara, but it works overall and does largely get us there.
In Summary:
While flashbacks can be troublesome depending on placement and what kind of story it is, other times it can work well. With Obito’s background here getting explored, it’s certainly uesful as we learn more about Madara and the scope of the battle that’s going on. Understanding how many years that Obito has been involved in this is intriguing and the stage is well set here for what the two of them will do together for the years that follow. There’s a disturbing side to it as well in seeing how Madara saved Obito and the things he did to keep him alive, but it’s not something that really registers for Obito for most of the story here which is a little cringe inducing. Still, getting answers is a good thing even if more questions come up as we get closer to the real dangers and threats of the series.
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.
