What They Say:
Yukimi leaves the village to see the outside world, taking “Tenzo” with her. Kakashi tries to convince the two to return so that he can set a trap to capture Orochimaru, who is after Yukimi’s blood. But Yamato, who has grown attached to Yukimi, abandons his original mission to protect his friend.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Giving Yukimi a taste of freedom in the previous episode worked nicely, though both the boys ended up in very difficult positions because of it. Yamato doesn’t want her to return to the village since she’s essentially slotted to be a sacrifice for Orochimaru to be able to heal and move on. But Kakashi needs Yukimi to go back there since he’s tracking down Orochimaru and she’s essentially bait. While he may be believing that he can protect her in some way once Orochimaru is there, it’s the naivety of youth that allows him to think that. But mostly what we get is a pretty cold and calculated approach from Kakashi that now has him chasing the pair since Yamato won’t let Kakashi use her in this way, no matter what.
The fight that ensues between the two as they get outside of the city limits is pretty decent, though there’s still that element of two kids basically fighting against each other where Yamato has an intent to kill, at least in a desire to defend and protect Yukimi. The two don’t actually manage to draw blood and Kakashi at least keeps things fairly even, but he makes it clear the importance of Yukimi being in the village, both for his plans and for the village itself. Yamato has a difficult time with this overall since he’s going with a simple view of things, but it’s Yukimi who makes it clear that she wants to go back in order to do what’s right and needed. She has a lot of issues with the relationship the village has with Orochimaru since she lost the original Tenzo for it, but she also knows that it’s the only way that the clan can survive.
Unfortunately, her being away came as Orochimaru arrived, so when she comes back she discovers that seemingly everyone has been killed by him in order to get the nutrients he needs. But they’re all inferior to what she possesses, so it was all pretty much a waste for him, though it gets the point across to her nicely. Things turn into a bit of action amid the darkness quickly as Yamato and Kakashi end up there and do the best they can to try and protect Yukimi since she got there well ahead of them, but it’s interesting to see just how dark it goes with what Orochimaru puts Yukimi through, leaving the boys to be in a difficult situation no matter what. Not surprisingly, everything ends in a simplistic way since Orochimaru always escapes, but the whole even leaves a mark on both the boys with what they see Yukimi put through.
In Summary:
Expanding a bit on Kakashi’s past in a decent way and giving us some good background material on Yamato, this anime-only arc is a pretty decent one, even if it does end in a predictable manner that you could tell from the start. The fun is in the details in how the two first worked together, after working against each other, and the kind of bond that was formed from it. Both have some good bits to the episode and the arc as a whole, but it’s mostly Yukimi and Orochimaru that highlight this one, him because of his usual threat and demeanor and her for the way she does what she thinks must be done and the sacrifice that it entails. While not as strong as the movie-quality arc we had around this time last year, it’s definitely better than a lot of the other anime-only arcs we’ve seen.
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.
I liked the episode