What They Say:
Noting the similarities of their circumstances, Lee is outraged at the ones who hurt and belittled Shira and sets out in pursuit!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I admit, it does continue to surprise and sadden me that when it comes to chapters and anime episodes, Japan tends to not pay much mind to anniversary type opportunities. With the 400th episode of Naruto Shippuden, we basically get another installment in the story, which is fine. But considering the manga has ended and there’s a big arc ahead of us, the chance to do something fun with the episode is certainly there. But the focus is strictly on the story itself. Which in itself is still fairly bland, though competent, which isn’t the worst balance in the world when it comes to anime original episodes focusing on flashback material. With the last episode of the Chunin Exam focusing on the action aspect heavily within the Sand outskirts with Gaara overseeing it, it moved well enough but there was little to really capture in terms of story unless you were a fan of watching the jutsus and other moves be employed.
The first half here largely moves through things quickly as it has Lee grappling with what’s happened to Shira amid the exam as he’s been taken down pretty hard here and belittled in a big way. With someone like Lee, this naturally strikes really personal for him with the way his own past has been so he’s far more motivated to do something about it rather than just ignore it like so many did with his own struggles. And with the way Lee has accomplished a lot, he’s got the real drive and motivation to do something and, in his own way, to show others that he can accomplish so much even though so many others have beaten down on him. The time with others in his trio getting after him and trying to make him understand through force and verbal bullying that he’ll never get further because of his lack of special abilities just reinforces that, especially with how Guy was always watching from the shadows and providing the right kind of prod along the way that he needed.
Having Lee confront some of those causing problems basically brings a lot of his past back to light as they go after him in largely the same way, with both attacks physical and verbal. But Lee’s not who he was and has gained some decent ability, as well as the ability to take quite a lot of hits, which makes for a decent bit of slightly stylistic action. I kinda wish he didn’t have to be rescued by Neiji and Tenten though and rather he handled the six opponents on his own after a struggle. There’s some decent stuff with it how it all unfolds at the end and the way it kind of turns things around with some of the other participants in the Exam as they realize that though they want to pass, they want to be respectable on the other side and not be the kind of scum that they were close to becoming. Or were, when you get down to it, but making the conscious change and understanding you were on the wrong path is important, if you can fix and alter it.
In Summary:
I generally like Rock Lee episodes for different reasons, more so since his own series, and this one is decent if largely repetitive in the big ways because we didn’t truly learn anything new about him as a character. This is all basic personality stuff that has long been established, it’s just been shown to us again through a different facet of the character with his past expanded a bit more. It has some decent moments with some mildly interesting animation and style at times, but mostly it’s again just an empty episode for me, even more so since 400 episodes is significant and should be celebrated – particularly as I’m hoping we don’t hit 500 episodes for this series.
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.
