What They Say:
“The Tumultuous Journey”
Hagoromo sends the brothers to two battle-scarred regions left untouched since the fight with Ten Tails. He then announces that he will choose his successor depending on the outcome of their missions.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Over the years of watching Naruto: Shippuden as a simulcast, coming in around the 170 episode range I believe, I’ve found a pattern that generally hits for me. While the canon material from the manga works well for the most part, there are always going to be low points. But those low points rarely approached the anime-original material which was almost uniformly bad. There were some good bits here and there, but little stands out overall. So with this expanded flashback point that’s supposed to be introducing more context to the large scale series of events that essentially makeup how this world works, why is it so utterly boring and uninteresting? It’s decently animated to be sure, but after seven hundred episodes I’m at that point where I want something truly meaningful as we know the end is near.
With this installment, the brothers are followed once again as Ashura and Indra are continuing their growth and journey under Hagoromo’s guidance. We see how the two work fairly well together and have a good understanding of the nature of the world, which in turn has them coming across well even if they are fairly bland. The problem comes in that Ashura is a bit more flexible about how the world should work, seeing shades of gray, whereas Indra views it in black and white terms. So when Ashura fees a man that’s been jailed as punishment, it causes Indra to lash out at him and do his best to get him to understand why things must operate as the law says. It’s a tough period for both as Indra really goes all out and that leaves Ashura with a bit of resentment. Add in that Hagoromo is watching from the shadows to gauge more about the brothers and you can easily see how everything is going to go.
Hagoromo uses this as a way to figure out who will succeed him as he comes up with a mission for the brothers that they have to achieve separately. Each represents a different aspect of how Hagoromo handles things and you can see from the villagers who they believe Indra will succeed Hagoromo simply because of his greater ability. But, being observant viewers that we are, we know that it takes more than just power to lead and guide. Everything is just so easily telegraphed and the tale of how brothers are chosen when only one can take the position is utterly familiar. It’s not a bad story concept but it’s one that just feels like it draws out this already interminable series even further and that just hamstrings everything.
In Summary:
The creative team is really running with the five pages from the manga to produce what will feel like half a year’s worth of material. I’m really starting to believe they’re just sadistic bastards at this point. So, another week, another…
Grade: D
Streamed By: Crunchyroll