97 replies to this topic

[Torxe]

Well, for me that episode is like a major light in this tunnel of darkness (lol I sound depressed) that's called my internship, with every other episode being a small light. That episode will definitely have a rewatch value to drool by. If they don't downplay it of course.

About the director:
tbh if there would appear on this forum that it's going to be the same director like the one it was in the one with the NaruSaku hug. I would be reliefed.

[Blazing CobaltX]

When will they come out? Next month?

[Codus N]

Regarding the "bad' director:
I wasn't impressed by their previous directors, but if the Naruto vs Pain fight is any indication, then I would expect the worse. While there wouldn't be much going on, I would expect that scene to have some decent animation; this director does not seem to know when to prioritize higher quality animation. In Naruto vs Pain, Hinata's scene and the Kyuubi's six-tailed form were given the priority, whereas the scenes of Sage Naruto...the HIGHLIGHT of the fight...was hardly animated at all! For some reason I'm worried he might make Sakura's Seiyuu sound insincere in the confession (I don't know if an 'animation' director has control over that, but given the fact the VAs have to match the character, that seems likely). What amazes me is that the Pain arc, which HE directed, was the lowest point of the series ratings wise (and no, I DON'T blame it on the manga during that arc), yet they're still keeping this guy around. I guess the decent ones are working on other projects? Then again, the studio seems to be trying to cash in on Naruto and Bleach with minimum effort, relying more on the brand names than caring about producing a quality product (making far longer than necessary filler arcs, extending the canon episodes with filler and flashbacks when they don't need to). I remember the good old days with DragonBallZ; that had filler, but not enough to detract from canon, and unlike Naruto Shippuden, the animation actually got better with each season (compare the animation of the Sayiajin Saga and Cell games, and tell me that's NOT an improvement). What's more, DBZ back then was making crazy money, but the difference is that with DBZ, when they got money, they made sincere effort to make the series better; not so with Naruto. If anything, the fillers from part 1 probably made them decide that people will watch it as long as it's Naruto, and decided not to put any work into it.

Sorry, I just had to get that out. I'm just frustrated that so many Shonen series I have grown up watching before hand had good directors who knew what they were doing and avoid making the filler and shortcuts in these kinds of adaptations from detracting from canon material, wheras in Naruto Shippuden after Part 1 canon they just don't care at all.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Pierrot also tends to favor Sasuke's fights and he gets better treatment from Pierrot. (great animation) Proof: Pain fight.

P.S: I think "Freedom" might be for Killer Bee. It does fit with his character and motives for running away from Kumo. HMK's songs seems it would fit well for him.

Edited by Codus N, 10 March 2011 - 04:59 PM.

[K9ofChaos]

Well, I didn't mean to create THIS much pessimism.

In all honesty, I really think the studio is convinced that NS IS the main couple, and would not try to alter it. If nothing else, we got Sakura rushing to Kyuubified Naruto, some of the omakes implied them as an odd couple at worst, and let's not forget the thank you. Many of the OPs and EDs subtly hint at it. Even if the filler episodes this guy directed were anti-NS, in the end it's filler and it's likely they will ignore those completely, especially given the nature of Part 1 fillers. It's also possible that he may NOT have been expressing his opinion about the couple with those episodes, he may have just been told by the studio "Hey, could you make X episodes where Naruto is a complete buffoon with Sakura?" and did just that to get paid.

Even if this was a different director, I'd still be nervous about how they would handle the confession. I remember when it first came out, everyone, including NS fans, were upset with her and thought she was lying through her teeth about EVERYTHING, and bashed her to kingdom come. How sincere they make her in her confession will depend on how they take Kishimoto's statements on how Sakura's "Honest and Determined".

I completely agree with you. But I believe that if they really want to make Sakura sincere in her confession regarding her feelings for Naruto, then they should at the very least consult Kishi about it for some advice. I'm sure that they're most likely capable of making Sakura sound sincere in her confession by themselves but I hope they do that just to be safe.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Pierrot also tends to favor Sasuke's fights and he gets better treatment from Pierrot. (great animation) Proof: Pain fight.

P.S: I think "Freedom" might be for Killer Bee. It does fit with his character and motives for running away from Kumo. HMK's songs seems it would fit well for him.

Naruto's fight with Orochimaru in the Sasuke and Sai Arc had great animation in my opinion. I know it's a wise decision to not get your hopes up but it's still too early to say whether or not this opening will be a nice treat for the narusaku fandom or a spit in the face at the narusaku community.


I have this perception that you're quick to assume that this is going to kitten up Sakura's confession and that the opening will be a slap to the face against narusaku fans everywhere. I guess I can understand if some people don't really trust Studio Pierrot after they overly glorified Hinata's confession with high quality animation and extra filler that was never needed to begin with. But like Kodachi Claws said, they could just be doing what they're told to do to get paid and don't really express their opinion in the filler whatsoever.


Hm, an ending dedicated to Killer Bee would be awesome though.

[catsi563]

I think we should all just trust the director to be professional about this and let him direct the episode once we see it thrn we can debate its merits and the merits and flaws of the opening and ending.

[Master Sage]

^ agreed. The opening is called Lovers right. So If you ask me the Opening just has to have some NaruSaku in it. Maybe it would be something like Naruto is on the floor (hyperventilating) and is having flashbacks of everything that happened. Then in one of those flashbacks we might see Sakura hugging Naruto.

Who knows if we are lucky we might see Naruto saving Sakura before she gets attacked by Sasuke. I will not have doubt on Pierot Studios for this opening. I think they just might do a great job, just like all the other openings

[Paptala]

In all honesty, I really think the studio is convinced that NS IS the main couple, and would not try to alter it. If nothing else, we got Sakura rushing to Kyuubified Naruto, some of the omakes implied them as an odd couple at worst, and let's not forget the thank you. Many of the OPs and EDs subtly hint at it. Even if the filler episodes this guy directed were anti-NS, in the end it's filler and it's likely they will ignore those completely, especially given the nature of Part 1 fillers. It's also possible that he may NOT have been expressing his opinion about the couple with those episodes, he may have just been told by the studio "Hey, could you make X episodes where Naruto is a complete buffoon with Sakura?" and did just that to get paid.

I completely agree - I mean, honestly, what anti-NaruSaku stuff has there been that hasn't been in regards to part one fillers?

As far as I can recall, practically every part 2 filler has NaruSaku hints in it, both Naruto > Sakura AND Sakura > Naruto. We've also had quite a few NS oriented omakes. Every omake dealing with NH was solely Hinata centered as far as I can recall.

Even if this was a different director, I'd still be nervous about how they would handle the confession. I remember when it first came out, everyone, including NS fans, were upset with her and thought she was lying through her teeth about EVERYTHING, and bashed her to kingdom come. How sincere they make her in her confession will depend on how they take Kishimoto's statements on how Sakura's "Honest and Determined".

My sentiments exactly

When will they come out? Next month?

Episode 206 - so yes, the first episode in April

In all honesty, it's not so shocking to have an OP or ED dedicated to one pairing in particular. The new ED is almost blatantly NS, as was the "For You" ED where the child Naruto was pushed at child Sakura by Jiraiya - then child Naruto on the swing looking up and seeing Sakura mouthing "for you". The one with Sakura walking alone at night on the beach seemed to be SS oriented, while the one with everyone on the beach with Sakura drawing in the sand seemed to be anti SS oriented (the one with Sakura drawing a love umbrella with her and Sasuke's name, then crossing out Sasuke's name). It's been heavily pairing oriented before, so I'm not sure why people are doubting they'd make a pairing oriented OP this time around.

There's never been an NH related OP or ED that I can recall - only one Hinata centered ED - imo, this is because it's not important to the story - the Team 7 love triangle is the important part of the romance subplot.

If they didn't have an NH oriented OP during the Pein Arc where she confessed, I highly doubt that it's going to be included in an OP now, when it's disappeared from the plot completely.

My best guess for the OP is Team 7 love triangle oriented OR the adult relationships, like Asuma and Kurenai, Minato and Kushina (because they have been introduced courtesy of Jiraiya's flashbacks in the anime already).

Edited by Paptala, 11 March 2011 - 03:59 AM.

[Codus N]

I suppose you guys are right. It wouldn't hurt to have some faith in them. Oh yeah, Paptala, ED#14, to me seems to be Anti-SS as well. "For You", to me, seems to be both NS and SS if you look at the lyrics (although it's leaning more towards NS.)

More info

It looks like the one who's doing the new OP is a newcomer. According to it, the song will have a "fast-paced" feel. Now this is mighty interesting. It doesn't seem to be going to center around NS or any pairings at all. If there's anything I've learned about JPop, it's that pairing-focused/romance-focused songs rarely have fast tempo.

Edited by Codus N, 11 March 2011 - 02:27 PM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Well honestly though people, the current ending is raging NaruSaku. What are the chances of them giving us another one right after?

[merryGOflava]

maybe the opening is narusakusasu :o with some pairing stuff in it.

and im not sure about the ending :o that one could be narusasu...*shivers* but "for you" sounds kinda narusaku to me. (even though we just had an ending on that) but we can't say for sure.

[Codus N]

Home Made Kazoku is confirmed to be safe:

List of Artists who are safe

I'm also really glad YUI-chan is also safe and sound. Dunno about the one singing for the new OP, though.

[catsi563]

yeah lots of names missing form the list. Akeboshi, Flow, Hearts grow, and a number of others who did openings and endings from the first series, as well as several from shippudens openings and endings.

[merryGOflava]

hey is kishi okay? :o

i hope kubo (bleach) and oda( one piece) are okay also...

Edited by merryGOflava, 14 March 2011 - 08:14 PM.

[catsi563]

Heres a list of confirmed J rock acts Linky

Heres a list of part 1 arkittensts and there status as of this moment

Asian Kung-Fu Generation safe
FLOW safe
Sambomaster unknown
Stance Punks unknown
Snowkel unknown
Hearts Grow unknown
little by little unknown

Akeboshi unkown
Rythem unkown
Orange Range safe
Raiko unkown
the Mass Missile unkown
Tia unkown
Captain Stridum unkown
GagagaSP unkown
No Regret Life unknown
Analog Fish unkown
Amadori unknown
CHABA unknown
Ore Ska Band safe
SABOTEN unknown

From part 2

LONG SHOT PARTY Unknown
Ikimono-Gakari safe
Inoue Joe safe
FLOW safe
Motohira Hata unknown
NICO Touches the Walls safe
7 unknown

HOME MADE Kazoku safe
aluto unknown
little by little unknown
MATCHY with QUESTION? unknown
surface unknown
HALCALI safe
DEV PARADE unknown
SUPER BEAVER unknown
Seamo safe
Kishidan unknown
AZU safe
Supercell safe
Domino unknown
Aqua Timez safe

thats the current updated list

Saw a few Bleach artists Rei FU and Le Arc enCel that were safe as well.

As far as Authors Tite Kubo has tweeted so hes ok as far as I can tell. No word on kishimoto-sensei as of this moment.

Correction scattered reports that Kishimoto is ok.

Edited by catsi563, 12 March 2011 - 09:39 PM.

[merryGOflava]

what about oda-sensei?

well im glad to hear kishi and kubo are okay :o

i look up to them, i would be sad if something happened. :o

Edited by merryGOflava, 14 March 2011 - 08:13 PM.

[Torxe]

Phew; really got scared for kishi => animenewsnetwork hasn't mentioned kishi yet as safe.

[Blazing CobaltX]

I'm so glad Satoshi-sama is safe(From an other source)!!!
And I think Kishimoto is safe too, somebody on an other forum said that.

[Codus N]

Regarding the "bad' director:
I wasn't impressed by their previous directors, but if the Naruto vs Pain fight is any indication, then I would expect the worse. While there wouldn't be much going on, I would expect that scene to have some decent animation; this director does not seem to know when to prioritize higher quality animation. In Naruto vs Pain, Hinata's scene and the Kyuubi's six-tailed form were given the priority, whereas the scenes of Sage Naruto...the HIGHLIGHT of the fight...was hardly animated at all! For some reason I'm worried he might make Sakura's Seiyuu sound insincere in the confession (I don't know if an 'animation' director has control over that, but given the fact the VAs have to match the character, that seems likely). What amazes me is that the Pain arc, which HE directed, was the lowest point of the series ratings wise (and no, I DON'T blame it on the manga during that arc), yet they're still keeping this guy around. I guess the decent ones are working on other projects? Then again, the studio seems to be trying to cash in on Naruto and Bleach with minimum effort, relying more on the brand names than caring about producing a quality product (making far longer than necessary filler arcs, extending the canon episodes with filler and flashbacks when they don't need to). I remember the good old days with DragonBallZ; that had filler, but not enough to detract from canon, and unlike Naruto Shippuden, the animation actually got better with each season (compare the animation of the Sayiajin Saga and Cell games, and tell me that's NOT an improvement). What's more, DBZ back then was making crazy money, but the difference is that with DBZ, when they got money, they made sincere effort to make the series better; not so with Naruto. If anything, the fillers from part 1 probably made them decide that people will watch it as long as it's Naruto, and decided not to put any work into it.

Sorry, I just had to get that out. I'm just frustrated that so many Shonen series I have grown up watching before hand had good directors who knew what they were doing and avoid making the filler and shortcuts in these kinds of adaptations from detracting from canon material, wheras in Naruto Shippuden after Part 1 canon they just don't care at all.

Funny, I just read an article about how well they're facing the current disaster and apparently it has something to do with "Ganbare". The article also spoke about how Japanese businessmen will always seek perfection for the customers. And this just pretty much proves how bad Pierrot is. They're a shame to Japanese animation studios and to the Japanese as well.

P.S: everyone look at my post in the 203 thread I updated some info about 206's directors.

Edited by Codus N, 18 March 2011 - 11:15 AM.