25 replies to this topic

[Davidos]

So we got like 1 more filler episode and then we return to the main story line or are there more fillers coming?

[Gravenimage]

So we got like 1 more filler episode and then we return to the main story line or are there more fillers coming?

I don't think so judging by the opening and ending I'll say we have a lot of fillers ahead before going to the kage summit arc I hope I'm wrong though.

[catsi563]

In an effort to at least say something positive about this utter crap we were forced to endure.

Kankuro in the beginning working on his surprise for the kage summit was very interesting.

[ciardha]

In an effort to at least say something positive about this utter crap we were forced to endure.

Kankuro in the beginning working on his surprise for the kage summit was very interesting.

Yeah, that current time scene with the Sand Sibs was the only part of the episode that wasn't utter rubbish. You know I wouldn't have minded a whole episode just focusing on the Sand Sibs in the current time frame. That kind of filler is tolerable, Studio Pierrot doesn't seem to have an axe to grind against them like they do against Naruto and Sakura. But geeze louise even when they don't have an axe to grind 99% of their original characters are grossly stereotypical and terrible, they have little ability to create interesting original characters- Guren was about the only one that wasn't painfully bad, about the only other ones that haven't been unbearably bad was the father and son of the Moon country in the third part 1 movie. (That movie also had the best characterization for Naruto and Sakura that I've seen them do, Will of Fire was next, but they still overplayed Sakura's tsundere qualities for laughs (but at least they kept having Sai making comments about how that showed Sakura was in love with Naruto, but it's gotten really old, since Kishimoto had made a point all along to minimize that side much more than the norm and emphasize her protective side and her strong personality similarities with Naruto. Pretty quickly in part 1 she starts to enjoy being around him (when he's not saying something really stupid or obnxious. )

[Grace]

I thought it was a fairly decent episode, though with a few character/timeline issues....

Ramblerambleramble --Click here to view--

1. Why isn't Sasuke going berserk all over Gaara for a rematch? Isn't this about the time Sasuke snaps and looks for a fight with anyone he sees? At the very least, they could have included some serious glares or something.
2. What was with Sakura? Her personality in this episode has already been brought up, but I've got different issues (I think) with it: I don't think her attitude towards Naruto was too weird or out of place, even considering the timeline; she griped at him once or twice when he was being a dunce and yanked his ear just like Kakashi did. *shrug* No big. In fact, I'd almost say the animation team did a decent job with her by actually including the little "race" between her and Naruto. He challenged everyone to a race to the meeting spot, and only Sakura immediately joins in without question or horrible fuss.
My stink with her in this episode is in regards to how she interacted with Sasuke. Like I said earlier, he was going nuts at this point, and he frightened Sakura. She'd come to see him as a boy with serious problems rather than her "hero" so I don't get why they bothered throwing in her fangirl moment.
3. When exactly did the convo between Gaara and Kankuro take place? We were introduced to it in Shippuuden, and it's been used a lot in that half of the anime.....so why did Gaara remember it during this episode which is supposed to have taken place before that? I guess the obvious reasoning would be that even during the Shippuuden flashbacks it happened before Part 2, but it's placement just seemed so random to me....

One thing I gotta comment on: was Naruto throwing the rock really that bad? It didn't seem to be to hurt Gaara--Naruto's attitude before and after were casual, and from what we've seen of his personality I think if he had meant to harm Gaara he'd have been more worked up over it. If nothing else, that whole thing confused me since the only purpose it served was to show everyone that Gaara still had the Ultimate Defense. Why not just have something "accidentally" head towards Gaara and trigger the defense? Why have Naruto throw a frickin' rock--he had no malice towards Gaara at this point in the series, and he didn't show any in the episode either so the scene seemed to just come out of nowhere.

All of that aside, though, I thought the animation was decent (especially that stuff with Kankuro in the beginning; for some reason the way they did his face and hands really struck me as nice), the story wasn't too contrived or bizarre, and the characters weren't horribly butchered.

[Merger Knight]

So does this take place between the 3rds Funeral and Itachi returing.

Or inbetween the search for the 5th and the the tea arc. With the 1st movie and teh mask episode falling some where in teh gap too