C&C - Naruto Shippuden - "Childhood Arc" [3/9-4/6]

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Sakura tends to the wounded Naruto and Sasuke as the tree finally collapses and frees the people of the world; the ninja of Leaf Village begin the long process of recovery after the war; Naruto has a heart-to-heart talk with Iruka.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 480
Naruto and Hinata

Synopsis: Ostracized due to the Nine Tails that lives within him, young Naruto leads a solitary life in Leaf Village until a stranger appears and speaks to him; Hinata celebrates her third birthday and meets Neji.​

 

[Yojimbo]

Ha, so Hiruzen was Naruto's first friend?

So this was when Hinata first met Neji and a bit later Naruto.

Naruto and Hinata meeting for the 1st time has a bit more resonance since I just watched The Last. They were always meant to be.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

I have to give credit to Pierrot for the beautiful animation. Watching this after the cheap Toei animation of One Piece really makes me glad I am more of a Naruto fan than a One Piece fan. What especially shines in this episode is the scenery. Random shots of sparrows, trees, stars, or rivers. The plot is very minimal and frankly pointless since it is building on well established backstory for characters whose arcs are already resolved (Neji is literally dead). But it has a zen quality to just observing the beauty of nature.

 

[Daikun]

There won't be an episode this week. Due to Akira Toriyama's recent passing (and it's also Toonami's birthday), Shippuden and One Piece will be preempted this Saturday with a 4-hour DBZ marathon from 2-6AM.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Ostracized due to the Nine Tails that lives within him, young Naruto leads a solitary life in Leaf Village until a stranger appears and speaks to him; Hinata celebrates her third birthday and meets Neji.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 481
Sasuke and Sakura
​

Synopsis: Young Sasuke wants to spend more time with his brother, Itachi; a reclusive Sakura receives a present from Ino.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

The Sasuke segment was fairly pointless since we have seen this stuff about Itachi and Sasuke as kids a million times before. The part where he gets a finger to the forehead has really been played out. The continual insistence on humanizing Itachi falls short again. “Sorry I can’t hang out little bro… working for a spy agency that plans to slaughter mom and dad and our whole clan.” Not the best excuse, Itachi… That said, like last week, we have some very nice detailed animation, especially on stuff like the seafood and facial animations.

The Sakura segment shows how underdeveloped her character is. While we’ve seen about Sasuke and Naruto’s past in excessive detail, we never found out much about her youth at all. Her parents almost never appeared in Shippuden, and never appeared in the manga or part one of the anime. They were actually created by Kishimoto for the Road to Ninja movie, but that movie occupies a strange place as an alternate universe film created by Kishimoto that introduced characters and concepts later brought into the main series. This episode does touch on her friendship with Ino in her youth, but that is about all we know about Sakura’s past, and it was established 700 episodes ago. Her having comic relief parents with no tragic history works well in Road to Ninja as a contrast to Naruto’s loneliness… but that dynamic was never really even hinted at in the Shippuden anime, which leaves her parents feeling like gag filler characters. Even Sakura’s character doesn’t have much going on here. Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke all had to deal with the tragic histories of their clan in their family life, but Sakura is unburdened by this and only concerned with her hair and gushing over Sasuke.

 

[Yojimbo]

Could have cared less about more Sasuke and Itachi fodder but Sakura's segment was way more interesting anyway. Never really considered she would be such a solitary/reclusive child. But it made sense Sakura personality was the way it was with a dad like that.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Young Sasuke wants to spend more time with his brother, Itachi; a reclusive Sakura receives a present from Ino.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 482
Gaara and Shikamaru

Synopsis: A motherless Gaara grows up under the eye of his uncle, Yashamaru; Shikamaru pranks Choji.​

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

It was another episode which is fairly redundant with information we already have seen in other flashbacks. The Gaara episode was a bit slow with some shots lasting so long I thought my signal was disrupted. Still, decent attention to detail on things like Gaara’s sand sculptures.

The Shikamaru segment was just as much a Naruto and Choji segment. I am surprised Naruto was able to do the Sexy Jutsu when he was so young. I wonder if the idea of Choji and Shikamaru as childhood friends of Naruto is an anime exclusive. I believe the manga always showed him alone on the swing. He didn’t seem to have strong bonds to anyone until he graduated from the academy.

 

[A.Magik]

Actually the Tsunade & Sasuke Retrieval Arc showed flashbacks of him playing with the two & Kiba, until they went home with their dads and he was alone again.

 

[Yojimbo]

A sad Gaara story? /sarcasm

Poor Iruka. Ouch, rejected by Sasuke. Shocker. Ino was always scary.

Well, one more episode of this arc then I think we'll be getting to post-Fourth Shinobi World War arcs.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: A motherless Gaara grows up under the eye of his uncle, Yashamaru; Shikamaru pranks Choji.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 483
Jiraiya and Kakashi

Synopsis: Young Jiraiya ropes Orochimaru into his plans to get Tsunade to notice him; Rin and Obito try to get to know orphaned loner Kakashi.​

 

[Yojimbo]

I liked the Kakashi one better. It was funny both Rin and Obito were tailing him. Guess he missed out on becoming a great chef. So Guy always talked like that? lmao.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Once again this animation team seemed focused on drawing details on fish. These episodes had a unique style, but I’m glad they’re over. More artistic than your average filler arc, but pretty pointless. Jiraiya is a pervert, we know. Kakashi is cool and Obito is jealous that Rin idolizes him… we know. Ready for these light novel adaptations to start.