Rating: 6/10

Impressions:

Well, at least it’s not stupid. And the pacing, if I have heard correctly, is slightly faster than usual. It’s kind of depressing when you realise that, after 5 or something episodes of log-jumping, the terrain hasn’t changed and no one’s gotten tired. Deidara, for some reason, persists in flying the exact same way since ages ago. Well, the first major arc is almost over, which is a big relief. Oh yeah, there will be no Naruto for the next two weeks, but after that, Shippuuden will return with a new OP and ED. The OP will be by long shot party (never heard of them), and the ED by little by little (again, never heard of them). Out of the songs so far, the only one I’ve liked is the 2nd ED.

Rating: 3/10

Impressions:

I cannot believe how stupid this episode is. It’s so stupid it’s not even laughable. Gai’s team spends 20 minutes on figuring out that they are actually getting tired, as well as figure out that in order to defeat their duplicates, they need to become stronger than them. This is the kind of thing that’s plain embarrassing. And what’s more, they actually all get pinned down at the same time, and all manage to ‘get stronger’ (wtf is this?) at the same time and defeat their clones. Wow, way to go from episode 26 to 28. Hopefully Kakashi’s and Naruto’s fight will actually have some substance, and no filler-esque stupidity.

Rating: 6/10 (when the last five episode screenshots look like they’re from the same episode, you know something’s wrong)

Impressions:

There are far too many flashback references to Sasori’s parents, and his separation from them. It makes the episode extremely ‘drudge-y’ and slow. If the excessive flashbacking are supposed to increase sympathy for the puppet master, it fails pretty badly. At least they portray Sakura and Chiyo with little or no remorse. Sasori’s end is pretty anti-climatic. The trouble with shounen series is, a seemingly impossibly powerful character will appear to be merciless and overwhelming in the beginning, but go down stupidly, as there would be no other possible way for the protagonists to defeat him. Sasori’s demise makes him almost seem weak.

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

Heh, I’ve only recently realised that Naruto Shippuuden has only covered 28 chapters of the manga. And I can’t believe it has already been 26 episodes since the time skip—a WHOLE 26 episodes. In other words, an entire double season has passed with like…nothing happening. Well at least this episode is pretty awesome in my opinion. The fight is animated with utmost quality that this anime has seen since Shippuuden, which is quite a feat. Sakura has certainly proved herself to a great extent, and it’s great to see her finally be of some use now. Of course, Naruto needs to buff up as well, and I have no idea how long that’s gonna take.

I have to say that the recent manga chapters have been quite interesting. I would love to see them animated, but unfortunately, if the anime continues to go at its current pace, I’m afraid it’s going to take the best of one and a half years to reach where the manga is currently. At this rate, the anime will never catch the manga. I wonder if this is a good ting (well it certainly isn’t for me). But I guess if there are more awesome fights like this, it won’t be too bad. Only thing is, it took far too many episodes to get to this final stage of the fight (actually, there’s a little more to go). If I were to take into account the pacing, I don’t think I would’ve given this episode such a high score.

Rating: 7.2/10

Impressions:

This episode is better than most of the previous ones, though only due to a more impressive and higher quality fight. The problem is, all the dragging on up until now has drained away most of my interest, and what’s left to push me to watch this is my lack of remembrance of what happens next. I have vague ideas, but most of the manga I have read has slipped my mind, even the more recent chapters. This is most likely due to increasing work from school, and other anime/manga/dramas which I am currently watching. So everyone is saying the next episode will be the best…hope they’re right.

Rating: 7/10

Impressions:

This episode covers a little more than one chapter of the manga, though at least Sakura’s fight is still pretty entertaining at this point in time. I guess I would attribute that to her finally going all-out, though the experience is ruined by Kakashi’s and Gai’s groups. As for Kakashi, if he had a plan, why does he not use it much earlier than a few episodes after he begins pursuit or Deidara? And for Gai’s team, is it really necessary to fight with exactly the same moves and techniques when fighting against yourself? Just because they are fighting clones doesn’t mean they are fighting mirrors of themselves.

Rating: 6/10 & 7/10

Impressions:

Man, how long has this fight been going for? And it only gets interesting at the end of episode 23…not to mention Kakashi and Naruto are STILL chasing Deidara, while Gai’s team are STILL meaninglessly fighting their copies. Sasori’s past was well and truly dragged out, making the episode such a bore. I think I’m just going to accept that the pacing is not going to change. These two episodes covers an amazingly low number of chapters…or more specifically, two and a half. What happened to the 3-4 chapters per episode that Naruto once followed? Ah well. Starting from the next episode, I will have completely accepted this horrendous pacing.

Rating: 7/10

Impressions:

I have a strong feeling that if the pacing was normal, the anime would’ve gotten to this part at episode 8 or something. The good thing is that so far it’s being animated pretty well. It’s pretty annoying with all the sudden cuts from fight to fight—it would be a lot more engaging if Naruto’s fight came into focus after Sakura’s. Although doing them in a joint fashion gives the sense of pairing between Naruto and Sakura, both fighting to get Sasuke back, which I dunno is even possible, judging by how things are going in the manga, the sudden cuts are just too distracting (even Gai’s team and the sand guys are interrupting.

Rating: 6.5/10

Impressions:

They spent half the time talking…sheesh. I had hoped that a battle would mean no more time-wasting nonsense and actual fighting (which there is some, though not much). I can’t remember what happens with this part of the story, so at least my anticipation is keeping my interest levels high enough. I’m not sure I would be able to say the same if the pace continues to be this slow. Episode 22 seems to be a double episode, I would laugh if that still gets the story nowhere. I haven’t seen episode 21 yet, though as you can see I am catching up (probably because I have nothing much to say each post—Naruto is just progressing far too slowly).

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

This episode is actually pretty good, mainly due to the action and above average quality. The short scenes of Gai’s team fighting each other were done pretty well, and finally, the show has reached the point where Sakura gets to fight for real. Although this episode still has a lot of padding which contributes to the pacing issue, it’s not as noticeable. There’s a new ED as well, one which I like a lot better than the previous. I find it quite amusing actually, because I think I’d like to see an anime version of that manga depicted in the ED sequence, rather than Naruto itself. xD