Naruto Shippuden Episode 353
What They Say:
While pursuing Orochimaru, Kakashi wanders into a village inhabited by the Iburi Clan, a group of people with the unique ability to turn into smoke. Kakashi is soon captured and learns that the villagers all serve under Orochimaru.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Kaksahi having managed to find some tracks that have lead him to one of Orochimaru’s hideouts, it’s a good piece of him being a Black ANBU member since he’s spot on in using his skills. Unfortunately, he’s over his head in what he’s gotten into with the people that are part of this clan that occupies the village. We see quickly how one of them basically infiltrates Kakashi’s body and puts him through the wringer in a very distinct way that causes an immense amount of pain. That’s brutal in itself to watch unfold, but what helps salve it some is that we tie into the events from the previous episode with the Yamamoto that will be, who sees what’s going on and cannot let him be treated this way. While the Iburi Clan rules this village, there are some small areas of dissent like this and Yamamoto does his best to try and save Kakashi.
This does help in the end as Kakashi’s imminent demise is eased and we get a bit of conversation about it as the villagers try to figure out things a bit more based on what Yamamoto was talking about in how they can use him. But there’s only so much assuaging that can go on here before the villagers make it clear that their best bet is to simply eliminate him. And that sentence pretty much gets passed on to Yamamoto as well since he was defending him. What makes it problematic is that with the losses Yukimi has suffered so far, she can’t allow this to happen again and she steps in to save both of them. It puts all of them in a very difficult position to be sure, but Kakashi is just looking for his way out while Yamamoto is realizing that he’s lost his way of life and that Yukimi likely has as well.
Getting out isn’t as hard as one might think and it actually turns into a kind of nice little event as Yamamoto and Yukimi head to the village and she spends her time transforming into smoke and occupying people’s bodies so she can experience so many different things. Including a hot dog eating contest, which reminds me of some of the worst filler from the first series, though this doesn’t really equal the same kind of thing. There’s a lot to like with all of this as Yukimi gets to experience the world, but there’s also a hard decision to be made on Kakashi’s part as Yukimi can’t stay away, she has to go back to the village in order to be the draw that will bring Orochimaru there. It’s not exactly convoluted, but it shows the kinds of things that Kakashi didn’t think through in a humane way in order to achieve his goals.
In Summary:
While Kakashi is a motivating factor for a lot of this episode, the focus is more squarely on that of Yamamoto and Yukimi, which makes for some mostly light material. The bookends aspect of the episode is more serious with what’s going on, but getting those lighter moments and having Yukimi experience some life while knowing that darker times are ahead works to up the ante nicely in a basic and expected way. Kakashi is harder to read during this with his reasoning, goals and what he’s willing to sacrifice for it, but there’s still more of this story to play out.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.