Naruto Shippuden Episode 358
What They Say:
Following the aftermath of the Nine-Tails incident, many on the Leaf Council voice suspicions that the Uchiha Clan were behind this tragedy. The Uchiha are then placed under 24-hour surveillance by the ANBU, which causes further tensions to arise.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the focus shifting more to the Uchiha clan and events there with Itachi and a nice touch on Sasuke, there was some decent material that showed how the family worked and operated in some ways but also furthered the larger narrative of how Danzo has been manipulating so many things for so long that you almost have to laugh. While it’s been interesting on some levels, I have to admit a bit of flashback fatigue in the larger sense with this series as a whole rather than this arc specifically, since it feels like it’s such an easy crutch to work with in order to expand the storytelling. I’d rather see more of this mixed into the series in a way, but I’m still pining for a kind of fan-cut of the show that puts the whole thing in chronological order as after so many years I’ve forgotten far too many details.
With this episode, we get to deal with the fallout from what happened with the Nine-Tails incident that set so many things in motion and gave us our character of perspective with Naruto as the baby. But while this is where the series originally started, we get a look around at what’s going on here in terms of the ANBU as they monitor and watch everything to see what’s going on. Spying is, as they say, a dirty job since you have to watch friends and enemies alike, but with so many different factions operating within the Hidden Leaf village, there’s the potential for so many threats to appear and they justify it to themselves well enough. But you can see that it doesn’t sit well with some, even if they admit that it’s a necessary evil in some ways.
Action isn’t all that expansive here as the focus is more on the politics of the moment as the village is at one of those pivotal times where it needs to change, but the direction of it is what’s up in the air. Will it go forward in a good and proper manner, will there be a coup or will there just be violence of some sort. Seeing the way the factions are playing all of this out has its moments, especially with the knowledge of where things do eventually land, and it has some interesting touches along the way when you factor in what Danzo wants out of all of it as well. The village as a whole is one that just has a kind of odd feeling to it as we get some on the street material along the way as well and the general impression of a village that’s uncertain of where to go and how to be is prominent, but made worse by all the behind the scenes wrangling and intrigue that’s going on within it.
In Summary:
While Naruto continues to roll along here with what it does, I’ll easily admit that it does have its interesting moments in fleshing out various areas of the past. But after, what, a decade of this series, I’m just looking for a finish and resolution here. The series feels like in some ways it’s trying to be a Game of Thrones kind of show with all the background interactions and plotting going on without all the sexytime stuff, unless you count Naruto’s jutsu for that, which we haven’t seen in an age. This episode provides a lot of small intrigue and character moments that will likely mean more for the diehards but less for the casual fans who are just looking for the big picture story – and the lead character.
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.