Naruto Shippuden Episode 361
What They Say:
Hiruzen assigns Kakashi to be in charge of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, three genin that bear a striking resemblance to the former Team Minato.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Kakashi having now been given training duties for a group of genin that takes us back to the earliest parts of the original series, we’re getting to see more of what was going on back in the day through his eyes. With his relative disinterest in working with students explored a bit already, bringing him to a group that involves Naruto alone is something that just kind of grates on him in a way since he sees just how different the kid is compared to his father. And with Kakashi having such respect for Minato, that just lowers his opinion all the more of Naruto. He’s certainly not enthused about this group that he has to deal with but as he goes about getting some of what’s going on with the trio with the current Hokage going over things, it all comes together as you’d expect.
There’s some interesting little bits here in a way as we get the two of them talking about Sasuke’s abilities and just what he may be able to tap into someday, which makes Kakashi’s job all the more important since he has to care for someone with a lot of potential. This plays back into his time with Obito as well since there’s the obvious connections there as well, both in ability and how Obito changed during the time he knew him. Watching this, you see just how much responsibility has been placed on Kakashi to watch both of these boys and their abilities and what kind of tragedy they’re trying to avoid. It’s gone into pretty well and there’s a good bit of meaning to it all, though I dislike that during a good part of it Sakura is kind of just a half-mention in a way, though the Hokage admits she has great potential even if she comes across as just average now. But her character just lacks anything significant to be said about her.
With a lot of semi-fluff here as we make progress towards Kakashi finally meeting the trio, it’s decent if unexceptional in some ways. We do get to see his perspective on things, and knowing the long picture here with what he does with them over the years and the changes the trio goes through helps to make it interesting to revisit this time again, but in the end it doesn’t really do anything strong. There are no significant reveals here, no twists that cause you to really view these early moments in a new way with a truly changed perspective, but it is good to see it from Kakashi’s point of view in shortened form. With him coming across back then as a kind of aloof and stern instructor, understanding his perspective, particularly with what he went through with Obito and others, molding him into this person who has to mold others brings the show fairly full circle in a lot of ways.
In Summary:
With this episode touching on events that were animated twelve years ago, it’s interesting to revisit it on some level but there’s also that feeling that it’s just damn hard to actually move forward in the show without this heavy looks back at what has come before. Thankfully, it looks like next week gets us back on track in the present and moving forward again. This episode has a decent sense of closure about it as it brings us to a different view of past events, albeit with a light touch, as we understand Kakashi’s background, worries and fears and difficulties in taking on the training of Naruto and Sasuke along with some girl who may have potential. There’s definitely some good moments of internal dialogue here but in the end it doesn’t reshape anything but rather just acknowledges things without nothing new brought to the table.
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.