Naruto Shippuden Episode 325
What They Say:
Naruto and Killer Bee take on the six Reanimated Jinchuriki, who’ve been equipped with the Rinnegan. Using his past experience from fighting the Six Paths of Pain, Naruto devises a plan to stop the Jinchuriki.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having a fair bit of back story in the previous episode that changed a few perceptions but mostly just felt like a drag on the main storyline itself in a lot of ways, Naruto: Shippuden attempts to correct that a bit here with a face off and a good bit of action. With Naruto and Killer Bee intent on ripping the mask off their opponent since he’s so certain that they’re unhappy with the Jinchuriki within them and what they’ve caused in their lives, that just sets Naruto off even more since he dislikes others telling him how he’s supposed to feel and to assume that he’s filled with unhappiness and anger over it all. The two of them definitely have the right mindset to go against their opponent even if he is aligned with several reanimated Jinchuriki who have their own issues.
While we do get some time spent with Sasuke and the mission he’s on, the majority of it does focus on what Killer Bee and Naruto are up against. Naturally, Killer Bee is pretty much what you’d expect where he lashes out and just goes at it with a sense of style and intensity, but he also finds out quickly that the people he once knew are not the same anymore and because of the sharingan, they’re much stronger than before and more visually aware of what’s going on, which allows them to move faster and time their attacks better, especially in conjunction with each other. Of course, Naruto and Killer Bee have really worked well together for awhile so coming to an understanding of things and working together to achieve it is their only real option, one that they come to without any words which is nice.
The matchup is pretty decent as they start working towards taking down their opponents one by one, but it’s not the exclusive focus of the episode. As that fight goes on, we shift to a few others as we see the leaders of the Allied Shinobi Forces dealing with the problems in their respective areas and coming to grips with what’s going on with the bigger picture as well, giving us a larger view of the fight going on and the forces arrayed against the bad guys that are seemingly everywhere. When it does shift back to Jinchuriki fight, it works well since there’s a lot of power being wielded here even if it does feel restrained compared to what we’ve seen before. But it all serves as a bit of a general delay in order for more forces to arrive and to give Naruto the mental confidence boost he needs to move forward more.
In Summary:
Due to the way this arc works, we’re going to see a fair bit of flashback as it goes on since we have several Jinchuriki running around now and some of them we haven’t seen for an age since they were initially captured and dealt with. With the real opening salvo here, we’re getting a firming up of the forces so to speak and putting the playing field out there in plain sight so we know what’s going on. I expect more background pieces to come, but they’re easy enough to gloss over a bit since it just serves to provide some motivation and context for those that are fighting. With a bit of an expansion here to other parts of the battle, and a nod towards Sasuke as well, events are picking up and moving along well.
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.