Naruto Lives

[Blight]

The first episode of Naruto Shippuuden was to me, far more than I ever could have hoped for. I had all kinds of fears about it trying to revive itself. Will the first episode be slow? Will the characters remain unchanged (i.e. undynamic) except in looks? Will Naruto feel old in the wake of all that filler? Will I even care about the plot anymore? With the characters and themes impact me as much as they did before? When this episode started, I was absolutely blown away. The scenes they show before the intro song were amazing. So much darkness in Naruto, so much coldness from Sasuke. To what degree have BOTH of them fell in their pursuit of power? When the F*** is this taking place.

The art doesn't look like it has had a major overhaul, but a noticeable quality increase did occur. I was slightly disappointed that more wasn't done with the voices, they all sound the same except for real the little kids (Naruto's tag-a-longs) have grown up.

I don't know what kind of starting point this would make for people to jump on. A great deal of why this episode is so great is actually stated by Naruto himself many times. Nostalgia. Naruto, REAL Naruto has a nostalgic feel to it. A year an a half is a long time to go with out seeing something you love. Being reunited is a wondrous feeling. Seeing how everyone has grown is also great. All you Shikamaru fans get some love here btw.

I want to make special point of the music. It fucking rocks. All of it. Creepy chorus of Akatsuki on down to the licensed intro and exit. It all rules. I'm glad they made the change. It totally helps Naruto carve out some depth that has been deprived it of late, and that would be necessary to move the show to some more mature themes.

One of the most important things in this episode though, is that it doesn't waste anytime screwing around. It jumps headlong into the story and head butt's it into oblivion. Most impressively, it transitions between the nostalgia scenes, to the plot scenes so seemlessly, that both aspects feed off one another.

Oddly Snake man doesn't make an apearnace. Anywhere. I wonder if the big O was done in by Sasuke or not? But then agian, aside from the future telling at the beggining, we don't see Sasuke either.

More importantly than anything else, this has made me more excited about Naruto, than I have ever been period. No fight has giving me the sense of anticipation. No secret move have ever giving me this sense of hope. Naruto lives Boys and Girls, so stop hiding from the filler or feinting coolness by hating the show. You'll only rob yourself of an event that should not be missed by any fan of anime.