Pretty weak episode, even with the character building. It was like the Bleach 127 episode except without the humor and excitement of new developments. They just rehashed stuff we already know, like how weak the Sand Village is and what the bijuu are for.

How does one of the most powerful ninja in the history of your village go missing?? And they want to pick another Kazekage? You have a choice of Temari or Kankurou. Really this village should have been destroyed already.

Once again, the basic tactic of not rushing into battle when you're hurt or tired has to be explained to our buddy Naruto. Also as others have said, we're in a hurry, but let's stand around and talk about stuff we already discussed.

The best parts of the episode are the preview and tourism scenes.

Animation was bad, but not the worse we've seen. Background music was great at times, lacking at others.

Episode rating: C-