Naruto Shippuuden Episode 78-79

[ASSpirine]

Best Naruto episode in ages(is it coincidence that Naruto wasn't in it?)!

Shikamaru, doing his thing again. Some unseen jutsu from the two red-shirt chuunin(even though that whole exchange was basically a rehash of Shikamaru's chuunin final against Temari).

Finally, a good guy death of someone under the age of a thousand.

Like I said, even without the episode title, they telegraphed his death for this entire arc.

I'm wondering now if Asuma's death will inspire Shikamaru into some crazy shit and he beats both of them somehow.

I dunno. I'm all over the place here. But I loved the episode.

I'm not sure which episode of Shippuuden is better, this one or the 100 puppets vs 10 from Chiyo.

I haven't even noticed that Naruto isn't in it... You got a point there

[deadlydreamx]

Good episode thought Asuma was going to die when the sythe was coming for his face.

Anyone else thought kurenai looked hot? lol

[lelouch]

Have no fear, asuma probably had a decoy ship.

Oh wait, this isn't code geass...

[Abdula]

I don't still buy it. Here we have some guy who is immortal and uses some mystic jutsu to make his wounds reflect on Asuma. Those should use a huge amount of chakra. But I guess I'm just so used to looking at monsters in this series that a dude with a more normal amount of chakra looks overly weak in comparison.

The people in Akatsuki all have monstrous amounts of chakra. That is one of the things I complained alot about in the beginning of the last filler arc. The anime made it seem like everyone has a seemingly limitless amount of chakra, when really Shika's level is about what normal people have.

It was also about time a character died, one of the good guys.
Chiyo doesn't really count, she was just a character that was good for one arc.

Exactly, no one takes villains seriously if no one dies, because everyone knows some how the heroes will pull out a victory. The only people who died were the third, Chiyo and Gaara. Both the third and Chiyo sacrificed themselves and Gaara was brought back to life. Well at least now they can't think that anymore.

Very cool, love these fights so far. I wish that they would spend less time talking about how "Shikamaru is so amazing!!" it might be more worthwhile if they hadn't thrown so many hints out about the whole deal earlier and actually made it something we might not have figured out.

Beginning to sound like a manga reader aren't we, and you don't even know the half of it.

I thought it was interesting how they specifically said it had been 10 minutes since the start of the fight early on. So many people (this is me being benevolent, manga readers are not real people...) complained about how the past episode was supposed to be all of 5 seconds.

I think you must have misunderstood something, It was ten minutes since they called for back up which they did as soon as they spotted them. Anyway it wasn't that the battle didn't take awhile, it was that it took no time at all for Asuma to get cut on the cheek and the ritual to start, it was so quick that there was no question about who the better fighter was. For example why the hell did Hidan waste so much time avoiding the kunais and stuff that was thrown at him last episode, when he could have just taken the hits in the first place, like he did near the end of the episode.

Anyway that said, I forgot to open Limewire so I haven't downloaded the episode yet, will do that now and then check back.

[Buffalobiian]

Very enjoyable episode. It actually had suspense and a good pacing, which I've found to be a rare treat in Naruto these days.

I'm left wondering how the next episode will take place. Asuma looks like he's having a peaceful last chat with his students, but Kakuzu won't let his bounty go lightly neither.

[Spaceaprion]

I guess Asuma should have spent a little less time hitting on hot chick and a little more time on training.

I think Asuma let his feelings interfere with the mission by telling Shika his plan wouldn't work because he didn't have the fighting ability, granted I don't think Shikamaru has ever used any taijutsu, but he's always been good at avoiding attacks and running away. IMO Asuma screwed himself by overriding shika's strategy. After all everyone knows Shika's ninjutsu is faster and stronger the closer he is.

Still I thought they gave him the proper respect with the way he died, better than lung cancer anyway.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought not being strong enough for the front lines was what Shikamaru thought was the reasoning behind Asuma. Or am I mistaken in thinking Asuma told him to stay back because they needed him in the rear to keep a cool head, see everything and tell them how to move?

[Abdula]

Bloody good episode. No complaints from me.

I haven't even noticed that Naruto isn't in it... You got a point there

You think you would notice the main character wasn't there right, says alot about the show. DB made a point of saying" Be happy, there's no Naruto this episode." The less you see of Naruto the better Naruto is.

Anyone else thought kurenai looked hot? lol

lol

I thought not being strong enough for the front lines was what Shikamaru thought was the reasoning behind Asuma. Or am I mistaken in thinking Asuma told him to stay back because they needed him in the rear to keep a cool head, see everything and tell them how to move?

Yeah but really Shikamaru just isn't strong enough and he isn't the type of guy you would want on the front lines. His strength is being able to analyze the opponents abilities and exploit their weaknesses and he knows this. So really him wanting to be in front was out of character and it was the complete opposite of when they went after Sasuke. You would think the anime guys would remember that when they decided to add in that scene, its not a problem that they did but really why not take the time to actually come up with a good idea.

@ Spaceaprion: What difference would it have made if Shikamaru was in front, best case scenario was that he captures Hidan with his shadow binding, which he did anyway the problem was they couldn't kill him. Worse case scenario is that he is the one that gets caught in Hidan's ritual and then they wouldn't have even been able to figure out how it worked.

I liked how they made it really obvious that Kakuzu could have taken care of all four of them by himself.

-Assertn looks like the scene didn't make it in

[Buffalobiian]

I particularly liked how Kakuzu waited till his head was cut off, and still didn't move. Fully badass.

And lol at Hidan pleading for help, then swearing like anything right afterwards. Should have incinerated/wind diced the head, but I guess Kakazu'd be too fast for that.

[Abdula]

Yeah Hidan is a little bitch. Thing is Kakazu didn't need to help him at all, as we saw he put Asuma out for awhile and he could have easily disposed of Shikamaru and the other two during that time. Heck why not just kill Asuma right away and forget about the rest of them, I mean the body is all he needs anyway but I guess like a true badass, he is lazy.

[DarthEnderX]

You know what I thought was gonna happen? I thought Hidans curse was going to end up working both ways, and Asuma was gonna cut his throat at the end there so Hidan's head would fall off again.

Yeah Hidan is a little bitch. Thing is Kakazu didn't need to help him at all, as we saw he put Asuma out for awhile and he could have easily disposed of Shikamaru and the other two during that time. Heck why not just kill Asuma right away and forget about the rest of them, I mean the body is all he needs anyway but I guess like a true badass, he is lazy.

I think it's because, unlike Hidan, Kakuzu isn't overconfident. He's not gonna risk one of the others having some power he wasn't expecting, or having help show up, and not having his teammate on his feet if that happens.

[Assertn]

-Assertn looks like the scene didn't make it in

Yeah....I thought about that too. It could still work....if they squeeze the scene in before the intro sequence for the next ep....

[Yukimura]

Indeed an excellent episode. I'd forgotten all about Kakuzu's beat down of poor Izumo and Kotetsu but the anime made the fight look pretty cool IMO. Kakuzu is one of my favorite characters in the series. He acts te most like what I'd want a badass evil ninja to act like. He does bad things, but he does them like a Ninja would, coldly calculating and assessing the cost and benefit of actions and then taking the one that seems most prudent.

Oro behaves like a psycho, Itachi like an emo, Sasori was just creepy and basically a bratty little kid with butt loads of power (much like Hidan and Diedara seem to be) but Kakuzu seems like an uber ninja who knows what he wants and goes out and gets it and doesn't waste time or effort on unnecessary or unimportant things.

[iMUSTbeTHEdevil]

I still can't believe that Shika isnt a Jounin yet.

I mean there are a lot of Chuunins that do quite a lot, but I would have figured that there would be more of the Rookie 9 up there by now, especially him.

[Patriot]

Originally Posted by Kagemane_no_Jutsu
Wow I'm disgusted with this god awful stereo-type DB has given to ALL of us naruto fans. I sure as hell don't live in the basement...

Did you email them with a complaint about them being a day late? If not, then they're not talking about you.

I have been trolling these forums for 4+ years, and never once bothered to register. If there was a way to check my IP you would see that I have been here many times and read many posts, I feel I know some of you, from the way you post, I just never got invovled in the discussion. But this one brought me out the woodwork for the sheer hilarity that ensued. Talking about a misquote eh Gagemane_no_Jutse? I got your humor and found it funny...the other guy, just over his head....and that's it for me, see you all in another 4 years...well see me that is.

[Spaceaprion]

@ Spaceaprion: What difference would it have made if Shikamaru was in front, best case scenario was that he captures Hidan with his shadow binding, which he did anyway the problem was they couldn't kill him. Worse case scenario is that he is the one that gets caught in Hidan's ritual and then they wouldn't have even been able to figure out how it worked.

I guess the best case scenario is he captures Hidan and no one gets injured, and they are able to wait it out until help arrives.

The whole flash back where Asuma dismisses Shika's plan just struck me as pointless and contradictory to what Asuma had thought a couple scenes before the flashback, which was. "Shikamaru can think ten steps ahead and consider 200 possible moves in a second, but his real strength is his knack for choosing the best one."

I think it would have been a better idea if in the flash back, Shika had come up with the Asuma up front plan. That way it would have given Shikamaru a better reason for feeling guilty.

[Rikudo]

Wow, compare to how much love other character gets in Naruto *cough* Sasuke *cough*,I almost feel bad how Asuma got owned.

Hidan and Kakuzu are definitely ten times more interesting than Sasori and Deidera duo.

[Assertn]

I have been trolling these forums for 4+ years, and never once bothered to register. If there was a way to check my IP you would see that I have been here many times and read many posts, I feel I know some of you, from the way you post, I just never got invovled in the discussion. But this one brought me out the woodwork for the sheer hilarity that ensued. Talking about a misquote eh Gagemane_no_Jutse? I got your humor and found it funny...the other guy, just over his head....and that's it for me, see you all in another 4 years...well see me that is.

Um...lol? Boy is my face red!
Well, I'm glad I ensued hilarity for you. Welcome to the forums

[Abdula]

Yeah....I thought about that too. It could still work....if they squeeze the scene in before the intro sequence for the next ep....

I wonder if they are even gonna bother, continuity doesn't seem to be something they care about.

@ Yuki, couldn't have said it better. Its unfortunate that we didn't get to see a villain like Kakuzu earlier.

@Patriot, 4+ years of trolling and of all the things that has happened in that time this is what makes you join.

I guess the best case scenario is he captures Hidan and no one gets injured, and they are able to wait it out until help arrives.

But that was never gonna happen, they were completely outmatched by Hidan and Kakuzu.

The whole flash back where Asuma dismisses Shika's plan just struck me as pointless and contradictory to what Asuma had thought a couple scenes before the flashback, which was. "Shikamaru can think ten steps ahead and consider 200 possible moves in a second, but his real strength is his knack for choosing the best one."

Exactly.

I think it would have been a better idea if in the flash back, Shika had come up with the Asuma up front plan. That way it would have given Shikamaru a better reason for feeling guilty.

This is what I think they were going for, they just didn't pull it off.

[Patriot]

I know, I know... I would come here for the links, and read and follow the discussion and the arguements. Mostly, I loved the passion that most of you bring to the table. Not only did the comment bring me in, but it seems like the anime grew up all of a sudden, and my introduction to the community seemed right. I hope to get to know all of you personally, and hope its a long and fruitful relationship. Even if we have a few disagreements along the way.