Naruto Shippuuden Episode 96

[Kraco]

Ugly opponent no jutsu:

Episode 96 480p, 1080p - HorribleSubs



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Wasn't such a bad episode, but the scouting team was made underpowered. There's something wrong when old, named characters are almost killed by some nameless filler enemies, without a chance to land a single good hit. Especially when the said named characters already fought better than this before the time jump.

Oh, well, it wasn't such a bad episode otherwise. The extras at the end are a nice addition to the episodes - way better than the regular Naruto filler arcs. Based on this one even Hinata knows how terrible food Sakura cooks; one more reason for Sasuke to stay away from Konoha.

[Assertn]

Apparently Sakura became a notoriously bad cook...which is strange because I don't recall there ever being any reference to her cooking in the manga

[Kraco]

I reckon it started no earlier than during the time Naruto was establishing his wind alignment and Sakura supplied him with those notorious pills.

[Penner]

Ok ep... i kinda liked the way Sakura made her entrance at Narutos training place, dropping in from the sky and all, looked kinda cool tbh, other than that nothing special in this :P

And the weirdo subbers are at it again...i would have replaced "inconcievable" with "no way" but i thought sure whatever, i can roll with that....then i think i heard one of the bad guys call another one aniki and they went with "broseph"...what the fuck? :P

Also, this made the whole Konoha crew look like weak ass pansies.

[Azonalanthious]

I don't know that Konoha performed that badly. Its bad (ie typical filler) writting that the just happened to face foes that could blanket smell and were immune to Hinata's style of attacks, but given those limitations they performed reasonably well. Kiba took one hit while blinded, then fell back, found away around the smoke which was limiting his abilities, and rejoined the fight - a decent response. Hinata, who is (in my opinion) the weakest of the bunch to begin with matched her foe blow for blow - 2 hits to 2 hits - and got her hits in first. If it weren't for the bad character design in making her foe immune, she would have likely won that portion of the fight. Shino we didn't see in the fight, but sounds like he almost pulled of an good ambush. And Kakashi's foe was the strongest of the lot (remember they said in the fight for survival, he made it fighting by himself while the other four had to work as a team), and even so he beat him cleanly without using sharingen if he had just stuck the kunai in instead of holding it at his neck. And even afterwards, he clearly landed a blow with his rakuria even if it wasn't a fatal one.

All in all... still a filler ep, but much better then the last few.

[DarthEnderX]

I thought this episode was pretty good. I mean, okay, it's filler character, but just because a character is in a filler doesn't mean it has to be weak. It mostly just seemed like Kiba and Hinata lost their rock, paper, scissors matchups, and both got hit by powers that were especially effective against their specific abilities.

The villains powers are neat too. The big guy has a strong mode/fast mode, one guy has a smoke cloud that also blocks scent, and another has yoga stretchyness. It's a good mix I think.

[Kraco]

Um... Yeah. So, it's okay for filler characters to be adaptive but our old, named heroes should be left helpless if the opponent happens to be immune to their main attack..? I don't think so. Surely at this point, being chuunin and all, they should have secondary attack forms, which would allow some degree of resistance even if inferior to their primary one. Why didn't Hinata have a single kunai, for example and for heaven's sake? The dude looked like a gum sausage, so she should have been able to cut it easily enough (no bones) into nice slices fitting into a frying pan perfectly.

And since it's obvious a dog man like Kiba relies on his nose, it should be of utmost importance for him to be able to cover that weakness if ever needed. Even if it meant fighting at partial power. Now he could do nothing but leave Hinata behind and run. A really nice choice, considering the enemies had a number of men out there, who could have ganged up on Hinata and made her unsuitable for marrying anybody anymore (like they always say in anime).

[RyougaZell]

They are clan members. Despite Hinata being more 'noble' than other Hyuuga... she is still one and relies heavily on her techniques, leaving other kinds away. Inuzuka's seem to be the same way. Simply put... clans are arrogant and don't seek to cover 'weak spots' since they themselve want to believe they have none.

[Abdula]

They are clan members. Despite Hinata being more 'noble' than other Hyuuga... she is still one and relies heavily on her techniques, leaving other kinds away. Inuzuka's seem to be the same way. Simply put... clans are arrogant and don't seek to cover 'weak spots' since they themselve want to believe they have none.

What are you talking about RZ. The Hyuuga came up with Kaiten just to make up for the blindspot they have in the back of their heads. Ino, Shika and Cho fight as a trio to cover each others weaknesses. Even the Uchiha don't just rely on the sharingan, so where are you getting this from?

[Kraco]

Yeah. Sorry, but that just sounds too hilarious, RyougaZell. You become an elite clan by being unbeatable, not by vainly believing you have no weaknesses even though you yourself know those weaknesses the best. When you reach that point, you can become arrogant, but not before. Seriously, you think Neji wouldn't have beaten this rubber fellow in less than three minutes?

[Penner]

Exactly what i thought aswell, if Neji was there instead of Hinata, stretchy would have gone down quite fast.

[Azonalanthious]

Um... Yeah. So, it's okay for filler characters to be adaptive but our old, named heroes should be left helpless if the opponent happens to be immune to their main attack..? I don't think so. Surely at this point, being chuunin and all, they should have secondary attack forms, which would allow some degree of resistance even if inferior to their primary one. Why didn't Hinata have a single kunai, for example and for heaven's sake? The dude looked like a gum sausage, so she should have been able to cut it easily enough (no bones) into nice slices fitting into a frying pan perfectly.

And since it's obvious a dog man like Kiba relies on his nose, it should be of utmost importance for him to be able to cover that weakness if ever needed. Even if it meant fighting at partial power. Now he could do nothing but leave Hinata behind and run. A really nice choice, considering the enemies had a number of men out there, who could have ganged up on Hinata and made her unsuitable for marrying anybody anymore (like they always say in anime).

Hinata not pulling out a kunai is an excellent point. But Kiba I don't agree with - while important in other aspects of his ninja skill set, his sense of smell is not in any way required for his fighting style EXCEPT to help serve as a backup messure for when he can't see his foes. If there was no smoke, him not being able to smell would have made no difference. If there had been no sight but smell, he would be in the fight at partial power point you mentioned. Now, there is nothing wrong with having a backup for a backup (ok, I can't see so I'll smell, ok, can't smell either so I'll ...) but thats more the type of thing I would expect to see out of Shikamaru, with plans within plans within plans. Kiba is a brawler and a scout, not a tactition, and only one layer of backup seems perfectly reasonable to me.

[DarthEnderX]

Um... Yeah. So, it's okay for filler characters to be adaptive but our old, named heroes should be left helpless if the opponent happens to be immune to their main attack..? I don't think so.

Except that no character in the series does that in the NON-filler episodes, not just in the fillers. Characters strengths get stronger, and their weaknesses become even more pronounced as the series progresses. Kakashi is pretty much the only well rounded ninja in the entire series and he still has the weakness that he runs out of gas very easily.

So yeah, filler suck. But I hate it when people bitch about something in the fillers that's in the main series as well.

Ino, Shika and Cho fight as a trio to cover each others weaknesses.

That's a terrible example that proves RZ point rather than disproving it since it's 3 poorly balanced ninjas with huge weaknesses grouped together to make up for their weaknesses. They work because of group makeup, not because any of them has worked on secondary skills to remove their own weaknesses.

[Kraco]

EXCEPT to help serve as a backup messure for when he can't see his foes. If there was no smoke, him not being able to smell would have made no difference. If there had been no sight but smell, he would be in the fight at partial power point you mentioned. Now, there is nothing wrong with having a backup for a backup (ok, I can't see so I'll smell, ok, can't smell either so I'll ...)

Um... Based on the video there was several meters of visibility (the closest trees were all the time in sight). While it certainly would have meant you can't see somebody throwing a kunai or shooting an arrow at you from 20 meters, for these folks it should have been enough for tolerable defense. Why, Akamaru as a dog has so excellent hearing that he could have warned those two of anybody approaching.

[Abdula]

That's a terrible example that proves RZ point rather than disproving it since it's 3 poorly balanced ninjas with huge weaknesses grouped together to make up for their weaknesses.

I agree that wasn't a very good example but it doesn't prove RZ's point at all. What RZ said was that the clans are far too arrogant to even acknowledge their own weaknesses and here we have an example of just the opposite. Three clans who are well aware of their own weaknesses and work together to make up for them.

They work because of group makeup, not because any of them has worked on secondary skills to remove their own weaknesses.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Can you clariry?

Except that no character in the series does that in the NON-filler episodes, not just in the fillers. Characters strengths get stronger, and their weaknesses become even more pronounced as the series progresses.

There is a shred of truth in that statement but come on, you're generalizing way too much. What do you mean no character in the series does that? That is just completely untrue and as far as strengths and weaknesses go I would argue that the stronger a character gets the less pronounced their weaknesses are. The only time we really notice a characters weaknesses is if they are fighting a stronger opponent that is good enough or skilled enough to be able to exploit their weaknesses, if not just overpower them completely.

[DarthEnderX]

I was certainly overgeneralizing. There are other balanced ninjas in the series.

I'm saying that in general, characters in the start of the series each had just a couple of moves that made them very task/battle type specific and most character in the series could be beaten by a generally weaker opponent if that person was a poor match up for them. the rock-paper-scissors effect we've called it.

As the series progressed, rather than these ninjas learning different abilities to cover their weaknesses, they almost always just learn more powerful versions of the same abilities. Making their strength stronger, but leaving their weakness exposed.

Kiba is a perfect example. His big attack early on was turning his dog into a clone and the two of them making a spiral attack. So when it came time for him to show his new power later, it was his dog combining to make a BIGGER spiral attack...

Lee just has "more taijutsu!"(granted, he doesn't have any other options), TenTen just throws "more shit!".

Hell, Chouji doesn't actually do ANYTHING new, he can just do stuff now normally what he used to have to take pills to be able to do.

And Naruto...Naruto is "MOAR RASENGAN!" to the max. It's ironic that he's finally trying to diversify his moveset to gain some long ranged attacks and its filler.

In fact, the only characters that have actually developed powers that changed their dynamic are the two medical chicks. In fact Sakura developed TWO completely new sets of abilities to cover her weaknesses(medic and super strength). Although in her case she would almost have to because she was all weaknesses before.

[Abdula]

Ah, okay then. I agree with you, that is part of why I always say Kishimoto is not a very good writer. He has some very underdeveloped and underutilized characters that are pretty much just fodder and to balance that out he has some extremely overdeveloped characters that fall just short of being gods, a few of them might actually be gods.

[Archangel]

Ah, okay then. I agree with you, that is part of why I always say Kishimoto is not a very good writer. He has some very underdeveloped and underutilized characters that are pretty much just fodder and to balance that out he has some extremely overdeveloped characters that fall just short of being gods, a few of them might actually be gods.

He's not that bad -_-

But i do agree that he had this tendency to develop certain characters just to pretty much forget all about them in the following arcs.

PS: I see what you did there, clever.

[poopdeville]

A show about epic battles would be pretty boring if everybody was like Shizune.

[DarthEnderX]

Like her in what sense?