I still can't shake the feeling that these episodes felt rushed. Maybe it's because I knew the Sharingan reveal was coming, and the manga did a better job of building up to it, but it seemed like Obito went from not having Sharingan to having Sharingan in about 15 seconds, without any proper motivation.

Quote Originally Posted by arondruiz
Nah, the directors name is Masahiko Murata. There's a difference between the "animation directors" and "key animators", Norio mainly does key animation. To put it simply, I believe the Director draws the first and last frame of the animation, and the key animators try to copy his style while animating it.

Norio actually hasn't done very much at all for Shippuuden. He has only animated this part so far out of the entire show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh2bxxCI-BE
Why do I get the feeling I've just watched the only worthwhile animated fight in Shippuden so far? I was actually only guessing if you were referring to Matsumoto since I haven't seen basically any of it. What happens in the other episodes you were referring to? Are they as well done as Matsumoto's scenes?