NO WAY, 71 was one of the BEST animated episodes. Hokage actually looked old and frail, the fight sequences were TOP NOTCH...i believe it was the same animation crew that did the sasuke vs orochimaru fight. the angles they used was amazing, the detail is great..look how the Hokage's face got contorted when slammed by the 1st's fist.

the worst animated ep was probably... naruto vs. kiba or sasuke vs kabuto's teammate in the prelims

another good ep in terms of animation quality is naruto vs neji 1 in the finals ep 60 i blieve

of course the entire zabusa saga was great too...i think i started a thread on how the animation was going down the tubes after watching the naruto vs. kiba ep...akin to how transformers/gargoyles/TMNT have great animation at the start then turn to shit afterwards...

i guess with naruto..they have different teams rotating the episodes...

anywho..ep 71 was one of the best animated episodes.