ThisFirst half of shippuden>part 1>rest of shippudem
true.....Part 2 had the storylines go on for too long. Waiting for sasuke to return, waiting for obito to capture the 9 tailed beasts and waiting through that terrible war where a bunch of characters were brought back but did nothing. Part 1 looked more at the characters and had more emotion, I think i was sadder seeing neji almost die against the spider guy in part 1 than his actual death.