Re: Naruto Shippuden Episode 288 "Danger: Jinpachi and Kushimaru!" – Discussion
Weakest swordsman episode so far.
The episode with Jinin didn't make much about the swordsman, but had a great moment working on Sai's character. The episode with Pakura was even better, creating a satisfying backstory for one of the edos and giving some depth on Maki's character.
That one unfortunately didn't hit the same spot for some reasons.
1 - Jinpachi and Kushimaru are too inexpressive to be interesting. All of the swordsman so far were presented as just standard blood knights that like killing people for no other reason than their own amusement, so don't expect much depth coming from their characters. They had the same problem with Jinin a few weeks ago, he was just slashing people for fun as well, but unlike today's broadcasting his episode focused more on Sai's character and by taking the spotlight from Jinin they managed to finish the episode on a good note. I'm starting to wonder if all the swordsman are going to end up as just generic blood knights or if they intend to make their personalities more interesting like they've done to Pakura.
2 - The B-plot flashback wasn't one the same level as the others. While the first one actually worked on Sai's character arc and the second gave some insight on Pakura, this one was nothing more than just a moral of the story about teamwork. Nothing against some teamwork, but it is so overdone in Naruto it is not interesting anymore. By the way, it is so obvious they were trying to evoke Rin's character through Ran her very presence became a little ridiculous. In my opinion they didn't need to come to the point of naming her Ran, that's what killed it for me. It is obvious enough she is there to evoke Rin, you don't need to hang a sign aroung her neck that says "I'm a copypaste character". We're not stupid!
3 - The voice acting. I don't remember Kakashi's voice being so high-pitched even as a child and I don't have any idea on why they decided to do that. I couldn't help but think about chipmunks every time his younger self spoke.
But despite all of the bad points I'll give them some credit for remembering the namesake of Kakashi's technique and making a scene where he actually cuts a lightning bolt. That was the high point of the episode, but not enough to save it for me.
I mean there are some good fillers but this was not one of them, why can't they just go back to the manga episodes already? And is it just me or does Kakashi usually call the Chidori - Raikiri? Anway hope that nexts weeks anime is better than this one...
