My thoughts on the most recent Naruto episode.
[video=youtube;yvzC_AkTPEw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvzC_AkTPEw[/video]
In Case that Link Doesn't Work:
You must be registered for see links
How did you feel about the Power Arc overall? What did you think of the random Kyuubi transformations?
To answer your comments from your video, and some questions you had, and all things considering, this is by far my favorite filler episode. The reason why I felt this way was because along with the style and animation of the Power Arc it brought, at least how I saw it, was more dramatic and realistic approach to the series. And by realistic approach I mean less comical/over-the-top approach, while not having that gravitas feeling of seriousness that war tends to bring, more often than not. By that same token because it was a filler, and not canon, I wasn't expecting it to really fall neatly in place along the story mode. So at least to me I had a certain amount of main-plot-lee-way in comparison if it was an actual manga-to-anime episode. Having said that, I did feel that the ending felt a bit cut short, and left more room to desire a greater sense of closure. But Anyways, the highlights:
The point of focusing on the children and the couple:
Along with the theme of the Power Arc, which to me was the idea that 'power' comes in many shapes and forms, and not with just OP justsus, for example. And only when one can understand their own power can greater power be achieved. The point of the family, to me at least, was to brake somewhat away from the all ninja point of perspective and see how power were sought, handled, and/or lost by regular people. Because at the end of the day, 'power' is the ability to explain a phenomenon, and/or to act to a desire outcome. Furthermore, the misunderstanding of such power leads to destruction, or at the least an unfilled life. Examples of powers. Leo showed power when he courageously decided to trade those rods for the sake of his sensei (some might call that foolish), the young girl (who hummed all the time) had an obvious ninja-like power in sensing power in others, like in Naruto, And I believe, had a clear connection to that musical device too. The fat man felt powerless in his own ability to protect the love of his life and see how that affected him (and possibly his self-esteem--and his reason to not wanting to let go at the end), but had power in wisdom which he graciously shared with Naruto while they were captured. The fatman's lover, on how she over stepped her boundaries a bit and slapped the girl too hard thus causing a rift between the two until the end, not sure if she's meant to behave like their mom or not. And how the village major sought and ultimately gained the power device.
In the end, time was heavily given to the family so we as the audience would feel invested in whatever outcome the arc would conclude for them. Which was the point of the emotional climax.
The Juubi fights:
If I could put this arc in the narutoverse time line I would ping it post pain arc, pre-all out war; sometime during the building up to the war. Naruto has yet met Bee, or mastered control from Kurama. So Naruto did transform into the juubi mode, he almost died. But it was the fatman's wisdom of the 'why' he gain so much power that snapped him back into control, along with the remembrance of the encouragement of his father's words. All of this done because the voice of a young, non-ninja, girl reminded him of it. Also, I saw those forms as the incomplete forms of Naruto's BM mode. Like a foreshadowing for future modes ahead. But to us audience, we already seen the complete form because the main arc is long ago past that time frame so it would naturally look off and/or wrong. In other words, Kurama's defeat in the special training room was not the 1st time Naruto attain the BM, but rather was the 1st time he MASTERED it, If this was to be a cannon episode.
No seal?
I think was to show that Naruto had overcome the juubi to the extent that he didn't need the seal anymore. or that it's still there, but not visible to the naked eye. The girl did hesitate for just a moment to hug him at the end.
Why didn't they just let the woman die? all that wasted time for nothing....
Dramatic effect. The entire time I was " 'O.O' omg, omg, she's gonna die"--they said their goodbye to the kids, confessed their love each other, and now she basically let go to fall and die. Then I was like "Naruto, you better save her!!!" while thinking of "how, its too late. She's already falling down." But then something happen. They showed a time frame of a tear drop just before the heroic save. and again hitting the ground after Naruto's saved. All to show how fast Naruto's new mode is, IF the audience was never up to speed with the war arc (I read the manga, which is SOO much farther ahead than the anime). And in doing so, be ever more amazed!
My final words (lets face it, I'm getting tired of typing)
Overall, the team of people responsible for making this mini-arc experimented with Naruto with a different style and animation, bringing some of the elements that I loved from Naruto's beginnings while keeping the theme of good winning vs evil closely align to its creator, Kishimoto, imho. I did, however, feel that the ending was rushed. I could just imagine this:
Writer Team 1: oh crap, we need 5 minutes more for a proper ending.
Producer/editor(s): sorry, you got 3 mins of air time left. We are NOT making anymore episode for just that.
WT1: oh noes! what do we do???? !!!!
Writer 2:*raises hand* could we put it during credits?
WT1: TERRIBLE IDEA!!!-WHAT WERE U THINKING--DO YOU WANT TO STAY IN THE INDUSTRY WITH THOSE THOUGHTS??
Writer 2: sorry....*slouches back, trying to make himself unnoticeable*
Producer/editor(s):....
*anime is made. With cutshort ending*
director: good idea to put conclusion at credits. who's idea was this?
producer/editor(s): Well, sir, it just hit me. I guess with the time hunch, I never realize it then.
Director: good job! bonus for you!
P/E: Thank you, sir.
THE END
