Naruto Shippuuden Episode 15

[ASSpirine]

Well, I doubt it. If Naruto is an old man, then so is Konohamaru, they're only like 5 years apart in age.

I'm fully expecting that if the series manages to avoid getting cancelled, at some point Konohamaru is going to be a badass. Probably one of the most badass characters in the series.

In fact, if Sasuke ends up dead because he's made himself a primary villain, Konohamaru would probably even become Naruto's primary rival.

Then I really hope he gets over his puberty FAST. His voice is just irritating, really hope we don't see much of him. The young Konohamaru sounds better

[Animeniax]

I was thinking the same thing, very poor choice for Konohamaru's pre-pubescent voice actor. Probably means he won't have much screen time throughout the series.

Pretty good episode, showed some good techniques and skill development, though they did re-use the same techniques. Kakashi's rip-off of Naruto's move from the Neji fight was weak, but he is the copycat ninja after all. The twist with the meat puppet jutsu was awesome and made a lot of sense. Akatsuki members are not going to lose that easily to even high-level Jounin like Gai and Kakashi.

Animation was excellent. Background music was lacking.

Episode rating: B+

That aside, I'm looking forward to the next episode in order to find out what the hell is really going on. Once would think that now the fake Itachi and Kisame have been defeated Teams Gai and Kakashi will continue heading towards the Akatsuki hideout. It should be good if they can get there before Shukaku has been extracted fully from Gaara.

That would be really really bad for the Konoha teams. 7 jounins of varying skill and 1 retired medic against 9 S-class villain ninjas. Even if it is just their shadow forms, the meat puppets gave our guys almost more than they could handle.

[Kraco]

That would be really really bad for the Konoha teams. 7 jounins of varying skill and 1 retired medic against 9 S-class villain ninjas. Even if it is just their shadow forms, the meat puppets gave our guys almost more than they could handle.

Still, their mission is to rescue Gaara, not actually defeat all of Akatsuki, so in that sense it's not quite as bad. And also it doesn't look like Akatsuki would like to sacrifice its (core) members like was demonstrated by that meat puppet technique. So, they won't fight to their utmost potential.

And for all we know, Jiraiya could still suddenly show up at the critical moment to save the day!

[ASSpirine]

Still, their mission is to rescue Gaara, not actually defeat all of Akatsuki, so in that sense it's not quite as bad. And also it doesn't look like Akatsuki would like to sacrifice its (core) members like was demonstrated by that meat puppet technique. So, they won't fight to their utmost potential.

And for all we know, Jiraiya could still suddenly show up at the critical moment to save the day!

yeah, I don't think they know against how much akatsuki they're against. It's not, let's kill al the akatsuki's we meet, it's save Gaara and get the hell out of there.

There're at least 3 of the akatsuki in the area, Deidara, Sasori and Zetsu who we've seen scouting. Itachi and Kisame don't have to be in the neighbourhood. At first I thought they were, but didn't expect the meat puppet no jutsu.

[Animeniax]

Well they're heading for Akatsuki's base, so they should expect a good number of Akatsuki members to be there, and have no knowledge that they're just in their shadow forms. If I were in the Konoha teams, I would assume the badguys used the meat pupper jutsu to fight because the actual badguy is at the hideout doing something else, like lounging or cleaning his room. If the actual badguys are at the hideout, the goodguys are in big trouble.

Now if Jiraiya shows up, that would be a different story. But can they keep relying on an aged pervert with vices to save the day? Might as well expect the 5th Hokage to come to the rescue.