Naruto Shippuuden Episode 78-79

[Jessper]

Very cool, love these fights so far. I wish that they would spend less time talking about how "Shikamaru is so amazing!!" it might be more worthwhile if they hadn't thrown so many hints out about the whole deal earlier and actually made it something we might not have figured out.

I thought it was interesting how they specifically said it had been 10 minutes since the start of the fight early on. So many people (this is me being benevolent, manga readers are not real people...) complained about how the past episode was supposed to be all of 5 seconds.

The ending is nice, was a good touch to the end of the episode.

[DarthEnderX]

Best Naruto episode in ages(is it coincidence that Naruto wasn't in it?)!

Shikamaru, doing his thing again. Some unseen jutsu from the two red-shirt chuunin(even though that whole exchange was basically a rehash of Shikamaru's chuunin final against Temari).

Finally, a good guy death of someone under the age of a thousand.

Like I said, even without the episode title, they telegraphed his death for this entire arc.

I'm wondering now if Asuma's death will inspire Shikamaru into some crazy shit and he beats both of them somehow.

I dunno. I'm all over the place here. But I loved the episode.

[ASSpirine]

Best Naruto episode in ages(is it coincidence that Naruto wasn't in it?)!

Shikamaru, doing his thing again. Some unseen jutsu from the two red-shirt chuunin(even though that whole exchange was basically a rehash of Shikamaru's chuunin final against Temari).

Finally, a good guy death of someone under the age of a thousand.

Like I said, even without the episode title, they telegraphed his death for this entire arc.

I'm wondering now if Asuma's death will inspire Shikamaru into some crazy shit and he beats both of them somehow.

I dunno. I'm all over the place here. But I loved the episode.

I'm not sure which episode of Shippuuden is better, this one or the 100 puppets vs 10 from Chiyo.

I haven't even noticed that Naruto isn't in it... You got a point there

[Spaceaprion]

I guess Asuma should have spent a little less time hitting on hot chick and a little more time on training.

I think Asuma let his feelings interfere with the mission by telling Shika his plan wouldn't work because he didn't have the fighting ability, granted I don't think Shikamaru has ever used any taijutsu, but he's always been good at avoiding attacks and running away. IMO Asuma screwed himself by overriding shika's strategy. After all everyone knows Shika's ninjutsu is faster and stronger the closer he is.

Still I thought they gave him the proper respect with the way he died, better than lung cancer anyway.

[Abdula]

Bloody good episode. No complaints from me.

I haven't even noticed that Naruto isn't in it... You got a point there

You think you would notice the main character wasn't there right, says alot about the show. DB made a point of saying" Be happy, there's no Naruto this episode." The less you see of Naruto the better Naruto is.

Anyone else thought kurenai looked hot? lol

lol

I thought not being strong enough for the front lines was what Shikamaru thought was the reasoning behind Asuma. Or am I mistaken in thinking Asuma told him to stay back because they needed him in the rear to keep a cool head, see everything and tell them how to move?

Yeah but really Shikamaru just isn't strong enough and he isn't the type of guy you would want on the front lines. His strength is being able to analyze the opponents abilities and exploit their weaknesses and he knows this. So really him wanting to be in front was out of character and it was the complete opposite of when they went after Sasuke. You would think the anime guys would remember that when they decided to add in that scene, its not a problem that they did but really why not take the time to actually come up with a good idea.

@ Spaceaprion: What difference would it have made if Shikamaru was in front, best case scenario was that he captures Hidan with his shadow binding, which he did anyway the problem was they couldn't kill him. Worse case scenario is that he is the one that gets caught in Hidan's ritual and then they wouldn't have even been able to figure out how it worked.

I liked how they made it really obvious that Kakuzu could have taken care of all four of them by himself.

-Assertn looks like the scene didn't make it in

[Assertn]

-Assertn looks like the scene didn't make it in

Yeah....I thought about that too. It could still work....if they squeeze the scene in before the intro sequence for the next ep....

[Spaceaprion]

@ Spaceaprion: What difference would it have made if Shikamaru was in front, best case scenario was that he captures Hidan with his shadow binding, which he did anyway the problem was they couldn't kill him. Worse case scenario is that he is the one that gets caught in Hidan's ritual and then they wouldn't have even been able to figure out how it worked.

I guess the best case scenario is he captures Hidan and no one gets injured, and they are able to wait it out until help arrives.

The whole flash back where Asuma dismisses Shika's plan just struck me as pointless and contradictory to what Asuma had thought a couple scenes before the flashback, which was. "Shikamaru can think ten steps ahead and consider 200 possible moves in a second, but his real strength is his knack for choosing the best one."

I think it would have been a better idea if in the flash back, Shika had come up with the Asuma up front plan. That way it would have given Shikamaru a better reason for feeling guilty.

[ASSpirine]

what I did hate was the flashback of the first minute in the second minute...

[deadlydreamx]

Good episode thought Asuma was going to die when the sythe was coming for his face.

Anyone else thought kurenai looked hot? lol

[lelouch]

Have no fear, asuma probably had a decoy ship.

Oh wait, this isn't code geass...

[Buffalobiian]

Very enjoyable episode. It actually had suspense and a good pacing, which I've found to be a rare treat in Naruto these days.

I'm left wondering how the next episode will take place. Asuma looks like he's having a peaceful last chat with his students, but Kakuzu won't let his bounty go lightly neither.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought not being strong enough for the front lines was what Shikamaru thought was the reasoning behind Asuma. Or am I mistaken in thinking Asuma told him to stay back because they needed him in the rear to keep a cool head, see everything and tell them how to move?

[Buffalobiian]

I particularly liked how Kakuzu waited till his head was cut off, and still didn't move. Fully badass.

And lol at Hidan pleading for help, then swearing like anything right afterwards. Should have incinerated/wind diced the head, but I guess Kakazu'd be too fast for that.

[Abdula]

Yeah Hidan is a little bitch. Thing is Kakazu didn't need to help him at all, as we saw he put Asuma out for awhile and he could have easily disposed of Shikamaru and the other two during that time. Heck why not just kill Asuma right away and forget about the rest of them, I mean the body is all he needs anyway but I guess like a true badass, he is lazy.

[DarthEnderX]

You know what I thought was gonna happen? I thought Hidans curse was going to end up working both ways, and Asuma was gonna cut his throat at the end there so Hidan's head would fall off again.

Yeah Hidan is a little bitch. Thing is Kakazu didn't need to help him at all, as we saw he put Asuma out for awhile and he could have easily disposed of Shikamaru and the other two during that time. Heck why not just kill Asuma right away and forget about the rest of them, I mean the body is all he needs anyway but I guess like a true badass, he is lazy.

I think it's because, unlike Hidan, Kakuzu isn't overconfident. He's not gonna risk one of the others having some power he wasn't expecting, or having help show up, and not having his teammate on his feet if that happens.

[Yukimura]

Indeed an excellent episode. I'd forgotten all about Kakuzu's beat down of poor Izumo and Kotetsu but the anime made the fight look pretty cool IMO. Kakuzu is one of my favorite characters in the series. He acts te most like what I'd want a badass evil ninja to act like. He does bad things, but he does them like a Ninja would, coldly calculating and assessing the cost and benefit of actions and then taking the one that seems most prudent.

Oro behaves like a psycho, Itachi like an emo, Sasori was just creepy and basically a bratty little kid with butt loads of power (much like Hidan and Diedara seem to be) but Kakuzu seems like an uber ninja who knows what he wants and goes out and gets it and doesn't waste time or effort on unnecessary or unimportant things.

[iMUSTbeTHEdevil]

I still can't believe that Shika isnt a Jounin yet.

I mean there are a lot of Chuunins that do quite a lot, but I would have figured that there would be more of the Rookie 9 up there by now, especially him.

[Rikudo]

Wow, compare to how much love other character gets in Naruto *cough* Sasuke *cough*,I almost feel bad how Asuma got owned.

Hidan and Kakuzu are definitely ten times more interesting than Sasori and Deidera duo.

[Patriot]

I know, I know... I would come here for the links, and read and follow the discussion and the arguements. Mostly, I loved the passion that most of you bring to the table. Not only did the comment bring me in, but it seems like the anime grew up all of a sudden, and my introduction to the community seemed right. I hope to get to know all of you personally, and hope its a long and fruitful relationship. Even if we have a few disagreements along the way.

[StingRay]

Great Episode. Even if it means my favorite character had to die in order to see it come to fruition.

I remember saying once in one of my first posts that Kakuzu's stitches on his arms may have something to do with his jutsu. I guess i was sort of right but its obvious there's more to him than the bit we've seen so far. I get the feeling that kakuzu is just like shikamaru in terms of tactics & strategy. I never thought for a second he was honoring Hidan's request to butt out of the fight. He was analyzing his opponents looking for loopholes planning his attack just like Shikamaru would. I hope Shikamaru will have a great fight with Kakuzu.

I also recall Abdula once mentioning something along the lines that the Hidan & Kakuzu arc was one, if not his only favorite in the whole series. I can see why. I'm totally digging it so far