Continuing my anime series reviews is the second series of Naruto, Naruto Shippuden. This is where this show really had strong depth to it. Naruto Unleashed had a lot of that too, but here, it's incredible. It's better than the original in almost every way. The characters are so much more interesting, the action scenes are better animated, the twists and turns in the story are so much more engrossing and intriguing and really everything that was great in the original is better here. In 2007, the original Naruto series ended and this one started afterwards. What really interests me the most about this is, not only the different twists we see along the way of the show, but also just from how much this changed from the original. Naruto and Jiraiya are back after a 2 and a half year absence of training and the old character from the original series are back with new characters as well like Sai, who's joined Team 7 with Sasuke gone, and Yamato, who's sorta helping to keep an eye on them, especially Naruto and Sai. At first, Naruto and Sai aren't getting along, but eventually they of course do. And in terms of how far the story of this show goes, it goes to such high places. It is amazing. It's so much more interesting and complex. There are so many things this show does and almost all of it is so amazing and some of it is even heart-wrenching. I remember years earlier and being so interesting and so torn apart from the different things in the show. And the characters are still mostly the same but a lot of them change into better people. For example, Naruto is still himself, but here, he's more serious and he does take a lot these situations very seriously. Especially towards the end. But the others are just as good too. Sasuke, for example is given a lot more to do in the show. In the original, it was always sorta the same with him in the sense that he would always sorta act like a moody guy who would only do a lot of things to prove himself or make himself stronger to eventually kill Itachi until the time he left. Sure, he would have a funny moment here and there, but it would mostly be a grouchy personality even if he did have a motivation. And with Sasuke being given more to do, around the point where he finds out the truth is where the show becomes something that bigger than you can ever imagine. But the whole show is just as incredible with that too like the story ark with Asuma's death and Shikamaru does more with him trying to get his revenge and grow up more. And the first story ark with Naruto and some of the others going to save Gaara from the Akatsuki. But the part where Sasuke finds out the truth about Itachi and the Leaf is where it becomes really amazing. This show also makes the Nine Tailed Fox a far more likeable character. I love the Nine Tailed Fox. His real name is Kurama and I love him. He's much nicer than you might think later on in the show and they even include good comedy with him at times. I also really like Obito after he becomes a good guy. And with the different characters here, and if you had watched Naruto Unleashed before this, then there's a lot of background and investment in these characters already and you get where they're coming from. Also the Akatsuki are given more to do and we know who they all are. We knew some of them from the original but only two of them. Here, we know them all. And one of the many sad and heart-breaking moments in the show is when Pain, who's the leader of the Akatsuki leader, sorta, kills Jiraiya. That scene might one of the saddest moments in anime history. And you can see how it effects Naruto. He's torn up by it and you feel his pain because you grow to really like Jiraiya. I love Jiraiya and he's one of my 15 favourite characters in the show. And then right afterwards when Naruto is training with Lord Fukasaku in Sage Jutsu and then the attack of the Leaf by Pain and then Naruto arrives in Sage Mode. That is epic and awesome. Watch this.
Also, I should talk about the summons here. I didn't mention them in the last, but I should have. The summons are animals who can help fight whoever summons them and they can talk too and each ninja can summon one specific one or more like it. I would say my favourite is either Gamabunta or Gamakichi or Pakkun. But, moving away from of all that, let's get to where the show becomes the best in my opinion, the Fourth Great Ninja War. This is basically what everything in the show was building up to. It's everyone vs. Madara and Obito. Almost everyone in the show is here and the action is the best in the entire show. Maybe in anime history. Some say that the Fourth Great Ninja War is where the show goes down hill because of who the villain is. And by that I mean the main villain keeps changing. At first it looks like it's Obito, then it looks like it's Madara, then it looks like it's Black Zetsu, but in the end, the main villain of the entire show is actually a woman named Kaguya.
She's basically the one behind everything. And I personally like how the villain kinda changes because it keeps you guessing. But in my opinion, the best fight of the entire series is the final fight between Naruto and Sasuke at the Final Valley again. After they seal Kaguya away, they go to the Final Valley to have one last battle. However, with all that great stuff, there are still a few problems with the show as much as I hate to admit it. For one thing, there are a few plot holes in the story and there is a lot more filler. But unlike last time when the story arks would take up some episodes, here they take up almost entire seasons. Like, in Season 2, there's a story ark with a kid named Sora. Yeah, there's a character in Naruto with the name Sora. And that story ark takes up a lot of that season. And there's another filler ark in that season that goes through the end of it and onto a little bit of Season 3. And while a couple of things from it can be interesting, for the most part it's kinda boring and you really just want to goes back to the main story from the manga because that's the best part. But, that's really all I can complain about. Let's get to another amazing part which in every anime that I've already mentioned before, the animation. This show's animation has improved much more since the last series. It may look similar, but once you start watching it, you'll notice there is something different about it. And the action is a lot better too. There's more hand to hand action and it looks great. Some of it can even be really brutal like the last Naruto vs. Sasuke fight I mentioned. And there's a lot more blood here too. Anime really like to use blood a lot and it really works. The ending is also really good. The show only finished recently when the last episode was shared on YouTube a few weeks ago. And while, yes, that is filler, I still like it because it shows Naruto and Hinata getting married. And, while some of it isn't great, most of it is. And, kinda moving away from that part, the next few scenes I want to talk about are the scenes where Naruto meets both his parents inside him. Those scenes were rally nice and really heart-warming.
Especially the scene where he meets his mother, Kushina and she explains about what happened the night her and Minato died. That's kinda heart-breaking from what she says and when she says goodbye to him. All that is really good. And, and this kinda off-subject, but I think Shippuden has the better movies as I've said before with my ranking of the 11 current Naruto movies. As I said, Blood Prison is my favourite Naruto movie and I still stand by that. Overall, this is most likely my favourite anime of all time. While it's not perfect, the positives by far outclass the negatives. So yeah, if you haven't yet, start watching this anime because it is incredible. Thank you all for reading and look forward to more anime reviews soon and please comment down below to tell me what you think.
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