An effective setup and subsequent exercise in irony with an iron fist. If interested the sequence is documented starting here.
It may shock and horrify you to know that I’ve been following Naruto Shippuuden since the beginning, unless you’ve been AnimeSeen stalking me, and even then you may be shocked and horrified anyway. I’ve been silent on it because a) it’s not very good and b) the reasons for it not being good have been well documented by anyone disillusioned by the filler.
I was lucky to have started past that stuff, urged on by one colleague and one classmate, both fans and who both said “The terrible filler is finally over”, but it’s apparent that the production staff continue to derive great value from their budget. What’s good for the pocketbook is not necessarily good for the viewer, though, and the show has been stagnant with the exception of a few cued poignant moments, and a few humourous ones.
Most (all?) of the humour is concentrated in this 36-37 special, and almost all of it is smack talk marked by childish insults delivered with a straight face and perfect deadpan. I can’t recall ever hearing a “Your mom” equivalent in an anime before. There’s no better way to highlight sheer immaturity than to use as dry a tone as possible, so I’m anticipating more audacity from Sai in the future.
Yamato should have been an anti-spiral. Episode after episode of tree hopping and Kakashi being unable to keep a lid on Naruto gets old fast. This new leadership is a welcome change of pace.
Bird puns. I thought SHAFT at that instant for no apparent reason.