Naruto: Shippuuden Volume 12
To be fair, it would be hard to top the episodes that were contained in the last box set and sadly, this twelfth box set doesn’t continue the great quality of episodes and stumbles a lot of times, which makes it pretty disappointing (but might prove a decent watch for a committed Naruto fan.)
Once again, we continue where we left off with the leader of the Akatsuki – Madara – telling the story of Itachi to Sasuke and why he committed the crime of killing his whole Uchiha clan all those years ago, plus, why he became so hostile to the Hidden Leaf Village and joined the Akatsuki. While a few bits of this revelation are a tad unbelievable, it’s still a decent twist to Itachi’s character. It takes a while for Sasuke to believe what Madara is telling him, but he finally understands Itachi’s motivations. After this discussion, Sasuke plans what to do next with his team, now renamed the Taka, and they end up joining the Akatsuki.
The first three episodes are actually the best out of this box set. After Sasuke joins the Akatsuki, he and his team are assigned to capture the eighth Jinjuriki named Killer Bee, the rhyming Ninja whom some viewers might like or hate but I felt like his fighting style is very cool. These episodes also hold some of the best fight scenes.
We leave Sasuke after episode three and we see that Naruto, along with Yamato, Sakura and Sai is assigned a mission to investigate a fortress that contains a forbidden jutsu that can destroy a whole village. This particular arc focuses on new characters: Hotaru, who wants to restore her clan to its former glory, and Utakata, a mysterious travelling ninja, who is taken into the fortress by Hotaru after being injured.
Much like previous filler arcs in Naruto Shippuden, this one has a few positives and a bunch of negatives.One point is Utakata himself, who actually has an important power but never really properly reveals it until the very end of the arc. Also, one of the most tired tropes of the Naruto filler arcs returns: four stereotypical villains following one leader villain who wants the power to cause chaos to the five shinobi nations and to take over the world. It brings nothing new to the table.
I never liked the relationship between Hotaru and Utakata as well. Both of them slowly develop throughout the arc (which is great) but when Hotaru calls Utakata her master throughout most of the arc and he rejects her, their arguments are really frustrating and annoying.
The conclusion to the arc doesn’t fair better; character actions are questionable (plus really stupid) and the final moments feel very lazily done. The whole arc is contained in this box set and the final two episodes focus on Naruto’s reaction to what happened to Jiraiya.
I really felt that this arc affected this box set; there are a few interesting moments in there, including Utakata’s character, but overall, it’s hard for me to recommend this to anyone except Naruto fans, although the opening is very interesting if you want to learn more about Itachi’s motivations.
The Opening remains the same with ‘Flow – Signs’ but the new Ending “AZU – For You” is a another generic J-Pop theme that never really grew on me. Same extras are still here in this box set with Production Art and Trailers.
In Summary
Some strong episodes and a weak filler arc with some few interesting moments in this box set, Naruto fans will like what’s being offered but some might be disappointed.
