Naruto: Shippuuden Volume 19

Naruto, with Master Guy, Aoba and Yamato, is on his way to the Land Of Lightning under the orders of the Shinobi Alliance, although Naruto is unaware that he is being sent there to be hidden from the Akatsuki. Their journey is long, so during their travels, we look into how the people of the Hidden Leaf are recovering from the Pain invasion and how they are preparing for the incoming war. So more filler is provided here, with a selection of some silly episodes and some motivational episodes; it’s what I’d expect from Naruto filler – but is it worth checking out?

Most of the single episodes focus on certain side characters, showing them preparing for the upcoming war against the Akatsuki. These include episodes about some less well-known characters like Shino, whom we see in a flashback attempting to improving his weakness in close-quarters combat. Another episode focuses on Tenten’s past, showing that she once wanted to be like Lady Tsunade. However, after her training, she finds out that she has a talent to be a weapon summon specialist. These demonstrate again that Naruto anime filler does a good job when it comes to developing the supporting cast beyond the scope of the manga.

I’m not a fan of all of them, however. Hinata has a good role in the other episodes in this set but her own is really boring and it really doesn’t help that it ends with a discussion on how great Naruto is. I really wanted more development of her character. Also, I wasn’t a fan of the story about Konohamaru’s group trying to join the war; as mentioned in my reviews of the earlier box sets, I’ve never liked them.

We also get several comedy-focused episodes, which range from a cheesy one involving Naruto meeting a large man who is pretending to be him; it’s really not that good, to be honest. The episode exploring Master Guy’s rivalry with Kakashi is much more funny and entertaining; this further solidified my view that Guy and Kakashi are my favourite Naruto characters.

The last two episodes of this box set gets us back to the main storyline with Naruto arriving at a strange island in the Land Of Lightning. There he meets Killer Bee for the first time and asks for some training to help him control the Nine-Tail’s power. These episodes present a really nice anticipation of future episodes.

There aren’t any big battles in Box Set 19, so the presentation isn’t huge at all. There are a couple of moments when the lip syncing in the English dub is a bit patchy. I still think you’re getting some solid episodes overall though.

Extras include Storyboards and Trailers

In Summary

I recommend this set; most of the filler episodes here provide some useful development of lesser known characters which makes a very nice surprise.