C&C - Naruto Shippuden - "Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise" [4/14-5/25]

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Young Jiraiya ropes Orochimaru into his plans to get Tsunade to notice him; Rin and Obito try to get to know orphaned loner Kakashi.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 484
The Exploding Human

Synopsis: Sasuke begins a journey of atonement following the Fourth Great Ninja War; Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura discuss a series of disappearances in the Leaf Village; the village fends off a group of possessed attackers who explode when wounded.​

 

[Yojimbo]

I've been hearing and reading about them adapting material in the wrong order, so from a canon standpoint the episode order is incorrect. Is it true that canonically, the "correct" viewing order is:

Spoiler

#489-493
The Last
#499-500
#484-488

If that's true, is there going to be any glaring spoilers from watching this arc that spoils anything from #489-493 or 499-500? Or are they all pretty stand alone and don't overlap with e/o. Well I know a little that it makes sense to watch The Last before #499-500 for more context.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/2/24/Novels_timeline.png/revision/latest?cb=20151214205959

This is the official timeline… it is true that they are doing the last novel, in publication time and chronologically, before the others. I don’t think it is important though. They are all building off chapter 699. If you have seen the anime up to now and the Last movie you will be fine. These are side story epilogues about the fates of various characters, written by a variety of authors. None of the stories directly refer to the events of the other books. I only read the novels Viz published which did not include the

Spoiler

wedding

, Gaara, and Akatsuki novels sadly. The Sasuke and Shikamaru ones seem to be chosen for the anime because those characters are popular. There were two lines of novels-Hiden and Shinden. The Shinden novels focusing on Sasuke and Itachi were published later but adapted first, with the Itachi arc we saw last year being the last novel adaptation from the line. Since the Itachi novels are a prequel it should give you an idea that the publication dates are not fully chronological.

 

[Yojimbo]

A kekkai genkai that turns people into zombie suicide bombers... yeesh.

He feed some cats his rice. I guess he's progressing...

But obviously set up for Sasuke to be exclusively qualified to solve.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Nice that we got the full opening this week. Might have been a random accident like other times they aired openings, but it was good timing with the introductions of the new character designs. I watched the Last movie right before this episode, so it warmed me up for the change. In the actual episode, there was not really any explanation of how much time had passed or any of the events of the movie. I do get the sense Hinata is closer to Naruto now though, when she runs over to check on him after Sakura punches him. That scene reminded me of how Sakura punches Naruto in the start of Shippuden. It must have been done to once again show that there are still some elements of their original dynamic, even though they get along better than in Part One. The actual plot of the episode is fine, though it can come across as another filler arc. Still it is nice to see some focus on Sasuke’s status after the end of the war, which was a big question in the original manga ending.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Sasuke begins a journey of atonement following the Fourth Great Ninja War; Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura discuss a series of disappearances in the Leaf Village; the village fends off a group of possessed attackers who explode when wounded.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 485
Coliseum

Synopsis: Sasuke, Chino and Nowaki search for clues about the exploding humans who attacked Leaf Village.​

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Good start to tonight’s episode. A cool new intro bump with Sasuke. And now they are airing the Japanese opening again! Man, it only took them until the characters were all adults to start airing it regularly….

Edit: Not a fan of the way the leaf village allows Orochimaru to operate a secret laboratory… and how pathetic is Karin for still obsessing over Sasuke after he tried to kill her? At least we got to see the whereabouts of Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu but aren’t their characters reverting by going back to Orochimaru? It seems crazy to me they would have a forgive and forget attitude and hang out with Orochimaru.

Edit 2: Orochimaru and Sasuke discuss the craziness of them being allowed to walk free… within the context of Naruto, we have to remember that forgiveness is everything. To Naruto, even Obito was redeemed. Even though Orochimaru was his worst enemy who tried to steal the body of his best friend, he is allowed to go free as Naruto still thinks he has something to offer to the world. I suppose he trusts Yamato to keep Orochimaru from doing anything crazy like trying to destroy the village again.

 

[animePWNS]

Looks like Orochimaru's taken Sasuke to... that thing we don't talk about in the first two rules.

 

[Yojimbo]

I don't trust Chino and Nowaki. Even though "Sassy" is a hilarious nickname. They're obviously hiding something otherwise they wouldn't be tagging along.

Hey, Yamato. Ugh, the 3 Stooges just went back to Orochimaru? The ones Sasuke basically threw away on the battlefield, right? I guess Kakashi must have made some edict to lump them in with Orochimaru and for his part in helping save the world, was allowed to continue his work but under supervision. Better than the alternative and letting him be out in the wind. And in return, they help keep the peace. Compromises.

Also dug they took a moment to comment on their "freedom."

Ooo, getting into sociopolitical content.

Orochimaru, you sneaky little snake.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Sasuke, Chino and Nowaki search for clues about the exploding humans who attacked Leaf Village.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 486
Fuushin

Synopsis: Continuing his investigation, Sasuke follows Orochimaru to the Coliseum to stage a fight and draw out a potential informant, but a sudden attack by more exploding humans derails the plan.​

 

[Yojimbo]

Sasuke saves Chino rather than chase the mystery villain. We supposed to forgive him now? Pft.

Ugly connection arise! So there's a grudge against the Uchiha in the mix now.

Oof, the self-preservation of a weapons dealer.

Yep, don't trust the new characters.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Sasuke sure has mellowed… in earlier arcs, he would have slaughtered the arms dealer after he mentioned the Uchiha. Not to mention he tolerates Orochimaru despite killing him earlier.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: Continuing his investigation, Sasuke follows Orochimaru to the Coliseum to stage a fight and draw out a potential informant, but a sudden attack by more exploding humans derails the plan.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 487
The Ketsuryugan

Synopsis: After Sasuke fails to capture Fushin, he regroups with Chino at Hell Valley and learns how she came to be associated with Fushin.​

 

[animePWNS]

Just had flashbacks to that accursed "The Dawn Is Your Enemy" card from years ago.

 

[Yojimbo]

Answer time. The bad guys had horrible childhoods. Like the other villains on this show. And to no one's shock, Chino was the one turning people into zombie bombs. Bummer there was only 1 more part left but Ninja Kamui marathon time for the next weeks.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Yeah, it is a bit disappointing we have a couple of weeks off now. Was hoping they would make it to the end of this arc first, but maybe leaving it on a cliffhanger gives people more incentive to come back. Not really a big fan of Chino so this wasn’t one of my favorite episodes of the arc. I am ready for Shikamaru focused episodes, since he’s my favorite Naruto character.

 

[CNFan1995]

Last time on Shippuden: After Sasuke fails to capture Fushin, he regroups with Chino at Hell Valley and learns how she came to be associated with Fushin.

OPENING: Empty Heart by Anly
ENDING: Departure Song by Ayumikurikamaki

Episode 488
The Last One

Synopsis: Sasuke's search for the source of the recent troubles draws toward its conclusion.​

 

[animePWNS]

Toonami Rewind promo! From 5 to ?
Nice callback to the squinting.

 

[Yojimbo]

Well, that wraps everything into a nearly perfect bow. Cue the anime battle style - I got one on you, Nah I got one on you then some talking and realizations and it's over. Leaf dumps it on Mist and Cloud, lol. Well, not dump per say but it was nice to see three villages still working together post-war dealing with sociopolitical woes. But it did bite that En Oyashiro got away and one last twist that he's strong enough that he really killed his clan and confirms he is Chino's father.

You shouldn't have said anything, Naruto. Never change, Sakura.

"Illegible. It's from Naruto."

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Poor Sakura… it really seems like Sasuke does not visit her in the leaf much, even though he considers it at the end of the episode. I wasn’t really satisfied by the ending because Orochimaru and the arc’s villain are just hanging out and free. Nice to at least see Sasuke and the Raikage settle their differences. I was surprised to see the Raikage so forgiving of Sasuke after what he did to his brother.