English Dub Review: Naruto Shippuden “The Artist Returns”

It looks like Naruto isn’t getting much help with his mission.

Spoilers!

I have to say this, and it is truly heartfelt.  Naruto Shippuden is the only anime that doesn’t inundate you with five minutes of recap from the last episode. “The Artist Returns” gets right down to it with Naruto trying to get the animals onto his makeshift ark for his pretend mission. The idiot still doesn’t realize that something is wrong, even with Motoi, Yamato, and Aoba talking right near him. Naruto needs to pay a little more attention when it comes to shit like other people talking around him, because then he can know what’s outside.

I am starting to dig Ōnoki here, because he is showing he isn’t just about his dust release. I always disregarded Ōnoki when he came around in the manga, because I always found him as unnecessary comedy relief when we didn’t really need any. He shines a lot more throughout the anime because the more serious scenes play out better. To that point, he was able to stop Deidara and Kabuto from reaching Turtle Island. But that doesn’t do a whole lot, because Kabuto sends Manda II there to stall the turtle from moving. Naruto should be thanking Kabuto when he sees him, because he finally gets the gender of Armadiko.

Speaking of Kabuto, when did he actually learn to do anything? 150 episodes ago, Kabuto was a sniveling underling to Orochimaru. Since he achieved Snake Sage, his abilities were off the charts. Yeah, I know that Orochimaru and Jiraiya said that he was skilled beyond his rank, but all I ever saw was tremendous medical jutsu. I suppose he was just holding back, but I’m not buying it.

Of course, Aoba and Yamato are having trouble keeping Naruto on point, but that’s only going to work for so far. Unfortunately, the non-jinchuriki play right into Kabuto’s hands, but Kurotsuchi helps out a lot. Well, at least until Kabuto ate up Yamato for transport, and made a quick escape into Manda II. Aoba and Motoi were freaking useless. When Kabuto returns with Yamato, Madara is upset because he doesn’t have the eight or nine tails. When Kabuto assures Madara that Yamato has classified intel, and has the ability to make Zetsu stronger, Madara acquiesces. Madara tells Kabuto to hurry, because his new Rinnegan is itching for battle.

I had to reread the manga chapters before writing this part to reaffirm what I am about to say. I think there was a lot more added to this than what was in the manga. I did’t remember Manda II helping to flip over the Turtle Island, but I was wrong. The reason I don’t remember it was because the manga portrayed Manda on the island very terribly. Kurotsuchi had a lot more to do in the anime than the manga. One thing that changed a lot was Yamato’s cover for the “earthquakes.” He straight up acknowledges them in the show, but says Naruto got shaken up so bad, he forgot what was up and down. I think I prefer the anime version. It doesn’t make Naruto look like that much of a moron.

Overall, “The Artist Returns” was very close to the manga, more so than I originally thought. There was more of an emphasis on Kurotsuchi, which wasn’t that bad. I would have hoped for a more expanded fight with Kabuto and the Alliance ninja, but I can’t be all that upset. “The Artist Returns” was what every Naruto fan wants, an episode that was really close to the manga. Unfortunately, there was nothing here that gave the viewer a “holy shit” moment, also like the manga.