Review: Naruto Shippuden “Rift”

Part three in the retelling of the early episodes of Naruto is upon us. Sadly, it’s still the same old song and dance.

The feeling that I get while I have been watching the last two weeks of Naruto Shippuden can easily be summed up as punch to the gut. It’s now been three episodes, and I still can’t understand why the writers thought this was a smart idea. I can only beat this dead horse for so long, and I left it in a bloody pool after last week. So, let’s move on.

This week, we get another segment of canon episodes, from Sasuke’s total failure against Gaara, to the Sound Ninja Four confronting Sasuke. The episode actually starts with a new scene, where Sasuke was training with his Chidori. Sasuke, again, thinks the world is all about him, and goes to attack Itachi at the bathhouse Itachi confronted Naruto and Jiraiya. That just get’s Sasuke’s arm broken when tries to hit Itachi with his Chidori. I know that the entire story revolves around the tailed beasts, but was it necessary to retell Sasuke’s futile attempts to get strong enough to kill Itachi, which was a futile quest in of itself?

Watching Jiraiya on the show again got me rather choked up, because it’s Jiraiya! Even though he was one of the most perverted characters in a non-tentacle porn anime, but he was also one of the most endearing as well. I think Naruto’s battles away from Sasuke, including the fight with the three Legendary Sannin would have been awesome to include. But I see, however futile, it would have screwed with the focus.

Out of the three episodes, the only fights that mattered were the two pitting Naruto and Sasuke against one another. The first was the fight on top of the hospital, and the other was in the Valley of the End. Naruto’s power creep drove Sasuke to Orochimaru, because Naruto kept saving Sasuke’s ass in the later parts of the first series. This was the first time where I felt this flashback trilogy was worth it, because it shows how far Naruto has come from his time in the Academy, and the depths Sasuke would travel to so he can kill Itachi. We get the fight in the Valley of the End next week, just to prolong the torture of these episodes, and the return to the present arc.

Maybe I am a stickler for shows to stick to canon. However, this is the first time where I would have been happy if they didn’t just stick to what happened in Naruto. We know what happened with Sasuke and Naruto. Nothing changed from when it first aired 10 years ago. If the writers were going to retread the story, give us more new shit besides one new scene. There, I said it. I want filler that branches away from the story, as long as it sticks somewhere to the story.

I wish I can say more about this episode. Unfortunately, you can find reviews of all of the episodes covered this somewhere else on the internet. It shouldn’t be that hard, considering it was over 10 years ago since they first came out. Hulu worked, the episode played, and worked on my Chromecast. So, I guess that’s a step up on other outlets, right? Next week, we get the final episode of this flashback quadrilogy, and we get to travel to the Valley of the End.

You can catch “Rift” here.