Naruto Shippuden Episode 269 - Forbidden Words - Review / Thoughts

After the past couple of lacklustre Shippuden episodes, you could be forgiven for thinking episode 269 would be the same. Thankfully though, as I predicted, once Ginkaku and Kinkaku got to fight things improved a lot.

Gone are the long, tedious (and frequently boring) explanations and talking, and in is a lot of fighting between the Gold and Silver brothers - Kinkaku and Ginkaku and Darui's team.

As I said in previous reviews, I was really looking forward to seeing the fight in the Anime, and it didn't disappoint. Darui once again showed that not only is he a badass, he is also extremely quick on his feet when it comes to battle. His strategy when he was about to be sealed was brilliant, and I really liked seeing him escape like that.

Both Samui and Atsui got sealed very quickly which is a bit of a shame, but I guess it was kind of necessary to show just how the legendary tools worked so that the viewer (and Darui) knew the rules and could have hopes of countering them.

Then of course the end, and OH MAN things just got serious. We know how deadly Naruto used to be when entering any kind of Kyuubi form, and while we don't know just how much power Kinkaku will have from his one, you can bet that it's going to take an awful lot to fight him. No doubt seeing someone other than Naruto in this form will seem strange, but it's also a pretty cool thing to have, plus it is sure to keep fans guessing as to just what is to come next.

Overall I really enjoyed this episode, and to be honest I can't really think of any major faults or problems to mention. Luckily after the past couple of poor episodes things have picked up again, my only gripe now is that for some reason next week is ANOTHER without a Naruto episode. That's twice in a very short space of time, and still without any sign of an hour long episode to make up for it.

Naruto Shippuden Episode 268 - Battleground! - Review / Thoughts

For fans hoping for an awesome episode full of awesome battles, prepare to be disappointed. I can tell you before I go any further that the only good thing in this episode was Darui who you see above.

After last week's episode dragging so horribly, there was at least the promise of something good this week judging from the preview, but sadly it was very misleading.

For the most part this episode dragged just as horribly as the one from last week, and was once again really dull and boring as a result. There were more long tedious explanations, and the only thing in terms of fighting was some incredibly generic stuff with fodder throwing kunai at the Zetsus, and also a bit of incredibly basic Taijutsu that didn't accomplish much if anything.

I did enjoy the meeting between Hizashi and Hiashi though admittedly, and I do wish they had more time. I did find it strange though that Choza was talking with Asuma (and I think) Dan and set it up like they were going to battle, only for Choza to just end up fighting with some Zetsus the next time that area is revisited.

Darui was the best part of the episode though, for someone who doesn't say much and who until now hasn't done much, he sure is impressive and a very cool character. His Black Lightning looks so awesome, and the Anime team did a good job of showing his Black Panther technique here too. Darui really could be the surprise package of this war, and if he keeps up like this then there will always be something to look forward to in the coming episodes.

But as a whole this episode was once again pretty boring and frustrating, and I just wish that more action could be seen and a lot less talking which is slowing things down far too much. I have learned my lesson about trying to predict how good an episode will be just from an episode preview, so I will just say that when we do get to see Kinkaku and Ginkaku fight, as long as the Anime team don't screw up, it shall be a very good episode.