Naruto Chapter 589 - The Edo Tensei Jutsu, Released - Review / Thoughts

Oh damn, what a chapter this was! After all this waiting, Naruto 589 finally deals with the Edo Tensei, plus Madara once again shows why he is the most badass character in the Manga.

Well, not including Hashirama since we haven't got to see him, but Madara is definitely the most badass atm.

I love these Madara chapters though, they are always fantastic and never disappoint. Perfect Susanoo already has me massively impressed, and he has only made it do one thing so far (albeit slicing a mountain in half, which of course is pretty damn amazing). Perfect Susanoo is the most interesting technique in a long time, and to me certainly seems to be the most powerful as well, so the Kage can thank their lucky stars Itachi was around to save the day by undoing Edo Tensei.

Though that does bring me to a different point, as I felt so bad for Sasuke in this chapter. It's like he finally came to realise that Itachi would never change, and that all he could do was accept what his brother was doing. It was good to see he still hasn't forgiven Konoha to be honest, as otherwise it would have been a pretty lacklustre end to the Manga as far as Sasuke goes.

I personally would now like to see Sasuke arrive at the other battlefield and cause some major damage, and thinking about it, it could be one of the few outcomes that would make the loss of Madara (if he is forced to go, which would be a big shame and I am hoping won't happen) more tolerable. It has been Madara vs the Kage that has kept me interested in the war arc in all honesty, as Tobi's stuff has been long and drawn out, as has Sasuke and Itachi's sections.

What would be pretty awesome would be if /when Madara is taken out of things, Sasuke showed up to fight the Kage himself. Since he has an EMS of his own, there is a chance he could have his own Perfect Susanoo (which would be beyond amazing, plus would be a fair power up to rival Naruto's Kyuubi powers) and start destroying things then.

Aside from whether he gets to kill anyone or not, that would also set up nicely for Naruto to arrive to save the day. It would also be almost like Madara vs Hashirama in the sense that it would be two eternal rivals fighting it out, both of them with insane powers and going all out, and I could even see maybe a new VotE style path of destruction from the two colliding, thus setting a new legend for the future.

Of course Tobi still has his role to play though, and the above was just a possible scenario somewhere down the road. But back to the present chapter, all I can really say is that once again the chapter was fantastic, I honestly can't wait for the next one, and lastly that I am really hoping Madara finds a way of staying for a while longer to conclude his battle.

Naruto Chapter 588 - Bearing the Shadow - Review / Thoughts

If the recent Naruto chapters have been a disappointment, 588 sure as heck isn't! After a lot of drawn out chapters recently, things finally begin to pick up again here, and unsurprisingly this comes from none other than Madara Uchiha.

This chapter was just brilliant, it's been a while since I have been able to say that, but as always Madara makes his appearance count and makes Naruto become interesting and exciting once again. What with the way the chapter started, I thought this was just going to wrap up Sasuke and Itachi, but instead it went off course pretty quickly in to the chapter. While I am on the subject of Itachi and Sasuke, I just want to quickly go over it.

Now before anyone accuses me of bashing Itachi or being one of his haters, I should say that Itachi has been in my top 3 characters in the series ever since his debut, but of late he is beginning to get on my nerves.

The way he just basically refuses to try and help Sasuke and instead says he will leave it to Naruto is just such a dick move on his part. I understand he probably thinks that since he should have never come back from the dead, he should try and leave things as they were, but come on, he has seen how Sasuke has turned out, and yet he won't do a thing about it himself.

For all the things Sasuke has done and been criticised for (right back to when he first alligned himself with Orochimaru), people often forget that it was down to Itachi (and Danzo of course who forced through the whole thing) why he became so dark and his mind so twisted and filled with rage. I was actually glad Sasuke called Itachi out on it in this chapter, because he is right with what he is saying, and to me it just seems like Itachi knows he did wrong, but refuses to try and put anything right, instead just leaving it up to Naruto to do the work for him.

I also disliked how he said a couple of times about how he had no bonds or ties to the world anymore. I mean come on, really? You're just going to stand there and say that in front of your little brother who idolises you and who would probably do anything for you? That was a huge dick move on Itachi's part too, it was such a cold and heartless thing to say. And despite his claims, I think that Itachi would definitely be able to help / change Sasuke, and that he wouldn't need Naruto at all. While of course Naruto now has been all but confirmed to be the one to change him, I see no reason why the person Sasuke loves and respects more than anyone else in the world wouldn't be able to, and I just see it as Itachi trying to dodge his responsibility.

Anyway, enough of my mini rant about Itachi.

The Madara stuff in this chapter was just epic. I was surprised the Kage were able to deal with the clones, but damn, Madara has become serious at long last and now things are about to get interesting. A perfect form of Susanoo? Yes please! I don't know what makes it perfect (and by essence makes the others imperfect), but I honestly can't wait to see just what it's capable of, and how on earth anyone is going to be able to stop a serious and pissed off Madara Uchiha.

That's what I like about Madara, his strength is just off the charts insane and he is not afraid to show off that power. Whenever he is involved, the chapter becomes amazing. Of course the 5 Kage deserve credit too because they have been pulling off some awesome moves as well and have kept things interesting, but the other thing I like about the Madara chapters is the unpredictable nature of them. Nobody would have guessed about there being a perfect Susanoo, and who could have guessed that it would end up being Onoki giving Madara the most trouble, and even being the person Madara has singled out as the person he needs to take out first?

I can't see anyone being unhappy about this chapter, the 5 Kage vs Madara fight continues to get better and better and is a welcome change of pace from the recent Itachi, Sasuke and Kabuto stuff, and we have almost seen the end of the Itachi and Sasuke business (although it wouldn't surprise me if Sasuke ended up attacking Itachi so that he can't stop Edo Tensei, but that's a different matter). Overall a fantastic chapter that more than makes up for the lack of quality of the past few, and has left me once again desperately wanting to see what happens next.