Kaguya faces a storm of Naruto clones as she tries to find the original among the copies, and Sakura provides Obito with the power to rescue Sasuke from his dimensional prison.
The Good
Now, I'll get to the TWILIGHT comparisons in a bit, but first let's put our focus on the more positive aspects of the chapter. It gets right to the point in clearing up the apparently demise of the hero. I can't say I was terribly impressed with just another shadow clone cliche, but it works just as much as anything else.
I enjoy seeing Sakura standing tall and being heroic. Even when it only lasts for a short period. I only wish she was this motivated in other events that didn't revolve around Sasuke. I want to see more of the Sakura that fought Sasori. She was a bad ass.
Kishimoto wants us to believe that Kaguya is this terrible danger, but he neglects to really show us why. Sure, it's super impressive to be shifting dimensions but now she can't even do that due to the power drain it causes her. Despite all that. It lacks the visual appear of say Madara's meteor attack. As ridiculously overpowered as it was, it made for an amazing sight to behold. We're just not getting that with Kaguya. All we ever seem to see is the aftermath of an attack. I'd really like to see more from her. Who know, maybe Kishimoto doesn't have any more rabbits to pull out of his creator's hat. I certainly hope not.
The Bad
Be mindful that I've neither seen nor read any of the TWILIGHT movies or books. I honestly didn't even know the names of the two male leads until I saw that Burger King commercial poking fun at the "Team" factions of fanatics. What I have read is some outside analysis talking about how the romantic plot of the series meets most of the criteria of an abusive relationship. To think there's an entire generation of young girls who idolize that.
Where NARUTO and TWILIGHT start to cross paths, from my perspective, is in the relationship Kishimoto has crafted between Sasuke and Sakura. The creator seems to be going for some kind of moment of tenderness between the two, but what does that tell readers? That years of physical and psychological abuse can be overcome by a single act of kindness. At least, if you're good looking. It was not that long ago in this story that Sasuke literally tried to kill her. I have to say that I'm incredibly tired of having Sakura and Ino talk about how they're over Sasuke then obsess about him. ONE PIECE has done a better job in creating relationships, and that's saying something.
Verdict 3/5
I enjoyed reading this chapter, but as I looked back on events, I noticed that not a lot actually happened. Naruto was apparently fighting Kaguya, but we're not getting to see any of it. I'm sure the anime will fill in some of these gaps, but it's Kishimoto's job to build her as dangerous villain. Not the anime that won't even appear for a year. The meat of the issue was focused on explaining last week's events and Sakura saving Sasuke. The content may be lacking, but I don't think it really lingered on any one scene for too long. I would just like to see more brawling and less shipping out of this series.
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About the Author
 | Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek. Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/@FoxxFireArt / http://kristofferremmell.tumblr.com/ |
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