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Naruto – 187 – Taste the Flower Ninpo

The problem with these Naruto fillers is that while they are not particularly good, they are not particularly bad either – they are just by-the-books action adventure. Over this past year Studio Pierrot have become the masters of just filling 22 minutes with the most inoffensive, straight forward ninja action you are ever likely to see.
This week’s instalment again sees us repeat that same old formula; Tsunade makes her token office appearance and jokingly briefs Naruto and his random team of the month (Hinata and Chouji) on another mission to do with protecting a bunch of weak villagers who find themselves under the thumb of a group of classic cliche villains. Naturally Naruto gets to do his Shadow Clone thing. It’s like being stuck in a time warp, repeating the same mission again and again; may be I’m trapped inside someone’s sadistic Mangekyou Sharingan?
As ever, episode 187 was a fun way to spend 22 minutes and the action regained the series’ trademark of slick fluidity and cutting motion but still, the complete lack of story progression and character development is hurting me something chronic. I hope and pray that Naruto is too good to rely on this overly familiar, mind numbing formula for too much longer.

3 replies on “Naruto – 187 – Taste the Flower Ninpo”

I wonder how much input Kishimoto has for these fillers. Are some of them unused storylines he’s had in the past, or entirely new stuff from the studio writers?
I think the former would be great but improbable considering how busy the man is. It’s just a shame this middle period isn’t being taken advantage of much.

They should be using the filler period to go for different types of stories, maybe primarily comedy focused but also it might be a time to let loose and change the show a bit. Imagine a Naruto episode in the style of Mushishi or something, a change of direction where the characters are exploring the world, dealing with diffferent types of problems rather than the same story being repeated over and over.

I can’t help but agree; it seems like such a waste. I can see why they’ve decided to pad out the Naruto fillers like this (financially, proven formulas are bound to be milked), but still, they could have at least tried something along the lines of another Zabuza-style story arc.
I just hope Naruto won’t meet the same end as Rurouni Kenshin- cancelled due to the low ratings pulled in by episode after episode of mediocre filler just before more manga material was animated.

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