[Akito Kinomoto]

Or I should say, I finally finished Shippuden, having RQ'd it a long time ago during the Team 10 v Team 10 Clones brouhaha. I mainly watched the episodes of Shippuden I wanted to see animated when I stalled the manga a while back, as well as anything interesting whether it was in the manga or not. Yeah, I'm talking strictly about the anime here, but as I watched parts of Shippuden and rewatched some of the OG, I'm (re)introduced to how positively epic this soundtrack is

I'd ask why the series' music doesn't get more praise in the wider anime sphere, but that question answers itself. We're talking about an action-shounen series spanning hundreds of episodes that most people...past this stage in their fandom will universally pan. That still doesn't take away the exhilarating feeling we get when we Raise the Fighting Spirit, or the calm reflections of the Return of the Morning Mist. I also used to dislike Shippuden's OST for trying too hard, but then I listened to Itachi and Pain's themes and everything fell into place. Shippuden's music is grander in scale, but then again, so is the puppeteer that takes down an entire nation and a badass dragon made of wood. Who knew !@#$ing wood could be so boss?

Where the story itself really shines is in the backstory, especially for Kakashi, Itachi, and the Nagato-Yahiko-Konan story long before our titular character takes up the headband. The interplay of politics, espionage, warfare, betrayal, and sacrifi--wait, I'm still talking about an action-shounen series aimed at young teenage boiz right? Anyway, the moment when Obito and Kakashi awaken their Mangekyo Sharingan, Nagato christening Yahiko/Pain as the Akatsuki's leader, and Itachi hearing his parent's parting words are all absolutely chilling

But there's also a good balance of the humors here, with Rin being one of the most endearing anime characters period put to screen. The vitality of the Akatsuki trio also gives the sweetness before the bitter, and Itachi's sense of humility does wonders to ground one of the strongest characters in the series. Ashura and Indra's stories are also surprisingly strong as we witness the degradation of Indra's empathy for others. My biggest complaint is unfortunately with two major players in Hashirama and Madara, as they both feel like the same character in personality. OTOH, it made me appreciate the nuance between all the "Sasuke's" much more, from younger Kakashi to Sasuke himself, and even from Gaara to Tobirama (yes, I think Tobirama is much more Hashirama's "Sasuke" than Madara is)

What also used to be a character I couldn't care less for shot to the top when I watched her fight Pain. There's something poetic about Hinata that I didn't notice until recently: a young Naruto needed someone to save his life, and he held strong until then, his boisterous attitude and antics saving someone else from faultering too. It was thematically cathartic seeing them together, even if the execution in the film leading up to it couldn't make up for lost time

And that brings me to more or less the final 20 episodes of Shippuden. Tbh though, any action scene involving Naruto or Sasuke has no tension at this point. There's nowhere left to go with those two in terms of fights, which is why it's probably a good thing there's a new series introducing younger characters. Also, some of these episodes are the slicest of lifiest things ever and it's hilarious (Temari and Shikamaru especially need to stop killing muh sides)

Some other things:
--The Sound Ninja 4 returning to demonstrate how far the Sasuke Retrieval Squad had come
--Gaara finding out his mother loved him, reconciling with his father. Like, damn
--Naruto befriending Kurama is liberating af, like someone finally accepting all of who they are
--RIP in peace Sasori
--Madara's introduction appropriately made him look like a BAMF
--Did I mention Rin and Hinata are helladorbs oh wait I did
--Number of tails don't make as much of a difference as mobility, it seems
--Kishimoto knows to make grillz look better as they age. Seriously
--???
--CHAKRA