|
Naruto 84May 21, 2004Title: Growl Chidori, Howl Sasuke! After running from Konoha, Sasuke finally catches up with Itachi. Sasuke attacks Itachi with his ultimate 'chidori' attack, but Itachi deflects the attack and breaks Sasuke's wrist.
Naruto tries to save Sasuke, but Kisame uses his sword to steal Naruto's available chakra.
Kisame decides to cripple Naruto, but, at the last moment, Naruto is saved by Jiraiya.
The End * * * RATING: B For the last eighty-three episodes, we've been told that Sasuke hates his brother. Well, it turns out that Sasuke has every right to do this. Itachi is a complete villain. Personally, the highlight of this episode was Sasuke's flashback of his childhood. Sasuke's past has always been sort of a closed book for us, and it's strangely haunting to see him as a happy youngster with mussed-up hair. Although Sasuke has been often portrayed as a callous loner, this episode finally rationalizes his behavior by showing us just how much trauma he suffered. It's one thing to be scorned by others (as Naruto was), but it's a whole different story to see your mother and father killed at the hands of your sibling. As a child, Sasuke must have struggled with the burden of upholding the honor of his deceased clan *and* bearing the shame brought by brother's heinous deeds. Speaking of societal pressures, it's uncanny to see just how similar Sasuke is to Gaara of Sand. Both Sasuke and Gaara were extremely powerful by virtue of their birthright -- Gaara was born with a demon, and Sasuke was an elite Uchiha. But despite their inherited powers, both Sasuke and Gaara seem to be utterly innocent when confronted with evil -- when we see the young Sasuke pleading with Itachi, we're forcefully reminded of the flashback in episode 76 where Gaara asks Yashamaru: "Why? Why? Why?" Anyway, aside from Sasuke, this episode was fairly straightforward. Kisame has a weird sword that apparently 'eats' chakra -- it's possible that this is actually some sort of summoned beast, similar to the monkey-god/extending-staff that the Third Hokage used when fighting Orochimaru. Finally, as expected, Jiraiya made a comeback in the nick of time -- this definitely evens out the playing field against Itachi and Kisame, but still, I guess we'll just have to wait to see how the battle turns out! * * * disagree? read 21 comments! * * * Related Reviews
|
 |  |
      |
