Naruto ch531/532 – No Dull Blades

For some insane reason, last week I ended up choosing to talk about Bleach’s lame-as excuse of a chapter instead of picking up on Naruto. Seriously, I have no clue why I continue to do this, but I’ll try my best to do both this time. The only reason I can think of for missing out on Naruto so often is that I tend to get really down after writing about Bleach, Kubo just saps all the enthusiasm out of me. Anyways, this week I’ll be looking at chapter 531 in addition to this week’s release to make up for it (just so I can use the colour spreads from 531 to start off this post :hehee).

「 ナルト 531/532 – Team Asuma, Together Again!/ Mifune vs Hanzou: The Conclusion 」
Read Online @ SOMEMANGA

Picking up where I last left off, samurai head honcho Mifune confronts Hanzou in a surprise encounter. It kinda shocked me to find out that the two actually had history together, but seeing how old the two of them are, I can’t see why it would feel out of place. I came into this battle with the impression that samurais are lame in this world, probably due to the fact that Sasuke managed to make them look fodder in the Kage Summit arc. While I’m sure this still holds true, Mifune has done enough here for me to track back on that thought. Not only has he held his own against Hanzou, one of the greatest ninjas to ever live, he also manages to defeat him and restore his faith in finding peace.

It wasn’t exactly done in an exciting way though, since it was actually pretty boring the way it turned out. I came in expecting to see some fireworks from Hanzou. The man who defeated the sannin so easily came off as pretty lame from this clash. Mifune ended up reducing him to a one-trick pony, with the revelation of his poisonous abilities. While I give Mifune full credit for making the battle advantageous to his strengths with his swordplay, I wanted Hanzou to dish out more ass-whooping. The only evidence of this was shown through flashback, and it was pretty much a carbon copy of what the two did in the present (ie no flash, all clash).

I want to see more ninjutsu, not close combat with his sickle, where samurais are known to be king. So, coming out of all this, Hanzou’s stock went down significantly for me. His legend of being this fearsome ninja wasn’t really justified in this showing and though it was cool to find out that he was a righteous man and all that, it just sucked that this was a missed opportunity to show him as a significant player. So far Kishi hasn’t really handled these supposedly legendary ninjas all that well. He failed with the Kinkaku brothers, and he did so again with Hanzou. Hell, we only got a few panels of the wobbufet, we needed more of him! But yea, in the end I came to the conclusion that Hanzou was severely overrated and Mifune was severely underrated. You can take that for what it’s worth.

I just hope that all that disappointment means that Kishi is saving up the good stuff for this next fight between student and teacher. There isn’t really anything we don’t know about Asuma and his team already, since they got plenty of development time in the Immortals arc. Still, there’s something about this student vs teacher thing that gets me excited. Prior to this, Kishi has pulled off these sort of fights pretty well, such as  Sandaime’s fight with Orochimaru and Pain’s fight with Jiraiya. He definitely won’t have enough time to flesh this battle out as much as the other two, but these two sides have something that the others don’t: a genuine emotional factor born from the two side’s love and admiration for one another. The tension alone should be enough to compensate for whatever’s missing and judging by how Chouji has reacted (or didn’t) in the closing pages of 532, it might be a huge factor in this battle.

I’m really wary about this battle though. If you thought that Hanzou ended up being a one trick pony, then Ino-Chou-Shika is the definition of the term. While Shikamaru has the brains to make his abilities interesting, the other two are mere side acts that are really just pawns at Shikamaru’s disposal. Chouji only has his giant mode going for him and Ino just has the mind transfer jutsu. Together they are formidable but really, we’ve seen the limits of their tactical combos already. What other cards can Kishi play here really? Shadow bind here, mind-swap there, big bash here and that’s about it. And that emotional factor? Well…I’m undecided on that. As much as I don’t like them individually (except for Shika, who is one of my favs), together with Asuma they are pretty good. So Kishi, you best not disappoint with this.

If Kimimaro was reborn as a pokemon, he would be a Haxorus

Lost in the shuffle of all this is Kimimaro, who is one of the most badass characters in all of Naruto. Not only was his demise sadly premature, his battle with Gaara was one of the highlights in the whole series. I hope Kishi hasn’t forgotten about him, since he was pitted against fodder samurai back in the forest. That better not be the last we see of him.

As much as I ripped Naruto though, it doesn’t even come close to the shitstorm I’m gonna write up for Bleach this week. Sometimes sitting back and taking perspective is what I need when I judge Naruto. Whatever Kishi comes up with, it’s still miles ahead of Bleach. Disappointment be damned.

/ 6 Commentsleave a comment /

• blindability says:

  March 19, 2011

  Naruto wasn't great this week, but anything is better than Bleach at this point. I'd say you could even save yourself and go without reviewing Bleach for a while. But that wouldn't be a very responsible thing to suggest I suppose…

  Reply
  • Bass says:

    March 19, 2011

    I know I wasn't saying this in the last arc, but I really miss Naruto. Him being away on his lil training arc and what not, I feel like we need to see him a bit more. I probably wouldn't be saying this once we do have him, but I guess that's just how my brain works "OTL

    As for Bleach, I'll see if I'm able to conjure up anything for this week. My train of thought for it is just filled with rage and emptiness, which fits the current chapter I guess >_<
    My recent post Naruto ch531-532 – No Dull Blades

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• Renn says:

  March 19, 2011

  I was happy to see two redheads in the top characters poll. Gaara was always one of my favorites. :D

  I'm pretty excited for Ino-Shika-Cho versus Asuma, but yeah, I feel like the battle will be more emotionally charged than tactical. I'm also ambivalent about the individual characters, but the beloved teacher versus students dynamic is dramatic regardless.

  You didn't like Bleach this week? Say it ain't so! :p

  Reply
• Yi says:

  March 20, 2011

  I got super confused this week by the flash back stuff and the conversations between Hanzou and Mifune. Also, Hanzou was super disappointing… Not a great week. Still voted for Naruto though in the poll.
  My recent post A Volume on Fashion in Anime – Victorique and Kurumi’s Hair

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• Chiaki says:

  March 22, 2011

  All of Kabuto summons have been getting owned so far. Half of them aren't even cooperating with Kabuto, so I don't see his edo tensei being that effective.

  It was quite a boring chapter, but I am happy I did get to learn a little more about Hanzou's background. I just wish he would've been able to perform more than just one jutsu (summoning). I was curious to know what else he had in his arsenal that helped him take down the Legendary Sannin. :P

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• Aftershok says:

  March 23, 2011

  This manga is getting ridiculously convoluted at this point. These fights feel rushed and inconsequential even though what's involved and at stake is srs business. In any normal arc, these fights would have taken WEEKS to finish, each. The impure world resurrection jutsu is just a lame cop-out to bring back old characters to induce teary-eyed reunions, but the way Kishi is rushing through this stuff makes it not worth the trouble to put believability at stake to bring them back in the first place.

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