There are much more awesome things I could be watching/doing
But no...I decide I have to see what happens after filler hell thinking maybe it would start being decent again...
It starts off with some Gaara plot that drags on and on with a few nice fights here and there. Mr. Explosion guy seemed very lame for a supposed super mega ultra ninja, but Puppet Boy had a pretty neat battle with Sakura of all people. SHE at least got a little awesome in the past couple years, rising up from 'you still exist?' levels to 'you're ok i guess'. I almost wanted to cry at how many episodes Kakashi and Naruto chased Mr. Explosion. The clone battle thing was a good idea with a meh execution especially the hax power ending "we're all getting worn out but if we believe we are stronger than we were maybe it will be true because **** reality!"
Then some adventures with Sasuke Replacement and Creepy Face. I was a bit uncertain how things would play out, but I gotta say they handled the Sai thing pretty well. I kinda like the guy now. Yamoto is alright too. Fun little showdown around episode 40 with Mr. Snake and Mr. Ninja Info Cards. Should have been more awesome but I'll take what I can get with this series. Naruto is way too yaoi for Sasuke. So far, I can boil the series down into a couple of phrases: "I wanna be your friend!" and "Go away you are a stupid dumb dumb!"
Then some filler...
Then the series turned into pokemon.
I am currently on episode 84 watching Shikamaru's plan slowly fall apart sadly. He's still the only character in the cast that seems to have half a brain. If only that post credit skit could have come to be and Shikamaru Shippuden made into a thing...*sigh*
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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out
The first 15 episodes or so went so slow I had to switch to manga. I probably read it for about 100 chapters beyond what was necessary to realize how crappy it was.
I had hopes for Shippuuden in the beginning, but it will continue to suck as its director is a complete idiot. It is and will continue to be plagued by excessive amounts of filler. The Pain arc could have much more awesome if the director hadn't taken away all the best animation directors to film the movie, which turned out to be crap from everyone's comments. You're much better off reading the manga and watching the parts that interest you. The Kakuzu/Hidan arc was animated pretty well, though.
As for the big bad's plot to take over the world by taking control of the war economy...it made me think of MGS4 some >_>;;
I am realizing that I still don't care about any of these silly ninja peoples with the possible exception of Shikamaru. Whatshisface died and everyone seemed so sad and I was all but yawning wanting them to get back to fighting Mr. Stitches and Mr. Moron....
Also, minor pet peeve, but using warner brothers sound effects when doing their magic ninja stuffs makes me cringe inside...
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There is no shame in not knowing; the shame lies in not finding out
They sometimes put filler in randomly. So one week you will be in the middle of an arc and then the next week they throw a filler episode with part 1 Naruto in there somewhere.