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R2 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Sunday, 07 October 2007 17:00 |
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Page 1 of 2
 The world as we know it may just be coming to an end - I just sat through 13 episodes of Naruto and wasn't bored senseless. I'm not sure if it's the show getting better, or my mental state beginning to deteriorate from having watched too much of it, but it's a welcome change...
Episode summaries and screenshots are on page two of the review.
Most of the set - episodes 27 through to 37 - covers the second exam in the Chuunin Test, which if you remember back to the last volume the kids are required to pass to be promoted to the next ninja level. Given that the exam covers 5 days, that's not bad pacing - there have been blocks of Naruto that spent 6-7 episodes covering one 20-minute fight - and given that there's a lot of flicking back and forth between the various teams, no encounters or confrontations last long enough to become boring.
There's even a little bit of development work done, with Sakura and Sasuke getting opportunities to learn and grow a bit. Sasuke
in particular gets a lot of focus, with his unique lineage coming to the attention of a new Bad Guy and leading to him having to deal with a curse that could well restrict his ability to use the Sharingan Eye in the future. A little complication for future battles, maybe. Naruto himself spends a lot of his time unconscious (probably the best way for him to be, to be honest), while other groups including Gaara's and Rock Lee's get some decent exposure as well - this expands the cast a little and helps keep things interesting.
Overall, the 2nd exam has probably been the best arc of the series so far - it's still dragged out a little bit longer than it really needs to be, but it never gets boring and has some neat little complications and reveleations for everyone involved to deal with, and confirms that Naruto's writers can come up with the goods when they need to.
The final two episodes move the story on to the preliminary round of the 3rd exam - a simple one-on-one knockout to reduce the field from the 20 remaining candidates to 10 who will actually take the exam. The two fights here are straightforward and quick enough, although with a lot of the pairings set to involve new or fringe characters there are bound to be some pairings that you simply won't care about - but it doesn't look like the prelims will be dwelt on for too long.
So, as mentioned, I actually quite enjoyed this - even marathoning it over two nights wasn't enough to kill my enthusiasm, and that's probably the best thing I could say about it. Pacing is about right, most of the characters get their chance to shine (even Sakura, stepping out of the background for once), and boredom doesn't set it. Perish the thought, but if Naruto keeps this up, I could almost be converted...
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