Anime [David Anime] Naruto 103

In a continuation of the Morino Idate arc, this episode shows our heroes aiding their client and fighting prior enemies from the Chuunin exam. The last time we saw our protagonists fighting equally matched enemies was thirty episodes ago (with Gaara), and it's certainly a treat to see our protagonists fight against Genin-level enemies, in contrast with Jounin-level opponents (Naruto vs. Kabuto) and Kage-level opponents (Sasuke vs. Itachi). However, while the action is undeniably well-animated, it seems like character development has fallen precipitously.

As Mafuyu pointed out, this series has a wealth of superb characters, and it's odd to see such a focus placed on Idate instead of someone from Konoha. Although Ibiki appears to be on the verge of reforming his views of the ninja, he's still a bland character and is absurdly annoying to boot. While this is grating in itself, it's even more frustrating to see that the strength levels of Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura have been completely misrepresented. On one hand, it's irritating to see Sasuke having problems dealing with Genin water clones now, while he was able to instantly defeat Zazuba's clones around *eighty* episodes ago. At the same time, it's difficult to comprehend why Sakura can rip out a huge center-mast of a ship, while Naruto can't pull out crossbow bolts embedded in the prow. To anyone who has been dedicatedly following this series from episode one, the sheer amount of factual incongruities is infuriating, to say the least.

Although it might be be interesting to find more about Morino Idate and how his older brother betrayed him, this arc seems to be methodically destroying the bastions of complexity that made this series so popular to begin with. Although one can't wish for an excellent storyline, one can at least hope that this arc won't destroy Kishimoto's latent vision and genius.

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