The fights continue to build in intensity.

What They Say:
Obito has gained complete control over his power as the Ten Tails Jinchuriki. His powerful, cold-blooded attacks force Naruto and his friends into a corner.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Naruto: Shippuden got things back on track after more history lesson material recently and that’s been a plus. Getting Obito powered up even more, dealing with his fight against Kakashi and the history that goes there and throwing Madara up against Hashirama again has been a lot of fun to see. There are basically grudges that go back a long way here that are being worked over in the present and it’s definitely having quite an impact. With the way Obito is powered up now, we see how he’s using his abilities to cause massive destruction with ease to eliminate threats, though the Hokage of the past have their methods that they use to try and make sure that nobody is hurt this early in the fight. That keeps things moving while advancing the overall level of power at play here.

Not surprising is the level of power at play between Madara and Hashirama as they’re set off in the distance a bit and everyone can see just how impressive it is. Which also has a lot of them really being humbled by it and realizing that they’re completely out of their league. Thankfully, Shikamaru uses Ino to get the point across that small power is just as important in the big picture and that they all need to keep their eyes open. It’s a good acknowledgement of everyone that isn’t directly involved at the moment, which is a hell of a lot of people, and it also cements Shikamaru as a solid leader in this kind of situation as he keeps everyone ready to move at a moment’s notice should they be needed. Simply paying attention to this aspect, even for just a couple of minutes, is hugely useful and it also shows how things will turn in the future as shows like this lay out how it’ll go in this way.

While there is a good bit of action here among the key players as it goes on, we also get a healthy dose of standing around and talking. The way Obito has grown in power has the reanimated Hokage talking about the way they need to be wary of him because his jutsu could simply nullify them at this point. The longstanding grudges are obviously a big part of this, but we’re also starting to see the worm turn in a way as Naruto and Sasuke start talking about how it’s almost their turn to step up to the plate and do what’s needed. All of that is just part of what’s going on though because we also have to get more flashback aspects to help solidify events with those that re involved and their connections to Obito. It also turns towards what had been done with Naruto in binding the nine-tails in him, which is an easy go to point. But in the end, it’s working well with what we have because it adds more of this tone of sadness to events.

In Summary:
It’s no surprise that we don’t really have any dramatic changes here, but we get the continual build up and creep of what’s going on as the power levels escalate and the reanimated Hokage start to get a feel for the scale of power that’s being utilized and how they can be threatened. There’s some decent conversational material at times between some of the characters, and it’s fun just seeing Naruto and Sasuke standing side by side without coming to blows, but the big part for me was just in seeing Shikamaru really handling his role well here and setting things up to properly support the big players on the field at a critical time. Good stuff, but we’ve still got a ways to go.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.