What They Say:
Naruto’s ship is stranded at sea due to heavy fog, when another ship suddenly appears.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The current arc with its filler stories, side stories or just junk stories if you want to call them that continues with this episode as Naruto and the couple of guys with him spend their time on the boat, their journey ongoing to keep Naruto out of the picture for a little while. This one is kind of amusing as it starts as it uses a very different type of animation as we see Yamato telling a ghost story that freaks the crap out of Naruto, showing that he is still young overall even though time has certainly passed since the start of the series. Yamato’s fun in this as he messes with him, but it turns decidedly creepy after a little bit when they come across another ship in the middle of the fog that’s rolling through the sea.
What they discover on board the ship that does come across as a ghost ship is a young sailor named Hishaku who is continuing on with all the duties that he can muster. It’s kind of freaky in generally, especially with the little routine he has for scrubbing the decks, but Naruto manages to befriend him easily and helps him get the whole thing cleaned very fast through the use of his clone jutsu. Hishaku is definitely young and has a strong affection for his now gone captain, as the two end up in a bit of a shouting match over who is better when it comes to the Hokage or the captain, which is kind of frustrating to watch since Naruto should be a bit beyond that by now considering what he’s faced and that he wants to be the Hokage himself.
While the ship isn’t actually a ghost ship, there is a bit of a story involved with it that comes out and turns into a big action sequence when the massive crab starts to attack it from out of the blue. It’s the kind of straightforward thing you’d expect in terms of action as Hishaku has to man up while Naruto buys time for Aoba and Yamato to get things secured aboard their ship. And to make sure all the extra swaying about isn’t making Guy hurl all over the place. There aren’t any surprises when you get down to it though and when you consider the kinds of threats that Naruto has faced, therein lies the main problem with stories like this. It’s just so easy for him to really deal with it overall that it’s not something that you can get into, especially since it’s such a superficial story to begin with.
In Summary:
Naruto’s nautical adventures work through a predictable episode here but it does manage to work pretty well overall, if you can get into the right mindset for it. While some stories can be pretty insulting, this one manages to put in enough mild humor that seems appropriate and that allows it to work on a very basic level. It’s not good, per se, compared to when Naruto is working through its main storylines, but compared to the last couple of stories that have been painful to watch at times, this one works fairly well. And sometimes it is good to see that Naruto has a few fears that are rather base in nature.
Grade: C+
Simulcast By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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