OLA! Good work mangastream, and I would say good work Kishimoto, but the chapter was not that great...but to not start the review in an unapproving tone, I'd explain a little...this was a chatter-chapter, which occurs before fights, or which can foreshadow a fight. This time the fight will happen, but the chatter was a bit boring, except one tiny thing, but it has good point,too...it sets up one of the most anticipated fights in the manga.
Let's get down to business...
Title is clear. Kakashi will meet up with somebody. Sakura or Sasuke, then it's obvious what will happen, if Naruto...well it's not that obvious.
Let's start from where the last chapter stopped. Sakura outsmarted her teammates and continued to pursue Sasuke on her own. Sasuke finished Danzou, Madara took off, and he was about to kill Karin. In the last moment Sakura arrived and told him that he wants to join in.
Kishi provides us a great panel with Sakura staring at the clouds just like Shikamaru. But the meaning is different now. Kishi raises the problem of time, and that friends change by time. This is quite a complicated problem especially in this manga, since Sakura's friends are a bit special. One is a descendant of a Hokage, but serves as a container for something terrible, and the other is the descendant of a massacred clan. Even Kakashi who can be called a good friend of Sakura had a terrible life, the war proved to be a sad experience. But both Kakashi and Naruto remained firm on their feet even upon discovering terrible truths, or facing dangerous threats. Sakura and Sasuke were the ones who faded away like clouds. Sasuke did it a long time ago, but Sakura is no exception according to latest actions.
When I saw the pic I had other ideas popping in my head, besides the one Kishi offered us. I see a Sakura who dreams to reach her teammates' level of emotions and level as a shinobi, I see somehow that Sakura tries to cling desperately to her former team members. Will this dream come true? I'm afraid not. As I said the other 3 have deep and sad emotional background. In this manga the emotional background is a very important thing, because evolution as a shinobi is better if U have deep feeling which carves UR personality. Sakura doesn't have this and it seems to me like she is trying to stay on the same level with her teammates so she takes up responsibilities she cannot carry out alone. She wanted to persuade Naruto and we know how that went and what was it all about. Now she wants to join Sasuke, I wonder if Kakashi is indeed next what will she try.
The mean Sasuke tells Sakura about his plan. And that is to crush the Leaf. That's a bit hilarious. Orochimaru wanted to crush Konoha as well, but he managed to bring 2 villages to cooperate in his scheme. We know how that went. The kaguya clan tried something similar in the past and they were obliterated by an organized force of a village from the Great 5. Konoha is more rubble than village now, but it seems like Sasuke wants to
crush it by himself. If that is indeed what's he thinking than I dare say that he stupider than the most fanatic Sasukehater thinks he is. He was on his way to Konoha with Taka by his side, but I doubt that would've been enough.
First prediction of last week turns out to be true. Sasuke tells Sakura the condition of joininig him, and that is the killing of Karin. Speaking of Karin... that's some tough girl, or she is very weak...she was hit by a Chidori spear...by the looks of it she is resisting pain and death from a grave injury...but it seems to me that the injury is not that bad if she stayed alive this long, so she must be really weak is she collapsed and she is unable to move from a shallow hit...U guys judge...
So Sakura was trying to join Sasuke with killing intent. No surprise and I won't count it as my prediction, because everybody saw this coming, due to many analogies in the past and the character in question Sakura is easy to read. But another prediction which was actually a possible scenario which I presented became mostly true. Sasuke charges Chidori and his ugly face and tries to murder Sakura as well. I don't understand Kishi and Sasuke's face. The panel itself is great. Karin notices Sasuke's intention and somehow warns Sakura in an indirect way. Sasuke is in gray, which is shadowy and sneaky, Sakura is surprised and portrayed in the usual light, which points toward the fact that she didn't had the slightest idea that the shadow will backstab her.
Is this the awesomeness of Sakura who outsmarted 2 chuunin and a Root member? As Karin says she must be in love with Sasuke as well(guess similar people recognize themselves), but it seems like this love is blind, or love in general is. Reminds me of why I like Tenten.
The only Sharingan that is approved by many of the readers jumps in. Awesomeness in one move. Kakashi parries Sasuke's stab and in the meanwhile he cuts him with the kunai. Very cool. Than Sasuke tries to kick him, but he dodges and kicks Sasuke away.
Shinobi fighting lesson #1: Taijutsu as he would say.
So we know which student is met by the master. Let's see what did the guy do until now.
He set off with Sai in order to pursue Team Suicide and to stop them. But the team got outsmarted by the leader so Sai disappeared so he conitnued his journey alone.
On his way to Sakura and Sasuke he encounters Team Loser as they are lying on the ground. Notice the sweat on his face and the expression? That's why the name Team Loser. The guys, at least Lee and Kiba, were pathetic and worthy of pity. I won't include Sai in there fully because he focused on encountering the 2 idiots, not on taking out Sakura who had the biggest merit in what happened.
Anyway he wakes up Kiba, but the guy is half unconscious, but he manages to tell him the location. I predicted Pakkun will appear seems like I was wrong, but it could've been handier than waking up a defeat guy and relying on his unconscious memory. Whatever... Why is Kiba unconscious. Kakashi thinks that the substance was Tsunade's so it must be very strong, so the guys are not able to move, not to mention to fight.
This is interesting. Kakashi is dead serious, but Sasuke just laughs in his face. Sasuke is turning into a good villain, but if it weren't the face...damn...The psychotic look follows the reply to Kakashi's threat, and we get to know that Sasuke wants to kill Kakashi sooo much. I wonder where this comes from. Maybe Sasuke has a master-complex, he needs to kill his masters in order to become happy. Anyway he demands his family back, and he says that it's the only way for him to stop.
The battle is on. Kakashi reveals sharingan Sasuke is just talking, as he shows another face. Now this time the derangedness is shown a little better. It's similar to Oro's facial expressions before a could fight or a kill, so IMO this looks better than the other robot faces, with wide eyes. So there was a rejection, but Kakashi ended up fighting. Not exactly what I had in mind, but not bad...
Oh yeah...almost forgot...I spoke of the 4 main lines of the last chapter and how they will intersect or how they intersected already. In this chapter 3 of those lines intersected, but what about the fourth?
He is shown a bit, racing towards Kakashi and Sasuke. No words, no relation to the chain of thought Kakashi had. I dunno he just seemed out of the context. And let's face it: he is. Let's hope this will change, but until than a piece of advice: Don't worry Naruto, but when U get there make sure U collect a few Sharingans for URself from that tree, maybe this way we'll see U more.
Quick summary/OpinionsOkay...not bad, not bad...solid average. Much talking, no revealing. Okay, maybe some revealing for Kakashi and Sakura, cuz they know now that there's no limit to Sasuke's obsession. But nothing new for the readers. The predictions almost came true though, but it was certainly not what most people wanted.
The chapter's ending is definitely great,though. First it sets the beginning of one of the most anticipated fights in the manga, but on the other hand it presents us a great analogy. The third liked orochimaru more, and I think Kakashi was closer to Sasuke than to Naruto. But from Kakashi's last statement, I get that if he will chance to do what the 3rd couldn't(kill his student), then he will finish it. A little Naruto in the chapter though nearly not enough so no bonus marks this time, so 7/10.
Predictions/Want to happenOf course I want Kakashi to win. Not for Sasuke's defeat, but for Kakashi's sake. I dunno though what Kishi wants. I think the most probable is that Naruto will interfere in the fight, and until then Karin will be in Sakura's care. Kakashi wanted Karin alive for her info, which is a great, thinking outside fighting and having a cool head...nice one Kakashi, so I think he will not die, cuz he wants to hear that info. But Kishi could kill him off, or injure him, who knows, at least withdraw him a bit from the story. That way Sakura could get the focus a bit, Naruto could as well, so Kishi has sooo many ways.
But let's just predict the next week which is obvious, fighting, probably with some MS from Sasuke, though Madara warned him. If MS won't be used than it's even better. Some good old elemental jutsu won't hurt the manga. From the next chapter we will be able to determine the pace of this fight, but my hunch is that this fight will be shorter than the Danzou one, and if the next chapter will focus only on the fight we might see Kakashi doing MS.
This was this week's "wannabe review" posted by me. The size definitely should remind U of reviews, but I'm not sure about the content. Anyways thanks are in order first for U guys who read my reviews and vote in my polls. There will be no poll this week, because the chapter wasn't that great and it was meant to set up this great fight. Sorta filler chapter, but which needed to be inserted for consistency in the story telling.
And thx for mangastream for the quality and speed, good job again.
Buhbye!
