HomeWHENWhen Does Naruto Shippuden Get Good

When Does Naruto Shippuden Get Good

A good series can go a long way and attract many viewers from the first few episodes. This was the case for Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto and tells the story of a young and loud boy who will do anything to protect the one he loves. Uzumaki Naruto, a boy with a heart of gold and love that can be shared with anyone, is the protagonist of the popular anime series that took over the world from the get-go. Part Two of the series takes place two and a half years after Part One is called Naruto: Shippuden. This article will discuss when Naruto: Shippuden gets good and what arc propels the series’ quality.

Overview of Naruto Shippuden

Manga and anime in question have different numbers of chapters or story arcs that have been released over the years. Special personalized manga chapters like Hidens are short stories of individual characters that were never animated, so we won’t mention them and focus on Naruto: Shippuden anime.

Naruto Shippuden anime has over twenty story arcs:

  1. Kazekage Rescue Mission
  2. Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission
  3. Twelve Guardian Ninja
  4. Akatsuki Suppression Mission
  5. Three-Tails Appearance
  6. Itachi Pursuit Mission
  7. Kakashi Gaiden
  8. Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant
  9. Fated Battle Between the Brothers
  10. Six Tails Unleashed
  11. Pain’s Assault
  12. Past Arc: The Locus of Konoha
  13. Five Kage Summit
  14. Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
  15. Paradise Life on a Boat
  16. Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
  17. Power
  18. Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
  19. Kakashi’s Anbu Arc: The Shinobi That Lives in the Darkness
  20. Birth of the Ten-Tails’ Jinchūriki
  21. Jiraiya Shinobi Handbook: The Tale of Naruto the Hero
  22. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
  23. Itachi Shinden Book: Light and Darkness
  24. Childhood
  25. Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise
  26. Blank Period
  27. Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness
  28. Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding
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As you can see, many story arcs are incorporated in Naruto: Shippuden, but some are fillers and quite long. One of the biggest criticisms this show had over the years is the number of fillers that kill any interest in the main canon story because they are mostly placed between important story arcs.

For example, The Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission arc features the new Team Seven trying to track Sasuke and bring him back to Konoha, which results in a reunion of the former teammates almost three years later. Of course, that leads the viewer to jump into the continuation of the story immediately, but that doesn’t happen because we get a filler arc called Twelve Guardian Ninja.

Now, some fans will say that seeing Naruto’s training and better control of the chakra is interesting, featuring cool characters like Kakashi and Asuma, but it’s seventeen episodes long. The viewers shouldn’t spend this amount of episodes watching Naruto’s training, and even if it was necessary, it should’ve been much shorter.

When that finally ends, we have the Akatsuki Suppression Mission, which features new characters of Hidan and Kakuzu, the members of the notorious Akatsuki group. The fans see a new perspective of the show, and the plot of Naruto gets much darker – we lose important characters in this story arc, and boy is it emotional. With that being said, there are great filler arcs like Kakashi Gaiden, where we learn about Team Minato and the consequences of the Third Shinobi World War that changed team members forever. However, the filler isn’t long, and it has two episodes, which, frankly, is enough.

The main plot of Naruto: Shippuden accelerates at this point, and we get to the point of the series where fans realize no one is safe and everyone can die. The Tale of Jiraiya, the Gallant arc, makes us realize that the dangers of the Ninja World are not something to ignore, and it lets us meet the characters of Jiraiya and Pain a bit more. Moreover, this arc is a prologue to another big story arc that is probably considered one of the best storylines in Naruto: Shippuden.

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Fated Battle Between the Brothers is another story arc that fans have been waiting for a very long time. Sasuke seeks revenge for his clan’s demise and wants to kill Itachi, his only blood and flesh left in the world. However, fans experienced the plot twist and realized that Itachi isn’t as bad as we thought. The consequences of that arc are something that the character of Sasuke experiences for the rest of the series, and this is why this is considered as one of the best story arcs in the series.

After another filler arc, we get the anticipated Pain’s Assault arc, where Naruto showcases his Sage Mode, transforms in Six-Tails, meets Minato, and half of the village dies. Hinata confesses her love for the main protagonist, and we get into an epic fight.

Now, one of the few problems of this arc is that the animation looks wonky during the battles, some questionable decisions of the characters, and a kind of anti-climatic ending where Naruto uses his Talk no Jutsu to resolve the whole conflict. Those aren’t huge problems since the shōnen genre loves doing these plot tropes.

Regardless, Pain’s Assault kickstarts the events guiding us to destruction, and the Fourth Shinobi World War is on the horizon. Five Kage Summit and Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown arcs bring us some of the most intense events in the series. Team Seven bar Naruto wants to kill Sasuke, knowing he went insane, and Naruto’s character finally starts to realize that something significant but tragic will happen.

The filler arc, Paradise Life on the Boat, is boring, to say the least, and frankly, unnecessary. That leads us to the biggest story arc in the series, the Fourth Shinobi World War, which is over two hundred episodes, including fillers, and adaptations of the light novels that are mostly used to propel supporting characters.

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The series ends with Sasuke and Naruto fighting for the last time in the Valley of the End, reflecting their predecessors Madara and Hashirama, which marks the end of the war, and continues to epilogues and the consequent end of the series. Naruto: Shippuden has a lot of arcs and storylines, so when it actually become good? Let’s find out.

When does Naruto Shippuden become good?

Naruto: Shippuden has multiple great starting points where new viewers can start watching the series, like Kazekage Rescue Mission and Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission. However, the series’ main plot accelerates from Tale of Jiraiya, the Gallant story arc, where Jiraiya’s efforts to find Pain, the founder of Akatsuki, end up in tragedy and revelation that the imminent attack on Konoha will happen.

Tobi’s identity is getting shaky, and fans realize that bad times are coming for our characters. Shortly after, we have Fated Battle Between the Brothers, one of the most important story arcs in the series, a filler, and finally, Pain’s Assault.

From that point onwards, Akatsuki isn’t a threat anymore, but someone bigger and far more dangerous than even the fans didn’t expect. Naruto: Shippuden is full of fillers, and they get more frequent as the series continues. Fourth Shinobi World War is the longest arc in the series but is “interrupted” by fillers and flashback episodes that mostly include supporting characters.

Some fans like that; personally, I don’t. Watching the series was sometimes painful as someone who followed the episodes while they were still being released. Sometimes the crucial moments of the series became stale after spending twenty episodes on a filler that, most of the time, isn’t canon.

In the end, we can conclude Naruto’s journey starts at the beginning of the series, but Jiraiya’s investigation of Pain is where the show gets more serious. Yes, the death of fan-favorite characters and big fights occur before that point of Shippuden, but The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant is significant in multiple ways.

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