12
Aug
Kakashi Gaiden — animated
For the fans of Naruto whom have been asphyxiating with the anticipation since Shippuuden came along approximately 2 years ago, you can finally breath now.
That missing gap, a clearly deliberate omission of a pivotal event in the Naruto-verse, has finally arrived.
Kakashi Gaiden explains the events of the ninja world a few years before the birth of Uzumaki Naruto and his compatriots. If you have been wondering why Naruto’s sensei — Hatake Kakashi — has a single Sharingan in his left eye when he isn’t of Uchiha blood, and why he always visits the war memorial at the village before every mission, this is the episode that will show it all.
The animation quality is not as good as I would have liked, especially since I consider the gaiden a cannonical, and important part of Naruto’s story. It first came out in the manga many, many years back.
The action scenes are jerky, and the animators over-used the sepia toning in quite a few scenes, as if creating a visual clue as to the old age of the events being depicted. It may have worked for audiences whom might haven’t expected the gaiden to appear smack in the middle of the story, but since the manga didn’t intend for Kakashi’s story to be told so late into the story plot, it must have felt quite disjointed for the audiences who don’t touch the manga. That probably justified the liberal browning in this episode, but as someone who actually does read the serialised manga, the effect looked way off for me.
Nevertheless, the animators were still able to capture the essence of the sub-plot in a succinct, 40 minute dual-episode. I could feel the anguish and pain that the main characters felt at that time, although the side-characters could use some serious re-work. The antagonistic ninjas felt dull and one-dimensional, and their dialog only managed to jar me from the soap opera between the 3 main characters.
Overall, I would rate it a 7 out of 10. I had high hopes that the animation studio would place the gaiden in high regard, and at least make more effort for these 2 episodes than they have for the last 100-or so. Those episodes were a cure for insomaniacs at the very best, which was why I stopped paying attention to the anime, until I heard the news of Kakashi Gaiden’s animation. A real pity, I definitely won’t be watching the next episode (which is back to the current storyline), but for the sake of catching up on what the manga dudes have read so far, this is a must watch.
Animation quality: 5 out of 10
Story-telling: 8 out of 10
Continuity: 8 out of 10
Overall worthiness: 7 out of 10
You can watch the episode online at Narutospot.