Reviewing Naruto - The Chunin Exams Arc (Part 1)

i'm sorry waiter what is this is the black clover tournament arc sir send it back to the chef you ignore ramus i only indulge in the classic arcs when talking about shonen people will often bring up the idea of classic arcs that is to say a story segment of a series that was so good that it launched a series into iconic status somehow while i think that this notion is ridiculous there is something to be said about arcs that truly elevate the series to a new level how convenient then that we now in our journey to reviewing my childhood favorite show reach what is possibly cited as one of the earliest examples of a classic arc naruto's tuning exam arc or as i like to call it [Music] [Applause] overrated [Music] [Music] now as you've certainly seen from the title i will be reviewing this arc in two parts why because this arc is thick it's pretty long and there is a lot of stuff going on so i decided i just made two videos instead of just doing a single video that's super smushed up or whatever so this first part will cover up until the end to the preliminary battle test in that big haul with the cool hand sign statue so after the events of the land of waves which served as a sort of introduction arc which presented us with the basic character outlines and the thematic ideas of the series basic narrative logic would dictate that we now get a story segment focusing on both expanding the world and intensifying as well as producing central conflicts enter the tuning exam arc where our trio of monobrain cell wielders signs up for a big multi-stage test to eventually progress to the next level of ninja hood going from the status of private or geniune to squad leader or tuning this arc is northworthy as it is the first big climax of the series so to speak it's almost triple the length of the previous arc and features dozens of characters and moving pieces and it really feels like this is the first time for the story to really stretch its legs and get ambitious this is also reflected in the anime production as a direction and cinematography take on a new tone and put a much stronger focus on creating tension and visual symbolism which again works to elevate the story segment beyond the last one in terms of polish and visual identity characters like gara and orochimaru get treated like calamities whose presence creates tension and earness without them actually doing anything just by the use of visuals and sound design alone looking at these aspects it's easy to see why this arc is often cited as the one that made naruto into a classic as it on the surface presents a serious upgrade and scope and ambition from the previous arc it's kind of how assassin's creed 2 is considered a milestone not because of how good it is by itself but because of how much of a jump in quality and ambition it presents when compared to the original assassin's creed odd example i know but i am an odd man however as you might have gleamed from my tone and the intro i am not entirely convinced even before this re-watch i knew that i had several issues with this arc which we'll talk about it in a bit for now though i want to ask one thing why the [ __ ] do naruto and sasuke hate each other now at the beginning seriously we watched them push and inspire each other in the previous arc sasuke [ __ ] fake died to save naruto but now we're told they just become more resentful because of that what this almost feels like the editorial department told kishimoto to keep the rivalry going even though the previous r kinda got them to a next level of friendship so this just feels really weird past this however the arc starts off really strong gara is a terrifying introduction who very quickly establishes himself as a major threat without doing much of anything at first just purely through dialogue demeanor and the aforementioned change in direction his presence as well as that of many other participants also works in fleshing out the ninja world with the various hidden villages and their distinctive outfits and jutsu we even get a lecture on international power balance dynamics by kabudo and his yugioh cards seriously what was the point of these they never even come up again were they meant to advertise merch can i buy these is it is it time to do the duel speaking of new introductions this segment also marks the first appearance of everyone's favorite character rock lee while his crush on sakura is nonsensical and kinda cringy and don't worry i have a few things to say about sakura in a bit it kind of fits into his whole goofy overly energetic shtick he is basically a naruto rammed up to 11 both in his underdog ideology and his demeanor and it's easy to see why people like him so much he's just very likable his relationship with his master guy as well as his humbling of sasuke really sell him as one of the most entertaining parts of this arc beyond introductions however the first exam our fellows partake in the written test is super cool the way the test forces the ghenin to employ high level recon tactics to cheat as well as how it tests a resolve is a really clever back and forth that nicely introduces the mind games inherent to ninja warfare it's super satisfying and interesting seeing the different ways in which each student cheats and details like how almost every team cooperates with themselves except ghada where he just does his own thing and leaves tamari and kankuro on their own are just nice touches that being said i'm 23 now it's almost 15 ish years since i first watched this episode and i still do not believe for a second that 1010 actually passed this [ __ ] put up multiple mirrors that are clearly visible onto the ceiling how the [ __ ] did no one just look up but once the first test is over we get to the main reason i dreaded revisiting this arc the forest of [ __ ] death i'm gonna go ahead and say it i really dislike this section of the story for one it drags on way too long the forest part could and should end after sasuke reawakens with the curse mark and crippled zaku but instead we need another six episodes of them [ __ ] around for some reason i really don't care about them finding a bunch of random clones it doesn't show me anything new also the actual lesson this test is supposed to teach them is kind of weird don't get me wrong obviously survival and reconnaissance training is important and makes sense but once they combine the heaven and earth schools to receive the actual final lesson and message by iruka that lesson that's imparted onto them boils down to if your body is weak train your body if your mind is weak train your mind which is super banal it's a very obvious statement and just a disappointing reward for surviving this grueling gauntlet and for watching these episodes and lastly this section features a hefty amount of sakura development which is good right wrong it's awful sakura is on paper a cool character in the sense that her story about overcoming insecurity while also balancing the dangers of overconfidence is pretty compelling as an idea her relationship to eno and their stories both here in the forest and later in their match actually managed to be emotionally resonant and moving and i even call it a good piece of characterization if only it weren't for a tiny detail you see the core motivation and conflict within sakura is her crush on sasuke and that is stupid and here's why obviously love can work perfectly as a character motivation saying otherwise would be going against actual centuries worth of literature and who am i to do that but love like any motivation needs a certain context and depth in order to carry the character's arc believably for example hinata is basically the same with her core feature being her crush on naruto but with her we get a very clear reason and context for that crush she sees naruto as someone who inspires her to do better to get out of her shell and to push forward on her path which connects to her journey about confidence and ambition regarding her heritage in place in the hyuga dynasty her love-based motivation works as an extension of a deeper desire that's rooted in her personality compare that to sakura's crush to sasuke we are never told why she likes him or how her love to him actually relates to her issues in security it is completely separate from her core character and because of that it has almost no depth or context which would be fine if it were just a gag but this forest arc makes it clear this is supposed to be the core of her character and it's just too petty and shallow to carry all the melodrama the show drenches its characters in moments like sakura cutting her hair or her fight against eno are really cool until you remember what it is fundamentally about and then it suddenly just becomes laughable as i said last time it feels like hishimoto designed sakura as a joke character but then decided to keep around without changing too much and really got on my nerves like i wanna like these scenes but whenever i think about the fact that all of this is just about her having a baby crush on someone based on nothing but i guess he's cool and cute it just makes me so upset it's so annoying that you have this good character template and just butcher it by not giving it any of the thought that it deserves also girl why are you biting him you have a knife the forest isn't all bad though in fact all the way until sasuke gets bitten by orochimaru it's actually really good a constant roller coaster of intense action with some great stuff sprinkled in everywhere i particularly liked how sasuke's and naruto's rivalry has evolved here past that initial blunder i mentioned earlier it really starts feeling like the two know and respect each other in their own way willing to compete against but also fight for one another this also makes moments like naruto calling out sasuke's cowardice so much more satisfying also orochimaru's introduction is phenomenal being slowly built up by gradually revealing that something is wrong until the mask falls and he is revealed to us as this inhuman snake wizard considering that at this point naruto's central theme still is what does it mean to be a ninja the idea of the main villain being a ninja who gave up his humanity to become the strongest is a super cool concept additionally he elaborates on the bloodlust and violence expert ninja exude something that we saw with zabus on kakashi too this is a really neat subversion of naruto's goal since the plateau of greatness he aspires towards seems to be inherently interwoven with becoming a monster whose very presence causes weak individuals to vomit and feigned therefore orochimaru serves as an even stronger reminder of the hurdle naruto has to face than even zabuza was because becoming hokage and becoming the greatest ninja of all means having to reconcile this inhumanity this violence within yourself it turns this sort of happy-go-lucky goal of i will be the best into something a lot more sinister and i really like that all this however just makes me sadder that or shimaru didn't end up becoming the main villain in the end but don't worry we'll talk about that eventually also the forest is the first arc to feature an episode by the legendary norio matsumoto which turns the fight between sasuke and or shimaru into a true feast for the eyes i know people love to take screenshots of random frames here and say oh look at the animation but in motion this is phenomenal and you will not convince me otherwise once the forest ends we reached a preliminary battle exam and this is like the forest a bit of a mixed bag i already mentioned how both good and terrible all things sakura are and her fight is no exception i did end up getting kind of emotional at their backstory but again once i remembered what this was actually about it all just kind of falls apart then you have fights like hinata versus neji which are fantastic the emotionality there is brilliant and i really like how intense the hyuga art style is fighting with your palms and having these slapping noises where you see the chakra flowing out of them is such a cool visual and i enjoyed it thoroughly and then you have stuff like naruto vs kiba which is a cool fight held back by some truly terrible animation truth be told with an anime as long as naruto with a studio like studio pierrot i think it was inevitable that some episodes would look bad it's just unfortunate it was naruto's fight specifically that got this treatment and then there's [ __ ] like dosu versus shoji which is very forgettable and of course stuff right there in the middle like shikamaru versus keen which is cool has some nice stuff and it starts the trend of shikamaru being one of the best characters in this show no seriously you're going to hear me say this a couple of times shikamaru is naruto's actual best friend sasuke can go [ __ ] himself but that's not what you want me to talk about no no you want me to talk about the fight that made this stupid gym hall looking place famous you want me to talk about the fight that gets reposted everywhere at least once a week you want me to talk about lee versus gara [Music] i think what makes this fight so salient and so memorable aside from the great choreography and the obvious emotional rollercoaster is how this fight feeds back into the central question what does it mean to be a ninja lee is in many ways a naruto who is further along on the same path to become recognized and accepted as a result of your hard work and so as he clashes with gara what is at sake is not just his future but that of naruto as well which is why him losing and being crippled for life is such a devastating and emotionally hard hitting moment naruto's goal has just been confirmed to be even harder than him and us imagined if not actually impossible in naruto one fundamental aspect of every character is them looking for their path through life their unique way to get through this ninja world and for a lot of these characters their ninja way is pretty much all that keeps them together and lee is as i've said very much just a copy of naruto someone who has gone further along on that path and who now crashes against an insurmountable wall which itself has implications for what naruto might have to encounter eventually and i think that is why this fight stays in everyone's mind so much it's almost a confirmation that naruto will have to fail eventually but it just makes us and naruto a lot more ambitious and a lot more resilient to this realization also as i said before i am an adult now but jesus christ seeing lee's backstory and then him getting up while he's unconscious it actually got to me pretty badly this time around maybe it's because we're living through emotionally very unstable times but something about this really really broke me and as i've stated before i think in a previous video as an adult finding things that emotionally touch you properly is super valuable because as you become older it becomes harder for you to really show and feel your own emotions because that's kind of just being how being an adult works therefore stuff like this is stuff that i really really appreciate and i cannot applaud kishimoto for this specific part enough don't worry i'll go back to [ __ ] on him soon enough and with this the preliminary rounds of tuning exams as well as this video come to an end overall you can probably tell that i had a lot more issue with this section than with the previous one this part of story has some insanely high highs and really low lows boy i wonder if that'll become a pattern but overall i had fun and that's what matters the forest part is way too long and sakura [ __ ] sucks but honestly i still had fun yes the start of the arc has a really weird thing with naruto and sasuke's relationship and sakura still sucks and the forest is long but as you can tell i'm kind of running out of [ __ ] to criticize because as i said i had a lot of fun with most of it i thought the first exam was good i thought the preliminary battle exam was good so yeah 6 out of 10 sakura needs to get shot see y'all next time when we answer the question how badly have the jiraya episodes aged you know you have quite a tight sexy little body oh no thank you all for watching like and sob and ring the bell if you enjoyed this you know exactly how this works you can support the channel by buying our new golia merch or you can support me over on patreon you can join the discord and you get access to a new feature called ocean catch-ups where you can submit questions and stuff for me to discuss in an unscripted video vlog format in any case i love you regardless of what you do you're valid be safe take care bye bye i'll see you around

Channel: Oceaniz

Views: 23,262

Rating: 4.8986759 out of 5

Keywords: Naruto, Review, Kishimoto, Shonen Jump, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, Gaara, Rock Lee, Chunin Exam, Fight, Oceaniz

Id: 0_AKcmfdkaw

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 20 2020