Full of epic win. That is all.
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Summary
Right after Naruto is born, Tobi manages to slip past the barrier and kills Kushina’s midwives, forcing Minato and Kushina to separate in order for Minato to protect Naruto. As Kushina’s seal continues to weaken, Tobi rips the Kyuubi out of her, puts him under the Sharingan’s control and attacks Konoha with it, forcing the village’s shinobi to act while Tobi himself goes to fight Minato. However, Minato manages to outwit Tobi and places both his Hiraishin marking and a Contract Seal on him, which sets the Kyuubi free from the Sharingan.
Impression
Studio Pierrot has its faults, but I can tell they really pulled out the budget here (HAHAHA, they have lots left over from Bleach) and have taken the time to go and animate this well. Good to see that they’re taking the initiative to please us fans. The Kyuubi linearts were amazingly placed as well, especially during that Bijuu Ball aimed at the Hokage Monument, which I don’t seem to remember from the manga.
I only feel pity for Kushina when you see her having to suffer so much pain, not only from childbirth but having a Bijuu extracted from you right after, by a random bastard that just showed up and started manhandling a baby. So THAT”S how the Sandaime Hokage’s wife died. As Tobi said, it’s really amazing how she’s still so strong to be able to survive all that, and still be completely conscious after the extraction – Kushina looked like the Nova-form Pandora from Freezing at one point. I found Tobi’s extraction method just cruel (not that I’d expect any less of him) and completely different to his current method, which now uses the Outer Path statue of Nagato’s and ends up killing the Jinchuuriki after, like with Gaara. It also needed all of the Akatsuki, who are now nearly all dead. Or buried as a talking head in a hole deep under a deer forest.
Once again, we see more younger versions of Konoha’s inhabitants, all of which who know Minato and probably Kushina really well. Which leads again to the plot hole question of why Naruto was treated like some kind of leper by not only the civilians, but the shinobi as well. Hello, bright blond hair colour here? Also that cameo of Itachi holding baby Sasuke and looking up at the moon was nice. Ah, back in the day when Uchiha shinobi were all good guys…
Tobi vs Minato was really refreshing to see, since we haven’t had a real battle between two humans since Naruto vs Nagato, and that was ages ago. Props to Minato for seeing through Tobi’s Jikukan Ninjutsu so quickly and countering it (one-handed Rasengan for the win) with one of the most epic small-scale explosions yet. Actually partly why I’m so excited for a battle like this is because the last major one, Pain’s Konoha attack, had some disgusting animation, mostly around where Naruto fought the Six Paths, it was just that horrendous.
Onwards with this amazing canon flashback! The preview’s music was really fitting by the way, next episode will see the end of the retelling with Minato sealing away Kyuubi and Kushina dying I guess. You know, since she’s a Horcrux part of Naruto’s mindscape too.