English Dub Review: Naruto Shippuden “Two Suns”

A little bit of flashbacks in your show. A little bit of fighting all show long. Yeah, paraphrasing Lou Bega seemed appropriate here.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

That’s the problem with “Two Suns,” and a bit with “The Secret Origin of the Ultimate Tag Team.” The flashbacks took over the episode, and they didn’t even need to. I get they needed to tell more of the backstory of Bee and A, but there could have been better places for it. Hell, I would have taken one of these two episodes to be all filler, and then Bee and Naruto try to get past the Raikage. I think it may be more of an arrangement issue than a storytelling issue, because the story between “The Secret Origin of the Ultimate Tag Team” and “Two Suns” is actually a very well thought out story.

It takes a lot for anyone to change the mind of the Raikage, mostly because he seems to be used to getting his way.  Being the sun of the previous Raikage apparently affords you that privilege. The more I have to deal with the Raikage, I feel he is a pretty static character. This is funny, because the Raikage has more influences from Hulk Hogan than The Dean from China, Il. For someone who is practically a pro wrestler, you would expect someone to cut better promos. The sad part of this is that it isn’t the dub’s fault. A was a pretty lame character in both the manga and the subbed version as well.

The turning point of “Two Suns” was when the Raikage got out performed by Naruto. Naruto became only the second person to dodge A’s most powerful punch. The first, of course, was Naruto’s father. So, if you’re keeping score, the only way to make the Raikage change his mind for anything is to just make him look like a jackass. Naruto did that pretty well, I would say. It was pretty good to see Tsunade finally taking a stand to the Raikage, because: 1. She’s a better character. She goes from a drunk, degenerate gambler, to the leader of the Leaf Village. 2. She actually respects Naruto, and knows that the Jinchuriki are the key to the war. Not using them is dumb.

That being said, the action sequences in “Two Suns,” namely the fight between Bee and the Raikage, were done well. In fact, they were done so well, I was left wishing there was more to it. Unfortunately, next week’s episode doesn’t expand anymore on this story. However, we get more Kakashi wielding Zabuza’s Kubikiribōchō. So, maybe this won’t be so bad of a filler episode?