Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 16 covers episodes 193–205. The first chunk of episodes are anime originals, featuring stories about ghosts, bandits, and flashbacks of when Squad 7 was together. However, the bulk of the DVD set focuses on the Five Kage Summit and Sasuke’s assassination attempt on Danzo’s life.

The events leading up to the summit are in and of themselves quite interesting, as we get a brief peek into the lives of the Kage from all the lands. And by a brief peek, I mean a little more than what the manga shows you. Still, I’ve always been fascinated by the Kage, and the little glimpses into their lives are fun.

The summit is held in the Land of Iron, which is neutral territory and doesn’t have shinobi, but instead samurai. And the mediator of the summit is their leader, Mifune. If you’re familiar with samurai films, you’ll recognize that name from Toshiro Mifune, who starred in many of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai epics. 

Due to the bloody past and mutual mistrust of all the nations, the summit does not get off to a good start. And things are only exacerbated by the emotional outbursts by the hotheaded Raikage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Clouds. And things really fall apart when the Raikage reveals his real reason for attending the summit—to question each Kage about their associations with the Akatsuki!

Being a guy with a short attention span, I normally get bored with anime that’s “mostly talking,” but all the dialogue here is riveting. It’s not only entertaining to see each of the Kage taking shots at each other, it's fun to learn a lot about the different villages’ dirty pasts.

And the voice acting in the summit scenes is excellent! The English dub of Naruto is usually pretty solid, but the actors playing the Kage were especially good. Because I was so impressed, I actually looked it up, and there’s some serious talent involved. The legendary Steve Blum (Orochimaru in Naruto, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, and a billion other things!) plays Ohnoki with the perfect mix of old man charm and grumpiness. Beau Billingslea (Wallace Berrit in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop) absolutely nails role of the angry Raikage. And William Frederick Knight, (Chief Aramaki in Ghost in the Shell) plays a wonderfully condescending and secretive Danzo. This isn’t a knock against younger actors, but having older more experienced actors play the older characters makes the scene sound more believable to me.  

Anyway, I don’t watch Shonen Jump anime for the talking, I watch it for the fighting! And there are some most excellent battles on this DVD set.

The fight between Sasuke and the Raikage is especially good. In an attempt to get revenge for the downfall of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke attacks the Kage Summit, in hopes of killing Danzo. You gotta give Sasuke credit, it takes a lot of moxie to attack a place where five Kage are hanging out. Especially when you’ve kidnapped one of their brothers!

All of the Kage want a piece of Sasuke, especially the Raikage. And that’s the best fight on the DVD set, in my opinion. The Raikage looks amazing. You can practically feel the crackling energy bursting from his body. The fight is also amazing because it shows that Sasuke is now really strong—he’s able to go one-on-one with a Kage. And not just any Kage—the fastest and physically strongest one!  

And there are always some things that just look better in anime. The Susano'o looks cool in the manga, but when you see it animated with all the energy flowing through it, it really comes to life.

The DVD set’s got lots of action, powerful emotional scenes, and features several pivotal moments that set up the Fourth Great Ninja War. And if you’re a Sasuke fan, as I am, he gets a lot of screen time, and more importantly, comes off seeming more badass than ever.

English & Japanese 2.0 Audio / English Subtitles
Episodes 193-205
Special Features: Art Gallery, Storyboards, Clean Opening & Ending 

Naruto DVD Set 16 is available here!

©2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO / 2007 SHIPPUDEN All Rights Reserved.

by Urian Brown