142. The Evil Trio of the High Security Prison

Worth watching as a manga-standard episode? Wow the fillers are really looking up, that scene was actually- oh wait, a chunk of manga content. You sneaky filler, you!
Worth watching for the lulz? We have not descended into lulz. Not yet.

Dave: You know what this story doesn't have enough of?

Filler writer 2: Yaoi?

Everyone: Hahahaha.

Filler writer 3: Oh Number 2.

Dave: But seriously – rivals!

Filler writer 1: Wow, you're right! I don't think we've had a rival showdown for a whole episode.

Dave: I can visualise it now: someone who looks like Shikamaru against a guy we already have a character design and established personality for, so we can throw in plenty of flashbacks that the fans love so much.

Everyone: Hmmm...


Where should I begin to tell the story of a boy who makes an interesting hand gesture, because now he can begin training. There's a nice revisit to the characters in the aftermath of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Lee is looking pretty damn buff:


And Tenten approves – this is a look of pure fangirlism:


Here, Temari inspires Moegi to become a kunoichi (non-canon so it shouldn't matter, but if she's at the Academy, doesn't that mean she already wants to be one?) Anyway, Temari gives Shikamaru a sidelong glance as she leaves and he goes home to jerk off.

Naruto appears to have 'DNA' written above his door, possibly in the hope someone will get him tested for the Yondaime gene.

Jiraiya begins his epic 'dodging Naruto so the fillers of punishment may occur and one day someone will write a blog about them' and Naruto, like any teenage boy, locks himself in the bathroom. Elsewhere, Shizune redundantly explains to Tsunade what a prison for bad shinobi is and we see that ninja do not believe in moats of water – it's lava or nothing, baby. Which is right, because they're fucking ninja. Now, I am all for expanding the world of Naruto and exploring minor character backgrounds but this arc. This arc. Mizuki did not deserve this; not even trying to kill the main character deserves this. For Mizuki resides in this prison, along with two brothers with the freakiest mouths I have ever seen.


Izumo saves Kotetsu's ass as the Fuujin-Raijin brothers escape, but, not being the sharpest kunai in the arsenal, only wander around menacingly for food. I'm not going to question Kotetsu and Izumo working at a prison because they are Tsunade's bitches and she pretty much has them doing every other random job anyway. It is suggested that Mizuki getting Naruto to steal the forbidden scroll at the beginning of the manga was part of a bigger conspiracy involving Orochimaru. Fine, I'm buying this so far. Asuma and Kurenai are sent to interrogate him and back at the prison we see Mizuki has enlisted the help of the aesthetically offensive brothers. Mizuki refers to them as 'cute boys', suggesting he has succumb to what every man experiences in prison – that's right, prison blindness. I remember liking this episode for the minimal amount of Asuma/Kurenai interaction, which there is so little of overall. I think Kishi skips over the het in a giddy eagerness to get to the homoerotic undertones fight scenes. They reach the prison and a nice cover-all for any following OOC-ness is established:


So there we are. Naruto follows without any back up because why stop for some common sense when this is about Orochimaru?! Sasuke could be right there- except he isn't and he finds Asuma and Kurenai have been pwned by the prison rebellion.

Team members: No mission this week
Number of kage bunshin no jutsus: 0!
Number of rasengans: 0!
Next week: Why the ripped denim vest should have stayed in the 80s.