150. Deceive, Confuse and Be Deceived! The Grand Bug Battle!

Worth watching as a manga-standard episode? Bees.
Worth watching for the lulz? Bees.

A public service announcement: there is one .avi file on the internet for episode 150 and that file is corrupt. I can't take screenshots with .rmvb files because I can't be arsed finding the right codec. What's a girl to do? Obviously use this situation to show an alternate reality of what this blog was going to look like, once upon a time. I was going to draw scenes in Paint and it was going to be ironic and postmodern. And as with all ironic and postmodern things, it came out looking shit. Especially when I still think a tablet is something you have with water after a day of sitting with your face an inch from the screen because someone told you the pixels in Vincent's jacket look like tiny puppies. Put on your dimension-travelling goggles, kids, it's going to be a bumpy ride.


Actually this isn't so bad, I could totally be a filler animator. Naruto, Shino and Kiba go to the scene of the kidnapping and try to trace Hinata's scent.


Then there occurs what I think is my favourite filler line:


Shino says he remembers a clan from the Hidden Stone Village who were bee users. Back in the day, they fought the Arabume clan and lost. This is actually a cool little sequence for the Arabume clan, especially when we see that one of them has a Gaara-esque gourd. I'm not sure what it means, but it must mean something. To recreate the grand bug battle:



Bee Man 1: I wish we had that scroll.

Bee Man 2: The one that we've been searching for all this time?

Bee Man 1: Yes, the one that will teach us the forbidden jutsus and let us restore our clan to its former glory.

Bee Woman: Here is the forehead protector we will have the Bikouchuu find for us.

Bee Man 2: Yes, I saw that earlier.

Bee Man 1: That was your grandfather's, wasn't it?

Bee Woman: Yes, I am my grandfather's granddaughter.

Bee Man 2: We use bees, don't we?

Bee Woman: Yes, we are bee users.

Bee Man 1: Yes.



Determined to get Hinata back and still protect the Special Bug, Naruto and co go to the meeting place where they are supposed to exchange the bug for the girl. Unfortunately their plan fails because the Bee Clan members turn out to be made of wax.


The battle rages, Shino defending them with a wall of bugs, which works until Bee Woman sends out bee bombs. Naruto gets stung in the crotch, which really ought to hurt, except he's a clone made of bugs and the Bee Clan are clones made of honey and no one is actually anyone so nothing has any consequence. Even crotch stings. Thankfully, they retreat and later find the hive that no one is surprised to find looks nothing like a hive, where Hinata is being kept. Is nature just different in Japan? Like the sky is pink and leaves fall upwards and the land is ruled by crab people? The boys are shocked and more than a little turned on when they rescue Hinata and she responds by giving Naruto a big hug and a sly grope. Shino protests that Hinata would never act so whorish, and sure enough it's Bee Woman henge'd. Least she wasn't made out of fucking honey.

Elsewhere, the real Hinata is poised to be sent over a waterfall if she tries to escape. Actually no, it's 'the opening to a complicated waterway'. Well I'm now adequately filled with terror. The Bee Men go off to look for the Special Bug. Inspired by a flashback of Naruto's beating on her cousin, she somehow moulds her chakra to shoot bullets of water through the bees. I'm not sure how this works, but it doesn't matter because the last one cut the rope before she could kill it and down she goes. Bee Woman explodes the hive and the boys fall into a hole where there's an army of bee larva that will slowly devour their chakra like the fillers are slowly devouring pieces of my soul. One quick summon later and she wants them to say hello to her little friend, Giant Fuck Off Bee.


Rut-ro, Shaggy!

Team members: Naruto, Kiba, Shino and Hinata
Number of kage bunshin no jutsus: 0!
Number of rasengans: 0!
Next week (no, really, it will be next week): I predict a internet-wide mass fanart extravaganza for episode 150 – upside: everything will be covered in bees, downside: people will have to watch the episode.