Naruto Shippuden Box Set 21 Review

4 stars of hard core fighting as the war finally begins.

Naruto Shippuden Box Set 21 comprises episodes 258 – 270 and includes the 4th Shinobi World War: Countdown and 4th Shinobi World War: Confrontation arcs.

Now that the war is officially underway, things are beginning to get serious. Naruto (Maile Flanagan) is still in the Island Turtle training with Killer B (Catero Colbert) where he continues to learn how to control the Nine Tailed Beast within him.

Back home, the 4th Shinobi World War is underway, Kabuto (Henry Dittman) has now mobilised his army of the undead and Tobi (Neil Kaplan) has sent his 100,000 strong army of white Zetsu underground to take on the Shinobi.

All of the many villages have been united under a single banner, The Allied Shinobi Forces, led by Gaara (Liam O’Brien). As might be expected, after years of fighting between all the various factions it proves difficult to unite them, however when the scale of the army approaching them becomes apparent, they have little choice but to bury the hatchet and get on with the job in hand.

At their headquarters, the sensor division are locating the enemy and helping with troop allocations. Much of the fighting takes place on the coast of the Land of Lightning, where Darui and his forces take on the white Zetsu army and the reanimated Shinobi with them, including the Golden Brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, infamous warriors who tried to capture the Nine Tails and survived within it for two weeks.

As more and more of the enemy are revealed, it seems anyone and everyone is considered fair game for the reanimation jutsu, as our Shinobi find themselves continually pitted against foes they had already defeated years before, and sometimes even against friends. The reanimation jutsu allows memories and personality to be retained, but denies free will.

Very few of the army want to be there, most of them would have prefered to stay dead, however, they have no choice but to fight, a truly evil weapon, conceived by Orochimaru and carried out by Kabuto.

This is a really good box set, the storyline is finally moving along, but as ever there are the usual fillers and flashback episodes, frustrating when you’re just waiting to find out what happens next. However, it doesn’t detract too much, it’s just part of watching Naruto.

A must have for all fans of the series!

“Yeah, I have woken up. Don’t you see? That guy who dreamed of a happy future, full of peace and friendship, he was the one who was asleep until now. If I’d stayed with comrades like you, I never would have gotten this strong.”

Naruto Shippuden Box Set 21 is available to buy now on DVD