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Episode Review: Naruto Shippuden

Where's your evidence Pierrot has been making a lot of money through the filler episodes?

The fact that they keep making filler episodes.

You seem to think I'm laying all of this at the studio's feet, but I'm not (Zangetsu might've been, but I'm not). They're just doing the work they're being paid to do. If the production committee couldn't raise the funds they wouldn't produce the episodes. Someone is funding it, and those someones are expecting a return on their investment in one form or another.

And no one has suggested they are still raking it in hand over fist, but again, milking means squeezing every last drop of cash out of the cow before it goes to slaughter. That is what's going on here.

The "our A-Team is busy making movies so we can make more money" excuse doesn't fly anymore.

That's a perfectly good reason and no it's not to earn more money but to maintain quality for the canon episodes. You need to realize the Boruto movie had a tighter schedule (1 year) compared to Naruto: The Last (2 years) which is why they prioritized the movie over the TV anime. They're are human after all so you can't expect their main animators to work on both the TV anime AND the animated movies at the same time. That's just madness.

Personally, I've never subscribed to the notion that fans are somehow obligated to give the creative minds behind the show a pass because they've stretched themselves thin. As a viewer - and not someone involved with the production of the series - I'm under no obligation to take behind-the-scenes circumstances into account when critiquing the way this show's pacing has been shot to hell. "Man, the last 30 episodes sucked, but the staff has a lot on their plate, so who am I to criticize?"

Also, as far I know, the feature films don't really use the same staff as the television series. Aside from Hayato Date overseeing Road to Ninja and Junki Takegami providing a few screenplays, I can't think of any big names from the TV show who have made notable contributions to the film series.

Why was Gina's claim baseless?

Where's your evidence that profit isn't being made from filler episodes?

The series still airs in prime time, meaning it's still able to pull in decent ratings and attract big-name sponsors - which is how money is made in the television business.

Unlike late-night otaku-focused fare, series like Naruto don't have their success measured in BD/DVD sales, though I occasionally see new Naruto sets listed in ANN's weekly rankings. Since they air at more agreeable times, more people are likely to watch these shows first-run, making them more attractive to deep-pocketed sponsors.

For example, Sazae-san, which is consistently Japan's most-watched animated program, has never been released on home video in any form.

Similarly, with the exception of the feature films, Dragon Ball and DBZ weren't released on home video in their native country until the early '00s.

The burden of proof is not on me. When you make huge claim by stating the Studio is milking the franchise then you better back them up. But hey you ask for evidence? Go look at the weekly top ten TV ratings. There was a time it used to rank there more often like One Piece but now it's gone.

Oh really? If less than 2 percent is decent according to you then tell me why Bleach got cancelled when it pulled in better ratings and BD/DVD sales in comparison?

And yet it never has good ratings despite having airing primetime which is why I asked in the beginning. Why would you say the franchise is being milked through fillers when it's doing below average in both TV ratings and disk sales?

I doubt anyone is interested in buying over 7000 episodes.

Yeah but unlike Naruto and their filler episodes they pulled in spectacular TV ratings.

I don't watch Naruto but enjoy reading these reviews as I am a sadist and a terrible human being, and am wondering at this point when you guys are going to tap out on this filler? Like do any of you think you'll have a breaking point, and what might it be? Just curious, like a train wreck onlooker, and also as a totally fully self-aware hypocrite given that I still watch One Piece, not here to judge.

chex mix wrote:

I don't watch Naruto but enjoy reading these reviews as I am a sadist and a terrible human being, and am wondering at this point when you guys are going to tap out on this filler? Like do any of you think you'll have a breaking point, and what might it be? Just curious, like a train wreck onlooker, and also as a totally fully self-aware hypocrite given that I still watch One Piece, not here to judge.

At this point Naruto is so close to the end that it hardly makes sense to drop it now. They could easily finish the series by mid-summer. After watching hundreds of episodes, why quit when there's may be one or two dozen left?

However, I find I'm more at the point of waiting until things end, at least each arc, and catching up. So I can speed through the fillers without waiting for them to be over. I'm also tempted to take the same approach with One Piece. While the show is interesting, that last arc took forever to finish. And I probably won't even bother with Boruto, at least until it's over.

If you boldly refute nearly everything a person says, I'd say you're obligated to produce a little proof.

The fact that Naruto seldom finds its way into the top ten obviously doesn't matter to TV Tokyo or the show's sponsors, who have deemed it profitable enough to keep it where it is. If they weren't seeing returns on their respective investments, there would be no reason for the show to continue.

I have no idea where that figure comes from, but my personal definition of "decent" is irrelevant here. If the production committee, network, sponsors or any combination thereof were displeased with the returns they're seeing, the show wouldn't continue to occupy its enviable time slot, much less exist.

I have no idea why Bleach was cancelled - or how its cancellation is really relevant to Naruto. This is also the first I'm hearing of Bleach outselling Naruto or generating higher ratings. Is there any data to back this up?

Because your definition of "good ratings" is clearly at odds with the one held by the people in charge of scheduling, producing and sponsoring the show. Even if Naruto isn't as popular as it once was, it's still making enough money to justify the anime adaptation's continued existence.

I'd ask for some proof, but I doubt you'd be keen on producing any.

It's also worth noting that television viewership in general was much higher during Dragon Ball's initial run than it is in 2016.

But again, my point was that home video sales only play a minor role in determining the success of long-running prime time series, so citing poor BD/DVD sales as evidence that Naruto is no longer profitable doesn't really help that argument.

Aside from Gintama, I almost never see Shonen Jump-inspired series on ANN's lists of top-selling anime.

The Land of Ka's military brass are so cartoonishly evil, it's almost comical.

Their relationship was so undeveloped (or rather went from "touch me and die" to "I'm pregnant" with nothing in between) that I couldn't help but wonder how she got pregnant in the first place. I'm sure tripping was involved...