Thursday, July 23, 2015

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 420


Guy brings the fight to Madara and Madara enjoys it! Naruto meets the Sage of the Six Paths.


Episode 420 - "The Eight Inner Gates Formation"

Heh.

I always liked how simple Guy's names for his attacks were while adding a sense of poetry to them. That's the Springtime of Youth for you. When I first heard of Morning Peacock, I thought, "wat," but then I saw it, and the attack left a colorful feather formation in the air. Then he trotted out Afternoon Tiger, and I thought, "okay, let's see how it looks like a tiger." It did. Finally, when I read in the manga he was going to bust out Evening Elephant, I thought, "I need to see this!" At first I couldn't make it out. It looked like a column of air. Where was the elephant? Then I realized that the column was a combination of many columns and the flat bottom of it looked like the hoof of an elephant. Madara stuck in the bottom of that hole looked like he was just flattened by an angry bull elephant. Nice, Guy!


Guy's fights in Naruto are the best action sequences. The only battle that ever beat them was Naruto facing Pain after he had mastered Sage Mode.


Lee did right by his sensei. He knew he was slowly dying right before his eyes, but he could not even think of turning away. Even better was how Minato understood those feelings all too well and enlisted his help in the fight.


Hey, I remember that guy. His name was Naruto, right?
 
It's been so long since we've seen Naruto give derp faces in his present time. Acting like an idiot in flashbacks is nowhere near as funny as seeing the present Naruto still being a baka (idiot).
 
I'd been waiting a loooong time to see this conversation with Hagoromo, the actual Sage of the Six Paths. It was a cool thing to add that an ancient soul would have to cross the evolution of language as well just to communicate.
 
Hagoromo said it wasn't the first time he'd had to talk to reincarnations of his children. His formal language sounded like it was about 300 years old. It made me wonder what his original language would have sounded like since he chose to speak in the manner of the last age he visited.


Hmm.

Hagoromo's explanation of where Ninja Beliefs came from really hammered home the Hindu system of terms that Naruto has always used. Shinto and Shinto Buddhism believe in chi, life force, as the power that animates human action. That term is interchangeable with blood. But Naruto used chakra, which is a Hindu concept. Even the Eight Inner Gates corresponds to chakra points in the body, while all the minor chakra gateways that byakugan users see correspond to acupressure points.
 
Here, Hagoromo's sons are named Asura and Indra. Indra was the leader of the Devas, the good gods of Hindu. Asura were the evil opponents of the Devas, considered demons in modern Hinduism, but ancient Hindus considered them anti-gods, more like the difference between Titans and Gods in Greek mythology. Indra was known as the god of thunder and storms and held a lightning thunderbolt. Sound like anyone else we know in Naruto?
 
The Asura had good and evil factions. The good faction, led by Varuna, eventually joined the Devas in later Hindu mythology. He was the god of water but in later Hindu traditions was associated with lunar iconography. This is contrast with Indra, who was also the sun god.
 
So, all this Hindu stuff got mashed together for Naruto and Sasuke as the reincarnations of Asura and Indra. Oh, did I give something away there? Did you think Hagoromo was only talking to Naruto in his near death state? Someone else was in a near death state too, you know.
 
I found it interesting that Naruto asked a very pertinent question which Hagoromo just waved away. Where did his mother Kaguya come from? That's a big hmm, don't you think?
 
Also, Hagoromo was very protective of ninshuu versus ninjutsu. Shuu means "creed, religious belief," while jutsu means "arts, techniques." The use of ninja arts separated from the Ninja Creed is why the ninja world is in constant conflict. This comes back to Jiraiya's hope for Naruto - how to bring understanding to rival forces and stop the cycle of revenge. This appears to be Hagoromo's hope for Naruto, as the reincarnation of his favored son Asura.


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