Naruto Chapter 313 Review

Summary
Nii Yugito stands attentive to the coming threat of two new Akatsuki: Hidan and Kazuku. Kazuku calls for a start to the battle and Hidan demands a pause while he prays. Nii reveals her plan of luring the two into a confined space and detonates three explosion seals, cutting off any means of escape. She swears on her name and title that she will defeat them and Hidan mocks her, explaining his irritation is something to be feared. Kazuku reminds Hidan not to lose control, explaining the objective is everything. Hidan arrogantly explains that his religion doesn't agree with half-measures, it preferring all out carnage than the current order to return Nii half-dead. Hidan then offers a compromise by suggesting Nii should simply allow them to capture her. Nii's response to this: Jinchūriki time. A battle ensues and the Akatsuki pair seems to struggle under the controlled power of the Two-Tales. Gaint scenes of destruction dominate the landscape as the fight continues, seemingly in Nii's favour. Hidan makes another lame joke and we cut away to Kakashi's hospital room. Before Asuma gets a chance to tell him something, Kurenai appears and takes Asuma away suspiciously, leaving poor bed-ridden Kakashi ever the more curious. We return to a scene of complete destruction. Hidan lies in the centre of some kind of religious symbol, impaled by a indiscernible black object (possibly a stick) with a pool of blood about his person. Nii is pinned to a nearby wall with both her hands skewered by a peg, hanging defeated and unconscious surrounded by blood or ritual painting, or both. Kazuku complains once again about Hidan's religious practices, labelling it time wasting, and Hidan awakes calling his comments sacrilege. Kazuku looks over the map exclaiming they have one more to capture, implying another Jinchūriki. This time in the country of Fire.

Thoughts
Urgh, okay, now I hate Hidan. Apart from being an obnoxious gobshite he's also a religious zealot, and rather than that being an interesting dichotomy when coupled with his big pimpin' attitude, he just feels like awkward/lazy characterisation. The hapless banter between he and Kazuku felt tired as well. I forget the name of the Japanese comedy convention when you have a loudmouth idiot and a deadpan partner who berates them, but is pretty much how Hidan and Kazuku seem to work. I'm aware these two guys are villains, but they're simply not hateable in the way they should be. It's an irritable, please-go-away kind of hatred, instead of the preferred you're-rather-awesome-and-scary variety. Their character designs (and Nii's) are quite bland and uninspired, too. All in all these new Akatsuki don't get the HVO stamp of approval. In fact, I hope Kishimoto has made them purposefully annoying; just so when they die, we as readers will get some petty satisfaction.

Speaking of art, other than the moderate complaint with the character design (which I usually love), the visuals this chapter are pretty fantastic. Special mention goes to the Bijū, which has the similar style to Sai's art book paintings and looks totally stunning as a result. How Kishimoto manages to keep it so expressive and physically dynamic when really only having a group of swirls to work with is pretty mind blowing. The brief bit of action we receive is executed in the exciting fashion, fleeting and edited as it seems.

Plotwise, it's interesting to see Nii able to control the inner Jinchūriki with such ease. Whether this has something to it only having two tales (being objectively weaker than the others) or a more complex explanation, it's hard to decide. Still, it implies a lot of interesting possibilities for Naruto's future. I would have been interesting to see Nii survive this attack and go on to mentor Naruto in the ways of direct Jinchūriki control, but it seems unlikely to happen now.  I just hope the next Jinchūriki isn't such a push over! :3

Another thought about the Bijū is how it compares to Gaara's Jinchūriki, the Shukaku. It's suggested that the more tails a Jinchūriki has, the stronger its power (with Naruto's being at the top with nine tails and Gaara's at the bottom with one). Superficially, the Shukaku came across as more powerful and menacing than the Bijū, but then we've only seen it when he went absolutely batshit crazy. Comparitively, the Bijū seems like one cool, collected . . . feline and certainly implies number kick-arse abilities - enough to suggest a strength higher than Gaara's.

One of the most disappointing aspects of this chapter is that we simply don't get to see the whole fight. It seems like Kishimoto is doing this kind of time-skip a lot with the recent battles. Makes me wonder if Jump are hassling him to speed things up. If so, then STFU Shonen Jump; let the man do his magic. Conversely, Kishimoto probably considers these fights to be superfluous and wants them out the way in one sitting. Obviously, I'd rather he spent all the time in the world on them and created some awesome spectacles, but realism suggests that's a bit silly. More action in Naruto is always welcomed, though.

Conclusion
Apart from the flimsy new characters and their general blehness, this was a fun chapter. Sad to see my main man Asuma being so pussy-whipped, but ya know, the girls love the beard. Also sad that no flash yaoi action happening between Kakashi and Asuma, but idle fantasies rarely come true. Except maybe in /y/. All in all, I got what I asked for with this chapter and it came together quite nicely. Let's hope this Fire Country Jinchūriki really fucks up Hidan and Kazuku!

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Author: Masashi Kishimoto
Scanslation: Shiraku

Comments

[meganeshounen]

>>I forget the name of the Japanese comedy convention when you have a loudmouth idiot and a deadpan partner who berates them, but is pretty much how Hidan and Kazuku seem to work.

If memory serves me right, it's called a "manzai" comedy. The straightlaced guy who smacks the idiot is the "tsukkomi" and the idiot is the "boke".

[ned]

the hidden leaf village is in the fire country. they might come across with naruto. maybe asuma has to tell to kakashi is about the 2 akatsuki members are just nearby.