This episode was one of the pearls of emotions , you said I will find when I read this series.
Nothing after Obito's death has touched me so much as this , this final farewell to the trio.
To just think what their life have become , from tiny tots full of dreams to something something so grotesque.

A beautiful , beautiful farewell to Kisame. The emotion of being human , yet when the world perceives you as the monster was beautifully potrayed by you.

Loved to know the origin of the Akatsuki.

Finally, Tobi or Madaara or whoever you are , I am loving you . This book baffles me by the choice of villains it presents and yet I think you are the apt villain to be kept to the last.

Loving the twist Kabuto and his dead minions are bringing into the tale. Deidara is same old same old . Can't wait to see Itachi Uchiha.

Zetsu , you are intriguing me.

Farewell Pain, Konan and Yahiko.
Celebrate your day well spent. ( )

This book was just too damn busy, and not enough focus, especially considering this is the denouement to an all-out ninja war. Kishimoto crammed a lot into one volume and it ruins the flow of the story. However, he does make it an enjoyable one, with the Gai-sensei/Kisame fight and the flashbacks to Konan and Nagato's youth. Some touching stuff in those flashbacks, let me tell you. Kishimoto is pretty good at making readers care about secondary characters through surprising moments, especially those who have been coded as villains so far.

P.S. - Naruto is really tall. How did I just notice this?

P.S.S. - Ouch. A reference to Jiraiya in one of the flashback scenes. Just when I thought I was over that, Kishimoto comes and rips off the Band-Aid.

A fuller review will be up in a couple of days over at my blog (along with the most recent volumes of Bleach and One Piece): http://nagareboshi-reviews.blogspot.com/ ( )

Guy's fighting again with Kisame, but at least it's the final fight. It was interesting to see him open up more gates, but I'll always remember Lee doing it with more style. :)

Okay. I hated how Naruto's bodyguards treated him like an idiot, and how Kishimoto let him fall for it.

At least Kisame's backstory was filling. ( )

This volume was incredibly hard for me to follow. It felt like a mishmash of battles and happenings.

Here's what I can say: Guy's taijutsu moves in the volume were ridiculous. “Those who open the Seventh Gate of Shock perspire blue sweat” (49), which looks like chakra aura. See what I mean? So ridiculous. I have to wonder what was going on in Kishimoto's head, because, in addition to that, there was a flashback of Jiraiya and the Pain kids dressed in full-body frog suits.

And, unrelated to any of that: The island that's actually a giant turtle that Kumogakure has been rearing for generations made me think of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )