Favorite director Toshiyuki Tsuru takes the helm for a movie that... we didn't like at all. Uh oh ..read more

That silly Rock Lee episode is innocent. The rest of this stuff? Well... Covered this week: Naruto episodes 191-193 ..read more

It's a disorienting recording session as we struggle to find the balance between recognizing that most of our episodes this week basically mostly work and trying to avoid getting overly astonished at the fact that, at long last, some episodes basically mostly work. Covered this week: Naruto Episodes 188-190 ..read more

This week we're blessed with a short recording on account of being cursed by two episodes where nothing of note or interest happens at all. But then there's a third one, a brief shining ray of hope that maybe- just maybe- this show will be good again sometime in the next 30 episodes. Covered this week: Naruto Episodes 185-187 ..read more

The mission to the Village Hidden in the Stars continues, as we try to puzzle through our feelings on a peculiar mixture of classic anime original problems, the weirdly absent particulars of this arc's setting, and glimpses of a surprising thoughtfulness for this era of the show. Covered this week: Naruto episodes 179-181 ..read more

We return from an unplanned illness based hiatus, diving headfirst, with gusto, into some pretty bad episodes of Naruto. Its time to learn just how little a fake teamwork test mission can matter, encounter the ninja world's allegedly very important doll based mail system, and embark on a brand new adventure to the fakest ninja village yet ..read more

The conclusion to an arc we enjoyed gives us just enough cause to reflect on how it fell short that we worry we're a little too mean, but fortunately the next two episodes come along to remind us what REALLY complaining about Naruto is all about. Covered this week: Naruto episodes 173-175 ..read more

The mission in the Land of Sea continues, as fleeting glimpses of the actual antagonist of Naruto so far give way to a real fuckin dweeb who stands proudly and shortsightedly in his shadow. Listen as we talk about fish guy armies, try to root through what the show is presenting of Anko's past, and make a surprising but welcome addition to the list of Naruto characters who have totally killed a guy.  Covered this week: Naruto Episodes 170-172 ..read more

We're all over the place this time! Our ghost adventure skids to a halt, we head back to the Hidden Leaf for a truly worthless gag episode, and then move on to the introduction of a brand new arc which charms us largely through the virtue of some basic competency. It's been rough out here.   Covered this week: Naruto Episodes 167-169 ..read more

The goofy ghost mystery arc hits a rocky stretch as we slam head-first into variably avoidable problems. Can enthusiasm for lighthearted genre sendups hold up our engagement in the face of increasingly severe structural issues? Probably not, but at least Naruto character gender engineer Down is here to do her best to make something interesting out of this. Covered this week: Naruto episodes 164-166 ..read more