The ongoing battle against Sasori, the Akatsuki Puppet Master, seems to be coming to an unfortunate conclusion for Sakura. With the young ninja getting stabbed right through the chest by Sasori’s poisoned sword and Granny Chiyo already tainted by a previous toxic attack, things look pretty ugly. But with enough wit and quick thinking by both, the tables turn and Sasori is finally defeated; as a reward he tells them that he’s due to meet one of Orachimaru’s spies in ten days’ time. Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi succeed in retrieving the unconscious Gaara from Deidara’s clutches. This leads to a dramatic and fulfilling end to the Sand Village saga, with some funny scenes to round it off.

After Team Kakashi and Team Guy return to the Hidden Leaf Village, Sakura heads off to Tsunade to relay the new information about Orochimaru’s spy. With Kakashi injured and one team member down, Tsunade decides to fill these slots so both Naruto and Sakura can go on the mission to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru's clutches.

The new team leader is Yamato who can utilize the First Hokage's wood ninjutsu. He's a calm and generous leader throughout these episodes but gets strict whenever a situation gets out of hand (check out his ‘scary face’ stare.) Nevertheless, he ends up being a very likeable substitute for Kakashi. The other replacement member is Sai, who was not picked by Tsunade but by the village advisers and Danzo (whom she doesn't trust.) Sai uses his scroll ink paintings as a ninjutsu and his features are very emotionless as he was raised as a member of The Foundation black ops unit.

Naruto and Sakura are happy with Yamato but, as predicted, Sai has trouble fitting in as Sasuke's replacement. This leads to plenty of grumbling from Naruto which become very repetitive after a while.

Another introduction I was happy with - although it's very brief - is the reappearance of Team 8 (Kiba, Shino and Hinata.) The new Akatsuki member (chosen to replace the fallen Sasori) is Tobi who for some mysterious reason is a clumsy, goofy character and, even as one of the antagonists, becomes instantly likeable in my view.

This is a good time to mention a few of my disappointments with the Naruto anime. The series sometimes introduces pointless information when it's been obvious for a massive amount of episodes. A good example from this boxset is the strand involving all the members of Team Guy who have been fighting their clones because of an Akatsuki trap. This fight has been going on since the previous box set (it started around episode 19) and at episode 28 the members of the team speak as if they have no idea why they are losing when you can blatantly see that they're exhausted! However, the fight having dragged on for nine episodes, it proves a very annoying filler that thankfully ends near the beginning of this box set.

At the end of the Sand Village story we are treated to some new musical themes for the next arc; the second opening performed by Long Shot Party, “distance,” is an upbeat ska J-Rock track with a stylish, well-made animation to go with it, so I can now happily forget that certain first opening. As for the next closing theme, little by little's “Kimi Monogatari” is more a J-Pop melody that accompanies closing footage featuring Sai as some kind of male model; the track isn't really my cup of tea and is very forgettable in my view.

Extras remain largely the same with new character galleries and another trailer for the Shippuden movie, as well as a trailer for the whole series. I would like to see a commentary or a cast interview in the near future - even for a single episode - instead of the same extras over and over again.

In Summary

If you're expecting a large dose of Ninja action you'll be sadly disappointed. However, for some reason the comedic and dramatic moments, the introduction of characters old and new, and an interesting new storyline make me give this box set a well-deserved high score. Alright, Yamato, you can stop giving me that doom stare now!