Naruto Shippuuden 123: Sasuke versus Deidara

I haven’t been watching Naruto Shippuuden for the longest time because I got turned off with all the filler arcs that they’ve been doing recently. Other than the eps being fillers, for some reason the quality of the animation and artwork during that time also went down the drain. It wasn’t only until a few days ago that I found out that the fillers already stopped. I’ve been catching up and I was finally able to watch Naruto Shippuuden 123 last night. It was a “blast” seeing Sasuke take on Akatsuki’s Deidara and Tobi. I was able to read the manga ages ago and it was cool seeing it translated into animation. Especially Tobi! That guy has such an annoying voice in the anime, haha! Naruto Shippuuden 123 review and synopsis after the break.

Naruto Shippuuden 123 features the battle of Sasuke and Akatsuki’s Deidara. Tobi plays a minor role in the battle. Anyway, the fight begins with Deidara suddenly attacking Sasuke from above. Sasuke manages to dodge the explosives and quickly counterattacks, taking down Tobi. However it seems that Tobi didn’t get hurt at all despite getting cleanly slashes by Sasuke’s katana.

Deidara goes on the offensive, sending several small bombs swarming after Sasuke. As expected though Sasuke manages to avoid all of them without too much trouble.

A bit frustrated, Deidara summons his favorite explosive – something that looks like a giant clay dragon. The dragon lets out smaller clay mines then takes to the air. Sasuke tries to reach the dragon with his expanding chidori but he’s not able to hit it. Deidara then attacks, sending down a gigantic clay bomb from the dragon’s mouth. Sasuke manages to avoid it but he’s caught in a clay explosive land mine. Sasuke manages to survive by transforming using the cursed seal from Orochimaru.

Sasuke is caught in the explosion and he’s injured. In fact, one of his wings is completely blown off. Deidara attacks again but this time Sasuke fights back with a strategic counterattack. He glides away, avoiding the bomb then steps on his sword. A pair of giant shurikens almost hit Deidara, but this was just a diversion. Because he avoided the shurikens, Deidara is now within range. Sasuke leaps up and slashes with his Chidori, cutting off the wing of the giant clay dragon. Sasuke follows this up with his shurikens once again, impaling Deidara in the dragon. The Akatsuki member falls to the clay explosive minefield and a gigantic explosion follows after.

However it looks like Deidara is still alive. He managed to kick free from the Shurikens just before he fell to the ground. In a desperate attempt to win and to prove that his explosives are the best, he uses his most powerful technique which is actually a very vain attack. He releases a gigantic Deidara clay explosive. Episode ends here. We’ll have to wait for Naruto Shippuuden 124 next week.