Naruto Anime Analysis

Season 4: Episode 178

Source: Wikipedia

"Encounter! The Boy with a Star's Name"

"Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee are assigned to a mission to protect the star belonging to the Hidden Village of Star. When Naruto hears of the star's special chakra-enhancing power, he decides he too must go along because of his assumption that Orochimaru may be involved. Naruto convinces Tsunade to allow him to join Team Guy's mission by bribing her with an expensive treat. Naruto and Team Guy encounter Sumaru of the Hidden Village of Star, who guides them past the poison gases surrounding the village after demonstrating techniques with a strange purple chakra. The Konoha genin meets with the substitute Hoshikage, Akahoshi, who explains Hidden Star's desire to become one of the five main hidden villages. Sumaru expresses his desire to become the first true Hoshikage of Hidden Star, which intrigues Naruto, who rushes off after Sumaru in the direction of the place where the village's star is held. Naruto and Sumaru see someone fleeing from the building containing the star, and Naruto runs off in pursuit. Sumaru discovers that the star has been stolen and chases after the thief. The thief manages to escape from Naruto, and it is revealed that (s)he was using techniques exclusive to those who had star training, meaning they were once a member of the Star Village."

Analysis

The following episode was premised on the theme of ambition and self-improvement in the sense that there was a similarity between Naruto and Sumaru. Moreover, there was a situational irony where what happened was the opposite of what was expected or appropriate. Lastly, there was a hint of foreshadowing. There are so many details brought out, as I will show in my analysis.

Right, since foreshadowing refers to how the use of clues hints at what will happen later in the plot, at the start of the episode, there was a hint of foreshadowing. The episode starts by showing the shooting star that landed on the Star Village. When it lands in the village, the star explodes and destroys everything in its path, and as a result, it leaves a huge hole in the area. This is the same area where the training building is located and the same place where star ninjas train and immerse themselves in the star's chakra, as will be revealed later. Therefore, showing the shooting star at the beginning of the episode keeps the audience curious to understand what will happen next in the plot.

After we are shown the shooting star landing in the star village, a bird sent by the star village flies in the sky and lands in the leaf village. When the bird reached the Hokage's office, it knocked on Tsunade's window, and when Tsunade noticed a hidden note on its leg, that's when she knew she had gotten a security mission request from the Star Village, where they wanted the leaf ninja to guard the star they possess. Tsunade called Shizune to come to her office and informed her of Star Village's security mission request. Moreover, through Tsunade, we get some details about the Star Village. For instance, she said to Shizune, "It's a relatively small place, but they are proud people, and they have caused a lot of headaches in the past." Already, we are curious to understand what sort of headaches they caused in the past. Afterwards, after learning about this, Shizune asked Tsunade if she was planning to take the job, and Tsunade said that she couldn't simply disregard it because that village has something very special, which is the star.

Therefore, the star acts as a symbol that stands both for itself in terms of helping the star village and for something beyond itself, which is how its speciality attracts enemies who want the power for their selfish intentions. From the onset, the episode got interesting enough for one to continue watching the rest of the plot.

Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee are assigned to a mission to protect the star belonging to the Hidden Village of Star. When Naruto hears of the star's special chakra-enhancing power, he decides he too must go along because of his assumption that Orochimaru may be involved. Naruto convinces Tsunade to allow him to join Team Guy's mission by bribing her with an expensive treat.