Naruto Anime Analysis (Season 5)

Season 5: Episode 213

Source: Wikipedia

"Vanished Memories"

"While on his way to collect bamboo shoots for menma ramen, Naruto finds a man close to a riverbank and helps him out. The man cannot even remember his name, so Naruto calls him "Menma." As Naruto tries to help him recover his memories, he learns that Menma is extraordinarily good-natured and helpful. When a mysterious man attacks the two, Menma uses an ocarina to increase Naruto's abilities, causing Naruto to wonder who he is."

Analysis

The episode was centered on this Menma character, who brings out a sense of mystery. He is also shown to be a round character who seems like a real person and has a complex personality. Other details will be mentioned in the analysis.

Menma's life as a bandit.

His life serves as an exposition of background information necessary for understanding the storyline. Doomy music plays in the background when there is visual imagery of a certain village caught in a fire during the night. Moreover, it was raining, which symbolizes a sad atmosphere that something bad has happened. For instance, there is auditory imagery when everyone in the village is panicking and screaming. They were running away because there were bandits that were killing them with their swords. Everything was chaotic, which led to a certain man from the village running into the woods.

When the man ran into the woods, one of the bandits tossed a kunai at him, which cut the man's shoulder. As a result, the man stopped at a cliff, where he kneeled close to the edge. At that moment, the bandit and Menma were standing there, looking at the man they had injured. During this time, the man's little daughter, Fuki, came to protect him. She even guarded her father by shielding him, asking the enemies to stop attacking her father. In response, Menma felt some kind of emotion that made him freeze for a second. Therefore, it compelled the other bandit to kick the kid aside, take the necklace from Fuki's father, and then kill him with his sword. This left the kid, Fuki, to cry profusely with the pain of losing her father.

When the bandit wanted to kill Fuki, Menma tossed the kunai at him, which stabbed his back. Eventually, it resulted in his death. Thereafter, Menma picked up the necklace on the ground and gave it to Fuki. At that moment, Fuki almost fell off the cliff, but Menma saved her. Unfortunately, when he saved her, he fell off the cliff, screaming until he fell into the riverbank. Afterwards, doomy music stopped playing in the background.

There are certain points to consider about Menma's life as a bandit. First, his past life is a dramatic irony when the viewer knows some details about his past life that the characters in the episode are not yet aware of. Second, we are introduced to another character called Fuki. It makes one wonder what happened to her. Is she still alive? Is she still a child, or has she grown up? Only time will tell when the storyline progresses. Last, Menma may have been part of the bandits, but he has compassion for others and empathy when he saves the little girl, Fuka. In other words, he is a round character who seems like a real person who cares about other people's well-being. It makes one wonder how someone who is so empathetic ended up joining the bandits. What's his story? Only time will tell when it reveals more details about Menma's past; hence, it keeps the viewer hooked to watch the rest of the storyline.

While on his way to collect bamboo shoots for menma ramen, Naruto finds a man close to a riverbank and helps him out. Before Naruto went to the cliff to get bamboo shoots for menma, he was at the Ichiraku Ramen shop around the daytime. The owner of the shop, Teuchi, said that finding the legendary menma-pickled bamboo shoots is rare because they grow high up on the side of cliffs, which is very hard to find. So, Naruto was determined to look for it in the sense that he wanted to try it on top of ramen.