After 220 episodes, Studio Pierrot, Hayato Date, the director and the creator Masashi Kishimoto understood that they had come to a crossroads.  Their beloved and wildly popular show had begun to stagnate.  What to do?  Many bright people would try to milk their golden cow for everything they could and just let it die a tragic death.  This is not the case for our beloved hyperactive hero Naruto. 

One fateful day, Naruto heads off into the world with his new Sensei, Jiraiya.  He leaves his home and much loved village to learn from one of the Legendary Sannin and the super-perverted "Toad Sage".  Two years pass by like nothing – there are some disturbing things happening with a secret organization, the Akastuki, and the village is in need of their A.D.H.D. protector.  Naruto slips back into the village almost unnoticed, but not for long.

Naruto Shippuden is one of the best transition series I have seen.  The seamless transition along with an opening sequence that sets the underlying plot for the first 50 episodes and a possible reunion of Naruto and Sasuke tells everything for this first Box Set put together by VIZ.  In these first 12 episodes, we are also handed the treat of seeing Gaara, the new Kazekage of the Sand Village, fight the secret Akatsuke and the explosive power of Deidara.  Deidara is a self-proclaimed artist and a little on the egotistical side, but a great fighter and is well-versed in how to take on Gaara and his ultimate sand technique.  To say the least, this does not bode well for Gaara.  It does provide a glimpse of how things have changed in the last two years and reflects the new positive relationships that the Leaf and Sand Village now have.

Overall:

There was a time when I was a diehard fan of Naruto, but the last year of the original series drove me away.  It had become rather flat and redundant.  I was interested in what Naruto Shippuden would give us, but not too sure it would deliver anything new.  I can honestly say that the first 12 episodes exceeded my expectations.  The first 10 minutes simply blew me away and the rest of the first episode I sat dumbstruck, thinking  "What just happened?". 

As I sat through these episodes, I found myself just smiling and thinking what a great creative team worked on this series.  I never expected Kishimoto and Date to take an ailing series and reinvent it in a way that remained true to the original and gave every single character a fresh new start.

If you walked away from Naruto because you thought it was dead, you'd better go back and get yourself reacquainted with Naruto Shippuden. You will rediscover the essence at the core that made this one of the all time great series and with this new incarnation it helps in securing its place in Anime history.

ComicOnline gives Naruto Shippuden, Box  Set 1 4.5 out of 5 exploding spider of clay.