Much better than last week. I enjoyed it. And yes, gratuitous Kakashi x Iruka for Japan.
For all the talk about canon vs filler, this Iruka/Naruto mini-arc fits in very well in with the current canon. It could have easily been in the manga with Iruka flashing back to when Naruto was a kid after seeing Konoha worship him. It actually reeks of Kishi. I could see him drawing each panel.
I never minded the rare good filler. It's only the bad filler that bothers me. Hell, a lot of the anime is filler when you think about. Not every thing in the anime is as you saw it in the manga. As we just saw in the Naruto vs. Pain fight. The anime is a slightly different fictional universe with its own canon that either rigidly or loosely follows what Kishimoto draws in his manga.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ulquiorra
We see Shikamaru working his way to be Naruto's best friend. The dude cares more about Naruto than Hinata.
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Kudos to the anime for showing that he was drawn to Naruto at an early age, but didn't understand why. Picking up on Kishi's canon with their relationship. If the filler didn't care about the storyline, they would have used Kiba or Choji in this role. Or even worse, Sasuke who has a much different relationship with Naruto.