u/MissionSafe9012

Old beat up copy from Half Prices Books beautified.

Using debug mode to phase through the ground and kick all the vehicles to near destruction before the class 1 race. Then, attempt to both kill Erol and win the race (it is possible).

But don’t worry, there’s a way out of the eternal punishment he created, all you have to do is surrender your agency and brain for an imaginary friend and it’s all good. All merciful, most benevolent 😬

Sample from the Ultimate Gaara Cut, my husband sent me his raw edit of the compilation so it doesn’t get spoiled for me (I haven’t watched Shippuden yet) and after re-watching his movie cut several times since then, I did some fine tuning video editing and meticulously fixed the sound. God damn was that annoying.

Separating the dialog from the backing track and then reincorporating the music (I downloaded the incorrect song but it actually sounds better imo), is one thing, but editing the already edited video to cue with the musical score and match the length was an adjustment I needed to make for that change.

I also edited the second to last scene for the soundtrack to cut off naturally while keeping the focus on Gaara. Since this particular song was never released on the OST, I had to extract the strings portion of a crappy screen recording just to get the audio as clean as possible and not peppered with footsteps and clothing rustles.

Then added some rolling credits from one of the movies and the outro song I felt best captured a cinema-like feel, after the most perfect parting frame of the movie. Put a solid 6 uninterrupted hours to make the last 10 minutes the best version it could possible be.

Test watched it with my husband and he’s very happy with the results and thanked me lol. A lot of hard work but unbelievably rewarding. It’s like watching an actual Gaara The Movie, something that existed only in our dreams 🥹

We are working on the next part of Shippuden for the Ultimate Gaara Cut, so stay tuned on Internet Archive (DM me if you want a link to our project). We will see this through to the end!

My husband and I have a collaborative project to edit the entire Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and the spin off Rock Lee & his Ninja Pals episodes to be a focused narrative centralized solely on Gaara in chronological order. A long forgotten dream of ours. We have up to the first arc of Shippuden with more to be added on the internet archive list (searchable as “Ultimate Gaara Cut”).

Aside from making the narrative focused on Gaara and removing the rest, we also edit the very anime itself to be less annoying. That translates to virtually no peanut gallery commentaries, no redundant flashbacks, cutaway reactions, irritating gasps, or anything else that breaks the flow of the story. Some clips are reorganized to keep the pacing consistent, and some scenes have dialogue painstakingly removed but the music and sound effects retained.

Was not expecting to feel all this in a single episode, but wow. Maybe it’s because I’ve read the manga so many times and this episode was 100% anime original content. I figured maybe their arms will bump into each other because Naka is a leftie, but the mere proximity of their faces to each other and/or the prolonged eye contact gave me a whirlwind of butterflies in my stomach. Strangely enough, I didn’t feel butterflies when Nakamura and Kawamura were talking excitedly about BL and their faces were equally, if not more close in proximity.
Caught me off guard in the best possible way.

Extremely important to note that Hirose is the one that keeps getting closer to Nakamura. Hirose really does like him, you can’t tell me this in an unrequited crush!

Looks like it’s all going to be all right in the end for our favorite boys!

(Not artwork I asked my husband to draw in order to keep me sane)

Let’s recap. At the festival:
Reiko gave him a bracelet. He spoke to Kawamura when she had some downtime and she made him a drawing, in return he covered her position for the play when she was sick. Todoroki, who was busy and had his hands full with his Yakisoba stand, called out to Nakamura and gave him some on the house. Tamura recognized Nakamura immediately and desperately wanted him to participate in the play as a substitute, and continues to admire Nakamura for his unique aura. Even coach Niou walked up to Nakamura, who was sitting alone, and wanted to make sure he was enjoying himself, even if he prefers solitude.

While Hirose was not directly involved at all, he was a bridge between these people becoming friends with Nakamura in a way. Nakamura knows all of them because his attraction towards Hirose is what drove the actions that would inevitably draw them to him.

Early on, he first spoke to Kawamura because she was an artist and he wanted her to draw pictures of him and Hirose together. Outside of that, he sincerely cares about her well-being and their interactions remained pleasant all throughout the story. She developed a one-sided crush on him so his charming and admirable traits are recognized by someone.

Reiko’s interest in Nakamura was because he drew a dark image while having a meltdown, because he felt like his social masking spoiled the good conversation he and Hirose were having moments prior.

Episode 7, Nakamura’s forced involvement in the occult and horror club led Tamura to recognize Nakamura’s unadulterated talent, with the help of Oomori and Hirose having already been friends with Naka. Tamura even called Nakamura his muse and a once in a lifetime actor, recognizing him beyond the weird quiet kid.

Bit of an odd one but wholesome nonetheless, Todoroki carried Nakamura to the infirmary when that idiot smelled his shirt thinking it was Hirose’s, and thus was able to recognize Nakamura at the cultural festival even while he was busy with his yakisoba stand.

Coach Niou’s interaction is the most interesting to me. He is aware of Nakamura’s social difficulties because he had to directly but privately inform him that smelling someone without their permission is wrong. So when he later saw Nakamura sitting by himself at the cultural festival, Niou recognized that he’s a shy, socially challenged kid with a good heart who just needs a gentle nudge in the right direction to connect with others. He asked Nakamura if he’s having fun and gave him the flyer to the play so he wouldn’t need to spend the rest of the festival alone. Perhaps Niou would have given Nakamura the flyer without their prior interaction in episode 3, but it’s because of that, Niou is one of, if not the first person to know about Nakamura’s sexuality.

One thing I would like to see is Otogiri being nice to Nakamura in the same way, to show support from his own homeroom teacher the way he was for Hirose.

In essence, it’s because of Nakamura’s interest in Hirose that would lead him to all these people who now recognize him as a friend. Super cute and wholesome to see Nakamura go from being constantly being ignored by his classmates, having zero friends, and one unrequited crush, to having lots of different friends and a burgeoning relationship with that same crush.

Going through the episodes, I can’t seem to find any moments where Mukai, Takeuchi, or Oomori make Hirose laugh remotely as hard as Nakamura is able to unconsciously do. Hirose even said himself that he could never forget someone as funny as Naka.
It’s not mocking or cruel laughter, it’s genuine and lighthearted.

You can’t tell me Hirose doesn’t like Nakamura in a way that is different from his other friends!

Either way, being funny and making someone laugh makes you incredibly likable to others, including your crush.

Prolonged pause aside, Nakamura calmly walked up to Hirose, looked him in the eye without blushing, and greeted him. You can’t say that isn’t progress in its own sense. Hirose is considerate enough to reciprocate and greet him with a smile regardless.

Early episode Nakamura felt nothing but nervous in Hirose’s presence, but he has since been able to overcome it (somewhat), slowly but surely in his own way.

Nakamura is clearly trying his best. He’s so cool!

This is by far the best and most meaningful takeaway from episode 8, and it mirrors the prior episode to show there is some interpersonal development between Nakamura and Hirose from these two eps alone.

When Hirose teased Nakamura by saying he doesn’t look sick anymore and can walk home by himself, Nakamura understandably feels momentary dread. But Hirose laughs, clarifying it’s a joke and that he still intends to walk with Nakamura the whole way. Nakamura understands the joke and is happy Hirose is showing him his playful side. It’s cute.

The roles were reversed in the previous episode where Nakamura teased Hirose, who was trying to act tough while they were testing their bravery at the school, by walking slightly ahead of him so the tough facade would waver.

It’s the first time they’ve joked with each other in this way.

Teasing is a lighthearted way of safely testing boundaries in relationships while also fostering trust, so it’s really wholesome to see that between them.

Nakamura could tell Hirose gets frightened easily even though he denies any such claim, so Nakamura playfully, but safely exposes it.

Likewise, Hirose can tell Nakamura values their burgeoning friendship immensely, but has a lot of deep seated social anxiety and no other friends. So Hirose sternly asserts Nakamura can walk home by himself since he’s suddenly feeling so much better, knowing that such a statement would make Nakamura very sad if he were serious. But by making a joke out of it, which Nakamura found endearing, it allows their chemistry to develop.

They both know each other’s fears and insecurities, and they’re both comfortable enough in their friendship where they can explore and tease each other in good taste, deepening their trust in subtle ways.

Also it’s important to note that the anime frames this a bit differently, in addition to the anime original content.

Hirose didn’t walk Nakamura home just because he’s the class health rep. Yes, the offer stemmed from initial concern for Nakamura’s because he wasn’t feeling well (at that idiot’s own hand), but even after he realized that Nakamura was feeling better, he still wanted to walk together regardless.

It’s clear Hirose really does enjoy Nakamura’s company and likes him enough to spend time together outside of his personal sense of obligation.

CD Japan has a lot of great merch for preorder and it ships to the USA! I got an adorbz acrylic tube TV stand, two badges, and a compact mirror! I’ve bought from this site using the app several times, it’s phenomenal and I highly recommend it. Never had a late or damaged shipment.

https://www.cdjapan.co.jp/searchuni?term.media_format=&q=Ganbare+Nakamura-kun

Still wish I could travel to Japan and buy some shit at the popup store in a splurge 😔 still looking for a reasonable priced crabby keychain, it will be mine one day!!!

Felt so many butterflies but I still keep laughing hysterically specifically during this part because none of it was real 🤣 There’s just no way Nakamura would be that suave around Hirose.

Also the escalation of them casually walking home together to kissing in public is absurdly humorous. Maybe Naka thinks kissing is just one of the many perks of being best friends with someone, like having sleepovers.

I have a big soft spot for lefties, and noticing that he’s the only left handed character is just one more reason I love Nakamura. It’s not a fluke, it is a deliberate and consistent artistic choice that aligns with the manga.

What symbolism or meaning do you think is behind the artistic choice of having Nakamura be the only lefty? I can’t seem to find any interview of Syndei speaking about this.

(While going through the episodes I also noticed that while he isn’t fully left handed due to writing with his right hand, Otigiri has been shown using his left hand to operate a lighter when igniting his cigarette. Though this could be for a different reason.)