Today marks the release of Naruto Shippuden DVD volume 6! This set includes episodes 22-26, and as always, can be viewed in uncut dubbed and subtitled versions. This particular collection features the epic battle with Sasori, as Granny Chiyo and Sakura to step to the fore! We've got the DVD in the VIZ store at a big discount, so head on over, and check out the other Naruto DVDs we have available while you're there.

Volume Synopsis:
While Naruto and Kakashi chase after Deidara, Sakura and Granny Chiyo together take on Sasori of the Red Sand. Sasori's masterful puppetry allows him to use the jutsu of the person he's transformed into a puppet, forcing Sakura and Chiyo to face the power of the Third Kazekage. But with Chiyo's guidance, Sakura learns to read Sasori's moves, and the training she received from Tsunade turns out to be invaluable as the attacks grow ever more fierce!

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Facing your demons takes on a whole new meaning in "Kohaku's Shard," episode 19 of Inuyasha The Final Act. Wow, what a cliffhanger! Thank goodness for the scenes from next week, or else I'd be a nervous Nellie waiting to find out how Kohaku fares.

The episode starts off lightly, with another one of Inuyasha's hilarious efforts to participate in Kagome's modern-day life. (Talk about tasting the rainbow…) But quickly we're knee deep in danger on the other side of the well, as Magatsuhi rears his deviously ugly head, Sesshomaru handles a trickster, and Rin and Miroku suffer the consequences. There are a couple more things that I'm not even going to dare to give away, or else I'd suffer the consequences.

Watch the episode. Things are really heating up on Inuyasha The Final Act.

Is Kazuki dead? Killed by the very man who trained him? Well, if he was, we wouldn't have the rest of Buso Renkin to look forward to! In these week's episode, the real question is, is Papillon's bathing suit the bomb? And will Kazuki cure himself before the re-extermination squad cures him... permanently? Check out the latest episodes in the Buso Renkin section!

Episode 17: When Dawn Comes
Thanks to the power of the black kakugane, Kazuki is revived. In order to deal with the black kakugane, Kazuki decides to go to the place where Tokiko found it. Tokiko tells Kazuki that she will not leave his side.

Episode 18: The Escape
Kazuki, Tokiko, and Gota head toward the Newton Apple Academy for Girls, an all-girl boarding school where the black kakugane was originally located. Warrior Chief Hiwatari and his re-extermination squad are pursuing Kazuki but are stopped by Papillon.

We recently celebrated our first full year of streaming episodes of Naruto Shippuden, and in honor of the occasion, we'd like to hear from you, the fans. We've set up a poll on naruto.com  in which you get to pick your favorite episode from the past year (Episodes 1-141). Once we tally up the votes we'll feature a video special with all the top-rated episodes. Head on over to the naruto.com forum to vote for your favorite episode!

Volume 44 of Inuyasha is full of surprising twists and turns as Inuyasha and company continue their quest to help the demon sage recover his stolen liver (ewwww, gross!). I won't say much more to avoid any spoilers, but suffice to say you will be surprised!

The rest of this volume is quite tragic. A wolf demon tribe is attacked, and many clan members are slaughtered. A tribe member fights to save his brother's life, and fellow wolf demon Koga joins the battle. These wolf demons are humanoid, but the story got me thinking about wolf hunting in the real world. It makes me so sad to see these magnificent, intelligent, social animals hunted down.

Like the clan of imaginary wolf demons in Inuyasha, real wolves have a complex social structure. The adults mate for life, and packs live, hunt and raise their young cooperatively. Shooting the adults for trophies disrupts these social groupings and breaks pair bonds, thereby jeopardizing all the pack members' chances for survival.

Now it's true that ranchers suffer financial loss when wolves kill livestock. But ironically, hunting wolves can just make the problem worse. Killing adult wolves, who are experienced hunters, pushes the younger wolves to attack livestock because they are easier prey.

And no, I'm not totally opposed to hunting. Many hunters are great conservators of our wild natural land. Deer live a better life wild in the woods than a steer does in a stockyard or a chicken does in a cage. Deer can quickly overpopulate so the whole herd suffers starvation. In that way, shooting and eating deer makes sense to me.

I think the public and our government should support ranchers by helping them with costs to erect "fladry," non-lethal strings of cloth and plastic used in Europe to repel wolves.

And shooting an animal just to stuff its head and stick it on your wall...not so sensible. Furthermore, I don't understand how you can get a rush from shooting fierce wolves...with high-powered rifles from a great distance or after running them to the point of exhaustion with a helicopter! Can't you get the same thrill of the hunt by photographing wild animals or doing target practice in a video game?

If you're interested in learning more about wolves and wolf hunting, check out the short documentary Return to the Wild: A Modern Tale of Wolf and Man as well as the Defenders of Wildlife website and the Center for Biological Diversity website, which has some cool free animal ring-tones too! At least I thought they were cool…until my fellow VIZ Media editors objected to the howling, hooting, and growling emanating from my cell phone...

— Annette Roman, Inuyasha manga editor