“Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut” features two tragic deaths of significant characters that will play a major part in episodes to come. Shocking, emotional and action-packed, these are episodes that hardcore Naruto fans will not want to miss!
Image courtesy of © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto/2008 Shippuden. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut
DURATION: Episodes 127-140 (350 Minutes)
DVD INFORMATION: 2.0 Stereo Surround Sound, Bilingual (Japanese & English), English Subtitles
COMPANY: Shonen Jump/Viz Media
RATED: Rated T for Older Teen
Release Date: July 11, 2012
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto
Series Directed by Hayato Date
Produced by Tomoko Gushima, Ken Hagino
Series Coordinator by Junki Takegami, Satoru Nishizono
Character Design by Tetsuya Nishio, Hirofumi Suzuki
Music by Yasuharu Takanishi, Yaiba
Music Production by Aniplex
Anime Production by TV Tokyo, Pierrot
Featuring the following voice talent:
Junko Takeuchi/Maile Flanagan as Naruto Uzumaki
Chie Nakamura/Kate Higgins as Sakura Haruno
Noriaki Sugiyama/Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke Uchiha
Akira Ishida/Liam O’Brien as Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert)
Hideo Ishikawa/Crispin Freeman as Itachi Uchiha
Houchu Ohtsuka/David Lodge as Jiraiya
Kazuhiko Inoue/Dave Wittenberg as Hatake Kakashi
Kentarou Itou/Robbie Rist as Chouji Akimichi
Kenyuu Horiuchi/Troy Baker as Pain
Kouichi Toochika/Steve Staley as Neji Hyuuga
Kousuke Toriumi/Kyle Hebert as Kiba Inuzuka
Kujira/Steven Blum as Orochimaru
Masako Katsuki/Debi Mae West as Tsunade/Fifth Hokage
Nana Mizuki/Stephanie Sheh as Hinata Hyuuga
Nobutoshi Canna/Henry Dittman as Kabuto Yakushi
Rikiya Koyama/Troy Baker as Yamato
Romi Paku/Tara Platt as Temari
Ryoka Yuzuki/Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Ino Yamanaka
Satoshi Hino/Ben Diskin as Sai
Shinji Kawada/Derek Stephen Prince as Shino Aburame
Yasuyuki Kase/Michael Lindsay as Kankurou
Yoichi Masukawa/Brian Donovan as Rock Lee
In two featured episodes, “Tales of a Gutsy Ninja: Jiraiya Ninja Scrolls,” go back in time to witness how the young Jiraiya meets his destiny at Mount Myoboku and trains to become the Toad Sage! Back in the present, Jiraiya successfully infiltrates the Hidden Rain Village and finds the hideout of the Akatsuki’s Pain. But will he be as successful in discovering the secret behind the multiple Pains?
Meanwhile, Sasuke heads for the Uchiha hideout, where his brother, Itachi, awaits. The amazing visual prowess of the Uchiha come into full play as the fateful battle begins!
“Naruto Shippuden” is back with an eleventh volume featuring two tragic deaths that will rock the Leaf Ninja of the Konoha village!
The first storyline features Jiraiya infiltrating the Hidden Rain Village and confronting the children that he once trained to become ninja, all grown up and are now members of the Akatsuki. Meanwhile, the confrontation that many people have wanted to see… Sasuke Uchiha vs. Itachi Uchiya.
Who will live and die in this latest DVD volume of “Naruto Shippuden”?
What is “Naruto”?
Since 1999, “Naruto” created by Masashi Kishimoto (“Karakuri”) has been one of the most popular anime and manga series in Japan and has easily become a favorite best selling anime/manga series among fans all over the world.
For the anime series, since 2002, “Naruto” lasted until 2007 with a total of 220 episodes. The series would follow the adventures of a boy named Naruto Uzamaki, who may not be the brightest ninja from the Konoha Village but he makes it up with heart and also tremendous power as the killer beast known as the nine-tailed fox has been sealed within him.
Earlier in the series, the anime series focused on Naruto and his team members Sasuke Uchida and Sakura Haruno as they would go on adventures and learn to become a team and also honing their ninja abilities. The series would then begin to introduce other young ninjas from the village who Naruto would be paired up with and the young ninjas would take on rival clans to helping people in need. But somehow as the series continued, Sasuke Uchida would then go off on his own personal mission to stop his brother Itaki Uchida, who murdered the whole Uchida clan and his family, only leaving Sasuke alive.
Within those six years, we have seen Naruto and his friends grow as friends and also in their abilities. For Naruto, all he has wanted is to become the next Hokage (the leader of the village) when he grows older and to help his friends accomplish missions. He knows that to be a good leader, he will need to get stronger so he can protect the village once he grows older. Of course, there is so much involved in the “Naruto” anime series and what makes its special is its humor, its action but also how well the series integrates so many characters but yet features a good number of character driven episodes that makes the viewer appreciate many of the characters in the series.
“Naruto”, the first series ended with the young ninja leaving to train with Jiraiya for two-and-a-half years.
What is “Naruto Shippuden”?
In “Naruto Shippuden”, the storyline now features everyone a little grown up but the stakes are much higher. We learn that the Akatsuki including Orochimaru are looking for those who possess a jinchuriki. With this power, this will give too much power to evil and this can lead to the death of many people and the destruction of many villages.
In the past few volumes, the Leaf Village along with other villages have managed to defeat the Akatsuki, unfortunately the price paid was the death of Asuma and a few other members of the Leaf and Sand Ninja.
Now, Orochimaru using Kabuto, have their sites set on capturing the other jinchuriki, as do the Akatsuki who have been after Naruto.
In volume 10, featuring episodes 113-126 (which kicked off season 6 in Japan), we learn how Orochimaru became interested in “reanimation” and the “Sharingan” but leads to a fight to the death between Sasuke and Orochimaru. We then get to learn more about the new team that Sasuke is putting together. A team that will lead an assault on the Akatsuki and literally give Sasuke the revenge on his brother, Itachi (it was revealed in earlier episodes that Itachi was responsible for the Uchiha clan’s demise and the only person he kept alive was Sasuke), that he has been wanting for so long.
Sasuke is on a mission to find the following people to join his team: Suigetsu Hozuki (a former test subject of Orochimaru and has the power to turn into liquid form), Karin (Orochimaru’s former assistant and specializes in tracking) and the homicidal maniac, Jugo.
Meanwhile, as word gets around about Sasuke’s growing power and his new team, Lady Tsunade organizes a team from the leaf village (which includes Team Kakashi and Team Kurenai) to capture Itachi before Sasuke can get to him. The Akatsuki send out Deidara and Tobi to go after Sasuke.
In “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut” (Episodes 127-140, Season six in Japan), Jiraiya infiltrates the Hidden Rain Village where he finds out that the Akatsuki that he has been tracking, are the children he took care of and trained when they were younger.
But will the legendary sage be enough to defeat his former pupil, especially Akatsuki’s Pain?
Also, Sasuke goes after his brother Itachi and the fateful battle begins. Also, revealed is the true culprit of why the Uchiha clan was massacred and why!
Two major deaths and a storyline that will no doubt send shockwaves to Leaf Village!
VIDEO:
One thing I noticed when it came to “Naruto” is that the series has had its share of well-animated and well-painted artistic backgrounds but then for some of the filler episodes, has had a decrease in quality. Fortunately, “Naruto Shippuden” continues to look awesome. I really like how the characters look much older and the emotions on the character’s faces. For this volume, it does go back to a bit of monotonous landscapes. A lot of trees, a lake, underwater and mountains. Not much of the action is taken place anywhere else. But the storyline focuses on the action than location and as far as picture quality goes, it is good and what one can expect from DVD.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
As for the audio, the audio for “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11” is pretty much Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 Bilingual (Japanese and English). Similar to a series like “Dragon Ball Z”, with “Naruto”, I have always enjoyed the voice acting of the English dub series. It’s well done and the voices fit the characters very well.
Especially Maile Flanagan’s Naruto Uzumaki. Personally, I didn’t think there would be a voice actor that could capture Junko Takeuchi’s Naruto vocals and sure enough, Flanagan does a great job. But I have watched the series in Japanese and English and for the most part, voice acting for both soundtracks are well-done.
Since the series is front channel driven, for those with a modern home theater receiver probably will enjoy a more immersive soundscape by selecting stereo on all channels.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut” comes with the following special features on disc 3:
- More from Viz Media – Trailers for upcoming or current Viz Media releases.
- Clean Openings
- Clean Endings
- Production Art – Using your remote, you can view through ten pages of artwork.
- Omake – (6:11) All the omake ending portions (after the credits) from the episodes featured in DVD Set 11 of “Naruto Shippuden”.
- English Credits
Watching “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut”, I don’t know how to describe this volume without spoiling anything. The only thing I can reveal is that there are two deaths and one story involves Jiraiya while the other focuses on Sasuke.
But I suppose I can describe watching this as a long time “Naruto” fan and how one of the death’s was so surprising, I just never saw it coming. Having watched “Naruto” for over two hundred episodes, you get emotionally invested in the characters. But this one, this one was surprising because it was a character that you grown to enjoy and a character that has appeared in a good number of episodes.
And it was a character that fought valiantly to the very last breath against an enemy that is so powerful, it’s going to setup one of the greatest battles between a Leaf Ninja vs. the Akatsuki.
As mentioned, there were two storylines. One involving Jiraiya, as he tries to infiltrate the Hidden Rain Village but we learn about his desire to make his life more meaningful and to find the prophecy. How he trained children to be ninja and also how Naruto got his name.
The second storyline revolves around Sasuke and Itachi. We have seen this buildup of revenge and hatred within Sasuke and once he was able to find his older brother, there would be a major battle to the death.  This storyline also reveals why the Uchiha clan were annihilated and more.
Suffice to say, the two deaths featured in these episodes are going to have a tremendous impact on the series. The two deaths were not minor characters, they were pretty significant and I look forward in seeing how things play out in this long battle between the ninja vs. the Akatsuki but also how both Naruto and Sasuke will be affected from this point on.
As for the DVD set, you get a total of 14 episodes and a the typical special features such as storyboard, production art and the ending omake for each episode.
Overall, “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 11 – Original & Uncut” is a fantastic DVD volume featuring action-packed episodes and two major deaths with major ramifications in the “Naruto Shippuden” series. Quite simply, if you are a long-time fan of the “Naruto” anime series, this latest volume is highly recommended!
