Naruto learns the fate of Master Jiraiya and Sasuke learns the truth about his brother Itachi in “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 12 – Original & Uncut”! Highly recommended!
Image courtesy of © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto/2007 Shippuden. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 12 – Original & Uncut
DURATION: Episodes 141-153 (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: October 9, 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
At the Akatsuki hideout, a weakened Sasuke hears the history of the Uchiha clan from Madara and learns of Itachi’s true intentions. Meanwhile, Kakashi and Naruto, having lost the trail, must abandon their mission to capture Itachi and find Sasuke. The team is heading back to the village when an urgent assignment comes in from Tsunade that will lead them on a perilous journey to protect a young woman!
Madara informs Sasuke of the true reason why his older brother Itachi slaughtered their family and the Uchiha clan. And Naruto finds out the fate of his Master Jiraiya in “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 12 – Original & Uncut”!
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?
In “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 12 – Original & Uncut”, it is important to note that the episodes featured in DVD Set 12 covers the final episodes of “Naruto Shippuden” Season six as Naruto and his team take on the Eight Tails and learning from Madara of why his older brother Itachi massacred their family and the Uchiha clan and now this information will forever change Sasuke.
For episode 144-151, this was a shortened season seven and aired from January through March 2012 in Japan. This season features Lady Tsunade sending Team 7 and Yamato to assist Utakata and Hotaru after they learn that a clan known as Tsuchigumo and an elder named En no Gyoja developing a forbidden Jutsu.
It is revealed that Utakata is a Jinchuriki and he carries the Six-Tailed Demon Slug and a man named Shiranami is trying to kidnap Hotaru to be used as a vessel to collect natural chakra energy to release the forbidden jutsu.
Naruto and Team 7 must find a way to protect Hotaru from any harm. But another group appears to be interested in Utakata.
While a filler episode, it does show how the six-tail was taken.
For episodes 152-153, this begins season 8 of “Naruto: Shippuden” and brings back the Pain storyline as Naruto is summoned to Lady Tsunade and is informed by Jiraiya’s master Fukasaku of the fate of Jiraiya in his battle with Pain and the Akatsuki.
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 12” 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 12 – Original & Uncut” comes with the following special features on disc 3:
- 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 12 of “Naruto Shippuden”.
- English Credits
An important volume of “Naruto Shippuden” as both Naruto and Sasuke are forever changed by tragedy.
For “Naruto Shippuden”, it has been a long ongoing storyline of Naruto and Sasuke’s friendship and rivalry. But for Sasuke, he is fueled by hatred towards his brother Itachi as Itachi is responsible for the murder of his family and the Uchiha clan.
But as Sasuke and his group confront the eight-tales courtesy of Killer Bee, Sasuke takes on his most challenging opponent yet. Meanwhile, Madara finally reveals the truth to Sasuke of the true reason that Itachi murdered the Uchiha clan and this revelation will now make Sasuke the #1 enemy of the Leaf Village.
Meanwhile, the next episodes features a short arc that involves the six-tailed beast. While a filler episode of the series, it’s also another tragic storyline of how the Akatsuki is continuing their goal of slaughtering jinchuriki and in this case, the storyline centers on Utakata, who possesses the Six-Tailed Slug.
And with the final two episodes on the DVD, it’s an emotional two-episodes as Naruto finds out what happened to his Master Jiraiya who died in battle against Pain and the Akatsuki. Can Naruto bounce back after hearing about the death of his master and mentor?
Featuring a volume that will no doubt make an impact on Naruto and Sasuke, fans of “Naruto Shippuden” will definitely want to check out this latest DVD volume.
As for the DVD set, you get a total of 13 episodes and a the typical special features such as storyboard, production art and the ending omake for each episode.
Overall, “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 12 – Original & Uncut” is another important volume especially now that Konoha must prepare to take on Pain and the Akatsuki. But also for viewers finally seeing Sasuke in a different and more evil light after learning why his brother slaughtered the Uchiha Clan. While Naruto mourns his master’s death, Sasuke now has a new resolve and that is to destroy every living being in Konoha.
Exciting, action-packed and recommended for “Naruto Shippuden” fans!
