If you don’t mind filler episodes and are a fan staying with “Naruto Shippuden” for the long haul, the “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – Original & Uncut” will no doubt entertain you. The episodes are action-packed and have quite a bit of humor. But if you are a purist dedicated to Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series and want to watch the main storyline in regards to the war, then this volume can be skipped over.
Image courtesy of © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto/2007 Shippuden. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – Original & Uncut
DURATION: Episodes 284-296 (300 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 28, 2015
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
The Fourth Great Ninja War rages on, and danger comes from every angle. Old comrades and enemies have risen from the grave under the control of Kabuto to fight the Allied Forces. While some retain their calm, others must wrestle with their emotions. Naruto’s training has made him more powerful, but some believe his possession of the Nine Tails makes him a liability. Can the Allied Forces survive assassins and their reanimated friends to win the war?
The Fourth Great Ninja War continues as Naruto now enters the battlefield and also a side story featuring the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Stone Village.
All this and more in “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – 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”?
Sasuke has aligned with the Akatsuki who wants to destroy the Leaf Village – Konoha. Madara has declared war and thus an Allied Shinobi Force is formed. The elder leaders of all villages, allies to the Leaf Village have realized that the Akatsuki are after Naruto (Nine Tail) and Killer B (Eight Tail Beast). They have since accomplished extracting the beasts (Jinchuriki) from others.
In “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 20”, the series now returns back to storyline that is featured on the manga series.
As Naruto tries to control the power of the nine tails, Naruto’s mother enter his consciousness to explain the secrets of his birth and learns about heir hopes and renews his vow to be come Hokage!
All is revealed about what transpired during the day of Naruto’s birth and who was responsible for attacking the Leaf Village with the nine tails. And given the final moments to meet and speak with his mother one last time.
And as Naruto has become the prime target of the Akatsuki, Yamato, Guy and a few other Leaf Ninja, including Killer B have convinced Naruto that he is on an S-Ranked Environmental Mission at an island.
In volume 22, Naruto who has trained with Bee, is starting to feel the chakra of the nine-tail fox and now he wants to know why he is being locked up and why his fellow ninja are acting strangely.
Meanwhile, as Sakura and other medics tend to the wounded, someone has infiltrated the medical unit and is slaughtering them. And he’s out to kill Sakura. Will Sakura find out who the culprit truly is?
In volume 23, a special side story features the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Stone Village. Also, a storyline that takes place after the Kage Summit as Team Kakashi is sent out on a mission to “The Hole” and investigate an incident where people are being killed. Will Yamato, Sai ,Sakura and Naruto find out who is responsible for the deaths?
VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Naruto Shippuden” is an anime series that was never known for having spectacular background art, but it’s know for its action and its characters and how it captures emotion and its intense battles. While in this episode, a lot of episodes are contained in areas near lush green trees, water or dirt, it’s not so much of the background but how the characters are design and how well the battles are portrayed. And I can easily say that with “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23- Original Uncut”, the fast-paced action in this volume is great for a TV series and good for what one can expect on DVD.
It’s important to note that in 2014, Viz has went from releasing episodes on three DVD discs to two DVD discs per volume.
As for the audio, the audio for “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23” 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 23 – Original & Uncut” comes with the following special features on disc 2:
- Storyboards
- Art Gallery
- Clean Openings/Endings
With the release of “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – Original & Uncut”, the volume continues with filler episodes, while Masashi Kishimoto was still working on the stories in the manga series.
This tends to happen a lot when the anime series catches up with the manga and in order to give adequate time, a season is spent on filler episodes.
With episodes 284-296, these filler episodes concludes Season 13 (which aired in Japan from October 2012 to January 2013) and fortunately, the filler episodes take place during the Great Ninja War or right after the Great Kage Summit.
This time we get episodes relating to the Hidden Sand Village and Hidden Stone Village, Sai learning why people are dedicated into fighting for their friends, Tsunade on a mission and discussing why she puts her faith in Naruto. We also get to see Kakashi taking on reanimated Kirigakure shinobi and a battle with Ameyuri Ringo.
The final episodes take place after the Kage Summit and features episodes about Yamato, Naruto, Sakura and Sai sent on a mission to investigate the death of people near “The Hole” and must take on Kabuto’s Hidan clone and the reanimated Hayate Gekou.
As for the DVD set, you get a total of 12 episodes on two DVD’s and special features which include storyboards, art gallery, clean opening and endings.
Overall, “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – Original & Uncut” is a volume that is more filler-based. The good news is that the filler stories take place during the Great Ninja War and dealing with reanimated Shinobi, the bad news is that the main storyline of the Great Ninja War doesn’t continue until Season 14 (which will take place in “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 24 – Original & Uncut”).
But if you don’t mind filler episodes and are a fan staying with “Naruto Shippuden” for the long haul, the “Naruto Shippuden DVD Set 23 – Original & Uncut” will no doubt entertain you. The episodes are action-packed and have quite a bit of humor. But if you are a purist dedicated to Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series and want to watch the main storyline in regards to the war, then this volume can be skipped over.
