If you are a big fan of “Naruto Shippuden”, I have no doubt that many of you are going to buy this film on DVD or Blu-ray. But if you own a Blu-ray player, I highly recommend this Blu-ray release as the picture quality and lossless audio are fantastic. But also for the fact that “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” is the best “Naruto” animated film yet!
Image courtesy of © 2002 Masashi Kishimoto/2010 Shippuden. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
MOVIE RELEASE DATE: 2012
DURATION: 109 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1), English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Viz Media
RATED: Suggested for T for Older Teen
Release Date: November 25, 2014
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto
Director: Hayato Date
Screenplay: Yuka Miyata
Music by -yaiba-, Yasuharu Takanashi
Theme Song by ASIAN KUNG FU GENERATION
Character Design by Tetsuya Nishio, Hirofumi Suzuki, Hiroyuki Yamashita, Masashi Kishimoto
Anime Production: Studio Pierrot
Featuring the following voice talent:
Junko Takeuchi/Maile Flanagan as Naruto Uzumaki/Menma
Chie Nakamura/Kate Higgins as Sakura Haruno
Noriaki Sugiyama/Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke Uchiha
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
Kouichi Toochika/Steve Staley as Neji Hyuuga
Kousuke Toriumi/Kyle Hebert as Kiba Inuzuka
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
Neil Kaplan as Madara Uchiha
Masashi Ebara/Skip Stellrecht as Might Guy
Junpei Morita/Vic Mignogna as Tobi
Emi Shinohara/Dorothy Elias-Fahn as Kushina Uzumaki
Toshiyuki Morikawa/Tony Oliver as Minato Namikaze
Toshihiko Seki as Iruka Umino
Long ago, a masked shinobi unleashed the Nine-Tailed Fox onto the Village Hidden in the Leaves to spread chaos and destruction. But the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, sealed the Tailed Beast into their newborn son Naruto to save the village, foiling the shinobi’s plans.
Years later, Naruto and his friends succeed in driving away the infamous Akatsuki, who have mysteriously returned from the dead. Upon returning to the village, the young shinobi are praised by their families for completing a dangerous mission. Reminded of how alone he is, Naruto begins to wonder what it’s like to have parents, when a strange masked figure appears before him – the same masked shinobi responsible for the death of his parents!
In 2012, the ninth “Naruto” film was released in theaters.
Titled “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie”, the film was supervised by series creator Masashi Kishimoto and having a storyline set between the Kage Summit and the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The film did very well in Japan, grossing over 1 billion yen (equivalent to $12.7 million in the US) and surpassed the highest-grossing Naruto film, “Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow”.
And in November 2014, the film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD.
“Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” begins with Naruto and the ninja of the leaf village spying on a group of Akatsuki who were deceased but have come back alive. Naruto takes things into his own hands by trying to fight them, upsetting his fellow team members. But in the end, the Leaf Village ninja are successful in defeating the revived Akatsuki.
While each of the ninja return home, everyone is greeted by their parents and because of the mission, they each are given a pass to become Jounin. As for Naruto, having no parents and no one to come to, he becomes depressed. Meanwhile, he sees Sakura getting upset at her parents because they are too loving and she doesn’t like that.
As Naruto meets with Iruka-sensei, he asks if he can get a Jounin pass but he refuses. He said that many ninja including Naruto’s father, had to work the hardway in earning their Jounin pass, not by receiving it from their parents. And this angers Naruto, who storms off.
While running away, he sees Sakura who just got into an argument with her parents (because they are too close to her) and she runs off, grabbing Naruto and telling them they are going out on a date.
The two end up at a playground as Sakura tells Naruto that sometimes she wishes she never had parents, Naruto being upset with those comments because he has lived without parents. But as soon as Naruto was going to tell Sakura how he feels about her comments, Tobi appears.
It is revealed that the antagonist, Tobi is testing out Limited Tsukuyomi and he transports the two into an alternate reality based on their inner thoughts.
In this alternate reality, Naruto is known as Menma and their friends are completely opposite as they are in their reality. Chouji is thin, Shikamaru is indecisive, Rock Lee is a pervert, Ino is a loving person, Shino is mean and jealous thinking Sakura is trying to steal Naruto away from her. But the biggest difference is that Sakura’s parents died as heroes and she is parentless, while Naruto’s parents are alive and well.
While Sakura is enjoying this alternate reality without parents and loves being alone, Naruto who was apprehensive of being in an alternate reality with parents who are supposed to be dead, embraces the love and nurturing that his parents have for him in this alternate reality.
But both Naruto and Sakura know this reality is not their own and must leave. Especially if Tobi and Madara are using the tsukuyomi as a trap in order to steal Naruto’s Nine Tails.
VIDEO:
“Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” is presented in 1080p High Definition. The film looks wonderful in HD as colors are vibrant and there is no doubt that Pierrot put a lot into this animated film with its many background scenes, many characters, many location settings, the film is colorful, sharp and the characters are well-shaded, well-animated.
This is the best I have seen “Naruto” look on Blu-ray and I saw no artifacts, no jagged edges on the characters. No problems whatsoever.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0. And once again, I applaud Viz Media for giving anime fans a wonderful lossless soundtrack!
This is an immersive soundtrack. It’s one thing to have clear dialogue and music coming from the center and front channels, but because of the non-stop action and explosions galore, there are great directional sounds that are panning from left to right and right to left through the surround channels.
In fact, there are many moments where the LFE just sounds magnificent as you can hear and feel those explosions around you. This is an immersive soundtrack and because it is a film, they really went all out in making this film sound fantastic in HD! Impressive!
Similar to a series like “Dragon Ball Zâ€, with “Narutoâ€, 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.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” comes with the following special features:
- Japanese Commercial Videos
- Japanese Promotional Video
- Japanese Trailers (BD Exclusive)
- Art Gallery
EXTRAS:
“Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” comes with the Blu-ray and DVD version of the film.
When it comes to the “Naruto” series,the storylines that have dealt with Naruto saddened because he had no parents or when he has had a chance to meet his parents in someway, have been one of the more emotional and dramatic storylines that have impacted Naruto.
With “The Lost Tower” film showing Naruto going back to the past to see his father Minato Namikaze, with “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie”, we see Naruto in a more depressed state because he sees everyone with their families, celebrating their latest mission with their families and him, not having any family at all.
Meanwhile, as he has long desired a family that would welcome him with open arms, he sees the opposite with Sakura, who is often upset with her family because she wants to become more independent and is often embarrassed by her parents love.
But what happens when the roles are reversed thanks to Tobi who puts the two in an alternate reality, where people behave the opposite than what they are in reality. This time, Naruto with parents and Sakura without.
While the series is not short of any action scenes, as there are plenty of it towards the latter half of the film, the more dramatic aspects of the film are what captivate you. Sakura who has said that sometimes she wishes that she had no parents, starts to realize how life is without them and also starts to realize the solitude that Naruto has lived with all his life. And for Naruto, as difficult as it was for him at first to live this alternate reality of where his parents are alive and well, he starts to embrace his life with them.
Both knowing that its wrong and they must return to their reality and in truth, Tobi and Madara is hoping to trap Naruto in order to capture Nine Tails.
The film is no doubt interesting because we see the opposite of these characters. Shino as direct and willing to beatup Sakura for being too close to Minato, Chouji thin, Ino being polite and nice and Rock Lee a pervert? Suffice to say, these character changes in the alternate reality lead to a few laughs as well.
So, you do get a great combination of drama, comedy and plenty of action.
As for the Blu-ray release, “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” on Blu-ray is fantastic! This film is literally taking advantage of the picture quality (the film looks vibrant and beautiful in HD) and a magnificent lossless audio soundtrack. With so much action taking place in the film, the great news is that this soundtrack is immersive, utilizes all DTS-HD 5.1 audio channels (plus a 2.0 lossless track) including LFE and I was quite impressed of how awesome this film sounds on Blu! Yes, there are only a few special features on this Blu-ray release including Japanese commercials, trailers and a promotional video but the PQ and AQ definitely make up for it.
Overall, if you are a big fan of “Naruto Shippuden”, I have no doubt that many of you are going to buy this film on DVD or Blu-ray. But if you own a Blu-ray player, I highly recommend this Blu-ray release as the picture quality and lossless audio are fantastic. But also for the fact that “Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie” is the best “Naruto” animated film yet!
Recommended!
