Naruto Unleashed: Series 3 Part 2 (3 Discs)

Introduction

It's been less than two months since I posted my last Naruto review, which makes the arrival of this volume something of a pleasant surprise. Manga Entertainment have accelerated the release schedule of this series, which given that it runs to a total of 220 episodes makes sense. Naruto has been going strong in the UK for two years now, and we're still only up to episode 78 with this volume, and the story is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Naruto's turned out to be a fine investment for Manga, as it's a shonen action show that appeals to a broad audience. The more satisfying release schedule coincides with a formalising of the arrangement Manga have with Viz Entertainment who release Naruto in Region 1. We're already partaking of its stable mate Bleach, but this spring has seen the debut of another Viz property, Death Note, and the coming year will see another long running action show in the form of MAR and other Viz series like Buso Renkin to look forward to. Things look more than rosy for Manga Entertainment customers.

12 years previously, the Hidden Leaf village was plagued by the Nine-Tailed fox demon. The Fourth Hokage ninja sacrificed his life to defeat the menace, and sealed up the spirit in the body of a newborn child. That orphan grew up as Naruto Uzumaki, a mischievous prankster with great ambition. Not only does he want to be a ninja, but he also wants to be the strongest ninja of them all and be granted the title Hokage. He has more than a little competition, the Hidden Leaf village is a community of ninja, and Naruto had great difficulty just passing his entrance exams to qualify as a lowly Genin. Even when he did manage to get his certification, he was assigned to undergo training by the demanding Kakashi, partnered with his rival Sasuke and Sakura, the girl on whom he has a crush. What makes things difficult is that few see him as Naruto, instead of the dreadful fox demon that was sealed inside him.



The Chunin exams are coming to a conclusion, with the final tournament reaching its peak with the big event, Sasuke vs. Gaara about to take place. But while the tournament has been fostering amity and cooperation between the ninja villages, dark forces have been moving pieces onto the chess board, and while the inhabitants of the Hidden Leaf Village complacently watch the tournament, infiltrators move unchallenged among them. They are waiting for the final signal, and then havoc will be unleashed.

The final thirteen episodes of the third season are presented here across three discs.

Disc 1
66. Bushy Brow's Jutsu: Sasuke Style!
67. Late for the Show, But Ready to Go! The Ultimate Secret Technique is Born!
68. Zero Hour! The Destruction Of The Hidden Leaf Village Begins
69. Village in Distress. A New A-Rated Mission!

Disc 2
70. A Shirker's Call To Action: Layabout No More!
71. An Unrivalled Match - Hokage Battle Royale!
72. A Mistake from the Past - A Face Revealed!
73. Forbidden Secret Technique - Reaper Death Seal!
74. Astonishing Truth! Gaara's Identity Emerges!

Disc 3
75. Sasuke's Decision - Pushed to the Edge!
76. Assassin of the Moonlit Night
77. Light vs. Dark - The Two Faces Of Gaara
78. Naruto's Ninja Handbook

Picture

Naruto gets a 4:3 regular transfer that is clear and sharp throughout. There are some minor compression artefacts that are only really noticeable during freeze frame. As you would expect from such a long running animation, it's best not to tire the animators out too early. Naruto is certainly less sophisticated than most anime released today, the character designs are simpler, and backgrounds not excessively defined. Yet in terms of quality, the animation is very effective, and certainly goes a step beyond older long running shows like Dragonball Z or Sailor Moon.

Fortunately the ghosting and judder than afflicted the previous volume is absent this time.

Sound

The DD 2.0 English and Japanese stereo is more than adequate in recreating the original experience, and given a little Prologic magic does offer a pleasant ambience and some discrete action. A new season offers some new theme tunes, and as always they are memorable and suit the story well, while the incidental music is a little more generic, but definitely gives Naruto its own musical identity. I sampled the English dub and found it acceptable if unspectacular. It certainly isn't the worst I have heard, but some of the actors don't seem particularly suited to the characters. Translated subtitles are provided, as they should be. Incidentally, since the previous volume, and on this one, the theme songs have been getting translated subtitles.

Extras

Just the usual Manga trailers, and the same menus, again!

Conclusion

Well if you're keeping score, this turns out to be the best volume of Naruto yet, as we see the machinations and story developments of the last 50 or so episodes come to a head, with Orochimaru's dark plan finally unfolding. Of course, it only means that Naruto's ever-prevalent flaws only stand out even more. I think Naruto may be the only series that can be at the same time absolutely gripping, exciting and entertaining, as well as tedious, drawn out and laboured. It's a narrative schizophrenia that works surprisingly well. Naruto is the animated equivalent of Pringles (the old MSG and hydrogenated transfatty loaded Pringles that actually tasted good, instead of nu-Pringles which taste like potato powder held together by wallpaper paste) in that once you're hooked, you're hooked for life. Naruto keeps on feeding the goodness in just large enough doses to keep you coming back for more, and you wind up forgiving the flashbacks, extended commentary, and narrative redundancies.



It doesn't start well with these episodes as the promise of Sasuke versus Gaara turns out to be a damp squib. Sasuke has boned up on his Taijutsu (physical fighting techniques) and has adopted Rock Lee's fighting style. It promises an awesome match up, but with the first few episodes, tedium threatens to derail the Naruto express. Typically there would be one awesome piece of animation as one of the protagonists delivers what should be a devastating blow. But instead of keeping the flow and energy of the fight on an upward curve, we'll invariably cut away to an audience member to get his opinion on the move that has just transpired. Then we'd switch to another scene altogether outside the arena, where someone maybe wondering what is going on in the arena, or one of Orochimaru's henchmen moving into place.

Fortunately this only lasts for two episodes, and is really just a taster for the main event. All thoughts of the Chunin Exams vanish when Orochimaru's plan starts to unfold. He's one of those global-domination seeking megalomaniacs, and he has a chip on his shoulder over the way he was treated by the Hokage and the Leaf village. This is his big chance for vengeance, and it isn't long before he's got the Hokage trapped on the roof of the arena, where he aims to utterly defeat him and take all his secrets. Up till now, the Hokage has been a kindly old leader who has a fondness for tobacco and a world-weary affection for his boisterous grandson. We finally get to see his ninjutsu skills here, and we can see why he is the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village. Orochimaru has a couple of problems though, the most obvious of which is that his plan relies on Gaara. Gaara has been trained as a weapon, and knows what to do to defeat the Hidden Leaf Village. But he strays from the script in his battle with Sasuke. Worse, his emotional instability manifests at the worst possible time, and he and his team have to flee. Sasuke's blood is raised, and he pursues to continue their fight.



When Kakashi sees this, he fears the worst, and sends Naruto and Sakura after Sasuke to stop the encounter. It has to be the children, as the rest of the village forces are engaged in defending against Orochimaru's Sound Village henchman, and the Sand Village ninjas who have joined the plot. From this point on, the bystander commentary and recaps are kept to a minimum, and it's pretty much all action and narrative. This is most notable from the fifth episode onwards, when Shikamaru, who is helping Naruto, tries to buy time for his friends by delaying their pursuers. He's adept at controlling others with shadows, and he has a tense standoff with nine hunters. The stand off is broken when his master Asuna arrives, and what follows is a fast and well-choreographed action sequence. There are no pauses for commentary, no flashbacks, and no cuts to unrelated scenes. It's a pure action sequence filled with energy and pace, and the energy continues from that point onwards.

There are plenty of fights to look forward to, lots of action, and surprisingly lots of comedy too, and in the best tradition of a Star Wars prequel, it'll keep cutting between them before the excitement gets too high. While initially offering the most eye candy and big ninja moves, the Orochimaru Hokage battle settles down into a static contest of willpower, keeping things from getting too hectic in the latter half of the boxset. You would think that the rematch between Sasuke and Gaara would be the high point of the closing episodes, but you would be wrong. The show is called Naruto for a reason. Ever since the previous volume where we learned that Gaara is a mirror image of Naruto, a boy similarly orphaned and possessed by an inner demon, a showdown between the two has been inevitable. It was the one moment that shook the usually unflappable Naruto, and seeing just what he could have become had he not had the sponsorship of Iruka, mentoring of Kakashi and friendship of Sasuke and Sakura, actually left him paralysed with fear. Gaara's demonic side comes out here, and it's more than Sasuke can handle, even with his Sharingan powers. Everyone is still underestimating Naruto though, and I must admit that I got a kick from seeing Sasuke's face when Naruto finally let loose. Still, the die was cast as soon as Gaara's nature was revealed, and it was a matter of inevitability that his inner demon would eventually face Naruto's. But damn this show for stretching out the anticipation to breaking point. When the Nine-Tailed Fox finally appears it offers a cathartic release of vindication, only for the end credits to roll. What a cliffhanger to end on!



Naruto is a middle of the road anime show, catering for a broad audience, and it's never going to garner critical acclaim or break any boundaries. But it knows its business well, and when it's firing on all cylinders as it is in this volume, you'll be loath to press that eject button.