Naruto Unleashed: Series 3 Part 1 (3 Discs) (UK)

Introduction

2008 looks to be a bumper harvest for Naruto fans. The dubtitle diversion of last year is a distant, and gratefully forgotten memory, and the fact that Viz in the US has accelerated its release schedule, means that finally Manga can do the same. There are four boxset releases this year, seasons 3 and 4 in their entirety, and no longer will we have six months to completely forget what happened in the last instalment. These boxsets are neatly spaced just three months apart. For the last time for the foreseeable future, I wearily declaim, having completely forgotten what happened at the end of volume 2:2 last year, I re-familiarise myself with the world of Naruto ready for volume 3:1

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.

We're still in the middle of the Chunin exams, but with the preliminary elimination having weeded out the unworthy trainee ninja, just the elite remain to fight it out in the grand tournament. Naruto and Sasuke had progressed to the next stage, but with all the contestants bruised and weary, a timely break was called in order for everyone to heal, as well as learn a few new techniques for the final tourney. But as we begin this first half of season 3, the dark conspiracy started previously by Orochimaru continues to deepen, and the threat against the Hidden Leaf village grows more ominous.

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

Disc 1
53. Long Time No See: Jiraiya Returns!
54. The Summoning Jutsu: Wisdom Of The Toad Sage
55. A Feeling Of Yearning, A Flower Full Of Hope
56. Live Or Die: Risk It All To Win It All!

Disc 2
57. He Flies! He Jumps! He Lurks! Chief Toad Appears!
58. Hospital Besieged: The Evil Hand Revealed!
59. The Final Rounds: Rush to the Battle Arena!
60. Byakugan vs. Shadow Clone
61. Ultimate Defence: Zero: Blind Spot!

Disc 3
62. A Failure's True Power
63. Hit it or Quit it: The Final Rounds Get Complicated!
64. Zero Motivation: The Guy With Cloud Envy!
65. Dancing Leaf, Squirming Sand

Video

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.

Unfortunately, the curse of NTSC-PAL rears its head. It's a problem that has afflicted the Naruto movie, and the recent Lost Story OVA, although the first two seasons were free of it. Judder! Annoying jittery movement whenever the image pans or scrolls. It's aggravating and intrusive, and it doesn't do the transfer any favours.

Audio

The dubtitles are a distant memory. Yay! So are the 5.1 and DTS tracks. Boo! Actually, it's no great loss, as the surround tracks were hardly more than glorified upmixes of the stereo tracks, but Manga will never win any awards for consistency.

The 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.

Extra Features

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

Conclusion

I did it again. I sat down with three discs of Naruto, thirteen episodes in all, and set myself a nice leisurely schedule of a couple episodes a night, taking in the set over a week or so to let it sink in before committing my thoughts to the Interweb. Then a tournament arc starts, and I wind up watching five episodes on the trot. Naruto is like that though, insidious and addictive. We're still in the Chunin Exam arc, although it's probably the longest exam on record, having lasted well over two seasons now, and it looks as if it will stretch at least until the end of season 3 and maybe even into season 4 before it ends. It doesn't matter, as the exam arc is absolutely thrilling, with a broad spectrum of characters to follow, as well as an interesting story to relate.

Season 2 was pretty much non-stop action, with the initial Forest exam immediately followed up by the tournament preliminaries. It was certainly entertaining to watch, but it did mean that the early format of comedy and drama was dropped for the duration, in favour of relentless action. It does mean that we are a little overdue for the lighter side of Naruto, and with season 3, the first seven episodes offer some much needed chuckles. Having shown off much of their repertoires of ninja tricks, a few weeks recess was called for the contestants to heal from their previous matches, and learn a few new tricks into the bargain. We follow Naruto as he bones up on his ninja skills. Seeing as Kakashi is focussing on keeping Sasuke safe from Orochimaru, Naruto needed a new teacher, which is where the pervy Toad Sage Jiraiya comes in. An itinerant ninja author, he's in town looking to research some nubile females for his next tawdry best seller. But it's more the fact that he is the master of the summoning jutsu that interests Naruto.

This boils down to Naruto learning to control the chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox demon that was sealed in him when he was a baby. We've seen its power unleashed on occasion when Naruto has been under stress in a life or death situation, but for him to actually be able to control it opens up a whole heap of possibilities. At the same time as Naruto's training, we get to see what the other characters are up to, as well as see the plans of Orochimaru begin to unfold against the Hidden Leaf Village. The strongest focus is on the Sand Village Genin Gaara. If ever there were a tortured villain, Gaara would be it. He's borderline psychopathic, yet even he gets a sympathetic side when it transpires that he's been raised all his life to be a weapon, but is one that rapidly got out of control of his creators. Everyone around him treats him with kid gloves, expecting him to crack at any moment. It also becomes apparent that his upbringing was similar to that of Naruto's and when Naruto actually sees that Gaara is a dark mirror image of himself, what he could have been if he had let resentment rule his life, then it's the first time we see Naruto actually paralysed by fear, his characteristic bluster and over-confidence nowhere to be seen. It certainly makes Gaara the character to watch in this half-volume.



And then the tournament restarts with a vengeance, and rather than waiting for the main event, we start straight away with Naruto's match with Neji Hyuga. With Naruto putting into play all that he has learnt thus far, against Neji's innate skill as the most promising rookie in the Hidden Leaf Village, this certainly is the best action of the series thus far. Strongly animated, and well choreographed, this is an energetic and dynamic fight, and it certainly ticks all the action boxes. Things slow down for the next fight, although it is no less interesting for being a thoughtful and strategic battle of wits, but the one fight that all the spectators have been looking forward to, that the story has been building up to, that of Gaara vs. Sasuke, just about gets underway when the end credits for the final episode roll. Aaargh!

Can you imagine waiting six months for the next instalment? I certainly can't, which is why Manga's accelerated Naruto release schedule couldn't come at a better time. As it is, we'll only have to be frustrated for another couple of months. Naruto is typical shonen fare; it's the meat and two veg of anime compared to a gourmet meal. But it has the balance between action, comedy and drama just right, and where it excels is that through its writing, it makes you care about all of the characters, even the villains. Watching Naruto lay the smackdown on Neji may be viscerally satisfying, but it's exceeded by seeing the characters grow, and resolving their emotional conflicts. Naruto keeps getting better and better, and if you've already caught the bug, this set is an easy recommendation.