NARUTO: JUMP FESTA COLLECTION
August 18th 2009 02:38
Category: Videos
Based on the original manga created by: Masashi Kishimoto
Director: Hayato Date
Producers: Tomoko Gushima (TV Tokyo) & Ken Hagino
Starring: Maile Flannigan (Naruto), Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke), Kate Higgins (Sakura), David Wittenberg (Kakashi Hatake), Cam Clarke (Suien), Steve Staley (Shibuki), Debi Mae West (Himatsu), Kari Wahlgren (Shizuku), Steven Blum (Murasame), Kirsten Potter (Hisame) & Brad MacDonald (Kirisame)
Produced by: TV Tokyo & Studio Pierrot
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 60 minutes Rating: M
Apparently on an annual basis the publishers of Shonen Jump magazine holds a festival in Japan aptly named as the Jump Festival or Jump Festa hence the title for this DVD collection. The focus is to promote the titles and lines that are still ongoing in Jump as well as those newcomers and the various anime franchises that have grown out of the works published within Shonen Jump. No doubt on top of all this publicity there are stalls selling candy, fairy floss, various toys and goodies associated with Bleach and Naruto as well the DVDs and then there are the anime episodes that are shown especially at this festival, they are not aired on television or at cinemas but end up being shown first at Jump Festa and then become original video animations for the larger audience, this is what this collection is all about two Naruto episodes from the Jump Festa in 2004 that have finally made it to the shores of the Great Southern Land for the GL to peruse.
If there is one complaint I have with this particular DVD is that it’s a tad bit pricey for sixty minutes of viewing, you’d have to be a diehard Naruto fan or an anime/manga reviewer to fork over the readies for this. So for me it was a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B, but even so after watching it I did feel that as far as value for money goes the ordinary punter is getting a bit short changed here. After all you can buy the collections of the TV series, which are around 325 minutes running time, five times as much as this particular volume and only double the price, so what’s the go with charging so much for this work? Best guess is Naruto has obviously proved to be a popular seller and it’s the profit motive driving things along as usual.
There are two tales on this volume, one of which has been dubbed as the lost story, a chapter in the Naruto saga that has never been told before and the second tale is simply a short side story that occurs in the Hidden Leaf village and involves a red four leaf clover. Strangely for some reason this latter tale is only in the original Japanese, subtitled of course otherwise it’d be pointless for English speaking audiences to watch, assuming that they are unable to understand Japanese. Why this particular tale was never given an English dub is probably just one of those little mysteries that make life so much more interesting, although I suspect the answer to this conundrum would no doubt be found somewhere on the vast consensual construct that is the internet.
Chronologically these two tales occur at a stage early on in the Naruto saga, the reason why I say this is that our number one maverick hero has not learned the Rasengan from his mentor, Jiraiya and Sasuke has not mastered the Chidori jutsu from Kakashi Hatake, thus it’s still early in their careers probably just before the Chunin exam if I was to go out on a limb. Things begin with a routine C Rank escort mission, taking the leader of the Hidden Waterfall Village, Shibuki, back to his home. The Leaf and the Waterfall villages are allied so it’s only natural for the Leaf village to send some of their shinobi as an escort for the leader of an allied village. Now unlike the Leaf village, the Waterfall village do not have a leader as strong as a Hokage, instead they have something entirely different.
Hidden in the bole of a vast tree which sits in the very heart of the village is hidden the Heroes Water, a water drawn from the taproots of the great tree. A draught from the heroes water can increase the chakra of a recipient at least ten fold if not a hundred fold – pretty potent stuff, almost akin to a cleansing glass of Kilkenny’s finest ale, but there is a drawback to this sudden increase in ability you lifespan is decreased by a similar factor. Shibuki’s father once drank the water in order to save the village from an attack by rouge ninja, he succeeded but because he was getting on in years the when the effects of the water ended he died. Now it looks as if history is repeating itself as rouge ninja have once again attacked the Waterfall village, lead by a former Waterfall shinobi who desires the heroes water for his own nefarious purposes.
So for Squad 7 what began as a simple C Rank escort mission becomes a battle royal for the very life and existence of the Hidden Waterfall village and its inhabitants. There is humour, pathos, carnage, daring do and full scale landscape changing jutsu to whet the appetite of even the most jaded Naruto fan. Eventually though all things come to a close and Naruto and his comrades return back to the Leaf village, a sceptical Kakashi sensei in tow pondering just how accurate the reports of his subordinates are regarding what has just happened – he had to leave proceedings halfway through the drama. Back at the Leaf Village we are catapulted into the quest for the Red Four Leaf clover, an item it is said will grant the deepest wish of the person who possesses it. Konohamaru desires this clover as a girl he fancies is about to leave the village to move to another and he hopes that by getting this clover he can effect a miracle and prevent Kaede-chan from leaving. Naturally to help his efforts he recruits Naruto to help him, this is a short little story full of humorous moments, intense action and courageous resolve. It’s also full of Japanese, as for some reason it was elected to run with the original audio and just go for subtitles, why I have no idea, perhaps the English vocal cast were busy doing something else or on holiday.
If you are looking at pure entertainment value then it does have to be said Naruto: Jump Festa Collection has it hands down, definitely a must for any diehard Naruto fan as well as being a reasonable starting point for anyone whose interested in the series but has not yet seen anything of it. Looking at in the cold hard rational light of dollars value, unfortunately as I’ve already said things begin to fall apart. Twenty five dollars for only sixty minutes entertainment when I can pay fifty dollars for at least five times as much running time in the TV episodes collections, how can the makers justify this price? It would be understandable if there were a few little extras such as a making of or something in detail about the whole Jump Festa thing but there’s nothing of the sort and the only thing about the festival itself is essentially a promo blurb. Wait until this one is in the bargain basement bin at your local DVD store or on special, twenty five dollars is too much for just an hour’s entertainment...Believe It!
Director: Hayato Date
Producers: Tomoko Gushima (TV Tokyo) & Ken Hagino
Starring: Maile Flannigan (Naruto), Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke), Kate Higgins (Sakura), David Wittenberg (Kakashi Hatake), Cam Clarke (Suien), Steve Staley (Shibuki), Debi Mae West (Himatsu), Kari Wahlgren (Shizuku), Steven Blum (Murasame), Kirsten Potter (Hisame) & Brad MacDonald (Kirisame)
Produced by: TV Tokyo & Studio Pierrot
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 60 minutes Rating: M
Apparently on an annual basis the publishers of Shonen Jump magazine holds a festival in Japan aptly named as the Jump Festival or Jump Festa hence the title for this DVD collection. The focus is to promote the titles and lines that are still ongoing in Jump as well as those newcomers and the various anime franchises that have grown out of the works published within Shonen Jump. No doubt on top of all this publicity there are stalls selling candy, fairy floss, various toys and goodies associated with Bleach and Naruto as well the DVDs and then there are the anime episodes that are shown especially at this festival, they are not aired on television or at cinemas but end up being shown first at Jump Festa and then become original video animations for the larger audience, this is what this collection is all about two Naruto episodes from the Jump Festa in 2004 that have finally made it to the shores of the Great Southern Land for the GL to peruse.
Chronologically these two tales occur at a stage early on in the Naruto saga, the reason why I say this is that our number one maverick hero has not learned the Rasengan from his mentor, Jiraiya and Sasuke has not mastered the Chidori jutsu from Kakashi Hatake, thus it’s still early in their careers probably just before the Chunin exam if I was to go out on a limb. Things begin with a routine C Rank escort mission, taking the leader of the Hidden Waterfall Village, Shibuki, back to his home. The Leaf and the Waterfall villages are allied so it’s only natural for the Leaf village to send some of their shinobi as an escort for the leader of an allied village. Now unlike the Leaf village, the Waterfall village do not have a leader as strong as a Hokage, instead they have something entirely different.
Hidden in the bole of a vast tree which sits in the very heart of the village is hidden the Heroes Water, a water drawn from the taproots of the great tree. A draught from the heroes water can increase the chakra of a recipient at least ten fold if not a hundred fold – pretty potent stuff, almost akin to a cleansing glass of Kilkenny’s finest ale, but there is a drawback to this sudden increase in ability you lifespan is decreased by a similar factor. Shibuki’s father once drank the water in order to save the village from an attack by rouge ninja, he succeeded but because he was getting on in years the when the effects of the water ended he died. Now it looks as if history is repeating itself as rouge ninja have once again attacked the Waterfall village, lead by a former Waterfall shinobi who desires the heroes water for his own nefarious purposes.
So for Squad 7 what began as a simple C Rank escort mission becomes a battle royal for the very life and existence of the Hidden Waterfall village and its inhabitants. There is humour, pathos, carnage, daring do and full scale landscape changing jutsu to whet the appetite of even the most jaded Naruto fan. Eventually though all things come to a close and Naruto and his comrades return back to the Leaf village, a sceptical Kakashi sensei in tow pondering just how accurate the reports of his subordinates are regarding what has just happened – he had to leave proceedings halfway through the drama. Back at the Leaf Village we are catapulted into the quest for the Red Four Leaf clover, an item it is said will grant the deepest wish of the person who possesses it. Konohamaru desires this clover as a girl he fancies is about to leave the village to move to another and he hopes that by getting this clover he can effect a miracle and prevent Kaede-chan from leaving. Naturally to help his efforts he recruits Naruto to help him, this is a short little story full of humorous moments, intense action and courageous resolve. It’s also full of Japanese, as for some reason it was elected to run with the original audio and just go for subtitles, why I have no idea, perhaps the English vocal cast were busy doing something else or on holiday.
If you are looking at pure entertainment value then it does have to be said Naruto: Jump Festa Collection has it hands down, definitely a must for any diehard Naruto fan as well as being a reasonable starting point for anyone whose interested in the series but has not yet seen anything of it. Looking at in the cold hard rational light of dollars value, unfortunately as I’ve already said things begin to fall apart. Twenty five dollars for only sixty minutes entertainment when I can pay fifty dollars for at least five times as much running time in the TV episodes collections, how can the makers justify this price? It would be understandable if there were a few little extras such as a making of or something in detail about the whole Jump Festa thing but there’s nothing of the sort and the only thing about the festival itself is essentially a promo blurb. Wait until this one is in the bargain basement bin at your local DVD store or on special, twenty five dollars is too much for just an hour’s entertainment...Believe It!
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