NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: COLLECTION 1
April 1st 2010 20:54
Category: Videos, Television
Based on the Naruto manga by: Masashi Kishimoto
Director: Hayato Date
Producers: Tomoko Gushima (TV Tokyo) & Ken Hagino
Starring: Maile Flannigan (Naruto), Kate Higgins (Sakura), Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke), Debi Mae West (Lady Tsunade), David Lodge (Jiraiya), Steve Staley (Neji Hyuga), Megan Hollingshead (Shizune),David Wittenberg (Kakashi Hatake), Danielle Judovits (Tenten), Brian Donovan (Rock Lee), Tara Platt (Temari) Michael Lindsay (Kankuro), Liam O’Brien (Gaara), Colleen O’Shaughnessy (Konohamaru), Wendee Lee (Moegi), Skip Stellrecht (Might Guy), Crispin Freeman (Itachi Uchiha/Ebisu sensei), Troy Baker (Pain), Quinton Flynn (Iruka Sensei), Sam Riegel (Baki) & Keith Silverstein (Yura), Kirk Thornton (Kisame Hoshigaki), Roger Craig Smith (Deidara), JB Blanc (Sasori), Barbara Goodson (Elder Chiyo) & Kyle Herbert (Elder Ebizo)
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 325 minutes Rating: M
At last the long wait is over, and the Naruto anime moves back into synch with the original manga that inspired the series in the first place. Just as the manga is effectively divided into two parts so too the anime, with Shippuden being the anime version of the second part of the ongoing saga that is Naruto, if memory serves me correctly Shippuden is meant to mean something along the lines of Hurricane Chronicle. Although not being a fluent speaker of Japanese by a long shot I may have the wrong end of the stick there. Still after a two year absence from the Hidden Leaf village Naruto has returned from his intense training with the legendary Toad Sage and member of the Sannin, Jiraiya.
You would think that he would be able to look forward to a bowl of ramen at Ichiraku and bask in the glow of a successful homecoming, chewing the fat with friends and colleagues but such is not to be the case…not by a long shot for even though he has returned all that it means is that events are reaching a fever pitch. With Shippuden just as with manga’s second part the story’s drama and action is being ratcheted up a notch too start with and it gradually gets turned up further and further as time goes although that is only apparent as the overall saga unfolds. Here in this particular DVD collection we just get the first ratchet, the pitch and tension is only just being applied with pressure, a pressure that will build as time and more volumes are released.
So being the vessel of the nine tailed fox meant Naruto had a harsh childhood, but he endured and as time passed he eventually persevered and ended up first becoming a ninja then gradually began to gain the respect and recognition that he sought from his peers and fellow villagers. Of course whilst all this was happening and Naruto begin to hone and develop his ninja skills and abilities his status as a host for the nine tailed fox had inadvertently drawn the attention of sinister forces. An organisation known as the Akatsuki is engaged in hunting down the Jinchuriki, those individuals who are hosts to the various tailed beasts that exist in the world for their own sinister agenda. Naturally as the nine tails Jinchuriki, Naruto is one of their targets.
For the moment though the members of this organisation are content to track down the other tailed beasts, two of their number; Deidara and Sasori of the Red Sands are sent forth to the Hidden Sand village to capture the Jinchuriki that dwells there; the Jinchuriki known as Gaara of the Desert and the current leader (Kazekage) of the Hidden Sand village. Not exactly an easy target one would think, and certainly it seems that Deidara, the exponent of explosive artistry and self propelled clay explosives, looks as if he has his hands full in trying to take out Gaara. He even ponders the deployment of his deadliest clay explosive and the destruction of the entire village in order to carry out his agenda. Drastic stuff indeed, still just what one would expect from the Akatsuki who are made up of renegade ninja and each and every one of them have the highest danger classification within the files of their respective former villages. These guys are capable of levelling small towns and nations on their own, so like a Jinchuriki host they’re not exactly pushovers either.
As you can no doubt tell I am a Naruto fan, or as Kerry O’Keefe would probably say, a Naruto tragic. I can and quite often do wax endlessly on about the manga, the anime etc so when this collection made it into my hands I was in a Big Kev state of being – I was excited. The problem is I don’t feel that the translation into English has as much oomph as the original Japanese dialogue. In fact the dubbed version seemed to be a little light on things and it felt like it had been slightly edited in some ways, which was rather disappointing. Still VIZ Media have kept to the original story and that is the important thing in most cases, remaining true to the bedrock of the whole thing, but like I say it feels a tad bit contrived. Almost if all the voice actors have been on an extended break and are having to feel their way back into character again, which is a possibility as they’re portraying characters that have in most respects aged two years from when the Naruto series finished.
On the second disc of this volume there was a preview for the first Shippuden movie which is apparently going to be available sometime this month, wonder what that will be like. Certainly this particular collection whilst being entertaining wasn’t quite what I expected – perhaps I set my expectations too high although my feeling is that when it comes to the English dub this series is going to be a slow burner, it’ll take a while but eventually like the story it’ll reach that critical mass and hopefully have some real oomph to it.
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