The Show:
The fine folks at Viz are releasing the popular anime series Naruto
starting, naturally, with the first volume. Based on the wildly popular
manga by Masashi Kishimoto, this action adventure series has a lot of laughs
and some endearing characters. Unfortunately, this disc only has
the edited version of the show that was telecast on American cable, not
the original version, something that will make a lot of fans stay away
from this version.
Naruto is a 12 year old boy living in a village populated by ninja.
He isn't the best student around, he's failed the test to become a ninja
twice as the series opens and it's not looking good for the third time
either. What he lacks in discipline he more than makes up for in
moxie: He loudly proclaims to anyone who will listen that he's going to
be the best ninja ever! The fact that everyone in the village shuns him
and treats him badly just makes him even more determined.
There's more to the story than Naruto knows though. Twelve yeas ago,
a giant nine-tailed fox attacked the land. The village all turned
out to face the monster, and many ninja were killed, but the creature couldn't
be stopped. The only way that the fox could be stopped was for the village
elder to sacrifice his life and trap the fox inside a human body:
a baby boy named Naruto.
Shunned by the villagers and without a family, Naruto becomes the class
clown. He figures that it's better for people to be angry with him
than ignoring him. That all changes one evening though when the boy
is tricked into stealing a scroll of forbidden ninja techniques.
Naruto reads one, and miraculously masters the complex maneuver which allows
him to make "shadow clones" of himself, countless copies that are solid,
and not just illusions.
Armed with this technique Naruto manages to become a ninja, but that's
only the beginning of his training. Next the young warrior has to
go through advanced training as part of a cell. He's teamed up with
Sakura, a cute girl he has a crush on, and Sasuke, the highest scoring
student in their class. Together they have to go through some rigorous
training with Kakashi, a masked master who seems like a goof. Is
he just putting on an act?
This show is a good deal of fun, though it is much lighter in tone than
the manga. They really play up the humor a good deal, but there is
still a fair amount of action. This volume is just getting the story
rolling though, introducing the main characters and setting up the world.
With the last episode on this disc the main story of Naruto's training
really started to shift into high gear. If the rest of the series
is as exciting, this will be a good show.
While the story is very engaging, the same can't be said of the actual
animation. It's acceptable, but not great. There isn't a lot
of detail in the character designs. Hair is just a field of color
without and texture, and many people look two dimensional. The motion
is alright, with the action flowing fairly smoothly.
The DVD:
This disc contains the first four episodes of the series, but they are
the edited versions that are shown on TV. I was hoping that Viz would
release this show in its original form, but no luck.
Another rather irritating thing is that, unfortunately, there are a
pair of unskipable trailers for video games before the menu pops up.
They are only a few seconds long, but it was still annoying.
Audio:
This disc only had the English dub in stereo. There was no Japanese
language track or English subtitles, which is too bad. The dub track
was not outstanding. Some of the children's voices were a little
too high pitched and squeaky, and other actors put a little too much emotion
in their performances and hamming it up too much. Being a recent
dub, the sound quality was very good without any defects.
Video:
The full frame image was very good overall. The colors were bright
and strong, and the lines were tight. Happily, digital defects were
not prevalent and even aliasing was very minor. A solid looking DVD.
Extras:
The only bonus items on this disc is a preview for the Naruto manga
books, where viewers can read the first 16 pages of the story, and a series
of trailers for other anime that originally appeared in Shonen Jump.
Included inside the case are an insert with chapter stops, a couple
of ads with some pretty cool Naruto merchandise, and a Naruto poster.
Final Thoughts:
This is a good show, but the disc leaves something to be desired.
This is only the edited version of the show, made for American TV, and
the disc doesn't have the original soundtrack. While the cuts in
this volume don't really effect the main story, the fact that they are
there in the first place will make many fans take a pass on this.
If you're looking for a fun and exciting show to play for children, this
gets a strong recommendation. My ten year old was glued to
the set through the entire show and can't wait for the next volume.
Buy: