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Review

by Luke Carroll,

Naruto Shippūden Collection 01

DVD

Synopsis:
Naruto Shippūden Collection 01

Naruto Uzumaki is back!

Naruto Uzumaki is back! After two and a half years of training on the road with Jiraiya of the Sannin, Naruto is back in the Village Hidden in the Leaves and he's ready to show off his new skills. He and Sakura team up to take on their old master Kakashi, who's pretty impressed with their progress. They'll have plenty of opportunity to put it into action when news arrives from the Sand Village that Gaara, Naruto's former rival and now Kazekage of the Sand, has been kidnapped! And the culprits are the very same group who are after Naruto - the Akatsuki!

Review:

After an amazingly long 220 episodes and three movies, the first series of Naruto has finally ended. That's not the good news though. No, the good news is that after what may have seemed like eternity for fans, Naruto Shippūden has finally begun to move everything forward and rejoin the manga in its ninja storytelling goodness. The only unfortunate thing about it all is that it's hard to shake the underwhelming feeling you get from these 13 episodes. The action is there, the story (finally) is there, and yet it's handled in such a way that you are always left with the impression that it could have been much better.

Despite there being all this new content to finally work with, it becomes evident very early on that the series is in no hurry to show it all off. The first battles for instance unfold at an agonisingly slow pace. The constant switching between various cast members and multitude of flashbacks cause everything that is shown to feel quite anti-climatic in nature. With the characters also maturing, the fun and silly humour of the first series has toned down a bit. Whilst there are still some nice gags at the start, things get put to the side really easily when the show tries to get serious.

It's not all bad though. Studio Pierrot has managed to still pull out the works with the animation. Although coming across as dull in nature, the fights look rather spiffy in their CG goodness. The background art is still very much the same quality, and other than Naruto's obvious new threads and some slightly different builds, the look of the cast is relatively unchanged. That's only a good thing though, because the first series wasn't too bad looking in the first place.

It also sounds good. The music might not set hearts alight, but the score does play some decent pieces when a scene requires it. The opening and closing themes are also well chosen to suit the series. On the dub side of things, much of the cast has once again returned for this new series. Naruto now sports a slightly huskier voice that will take a while to get used to, whilst David Lodge and Kate Higgins do a decent job of Jiraiya and Sakura respectably.

Unfortunately our editorial copy of this release did not include any extras.

It's really hard to argue that Naruto Shippūden isn't for anyone but the die hard fans of the last series. These first 13 episodes make it their purpose to show you just how strong the cast has grown over the missing years. And with a plot that picks up from a storyline that halted partway through the last series, trying to pick up the show for the first time now would be nothing short of a large feat. If you're willing to put in the catch up time (and money), Naruto Shippūden is certainly a decent series to consider watching, otherwise this is a series for the previous Naruto fans only.

©2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO / 2007 SHIPPUDEN All Rights Reserved.

Grade:
Overall (dub) : C
Overall (sub) : C+
Story : C
Animation : B-
Art : B-
Music : B

+ The fillers are finally over, some nice fight sequences
Underwhelming feeling, draws things out too much

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Production Info:
Series Director: Yasuaki Kurotsu
Director:
Hayato Date
Osamu Kobayashi
Chiaki Kon
Masahiko Murata
Toshinori Watanabe
Series Composition:
Masanao Akahoshi
Katsuhiko Chiba
Masaya Honda
Osamu Kobayashi
Satoru Nishizono
Kento Shimoyama
Yasuyuki Suzuki
Junki Takegami
Shin Yoshida
Screenplay:
Masanao Akahoshi
Katsuhiko Chiba
Hayato Date
Masahiro Hikokubo
Masaya Honda
Osamu Kobayashi
Yasuaki Kurotsu
Yuka Miyata
Satoru Nishizono
Kento Shimoyama
Yasuyuki Suzuki
Junki Takegami
Hideto Tanaka
Daisuke Watanabe
Shin Yoshida
Storyboard:
Charozo
Mankyū
Noriyuki Abe
Shūhei Arita
Akitarō Daichi
Hayato Date
Masaaki Endou
Ryōji Fujiwara
Kiyomu Fukuda
Takafumi Hayashi
Naoki Hishikawa
Masahiro Hosoda
Takayuki Inagaki
Hisashi Ishii
Kei Jūmonji
Yutaka Kagawa
Jun Kamiya
Haruki Kasugamori
Shigeki Kawai
Hiroshi Kimura
Yuki Kinoshita
Hiroyoshi Kishikawa
Naoki Kobayashi
Osamu Kobayashi
Yoriyasu Kogawa
Junya Koshiba
Masayuki Kouda
Tatsuya Koyanagi
Rion Kujo
Masaaki Kumagai
Tomoyuki Kurokawa
Yasuaki Kurotsu
Toshihiko Masuda
Koji Masunari
Kengo Matsumoto
Yukihiro Matsushita
Tokuyuki Matsutake
Shigeru Mita
Yuichiro Miyake
Kazunori Mizuno
Tsutomu Murakami
Masahiko Murata
Naomi Nakayama
Tsutomu Naniwa
Atsushi Nigorikawa
Toshiya Niidome
Ken'ichi Nishida
Mitsutaka Noshitani
Maki Odaira
Seiji Okuda
Marabe Ono
Takahiro Ono
Tetsuhito Saito
Chikara Sakurai
Sumito Sasaki
Shinji Satō
Gorou Sessha
Ogura Shirakawa
Yoshihiro Sugai
Masato Suma
Hirofumi Suzuki
Shigeharu Takahashi
Wakoudo Takahashi
Yukio Takatsu
Tetsuji Takayanagi
Seiki Takuno
Chiyuki Tanaka
Toshiyuki Tsuru
Atsushi Wakabayashi
Keisuke Watanabe
Shuu Watanabe
Toshinori Watanabe
Masayuki Yamada
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Shingo Yamashita
Yū Yamashita
Hiroshi Yamazaki
Akitoshi Yokoyama
Episode Director:
Noriyuki Abe
Eitarō Ano
Yuki Arie
Fujiaki Asari
Hayato Date
Junichi Fujise
Kiyomu Fukuda
Hayato Goda
Naoki Horiuchi
Yoshihide Ibata
Hisashi Ishii
Yutaka Kagawa
Toshiaki Kanbara
Hiroshi Kataoka
Shigeki Kawai
Hiroshi Kimura
Yuki Kinoshita
Hiroyoshi Kishikawa
Masato Kitagawa
Osamu Kobayashi
Masayuki Kouda
Rion Kujo
Masaaki Kumagai
Yasuaki Kurotsu
Masayuki Matsumoto
Yasumi Mikamoto
Yasuhiro Minami
Shigeru Mita
Yuichiro Miyake
Kazunori Mizuno
Masahiko Murata
Jun Nakagawa
Naomi Nakayama
Atsushi Nigorikawa
Eiko Nishi
Ken'ichi Nishida
Hiroaki Nishimura
Mitsutaka Noshitani
Maki Odaira
Kunitoshi Okajima
Takahiro Okao
Katsumi Ono
Takahiro Ono
Yūsuke Onoda
Maneko Ooku
Masahito Otani
Chikara Sakurai
Sumito Sasaki
Kazuma Satō
Mitsutoshi Satō
Shinji Satō
Gorou Sessha
Ogura Shirakawa
Yoshihiro Sugai
Yuriko Sugaya
Yuki Sugihara
Masahiro Takada
Hidetoshi Takahashi
Shigeharu Takahashi
Hideki Takayama
Hayato Takeda
Seiki Takuno
Chiyuki Tanaka
Tomoya Tanaka
Tsuneo Tominaga
Hiroyuki Tsuchiya
Daisuke Tsukushi
Hideaki Uehara
Fumiaki Usui
Atsushi Wakabayashi
Shuu Watanabe
Toshinori Watanabe
Masayuki Yamada
Minoru Yamaoka
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Yū Yamashita
Hiroshi Yamazaki
Akitoshi Yokoyama
Hideyuki Yoshida
Unit Director:
Charozo
Mankyū
Shūhei Arita
Akitarō Daichi
Hayato Date
Haruki Kasugamori
Naoki Kobayashi
Masayuki Kouda
Tatsuya Koyanagi
Yasuaki Kurotsu
Koji Masunari
Kengo Matsumoto
Tokuyuki Matsutake
Kazunori Mizuno
Masahiko Murata
Toshiya Niidome
Marabe Ono
Shinji Satō
Gorou Sessha
Hirofumi Suzuki
Yukio Takatsu
Chiyuki Tanaka
Toshiyuki Tsuru
Atsushi Wakabayashi
Keisuke Watanabe
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Shingo Yamashita
Yū Yamashita
Music:
-yaiba-
Musashi Project
Toshio Masuda
Yasuharu Takanashi
Original creator: Masashi Kishimoto
Original Character Design: Yasuaki Kurotsu
Character Design:
Tetsuya Nishio
Hirofumi Suzuki
Art Director:
Shigenori Takada
Norihiko Yokomatsu
Art:
Hideaki Kudo
Norihiko Yokomatsu
Chief Animation Director:
Seiko Asai
Kumiko Horikoshi
Yasuhiko Kanezuka
Masayuki Kouda
Yūko Matsui
Tetsuya Nishio
Yoshiharu Shimizu
Chiyuki Tanaka
Yumenosuke Tokuda
Zenjirō Ukulele
Ichiro Uno
Animation Director:
Charozo
Hiroki Abe
Naoki Aisaka
Manabu Akita
Yoshinobu Aohachi
Erika Arakawa
Shūhei Arita
Seiko Asai
Shigeki Awai
Bum-Chul Chang
Takahiro Chiba
Jong Ki Choi
Ik Hyun Eum
Akihiro Fukui
Manami Fukuyo
Kōji Furuya
Masatoshi Hakanda
Masatoshi Hamata
Daiki Handa
Kenji Hattori
Takayoshi Hayashi
Hye-Jung Heo
Ken'ichi Hirata
Beom Seok Hong
Kumiko Horikoshi
Yūri Ichinose
Hiroaki Imaki
Keiichi Ishida
Hirokazu Ishino
Yūko Ishizaki
Sachiko Iwata
Min-Ho Jang
Hiroyuki Kamura
Yasuhiko Kanezuka
Kōji Kataoka
Hiroaki Kawaguchi
Shigeki Kawai
Dae Hoon Kim
Kang Won Kim
Yuki Kinoshita
Naoki Kobayashi
Yukari Kobayashi
Yuki Koike
Ryo Komori
Masayuki Kouda
Tatsuya Koyanagi
Shiro Kudaka
Yasuaki Kurotsu
Boo Hee Lee
Yūko Matsui
Kengo Matsumoto
Hideaki Matsuoka
Tokuyuki Matsutake
Minoru Morita
Tsutomu Murakami
Hisao Muramatsu
Masahiko Murata
Momoko Nagakawa
Takashi Nishikawa
Tetsuya Nishio
Ichiro Ogawa
Retsu Ohkawara
Hidehiko Okano
Hiromi Okazaki
Masaya Ōnishi
Marabe Ono
Noriko Otake
Yukimaro Ōtsubo
Hong Keun Park
Hong Rong
Takashi Saijō
Konomi Sakurai
Gen Sato
Shinji Satō
Ryousuke Senbo
Gorou Sessha
Hye-Ran Shin
Hyung Sik Shin
Min Seop Shin
Yoshihiro Sugai
Hirofumi Suzuki
Natsuko Suzuki
Shin'ichi Suzuki
Shinichi Suzuki
Naoki Takahashi
Yukio Takatsu
Itsuko Takeda
Itsuki Takemoto
Akira Takeuchi
Chiyuki Tanaka
Hironori Tanaka
Hiroto Tanaka
Shinsuke Terasawa
Mai Toda
Yumenosuke Tokuda
Eiichi Tokura
Megumi Tomita
Kayano Tomizawa
Akihiro Tsuda
Takenori Tsukuma
Daisuke Tsumagari
Zenjirō Ukulele
Ichiro Uno
Atsushi Wakabayashi
Akira Watanabe
Keisuke Watanabe
Koji Yabuno
Anna Yamaguchi
Hiroyuki Yamashita
Shingo Yamashita
Yū Yamashita
Kwang Seok Yang
Mamoru Yokota
Hyo Sang Yoo
Hideyuki Yoshida
Hiromi Yoshinuma
Miho Yoshioka
Sound Director: Yasunori Ebina
Director of Photography: Atsuho Matsumoto
Producer:
Fukashi Azuma
Tomoko Gushima
Licensed by: Viz Media

Full encyclopedia details about
Naruto Shippūden (TV)

Release information about
Naruto Shippūden - Collection 01 (R4 DVD)

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