The Last: Naruto the Movie

This movie takes place a few years after the fourth ninja war ended. Typically speaking it shows Naruto the clumsy, dense and knuckle headed ninja get even more acknowledged then before. Receiving gifts from every girl, with the exception of Hinata. Since Hinata is too nervous to give her gift and a misguided villain, Toneri interrupts the romance. The comedy continuously got me cracking up. This movie is the door to Naruto and Hinata getting together, if you came in expecting something else, then you clearly need a nail through the head. At the beginning, we see Hinata being bullied… Again lol. Except this isactually filmed in a different location. Naruto appears and once again saves hinata in a comedic fashion. In this movie, the viewpoints of Naruto and Hinata are shown various times as well, which normally makes the viewer think whether these people will ever fall in love. It literally takes at least an hour for the dense Naruto to notice Hinata’s feelings and start reciprocating. Shikamaru is smart as always, Sai always makes me laugh as I watch the movie, Sakura has finally gained my respect for what she did for Naruto (I will not spoil anything) and I think Hinata has changed my view on her. These characters are shown rather well. The other shinobi of Konoha 11 also get some screen time. If anything they get more than enough screen time, unlike Tenten who just made a small appearance. I see Toneri as a plot device to bring both Naruto and Hinata together. Sadly enough, I already knew he would not succeed in getting Hinata. Toneri’s goal was to change the world because of the wars that continuously happened. I find this villain sad, mainly because of what he has gone through and the suffering that he put on himself (Still trying not to spoil anything). The end of the movie (after the credits) is full of feels, so I warn everyone that is going to watch the movie to wait until the credits finish. The music almost brought me on the verge of tears, seeing a knuckle headed ninja finally become “his dream” and much more shows so much. After all these years of following Naruto, I am glad I stuck this far. I enjoyed the voice acting, the voice actors portrayed their characters amazingly well. I found Toneri a bit odd. Probably because I wished he had more screen time, but I did feel for what he received before the end of the movie. Overall, I enjoyed the living hell out of this movie. It is a great send off to the legendary Naruto series and the character himself. Following Naruto from his knuckle headed times to his adult life was worth it and this movie just brought that feeling out further.

Taking place after the end of the manga, it has been two years. Naruto is seen as a hero and all the girls want to be with him. However, the one girl that wants to be with him the most, Hyuuga Hinata, cannot bring herself to confess her love yet. However, that will be put on hold not that the world is in danger from the moon falling apart and crashing onto earth no thanks to a lousy villain named Toneri who for personal reasons, is after members of the Hyuuga clan. The beginning of the movies shows why Hinata is initially attracted to Narutoso it adds more to things from her point of view. I think the series does a good job of showing the movie through the eyes of both Naruto and Hinata. The movie movies at a moderate pace but unfortunately, a lot of the more awesome characters from the series (why I won't reveal due to spoilers) are reduced to a millisecond fanservice cameos just to remind us they exist. Sakura who has been infamous for being useless does have some decent use in this movie and does bring some convenient contribution. Shikamaru shows he is a capable leader and Sai is mostly used as bad comic relief. Toneri is just a very boring, unoriginal and lame villain for every reason you can practically think of (once again without giving away any spoilers). Despite his plot, he comes across as non-threatning and has the charisma of drying white paint on interior walls. I found the love story between Hinata and Naruto a lot more interesting. I say the make or break for viewers is how their favorite character are used in what is supposed to be "the last movie." If your favorite character despite being alive and active is not used to their fullest potential, it may piss you off. If you don't mind that, then hey, cool. The character design does an effective job in making the cast looking like they are in their late teens and I cannot complain about it. They are taller, have more mature faces, etc. It gets the job done. The action relies too much on the 360 foreground/background turnaround way too much for me. The final fight does play homage to a lot of the older fights as well. I also enjoy Hinata's close range combat fighting as well and is a fun representation of southern style Kung Fu. The background music as usual is an excellent use of traditional Japanese acoustics and percussions carried by the rhythm of modern guitar licks which everyone can get behind. The ending theme is just too generic and trendy in comparison to current Japanese music trends for my tastes. The voice acting is superb and I think Sakura's voice sounds appropriately more mature out of all the characters. Naruto still sounds the same though I think his voice could have been a bit deeper for his age but glad to see they kept their cast (unlike the new Initial D anime). However, Fukuyama Jun, most famous as the voice of Code Geass from Lelouch as the voice of Toneri doesn't exhibit that same powerfulness in this performance in which you can blame on a writing and voice directing issue as opposed to a voice actor issue. Overall, this anime is mostly a decent representation of what people love and hate about Naruto. A good fraction of the fans will find this moderately satisfying. Haters will hate it for why they hate Naruto.

The Last Naruto Movie is a perfect ending to the Naruto Saga. Everything from the technical aspects such as the exquisite animation and magnificent music to the intricate story and character developments are wonderfully implemented in this perfectly paced finale. The gradual change from the cycle of hatred to the understanding of love throughout the legend of Naruto makes this a very appropriate ending point for the series as it tackles the issues of self-preservation versus the selfless; a direct contrast to the war-torn era of despair and anxiety that preceded Shippuden. By focusing on the minor characters and integrating the theme of love, The Lastoffers a fresh take on the narrative and allows deeper and more spiritual developments for the main characters. While the absence of moral ambiguity is missed thanks to the lack of more sophisticated characters such as Kakashi or Sasuke, the inclusion of more retrospective dilemmas offers a fitting conclusion to Naruto's journey. Since we've already dealt with Sasuke's inner-turmoils, it makes sense that the final story showcases external views on it's diverse cast of characters and focuses on presenting a genuine romance between two inextricably linked characters through superbly written dialog, subtle symbolism and heartwarming metaphorical implications. Of course this is a different and much more abbreviated link than that of the intertwined fates of Ashura/Indra - Naruto/Sasuke as it's a much more personal exploration, but that's what makes it a perfect ending; it concludes the initially personal journey of the main character with a personal reconciliation, much like how the Manga resolved the retrieval of Sasuke. Wonderful ending to a wonderful, albeit flawed, series!

"I never give up. I never go back on my word. That is my way of the ninja!" - Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf Village (If the ending of Naruto hasn’t been released yet and you didn’t finish the manga, I highly recommend you don't watch this movie. This movie is not for you yet. Thank you) The Last: Naruto the Movie. Don't let the name trick you for this is definitely not the last time we will see Naruto. However we may never see another Naruto Movie or series for that matter. Now for all you people who are saying "No, You’re wrong, there’s goingto be a Buroto Movie coming out, I saw it". Yes BUROTO. About Bolt, Naruto's son. The Last is a movie I witness in the cinema so my experience may differ to yours in terms of art and sound, for I saw it in HD and surround sound. However even if you watch it on potato you know this movie was pretty good. Naruto: The Last is the seventh movie and probably the last Naruto Shipudeden movie to come out. But don't let this bring you down, this definitely was a good way to finish an awesome series. This movie is definitely pleasing to all the people who hated the pointless romantic that didn't go anywhere in the series, not that it was pointless. It had a reason, somehow. Naruto: The Last, is the back story of the love story that is Hinata and Naruto. Which I personally wanted to find out because the manga explained absolutely nothing. The starting scene is about Hinata and Naruto's first encounter. And guess what she’s getting bullied... surprising... and Naruto is there to save! But gets beaten up, well we didn’t see that one coming did we. This is most likely the scene where Hinata starts develops feelings for Naruto. Past like 14 years where Naruto is now 19, a hero and still single. This is two years after the fourth Great War and sasuke is still nowhere to be seen, typical. Naruto, now has fans. Guess being a war hero is a real turn on for the ladies you know what I’m saying. The villain of our story is Toneri Ōtsutsuki, a descendant of the Sixth path's younger brother Hamura Ōtsutsuki, who lived on the moon. A person from the moon. Great... A human that lives on the moon. Logic at its finest. I'm pretty sure there is like 0 oxygen particles on the moon, but this is anime so I will say no more. He desires to destroy the earth by using Byakugan to create a weapon called the Tenseigan, an upgraded Byakugan used to move the moon so it will collide with earth. It’s an alright story line but it wasn’t great. However this is not the juice of the story for there is another plot happening. Hinata and Naruto’s relationship finally, for the love of god advances to a more than friendship which, one, FINALLY, and two I think is weird that happen all in one mission for Naruto to realize his in love with Hinata, do people fall in love in 12 hours or something? Since I watched so many romantic animes I was expecting Naruto to fit the standard of a normal Rom com. However this is a Naruto, not some rom com, and it’s a movie so we can’t’ fit a whole progressive romances. I also feel the romance was also a little force, just because the fact that Naruto learns that Hinata is in love with him, he will be like I have to like her to now or I’ll look bad. But they did a good job of showing Naruto that Hinata is in love with you, so you better do something about it. What I also like about this movie was the fact it stated out loud NARUTO IS NOT IN LOVE WITH SAKURA. I believe a lot of fan that supported narusaku and the writers were like well… Too bad, and this movie proved it Naruto and Sakura were meant to be friends. The last also did a good job with the sound and art. The beautiful black and white scenes to the colourful fight scenes that fills your imagination with false hope of you becoming a ninja. I JUST WANT TO BE A NINJA. They include old ost and from the previous anime series and turned it new, which I thought was so ingenious. I love the old ost and it was great to hear it again one last time. Although I had a lot I didn’t feel right about this movie, I definitely enjoyed it. I like how the writers didn’t forget about the explanation to a romance that needed to be told and did this in a great movie. This was an excellent way to end a long running series and I hope to see more things to come from our knuckle head ninja. ~ Chocolat-kun

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