Tentacle-Free Anime: "The Last: Naruto the Movie" (2014)

- by Kazekun, 23 November 2015

Naruto... a series that was a big part of my experiences as a young anime fan growing up. From that orange jumpsuit our titular hero wore, to his spirited way of always yelling “Believe it!” every opportunity he got. An epic that recently came to an end after a very, very long journey. At least the manga did. The anime is still going, however a movie was made that follows the final events of the manga. That's strange, and we'll talk about that, so here it is. My review of the final Naruto film. The end of the long journey is finally here...

The Last: Naruto the Movie (2014)

Episodes: 1 (Movie);
Director: Tsuneo Kobayashi;
Writer: Masashi Kishimoto;
Studio: Studio Pierrot;
Rating: PG-13

Summary: The moon is beginning to fall, and at the rate it's going, it is doomed to fall on the Earth. The countdown for the survival of the planet begins. Among the havoc, Hinata's younger sister Hanabi is captured by the mysterious enemy, Toneri Ōtsutsuki, who mistakes her for the elder sister. Naruto must overcome great danger on a mission to save Hanabi and the world along with Hinata, Sai, Shikamaru, and Sakura. Finally realizing what and who he must protect, Naruto embarks on his final story. [AnimeNewsNetwork.com]

Naruto... Never change. Please, never change, because you can only get better or worse and I'd rather not see you get worse. You mean a lot to me nostalgically, but the general story is right crap, really. At least all the Shippuuden stuff, anything pre-Shippuuden minus the 100+ episode filler arc in the anime is still really good story telling. Your golden age, in fact.

However, now that the story is over, and with nothing else tying him back, can Kishimoto bring flare back into this dying series with a movie clearly meant for manga readers and focusing solely on an arc that I personally have been longing for since I first started watching this series? Well, if we're going to part ways dear reader because of our strong beliefs over what is good or what is bad, no matter how subjective our opinions may be, we might as well do it now.

The movie poster. Click to enlarge.

Because good storytelling dictates good stories, and objectively – meaning factually – I can tell you this movie is actually pretty terrible. Which is really sad, because it had such potential to be a shining beacon for the Naruto franchise, letting our heroes go out with a proper bang after what was ultimately a lackluster manga ending.

Taking place two years after the war seen in the manga, but before the final chapter of the manga, Naruto and co. are tasked with rescuing Hinata's younger sister, Hanabi from a Byakugan cultist who lives on the moon and believes bringing about the destruction of the Earth is his duty ordered upon as his master's dying wish. Still with me? Good, because this is where it gets complicated.

​The Last: Naruto the Movie, and yes that is in fact its proper title, has two major story arcs. The first being that of Naruto and Hinata's quickly budding romantic relationship between one another after Hinata spent literally the entire manga chasing after him and Naruto suddenly falling in love with her simply because that's what the story dictates. The second is the aforementioned moon-based Byakugan cultist, Toneri Otsutsuki.

The Naruhina storyline isn't handled badly, really. As a ginormous shipper of these two I was beyond happy when I learned these two were destined to get together and have children. But it also saddened me because ultimately I knew Naruto chased after Sakura the entire series, and unfortunately it didn't make sense for him and Hinata to end up together except that it was what fans wanted. Although I more biased towards them than I am the Sasusaku (Sasuke/Sakura) relationship reveal in the manga.

The fated kiss

Thankfully, Kishimoto does allow for SOME building of character in this film, allowing events from the past – new events that is, none we have seen before – dictate Naruto and Hinata's actions of the present. That may sound terrible, but it's a bit hard to explain without spoiling literally everything that happens between them. Through genjutsu, Naruto gets to explore Hinata's memories and her true feelings for him which allows some of his feelings to come to light. It's possible Kishimoto could've alluded to little hints here and there through the original series that Naruto actually likes Hinata, but he didn't so he's making up for it here.

It was, however, nice to see the Hyuuga clan and, more importantly, the Byakugan take center stage. Literally the entire last half of the manga series was about the Sharigan and Rinnegan eye powers, that the Byakugan – the third power in the eye trifecta – was lazily and disappointingly pushed aside. So to fix that, Kishimoto finally gave the eye power a proper backstory and unfortunately that backstory really sucks.

Coming from the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths, the younger brother lived on the moon in order to better watch over the world his brother was creating by introducing chakra and the art of the ninja to the population at large. This led to an entire Moon civilization that had the power of the Byakugan and eventually, somehow, unexplained, that power trickled its way down to the lone Hyuuga clan of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The gang heads out to save Hanabi and the world

​The other story, involving Toneri, was, simply put, weak. Featuring a character who used puppets of himself and unexplained moon ninjas to help bring Hanabi and later Hinata to him, he attempted to force Hinata into marriage so that, somehow, it would make a secret power of his come to life so that he may destroy the Earth. In true Naruto fashion, though, after a sort of epic battle on the moon that causes the moon to crack in two without any ecological consequences whatsoever while our heroes somehow DON'T suffocate on the barren extraterrestrial terrain devoid of oxygen, it's ultimately revealed that Toneri misinterpreted what the Sage's younger brother said and thus all his evil acts were immediately forgiven by Naruto.

Because if it's one thing Kishimoto is good at, it's making sure every Naruto villain isn't truly evil and is allowed to get away with all their crimes by the end of the story, because the power of friendship is literally stronger than anything else. Kishimoto also doesn't understand that this isn't My Little Pony, it's a story about freaking ninjas.

The animation of this movie isn't that good, either. While the action is pretty spot on, which a Naruto story is generally filled with, the CGI is really, really bad. Which surprised me. With how high profile this movie was, I would've thought they'd put a little more budget into this obvious labor of love. But alas, the CGI ends up making parts of this film look like they came straight out of 2001 and that's really not good.
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Literally in two

​I was really excited for this film. I wanted it to be so good and I was especially thrilled to hear the story of how Naruto and Hinata actually got together. However, this was not to be and by the end I just left shaking my head and wishing Kishimoto would stop already. I don't, I can't, “believe it”, readers. I just can't. I mean I can, because I read the manga. I really shouldn't be surprised by disappointment, but I don't want to. This could've been so much better. SO MUCH better. And instead, it just wasn't. At least Hinata is happy now, and really that's what matters to me the most. My sweet, dear Hinata.

Final Score: 2 Nameless, Baseless Moon Ninjas out of 5


Have you seen "The Last: Naruto the Movie"? Just as disappointed or did you enjoy it? Let us know below!

Tagged: Tentacle-Free Anime, movies & TV.

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