The tenth film based on the Naruto manga and anime has arrived at the cinema 10 years after its official release
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| Image Credit: Studio Pierrot |
The continuation of the anime series that becomes cinema, the development of a sentimental theme that has always remained on the margins, the plot in the background that acts as a glue between one saga and another; 10 years after its official release in 2014 and on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Japanese epic that has accompanied fans for about two decades, The Last – Naruto The Movie has arrived at the cinema, the tenth film based on the Naruto series, created by the mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, followed then, the following year, by Boruto: Naruto The Movie.
Set two years after Part II of the original series and several years before its epilogue, the film was directed by the late Tsuneo Kobayashi (The Twelve Kingdoms, Kurokami) – who passed away in 2015, a year after the film was released – and supervised, both in terms of writing and character design, by creator Kishimoto. The work produced by Studio Pierrot was released in theaters thanks to the union of forces and the commitment of Nexo Digital and Yamato Video.
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| Image Credit: Studio Pierrot |
The plot of The Last – Naruto The Movie
Two years after the end of the Fourth Ninja War, the film follows two different narrative threads that intertwine with each other, deepening some aspects that remained dramatically discovered within the anime saga. On one side there is the unusual and worrying approach of the Moon to the Earth - discovered by the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake - and the impending clash between the two that threatens to put an end to life on the planet, wanted by Toneri Otsutsuki, the antagonist descendant of the twin brother of the Sage of the Six Paths, Hamura Otsutsuki, determined to keep that promise that would judge humanity for its perversion and its misdeeds. On the other side there is the protagonist Naruto, now an adult, who becomes famous and idolized by the crowds who, covered by the attention and numerous tributes of the inhabitants of Konoha, still cannot realize the feelings of his lifelong friend Hinata Hyuga, in turn unable to demonstrate her love.
The two threads overlap when Toneri manages to infiltrate the Hidden Leaf to kidnap Hinata, Hiashi's firstborn, to give life to the Tenseigan, an ocular art defined as the definitive evolution of the Hyuga's Byakugan. Due to Naruto's intervention, the powerful enemy is forced to fall back on the kidnapping of his younger sister Hanabi, so as to attract Hinata herself, who leaves with the protagonist, Sakura, Sai, and Shikamaru Nara for a 'rescue operation.
At this point, while Naruto begins to understand the nature of his friend's feelings, thanks to his memories and Sakura's words, on one hand, the villagers try to repel the offensive that looms from above, with even a fleeting intervention of the other iconic character of the saga, Sasuke, on the other Hinata bends brokenly to the will of the enemy until she is contacted by the spirit of Hamura who asks her for help, as Princess Byakugan, since Toneri has misinterpreted his decree. The villain's angry reaction leads to the rescue team's counteroffensive and to the rosy epilogue that anticipates the conclusion of the original saga and the arrival of the next Boruto.
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| Image Credit: Studio Pierrot |
The anime with a sentimental soul
The approach desired by the production and the screenwriter of the film Maruo Kyozuka, who took care of the writing together with Kishimoto, is completely innovative and focuses mainly on the development of the relationship between Naruto and Hinata who, with their marriage and the birth of their two children Boruto and Himawari, led to the epilogue of the manga. A love story in every way, which passes from the phase of unawareness to that of discovery, passing through the intervention of a third character who seems to threaten the natural revelation of the feelings of the protagonists. Leading the whole thing is a narrative red thread metaphorized between the plots woven into the scarf that Hinata would like to give to the object of her love but which she carries with her until the last moments of the film, frightened by the possibility of a fraying of her feelings and of the relationship that has accompanied her since the beginning of the saga.
Toneri's story in the background seems to be placed there to embellish this unusual romantic vein of the anime, as a narrative pretext that can somehow satisfy the needs of the loyal audience, and yet, by recalling the figure of Hamura Otsutsuki and telling about his family branch, it delves into a part of the main work that has remained unexplored.
The Last - Naruto The Movie: evaluation and conclusion
The film directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi boasts the merit of delving into some dark areas of the saga that has enthralled millions of viewers, who will hardly tire of being able to see the future Seventh Hokage impressed on the big screen. The work technically maintains a good adherence to the series from which it is taken, with the evident touch and judgment of its creator; the drawings catapult fans back into that world that has literally captured them for about 20 years, with the support of a soundtrack that is well suited to both the sentimental and the more purely conflictual soul of the film and, in the Italian version, a dubbing that confirms all the main voices of the series (Leonardo Graziano, Emanuela Pacotto, Alessandro Rigotti, etc.), to which is added that of Francesco Venditti, for the part of Toneri.
On the other hand, the choice of wanting to orient the plot of the film on the story of a feeling, thus transforming the original nature of the story into a guise that is not its own, could disconcert and disappoint some fans. The most attentive and scrupulous will in fact notice some narrative holes that leave very little space for characters who are actually fundamental to the entire saga which, it should be remembered, also includes the whole part following the events of the film and focuses on the figure of Boruto, the protagonist's son. Original but questionable, for some embellishing for others misleading, a work certainly not essential but appreciable for a part of the public fond of the franchise.
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