Naruto Shippuden The Movie 2: Bonds
Review Date:
Reviewed by: Guest Contributor
Released by: Manga Entertainment UK
Age Rating: 12
Region: 2 - UK
Length: 90 minutes
Subtitles: English
Audio: English 2.0 Stereo
Affilate Links:
Summary
Invasion of the Sky Ninja A group of mysterious flying ninja have arrived from overseas to launch a sudden attack against the Hidden Leaf Village, leaving behind a wake of destruction. The group is revealed to be the "Sky Ninja" from the Land of Sky, a nation thought to have been destroyed by the Hidden Leaf Village long ago. To save their village, Naruto and his friends set out to stop this new threat. During the course of the mission, Naruto crosses paths with Sasuke, his friend who has parted ways from the Leaf Village.
Review
With Naruto being a smash hit anime series it meant that the latest movie would prove very popular. At Otaku News we thought we'd try something a bit different, rather than get one of our regular reviewers to look at the title we called in the help of an expert Naruto fan as a guest contributor. Takara is 12 (almost 13 in fact) and is an avid Naruto fan. She was the natural choice to review this title.
Takara's review is as follows:
Naruto Shippuden 'Bonds' is a follow up of episodes 54 to 71 in the Shippuden series. 'Bonds' begins with The leaf village suddenly becoming under threat by flying ninja that are attacking and bombing Konoha's buildings, so Naruto and his fellow comrades try to fend for the safety of their home and it's people. Though the mysterious ninja retreat, the village is left in ruins, leaving Naruto furious. As Naruto tries to pursue the ninja, he comes across an elderly doctor named 'Shino,' who was healing villagers that were caught up in the massacre. Later on, he meets a young boy named Onmaru who happens to be doctor Shino's young apprentice, and since Onmaru's village had also been attacked by the flying ninja, he was desperate for doctor Shino's superior medical skills. Sakura, Hinata and Naruto are sent as a medical squad to accompany doctor Shino and Onmaru. Meanwhile, Orochimaru has set Sasuke a task of his own, which happens to make Naruto and Sasuke cross paths later on.
Throughout parts of the film, more and more clips of Onmaru's past are revealed. Onmaru and Shino's relationship is the principle 'Bond' that is portrayed in the film. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata go searching for villagers who might have been caught in the attack of Onmaru's village but they discover more serious threats along the way.
Compared to the other Naruto movies I have seen, the plot was much more interesting. This film included many more plot twists that I definitely was not expecting! But one of my main reasons for enjoying the film was because Sasuke features in it! This is the first Shippuden movie where Sasuke is a main character. I also enjoyed that towards the end of the film it was based more around Naruto and Sasuke. Comparing 'Bonds' to the first Naruto Shippuden movie, I'd say 'Bonds' does not have as many humorous parts as much as the previous Naruto Shippuden films.
The quality of the animation easily rivals the previous movies - some of the background art shows great attention to detail. The designs for the characters are very accurate, their characteristics matched their personalities.
The opening theme song 'No Rain No Rainbow' is very J-pop but with a slight R&B sound. The music that was used in the previous films was usually the Theme songs that were in the Naruto series. Some of the theme tunes have also changed in the movie, mostly the battle theme tunes. Although the character tunes are still quite similar to the ones they use in the shippuden series, Sasuke's character theme song is noticeably different.
If you are a Naruto fan, I would definitely suggest watching it. It's not really crucial to watch episodes 54-71 to understand the previous events that took place before the movie. I wouldn't say the film has a very complicated story line either, although there are many plot twists. But near the end of the movie, it does slightly point out the complications between Naruto and Sasuke, as the episodes that led up to the movie mainly focused on their relationship. Overall, great movie! It included some very detailed scenes and interesting characters. 'Bonds' is now a definite favourite out of the Naruto collection.
Rating: 8/10
Notes
Naruto Shippuden The Movie 2: Bonds is available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray in the US and UK.
Buy the UK DVD
Buy the UK Blu-ray
Buy the US DVD
Buy the US Blu-ray
Links
Affilate Links:
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy from Amazon.co.uk
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