The Last: Naruto the Movie

The Last: Naruto the Movie
Genre: Action Adventure Produced by: Takuyuki Hirobe Naoji Hohnokidani Shoji Matsui Based on: Naruto Starring: Junko Takeuchi Satoshi Hino Chie Nakamura Nana Mizuki Showtaro Morikubo Cinematography: Atsuho Matsumoto Production company: Studio Pierrot Distributed by: Toho Release date: December 6, 2014 Runtime: 112 minutes Country: Japan Budget: ¥120 million Box office: ¥2.0 billion Franchise: Naruto Prequel: Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie Sequel: Boruto: Naruto the Movie

The Last: Naruto the Movie is a 2014 Japanese animated action-romance film produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi. It is based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime Naruto, and is the first film to be a part of the canonical Naruto storyline. It stars Junko Takeuchi, Nana Mizuki, Chie Nakamura, Showtaro Morikubo, Satoshi Hino, Kazuhiko Inoue and Noriaki Sugiyama.

Production

The film was directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi. Masashi Kishimoto provided the story concept, character designs and complete editorial supervision. Since the story takes place two years after Part II and several years before the epilogue, the characters were redesigned with clothing suitable for missions and more-mature facial features. The film contains homages to Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows, Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), and Nobuhiko Obayashi's Lonely Heart (1985).: 13  A new character, Toneri (voiced by Jun Fukuyama), appeared in the film.

Screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka said that he wanted to depict a love triangle between Naruto, Hinata and Toneri in the film. Although Naruto is initially clueless about Hinata's feelings for him, during the film he begins to acknowledge and respond to them. Hinata's character was also developed in the film, with Kyozuka saying that she had to put aside her feelings for Naruto to accept Toneri's proposal so she could find Hanabi. During this scene, Kyozuka wanted to depict Naruto at his lowest after his rejection by Hinata. He then returned Naruto to his brave self, with the character resolving to continue his mission regardless of the cost. Toneri was developed as a despicable villain.: 14 

After seeing the staff's initial work on a film about Naruto's relationship with Hinata, Kishimoto decided to oversee the project. He enjoyed seeing Naruto and Hinata's romantic scenes, even those not written by him. Kishimoto acknowledged his discomfort at writing romantic scenes, and he admitted he was not sure if he would be able to look at the scene depicting Naruto and Hinata's kiss. However, upon watching the scene, he felt a mixture of satisfaction and sadness due to the two characters' growth since Naruto's beginning; they had become like his own children. In making The Last: Naruto the Movie, Kishimoto based the idea of Hinata wanting to make a scarf for Naruto on what his wife had actually once done for him; this elicited laughs from the staff as they worked on the film. Animator Chengxi Huang, who had been working on multiple episodes of Naruto Shippuden beginning in early 2014, thanked Kishimoto for being a part of the animation team of The Last, as he had wanted Naruto and Hinata to become a couple since Part I of the manga, and thus enjoyed working on this film.

Hinata's Japanese voice actress, Nana Mizuki, was surprised at the attention her character received. After seeing Hinata as an adult, Mizuki was amazed by how womanly Hinata looked and acted, feeling the same way about Naruto's young-adult self. The character's personality and unwillingness to give up, regardless of the situation, attracted Mizuki to Hinata. According to Mizuki, her favorite scene in the film was when Naruto tells Hinata he loves her. While being happy at Hinata's joy, she thought the character behaved rather coldly when Hinata went to Toneri.: 4  Naruto's Japanese voice actress, Junko Takeuchi, was happy with the story and had hoped that Naruto would end up in a relationship with Hinata. Takeuchi was reminded of Naruto's late godfather, Jiraiya, when she read the script. She thought that although Naruto's declaration of love was the most important part of the character's growth, his true nature had not changed at that point. Satisfied with the story, Takeuchi thought that the audience would agree with her view.: 3 

The jazz fusion duo Sukima Switch performed the film's theme song, "Hoshi no Utsuwa" ("Star Vessel"), after producer Takuyuki Hirobe had asked them to compose a song which invoked a gentle (yet powerful) world view. The single was released on 3 December 2014, at the same time as the film's soundtrack. A character CD song for Hinata, "Fuyu no Owari ni (冬の終わりに)" ("At the End of Winter"), was recorded by Nana Mizuki. Two additional CDs were Even in a Future Day and The Host: Naruto the CD.

Plot

Set before the finale of Naruto, the film focuses on Naruto Uzumaki's ninja team as they go on a mission to stop the moon from falling, and rescue Hanabi Hyuga — Hinata Hyuga's sister — from Toneri Otsutsuki, a man who wishes to marry Hinata and punish mankind for weaponising chakra. Naruto and Hinata develop a romantic relationship during their adventure.

Why It Rocks

1. Most of the new character designs are great. Most notably Naruto's, Hinata's and Gaara's
2. It's nice to see some deceased characters return (or make cameos) in this movie like Hayate, Pain and even Madara.
3. The opening scene is awesome as it shows many historical battles in the Naruto universe. An awesome remix of Greensleeves plays during this scene, and it shows many iconic characters, like Madara, Hashirama, Minato and Sasuke.
4. Excellent soundtrack including a remix of the Naruto Main Theme and the famous classical song Greensleeves.
5. Beautiful animation done by the amazing Pierrot studio.
6. Extremely good voice acting in both English and Japanese versions.
7. Tons of likable characters including Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Sai, Shikamaru, Gaara, Hinata and Toneri.
8. There are tons of throwbacks to some of the previous Naruto movies.
9. The after credits scene is cute, shows us an adult (and married) Naruto and Hinata, and a great way to introduce us to Boruto.
10. Sakura is a much better character in this movie as she cares about Naruto when Hinata left him, She helps out in a fight against evil puppets and even breaks Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru and Sai out of Genjutsu. She even deeply cares about Naruto as well and she finds out where Toneri's hideout is.
11. The 5 main characters even get tons of character development throughout the movie.
12. It does explain why Hinata loves Naruto a lot, especially the scene at the beginning, where it showed how Naruto first met Hinata.
13. Tons of funny moments.
14. The final scene, while cringe-worthy to some, is cute and heartwarming.
15. All of the fight scenes are awesome.
16. Tons of good morals like always trusting your friends and loved ones.
17. There are even some references to past Naruto arcs like the Kages having a 5 Kage Summit and a clip of Pain from the Invasion Of Pain arc being featured.
18. It is nice to see Pain after a while, since he died during the "Invasion Of Pain" arc.
19. The final battle of Naruto vs Toneri is extremely epic and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
20. The theme song performed by Sukima Switch is very catchy.
21. This movie was the perfect finale to the Naruto series, as well as the perfect beginning for the Boruto series.

Bad Qualities

1. While the animation is great, it can be really bad at times, most notably in the final battle, where the moon rock texture looks very off.
2. A, the Raikage, is a extremely unlikable character in this movie. He is shown to not care for the safety of the others and almost blew up the moon even though he knew Naruto and his friends were on it.
3. When Toneri gets absorbed by the sun, it can be disturbing to some people.
4. Hinata’s scarf is a very annoying plot device. Whenever she makes a new one, it always gets destroyed.
5. Despite it coming out before the Naruto anime was finished, people who were following the anime were probably confused when they saw it.
6. While most of the characters designs are great, there are some bad ones like Lee’s.
7. Sadly, Neji wasn't shown much, even though he died in the series. He never appeared much in flashbacks as well.
8. The scene where Toneri possesses Hinata can be heartbreaking to some people.
9. Naruto's relationship with Hinata feels somewhat rushed since they didn't have enough moments that proved Naruto loved her romantically. Also, Sakura's statement that Naruto only loved her because he saw winning her over as a rivalry with Sasuke seems like an excuse for the writers to have Naruto's feelings for Sakura be ignored, since there were several moments throughout the series that indicated Naruto really did love Sakura and it was more than just a crush or rivalry with Sasuke.
10. False Advertising: despite it being called “The Last”, this isn’t the last Naruto movie as the Boruto movie and a upcoming live action Naruto movie came out after it.
11. The final scene with Naruto kissing Hinata while heartwarming can be seen as cringe-worthy to some viewers.
12. There are a few errors seen in the film:
    • In the scene where Kurama is writing on the moon, it is shown with only eight tails.
    • In the post-marriage photo after the credits, Naruto's prosthetic right arm has no bandages and looked no different from his original right arm.
13. Toneri's redemption felt a little rushed.

Reception

The film's romantic outlook has been well-received by writers. Amy McNulty of Anime News Network praised the film's more character-driven, romantic approach compared to the previous films: "Despite the (awkward) title, the movie is not actually the final film in the franchise, but it's the last of an era and a fitting capstone for the series and its fandom". David West of Neo wrote that although The Last had characteristics in common with the original series (such as the main characters' mission to stop Toneri's plans), its well-executed focus on the romantic relationship was fairly new to the franchise. According to a Toon Zone review, the film's early release (before the end of the Naruto: Shippuden anime) and new status quo in the Naruto world might confuse the audience.

Naruto's romance with Hinata has been mostly praised by the media, with some reviewers saying that The Last should have been condensed for their relationship to have a bigger part. David West said their relationship was well-executed, praising the inclusion of previous occasions in the series where Hinata and Naruto were together. West also praised Hinata's role in the film and her interaction with the antagonist, Toneri. While noting issues with some plot elements, Thais Valdivia enjoyed the symbolism of the scarves. Midwest Book Review commended the main cast's character development and relationship to the point of stating that anime fans in general might enjoy the feature. However, Brendan Ha had mixed initial emotions about the romance. According to Ha, it was affecting, but the fact that this was Naruto's last film (since the next one focused on his son) left viewers unhappy.

Journalists have applauded the film's animation, action scenes and overall atmosphere. Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review: "If 'The Last' lacks some of the emotional punch of the previous feature, 'The Road to Ninja', Kobayashi compensates with flamboyant visuals that mix CG, drawn animation and elegant calligraphic figures; fans should stay through the credits for a surprising final scene". Amy McNulty commended the film's animation but criticised the falling-moon threat's lack of impact on the story. Fandom Post writer Chris Beveridge agreed about the falling-moon, but he praised The Last's atmosphere and lack of melodrama. Brendan Ha of Otaku USA enjoyed the film's action scenes and animation. Thais Valdivia of Hobby Consolas liked the development of the supporting characters Shikamaru Nara and Sai, but she criticized the too-brief appearance of Sasuke Uchiha.

Reviewers have generally criticized Toneri's role as the film's antagonist. Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis enjoyed the supporting cast as well as the love story and recommended the film to long-time Naruto fans, but he regarded Toneri as an unmemorable villain. Besides criticizing the film's overarching plot and nondescript score, Amy McNulty described Toneri as an unengaging antagonist. A Toon Zone reviewer wrote that the villain was overshadowed by the relationship between Naruto and Hinata, which made the film more appealing.

During its first weekend, The Last earned ¥515 million (US$4.35 million) and grossed ¥1.29 billion after three weekends. In December 2014, it earned about ¥1.75 billion ($14.76 million) and became the franchise's top-grossing feature film. By January 2016, the film had grossed ¥2 billion ($16.9 million).

Aniplex released the Japanese DVD on 22 July 2015, which sold 18,565 copies in that country. It was one of 2016's bestselling DVDs in Japan, selling 34,687 copies. On 29 December 2016, the film aired on TV Tokyo at 1:30 a.m. and received a rating of 1.4 percent.

Trivia

• At the end of the film screening in Japan, it was announced that a new movie featuring Naruto and Hinata's son, Boruto Uzumaki, would premiere on August 7, 2015.
• Retsu no Sho includes two manga-omake chapters set shortly after the events of this movie: "After The Last" and "The Rest".
• Naruto's red scarf throughout the movie symbolises the "red string of fate" between him and Hinata.

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