Naruto Shippuden The Movie Rasengan Collection Review

The best thing you can watch with that bowl of ramen – Naruto Shippuden The Movie Rasengan Collection Review

It’s the time of year where the nights are colder and the likelihood of having a day off is much higher. It’s the perfect time to kick back with a warm meal and watch something. Why not make it a bowl of ramen and a Naruto Shippuden movie marathon? For those newer to Anime, you might know him as Boruto’s dad, but for you long-time fans, you know that Naruto is the original food crazed ninja and that anyone who calls Naruto Boruto’s dad is a weeb… Anyway, if you’re offended by that, good.

For you non-weebs, and weebs who want learn something, Viz Media has released Naruto Shippuden The Movie Rasengan Collection. The Rasengan Collection is a 4-disc set that features 4 of the Naruto Shippuden feature films, as well as Blu-Ray special features from each film.  The four films are Naruto Shippuden The Movie, Naruto Shippuden The Movie: Bonds, Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Will of Fire, and Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Lost Tower.

Here are short synopsis and quick thoughts on each film:

• Naruto Shippuden The Movie 
  The fourth overall movie, but first of the Shippuden series. A villain named Yomi intends to take over the world by reviving the demon spirit Moryo. However, a priestess named Shion can seal the demon away and prevent it from conquering the world but prophesies Naruto’s death as the cost. Naruto and his friends fight to save the priestess, stop Yomi’s plan, and change Naruto’s fate. Naruto Shippuden The Movie is where I feel that the movie animation reaches new heights that it’s predecessors, and the previous series just didn’t quite hit. Not to say they were not great animation, but Naruto Shippuden The Movie really stepped it up. The story itself got a bit confusing, mainly how Shion predicts others death in order to save her own. It seems weird that she is able to choose a death, but is unable to not choose no death. It’s like, just don’t make a prediction then, instead of for sure killing someone.
  
  
• Naruto Shippuden The Movie: Bonds
  This film is about the attack on Konoha by the ninja of the Land of Sky. Supposedly the Land of Sky is seeking revenge for the destruction of their country during the Second Great Ninja War. What was great about this film, is the beginning of the amazing team-up battles of Naruto and Sasuke. I don’t watch an insane amount of anime, but I would still wager it is hard to find any duo that has better fight scenes than Naruto and Sasuke. Their sync and compliment of each other’s abilities is flawless and always ridiculously cool. Despite their countless arcs/seasons/episodes away from each other, the power of their bond is evident in their fighting with or against each other.
• Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Will of Fire
  With the possibility of the Fourth Great Ninja War, ninja with Kekkei Genkai abilities begin to disappear and Konoha seems to be the one to blame as they have not had any of their Kekkei Genkai ninjas disappear. With numerous other villages preparing to invade Konoha, it is up to Naruto and his friends to find out what’s really going on. I really liked this film because so many of the other Konoha ninjas were used, especially Kakashi. I feel Kakashi lost a lot of screen time in Shippuden so it was refreshing to see him play a significant part. Overall though, it felt like an elongated explanation of The Third Hokage/Asuma’s philosophy.
• Naruto Shippuden The Movie: The Lost Tower
  The franchises first time using time travel! The concept is kind of out there, even by Naruto standards, but it works. Basically, an evil ninja is attempting to rule the world by changing the past. Naruto and Yamato end up in the past and meet up with Naruto’s parents and a young Kakashi, who then team up to take down the villain. It’s an absolute thrill to see Young Kakashi and Minato in action. It gives fans a real base in understanding why Minato becomes the 4th Hokage and how much of a prodigy Kakashi is. Of all the films thus far, this one seems like it has the highest probability of being canon.

Where The Rasengan Collection falls a bit short is in the bonus features. Each film’s bonus content is more or less the same: Trailers, Gallery, Music Videos, and an Animated Short. The Animated Shorts are wonderful, and easily the best of the bonus features, the rest are completely lackluster. Personally, I was hoping for some vidocs of the promotion and process of the films, and to see how to fans reacted in Japan in comparison to western audiences. Also would have liked commentary from the creator/director/writers, but having the original teams do commentary in English or to translate and localize that would be a ton of work for a nominal payoff. Also, no digital copy. Which isn’t a make or break, but always confuses me with recently released movies. Overall, the bonus features aren’t anything special, aside from the animated shorts, and have no profound impact on the set. Though it easily loses half a point in my book for lack of digital copies.

Naruto Shippuden The Movie The Rasengan Collection is a great collection of Naruto Movies. Each film is fast-paced and filled with superbly animated fight scenes that show off the range of many characters who are often glossed over until the final arc of Shippuden. Each film also has a lot of humor and does not delve too heavily into the exaggerated Anime drama that the show tends to do. Not to say that the drama is unwarranted, but the films don’t do full on flashbacks that take a few episodes to explain why the drama is real. While the bonus content isn’t anything to brag about, there is no better way to collect these films, unless you already have them all individually. If you don’t already have them, this is hands down the best way to add these four films into your collection. Naruto Shippuden The Movie The Rasengan Collection is perfect for Naruto Fans, Boruto’s Dad Weebs, Action Anime Fans, Ninja Fans, and anyone who likes awesome fight scenes. My Naruto Shippuden The Movie The Rasengan Collection review gets a 4/5.

Add Naruto Shippuden The Movie The Rasengan Collection to your home library.