Naruto - The Last Movie - SPOILERS

I saw Naruto: The Last Movie (which it isn't, by the way) this week.

Before I discuss the movie, which will obviously involve spoilers, I'll just say that it's definitely worth seeing if you're a Naruto fan. And that it was an interesting way for Masashi Kishimoto to deal with the gap between the end of the manga (which ended in November 2014) and the anime series, which is still airing and which by all accounts will run for another year before reaching the end of the manga storyline.

Basically, Naruto: The Last Movie is set three years after the events of manga chapter 699. The manga ends with chapter 700, which is set some 15 years after chapter 699. In other words, Naruto: The Last Movie is kind of an epilogue to the regular Naruto manga series, while chapter 700 is more like the preview or first chapter of the continuation of the Naruto storyline where Naruto and his peers are now adults and parents and, well, let's just say a certain character's son is now the main character (as I understand it).

So Naruto: The Last Movie spoils some things (the end of the regular Naruto manga series), but not others (what happens in the 12 years leading up to chapter 700).

With that in mind, and after some pictures, you can read the review which will of course CONTAIN SPOILERS.

It's three years after the events that occur at the end of the manga (whatever they are - we see some of the results and after effects in this movie, but other things are merely hinted at).

Naruto - now sporting a short-cropped hairstyle - is the toast of Konoha and treated as a celebrity by the village citizens. Meanwhile, Hinata recalls when they were children and Naruto defended her against some bullies, getting his red knit scarf shredded in the process. The Hyuuga clan heir, who's still in love with Naruto, spends her evenings quietly knitting the old bits of scarf into a new one for Naruto as she plans to confess her love to him.

Alas, Hinata is as shy as ever, and runs away from Naruto each time she resolves to give the scarf to him.

A mysterious villain, Toneri, kidnaps Hinata's younger sister Hanabi.

Kakashi, who is now the Hokage, sends out a rescue mission consisting of Naruto, Sakura and Sai (Team 7), along with Hinata, and with Shikamaru as the leader.

Toneri is literally from the moon. He has a plan to destroy the earth, but first he needs the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan in order to do that.

The rest of the action plot of Naruto: The Last Movie can be summed up in one sentence: The moon is falling into the earth and it's up to Naruto and Hinata to stop it. The more important event that takes place in the movie, however, is Naruto's realization that Hinata loves him, and his realization that he loves her back.

Their love story is presented quite romantically, with many emotional memories and moments, though it's still a leap of faith for the audience to believe it since there was no build-up to their relationship during the series. Yes, Hinata sacrificed herself for Naruto in the Pain arc and (if I'm recalling correctly) even told him then that she loved him, but we were led back then to believe that Naruto loved Sakura, not Hinata.

The movie offers a single-sentence explanation for this. Sakura exhausts her chakra caring for a wounded Naruto, and Naruto goes to see her. By now, Sakura is aware that Hinata loves Naruto, and is all in favor of the two getting together.

At Sakura's bedside, the two Team 7 members reminisce about the past. Sakura reminds Naruto about how much he used to compete with Sasuke, including "saying you loved me, because you didn't want to lose to Sasuke in anything."

And that's...it. That one sentence is intended to make us believe that Naruto never actually loved Sakura - that he saw that Sakura was in love with Sasuke, and since he didn't want to lose to Sasuke in anything, well...

Yeah, it's a bit much to accept, isn't it? I'm not sure if Kishimoto just wants us to feel like we were idiots all this time believing Naruto when he said he loved Sakura, or if he's forcing Naruto-Hinata down our throats because it was easier than trying to make people want the Naruto-Sakura pairing. My impression is that Hinata was more of a fan favorite for Naruto to end up than Sakura, and possibly Kishimoto was responding to that...?

I don't know. But I do think it's believable that Sakura was still in love with Sasuke, and as was recently revealed, they have a child together by chapter 700. So perhaps Kishimoto just logically figured Sakura should end up with Sasuke, and that would leave Naruto either with Hinata or alone.

To conclude about the movie: see it. If you're a Naruto fan and you've already heard various spoilers about the manga ending, well now you've heard everything and therefore have no excuse not to see the movie. ;-) Seriously, you will enjoy it. The action sequences are great and the love story - even if not quite believable - is a lovely thing to watch unfold.

Seiyuu Appreciation Day - All Paired Up!

February is Valentine's Day month, so what better frame of reference for Seiyuu Appreciation Day? XD

Relationships are among the most fascinating things in life, and anime frequently gives us pairings in various ways that make us think... well, of things maybe we shouldn't be thinking.

For example, Naruto and Sasuke. One of the most enduring, admittedly imaginary yaoi pairings in anime. What if...

...Naruto and Sasuke fell in love in real life?

Of course, there's no hint that this has ever happened with Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama, or will happen in the future. But what if? Wouldn't that leave countless fans awestruck? Just imagine the reaction. An added bonus is that it actually could happen, since one is male and the other is female. (As opposed to most imagined yaoi pairings where both seiyuu are men.)

Putting this aside - and I understand the squick factor when it comes to involving real-life people in speculations like this and confusing actors with their roles, so I'll stop with that and go on to just plain old friendships. Seiyuu who are friends in real life often pair up to do radio shows and perform as singing duos and the like.

Junichi Suwabe and Kousuke Toriume, for example, hosted a radio show together in the past. Currently, in Kuroko's Basketball, they play two teammates who constantly fight with each other, Aomine and Wakamatsu.

Fans who know that two seiyuu are friends in real life get jazzed when they play roles in the same anime, especially two characters who are at odds with each other.

A case in point: real-life best friends Tomokazu Sugita and Yuuichi Nakamura.

These two have hosted a radio show together for years, but if I'm correct in this, they've only been in the same anime playing major roles, characters who are enemies, once:

In one of the later seasons of Gintama, a suspicious character named Kintoki Sakata tries to take Gintoki Sakata's place. Gintoki wakes up and realizes that this interloper Kintoki has somehow wiped Kagura's and Shinpachi's memories of him, to the point where the opening and ending credits actually feature Kintoki instead of Gintoki(!) and with the name of the anime now Kintama in bold letters. (An added bonus and snark factor was the fact that "kintama" is apparently Japanese slang for... balls. XD)

The storyline only ran for a mini-arc, but it was funny as hell and one has to imagine the Japanese fans, who know the close relationship between them, really appreciated the in-jokiness of having Sugita's best friend Nakamura playing the evil Kintoki.

But the best example I've seen so far of two seiyuu who are friends in real life, who host a successful radio show together, and who have played memorable roles in which their characters are at odds is...

"IZAYA-KUN..." Who could forget Daisuke Ono's Shizuo Heiwajima roaring Hiroshi Kamiya/Izaya Orihara's name in Durarara!!?

Hiroshi Kamiya and Daisuke Ono have always seemed an odd couple to me. Kamiya is Ono's senpai (if that even matters when both of you are in your thirties), but both are at the top of the seiyuu ranks, pretty much equally up there. I mean, personality-wise, they just seem very different. Kamiya feels cerebral to me and Ono is more earthy... or something like that. XD

They've each got long lists of credits, so I'm sure Izaya/Shizuo isn't the first time they've been paired in major roles in an anime together. Right now, they're playing opposite each other in Kuroko's Basketball as Seijuro Akashi and Shintaro Midorima.

Akashi is the former captain of the Teiko Middle School award-winning basketball team that featured the "Kiseki no Sedi" or "Generation of Miracles" players that included Midorima.

Now in high school, all the Generation of Miracles members are battling each other with their various high school teams. As it turns out, Midorima is no match for his old captain Akashi. Akashi has the "Emperor's Eye" that can predict your future moves in the game, and there's basically no way to beat a trick like that.

Kamiya plays coolly superior, left-brained characters very well. My favorite role of his is Tieria Erde from Gundam 00. Not only does Tieria have a cold personality, but it turns out he's not actually human and was grown in a lab, which accounts for said coldness I would say. XD

I've seen (heard?) Ono in a lot of roles over the years, and he doesn't seem to be typecasted as any one kind of character. He plays a lot of tough guys, yes, but not all the time. I can sometimes recognize his voice right off the bat, but usually not. He's a good actor, but I have to say that maybe a large part of his appeal is his looks. After all, they are performers in the public eye, even if as voice actors they aren't actually seen when they do their roles.

I wonder if someday we'll get a manga or anime about seiyuu and their lives and relationships. The closest we've come to that is the excellent Shirobako, but so far at least the series hasn't gone in-depth in that direction. I can't complain since what the series has shown is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the anime industry. And maybe acting in such an anime - an anime about seiyuu - might hit too close to home for the seiyuu performing in it. Still, I would absolutely love a story like that, whether in manga or anime form.

Maybe a story about two seiyuu who play ninjas... who fall in love behind the scenes... and both seiyuu are bishonen males...

Dang, I think my alarm clock just went off. XD

Daily Dose of Kawaii - Baby Kuroko!

This one is destined to be taken down by YouTube in a nanosecond... so while you can... enjoy "Glitter Days" by Fo'x Tails - Kuroko's Basketball S3's first ending.

Baby pictures of Kuroko! This is the one ending I always watch. =D

The End of Naruto - SPOILERS

I had been debating whether or not to read the spoilers about the end of Naruto. I finally decided to look - though I didn't quite make that choice freely and independently.

I'm going to discuss the pairings that Kishimoto decided on for the end of Naruto and not much else. So - of course - spoilers are coming, if you choose to read on.

And yes - the picture of a salad above is totally relevant to the discussion.

After these lovely pictures of the lovely Sasuke Uchiha, there will be spoilers. You have been warned.

The Naruto manga ended last November. I have to say, fans have done a great job of spoiler-tagging all their discussions about the end and all the random pairings Kishimoto came up with. If I had wanted to not find out about the ending, I probably would've been able to stay ignorant of it.

... Were it not for one of Anime News Network's articles about three weeks ago, which began something like this:

"The storyline of Naruto will continue with the adventures of Naruto and Hinata's son Bolt, who will..."

Yes, thanks for nothing, ANN. Seriously. It wasn't even behind a link, it was literally the first sentence in one of their article preview boxes which you can't help but read as you skim the site.

Well, as you might have guessed, at that point I decided to look up how the manga ended. I mean, why not, right? Since now I knew (even though I couldn't quite believe it) what the main pairing was going to be.

Plus - Naruto - The Last Movie will be shown later this month in U.S. theaters. The movie takes place about three years after the end of the manga. (Or technically - it takes place between Chapter 699 and Chapter 700, but Ch. 700 is an "epilogue" type chapter that timeskips ahead about 15 years from Ch. 699. The movie is said to take place three years after Ch. 699, so everyone like Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura et al. who was 16 is now 19.)

Where to start... I am confounded by the decision to pair Naruto with Hinata. First of all, Naruto has always had a crush on Sakura, his Team 7 teammate. Sakura, in turn, has always been in love with Sasuke. Sasuke has never loved anyone, not even himself.

With those dynamics, it's hard to say how it should have ended. In my view, the perfect ending would've been Naruto becoming Hokage and remaining unpaired with anyone. True leaders are often shown as being alone at the top with their responsibilities. And plus, though Sakura comes to respect and love Naruto in a way toward the end, she's never in love with him. That one time when she pretended to be - which was a pretty painful scene to watch - Naruto saw through her instantly.

Hinata, of course, has always admired and loved Naruto from afar. Her self-sacrifice at the climax of the Pain arc probably brought home to Naruto how much she looked up to him, but Naruto (being as dense as he is) has never shown any recognition of Hinata's deeper romantic feelings, not once through the entire storyline.

What was Kishimoto thinking?

Usually, the hero gets the girl. That's simplistic of course, but really, it is more or less what we expect. And here, for the life of me, I can't see how Naruto will turn his affections from Sakura to Hinata. (Although apparently - the beginning of their romance will be part of what's shown in Naruto - The Last Movie.)

I have nothing against Hinata personally. To show you how far off I was, I actually thought for a long time that Neji and Hinata would marry each other at the end. That way, the divide between the Hyuuga main family and branch family would be healed and Neji and the rest of the branch family could have their curse marks removed. Yes, they are first cousins, and their fathers were even identical twins. But in ancient, highly traditional Asian dynastic families I think this type of marriage wasn't uncommon.

Kishimoto killed Neji off, so after that happened obviously I wasn't thinking this anymore. Still - to have Naruto and Hinata get together - ?

The other WTF pairing - though not as WTF as the first - is Sasuke and Sakura. This at least makes sense from Sakura's point of view, since she was always after him. Sasuke has always seemed celibate to me, too embittered about the past and focused on revenge for his clan to be romantically involved with anyone. I haven't heard if they actually marry or not, but apparently they have a daughter together.

Named Salad.

I'm not kidding. Her name is listed as "Sarada." And - as some fans have noted - she actually resembles Karin more than Sakura, so who knows what is going on here(?).

Other pairings share either the same WTF-ery or OK-that-kind-of-makes-sense sort of breakdown. Shikamaru and Temari wind up together. Shikamaru, I think, could've been paired with Temari, Ino or Kurenai - the pregnant widow of their team leader, Asuma-sensei. So the Temari pairing doesn't surprise me.

Ino and Sai, however, does surprise me. Huh? Did either of them even look at the other or have a single conversation with each other this whole time in Naruto? I missed it if they did.

There are hints that Tenten and Rock Lee are paired off, and Choji apparently marries Karui, the Cloud ninja. And it looks like Kiba marries a young woman from a cat clan(!) - meaning it's all dogs and cats in their household.

Fine, fine, all fine. I'm still reeling over Naruto and Hinata. I literally dare Kishimoto to make me believe this pairing. Show me how it happened - convince me. I haven't been following this story for ten years to be bushwhacked like this at the end!

Supporting the Industry - What I Did in January 2015

In January, the main thing I did to support the industry was attend Anime L.A., with all the usual expeditures involved in attending a convention.

But also in January, I made a little purchase. And it probably won't be the last of its kind either. Because...

... Kinokuniya is now selling doujinshi from Japan.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore chain and Japan is where Comiket takes place right under the noses of the anime industry in Tokyo. If the Tokyo producers can't be bothered to get upset about Comiket where 100,000 fan artists and writers sell their unlicensed doujinshi based on licensed anime and manga several subway stops from their animation studios for cash money, I guess they're not going to care that an American branch of Kinokuniya has started selling doujinshi stored in cardboard boxes like a vendor at an anime convention. =D

So I bought a Kuroko's Basketball doujinshi featuring Atsushi Murasakibara and Tatsuya Himuro. Some doujinshi circle in Tokyo just earned a miniscule portion of $12.90, if they ever actually see it.

Among the many fan-perpetrated yaoi pairings in KnB, Murasakibara and Himuro are down the list somewhere, way below the most popular pairings of Midorima/Takao, Kagami/Kuroko and Aomine/Kuroko. But I like them. Both characters are weird and have multiple psychological issues, but they certainly are pretty together. XD

Atsushi Murasakibara (note purple hair and eyes - "murasaki" means purple in Japanese) is the 6'10" former center for Teiko's Generation of Miracles (Kiseki no Sedi). He's a huge man-child with a slow drawl and as some say of him, a few loose screws as well. He affects disinterest in basketball despite being extremely talented at the sport and is always seen eating candies and chips, being addicted to snacking.

Tatsuya Himuro is the other star player for Yosen, Murasakibara's current high school team. Generally billed as Kuroko's Basketball's prettiest bishonen, Himuro is the old friend/nemesis of main character Kagami as they grew up in the U.S. playing basketball together and trying to outshine each other. His name is definitely the coolest in the show, as it means "ice cave dragon." His anime hair thing is that his hair always hangs over his left eye, which is never seen.

Himuro is the beautiful but cold fish character in KnB. In the canon KnB storyline, Murasakibara and Himuro are best friends, despite neither having approachable personalities, and being opposites in many ways.

I bought this doujinshi based on the cover, which as you can see features a very nice illustration of the two characters. It's hard to see from the photos (... especially my photos), but the title of the doujinshi on the front cover is actually done in gold embossed kanji/kana - a nice and I'm sure expensive touch.

Not all doujinshi from Japan are this well-produced, but many of them are. This doujinshi, on the inside, is the same quality as a professionally produced manga. Really well done.

There's even a section that is text only, novel style.

And best of all... the art is lovely and the stories are good too. I have enough Japanese ability at this point that I can understand portions of dialogue in simple manga stories, which is a thrill. I've only skimmed the stories in this doujinshi so far, but they appear to run the gamut from humorous/silly to dramatic and serious. Like most doujinshi, this one was wrapped in plastic so I took a chance in buying it.

They had Hakuouki doujinshi at Kinokuniya too. Think I'll be back? =D