Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Movie Review

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is the first Dragon Ball movie after 17 years after The Path to Power. Taking place several years after Kid Buu's defeat and after the 2008 Special, our heroes are celebrating Bulma's birthday but the God of Destruction named Bills and his associate, Whis have other plans. Bills is looking for the Super Saiyan God and he thinks that Goku and friends know about it.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods is the Dragon Ball Z movie that doesn't feel like the Dragon Ball Z movies back in the 80's and the 90's. To give you guys an idea, here's how those movies worked back then, it's like most of it is dedicated with the flashy fights and less with the plot and it's quite rare that I enjoy some of those movies. In the case of this movie, it feels more like a lost chapter coming from the manga or a lost episode of the anime. The movie returned to the franchise's action-comedy roots with the major reason for the end of the world has something to do with food.

To show my point, I'll first talk about the beginning of the movie, the mere fact that Bills, the God of Destruction is basically a cat who wakes up with bomb alarm clocks is something that felt like it came straight from a gag manga. Next is his dream of having an idol beside him but it didn't happen, this gives us viewers an impression that Bills is well, not that of a threat. I mean, if you look at the history of the anime/manga, one of the show's major villains, the Demon King Piccolo is sealed inside an electric rice cooker. With that in mind, it gave me an impression that Bills, is a dangerous enemy if you anger him.

Then we finally saw him fight Goku when he is in Super Saiyan 3, aside from the amazing animation and the good use of CGI models, the fight scene is really intense and shows us the difference between Bills and Goku's power. It's quite obvious who is the strongest since this scene happened at the early part of the movie, but the fact that Bills didn't have the intention to fight Goku, and looks like he is not using at least half of his power shows us that he is one tough foe to beat in full power. This shows us the difference between the powers of the two characters and gives us an impression that Goku is no match for this guy in a really authentic manner. Heck, I didn't have any expectations that Goku will beat Bills by the time the movie is over after this scene!

Anyway, the reason why Bills is awake after years in slumber is that he is looking for the Super Saiyan God and Goku doesn't know about it, so he ends up on Earth asking about it. What I like about this scene is that Bills and his associate, Whis are just chill guys. They eat, they socialize and they eat a lot. In short, they are those guys who will react based on how you will treat them. This gave me an impression that they are not really bad; they are just doing their job.

So how the heck the movie reached to this climax if Bills and Whis are just chill guys? It's all thanks to some incident that pissed Bills so bad that he decided to destroy our planet. It's also the same reason why Planet Vegeta is destroyed in the first place by Freeza! Bills is basically like Goku with god powers and a bad temper, which why he is quite dangerous. Seeing Bills fight the rest of the Z Warriors, especially Vegeta is really fun to watch. It's like watching a bunch of kids trying to fight someone twice their age.

Now for the Super Saiyan God thing, it feels kinda weird. I mean, if you just read the name without any idea what it is, it means that there's a god amongst Super Saiyans. But nope, it's just one power-up form used back then and was later forgotten. Without spoiling too much about it, the way they introduced this new form is great, but the one who is introducing it is something that I didn't expect to see in the movie at the first place considering what's happening in the past few minutes. It doesn't feel right if you account the long history of the franchise.

The way they acquired this form is also what bothered me, it bothered me in a sense that it looks too cheesy. But thinking about it, the Fusion dance looks cheesy and that they have villains named after food so I guess this is something Dragon Ball will do to get some new power up form in just a short span of time. As for the form itself, it looks a bit lazy and the aura it emitted kinda reminded me of the Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT. The red aura is a really nice touch and gives this feeling of royalty that Goku right now is in his god mode and that no one can stop him.

Now for Goku vs. Bills round 2, it's freakin' awesome. I earlier praised their first fight with its amazing animation and great use of CGI effects, same goes with this fight scene. The animation is brilliant, the soundtrack that complements it made the fight more epic and that the fight still has Dragon Ball Z's trademark over the top style of battle. This is when the movie feels like an episode of Dragon Ball Z and not the episode of Dragon Ball. The gags are gone with more focus on the action scenes and why Bills is one threat Goku must defeat. Starting from this point in the movie, I can't help but have this huge smile in my face while watching it. It's like I am relieving a part of my childhood watching Dragon Ball Z on TV. It's a pure blast of nostalgia that made me crave for more.

The ending of the battle gives you this bittersweet feeling that makes you want to root for the hero a bit more and it's really great way to end this movie. Even though Bills is promoted as the main villain, he doesn't act like one. He is just a bored god doing his job because; well he is the God of Destruction. Ending it in a note that there are other universes out there and this world is just one out of the many universes gives us hope that Goku will have more adventures in those worlds and maybe, just maybe, meet more creatures who are as strong or even, stronger than Goku.

I miss these guys.

Now that I am done talking about the story, it's time for the technical side of things. The animation is fluid and unlike Dragon Ball Z Kai in which they have frame inconsistencies thanks to the method on how they remastered the original Dragon Ball Z anime, the movie's flashback scenes are new animation scenes and it is a nice modern reinterpretation of some of the iconic scenes from the anime. When it comes to the music, the movie doesn't have the familiar tunes coming from the anime, which is kinda sad since it some of the tracks will add up to the intensity of the fights in the movie.

Overall, the movie is really fantastic and is a very nice tribute to the franchise's long history. The last time I have this feeling is when I watched Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, a retelling of Goku's first adventure with some elements coming from the Red Ribbon Arc mixed in-between. Aside from the nods to the classic Dragon Ball and its evolution to Dragon Ball Z, the cameo appearances on some beloved characters that we might have forgotten are quite welcoming that it reminded me why I love this show at the first place. Also, watch out for some references on some "forgotten" characters. Toriyama really did assure its fans that this movie is still the good ol' Dragon Ball anime that we all love with some modern flavor.

Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge Movie Review

Hunter x Hunter: Phantom Rouge is based on a manga series created by Yoshihiro Togashi of Yu Yu Hakusho fame. Just like the recent slew of movies based on Weekly Shonen Jump titles, Togashi is involved with the movie's production and story.

Kurapika's scarlet eyes are stolen by the mysterious Omokage, Phantom Troupe's former #4. With the help of Gon and Kurapika, they begin their search for Kurapika's lost eyes. While they are searching for Kurapika's eyes with a little help from the clues they have, they end up bumping to a girl named Retz, who happens to be a puppeteer. With Retz in the party, Killua is having doubts of having her in the team, which then leads us learning bits of his past and how he was conditioned as an assassin. Back to Kurapika, we also learned his past and what he lost thanks to Phantom Troupe.

Before talking about the movie's plot, I'll first talk about the technical stuff. Because this movie has Togashi's involvement, fans wondered where this movie takes place. Much to my surprise, it seamlessly fits between the events of the Yorknew Arc and Greed Island Arc. As we all know, there is a short space between those two that can be exploited since it is focused more on Gon and Killua finding ways to earn money to buy a copy of Greed Island. What made it more interesting is that they showed some dead characters being turned into puppets just for us to have this impression that it indeed takes place in between those arcs!

More on the technical side, the animation is above average from your standard anime episode. The fight scenes are amazing and really well done. But there are times that some fight scenes bored me, especially the climax scene. Maybe it has something to do with the music. The music is my biggest issue of this movie. There are times that the music fits well to the scene and there are times that it ruined one epic or emotional scene, especially in the film's climax. Lastly, the film's pacing and to be honest, it feels like watching 4 episodes of the anime less the commercials, the opening credits (ugh) and the ending credits. Heck, I was expecting that the narrator's voice will just pop out of nowhere to tell us that "this is only the beginning of their adventure" or something like that.

Now that I am done with the technical stuff, it is time for the plot. The movie is advertised as a movie focused on Kurapika and for some reason; it feels more like a Killua movie. I will get into that later because I will talk about the Kurapika bits in this movie. For starters, the reason why we have this movie is because someone stole Kurapika's eyes. As the series progressed, it starts to connect with the rest of the characters of the movie as we learned that the ones responsible to this mess is Omokage, Phantom Troupe's former #4. Because of this connection, we learned more of Kurapika's past.

Kurapika's flashback is kinda pointless if you look at it in a much broader perspective, but if you look it on Kurapika's perspective, it established the connection between his childhood friend, Pairo and how he ended up becoming interested in the world outside his village. It is because of Pairo that Kurapika became an adventure; it is also because of that bond that he wanted to find a cure for his friend. Their bond is what makes Kurapika's bits of this movie interesting. Aside from that bond, another thing interesting in the movie is the Kurta tribe's traditions when it comes to sending someone outside the village.

The said traditions gave me an impression on how they want to blend into society without someone noticing their special traits, and that includes their scarlet eyes. Heck, part of the tradition includes that once humans saw your scarlet eyes, s/he must return to the village as soon as possible. In short, they don't want outsiders to be interested with their eyes and as we all know, we know how it turned out. The Phantom Troupe attacked their village just to get their eyes. So yeah, that's basically all the Kurapika parts in this movie, because it is more focused on the Gon and Killua friendship.

As for why I think this movie is more of a Killua movie, aside from the opening flashback scene featuring Killua's brother, Illumi talking to him about having friends and getting betrayed by them and vice versa, the movie tends to focus more on Killua's trust issues. This then lead us to essentially the focus of the entire movie, friendship; to be more specific, the friendship between Gon and Killua and how the events of this movie tested it. With the introduction of Retz, we saw more of Killua's bad people skills as he doubts Retz's sincerity in making friends... and he is right about that. I will not reveal the twist because you'll just easily figure it out when you watch it.

Even if Killua thinks that he betrayed Gon in some point of the movie, that's not the case with Gon. He is still the carefree friend that we know and love. He didn't mind that Killua runs away from time to time, because he trusted that Killua will return somehow. Same goes with Retz, he knew that there is something wrong with her, but he trusted her at the end. Speaking of Retz, her issues with the film has something to do about her doing what she wants and living life to the fullest. It's an interesting motivation, but it feels kinda rushed. But as for how she is connected with the plot, I am not surprised with it because they hinted it a couple of times in the movie.

Finally, about Omokage, he is one creepy dude, seriously creepy. But as the movie's villain? I find him too generic. His motivations are something that can be expanded but they just lack the time to explain it, which is why I think he didn't left any impact in the movie. All we know is that he is also involved with the Kurta tribe massacre, but he is not the one who initiated it even if part of his motivation is looking for the perfect eyes for his puppets. Killua's issues about trust and how Gon sees his friends are things that left a lot of impact to me in this movie, along with Kurapika's backstory.

Overall, even though there are problems along the way, such as the music and some of the action scenes, Phantom Rouge is one enjoyable movie to watch. The introduction of Omokage is interesting and expanded the Phantom Troupe's roster of past members. Speaking of which, even though the Troupe is promoted along with Kurapika as the main focus of the movie, they just appeared briefly in most part of the movie.

Finally, to those who are non-Hunter x Hunter fans and decided to watch the movie without any knowledge about it, the movie begins with an introduction of the characters before proceeding with the dark and heavy stuff. Funny, the movie's introduction scene featured SD versions of Gon and Killua and the official start of the movie featured one of Killua's assassin jobs. As for Hunter x Hunter fans, the final scene of the movie featured cameos from two prominent characters in the next two story arcs.

One Piece Film Z Review

One Piece Film Z is the 12th overall anime movie based on Eiichiro Oda's popular manga of the same name. Just like the 10th One Piece movie entitled, "One Piece Strong World", Eiichiro Oda also supervised the creation of this movie. The movie is about a former Marine Admiral named Z and his plan to destroy all pirates.

Former Marine Admiral Zephyr, now going by the name Z steals the Marines' greatest weapon, the Dyna Stones to execute his plan to destroy the End Points, which will eventually lead to the destruction of all the pirates travelling in the New World. So how did the Straw Hat Pirates ended up getting involved in this one? They saved Z's life once, and after Z learned that they are pirates, he decides to eliminate them. With the Straw Hat Pirates wanting revenge for what Z did to their ship and its crew, can Luffy and his crew stop this madman in his plan to destroy the New World?

For starters, I am not the biggest One Piece fan around. The last One Piece story arc that I watched was the Amazon Lily Arc when it was airing here in the Philippines... till Bleach replaced One Piece in the timeslot. Dang it. Anyway, this movie is set during the show's New World Saga, which takes place a few years after Luffy and his crew began their adventure towards the Grand Line. Since this is just a spin-off of the TV series, it is expected that casual movie goers might get lost from time to time, but don't worry about it, the plot of the movie is self-contained and you can just easily figure out who is X and who is Y.

Now for some technical stuff about the movie. If there is one thing I learned from watching anime movies produced by Toei Animation Studios is that they always put their A game when it comes to their movies, and One Piece Film Z doesn't disappoint when it comes to animation. Granted, there are some bad quality frames from time to time, but overall, the studio did a great job when it comes to the movie's animation. Speaking of which, I can't help but notice that the pervy fan service scenes in this film are well animated. As for the non-pervy fan service scenes, it is more on the Marine characters that didn't made their New World arc appearance in the anime during the time this movie was released last year.

Continuing on the technical stuff, the music is great but there is nothing worth talking about it. As for the two Avril Lavigne songs used in the movie, I just love that they used Avril's acoustic take on "This is How You Remind Me" in the credits when our heroes returned to Dock Island to return the stuff they borrowed. The scene is kinda sentimental and it has this feeling that Luffy is passing on his legacy to the kid he met in that island. Lastly, the use of "Bad Reputation" for the second credits scene while childhood pictures of some of the One Piece characters is being flashed on screen is quite an interesting choice for a picture montage.

Final part about the movie's technical stuff, where does this movie take place in the One Piece timeline considering that Eiichiro Oda is involved with the movie's production? According to the man himself, the movie is non-canon. But since One Piece is a series that takes place in the best setting of all, the ocean, I guess I can just consider this as one of those adventures that the crew had along the way to the Grand Line. This is what I like about One Piece, the show's setting and its creative world are perfect opportunities to write filler arcs that doesn't feel like filler arcs.

Now that I am done with the technical stuff, it is time to talk about the movie. Like I said, the movie is self-contained. You don't need any background about One Piece for you to enjoy the movie. Though basic knowledge about the series might be helpful from time to time, but overall, it is not necessary for someone to be a One Piece geek just to for you to enjoy the movie. As for the story, it is really great. Most of the meat of the story is related to Z's motivations on why he wanted to activate the three End Points of the New World.

Z's motivations can be traced back during the time he is in the Marines and how he ended up becoming the monster we saw in this movie. His fall from the boy who dreamed becoming a hero, into a monster created by tragedy and harsh reality is really well done. The way they presented the flashback showed us where he focused his emotions on. You can see his high faith with the Marine system till the part he slowly realized how corrupt the system can be, thus deciding to create his own Marine Corp, the Neo Marines.

At one point in the movie, the Straw Hat Pirates are wearing Armani. Weird.

So what about the Straw Hats in this movie? Luffy continues to be the one who drives his crew in this kind of situation. In this case, Luffy's curiosity over weird things is the reason why they got involved with this mess. But here's the thing about this movie, Luffy's motivations change from time to time. His first motivation is to get his revenge after they were badly beaten by Z. After getting badly beaten up by Z again, his motivation changed into something that is more simplistic, something that I expect Luffy will say.

As for the rest of the crew, their bond with their fellow crew mates is still the same from the movie and each character has a chance to shine from time to time. Since one of the reasons why One Piece is popular to its male fans aside from the action is the female characters, it is kinda expected that they have some fan service scenes. Thankfully, the director knows when to place these fan service scenes so that us viewers will not be distracted about it once the plot starts to kick in.

Aside from the Straw Hats, a lot of Marine officials are also part of this movie thanks to their relation with Z's past. From these Marine characters, former Admiral Kuzan aka Aokiji gets the most spotlight. He didn't appeared in the movie to kill the Straw Hat Pirates, but he is more of an observer on what's going on with the Z situation. He had a couple of fight scenes in this movie but that is not worth talking about to begin with. So how about the fights worth talking about? All I can say is they are all fantastic. The duels between some of Z’s students and some of Luffy’s crew are well done. My only disappointment about it is the lack of proper build up when it comes to their rivalry.

The climactic battle of the movie is seriously fun to watch. Seeing the Straw Hat Pirates used the weapons left by the pirates that were defeated by Z feels like seeing people who are carrying the grief these pirates have after they were pummeled by Z. If there is one thing that surprised me in this scene is Nami, I mean, I wasn't expecting that she can still fight with her de-aged body! Another thing about the group battle is how the characters that were de-aged reverted back to their actual age. It kinda feels like I am watching a transformation sequence from a magical girl anime.

Z and Luffy's duel at the end of the movie is the highlight of this flick, and they did one fantastic job when it comes to the animation and the tension rising up in that duel. The buildup for this final battle is one of the reasons why I really liked this scene. I just love that they executed every move they have and that it goes straight shonen anime fist fight once they got really tired. What I like about this scene is aside from throwing some punches; they kinda talked about their ideals with their fist. By the time these two are fully exhausted, the two ended up gaining the mutual respect for each other.

At the end, Z performed one heroic sacrifice to save his new friends and his living comrades. What I like about this scene is that it both emotional and badass at the same time. During the time I was watching this scene; I can't help but do a salute because of Z's actions. To top it all off, we have this short flashback scene revealing that he dreamed of becoming a hero when he was still a child. This scene showed us that finally, after overcoming the harsh realities of life, he finally fulfilled his dream of becoming a hero.

Overall, One Piece Film Z is one fun adventure movie. If you are a big One Piece fan, it is highly recommended that you watch this flick, but if you are one of those casual One Piece fans who stopped watching the series at one point in your life, it makes you want to watch the series to the part where you left off. That's how I feel about this movie, especially when I hear my friend point out every character that he can spot in this movie, especially those characters that he kinda fanboyed for a bit. Because of that, I am starting to wonder why those characters that this movie barely featured are worth watching.

Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters the Movie: Protect the Tokyo Enetower DC Review

Background explosions! Run!

For the first time, we meet the FS-0O Frog, a prototype Buster Machine but aside from that, Enter's plan this time around is to use the Tokyo Enetower to transport all the Enetron in the Tokyo area to Hyperspace! Can the Go-Busters stop him?

This is the first time a Super Sentai movie received a Director's Cut treatment since for most of the time, the movie only runs for at least 20-30 minutes and it is quite rare for a Super Sentai movie to last for an hour, unless if the movie is a Super Sentai Versus movie. To be honest, I was expecting that the Director's Cut version will run for at least an hour, but much to my surprise, its length is similar to the length of longer Super Sentai summer movies, the movie ran for a total of 35 minutes and 24 seconds. This made me wonder, why cut some minutes for the theatrical version? I mean, the Kamen Rider Fourze summer movie ran for like an hour and in the past, some double-billed Kamen Rider and Super Sentai movies ran for like an hour and 30 minutes.

Enough complaining because it is time to talk about the movie! To be honest, the movie for most of the time, felt like they want to promote the TV series with greater emphasis with the "protect the Enetower" stuff and them putting a lot of emphasis with their powers. But compared to your average Go-Busters TV episode, the fights in this movie are flashier than the usual. Aside from the flashier fights, I can't help but notice that the Buddyroids seemed to be more involved when it comes to helping our heroes rather than stay inside the base like they always do.

Even if that is the case, I can't help but notice that Nick is not using his machine guns! For crying out loud, he is the only Buddyroid equipped for fighting, why not use his guns into good use and let the other Buddyroids do the crowd control! This caused me to be bothered for a second, it feels like the writer of this movie intentionally has the Buddyroids be more active in this one compared to most of their TV appearances. It makes sense when the Steamroid appeared and rusted their bodies. And so, the plot of the movie finally starts kicking in.

To be honest, I find the plot a little forced. It feels like the intentionally left the Buddyroids just for them to get rusted so that we can have a plot about the bond of our heroes with these guys... and I was right. The next thing our heroes did is break into the horde of Bugglars, defeat Steamroid and finally, stop Enter's plot in transporting Enetron. Speaking of Enter, I just love that he still wore disguises, act fabulous and competent at the same time. Those are the things I missed about good old Enter before he becomes serious and decides to study humans more. I like him more when he is still in that mode.

As for Jin, aside from telling us what he can figure about Enter's plot, he leaves early in the movie and reappeared just in time for the mecha fight. But hey, at least he has more speaking lines compared to Gai in the Gokaiger summer movie! Also, Jin's disappearance makes sense because for starters, J was also infected by Steamroid's rust, in short, Jin can't transform. With only three heroes doing this all or nothing mission, they realized that all of their Buster Machines are unusable for a time being except for Enetan. Because of this, they have no other option to use the only functioning Buster Machine.

Enetan is one rude little robot. She likes to put a lot of emphasis that our heroes should be grateful to her because she saved their collective asses and that she is giving them a ride even though she doesn't want to get rusted by Steamroid's steam. In short, I like her. Our heroes arrived just in time to face a horde of Bugglars. This is when Ryuji, for the first time forced himself to overheat just to defeat the horde of Bugglars. Considering that they are completely outnumbered, it makes perfect sense to have Ryuji's overheat mode active while his teammates face Steamroid.... and more Bugglars.

To sum up what happened, Yoko faced the remaining Bugglars while as for Hiromu, he will face Steamroid. Hiromu's fight with Steamroid is amazing. For starters, I first find the fight too gimmicky that is until we learned that Hiromu planned something related to the said speed gimmick. It's something I didn't expect and is a sure flag for victory that is until the chicken showed up. Yep, one epic moment ruined by Hiromu panicking because of a chicken movie poster. Conveniently, the others are also at their limit! With that in mind, and Enetan not wanting to save them because of her fear of getting rusted, I guess this is the end for our heroes. That is until FS-0O showed up, and piloting it is no other than Nick!

Our heroes are saved and we have this scene showing us the bonds of our heroes with their partner Buddyroids. The scene is fine I guess, but it didn't moved me compared to the similar scene we have in the next Go-Busters movie (which I will review after the VS Gavan movie) because it feels like they are forcing this issue compared to how most part of the TV series executed it and how the VS Gokaiger movie did it. With Enter using his supply of Enetron into good use by transporting not 1, not 2, not 3 but 5 Megazords in battle, it is time for the climatic final battle.

As always the fights in the movie are fantastic and thankfully, they were able to defeat the Steamroid just in time for the mecha fight! One of the best things about Go-Busters is its mecha fights, now that Enter send 5 Megazords, including his personal unit the Epsilon, it simply means that we should expect a lot great things about this movie's mecha fights. And boy, I was not disappointed by it. The landing of the 4 Megazords is amazing, and I just love that the ground is actually shaking when they landed! What's more, the good use of CGI for most part of Go-Busters' mission to cancel the Enetron transmission is really great.

As for Epsilon, he is just that floating mecha that shoots lasers, that's about it. Aside from Epsilon's debut, this movie also marked the debut of Go-BusterKeroOh, a Megazord configuration involving CB-01, GT-02 and FS-0O. The combination looks fantastic, but that's not all, the one who designed it is no other than Jin! Well that makes sense why Enetan has that spunky personality. She is like the less egoistic version of J and seeing her interact with J is one fun scene to watch. Too bad, we barely see her in the TV series.

Go-BusterKeroOh's debut fight is fantastic. Though it doesn't make sense when it comes to terrain, I just love that water splashes every time Go-BusterKeroOh makes a step. Finally, how they stopped Enter's plan. The way they stopped Enter is kinda simple actually. They just cancel the transformation, Ace will face Epsilon while FS-0O will destroy the transmitter because hey, she is a frog, she can just leap Ace for momentum and destroy the transmitter and ultimately, save the day. And yes, she did it. As for the rest, they were able to defeat the Megazords that they are facing but there is still one problem, FS-0O weight destroyed the tip of the Enetower!

After a montage on how they can fix it, it is time for them to visit the Enetower, which feels like a blatant promotion of the real life site where the said place is based upon, the Tokyo Tower; though I don't mind it for a bit because this is one of those rare times that we see heroes in a day off without any monster attacks or Enetron leaks. Overall, the movie is fun but like I said, it feels like a blatant promotion of the TV series compared to the previous Super Sentai summer movies that I watched which feels like a proper extension of the TV series.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie Review

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie is the 9th overall Naruto movie and the 6th Naruto Shippuden movie. The movie is supervised by series creator Masashi Kishimoto; it takes place in a parallel world created by Tobi's Limited Tsukoyomi.

Because of Tobi's Limited Tsukoyomi, Naruto and Sakura are transported in a parallel world created by the desires of the both of them. Sakura's father is now the Fourth Hokage who sacrificed his life to save Konoha, and Naruto's parents are still alive. To make matters worse, a mysterious Masked Man is causing quite a problem in this parallel world and the only way to stop him is to fulfill a prophecy, which can only happen during a red full moon. Can Naruto and Sakura return to their world and defeat this mysterious Masked Man?

What makes Road to Ninja different from the other Naruto movies is that this movie is more than just a glorified anime filler episode like most Naruto movies. It is all thanks to Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto's input when it comes to the movie's story. Since Kisihimoto technically made this movie, the first question that comes to my mind when I watched this movie is when does this movie take place? Based on the events in the movie, it's kinda confusing, especially if you read the manga in a weekly basis. Guess the best conclusion is that it takes place somewhere in the series wherein the conditions are: Naruto has the Sage Mode, already met Killer Bee and that Tsunade is not on a coma.

Next is when it comes to animation, even though this is a movie, the quality of the animation is similar to that of your average Naruto anime episode. To put it simply, there are moments of bad to mediocre animation frame quality, which I can't ignore because I watched the freakin' movie in my local cinema! Even if that is the case, the best part of the movie is the music; it's so good that it properly sets the mood on a specific scene. It's so good that I even cried on some scenes!

Now that I am done with the technical stuff, it is time for the story. Since the 3/4 of the movie takes place in a parallel world, some of the characters we know and love now have different personalities. Sasuke is now a playboy, Hinata is more aggressive, Shino hates bugs and my personal favorite, Sai is one bad artist. I like how this parallel world twisted their personalities, and to top it all off, Tobi has no idea on how this parallel world will shape up! Even if that is the case, there are some traits from the original world that are retained. My only disappointment I have with these parallel world characters is that they only appeared so briefly that they barely contribute anything to the movie.

The movie is more of Naruto's desire to actually be with his parents. It is also the same desire Naruto's parents have when they sealed Nine Tails prior to the start of the series. The flashback scenes used in the movie also helped to set up the overall tone of the movie. This is not about Naruto and Sakura's adventures in the parallel world; it is more of Naruto's search of the feeling of having a complete family. Even if Naruto tries to say to himself that his parents are just illusions made by this world, he ends up getting into his desire of having a complete family.

During the course of the movie, Naruto slowly realized that even if the Minato and Kushina in this world is like the Minato and Kushina in his world, there are still some differences like the rest of the characters in the parallel world. When Naruto realized that these two are not like his parents, he finally understands the true meaning of family. It doesn't matter if you are together with them, just as long as you remember how much they love and trust you, something that the Minato and Kushina of Naruto's home world have. They trusted Naruto that is why they sealed the Nine Tails in his body.

While Naruto is having that kind of luxury of having a complete family, it's the opposite in Sakura's case. Her parents are dead and they are considered to be the heroes of Konoha because of their actions years ago. The movie served as a proper character development story for Sakura, considering that she barely has any character development in the manga and in the anime. Because of her experience in this world, she now understands Naruto quite better, and I think to some extent, Sasuke's feelings of being the lone survivor of his clan. But alas, even if the character development she had, she ends up becoming the movie's damsel in distress during the film's climax scene.

Speaking of which, during the course of the movie, we are introduced to a mysterious Masked Man who is becomes Tobi's ally during the duration of the movie. For some reason, he is collecting all the Tailed Beasts for his own desires, and for some odd reason, his voice sounds really familiar. What are interesting are his moves, it's similar to some of Naruto's skills that even before they did the big reveal about his identity, I already figured it out. To put it simply, the buildup for the Masked Man is too bland and predictable.

Even if that is the case, the big battle that this movie has probably caught me off guard because of its surprises. Seeing all members of Akatsuki in the big battle is one big surprise, especially because Deidara and Itachi have the most speaking lines and that they are sided with the good guys! I am not sure if this is Kishimoto's personal preference or is it because these two are the most popular members of Akatsuki? Another big surprise is the 9 Masked Beasts that the Masked Man summoned, aside from their fight with the Akatsuki members, the revelation that these 9 monsters is actually a single being. This then lead us the movie's final battle.

Pokémon Battle!

The movie's final battle is surprisingly good. The battle between Naruto and the Masked Man is really well done, but what caught me off guard is how the Masked Man summoned his own version of the Nine Tails. I guess you now have an idea on who is this Masked Man. Because the Masked Man summoned his own Nine Tails, Naruto also summons his own Nine Tails! The first thing that came in my mind while watching this scene is a Pokémon battle. No seriously, that's how the battle felt like, especially on how Naruto summoned the Nine Tails!

At the end, the Masked Man is defeated and that Tobi finally enters the stage as he attempts to steal the Nine Tails out of Naruto by entering the Masked Man's body. The fight between the two feels too predictable, especially when Minato and Kushina arrived just in time to help. The final move Naruto did to defeat Tobi is something that I expected. Tobi leaves and lucky enough, Naruto hit the crystal that created the Limited Tsukoyomi, causing Naruto and Sakura to leave the parallel world after Naruto bid farewell to the parallel world's Minato and Kushina.

In the real world, after our heroes reported what happened to the parallel world, they returned to their homes, bringing the lessons that they learned from that parallel world. In Naruto case, he realized that even if he doesn't have his real parents with him, there are still people who think of him as a family. In this case, it is Iruka. So why the movie is called Road to Ninja? Even if the movie is more about family, I guess the reason why it is called Road to Ninja is because it explores what makes a ninja, a ninja.

Overall, Road to Ninja is the closest thing we have for a good Naruto movie. After watching the third Naruto movie, I said to myself that the next movies are not worth watching because it is just like your average anime episode except that it lasted for more at least 1 hour and 30 minutes. Road to Ninja came and it exceeded my expectations. The way how the movie handled its flashbacks made this movie more fascinating, it contributed to the plot and made the movie self-contained, especially to those Naruto fans that stopped watching the anime or barely reads the manga.

If I will compare it to the first Naruto movie, this movie is better in a lot of aspect. Granted, the movie didn't resolve some of the major plots of the anime, the fan service, especially with the Akatsuki and the fact that this movie has Kishimoto's input made this new ninja adventure worth watching. So if this movie is available in your local theatres, or in DVD & Blu-ray (which will be released this April 24) watch it, it is worth every cent.

Writer's Note: Went with Tobi instead of Madara thanks to the recent events that happened in the anime and in the manga's current story arc.