Search - Naruto Uncut Boxed Set, Volume 1 (Special Edition) on DVD

Jeannette J. (Tsarien) from CATANO, PR
Reviewed on 9/20/2008...

The first 13 chapters of the long (220 episodes, plus 75+ of shippuuden)saga of Naruto Uzumaki, who has a very interesting life; he is an orphan, shunned by his fellow Hidden Leaf villagers, he is in training to become a full Jounnin Shinobi (High level ninja), but he is sometimes slow and lazy; he is a jinchuuriki. (what is that? Sorry no spoilers!)
Naruto is joined by a rather large cast of characters, of which Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake are the most noteworthy. This series has everything: true love (Asuma & Kurenai), romance (Sakura and her neverending and unrequited love for Sasuke), adventure (duh!), drama (the last stand of Naruto and Sasuke vs Kazu), horror (the massacre of the Uchiha clan at the hands of Itachi Uchiha), comedy (the 1st encounter of Naruto & Sasuke... priceless!); the works.
As with most anime, the japanese culture comes thru in the attitudes of the characters, so if you are easily offended by violence, this is not for you.

Hontoni arigato, Viz! (and I never thought I'd say that to y

paxnirvana | Seattle, WA USA | 07/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the kind of respect an anime series should get. Just translate the story as-is and leave the 'interpretation' and reaction to the viewer. Blood and all. [They are ninja you know...] Watch it subtitled for the full effect!

Don't get me wrong -- I fully understand the financial and practical value of releasing a dub version in order to reach the widest possible market. I understand that there are many people who just don't care to read the dialog instead of listen to it. And others who just don't want their pictures cluttered up with words.

But there are still those (like me) who want their anime as close to the original form as possible; uncut and in the original language, and with the original seiyuu (voice actor's) performances intact. So if that's what you're looking for, oh Reader Of This Review, RUN out and buy this set as soon as you can. The translation is good (well... except for "believe it", *sigh* Okay, okay... I can ignore that), the presentation fine and you get a nice bonus in the story-board booklet. But most importantly you get the whole the story of Naruto as originally intended... not just the parts deemed 'safe enough' for general American audiences.

Thank you, Viz, for giving us Naruto fans that much respect - and a choice. I, for one, eagerly await the release of the next set in this uncut series -- money in hand.

...I only wish the ONE PIECE anime could get this same respectful treatment as well. *cries*

2008 EDIT: Yes, this has both a dubbed English track and the Japanese language track with English subtitles. And yes, Funimation does have One Piece and promises us an un-cut release later this month. Woo hoo! Let the Pirate vs. Ninja wars really heat up!"

Description of the Show

Pecos Bill | Gaithersburg, MD United States | 11/29/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Most reviews don't seem to actually describe the show, assuming you've already seen it and simply are thinking about the DVDs. I'll see what I can do to describe the show and why it's so appealing:

The character of Naruto is a young ninja-in-training. His village once fought a terrible beast, the "Nine-Tailed Fox", and the only way to defeat it was to trap its soul in the body of an infant. That infant was Naruto.

His parents died in the battle and years later, Naruto finds himself a complete outcast from society. No family, no friends, and a village that doesn't seem to know he exists. He doesn't know the Nine-Tailed fox is imprisoned in him but the villagers all know and they shun him for the fear it causes them.

Naruto decides that the only way he's going to get the recognition he craves is to become the greatest ninja ever known.

Unfortunately for Naruto, his ninja skills are a bit, well, lacking. He is woefully inept at even the most basic ninja skills. Powers easily grasped by other trainees are difficult for him.

However, Naruto has several powerful strengths:
1) He has nearly unlimited energy. All ninjas use "chakra" (sort of like "spirit energy") to do special moves and Naruto seems to have more of it than anyone, thanks to the hidden power of the Nine-Tailed Fox.
2) He never gives up. Long past the point where anyone else would have quit, Naruto will keep trying.
3) Having grown up largely without family or friends, he takes great stock in his newfound campanions picked up in ninja school. Naruto is at his most powerful when his friends are in danger, and the full power of the Nine-Tailed Fox tends to manifest at that point.
4) Naruto has great charisma, of a type. His never-say-never attitude is highly infectious amongst other characters. A key turning point of many of the tales is not only how his hope never turns to despair, but that seeing this, many good people who were struck with despair manage to rally and try harder. If this loser Naruto hasn't given up, they reason, then there's no reason I should give up either. So he wields great power himself at times, but he also consistantly drives other people to work harder and to do the right thing, since none of them want to measure up short to this "hyperactive knucklehead".
5) Naruto is good at heart. One of the tales you'll get into later is Naruto vs Gaara. Gaara's character faced a situation growing up similar to Naruto, but he turned out evil, corrupt and thought that self-reliance was the most important thing. Naruto kept an essential goodness in his heart and knew that goodness was essential and a person's real strength is in his friends and family, no matter how despairing the circumstances seem to be.

All in all, it's a great tale.

Is it good for kids? I say so. Target audience is probably the 12+ range or so. Some of the images and concepts are disturbing, but everything in this show is a means to an end, and the most terrible scenes are a setup for a particular act of courage or moral goodness that counters it. You can find plenty of kid friendly shows out there, but their moral lessons tend to be fluff. Naruto is harder hitting, but the moral lessons are solid, core lessons. This isn't, "it's wrong to steal" or "sharing is caring", this is, "when things are at their darkest, redouble your efforts and keep trying" and "the decision between right and wrong is in your hands, and there is no proper excuse for doing wrong". It's a show with great heart, and I think you'd do well to watch it with your kids rather than simply pre-screening it. Keep an open mind about some of the situations it puts the characters in and wait for the lesson it delivers and I think you'll be well pleased.



As for the DVD set itself, I have two small complaints: the subtitles sometimes go by unnecessarily fast and the extra features are kinda...weak. I actually really like the English voice work, which I thought they did a really good job on, but I thought it would be interesting to hear the original voices so I've been rewatching it in Japanese with English subtitles. In places, the subtitles will literally only give you 2 seconds for quite a large blurb of text. I read fast but there are places where I have to rewind it because I didn't get a chance to read it all. And it's a shame the extra features don't have an interview with someone. Director? Writer? Artist? Voice actor? I'm not picky. I always love to see a "behind the scenes chat" with someone involved with a show and something like that would have been a real nice thing to have."

Great Job on dubbing, but now worth the $$$

Jason Lee | NY, NY USA | 01/03/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

">> 13 episodes (for those wondering)

This would be a great deal and worth getting if Naruto ended at episode 50. Unfortunatly the series is REALLY long (and ongoing) as well as loaded with slowely paced episodes which makes the box set not worth its price.

As the review before says, it ends right at the zabuza fight which is where Naruto actually gets interesting.

Just think about it, the best parts in Naruto are around the first 110 episodes, at 40 bucks for 13 episodes thats around 340 dollars! not to mention the series is well over 200 episodes now.

But, the series is amazing. If you're a big fan (like me) maybe you wont mind dishing out that much money for naruto... However, I managed to get a good discount on them which is why im even considering it. It was inevitable that the producers would take advantage of the ongoing Naruto fad.

I would probably wait off until they release more episodes on DVD and make a savings account to afford them when the all come out. That way you wont be left on any cliff hangers =)"