映画「NARUTO」来場特典本、表紙にナルト＆ヒナタと新キャラ
Naruto “The Last” Official Movie Guide Book (by Masashi Kishimoto)
This is the special guidebook that is being given out for movie attendance. I'm assuming that this is gonna be like the character guidebook that was just released, but will cover all the post-time skipped versions of the characters and have more on Hamura, as well as cover Toneri.
Well, to be fair, there's WAY MORE than enough background for Toneri to not be a "filler villain." Hagoromo did openly state that he had a brother named Hamura who initially helped him to seal the Jubi. We know that they were the first two humans born with chakra, and that while Hagoromo possessed the attributes of Kaguya that eventually split into the Uchiha & Senju bloodlines, Hamura possessed the Byakugan. Aside from that, there's almost nothing else that's stated about him in the manga. (Although this DOES go back to give some specifics to what Kakashi mentioned in the Chunin exams about the Sharingan being rumored to have descended from the Byakugan).
Given that the Hyuuga clan are ridiculously strict about their kekkei genkai getting into anyone else's possession as well as controlling their lineage with the main and branch houses, it's highly probable that they're descended almost if not completely directly from Hamura. On top of that, they're openly stated to be the strongest clan in Konoha (even with the Senju & Uchiha taking the spotlight).
It's a pretty big open end of questions that was set up at the time that's going to remain unanswered from the main manga, and I have been curious since he was introduced in Chapter 670 what his purpose in the grand scheme of things was (especially with Kaguya possessing the Byakugan).
Since Kishimoto is actually directing the story & other things for this film, and - unlike the other movies (aside from Road to Ninja's alternate reality) - it connects directly to the canon of the manga, it's highly probable that it's going to fill in the gaps about that side of the story with Toneri's backstory and will explain what makes the Hyuga as badass as they are -- especially since that element was introduced just 30 chapters before the manga concludes.
Really, without all that, the Hyuga's connection to everything has been standing as a pretty significant gap in the complete story of Kaguya's descendants, and it makes sense that if the film was always a part of the plan (which it was since it's been in development for quite some time), Hamura acting as the connecting point that ties everything together is a part of that as well. Obviously with both him & Hagoromo being long deceased, we're left with a descendant of some kind - Toneri. No idea how he'd come about now but that's really the meat of the story that's worth digging into for the conflict end of the story.
Everything else is centered around our main Hyuga character & Naruto, since it's been stated to be a romantic story, and you wrap that all together, and I'd say that it makes itself into a fairly solid extension of the main storyline of Naruto played out two years into the future from wherever we're about to leave thing off in a little less than a week.
Well, according to various translations of the 4th Databook, it has recently been revealed that after Hagoromo sealed the Ten Tails chakara inside himself and sealed the Gedo Mezo with the Chibaku Tensei (hence the creation of the moon), Haruma became the new head of the Ootsutsuki Clan. Both he and his clan left the Earth, and settled on the moon, in order to keep an eye on their mother’s remains.
“Naruto has not yet been able to fully understand about love relationships, so I thought there were so many things I could do in a feature film. After watching the film, now I have a mixed feeling for him, relieved and sad, it’s like Naruto is becoming independent from me. I have been watching him from his father’s point of view.”
Not a part of a comics-related thing, buuuuuuut there are promo images out of all the characters from Naruto Live Action Stage Musical and they look…
^^One of the things I always appreciated about the manga was Kishimoto's character designs. For a fighting manga, they weren't so overdone as to look impossible to pull off in real life.
Gonna go see The Last on Saturday, since there's a theater that's doing a one-day showing of it. I'll probably be inclined ta write up thoughts on it afterwards, so just a heads up if anyone'd like to know any certain whatever's about it.
I don't usually like making comparisons to other films, but since it just came out two weeks ago it begs the comparison of being a much, much better version of Jupiter Ascending (which I enjoyed visually, but could have had a much tighter story and many other things).
Insofar as the Jupiter Ascending comparison
If you want a movie about a secret space princess who has someone technically related to her send out his forces to kidnap her and bring her to him, and then tries to manipulate her into marriage by taking her family hostage, and who has an ultimate goal of destroying the entire world, but she is already in love with a tough special power hero, then The Last does a much better job of it.
So, I'm gonna break down some parts about the film:
The love story:
Seeing everything built up from the point that everyone's back in Konoha after the war was really nice. You get a sense of how Hinata feels with all of the attention that Naruto's getting and attempting to get in with him while still being the shy little adorable girl that she's been the whole time. You get to see little bits and pieces of the other Konoha 7 on and off and semi-aware of it, and Sakura & Hinata's supportive relationship is fantastic, and it really solidifies the platonic friendship between Sakura and Naruto (that makes ideas of seeing their two families in future titles really exciting). There's a little build-up of tension between Naruto & Hinata's feelings for each other that involves some great moments of Naruto slipping up with words and the two of them just being adorably awkward. You also get to see little scenes of them in each others' memories that were played in a really interesting way that made for good resolution to little lingering pieces that've been delivered all throughout the series. The final buildup to them getting together and kissing & payoff is totally worth it, and the aftercredit scene of them around the time of chapter 700 is just wonderful.
The Otsutsuki Legacy:
This goes into great detail about Hamura's role that the manga didn't and it's exceptionally satisfying. Hamura lived on the moon and guarded the Gedo Mazo after it was sealed by Hagoromo & watched over the Earth because he was concerned about the world that his brother was going to create using Chakra, so he watched over it. I believe that he awakened the Tenseigan (which are the Rinnegan equivalent of the Byakugan), and over time, he built his own clan - the shinobi of the moon. The interior of the moon is constructed as a sort of inverted world, with a false sun in the center and everyone living around the interior curve (all of whom have long-since died out).
You learn that this is because - like with the Hyuga, Hamura's descendants split into main and branch families, but this schism eventually split into two completely separate clans with differing interpretations of his will. The branch clan managed to use a weapon to obliterate the main line (I believe this object is also referred to as the Tenseigan, but I'm not certain. It was constructed by a vast portion of the branch clan who had sacrificed their eyes and combined them all into a power source for a massive energy weapon). They also use this power source to move the moon closer to the Earth and create a barrier around the faux sun in the center of their world, as well as controlling and powering all of the puppets that Toneri uses (since he's the last living member of the Otsutsuki clan).
Although I'm not sure if it was explicitly stated, I believe that some of the main family escaped and were responsible for the creation of the Hyuuga clan - because it's confirmed that Hinata is a direct descendant of Hamura (and the memories of the main clan that are given to her, its people and Hamura himself all refer to Hinata as the Byakugan Princess). Also, it's rather interesting that Toneri is only aware of the side of history that his clan retained from their interpretations of Hamura's wishes - which is that if Hagoromo's world can't stop going to war and destroying itself, his sole purpose is to wipe out the earth and start over (which is what he acquires Hinata as a bride for after kidnapping Hanabi and stealing her eyes to acquire their power, since he has none of his own).
The other characters:
Sai provides a matric shitton of fantastic comedy and stands out spectacularly. Shikamaru is really good as usual, and you get to see his more serious side. All of the Kage are displayed in good character and you get a sense for how the international relationships hold up - with the Cloud still amassing some really intense military weaponry (thankfully) in the form of their gigantic chakra cannon that uses a Storm release Laser Circus-like technique when firing. You get fun little pieces of Ino commenting on changes, Lee kicking ass, Chouji making food jokes, Konohamaru being responsible, & Bee doing as he does, but nothing directly from Kiba, Shino, or Tenten. Kakashi is amusing as always with his ways as the Hokage, and it works well. Sasuke is barely present, but has an important role and a few exceptionally spectacular and badass moments when he does. Kurama gets some kickass time to be out and kicking ass, but also be humorous before he goes, which was also great. Despite not having direct roles, there are some FANTASTICALLY nice still-art moments of everyone for Naruto & Hinata's wedding scenes during the credits (like Iruka standing in as his father, etc) that show everyone. They show everyone with perfect reactions and they're totally lovely.
Action & Homages
The action is all really fluid and solid throughout. It's really fun to see some combat that's slightly difficult for them at times, and watching them absolutely decimate other tough opponents. My favourite moments were seeing Naruto just stomp through clones like they're nothing, seeing Sakura punch through a giant crab guardian, watching Kurama brawl with a gigantic golem on the moon, and seeing Naruto & Toneri throw down while fully powered up - topped off by Hinata taking her sister's eyes back from him that you just get to hear, but holy shit. The whole theater reacted to that.
On top of that, it's clear that the animation team and likely some bits of the combat were inspired by and possibly meant to be an intentional little hat tip to CyberConnect2.
Hinata & Naruto do a MUCH cooler version of their combo Ultimate Jutsu from the most recent Ultimate Ninja Storm:
Also, during the final fight on the moon, it's pretty clear that some of Toneri's attacks were intentionally analogous to Augus' from Asura's Wrath (a game that was heavily inspired by Naruto and made by CyberConnect2).
Aaaaaaaand that's the brain vomit that I've managed in the last couple hours that I've been writing this. (I got to sit next to a kid who was like 12 and he was so pumped and into everything that it amped up my experience by proxy. So yeah, if you have questions, ask away and I will do my best to answer them.
Also, there're raw scans of the booklet that was given to some folks in the Japanese theaters that I don't think had been posted here, and you can look at them here: http://narutobase.net/manga/Naruto/702/
Someone made a translation of this little comic from it though. xD
(If anyone finds links to more translations from this, you should link them, because I'm really excited about this all over again).
Sasuke gets several little clips of him wandering in exile every time that Sakura talks/thinks about him. He even has his own brief clips of his wandering during the credits that play after Naruto's wedding, so he's completely detached from everyone in the film and only speaks once and is seen by two people very briefly. He DOES play an extremely pivotal role though despite his brief appearance:
In the opening of the film, Toneri is meeting with Hiyashi and two of his Hyuga bodyguards who refuse his (unheard) terms and attack him. They get overwhelmed by puppets and when Hiashi retreats, they collapse a whole cave on him. Much later in the film, Sasuke finds him crawling and nearly dead.
Then a little later as Lee & about 8 others cut a massive meteor in half to protect the village, one section deflects down into the main city. You just see a blur and hear Chidori and the entire thing shatters to pieces away and the shards continue to break away and entirely disintegrate. Then Kakashi's eyes widen in shock and you see Sasuke in front of him saying along the lines of, "With him gone, it looks like the only one who can protect the village is me." before looking back at Kakashi and disappearing. Hiashi now lying beside them (who is able to inform them of Toneri's plan and that everyone attempting to rescue Hanabi is likely on the moon).
And that's it.
I assume that his story will likely come up more in the Naruto Secret stories.
The Japanese Blu-ray/DVD release for The Last is set for July 22, 2015, & the NA release is supposed to be very close to it. (Additionally, the Bolt movie should be hitting in August).
