Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Directed by	Hayato Date
Written by	Yuka Miyata
Story by	Masashi Kishimoto
Produced by	Makoto Shiraishi Naoji Hōnokidani
Starring	Junko Takeuchi Chie Nakamura Toshiyuki Morikawa Emi Shinohara
Cinematography	Atsuho Matsumoto
Edited by	Seiji Morita Yukie Oikawa Yuichi Ono
Music by	Yasuharu Takanashi
Production company	Studio Pierrot
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	July 28, 2012 (2012-07-28)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥1.48 billion (US$17.9 million)

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie is a 2012 Japanese animated film based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime series.^[1] It was released in Japan on July 28, 2012.^[2][3] The band Asian Kung-Fu Generation performed the theme song "Sore de wa, Mata Ashita" (それでは、また明日, lit. "Well Then, See You Tomorrow").^[4] Both the single CD and the film's soundtrack were released on July 25, 2012.^[5][6] The first 1.5 million people to see the film were given the Motion Comic: Naruto DVD.^[7]

Plot[]

Naruto and the leaf ninja drive off a group of White Zetsu posing as fallen Akatsuki members, Naruto feeling lonely over seeing his friends' impressed families while finding Sakura Haruno arguing with her parents. When Sakura later uses Naruto as an excuse to avoid her parents after he got into an argument with Iruka Umino, the two are confronted by Tobi who subjects them to a limited version of the Infinite Tsukuyomi: The Limited Tsukuyomi (限定月読, Gentei Tsukuyomi). Naruto and Sakura end up in a genjutsu-based reality filled with polar opposites of their friends which reflect their desires: namely a version of Sasuke Uchiha who remained in the village and Naruto's parents are alive while Sakura's have been dead for years. Naruto and Sakura also learn of a masked ninja attacking jinchuriki who is after the Red Moon Scroll which Jiraiya sacrificed his life in sending to Tsunade for safe keeping.

While Naruto was more focused on returning to their reality before deciding to take in having a family, Sakura enjoyed being an orphan until the loneliness starts getting to her along with the antics of the reality's Sasuke. The village is then attacked by the masked ninja, revealed to have allied himself with Tobi, who has used an incorporeal form to enter the genjutsu reality, as he abducts Sakura to hold ransom for the Red Moon Scroll. Realizing the genjutsu parents, though highly similar, are not like his own, Naruto takes the Red Moon Scroll while running to save Sakura and face the masked ninja. Naruto is overpowered by the masked ninja and his Nine Masked Beasts, when he is saved by the Genjutsu version of Itachi and Akatsuki. While the Akatsuki dispatch the Masked Beasts, Naruto battles against the masked ninja who is revealed to be his Genjutsu world counterpart: Menma (メンマ). Menma absorbs the defeated masked beasts to manifest the Black Nine-Tails, with the Nine-Tails making a temporary truce with Naruto to defeat its counterpart. But this all played to Tobi's plan as he possesses Menma so he can personally extract the weakened Nine-Tails while completely wiping Naruto's mind. Sakura saves Naruto before the Nine-Tails is extracted from him, and Naruto is inadvertently reminded of a memory, that allows him to regain the rest of his memories in time to save Sakura, and he then manages to force Tobi out of Menma and undo the Limited Tsukuyomi. Once back in their reality, after informing Tsunade of their ordeal, Sakura reunites with her parents while Naruto makes amends with Iruka and realizes he already has a family in his friends.

Voice cast[]

Reception[]

Box office[]

The film debuted in the Japanese box office third earning US$3,799,276.^[8] On August 14, 2012, Yahoo announced grossed sales of over ¥1 billion (US$12.7 million) and the rate was expected to be the highest-grossing film surpassing Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (1.37 billion yen/US$17.4 million). Masashi Kishimoto drew Naruto and Menma to commemorate the film's achievement.^[9] Road to Ninja became the highest grossing Naruto film making ¥ 1.46 billion (US$18.3 million) between its opening on July 28 and September 23,^[7] but it was surpassed by The Last: Naruto the Movie.^[10] In 2012, the film made ¥ 1.48 billion and ranked 29th among the Japanese box office films, including live action ones.^[11] In the Philippines, the film earned a total grossed amount of $123,613.00 (PhP 5,068,627) on its 2-week run.^[12]

Home media[]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 25, 2014.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• TV Tokyo's website
• Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia