Naruto Unleashed - Series 4 Part 2 [DVD]

Naruto Unleashed - Series 4 Vol.2

Naruto is one of the most successful, and greatly anticipated mangas of all time.
Having watched all Naruto and all of Naruto Shippuuden to date in Japanese, i greatly anticipate each series or volume they bring out onto DVD.
If you are a manga fan, buy them and you will not regret it.

Naruto series 4 part 2 brings us another 13 episodes of ninja action over 3 discs. Carrying straight on from the last DVD set, an epic fight breaks out between the 3 legendary 'sannin' ninja of the leaf village...and what a fight it is! The first 5 episodes of this set contain non stop action as Naruto's perfects his new rasengan technique and aims to rescue bring the fifth hokage back to the village, however the might of a sannin ninja is too much for our favourite spiky haired ninja and he finds himself needing the rescuing. Ultimately, it all comes down to the newly appointed hokage to overcome her fears and protect her village and the people she cares about...
The introduction of Fifth Hokage Tsunade is a welcome addition to the Naruto cast as she is another character who annoys Naruto almost as much as his rival Sasuke. Some of their arguments create loads of comedy as they are regularly over the top squabbles. However, despite this, underneath the surface their relationship is quite charming.
Out of all the Naruto DVD boxsets released so far, series 4 part 2 contains the most filler material (original material that was not in the original source manga). Predictably enough the filler episodes in this set are no where near as good as the other episodes but that is not to say that they are terrible. Of course, an episode entitled 'Naruto's hot-spring adventure' isn't going to be treated very seriously, but it is still quite enjoyable, focusing mostly comic relief than the usual action. It also acts as a bit of a bridge between the episodes. So after the frenetic action packed battles at the start of this set, it is nice to see a more light hearted episode. Other filler material includes a silly one-off episode in which Naruto, along with his team mates Sasuke and Sakura try to uncover what is behind their teachers mask, as no one has seen his real face. After this, the last 3 episodes of this series contain the beginning of the first full filler story arc in which Naruto and the gang have to protect a runner from the land of tea as he participates in a ceremonial race to determine which clan recieves control of the village. This arc is okay, but again, is nothing compared to the actual story arcs from the manga. Fans may be happy to know that in between these filler episodes are a few episodes that reintroduce the secondary characters that many have grown to love throughout the shows course. Ninja's such as Neji Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame make a welcome, yet shortlived return in this set. You may also be glad to know that the much-loved yet tragic ninja Rock Lee has some significant screen time in this set, Which is probably why he is on the front cover of the DVD this time round.

Series 4 part 2 contains another 13 action packed epsidoes. These are:

92.A dubious offer! Tsunade's choice!
93.Breakdown! The deal's off!
94.Attack! Fury of the Rasengan!
95.The fifth hokage! A life on the line!
96.Deadlock! Sannin Showdown!
97.Kidnapped! Naruto's hot spring adventure!
98.Tsunade's Warning: Ninja no more!
99.The will of fire still burns
100.Sensei and student! The bond of the shinobi!
101.Gotta see! Gotta Know! Kakashi-sensei's true face!
102.Mission: Help an old friend in the land of tea
103.The race is on! Trouble on the high seas!
104.Run, Idate, run! Nagi Island Awaits!

The animation and music continue to be really good in this volume. Look out for the new opening and ending themes on the last episode of the set. They are okay but they are more poppy than previous theme songs. If you have not yet experienced Naruto then you need to check out the manga, or pick up the first series boxset.
So overall Naruto series 4 part 2 is definetly the weakest yet purely down to the amount of filler material. However, this is just a taste of whats to come as after episode 135 the series becomes comprised of entirely filler material right up till the end at episode 220. I haven't yet seen that far yet but I've heard that some of it is shockingly bad. However, this boxset is still quite enjoyable, the filler material is not as bad as I thought it would be (although some of it is quite random) and the action scenes are still top notch. So Naruto series 4 part 2 is still an essential purchase for your Naruto collection.

This three disk boxed set of Naruto contains episodes 92 to 104 of the series and although the episodes in this set start of quite good there is an unfortunate dip in quality half way through with some rather poor episodes towards the end.

The first few episodes of this set conclude Naruto's learning of the Rasengan and Tsunade choice as to either to become Hokage or to heal Orochimaru. These episodes are quite good with some nice action and well written enough to keep you guessing what throughout the rest of the story arc. Following these episodes there are some interesting if unfortunately average episodes as the Village Hidden in the Leaves recovers from the attack by the Sound and Sand ninjas, and prepares to install the next Hokage.

The volume really takes a tune for the worst with the final four episodes which range from the boring to the just plain bad. I may be being a bit harsh on these episodes as they are probably of around equal quality to those at the beginning of the show but after some of the great episodes in the parts couple of sets, these just don't come up to scratch. Overall this volume of Naruto starts off well but I hope that the story picks up quickly for the next box set.