Final Impressions / First Impressions / OVA/Movie

“The Last: Naruto the Movie”


「ザ・ラスト ‐ナルト・ザ・ムービー」 (Za Rasuto: Naruto za Muubi)

Chapter 699.5:

Before I dive into this, I want to start by saying that whilst I’m not a major fan of the Naruto series, I do enjoy the characters of Naruto and Hinata, and I always supported them as a endgame couple. When the series ended last year, I was over the moon that all the pairing I preferred were the result. Of course, Naruto isn’t solely about who ends up with who, but it was what had most people talking when the final chapter was released. Longtime fans of major pairings were either over the moon or distraught over the result, especially when legacy is a pretty big theme in the series. The children of these characters are the future of the Shinobi world. Once Boruto: The Movie comes around, it’ll be interesting to see the next generation of ninja hoping to replicate their parents.

Going into this, I knew that The Last was essentially chapter 699.5 of the series, showing what happened in the major timeskip between the final two chapters. Knowing that the events here were canon, I made it my mission to watch this, so I knew the full story of Naruto and Hinata, and how they ended up a couple. With that in mind, let’s get to the content of this rather lengthy film.

A Rewarding Romance:

As a Hinata fan, I’m happy that she gets her own movie – or at least half of it. Seeing her point of view growing up, being bullied, struggling with her crush, and generally staying in the background was pleasant to watch. I’m sure that bitter SasaNaru fans will be unable to see past the fact that Hinata won the romance game in the end, and I don’t exactly blame them. If I were so massively invested in the series and desperately wanted two characters together, who – for the majority of the series – seemed like they were going to end up together, then I’d be annoyed as well. Thankfully, I’m not of that opinion, which allowed me to enjoy the little moments of Hinata’s life in the first part of the film – which was, incidentally, my favourite. The slice of life look at Konohagakure was sweet for as long as it lasted; the characters are in their late teens here, and there’s no major conflict to speak of. It’s nice to see them just wandering around, inspiring the little ones, and simply enjoying life after the major events of the series (unless, of course, you’re Neji). I would have been entirely satisfied with an action-less, plot-less look at life in Konohagakure as Naruto and Hinata and all the other eventual couples got together. That way, we would have got more romance, which was the strongest point of The Last. The more focus on the characters, their thoughts and feelings, and them reflecting on the past, the better.

Once the story kicked in, I could feel myself slipping into a state of disinterest. That may be because I’m simply not a great fan of Naruto and its storytelling, but I suspect it has more to do with the self-contained story of the film itself. However, when we got those heartfelt or comedic character moments between the team, I found myself quite enjoying the ride. Sai and Shikamaru didn’t play a massive role here, but Sakura was a good wingman, pushing the romance between Naruto and Hinata (thank you for that, Sakura). Truthfully, I did not expect Naruto to be the first to confess. Throughout the series his thoughts were always on Sakura; it wasn’t until the last stretch of the final arc when his attention turned to Hinata. Yet still, he never seemed to be in love with her. Seeing him reflect on all their interactions over the past few years and then realising that he is in love with her was nice, albeit a little unbelievable. I may have preferred it if he didn’t start off with “I love you”. Perhaps something more gradual would have been better suited. If Hinata had been the proactive one in taking the relationship to the next level, then I feel that would have worked better, and been more in line with what the entire series was building up to. Her not having her big confession was a bit of a letdown.

Speaking of letdowns, Hinata got shafted in this movie. Seeing her relegated to damsel in distress or princess locked in the tower/cage multiple times was enough to seriously get on my nerves. I did’t expect her to be the one to take down Toneri (Fukuyama Jun), but I at least wanted her to be important in her own story. The romance side of it was nice, as was her one very short fight scene, but it simply wasn’t enough to satisfy me. I shouldn’t expect effective female representation in Naruto, but given that this was basically Hinata’s film, she didn’t do enough. At least the resolution was good. Of course, I knew they would end up together, but their first kiss was a nice treat, and a lovely note to end on. It almost washed away the disappointment that came for a solid hour beforehand. Almost.

Lackluster Villain, Weak Story:

I don’t want to say this movie was terrible or even bad, because it wasn’t. In fact, I’d say it was quite good – good enough, at least. But when it comes to Toneri, I can do nothing but groan. He is an uninspiring villain if I’ve ever seen one. From his introduction I was left wanting more, and never got it. Looking into it further, this may be a result of his story being related to Kaguya’s. Kaguya may have been the final villain of the series, but she was probably the worst. Too sudden, too short, and her whole backstory was not what I wanted from the series. It wasn’t a good note to end on, and to be reminded of her story throughout this film was not helping much. Toneri himself had the classic transformation at the end, but I never felt anything from it. The animation was smooth and action was well choreographed, so I could appreciate it on some level, but not enough for me to remember it fondly.

Everything to do with the Moon collapsing and landing on Earth was so ridiculous that I just tuned out. I knew nothing was going to come of it, so I didn’t want to try and accept that it made any sense. Again, this comes down to me not liking the overarching storytelling elements, particularly in its last few years. Thankfully, the meteors allowed the supporting cast to show off their powers in order to defend their villages. Whether it was Gaara using his sand or Rock Lee delivering an epic punch, I was happy to see them again. I would have liked Kakashi to have actually done something, but I suppose having Sasuke appear on the scene made for more of an impact. It was teasing more than anything else, keeping his fans partially satisfied. It’s just a shame that all those Tenten, Choji, and Shino fans had little to appreciate. Perhaps Boruto: The Movie will treat them kinder (I wouldn’t count on it).

Overview – Final Impressions:

I may seem quite negative towards this film, but I don’t regret watching it. I wanted to see the origins of Naruto and Hinata’s love story, and that’s what I got. It may not have been exactly how I’d liked, but it was more than enough to make me a happy fan of the pairing. The character interactions were another highlight, especially in the quieter moments. And for as much hate as she gets, all of Sakura’s scenes were really good, especially when they served to further push the Hinata endgame. So when it comes to the characters, the romance, and the animation, you’ve got a pretty enjoyable movie.

Unfortunately, the actual story, villain, and conflict was just weak and a little silly. Hinata almost getting married Star Wars style was a particularly jarring moment. Thankfully, we ended up on a better note, with a sweet kiss under the moonlight, seeing the real wedding in the ED (selfies included) and a snippet of Boruto and Himawari at the very end. I expect we’ll see those two in Boruto: The Movie, which is already the best selling movie of the franchise, and is bound to be the most talked about when it’s released outside of Japan. But for now, we have The Last: Naruto the Movie, which ultimately served its purpose in delivering a sweet, rewarding romance.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Hoshi no Utsuwa」 (星のうつわ) by Sukima Switch

60 Comments

  6. NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
    UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Bryon
    Reply

  7. It wasn’t a awesome movie, but it was pretty fun, the flashbacks remembered the 12 Years old me who watched amazed the first episodes and as fan of hinata, the end made me happy.

    Micheleuno
    Reply

  9. Sigh… These guys are really desperate to milk this already dead cow. I know there is a large fanbase of it, but Naruto is not Batman. You cant just keep shocking a carcass in hopes that it will come back to life.

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  10. First and foremost, before I say anything else…

    I am NOT a Naru/Saku lover nor a Naru/Hina hater.

    (How sad is it that I have to always say that whenever I make any post criticizing the movie or anything, hoping that I won’t immediately get pounced on by people who can’t take off their pairing goggles?)

    Anyway…

    The only good thing I can say about this movie is the animation was superb.

    Everything else was just…bad. Seems to be a common trend in any form of media – too much focus on distracting people with things LOOKING pretty at the cost of plot, characters, etc.

    The romance made absolutely no sense when you consider the source material, where Naruto and Hinata don’t ever have a single real conversation ever (literally, after the Chunin Exams, Hinata is never seen again until Naruto leaves with Jiraiya at the end of part one of the manga), and all the moments involving Hinata were largely JUST about Hinata and her feelings towards Naruto while there was NOTHING returned from Naruto (not to mention Studio Pierrot purposely adding anime original scenes for Hinata and extending scenes from the manga with her). It also doesn’t help that, by the start of the movie, you learn that Naruto and Hinata have apparently never even really spoken, much less Naruto returning her feelings, for TWO YEARS after the Fourth Shinobi War ended. It took Sakura and Shikamaru guilt-tripping Naruto with telling him how stupid he was for not noticing/returning Hinata’s feelings, and a genjutsu by Toneri (which Kurama should have been able to easily break), to make Naruto do anything.

    It even required characters to be made into complete caricatures of themselves. Like, Naruto going from someone who could read emotions quite well (this was the guy who, as a kid, was able to make a grown killer like Zabuza CRY), to someone who was one of the biggest morons regarding them, especially with Naruto comparing Hinata’s love for him to his love for ramen. Or the way Naruto just completely GIVES UP when Hinata chooses to go with Toneri…Naruto, the same guy who NEVER gave up on Sasuke, no matter what he did to him or anyone…GAVE UP and it required others to push him into doing something except mope around. The Naruto Gaiden short manga and the Boruto movie only make them look worse overall.

    And then you have them retconing key moments in Naruto’s life such as already knowing the Kage Bunshin as a young kid and Hinata being “his first/only friend”, which erases both the huge points of Naruto connecting with Iruka and Sasuke, as well as erasing one of the very things that made Naruto into the person he was, that we knew him as, at the very beginning of the story – his complete loneliness with no friends due to containing Kurama.

    There’s also the fact that Hinata being teased for her eyes makes no sense. The Hyuga are one of the most renowned, well-known, and respected clans in the village. Not to mention Hinata is the daughter of the Clan Head and should have had a personal bodyguard who should have stepped in to stop it if such a thing really did happen. Otherwise, it’s clearly just copying Sakura’s childhood situation when she was teased for her forehead (that Ino stopped). It also seems like Hinata has just completely forgotten that she is a kunoichi at various points in the movie while further showing that she has absolutely NOTHING on her mind, except Naruto (that’s obsession, not “love”). Even with Hanabi kidnapped and having her eyes torn out by Toneri, Hinata cared more about simply being with Naruto than saving her own flesh and blood little sister.

    They took Naruto’s crush on Sakura that he had constantly displayed, even through the War Arc, and swept it under the rug as, “You only loved me because of your rivalry with Sasuke”, yet completely ignore just how easily that logic can be applied both to Sakura herself with her crush on Sasuke (rivalry with Ino) and Naruto’s own sudden “love” for Hinata (competition with Toneri).

    The whole movie is pretty much just a bad shoujo wish-fulfilling fanfiction for Hinata. Even Naruto himself didn’t feel THAT important outside of being Hinata’s trophy and the attempted DBZ-style fighting…on the moon…while able to breathe…and Kurama somehow able to actually separate from him with no downsides…and the whole thing with Hamura and the “Tenseigan”…asspull after asspull that made no sense and clearly was not well-planned, if planned at all, all just to force two characters together while not doing ANYTHING with them afterwards.

    Once again…

    I am NOT a Naru/Saku lover nor a Naru/Hina hater.

    I do NOT care who gets with who in stories.

    What I DO I care about is that if/when there is romance/pairings, then there must be consistent and believable character development, both on the part of each character individually, AND mutually between each other when it comes to the romance and WITHOUT having to force the story, other characters, etc. to conform completely to them, and unfortunately, Naruto and Hinata DO NOT and NEVER DID have that and, also unfortunately, what there was developed between him and Sakura was also just completely destroyed and swept under the rug in the last leg of the manga.

    The movie was just not believable and that’s because of such things being forcefully changed solely for its own convenience, so fans like myself will notice these glaring (negative) changes. I’ve read a bunch of Naru/Hina fanfictions that do a far better job of getting them together than this high-budget movie (for an anime movie anyway) did, and one of the biggest reasons is that they tend to start them off from scratch and actually build them up in a consistent, believable fashion whereas here, it’s, again, just forced while not even remaining consistent with what was already established in the manga.

    The Naruto Gaiden short manga and the Boruto movie also DO NOT do any favors for ANY of the pairings. The “importance” or “heroine status” Hinata had here? May as well have not even happened in them as she literally does nothing of importance in Gaiden nor the Boruto movie, and has NO impact on anything. She’s just tossed right back into the background and does nothing that looks good or anything.

    The ending of the manga, The Last, Gaiden, and now the Boruto movie…it all just destroyed everything that I had come to know from part one and early part two of the manga. The characters, the plot, the morals and lessons we were taught…it’s like none of that mattered and everything was all just a lie. Everything was just inverted, turned on its head, reversed…characters became hypocrites, morals and lessons were just tossed aside, barely anything big that was thrown out later on got resolved, only creating more questions/problems than answers/solutions. The Naruto I got to know would never have turned out like this, to borrow from Japanese fans, scumbag that we have now. Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Minato, and Kushina would all be gravely disappointed in the “man” he turned out to be.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    1. I’m pretty much with you entirely besides your last paragraph which is overdramatic. Like the review author, I’m not really a naruto fan. Read the beginning, liked it ok, fell off wagon eventually, kept up on developments, etc.

      My problem with the NaruHina thing is that we basically got the shounen equivalent of “Naruto & Sakura: The Love Story” the whole time until the end when suddenly fan-wank ensued and the random but incredibly popular side character ‘won.’ I put shounen at the beginning because I’m aware romance isn’t what this manga was about. If anything it was about bromance. But by shounen standards it did focus pretty heavily on the romance. And pretty much all of that development was given to Sakura and Naruto. Even Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship was more static than Sakura and Naruto’s despite being the centerpiece of the manga.

      The simple fact that they needed to make a movie in order to explain just how the hell Hinata and Naruto ended up together, and to retroactively give Hinata a past because SHE DIDN’T HAVE ONE in the actual manga shows how weak the idea of her as the ‘main’ love interest is in the actual manga.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

    2. This might be an extremely unpopular opinion, but a series that comes to mind is Harry Potter. While I would say the story is more consistent and enjoyable throughout the entire series, the epilogue was just laughably awful to the point that even the author regretted some parts of it. I felt the same way about the Naruto ending. So many things just shoehorned in at the last moment. I LOVED the beginning of the series but it just hit that rut that so many shounens seem to find and never climbed back out.

      So, yeah, the animation was beautiful but I don’t feel like it was a good leg of story at all. Disappointed, but I guess I didn’t expect too much considering recent history.

      Litch
      Reply

    3. Same here I am NOT a Naru/Saku lover nor a Naru/Hina hater. But it has to be acceptable with the rest of the story. In actuality Sakura is the most acceptable followed by Ino followed by someone completely different if you are going with most of the story.

      RS456
      Reply

  11. What an awful love story.
    I’m not necessarily a shipper of NaruSaku or NaruHina, but the only one that made any emotional sense to me was NaruSaku.
    I can’t warm up to the entire ‘person stalks the MC for eons, declares love once, MC realizes they loved this person the entire time….even though they never felt any romantic urge prior to’ plot.
    So this just was a giant cringe. Naruto literally takes a nap, wakes up, decides he likes Hinata.
    What the fuck?
    At least the animation was gorgeous.

    Kabble
    Reply

  15. i’m disappointed with the movie. so many characters didn’t get their time to shine, even sasuke only got less time than a minute. and yes, the story is weak, it’s only salvation is the romance

    danes256
    Reply

  18. Just by the looking at the screenshots its quite obvious material was inserted just to make the ending acceptable. No matter how much is inserted they were still out of place because of contradictions to established material. There were only 4 people Naruto really knew since a small child Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, and Sakura. Sasuke got added after the Uchiha tragedy. Everyone else he really didn’t know till he became classmates with them. Kiba joined Naruto’s class just because he heard a rumor about a kid (Naruto) causing all sorts of trouble in class and thought it would be a fun class to be in. It was also obvious Naruto did not know Hinata but Hinata knew him before they became classmates. Naruto was a celebrity LOL in the village but for all the wrong reasons on top of being a vessel.

    RS456
    Reply

  20. I’m going to get some hate for this, but it’s kind of sad that by the time I was halfway through, I really wanted to fastforward. The whole movie was like terrible fanfiction. The idea that the only way Naruto was going to fall in love with Hinata was through literally connecting with her memories was pretty damn sad.

    On a more positive note, the only parts I enjoyed were the opening and the ending. Superb animation in both (loved the brushstroke quality of the opening), and honestly the ending managed to be much more emotionally engaging with only pictures and music than the rest of the movie put together.

    Yukie
    Reply

  21. Yes! Finally! It’s over! The last animation with “Naruto” in its title that I watched! I’m freeee!

    I saw the movie weeks ago. Terrible. No, not the plot itself, not the romance thing. I never expect anything when it comes to shounens, and hey, it’s Naruto. First 15 minutes of the movie reminded me why I dropped the TV series years ago.

    Kishimoto had fifteen years. Fifteen bloody years! And he couldn’t find time or courage to implement romance in the manga. That would be 1) so much better 2) actually make sense. That is ridiculous and what makes the whole idea behind the movie even more retarded. Why couldn’t he make those relationships a thing in the manga? Oh… Right. Money.

    And speaking of money, “The Last” isn’t even the last movie in the Naruto universe (but no more movies with “Naruto” in the title). And they just keep releasing more manga chapters, more movies…

    PS. Bleach was clearly supposed to end after the fight with Aizen, since it’d conclude every single thing that had happened before it, but money did its thing again. And now it’s crap, too.

    I honestly think shounen mangakas have no pride in their job and no respect for the readers.

    An_chan
    Reply

    1. People act like ‘getting paid’ is a crime. These people are workers. They have lives. They have families. If someone wants to pay them to keep doing what they’re doing, they’re generally going to take it because, you know, food. And while Naruto certainly got stretched out, unlike your bleach example it did end on the end of its primary conflict.

      The romance is just poorly written, but it’s a clear case of fan/executive meddling. There is absolutely no way in hell Hinata was ever meant to be the final love interest or even an important character, because she simply never was in the fifteen years leading up to the end like you said.

      Given this movie’s nature as canon and the well-known love of Hinata by the animators of the show and the fans of the show, it wouldn’t surprise me if Hina’s victory was basically mandated by the production company to justify their planned film.

      KaleRylan
      Reply

  22. Awful love story. Hinata is an amazing girl but I hate the fact Kishimoto threw their relationship all in the end and gave us a movie hoping it would tie the knot when it should have been developed right from the start. It just feels off how for over 200+ chapters Hinata and Naruto’s romance was portrayed nothing more than a comedic factor then all in the end it got serious and now he expects us to take this movie seriously? What a joke.

    Then again this is JUMP we are talking about. The way they portray girls and romance is definitely not the best in the industry at all since they try and suit their young male audience’s taste.

    Kiraboshi
    Reply

  25. I dunno, but all this Time Naruto had an crush on Sakura. Never saw the sign of Hinata’s feelings, and now he found true Love. Because Sakura still love Sasuke? unreachable for him? is Hinata his 2nd choice of heart? I dunno, the solution to both fallen in love is a bit weak. Perhaps he should have asked someone expert in Love stories

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  26. I give credit to Sakura for staying true to her heart. I like Naruto and Hinata as characters and I like them as a pair, too. But Naruto realising his feelings in an illusion was a bit cheap and lacks consistency.

    Glutton
    Reply

  27. Man…….

    Oh boy….

    Some good things. I liked how there was a No Game No Life reference in the film and the production quality was amazing 75% of the time.

    However, I really didn’t like the story as a whole. Why does the Naruto franchise believe that to make a Naruto movie/series “exciting” they have to incorporate an apocalyptica theme? Honestly, I believe the story would have been way better if it was Hinata’s father marrying her off to another person within the Hyuuga clan. It would make it more believable and then Hinata would have been able to face the biggest patch in her character: her relationship with her family.

    The villain was awful. Let us forget figuring out how he could raise himself all alone on the moon of all places. He had no redeeming qualities to him. What made it worst was that the ideology that he devoted his whole life to was in fact perverted. When the big reveal happened, I was left thinking to myself…. Why didn’t Hamura come to him earlier? I mean… He was on the moon…. His whole ENTIRE life. He could have come to him in a vision and said hello or something.

    This pains me, because I am a Hinata fan. I like how she is very introverted and has high anxiety, but she still pushes through anyway. However, I thought that this movie devalued her character. Apparently, no one in the Hyuuga family cares about their father. Also, why didn’t Hinata’s sister get more of a part? Isn’t she supposed to be a prodigy in her clan?

    I hated how the movie “stretched” the scarf metaphor to its limits. At the end of the movie, I wanted to strangle someone with it.

    Also, all of the black characters were all white washed as well, which was sickening to watch.

    It is funny. The “golden era” of Naruto was during the time where the characters were powerful and the enemies were deadly, but they didn’t have the power to destroy the world. It was about becoming the best ninja, learning about complex political relationships with the different tribes, and learning how to cope with deep personal situations that you are dealt with.

    This movie had none of that. If Hinata had to have a wedding, I would have rather watched a cliche Naruto romance movie that did have Hinata having an arranged marriage. It would have had those three elements and would have wrapped up the forgotten hole in Hinata’s story. I would have liked Hinata’s character to have gotten some closure. However, all I received was a mess.

    WhatTha
    Reply

  28. i will not watch it but from the screenshots naruto went to space lol? i always liked hinata desing but now she have a look old and plain
    well at least hinata got a good ending, the poor sakura was preganted and forsaken while sasuke tour the world

    dark
    Reply

      1. well gaiden shit say that sakura have lived alone with salad in the village over 10 years, with the only and fake photo of sakura&sasuke together, and salad just know his father at age 12…also sasuke still continue his tour alone
        THESE is a good ending right?

        dark
        Reply

      2. He saw his child when she was a little. May be even once. But. He leave the village for the sake if the world to be Naruto’s eyes outside the village. Because the fight for piece is still not over. It’s hard but someone should do it. Sakura understands it as well. Sarada has learnt it in the gaiden. It is not a happy ending cause it is like in real world – Kishimoto works hard for his family and don’t spend enough time with his child.

        “Hearts connected” – this is simple and wonderful truth.

        Seya-san
        Reply

  30. The portrayal of Naruto and Hinata romance was very good, but it was not terrible. Tomori was a plot device just to force some of the romantic problems of the main couple. However, I am kind of glad that this romantic subplot actually had a decent resolution unlike other series’s like Dragonball and One Piece.

    YurekaFreelancer
    Reply

  31. Honestly I really did want to like this movie. I’ve been a Naruto/Hinata shipper ever since the first series so in the end this outcome was all I could ever hope for. However I just can’t get past the utter laziness on Kishi’s part when it came to developing these relationships. NOTHING feels like it was earned. This feels like an attempt to simply cash in on the fandom that he has silently teased over the years. Like having that moment Sakura gives Naruto CPR in the manga. He KNEW that would make me people go crazy. He didn’t just insert it to be realistic or anything of the sort. The man isn’t stupid. And that’s what makes this movie so heartbreaking. Instead of a well developed relationship coming full circle it’s merely an after thought of nonsense and nothing more.

    Personally I think the best time for starting on this would have been after the big Pain battle. Considering that’s where Hinata risks her LIFE to save him while everyone else stands by AS WELL as confessing to him you’d think that would be the spark for them. Nope. For some reason Kishi makes Naruto almost completely ignore this. Which is just awful. Instead he needlessly kills off Neji so he can be a reason for them to get closer at the last minute. That alone made me start to hate this relationship which is something I never thought I’d say.

    So yeah I have a personal grudge against this movie’s very existence. Something that I SHOULD have loved turned into something I loath with a passion. Dang it Kishi…… =/

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. No offense, but I’m gonna use you as an example since due to your first sentence.

      Shippers need to sometimes be aware when they are shipping a pair that was never meant to be anything. Fan opinions are fan opinions, and people are entitled to them. If you want to ship Captain America and the one random SHIELD tech you see in the background, that’s your prerogative. But stories still have writers, who in turn decides who are lead characters, supporting characters, tertiary characters and so on.

      It is INCREDIBLY obvious in the manga that Kishimoto never had any intention of making Hinata an important character. Because he didn’t. She’s not. She is, at best, tertiary for the vast majority of the manga. Quite frankly, she’s not even in 80-some percent of it. She’s not important even compared to the other young ninjas in the cast. She’s not a love interest and she’s not Sakura’s rival. She was basically a one-off meant to provide background for Neji of all people.

      Then she had a sudden inexplicable EXPLOSION of popularity in the anime (fed in part by the animators themselves). But that doesn’t suddenly mean Kishimoto is required to rejigger his whole plot to make a random unimportant character into the female lead. If anything his real mistake was that he apparently gave in in the end. We may never know exactly why he chose to give in at the end. Pressure from the publisher? A financial deal to make this movie from the production company that was known to favor Hinata? A decision to throw the fans a bone? It’s hard to say. But the result makes some element of what happened clear. Hinata was not important and then some 11th hour decision was made to have her end up with Naruto and it was too little, too late and basically ruined the romantic part of the series (which this is a shounen series, so that probably shouldn’t be made into more than it is).

      KaleRylan
      Reply

      1. I’m afraid you misunderstood me. I was one of the folks telling people to stop pushing for the ships so hard because Kishi didn’t seem to care to much about the romance angle of his story. That still didn’t stop me from secretly wanting Naru/Hina to happen. Hinata was a very well developed side character who in my opinion was bound to have closure with Naruto. It’s pretty rare for a developed character who has feelings for the main character to NOT have some kind of talk/chat about it. Plus when you take into account everything that happened during the Pain fight I just see it as inexcusable for Kishi to just leave all of that in the air. Naruto might be dense but I don’t see him just completely ignoring her confession to him during that fight. So I still see myself as justified in criticizing his lazy writing in this regard. Even if Kishi didn’t go the route he did with Naruto and Hinata I still think that he would have had Sakura/Sasuke happen. That’s pretty much the only relationship that he put any effort in developing and it STILL was unsatisfying to see them together.

        So that being said I just have a hard time believing he was going to make Naruto not have a wife by the end of all this. Kishi has always been big on the whole “next generation” thing. It’s a story element that he uses very much in the manga. Personally it just wouldn’t make sense to me based on how he’s told the his story so far for Naruto to not be married to someone by the end of it.

        leatherhead333
        Reply

      2. After reading through the manga, I just fail to see how Hinata is a “very well developed character”.

        She, like all the side rookies, did have potential in part one, yes, but most of her bigger scenes in the Chunin Exams weren’t even about her so much as to characterize Neji. Even her talk of “changing the Hyuga Clan” was completely usurped by Naruto and became more of a thing between Naruto and Neji rather than Hinata and Neji and, like I said, after the Chunin Exams, she is never seen again until the very end of part one, watching Naruto and Jiraiya leaving Konoha. By the time we see her again in part two, she’s completely regressed to being one-dimensional with nothing but Naruto on the brain with everyone and everything else coming in a distant second, and the whole time, nothing is ever made of it.

        Development requires more than doing nothing but “showing your love” once every few hundred chapters. For Hinata, it would have required far more panel time, far more individual character development, far more impact on Naruto himself and the story as a whole, and there would have been consistent and mutual romantic development between the two to make them look believable as a pair. There would have been no need to make a movie solely dedicated to her winning Naruto like a trophy out of pity (yes, Kishimoto himself said he felt sorry for Hinata).

        Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, Kishimoto ended up screwing over everyone and everything in “Naruto”, and Naruto Gaiden and the Boruto movie only further emphasize those screw-ups. This is why it’s been said a lot that, by the end, the only characters who seemed to have escaped such “harm” are Lee and Gai. Everyone else became hypocrites and/or had whatever (little) development they had destroyed.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

      3. That’s where I think the anime outshines the manga. While I’m sure many people HATE fillers in Naruto I typically go into them with an open mind. That being the case some of them are really good and do what fillers SHOULD do. Expand on the characters, their motivations and develop them in a way the manga doesn’t. Hinata did have some good filler arcs in my opinion. My favorite was “Search for the Rare Bikochu Beetle”. In that arc we see Naruto and Hinata in a funny/romantic light (even if Naruto is oblivious). Naruto even mentions how beautiful he thought she was when running into her at a spring. It also properly emphasizes Hinata’s determination due to Naruto’s influence. We see her literally push the limits of her ability to try to match him. I think that’s always been the appeal behind her character. And to honest Naruto himself didn’t really change all that much by the end of the show. He’s still pretty naive and thinks everyone can be talked through everything. He’s just super OP now.

        I was a person who didn’t get into the manga until around the time the war arc started simply because at the time I only watched the anime. I never did go back and see what was canon or not so I don’t really remember which was which. I also know about the animators having Hinata bias. That being said I’ll take back my “well developed” character line at least from a manga perspective. But I still wonder why Hinata had to be the one to sacrifice herself for Naruto during one of the most important fights in the series. That just feels weird to see nothing come from it AT ALL. It’s like “thanks for helping me out when I could have died……………kthxbai!”. Just makes no sense at all.

        leatherhead333
        Reply

      4. I don’t think it’s particularly important that it was Hinata and not someone else. One of the major themes of Naruto is that these villages are like families and they all sacrifice for each other regularly. Pretty much any sacrifice scene that isn’t literally the main 3-4 characters could have been exchanged for anyone else from the town to make the same emotional point.

        As for you point about the anime, that’s arguably true but also is the source of the problem. The anime staff are known to have been some of Hinata’s biggest fans. This is what led to her getting these well-done filler arcs that you say made the anime better. But that’s the problem. Had they not massively favored a character that was very obviously not that important in the source material, then we likely wouldn’t have ended up here in the first place. Arguing that because the adaptation writers made certain decisions the actual writer should have reflected those is backwards, which was my first point.

        THe anime writers shouldn’t have attempted to put words in Kishi’s mouth so to speak by placing way more plot importance on Hinata than she ever really had.

        As for you side comment about Sasuke and Sakura, I don’t necessarily agree. As I said above, I didn’t actually finish the manga, I read a bit over half and then just sort of kept up on developments, but I would say at least to that far it was a pretty obvious Naruto/Sakura set up. He was the hero, she was the heroine. She thought nothing of him at first, but slowly comes to realize that whereas Sasuke is basically defined by his self-absorption (for a number of reasons), Naruto is doing EVERYTHING to save him, to help her, to help everyone except himself, and he’s doing it utterly selflessly.

        Which was one of my favorite parts. Not the Sakura stuff, but the idea that Naruto was basically so broken by his childhood that as crass and ridiculous as he could be, he NEVER thought about himself, he was always trying to help others in the hope that someone would show him a little affection. Sakura fits that plot better than Hinata, but frankly that’s not that big of a deal. Sakura fits every plot better than Hinata because in the actual manga, Hinata has no plot, which makes it hard to see how to use her.

        KaleRylan
        Reply

      5. Exactly.

        Studio Pierrot’s bias is even very noticeable when you look at the animation quality of Hinata compared to everyone and everything else while also adding in anime original scenes just for her, and even extending scenes involving her from the manga in order to make her look better.

        Like her “rescuing Naruto”. In the manga, it was literally just 6 pages long (Chapter 437, pages 8-12). She just jumps in, confesses, charges at Pein, then immediately gets Shinra Tensei’ed and stabbed, unable to do anything at all. The anime? Gives her an entire extended fight sequence while also trying to pull out the rods, something she never made any attempt to do in the manga. Also, as you mention, you could just as easily replace Hinata for ANYONE else in being “killed” by Pein there, even a nameless villager, and Naruto would have reacted the same way because that’s simply the type of person he was back then.

        People can read the manga while watching the anime and, excluding fillers, virtually no one else besides Hinata gets that sort of and/or that amount of special treatment. Not even other, much more popular characters (at the time) like Sasuke or Kakashi.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

  32. Just imagine explaining how they fell in love to their kids.
    That was shy of brainwashing.
    ‘Yeah, your mother stalked me for the entirety of our childhood into our adolescence and I finally decided I liked her after taking a nap right before the the moon almost crashed into the earth’…
    Jfc

    Tori
    Reply

  33. Man Kishi is a piece of work.
    Naruto and Hinatas entire relationship had to be determined by a dream. Wouldn’t it be safe to say that if a dream of all the tender moments of Hinata made the relationship…a dream of all the annoying ones could break it just as easily?
    There’s no genuine, palpable, emotional resonance between the two or else Naruto wouldn’t have needed to take a damned nap.

    Tori
    Reply

  34. This was a movie straight up made for NaruHina shippers, and as part of that target audience I quite enjoyed it overall. Aside from the romance, I liked how the plot drew from stuff that had been hinted at in the manga. With its references to the main/branch conflict, Byakugan lineage and its relation to Kaguya, and the moon (I’ve always wondered what the Gedo statue was doing there) it felt a lot like an arc we were probably supposed to get in the manga but never did. The “Journey to the Center of the Earth” inspired trip to the moon was particularly fun, I really enjoyed the imagery there and the moment everyone realizes there inside the freaking moon! Ninjas IN SPACE! happened a lot faster than I thought it would.

    The big problem with the romance was that it probably should have happened years ago shortly after the Pain arc. Sure, it makes a good amount of fridge logic that Naruto can’t understand romantic love in the context of himself, but letting it sit for so long all ready to go just grated. I was also surprised that Naruto confessed first, but in hindsight it makes sense. Hinata already had her confession moment, and when you look at it from her perspective it makes sense that she’d be awkward and hesitant around the guy that seemingly forgot it even happened. Naruto’s feelings moved fast, but hey it’s not like he doesn’t have a track record of quickly developing deep seated feelings for people after a relatively short acquaintance coughSasukecough.

    The worst part of the movie was that despite the good animation, the fights were rather lackluster. I agree completely that Hinata should have gotten a bigger role in the final battle. I don’t entirely blame the movie for this though; ever since the power inflation kicked into overdrive during the war the fight quality has been rather poor, and nobody’s really been able to hold a candle to Naruto and Sasuke.

    All in all it was a decent but flawed movie, which personally I rather enjoyed for the romance and the shoutouts to the manga. Other people’s views on it will probably (and seemingly do) correlate directly with how long they’ve been waiting for this to happen.

    Doctor Hochmeister
    Reply

  35. https://randomc.net/image/Naruto/The%20Last%20Naruto%20-%2001%20-%20Large%20025.jpg

    Kakashi is the hokage and gets his thunder stolen.
    Naruto confessing is unbelievable that it’s laughable.

    https://randomc.net/image/Naruto/The%20Last%20Naruto%20-%2001%20-%20Large%20078.jpg

    Hinata made the village’s saddest zero to be the happiest hero of all time.
    Everyone else probably had a line or two in the movie.

    https://randomc.net/image/Naruto/The%20Last%20Naruto%20-%2001%20-%20Large%20084.jpg

    The villain is pitiful that he would fail as an anti-hero.
    From what had been said, I still enjoyed the movie.

    random viewer
    Reply

    1. While the quality of Mushishi is undeniable, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Naruto would get more comments – it is one of/if not the most popular anime/manga in the Western world. Of course, popularity =/= quality, but more often than not popular does = comments.

      Samu
      Reply

  37. Honestly, I’m a NaruSaku fan, and I didn’t like this movie. It just made no sense in a lot of ways. Everyone already explained it thoroughly enough and I’m SO GLADD that there are NH fans or neutral fans that think like me. Cause everyone on Youtube is just fangasming all over this movie just because NH is canon, and then when I say my piece, I’m the one bashed.

    Naruto and Hinata were connected through a dream of memories….basically a genjutsu. I still can’t get over that. I don’t know how any NH fan can be okay with that….I would’ve been fine with something gradual, but they haven’t had enough interactions to have anything like this.

    Love is thrown around so loosely in this movie, much like most other anime with romance, but still.

    And Naruto only liked Sakura because of his competition with Sasuke? Come on now. We ALL should know that’s not true. Naruto’s feelings have been bothered many times when Sakura has thought of Sasuke. Much like how Hinata admired Naruto, Naruto has admired Sakura, especially in Part 2.

    SAI of all people saw how Naruto felt, and this movie just threw Sai’s frustration with Sakura out the window.

    Ah well, I enjoyed the animation and the nostalgia I got from the Part 1 soundtracks. I will accept that this is the canon ending, but I will not accept the stupidity behind it all.

    Now to wait to see Boruto: Naruto the movie. I doubt the story is any better in terms of Otsutsuki members, but the interactions with the next generation and Boruto and Naruto should be interesting.

    Ar-SSJ
    Reply

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