Review: The Last: Naruto the Movie

I'm going into this assuming that anyone who watches The Last will be aware of the Narutoverse and everything cannon that happens there. With that being said, here's my review on the final film of the main franchise.
The Last gave me very mixed feelings. It was hard not to love it because of its emotion and its way of tying ends off. However, there were definitely some downsides.

Its major issues were its plot holes. The mere existence of the film's antagonist bothered me. Toneri, a member of the Otsutsuki clan, descendant of Kaguya, the first being to ever wield chakra, decides that the world must be destroyed in order to cleanse it of eternal war. Sure, I love that he's a baddie who thinks he's a goodie. But he's so random. The Last takes place two years after the Fourth Shinobi War after everyone has banded together for a time of peace.

Then lo and behold, Toneri appears claiming he wants to rid the world of war. So where was he during the 18+ years of war and conflict between the third and fourth great shinobi wars? Surely then would have been a better time to get involved and decide the world was beyond redemption because of its violence. I dunno. It just doesn't sit right with me. He comes across very much as a plot device with the sole purpose of bringing Naruto and Hinata together.

Which swiftly leads me on to my second negative. Instead of building up Naruto's feelings for Hinata throughout the main series, they decided just to smush it into one film and hope that the audience will just accept that he suddenly has feelings for her. I found that when I watched The Last, I was rooting for Hinata far more than I was for Naruto. Why? Because from pretty much episode 23 of 720 we knew that Hinata loved Naruto. It's painful to watch how oblivious he is to how much she loves him and always has. The Last finally gives her the chance to put her feels across and I seriously rooted for her. It was finally her time!

But then we have Naruto. Who, up until The Last, seemed more interested in finding Sasuke, battling the Akatsuki, confessing to Sakura, and basically doing anything else under the sun other than taking notice of Hinata and her blatantly obvious feelings. Hell, she even confessed her undying love for him on the battlefield in episode 386 to his face. Which is quickly swept under the rug and forgotten about. Naruto thinks nothing more of it. Until The Last, another 114 episodes later.

Naruto confesses his love for Hinata first in The Last, but it's based off a memory that is only discovered during the film, and is set before the events of the first Naruto episode. Again, I feel like this it was badly written. There were plenty of moments where Hinata was there for Naruto during the course of the main timeline but they decided to use an entirely new memory. Admittedly, they did incorporate the moment when Hinata gave Naruto a healing ointment during the chunin exams, and when she confessed on the battlefield, but as the main storyline of the film works around a scarf that was only present during the new memory, Naruto's feelings of love come across forced and insincere. Still, I'm happy for Hinata. Thank goodness she got her happy ending.

All this being said, I really did like the final Naruto film. If I could have any word to describe it, it would be nostalgic. As the film is essentially a way of saying good bye to the story of Naruto, it uses a number of flashbacks, showing Naruto, Hinata and the others as children from when they were in Iruka's care at the academy. Particularly in one scene, it shows Naruto and Hinata growing younger, taking them through the stages we watched them grow through. It hit me hard, seeing the pair back at the age of series one, from the Chunin exams. It triggers memories from the whole timeline.

Another plus, more on the technical side of things, is how fast they brought out the English dub. I started Naruto before I knew about the Japanese dub and how far in front of the English dub it was. I think I made it through to just after the Saving the Kazekage arc in Naruto Shippuden before I swapped to subbed. So I knew I had to watch the final film in English. With those classic voice actors. Honestly, compared to how long it takes to get the English dubbed out of some animes, the dubbing for The Last was like a snap of the fingers. Here's looking at you, Shugo Chara. It's been 10 years and I'm still waiting.

Given that it's a film, the animation for The Last is also very well done. There are some episodes later in the series, particularly those featuring Rock Lee, that are chibi-fied, rough, detail-less and rushed. However, The Last has clearly had time put into it. The artwork and detail of the frames are superb.

The characters are also well developed and the writing is far better than say, what it was in the beginning of the franchise. Balancing out the fact that Toneri is only a plot device to push Naruto and Hinata together, his character is actually well presented. Well presented here means you want to punch him. He's an absolute arsehole to Hinata. Initially he says he wants to marry her. However soon after he states he only wants her for her bloodline and heritage. He tries to find out more about her, wanting to get on with her, but as soon as she does something he does not like he tells her to be silent. Its infuriating. He's the sort of character who seems nice on the surface but really he's a selfish, arrogant, lonely and unsocialised. Hats off though, this fits into his backstory fairly well.

As for Naruto and Hinata, once again the story of Hinata is a little heartbreaking during the course of the film. Since the beginning, we've known that she is shy. Shy as hell. But she puts her heart and soul into something to show her love for Naruto. We beg for her to find her confidence, to make the leap. And then Naruto goes and ruins it all with his total air-headedness and lack of empathy. It's aggravating in a brilliant sort of way. As I've said, this is very much a film where you root for Hinata, not Naruto.

It's also very comforting to see many old faces. Kakashi, Gaara, Shikamaru, Sai, everyone really. They all have cameos. Oh, and of course. The after credits scene. It's an absolute must. I can't explain it more than that if you haven't actually seen it yet. I have tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible but that final after-credits scene. I wish they had just ended the entire franchise there. It's perfect. Damn it, Boruto.

Personally, I think The Last, plus episodes 494-500 of Naruto Shippuden are a perfect send-off to the whole story. Neither works by itself, but together its the most heartwarming story, and the most heartbreaking, and the perfect, PERFECT end to Naruto.

All I can really say to end this on is thank you for enriching ten years of my life with something that, to anyone looking at it from the outside, is childish and dumb, but to anyone who has stayed with it from the beginning, and seen the progression from children's TV show to hard-hitting young adult plot, is a family and friend that will always have a place in this nerd's heart. I don't think I'll ever love a show more than I loved Naruto.