Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie Review

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 picks up the action-packed adventure with more exciting episodes of the beloved anime franchise. The anime series comes from creator Masashi Kishimoto. Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 picks up the action-packed journey with episodes 221-248. Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 comes from series producers Fukashi Azuma (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Shaman King) and Tomoko Gushima (The Prince of Tennis, Saiyuki: Requiem).

Fans of popular anime franchises will be pleased by the continuing saga of the Shonen anime. Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 features series voice-acting by Junko Takeuchi, Masaki Terasoma, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Noriaki Sugiyama, and Takaya Hashi. The sequel continues the epic adventures of Naruto and follows up on the beloved original Naruto anime series. Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 is an excellent addition to the saga. It remains no surprise that Naruto is one of the most beloved anime series of all time and continues to be rewarding with the sequel series.

The stage is set for battle. An epic war is underway. The epic quest of the Fourth Great Ninja War is unfolding.

The path is now set for the Allied Shinobi Forces to take up the mantle and fight against Madara. Naruto sets forth on a big mission across the ocean seas and now facing down against an onslaught of pirates. Back at the village, the community prepares for war.

Hinata has a personal heart-to-heart with her beloved father. Rock Lee trains working alongside Tenten and Konohamaru works to join the mission frontlines. Naruto eventually returns from his ocean adventures and Killer Bee helps him to train and gain the powers of the legendary Nine Tails.

Naruto has always been one of the most important anime series in the medium. The series is a popular favorite because of the great action sequencing and fun ensemble of characters. Naruto is an essential and well-loved character with plenty of charm for audiences. The hero is extremely relatable and an incredible joy. Naruto is often building his strength and training to be the best ninja warrior possible. Working on his skill set and ninja abilities, Naruto has a wide and vast sense of dedication to his role – fighting for tomorrow.

The heart of Naruto has always been the cast of characters. The charming cast of character brings a lot of wonder to the production. The supporting cast of characters add a lot of charm, too. There is plenty worth celebrating about the cast – the entire ensemble.

Naruto Shippuden returns with character designs by Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto Shippūden: The Lost Tower, The Last: Naruto The Movie) and Hirofumi Suzuki (Naruto Shippūden: The Lost Tower, Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie). One of the greatest strengths of the character design artwork is the great way it manages to showcase the beautiful artistry of each of the characters. There is something special and wonderful about the designs and the manner in which these elements stay true to the original manga. The manga style is well replicated. The characters are well showcased with the animation shining a beautiful light on the anime.

The animation is essential to the series production and remains a vital element of the entire series. Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 delivers even more beautiful artistry and mesmerizing visuals. The series animation is at the core foundation of the production – the art style well showcased through and through. The series animation is well brought to life by the animation team. Featuring art direction by Shigenori Takada (Yu Yu Hakusho) and Norihiko Yokomatsu (Call of the Night), the animation team is top- notch and delivers in spades. The scale of the animation continues to be bold and adventurous too. The background animation and line artwork also impress in spades and showcases the wonders of the animation team.

One of the other key aspects of the production is the cinematography by Atsuho Matsumoto (Emma: A Victorian Romance). The cinematography remains an essential element of the production. The visuals showcase wonderful beauty – charm throughout. The visual aesthetic is quite impressive and also manages to help the animation shine at its absolute best. The cinematography does a great job showcasing the aesthetic vision of the series.

Another compelling aspect of the series is the score composed by -yaiba- (Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations) and Yasuharu Takanashi (Fairy Tail, Tokyo Mew Mew New). The music plays an essential role in the production. The score is beautiful, engaging, and helps the action-packed saga unfold.

Music always remains one of the most vital elements of the production and is terrific throughout. The score is important for the storytelling to unfold. The music helps the fun action-adventure saga be its absolute best – for the ninja fun. The score also helps showcase the characters well and their role in the action saga. One of the most important elements of the series.

Featuring scriptwriting by Junki Takegami (Beast Fighter - The Apocalypse, Pokémon: Black and White), the head writer of Naruto Shippuden continues to handle the action-packed saga well. The scripting manages to do a good job balancing different creative elements. The series has a great voice as a production and the writing helps the ninja journey unfold quite well.

Director Hayato Date (Tokyo Underground, Convenience Store Boy Friends) is a talent and manages to continue to provide excellent adventure for the characters. The saga unfolds with a fast pace and the directing is also top-notch. The entertaining saga delivers more of the wondrous action that fans have come to expect from the series. The series has intensely high energy and delivers what audiences want in spades.

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 remains a compelling installment in the saga. The action saga is all the more thrilling as a result. There is more of the winning formula that fans have come to expect. The series adventure delivers more high-octane fun. The set provides the energy and gusto that fans have expected since the beginning.

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by VIZ Media, Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series looks robust and colorful with the pleasing high-definition presentation. The high-definition video looks significantly better than earlier box-sets with upscaled video. The visuals look robust, sleek, and enormously crisp on the release.

The source material looks far better than expected and is a good match for the series presentation. The animation delivers in spades and the action scenes are beautifully reproduced. The overall result is an engaging and colorful presentation of the series. The colors are beautiful and the presentation works well overall.

Another compelling element of the release is the encoding. VIZ Media continues to do a solid job with the series encoding. The encoding provides a lot of wonderful qualities – showcasing the series at its absolute best. Blu-ray offers impressive encoding with higher video bit-rates compared to streaming services. For enthusiasts seeking the best possible presentation quality, the physical media format offers distinct advantages. Enthusiasts can enjoy the superior encoding quality and bypass some aspects of streaming that are more problematic – such as buffering issues, data plan caps, streaming plan tiers, and weather-related issues.

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with English subtitles). The lossless audio continues to be wonderfully engaging and immersive. The lossless audio provides superior fidelity and depth. Dialogue remains crisp, clear, and easy to understand. The series audio soundstage is superior, too. The score is also an impressive highlight and well worthwhile. The sound mixing is also well done on the release, too.

One of the best qualities of the audio presentation is the lossless audio encoding. Streaming audio is less robust with lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. For home theater enthusiasts, there can be a significant improvement in audio clarity and detail on the physical media format. Blu-ray rewards with its superior encoding and detail. For those seeking the best possible sound presentation, the physical media format is clearly superior and well worthwhile for series fans. Streaming quality is often limited to MP3 quality still and Blu-ray offers thousands of kbps of data – a vast improvement.

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Storyboards –

Episode 228 includes 5 pages of click-through storyboards.

Episode 235 includes 4 pages of click-through storyboards.

Episode 238 includes 5 pages of click-through storyboards.

Episode 239 includes 5 pages of click-through storyboards.

Art Gallery includes 13 click-through slides.

Opening and Ending Videos - 

Clean Opening (HD, 1:33)

Clean Ending (HD, 3:09)

Trailers (HD, 4:36)

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Naruto Shippuden: Set 9 is an engaging action-adventure saga. The franchise offers plenty of adventure and non-stop fun. The series is one of the most impressive and popular in anime history and it remains understandable why fans covet Naruto as a classic of the medium. The release provides pleasing and satisfying high-definition video, lossless audio encoding, and a nice selection of bonus features. The collection is well worthwhile for series fans. The Blu-ray release provides a nice o-card slipcover, too. Fans of the series who have been collecting the series run to date will be pleased to add another fun collection to their anime shelves. The Blu-ray release is worthwhile for collectors. Recommended.