Naruto
Original Story: Masashi Kishimoto
Episodes: 170+ (Still running...) [+OVAs and movies]
Rating: Teenagers
Release Studio: Viz Media
Main Voice Actors:
Naruto Uzumaki ~ Maile Flanagan
Sasuke Uchiha ~ Yuri Lowenthal
Sakura Haruno ~ Kate Higgins
Iruka ~ Quinton Flynn
Kakashi Hatake ~ Dave Wittenberg
Third Hokage ~ Steve Kramer
Ino Yamanaka ~ Colleen O'Shaughnessey
Shikamaru Naka ~ Tom Gibis
Choji ~ Robbie Rist
Kiba Inuzuka ~ Kyle Hebert
Shino Abarame ~ Sam Regal
Hinata Hyuuga ~ Stephanie Sheh
Neji Hyuuga ~ Steve Staley
Rock Lee ~ Brian Donovan
Tenten ~ Danielle Judovitz
Gaara of the Desert ~ Liam O'Brian
Kankuro ~ Michael Lindsay
Temari ~ Tara Platt
A huge fox demon attacked the ninja village of Konoha. They sacrificed a child and sealed the powerful demon inside it. Now, years later, that boy, Naruto Uzumaki is shunned by the adults who know what is inside him. (The people born since the incident are not told...) Naruto has a big goal. He wants to be the greatest ninja ever, a Hokage! He wants everyone to look up to him and actually give him a glance. How is he supposed to fulfill that goal if he can't even pass the Ninja academy?! When he does pass, he is placed into a squad of three with his classmates, the smart female ninja, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto's rival, Sasuke Uchiha. Each with their own goals, they must work together to reach them. Thus, their journey begins...
In the anime world, if you don't know what "Naruto" is, what have you been doing? Living under a rock for the past couple of years? It's very, very popular. It has videogames, headbands, figurines, keychains, plushies.... he list goes on and on... With all of this merchandise, it has to be good, right? Well it is. The storyline is interesting and the characters are unique. The interesting is while in most shows when the hero comes, everyone is saved. In Naruto, when Naruto comes, all hell breaks loose! I love most of the openings and endings... One falls short of my expectations unfortunately... "Rocks" A popular opening is "Go!" but I also like "Haruka Kanata". As for closings, "Harmonia" is funny with the chibi Sakura and Ino. Orange Range does a great job for doing "Viva Rock". The fighting scenes are exciting but sometimes one fight can last forever and just drag on for like three episodes. One other thing that can get annoying is that at the beginning of each episode (almost every one anyay), they take three minutes to review everything. If you have a bad memory, this is good but after a while it can get really annoying.
Okay, so now we know how good Naruto is. If you're cheap , you'll probably tune in Saturday nights and watch Naruto off Cartoon Network. Importing DVDs can be expensive and downloading 170+ episodes can take a while so not a bad idea, eh? WRONG. Viz horribly screwed up Naruto. They changed the opening and while I didn't care for "Rocks" too much, the new opening looks like crap. It looks like Viz took some scenes out of "Haruka Kanata" and added their own thing to it. Ugh... And the voices.... Not all of them are bad I have to admit. Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Iruka are pretty good. Everyone else is either only okay or they fall short. Naruto sounds like a girl... In Japanese, they have a woman voicing Naruto as well but I thought the voice actor was a young boy. Now that's good voice acting... When the actor sounds like they're supposed to and if they play an opposite gender character, they sound like the opposite gender. All of the Japanese voice actors are great. Now why can't Viz get some good voice actors? You know me... Over half the time I watch dub and I'm almost always satisfied. ADV Films and Funimation can get the job done. They step up to the plate and release good voice actors for anime. Why can't Viz do that? Why are they releasing this anime with such a girly voice for Naruto? It's, it's.... disgusting... Shame on you, Viz. Your manga translations are good but seriously, work on the anime. You released a joke of Naruto.
Watch the Japanese, otherwise you'll claim that you hate Naruto when you've only seen a cheap imitation of it.
Bleach
Japanese Title: Bleach
Original Author: Tite Kubo
Episodes: Still Continuing (currently at 66)
Year Released: 2005 (I think...)
Main Voice Actors (Japanese Only):
Ichigo Kurosaki ~ Masakazu Morita
Rukia Kuchiki ~ Fumiko Orikasa
Orihime Inoue ~ Yuki Matsuoka
Sado Yasutora ~ Hiroki Yasumoto
Uryu Ishida ~ Noriaki Sugiyama
Kon ~ Mitsuaki Madono
Zangetsu ~ Takayuki Sugo
Kisuke Urahara ~ Shinichiro Miki
Jinta Hanakari ~ Takako Honda
Tsumugiya Ururu ~ Noriko Shitaya
Shihouin Yoruichi ~ Shiro Saito/Satsuki Yukino
Isshin Kurosaki ~ Toshiyuki Morikawa
Yuzu Kurosaki ~ Tomoe Sakuragawa
Karin Kurosaki ~ Rie Kugimiya
Don Kanonji ~ Shigeru Chiba
Kuukaku Shiba ~ Akiko Hiramatsu
Ganjuu Shiba ~ Wataru Takagi
Shinigami (Organized by Division)
1st Division
Yamamoto Genryuusai Shigekuni ~ Unknown
Vice captain ~ Unknown
2nd Division
Soi Fong ~ Tomoko Kawakami
Ohmaeda Marechiyo ~ Unknown
3rd Division
Gin Ichimaru ~ Kouji Yusa
Izuru Kira ~ Takahiro Sakurai
4th Division
Retsu Unohana ~ Aya Hisakawa
Isane Kotetsu ~ Yukana
5th Division
Aizen Sousuke ~ Sho Hayami
Momo Hinamori ~ Kumi Sakuma
6th Division
Byakuya Kuchiki ~ Ryotaro Okiayu
Renji Abarai ~ Kentarou Itou
7th Division
Sajin Komamura ~ Tetsu Inada
Tetsuzaemo Iba ~ Unknown
8th Division
Shunsui Kyouraku ~ Akio Ohtsuka
Nanao Ise ~ Hitomi Nabatame
9th Division
Kaname Tousen ~ Toshiyuki Morikawa
Shuuhei Hisagi ~ Katsuyuki Konishi
10th Division
Toushiro Hitsugaya ~ Romi Paku
Rangiku Matsumoto ~ Matsutani Kaya
11th Division
Kenpachi Zaraki ~ Fumihiko Tachiki
Yachiru Kusajishi ~ Hisayo Mochizuki
Ikkaku Madarame ~ Nobuyuki Hiyama
Yumichika Ayasegawa ~ Jun Fukuyama
12th Division
Mayuri Kurotsuchi ~ Ryusei Nakao
Nemu Kurotsuchi ~ Rie Kugimiya
13th Division
Juushiro Ukitake ~ Hideo Ishikawa
Kaien Shiba ~ Toshihiko Seki
Sentaro Kotsubaki ~ Kouichi Enkan
Kiyone Kotetsu ~ Chinami Nishimura
Ichigo Kurosaki has the ability to see ghosts. He didn't ask for it. He just has it. One night, a shinigami comes into his room looking for a "hollow". The hollow attacks Ichigo's family. When the shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki, becomes injured from the hollow's attack, to save his family Ichigo borrows the power of Rukia. Unexpectedly and by accident, Ichigo takes all of Rukia's power. Unable to defeat hollows, Rukia has to convince Ichigo to become a shinigami (or "Soul Reaper") to cleanse the hollows and allow other ghosts to pass on the "Soul Society".
I love Bleach. I don't know what makes it so popular but I am addicted to it. Usually, I don't say this, or I don't think I usually do anyway, but my favorite character is Gin Ichimaru. My friends think I'm absolutely nuts because he's my favorite character but I like him anyway. Now, moving on, let me address the main problems of Bleach. One, the names are so hard to remember! It took me eternity to remember all the captains' names and I still don't know all of them. I know only a fraction of the Vice-captains' names. Maybe that's why I like Gin. I remembered his name easily. Two, Bleach should seriously include more Gin footage. Most people don't think this is a problem, but it is a very serious one. Trust me.
Okay, moving onto the Bleach storyline. When I read the back of the Bleach manga, I'm going to be honest here, I thought the story was ridiculous (don't kill me, Mayu-kun!). I thought I'd read the first 5 pages and then put it down. Surprisingly, although it sounds weird, the story works out great. (Possible minor spoiler: After the "Soul Society" arc, the story gets a little weird. Yeah, the story doesn't end after one arc.) I hope Bleach doesn't end up like One Piece or something else really long. Then Bleach will be like week-old onion rings. Yuck... After the first arc, the second part arrives. Bleach keeps it fresh and interesting although somethings I wanted could have come (More Gin!). The fights are quick. (No five episode fights. Thank God.) The fights aren't so fast you don't know what happened nor do they drag on forever to the point where it seems they want to torture you. The action is fast-paced and you always wonder what abilities the next enemy will have. The openings and closings are awesome. The in-episode music is a tad under the mark. It just seems weird, not bad, weird.
Of course, Bleach's VAs are awesome. Japanese VAs are always awesome. Currently, Bleach is in Japanese only. You don't want the US to get ahold of it, let alone Viz. It's going to be forever before Viz releases Bleach because they supposedly "don't want it to compete with Naruto". Naruto, my ass. Viz just released some piece of crap that looks like Naruto. Okay, another story... You'll hear that later... Bleach is awesome but screw waiting for the English, head straight for the Japanese. And look out for Gin!
