Naruto Blood Prison (review)

Although I'm following Naruto less closely, I was in Japan when the fifth Naruto Shippuden movie, Blood Prison, went out in cinemas. I decided to go see it, even if I didn't appreciate the previous films so much. The story is once again parallel to the scenario of the manga: it can fit but does not exist in the original version written by Masashi Kishimoto, who by the way was not involved in this Blood Prison film.

Short film Naruto vs. Konohamaru: the burning Chunin exam !

The actual Blood Prison movie begins with a short film of about ten minutes, in which Naruto participates in a new Chunin exam in the hidden sand village. After all, even if he is the hero of Konoha, Naruto is still a Genin. But his "rival" Konohamaru also participates in the same Chunin exam, and they fall 🍁 against each other for the first fight.

[SPOILER] The battle is in full swing between the two friends: Konohamaru is not going to let it go and finally manages to hit Naruto with a punch, which will make him transform into Sennin mode. This disqualifies Naruto and thus, Konohamaru wins the fight. At the end of the short film, Konohamaru comes to see Naruto as a Chunin to mock him. [/ SPOILER]

This short film is not of much interest, except for a few funny sequences.

Naruto Shippuden film 5: 'Blood Prison'

As I wrote in the intro, I was not expecting much of this eighth Naruto movie and that's a good thing because it is just as poor as the previous ones. I wonder if it is even less interesting than The Lost Tower. The story revolves around Naruto, enclosed for assaulting the Raikage and killing Jonins from different hidden villages.

The action takes place entirely in Kusagakure, the hidden village of grass. Naruto is enclosed in a prison called Hôzuki-jo, which literally translates 'the devil's lamp castle 🏯'. The prison boss, Mui, uses a special jutsu called Tenrô, which prevents the affected individual to use his chakra. So, even with the Kyuubi chakra, Naruto can create only one shadow clone before fainting.

[SPOILER] In prison, Naruto meets Ryuzetsu, a kunoichi from Kusagakure who also holds a grudge against Mui. Mui locked his own son Muku, who is also Ryuzetsu's boyfriend, in a old box from the legendary Rikudo-Sennin. This box would have the power to grant all wishes and Mui wants his wife, who died during childbirth, back to life. Thanks to Kyubi chakra, the box finally opens and Muku comes out but turns into a demon who was also trapped in the box. Naruto fights against him in Sage mode, and then invokes Oyabin but it is not enough. Then all his friends in Konoha as well as Hachibi (Killer Bee) just lend him a hand to finally beat the demon with a Futon Rasen Shuriken. [/ SPOILER]

There are no surprises in this Naruto Blood Prison. The film is not very exciting and has little to offer to viewers. Naruto goes almost all the film by himself, and the new characters are not really interesting. The usual characters are seen only towards the end and some are really just there for a few seconds tops. Technically, nothing special either, no 3D and no really impressive fights. In short, if you're not a huge fan of the orange ninja, you can easily go your way...