As the eighth film in the Naruto franchise, Naruto: Blood Prison pulls no punches in jumping right into a plot and story that fits somewhere outside of the canon of the main series. Like most films, it introduces viewers to a plethora of new characters and toys around with the idea of an unbeatable enemy, only for Naruto to beat it at the end.
This time, however, the setting has changed from forests, jungles, and cities, instead opting for the more illustrious setting of a prison that didn’t exist before this movie. Much like Naruto: Road To Ninja, there were some parts that we loved and some that we didn’t.
10 10. Didn’t Love: Naruto’s Incarceration
Maybe the writers forgot about who Naruto is, but most of the Shinobi world, including the Hidden Leaf, know all about Naruto. He is an impulsive, brash child who only gets serious about certain events, like his caring for Sasuke and Sakura.
He is not a good ninja in the traditional sense. The opening scene of the movie features a ninja who can use multiple tools and stealth, both of which Naruto is bad at. It is addressed near the end of the movie, but even that section where everyone was in on it except Naruto was so forced. At any point, someone could have and should have told Naruto.
9 9. Loved: Escape Attempt 1
The entirety of the first escape attempt is exactly why the previous entry is so baffling. He is escaping from prison and is not quiet about it at all. While he does do one stealthy thing, it isn’t stealthy by ninja standards, instead, he is just hiding at a corner of a room and hoping not to get caught.
As a determined kid, Naruto has no qualms about escaping prison because he is truly innocent, therefore he doesn’t feel he belongs there. He almost dies several times in comedic ways. Even the end of his escape attempt sees him falling directly onto his head in the loudest way possible, then getting swarmed by dogs.
8 8. Didn’t Love: Ryuzetsu’s Cave Intro
For zero whole dollars, one line could have been cut out of this movie with no impact to the plot, nor to the scene that follows. After rescuing Naruto from dying underwater, the two dry off in a cave near a fire. When Naruto looks over at Ryuzetsu, he notices she has breasts and asks “You a transvestite?”
Androgyny is a major plot point in plenty of anime, but the callous nature of the line is disheartening and, plainly, unnecessary. Following it up with her slapping him and that being the catalyst for Naruto to respond with “You really are a girl?” was irresponsible and didn’t need to be included in the movie.
7 7. Loved: Ryuzetsu
As bad as her true introduction is, her character is actually quite compelling. She is just a plot character for the movie, but her role stands out over other, especially female, movie-only companions of Naruto. Since Naruto: Blood Prison follows her bloodline specifically, she participates in most of the major events, though she isn’t shoehorned into a princess who needs saving role.
While she does end up sacrificing herself at the end in order to save Naruto’s life, she didn’t do it without good reason. Outside of her Kekkei Genkai of life transferring being the worst one to date, her story is completed because she did what she set out to do. Her whole family is dead, and she has no world past her mission, which is now complete.
6 6. Didn’t Love: The Realities of Prisons
The prison industrial complex isn’t something that many fans of Naruto had thought about, yet this movie makes it seem like this is a commonly used thing. The world of shinobi is definitively a kill or be killed world with some exceptions. While prison hasn’t been discussed before, it was, at the very least, an interesting idea to explore.
Where it becomes problematic is in its depictions of the prison. Overall, Hozuki Castle is depicted as a straightforward fantasy prison. The issue comes when it starts to depict violence on the inmates from gleeful guards and actual torture, both of which are real problems with prisons.
5 5. Loved: The Prisoners
It is hard to give an entirely new cast of characters some amount of personality in a short amount of time. Naruto: Blood Prison achieves this perfectly with the prisoners. Each one has their own, distinct style of talking, dressing, and behaving. There are even a few notable inmates that don’t factor into the main plot at all.
The boom box prisoner was an instant stand out for a lot of people. He is just a man going about his day-to-day process in prison while jamming out on a 90’s style boom box. During the riot scene, there is an old man who goes around just beating everyone down, while cracking wise. Even without exploring backstories, they are good characters.
4 4. Didn’t Love: Hidden Grass Village
The biggest issue with the Hidden Grass Village is the name. The Hidden Grass Village, Kusagakure, has been mentioned a few times over the years, including having a team in the Chunin Exam Arc. It also houses the bridge that was destroyed by Minato, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin and the bridge where the new Team 7 meets up with Kabuto and Orochimaru.
Its name is rarely spoken throughout the series, but when it is, it is confusing. Most of the villages have distinct differentiators, but Hidden Grass Village and Hidden Leaf Village are so similar that it is off-putting. At least the difference between Hidden Water and Hidden Rain is definable compared to these two.
3 3. Loved: Naruto Depowered
A Naruto movie where Naruto isn’t able to do his normal tomfoolery doesn’t sound like it would work, but Naruto: Blood Prison makes it work. This is one of the few times Naruto doesn’t get to rely on his power as a Jinchūriki, instead, he must use only his training and will power to get him through.
While the hero losing his powers trope is overplayed in the world of anime, this movie offers a fresh approach, solid reasoning for his power negation, and alternative ways to go about completing his tasks. Seeing Naruto must think about his actions was a nice change of pace for the ninja known for jumping into fights without care.
2 2. Didn’t Love: The Cavalry
The biggest letdown of the movie was the inclusion of the teams from the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hidden Cloud Village. Beginning with the fact that they don’t enter the movie until the last 25 or so minutes, even when they do show up, they bring nothing to the table. Even with the help of an expanded Choji and Hachibi-form Killer B, none of them served as more than a distraction.
Naruto even extends the battle longer by having them act specifically as distractions so he could charge up his sage mode. Even at the end when Naruto is dying, Tsunade and Sakura, some of the greatest medical ninja alive, couldn’t help with healing him. They were solely added to pad the run time and were just unnecessary.
1 1. Loved: The Score
It isn’t often that the score of a movie like Naruto: Blood Prison is talked about, but for this movie, it does need to be discussed. Yasuharu Takanashi creates such a vibrant scene with the use of strategically placed musical bits. The best part of the music is in the final battle.
As Naruto comes back to the battle, the music reaches a high crescendo and then drops out as the scene focuses back on Naruto himself. It is such a heightened scene with so much added weight thanks to the music. When the music comes back, it goes right into the tradition Naruto fight theme and it is filled with nostalgia and triumph.