Naruto: The Movie: The Experience Xb! No spoilers!
Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the one-time only showing in theaters of the first Naruto movie, Ninjas Clash in the Land of Snow --;. I wanted to leave early to get a good seat, but I ended up leaving at the last minute from work because of %#)!_*% ongoing computer issues that need to be dealt with. I didn't have time to eat anything beforehand, so I ended up with just a small bag of popcorn which cost $4.00. Along the way to Eden Prairie 18, I sadly found out that Source had a FREE ticket for the movie for me 8(! Apparently, they just got them in yesterday along with their comic book shipment. Unfortunately, I already bought my non-refundable ticket costing $10.75 ahead of time, so I had to call back and decline.
I arrived about 15 minutes before the movie started, and the theater was already packed with very talkative Naruto fans who had staked out the place at least an hour beforehand O~O! It was like sitting in a high school cafeteria! Because of my lateness, I could only find a seat in the very front of the theater. There were many empty seats in the back, but those were the 'spacer' seats between groups. I didn't want to intrude even though my head and eyes begged me to do so. 2 fans that were sitting in front of me struck up a conversation with me as soon as I sat down about how they own all the Naruto U.S. game releases, seen all the Japanese released episodes, custom made a Kakashi face mask, etc.. They were nice, but a bit too extreme for me --;, so I just mainly nodded politely and said, "Wow," a few times. Actually, the entire theater was full of extreme fans. It was almost like a mini version of an anime convention except without the artists and dealers.
The opening advertisements started with a bunch of promotions for Viz's Naruto manga and anime, all of which had the crowd screaming, "YEAH, I HAVE THAT! I HAVE THAT TOO!" There was a slide for a special Naruto movie 'exclusive' package that you can buy online for $20.00 on Viz's website, and that had the crowd yelling, "WOW, COOL! I WANT THAT! I'VE GOT TO BUY THAT!" There was even a slide for Gaia Online to which the crowd responded with clapping and, "Yeah, I have an account there! They're COOL!"
The movie began with a little opening documentary showing some of the people who made the film both here and Japan. There were many cheers and whistles for both the Japanese and American voice actors when they came on the screen. There were also many shouts of, "I LOVE YOU NEJI!" or "ROCK LEE ROCKS!" and "SASUKE YOU'RE SO GAY!" I had hoped that would be it, but EVERY SINGLE TIME the same character came on screen, the same people shouted the SAME thing again and again.
The crowd finally quieted down a bit for the actual movie, but there were several talkers throughout for funny scenes, whenever a character went chibi or had a weird expression on their face, and whenever a character was just being that character 86! I think the worst part was the ending documentary that showcased the American voice actors. The documentary itself was good though with behind-the-scenes footage of the actual animation process, development drawings, key animator drawings, backgrounds, etc., but the rabble rousers in the crowd that added their own commentary weren't. I think most people were surprised by the appearance of Naruto's English voice actress, Maile_Flanagan. I must say though that Flanagan is an uncanny match for the Japanese voice actress for Naruto, Junko Takeuchi. The similarities in their voices and inflections are astounding o-O! The crowd really turned nasty whenever they saw her voice Naruto. I heard, "OH MY GOSH! SHE'S SO FAT AND UGLY! I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE DOES NARUTO'S VOICE!" They said this EVERY SINGLE TIME Flanagan was on the screen >X(! It was just as bad when Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Sasuke, came on screen. There were shouts of, "OH YOU'RE SO GAY! GAY! GAY! GAY!" just because of his character, Sasuke. It was very sickening to my stomach to hear this, especially when most of the audience looked as if they couldn't win any beauty pageants themselves ;b! I would love to see if these guys would ever say that in person to the voice actors.
The ones that came with parents or looked old enough to care threw their garbage in the trash receptacles just outside the theater. Everyone else just left the theater in a mess! I even saw several patches of popcorn covered floors! Where in the heck do these people come from? Where did they learn their manners?! Why do these people exist?!
I arrived about 15 minutes before the movie started, and the theater was already packed with very talkative Naruto fans who had staked out the place at least an hour beforehand O~O! It was like sitting in a high school cafeteria! Because of my lateness, I could only find a seat in the very front of the theater. There were many empty seats in the back, but those were the 'spacer' seats between groups. I didn't want to intrude even though my head and eyes begged me to do so. 2 fans that were sitting in front of me struck up a conversation with me as soon as I sat down about how they own all the Naruto U.S. game releases, seen all the Japanese released episodes, custom made a Kakashi face mask, etc.. They were nice, but a bit too extreme for me --;, so I just mainly nodded politely and said, "Wow," a few times. Actually, the entire theater was full of extreme fans. It was almost like a mini version of an anime convention except without the artists and dealers.
The opening advertisements started with a bunch of promotions for Viz's Naruto manga and anime, all of which had the crowd screaming, "YEAH, I HAVE THAT! I HAVE THAT TOO!" There was a slide for a special Naruto movie 'exclusive' package that you can buy online for $20.00 on Viz's website, and that had the crowd yelling, "WOW, COOL! I WANT THAT! I'VE GOT TO BUY THAT!" There was even a slide for Gaia Online to which the crowd responded with clapping and, "Yeah, I have an account there! They're COOL!"
The movie began with a little opening documentary showing some of the people who made the film both here and Japan. There were many cheers and whistles for both the Japanese and American voice actors when they came on the screen. There were also many shouts of, "I LOVE YOU NEJI!" or "ROCK LEE ROCKS!" and "SASUKE YOU'RE SO GAY!" I had hoped that would be it, but EVERY SINGLE TIME the same character came on screen, the same people shouted the SAME thing again and again.
The crowd finally quieted down a bit for the actual movie, but there were several talkers throughout for funny scenes, whenever a character went chibi or had a weird expression on their face, and whenever a character was just being that character 86! I think the worst part was the ending documentary that showcased the American voice actors. The documentary itself was good though with behind-the-scenes footage of the actual animation process, development drawings, key animator drawings, backgrounds, etc., but the rabble rousers in the crowd that added their own commentary weren't. I think most people were surprised by the appearance of Naruto's English voice actress, Maile_Flanagan. I must say though that Flanagan is an uncanny match for the Japanese voice actress for Naruto, Junko Takeuchi. The similarities in their voices and inflections are astounding o-O! The crowd really turned nasty whenever they saw her voice Naruto. I heard, "OH MY GOSH! SHE'S SO FAT AND UGLY! I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE DOES NARUTO'S VOICE!" They said this EVERY SINGLE TIME Flanagan was on the screen >X(! It was just as bad when Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Sasuke, came on screen. There were shouts of, "OH YOU'RE SO GAY! GAY! GAY! GAY!" just because of his character, Sasuke. It was very sickening to my stomach to hear this, especially when most of the audience looked as if they couldn't win any beauty pageants themselves ;b! I would love to see if these guys would ever say that in person to the voice actors.
The ones that came with parents or looked old enough to care threw their garbage in the trash receptacles just outside the theater. Everyone else just left the theater in a mess! I even saw several patches of popcorn covered floors! Where in the heck do these people come from? Where did they learn their manners?! Why do these people exist?!