Posted in: Comics, san diego comic con | Tagged: manga, naruto, san diego comic con, sdcc

Sasuke Violently Kills Naruto at Naruto's 15th Anniversary

Published Thu, 24 Jul 2014 14:00:19 -0500

Hi, Peter Sailer, San Diego Otaku Correspondent, here at the early morning Shonen Jump: Naruto panel. Naruto, the manga about an adolescent ninja in a bright orange jumpsuit, by Masashi Kishimoto was first published in 1999. Fifteen years later, and millions of books sold later, Naruto is rushing into its final arc. The moderator, Shonen Jump editor Urian Brown introduces a camera crew from TV Tokyo and leads the crowd in a Naruto chant.

Urian talks about the Shonen Jump digital magazine, a pretty innovative way to deliver English translated manga in an industry plagued by piracy. Alexis Kirsh, English editor of Naruto, announces a $2.00 off sale on all digital Naruto books on all platforms including the Viz App and ComiXology. Alexis leads the crowd in a retrospective covering the most memorable moments of Naruto's 15-year history.

We cut to a TRIVIA BREAK.

"What is Naruto's favorite food?"

"What is Naruto's dream?"

"To become a Hokage," another fan answers.

"True or false – Naruto is the best selling manga in America of all time."

"False"

Come on, dude…

Urian gives him a shirt anyway and introduces the panel's special guest, Junko Takeuchi, Japanese voice actress for Naruto. Junko talks about the backstage process behind voice acting, and her love for international manga fans' passion. Junko continues by explaining that anyone who wants to become a voice actress should have a love for the characters and story.

Charlene Ingram and Mitsuko Kitajima, producer and associate producer for the Naruto Shippuden dub, converse about the dubbing process including keeping the translations localized to American audiences, but true to the source material. Alexis adds that he's in constant contact with the anime producers to ensure authenticity.

Charlene announces an English dub of the sixth Naruto Shippuden movie Naruto: Road to Ninja, a movie about Naruto visiting a dream-like alternate universe, will be released in American theaters in late August. Charlene asks Junko about her experiences working on the film. Junko says that she can't reveal too much because she doesn't want to spoil it, but the main character's counterparts will have surprising personalities. The crowd is rather silent during this answer (perhaps, because they have already watched the movie that premiered in Japan several months ago).

Shin Tanabe, figurine sculptor, discusses his sculpting method. "I want to first apologize for my English," Tanabe says. "I love it!" a crowd member responds! This audience is very amped. Shin gives Junko a new Naruto figurine.

"Make it talk!" someone yells. The crowd laughs.

Junko speaks in Japanese and the crowd laughs again. A lot of this crowd can understand Japanese and I can't… This may get awkward.

Matt Hyra from Cryptozoic talks about the Naruto Deck-Building game for a bit before introducing the exclusive Mecha-Naruto promotional card available with the Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution video game. The deck-building game is available July 30^th for forty dollars.

Speaking about Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, the latest trailer is very well received by the crowd. And yes, if you didn't know, you can play as a giant mechanical Naruto, an original Ninja Storm character. There's also a Day 1 DLC retailer exclusive bonus anime about Itachi cooking an egg. I wonder what Dan Celko and Jeremy Konrad of The Dedicated Server think about this.

Daisuke Komoto, Bandai Namco producer, challenges a fan in a live demo. It's Naruto vs Sasuke live at San Diego! Naruto punches and Sasuke blocks. Naruto lands a combo before Sasuke counters with his chidori blade. The action is incredible! Everyone is on the edge of their seats! Sasuke, with the black fire of Ameratsu, leads, but Naruto utilizes the infinite power of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kurama, to level out the playing field. Naruto uses his Ultimate Jutsu, Rasengan, and misses! With minimal HP left, Naruto tries the Rasengan again and hits! BUT SASUKE INSTANTLY STRIKES BACK WITH HIS OWN ULTIMATE JUTSU, DOUBLE-TEAMING WITH HIS BROTHER ITACHI TO SCORE A WIN AGAINST NARUTO. THE FAN WINS!

She is rewarded with a signed poster from Junko and a figurine. Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution is available on PS3, Xbox 260 and Steam December 16^th. An online play demo is available until September 1^st.

Urian finishes the panel by reading pre-selected questions from the audience. Although, it was very entertaining, most of the questions were inconsequential such as "Do you like Naruto's favorite kind of Ramen?" I would have liked to hear news about "The Last" Naruto movie premiering in December, Viz titles appearing on comiXology, or the potential end to the manga. For a panel celebrating fifteen years of Naruto, it unfortunately felt like filler.

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