Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-8284722-20141120180019

Naruto is over. The manga is gone and the anime is starting to wind down. There's a reason why I'm saying this. And here it is in the shortest way possible. I am working to one day become a filmmaker, and am currently taking a course in it. And in the future, I would like to make a CGI trilogy of Naruto films in order to spread the story of the manga for new generations and possibly even enhance the things Masashi Kishimoto was not able to do while he was writing. I know it sounds insane for me to even consider the fact that I could one day make a product on Naruto, but then again, who expected Naruto to be Hokage (among many real-world examples I'd rather not go into detail on for the sake of space)?

Before I go into detail, I'd like to clarify that this will actually be a series of three threads, one for each film. I'd also like to say that I've been considering this thing for months, so I know full well what this is going to look like.

Let's go over details. I had trouble thinking of what kind of filming to use. Live-action would look ridiculous (I'm sure people will faint the moment they see a white-eyed person or laugh when they see a pink-haired girl in "real-time"), while traditional animation would delve too close to the anime, making it hard to differentiate between them. I thus decided to consider CGI. My only concern with this is money. CGI films can get expensive, and anime films don't have much green flooding the box office in comparison to "regular" CGI films. However, it is the best long-run usage of film for Naruto, so I've decided to embrace it. To fit within a period of one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half hours, there will be some cuts. These will mostly involve action sequences and unnecessary comedy/drama. However, the story of the films will delve very closely to that of the manga. There might be slight alterations (particularly for the third film) to some elements in order to compensate for the inability to include Naruto Project media, including The Last: Naruto the Movie, into the films, and the framework of the story might be reordered in order to give the film a flowing story, but the general story will be exactly the same. The films will also not include filler anime arcs or references to media outside of the core manga, although the anime could be used for inspiration in filming techniques, if not frame-by-frame referencing. For censorship reasons, there will also be a toning-down of blood and gore, profanity, certain aspects of Japanese culture such as the complete deletion of honorifics, direct use of alcohol and tobacco, and sexual innuendos, although I'm still shooting for PG-13 ratings. In terms of improving on Kishi's work (yes, I just said that), I will shoot for more characterization and development and overall better writing and international humor, as well as a greater emphasis on symbolism.

Now let's delve into the story of the first film. This first film will be called, as you might expect, Naruto, and will be based on Chapters 1-238, aka all of Part I. In my vision, the film will start off with not just a brief summary of the Nine-Tails attack, but preceding that there will be a detailing on the world to those unfamiliar with the franchise, such as the geography and the concept of chakra, among other things. The narrator here will also narrate other aspects of the film in order to make it flow better. For the Introduction Arc, I was considering deleting the Bell Test, but since that's thematically important I'm going to keep it, albeit shorten the "action". I will delete the second chapter, though Konohamaru and Ebisu will appear in the film later on. The Land of Waves Arc is probably going to be the hardest to incorporate, since it doesn't quite flow with the rest of Part 1. I eventually decided that that mission would serve as what gets Team 7 eligible for the Chunin Exams, which in the films take place about a year after the Introduction Arc. I might cut out the fight with the Chunin and move the scaredy-cat comment to the first fight with Zabuza, though I'm not sure. For the Chunin Exams, there will be everything with the test and the Forest of Death. For the tournament, I might just show skims of the fights that really didn't matter that much. Fights that DID matter, like Lee vs Gaara, Neji vs Hinata, and Sakura vs Ino will be featured to a complete extent, while I'm not sure what to do with Sasuke vs Yoroi and Naruto vs Kiba. For the finals, there weren't many fights, so I could show all to a good extent. I'll also have Naruto's Summoning Jutsu training. The Invasion of Konoha will get featured also to a good extent. At the end, though, I would like there to be a ceremony where the Chunin promotions are announced. At this ceremony, Naruto WILL get promoted for having defeated Neji and Gaara. The reason I do this is in order to show that Naruto is making progress towards the goal of Hokage, as well as to further provoke Sasuke's wrath. For the Search for Tsunade Arc, when Sasuke arrives to confront Itachi, he starts relating the flashback of the Uchiha clan massacre to Naruto. The fight between the brothers will also be shortened, with Itachi probably just slamming him against the wall and after talking to him a bit putting him under genjutsu. The Rasengan training will also have some reduction, and might just involve short comical sequences over the week Naruto tries to perfect it. Then there's the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. I'm shooting to have the fight on the roof legitimately dark and scary, with Naruto trying desperately to avoid Sasuke's (who is trying to actually kill Naruto) attacks and get help while trying to avoid hurting Sasuke. The six battles with the Sound Four also appear to happen simultaneously, and all of the chapters involving Sasuke's flashbacks of Itachi will either be in the clan massacre flashback or just not used. I also am shooting for the Sound Four and Kimimaro to actually die at the hands of the retrieval team instead of the Sand Siblings due to the Sand Siblings having already killed so many, and Kimimaro's death would be ironic as well as redundant (with Itachi's death). Also, when Naruto leaves with Jiraiya, far more supporting characters (not just Hinata) are there to watch him leave and bid him goodbye. The mid-credits scene could also be the Akatsuki discussion seen at the end.

I also have a few slight changes to some of the characters in order to make them less stereotypical and more accessible. For Naruto, I want to shoot for him to be more heroic and idealistic at heart. The villagers will also show more physically abusive behavior towards him in order to truly drive icicles into the audience's heart. Also, all of the villagers (even the kids) will know of the attack and are only restricted from talking about it when Naruto can be seen. His catchphrase in English will be "Believe It!", which will be more understandable for audiences as well as more recognizable for all those American Naruto fans. For Sasuke, I'm looking to make him even more taciturn and blunt. You see, I like to characterize my villains in a certain way, either by having diabolical and insanely giddy (like Orochimaru) or zombie-ish, cold, and morally bleeped-up (like Akatsuki and Sasuke). This causes the protagonists and audience to question whether or not the villain is humane at all, with varying reactions (either a hero like Naruto sees the humanity, resulting in something positive like redemption, or the hero sees no humanity, resulting in something negative like death). This is particularly true for a main antagonist, which in this case is Sasuke. In this way, Sasuke will more openly see Team 7 as tools that he "needs to keep alive to continue my way" and appear to have no real care for them at all, even though he truly does. For Sakura, she'll be less annoying despite still having that Sasuke addiction. I'll also show her in a more heroic light early on like in the Land of Waves, and overall show more affection towards Naruto to the point where they openly consider each other best friends. For Kakashi, I'd like to see him more traumatized over the loss of Team Minato, becoming a bit emotional when thinking of Obito and having a drop-dead terrifying hallucination of Rin's death when he kills Haku. For Hiruzen and Konohamaru, I'm going to try and rearrange some things. Since it was Hiruzen that raised Naruto, I'd like to focus on a close relationship between them and how much Hiruzen cares for Naruto. Also, Naruto would've met Konohamaru before the series began, and their little "rivalry" would've already started. Kiba will be shown as more impulsive and say things like "I like Hinata, so you keep your hands off her!" during his fight with Naruto (much to his confusion and obliviousness). Hinata will show to be more focused on her goal to become the clan leader and not so much on her crush on Naruto, which I believe destroyed her character and caused many people (even Kishi) to forget her place (though she will still like Naruto). Shino and Team 10 will be pretty much the same. Neji will probably be a bit more violent prior to his conversion. I seek to emphasize Tenten far more than she was, showing off her feminism and care for her team and giving her a last name. Then there's Lee. I'm hoping to make him the Olaf or even the Jar Jar of the films, emphasizing his philosophy and making his determination utterly hilarious, but unlike those characters there will be plenty of drama when he is defeated by Gaara, taking him straight out of such stereotypes. Jiraiya and Tsunade will be depicted as more torn-apart, albeit with their wallowing depicted in a more age-appropriate light (less alcohol and less naked women), as I like to think of the Sannin as failures that their "next generation" (Team 7) is destined to redeem. I'd like to portray Itachi in a more positive light, showing him as less of a villain from the beginning and showing genuine care for the people around him, only really masquerading in front of Akatsuki. This allows the audience to see that he is no villain at all, and feel the pain later on when he dies. For instance, when he first meets Naruto, he greets him affectionately the way any person would greet a child. Also, when Sasuke attacks him, Itachi pins him against the wall but doesn't choke him, and then pleads of Sasuke to stay with his friends (of course, just accidentally unleashing his Curse of Hatred) before simply knocking him unconscious. Kabuto will probably be shown to be more understanding of Naruto, and be depicted as someone torn between good and evil, unable to find his place just like the manga character. Ebisu will be shown as a more cranky, uptight person and maybe even a member of the Aburame clan (those glasses). The Konoha 11 will also be a canonical group in the films, with actual leaders (Shikamaru for first film, Neji for second film, and Naruto for third film). All the other characters will be exactly the same.

I even have some promotional material plans. There is first the teaser trailer of the film. In the teaser, after the company logos are shown, there is a rainy, muddy scene, where a boy is shown lying on his back. "From the creators of ". The image zooms in closer, revealing the person to be Naruto. "Comes the worldwide phenomenon". Naruto's face then takes up the screen, we hear a gritting of teeth, gasping, and then one's knees fall down on either side of Naruto's head and the scene cuts to the logo. I'd also would love to have a promotional CD with official dubbed editions of the first anime's opening and ending themes (the version of "GO!!!" could also be featured in the ending credits). We could also have movie edition covers to the first 27 tanboken volumes, featuring new art that I've taken into some consideration. In the DVD version of the film, we could have one of those 20-30 minute animated short films (like "Secrets of the Furious Five" for Kung fu Panda) based on Kakashi's origin, the Kakashi Gaiden, Rin's death, and maybe even the Shadow of the ANBU arc.

That's all for now. I may update this later, so keep an eye out for that. Also, I will be making two more threads on the next two films of the trilogy - Naruto: Hurricane Chronicles and Naruto: Shinobi World War - sometime in the future, so be patient for those. Anyways, what do you guys think? Do you like the concept? Got any suggestions for this specific film? Feel free to comment, but please don't be insultive and/or discouraging, I would greatly appreciate it since this means a lot to me. 