PAN-CHAN'S REVIEWS

NARUTO
DUB EPISODE 1 -- "Enter Uzumaki Naruto"

Because the Naruto dub premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States a week before it aired on YTV in Canada, I had a bit of an idea of what to expect, and the dub was more or less what I expected. Here are some of my thoughts on the anticipated first English dubbed episode of Naruto.

• Did they have to use such a fake stereotypical accent for the narrator at the very beginning? .____.

• The English opening for Naruto is forgettable. I keep listening to it and forgetting it a minute later. I didn't really care for the first Japanese opening for Naruto, but I liked it better than this one. I'm worried it reminds me of FUNimation's formula for the dub music of DragonBall Z. No offense, but rock music does not always equal "cool". As for the footage for the opening, it looks like they cut and pasted multiple Naruto openings and random scenes together. And it didn't quite match the music. :/ I understand they might not have gotten their hands on the Japanese soundtrack, but I still miss the Japanese opening and ending. I love the first ending, "Wind". It's such beautiful Engrish song.

• I really like Naruto's Japanese voice. Junko Takeuchi is Naruto to me. This is why I was surprised I liked Naruto's dub voice so much. Maile Flanagan does a good job, and she has that little something in her voice that makes Naruto the wonderfully annoying and awesome ninja he is. ^^ I've heard some complaints about Naruto's dub voice, but personally, I like it. And like all shows, the voice actors will grow into the role with time. This means Naruto's dub voice will do nothing but improve alongside the growth of his character. ^^

• I tend to think of most dubs a separate from the Japanese version. Sometimes I prefer an original voice than one failing to imitate the Japanese version. On that note, Iruka's voice is good as long as you don't compare it to the Japanese version. As a unique voice for Iruka, it's good. As trying to copy Toshihiko Seki, the English voice doesn't come close.

• The Third hokage's voice bugged me at parts. It had a lot of unnatural pauses, but at other parts near the end of the episode it sounded fine. I guess we'll have to see.

• The three lines we heard from Sakura in this episode were good. Sakura's annoying always at the beginning of the series anyway, so she's accurate.

• I love the fact that this is a California dub, because I get to play "spot the Digimon voice actor" with it. Jeff Nimoy (Tentomon) played at least two background ninja in this episode and that amused me greatly. Also, Colleen O'Shaughnessey (Sora) was Ino, and most entertainingly of all, Michael Reisz (Matt) was Mizuki in this episode. X3

• They used the original Japanese background music. They switched it around a bit, but they kept it. ^^

• The edits were minor. They cut out the blood that shoots out of Iruka's nose after he sees Naruto's "Sexy Jutsu" (but left in the kleenix in his nostrils in the scene right after). I was actually surprised at how much they left it. They left in Naruto's Sexy Jutsu, the blood when Iruka is attacked by Mizuki, and Naruto said, "I'll kill you," on TV. They could never do that with DragonBall Z. Things are improving.

• They left in Japanese terms, like "sensei" (teacher) and "jutsu" (technique). This was nice and gives me hope for future episodes. (One of my friends asked if kids will be able to understand these terms. They probably will or at least get the implied meaning.)

• I like scenes in the dub as much as I liked them in the original Japanese version. When I first watched the first episode in Japanese, a friend of mine hit the nail on the head when she said Naruto's character is summarized in a nut-shell when he uses the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu (Kage Bushin no Jutsu) for the first time: he can't make one clone, but he can make a hundred just fine. X3

• Anyone else ever notice that Iruka is fine after he's stabbed in the spine with a giant shuriken? (Good old chuunin for wearing those big red targets on the backs of their vests.)

• All in all, the first dubbed episode was pretty good. It takes awhile for the series to really get going, but they definitely preserved the little things that make Naruto so great, without diluting it with silly jokes and one-liners that people feared.

• Before the first episode aired, a lot of Naruto fans were worrying -- mainly that the Naruto dub wouldn't live up to the original. While I don't think that any dub can equally compare to the original Japanese version, the English dub definitely did it justice. Overall, the first episode was handled well and was promising for future episodes of the series. I can't wait to see more. ^^

• Since the series takes a while to get off the ground, the first episode wasn't all that interesting in the grand scheme of things, but I'd give the dub itself an 8 out of 10.