The Last: Naruto the Movie is a 2014 Japanese animated martial arts romantic fantasy action-adventure film produced by Studio Pierrot and directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi. It is the tenth film based on Masashi Kishimoto's manga and anime Naruto. It stars Junko Takeuchi, Nana Mizuki, Chie Nakamura, Showtaro Morikubo, Satoshi Hino, Kazuhiko Inoue and Noriaki Sugiyama. Set after the episode 493 of the Naruto Shippuden anime series, the film focuses on the now adults Naruto Uzumaki's ninja team as they go on a mission to stop the moon from falling, and rescue Hanabi Hyuga — Hinata Hyuga's sister — from Toneri Otsutsuki, a man who wishes to marry Hinata and punish mankind for weaponising chakra.
The film premiered on 6 December 2014. Kishimoto created new designs for the characters, since they are now young adults rather than teenagers as depicted in Naruto: Shippuden. Kishimoto and the writers focused on the romantic relationship between the main characters; although Kishimoto was uncomfortable depicting romantic scenes, he enjoyed seeing the output. The film's theme song is Sukima Switch's "Hoshi no Utsuwa".
The Last had been the franchise's highest-grossing film before it was surpassed by its sequel, Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015). The film was also a critical success, with a number of writers praising its story, for its focus on Naruto and Hinata's relationship, animation and superbly-animated action sequences. However, its lack of an appealing antagonist was criticised. The film's Japanese home-media release was one of the year's best sellers.
Plot
Two years since the peace established in the aftermath of the Fourth Shinobi World War and Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha's final showdown in the Valley of the End, and Naruto has become a hero to the entire Shinobi World. However, the Sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake notices that the moon is nearing Earth and will soon collide with it, which would lead to the end of all life on Earth. The crisis is caused by Toneri Otsutsuki, a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths's twin brother Hamura Otsutsuki, who is determined to fulfill Hamura's promise to judge humanity for their millennium-long perversion of the Sage's teachings into ninjutsu. During the Rinne Festival, Hinata Hyuga knits a red scarf similar to the one Naruto wore when they first met with Sakura Haruno offering her assistance, who encourages Hinata to tell Naruto how she feels about him, so that they can be together. Hinata finishes the scarf and tries to confess her love to Naruto, but she becomes doubtful when she see that Naruto has been receiving a variety of gifts from many other girls, including another scarf, which he clearly cherished and started wearing all the time. This breaks Hinata's heart, because she thought that Naruto has already fallen in love with someone else. But before she can ask him about it, Toneri infiltrates the Hidden Leaf to abduct Hinata, but Naruto's intervention forces him to instead kidnap her younger sister Hanabi.
Kakashi assigns Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sai and Shikamaru Nara to rescue Hanabi. In an abandoned village of the Otsutsuki Clan, Naruto understands the concept of romantic love from seeing Hinata's memories while being caught in an illusion and spending more time with her, after learning that Hinata is truly in love with him, and eventually realizing that he has feelings for her as well. The Hyuga Clan revealed to be descended from Hamura's kin who remained on Earth, Toneri had transplanted Hanabi's eyes into himself so he can acquire the created from his ancestors' sealed eyes while proposing to Hinata. Hinata reluctantly accepts the offer in order to save Hanabi, as well as to find and destroy the real 'Tenseigan' and save the earth. However, this breaks Naruto's heart in the process as she leaves with Toneri. The villagers on Earth defend themselves, intercepting the moon's meteorites and evacuating civilians while Sasuke returns to aid in protecting the Leaf Village.
After recovering for three days Naruto awakens but is sad and upset about Hinata's decision. Sakura reassures Naruto about Hinata's true intentions and must have had another reason for going with Toneri, helping him realize that Hinata loves him so much to ever forget about him, and the group approaches Toneri's castle. Hamura's spirit contacted Hinata, asking for her help as the Byakugan Princess as Toneri has misinterpreted his decree. Toneri refuses to listen to Hinata, ruins the scarf she was knitting for Naruto, and brainwashes her. Invading Toneri's castle, Sakura and Sai secure Hanabi while Shikamaru holds off Toneri's puppets, allowing Naruto to save Hinata. The two of them then successfully destroy the Tenseigan, which shuts down all of the puppets and stops the moon from approaching the earth. However, the moon eventually continues its approach when Toneri fully awakens a new Tenseigan using Hanabi's eyes. Naruto and Toneri then face each other in an epic final battle on the moon, during which Toneri splits the moon in half. However, Naruto gains the upper hand and defeats him with a single punch, which causes the Tenseigan to fade away and lose all of its power. Hinata then takes back Hanabi's eyes, which causes the moon to return to its orbit. Toneri tries to launch a final desperate attack at Naruto using the Byakugan used for the original Tenseigan, but he loses control of the eyes, which causes him to almost die. However, Naruto spares Toneri and, after which he and his friends show Toneri his ancestor's graves. Having seen the proof that he had misinterpreted Hamura's decree, he then decides to remain on the moon to atone for his sins. Later on, Naruto tells Hinata that the scarf he wore earlier was a gift from his late mother, Kushina Uzumaki, which causes Hinata to feel embarrassed for thinking it was from one of his fans. The two of them then declare their love for each other and share their first kiss once they return from the full moon.
The credits show a montage of Naruto and Hinata's wedding, with many of their friends and family attending and congratulating them. In a post-credits scene, Naruto and Hinata are happily married and living together with their two children; their son Boruto, and their daughter Himawari.
Voice cast
Character Japanese English Naruto Uzumaki Junko Takeuchi Maile Flanagan Hinata Hyuga Nana Mizuki Stephanie Sheh Toneri Otsutsuki Jun Fukuyama Robbie Daymond Sakura Haruno Chie Nakamura Kate Higgins Shikamaru Nara Showtaro Morikubo Tom Gibis Sai Satoshi Hino Ben Diskin Sixth Hokage Kakashi Hatake Kazuhiko Inoue Dave Wittenberg Hanabi Hyuga Kiyomi Asai Colleen Villard Hiashi Hyuga Eizō Tsuda John DeMita Kotetsu Hagane Tomoyuki Kōno Liam O'Brien Izumo Kamizuki Tomohiro Tsuboi Richard Cansino Konohamaru Sarutobi Ikue Ōtani Colleen Villard Rock Lee Yōichi Masukawa Brian Donovan Might Guy Masashi Ebara Skip Stellrecht Ino Yamanaka Ryōka Yuzuki Colleen Villard Choji Akimichi Kentarō Itō Robbie Rist Fifth Hokage Tsunade Masako Katsuki Debi Mae West Shizune Keiko Nemoto Megan Hollingshead Iruka Umino Toshihiko Seki Quinton Flynn Kurama Tesshō Genda Paul St. Peter Fifth Kazekage Gaara Akira Ishida Liam O'Brien Fourth Raikage A Hideaki Tezuka Beau Billingslea Killer Bee Hisao Egawa Catero Colbert Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi Yurika Hino Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Third Tsuchikage Onoki Tomomichi Nishimura Steven Blum Sasuke Uchiha Noriaki Sugiyama Yuri Lowenthal Akane Riho Takada Debi Mae West Kaede Ai Hashizume Megan Hollingshead Teuchi Eisuke Asakura Patrick Seitz Kiba Inuzuka Kōsuke Toriumi Kyle Hebert Kurenai Yuhi Rumi Ochiai Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Hayate Gekko Nozomu Sasaki Lex Lang Pain Kenyu Horiuchi Troy Baker Katsuyu Mamiko Noto Mary Elizabeth McGlynn Boruto Uzumaki Kokoro Kikuchi Maile Flanagan Himawari Uzumaki Yūki Kuwahara Stephanie Sheh
Production
The film was directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi. Masashi Kishimoto provided the story concept, character designs and complete editorial supervision. Since the story takes place two years after Part II and several years before the epilogue, the characters were redesigned with clothing suitable for missions and more-mature facial features. The film contains homages to Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows, Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), and Nobuhiko Obayashi's Lonely Heart (1985). A new character, Toneri (voiced by Jun Fukuyama), appeared in the film. Screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka said that he wanted to depict a love triangle between Naruto, Hinata and Toneri in the film. Although Naruto is initially clueless about Hinata's feelings for him, during the film he begins to acknowledge and respond to them. Hinata's character was also developed in the film, with Kyozuka saying that she had to put aside her feelings for Naruto to accept Toneri's proposal so she could find Hanabi. During this scene, Kyozuka wanted to depict Naruto at his lowest after his rejection by Hinata. He then returned Naruto to his brave self, with the character resolving to continue his mission regardless of the cost. Toneri was developed as a despicable villain.
After seeing the staff's initial work on a film about Naruto's relationship with Hinata, Kishimoto decided to oversee the project. Naruto was given a young adult appearance. His hair was made shorter, while his height was expanded notably in contrast to his Part II design. He was given two different outfits, a casual look consisting of an orange shirt as well as a design consisting of a black shirt with orange pants specifically meant for his missions. To make Hinata look like an adult woman, Kishimoto designed her with a strong image in mind. However, drawing Hinata with a pretty and feminine face was difficult, so he largely left the task to Tetsuya Nishio, who was in charge of aiding the author with the character designs. Also, he conceptualized her with a fixed design behind her waist so that her pouch would not get in the way. Different from always being embarrassed in front of Naruto, Hinata wore a languorous expression, which is characteristic of a woman that is deeply in love.
Kishimoto enjoyed seeing Naruto and Hinata's romantic scenes, even those not written by him. Kishimoto acknowledged his discomfort at writing romantic scenes, and he admitted he was not sure if he would be able to look at the scene depicting Naruto and Hinata's kiss. However, upon watching the scene, he felt a mixture of satisfaction and sadness due to the two characters' growth since Narutos beginning; they had become like his own children. In making The Last: Naruto the Movie, Kishimoto based the idea of Hinata wanting to make a scarf for Naruto on what his wife had actually once done for him; this elicited laughs from the staff as they worked on the film. Animator Chengxi Huang, who had been working on multiple episodes of Naruto Shippuden beginning in early 2014, thanked Kishimoto for being a part of the animation team of The Last, as he had wanted Naruto and Hinata to become a couple since Part I of the manga, and thus enjoyed working on this film.