Naruto OVA: The Lost Story

Distributed by VIZ Media
40 minutes

Ah, Naruto. The series about ninjas with powers that, depending on who you ask, is either the best thing since sliced bread or the worst scourge on the face of the Earth. Me, I simply don’t care about it. I’ve seen a few episodes, both in its original Japanese incarnation and in its dubbed form, and it just isn’t my thing.

Despite that, I didn’t walk into this Naruto OAV, The Lost Story as it’s called, under the pretense that it was going to be lackluster. OAVs can often present fresh and interesting takes on established characters and can be products that stand taller than the series that spawned them. Unfortunately, The Lost Story merely plays out like a slightly longer episode of the series, with all the clichés associated with such an OAV present and accounted for.

Synopsis
The story begins with Naruto, his companions and teammates Sasuke and Sakura, and mentor Kakashi escorting the timid leader of The Hidden Waterfall Village, Shibuki, back home. Called away to an important meeting, Kakashi entrusts the remainder of the mission, which has devolved to cleaning soda cans out of a lake, to his students. But we all know that this escort mission isn’t really that simple, right? Of course it isn’t. Before long, word of an attack on the Hidden Waterfall Village reaches our heroes, and a reluctant Shibuki is forced to accept Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura’s help.

The man behind the attack, Suien, was once a resident of the hidden village. Betraying his fellows, he seeks the village’s treasure, a treasure protected by the village’s leader: the Hero’s Water, a fluid that, when drank, increases the imbiber’s chakra tenfold or higher, but shortens the user’s lifespan dramatically.

And so Naruto and his friends do what they can to keep the village and its treasure safe. Will they succeed, and will Shibuki learn the meaning of courage and obligation?

Storytelling/Characters
The storytelling here is a front, merely a vehicle to palm off some supposedly meaningful lessons about real heroism and to provide some background noise for the big “boss” battle that is pretty much bound to happen. I was expecting and hoping for more. Admittedly, though, with only forty minutes to work with, as opposed to the almost infinite time the ongoing anime series can give a storyline arc, it’s difficult to imagine that much more could have been done.

Character development is all but absent, relegated to a few moments of Shibuki struggling with himself as to what is worth doing to protect his people. Naruto spouts off his usual one-dimensional “what it means to be a hero” speeches, Sasuke remains calm and composed even when the odds are against him, and Sakura does her usual flip-flopping between being embarrassed about Naruto one moment and then concerned for his safety the next, along with the whole “Sasuke is so cool” inner monolog that got old the first time we hear her think it.

Oh, right, almost forgot: Naruto accidentally stepping in dog excrement is supposed to be funny, as is every time he stumbles and falls, or says something over-the-top. The Lost Story’s attempts at humor don’t particularly impress.

You’ve seen this story a million times over. You won’t be surprised when Naruto is beat down, only to rise up in the end and defeat the bad guys. You won’t be surprised when Shibuki finds his backbone. You won’t be surprised by anything here. It’s just a by-the-books action series OAV that does little but provide another collectible for Naruto fans.

Art/Visuals
The visual department presents nothing spectacular. It’s typical TV-quality stuff. The fight scenes are animated passably, but that’s it. Reused animations are kept to a minimum, which is a good thing.

Voices/Music
Naruto’s background music has this nifty tribal drum thing going on, and that’s prevalent throughout The Lost Story. It fits the series well, but isn’t otherwise outstanding.

The dub is okay. As in “could be better, but c’mon, this is freaking Naruto.” To elaborate: the story and dialog isn’t any less cornball in Japanese than it is in English (and, yes, I made the switch and took a good listen). The English voice work is tolerable and about as good as it’s going to get considering the subject matter. Maile Flanagan’s childlike Naruto voice has an annoying throat scratch when angry or yelling, but otherwise fits our hothead protagonist just fine. The only voice I would say absolutely does not fit is Kakashi’s; Dave Wittenberg just doesn’t capture the ninja master’s true essence.

An amusing aside: Crispin Freeman, one of the most well known dub voice actors in licensed anime, plays some random villager who has all of two unimportant lines. It’s a little surprising to hear.

Overall
I’m certain Naruto fans will love The Lost Story, just as I’m certain a more scrutinizing anime watcher will be too off-put by its failings. A good jumping point into the series this is not, and stands as an OAV more suited to Naruto fans than to anyone else.