Naruto: Honoo no Chuunin Shiken! Naruto vs. Konohamaru!!

Esta review también está en español.

Naruto: Honoo no Chuunin Shiken! Naruto vs. Konohamaru!! is a short film/special that accompanies the fifth Naruto Shippuden movie. Unlike most of the specials, who always focus on silly comedy, Naruto vs. Konohamaru is about a serious issue: the Chunin exams.

Located just before the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi World War, the chunin exams are taking place in the hidden village of the sand. While Konohamaru and his team have lot of trouble with the second part of the test (survival in the desert), Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha hero and series protagonist, don't even sweat. So, with only ten people classified, ... the third round of the test begins, and is obviously 1 vs. 1 fights. What we have here is one ridiculously powerful ninja that exceeds by a mile the level of a regular jonin, and nine genins terrified of the fact that they could face the almighty Kyuubi jinchuriki in the first fight. But, the title of the film didn't take long to happen: the draw says that the first match will be between Naruto and Konohamaru. Although the difference in power is more than obvious, Konohamaru is the heir of the Sarutobi clan, plus, he defeated one Pain, so the fight will be more serious than most people in the crowd could imagine...

That's basically what happens. As I said, is very interesting that the chunin exams are the main focus of the story. Naruto wants to be Hokage, but, of all his friends, he holds the lowest rank. He needs to pass this thing if he wants to grant his wish. Plus, we need to take his relationship with Konohamaru into account: they're not only friends, Naruto trained the kid, he teached him most of his techniques. It would be disrespectful not to take their match seriously. The people in the stands support Konohamaru, just because they consider him weaker. Ebizu, Moegi and Udon are devasted by the fact that their companion has to fight Naruto in the first match... but what's in Konohamaru's mind? As a worthy shonen hero, he's more than thrilled to face his mentor/rival. Because, what's better than a fight against the strongest person of the tournament?

The technical aspects of this short are in the same league of those in the series, if not slightly better. The animation complies nicely, and it never resorts to stupid 3D effects. Good jutsu execution and the destruction of the land/arena is well managed. As for the sound, the voices are the usual and do the usual, so no complains there. The background music is typical, and as interesting detail (pretty uncommon in this kind of short), there's an ending! Not only the song is good, but the story of the film continues during it, showing fragments of the following fights.

As for the bad part, I can think in two things: the first is that we couldn't see much the other participants, and, truth to be told, they look pretty interesting. The second one is a small technicality in the rules of the tournament that has no sense (and I mean it: no fucking sense at all). But that's all, that's all the bad things I can think about this short. I have to say, Naruto vs. Konohamaru is one of the best original products ever created about Naruto, if not the best. I wish the fillers had half of the quality of this short... but hey, ultra recommended for fans.
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Naruto: Honoo no Chuunin Shiken! Naruto vs. Konohamaru!! es un corto que acompaña a la quinta película de Naruto Shippuden. A diferencia de la mayoría de estos especiales, que casi siempre se centran en la comedia, Naruto vs Konohamaru se enfoca en un tema muy serio: los exámenes chunin.

Ubicado justo antes de que de inicio la cuarta guerra ninja, los exámenes chunin tienen lugar en la aldea de la arena. Mientras Konohamaru, su equipo, y el resto de los novatos transpiran sangre para pasar el examen, Naruto Uzumaki, el héroe de Konoha ni siquiera se despeina. Con solo diez clasificados, da comienzo la tercera ronda, que es, predeciblemente, peleas de uno contra uno. Entonces, tenemos a un ninja ridículamente poderoso, que sobrepasa por mucho el nivel de un jonin, y a nueve genins aterrados de que les toque en su primer pelea el monstruo que tiene al Kyubi adentro. Y el titulo de la película no se hace esperar: el sorteo dice que el primer encuentro será entre Naruto y Konohamaru. A pesar de que la diferencia de poderes es más que obvia, Konohamaru es un Sarutobi, y, después de todo, venció a un Pain, así que la pelea será mucho más seria de lo que la mayoría podría imaginarse...

Eso es básicamente lo que pasa. Como ya dije, es muy interesante que se use un tema tan serio como los exámenes chunin para uno de estos cortos. Naruto quiere ser Hokage, pero, de todos sus amigos, es el de menor rango. A esto hay que sumarle su relación con Konohamaru: no solo son amigos, Naruto entreno al chico durante mucho tiempo. Sería una falta de respeto que no se tomara su encuentro en serio. Todas las tribunas se ponen de parte de Konohamaru, en una actitud clara de apoyo al más débil. Ebizu, Moegi y Udon están devastados por el resultado del sorteo... pero, y Konohamaru? Como un dignísimo héroe shonen, esta mas que emocionado de enfrentarse a su joven mentor/rival. Porque, después de todo, que es mejor que pelear contra el más fuerte de todos?

Los aspectos técnicos de este corto son los mismos de los de la serie, si no ligeramente superiores. La animación cumple de forma correcta, y no se recurre a estupidos efectos 3D, algo que a veces se usa mucho en entregas hechas para cine. Buena ejecución de jutsus, y la destrucción del terreno está bien manejada. En cuanto al sonido, las voces son las de siempre y hacen lo de siempre. Ahí no puede haber quejas. La música de fondo es la típica, y como detalle interesante, hay un ending! No solo la canción es buena, si no que la historia de la película sigue durante ella, mostrando fragmentos de las peleas siguientes.

En cuanto a lo malo, solo se me ocurren dos detalles: uno es que no pudimos ver a los otros participantes, que la verdad, se veían muy interesantes, y el otro, es un pequeño tecnicismo en las reglas del torneo que no tiene ningún sentido. Pero eso es todo. La verdad, Naruto vs Konohamaru es uno de los mejores productos originales creados sobre Naruto, si no el mejor. Ojala el filler tuviera la mitad de la calidad de este corto... Pero bueno, ultra recomendado para fans.

We all had those speculatory question, why Naruto never re-applied for the Shunin exam again, how would it go if he did, well, pretty much none of us saw him and Konohamaru participating in the same year coming.
Konohamaru has always looked up to Naruto, but here, he is forced to face him in a man vs. man fight in front of all of the village, we all know how it SHOULD go, but oh boy did the directors of this short movie have another plan for it.

It's been a long while since I saw Naruto, looking at this is both eye-opening and turning off. The ... colors looked washed off, very sticky to say, and not at all attractive. I don't remember the character designs to be this bland, but I guess they aged off pretty barely, even though I watch Boruto on a weekly basis and the art style shouldn't be that different.

The whole thing was very anti-climactic at the end as if the whole animation project was just to kick off a one-liner on how Naruto never gets to shine when people are present.

I felt I had to write this review (albeit years late and out of no where) for 2 reasons
1. Naruto (the franchise) has been on a downward spiral for a long time and this is an example
2. to piss off my friend who really likes Naruto and gave this a rating of 8

*This is my first review*
MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD
MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

So here we go,

The story starts off extremely abruptly in the middle of a random desert with no explanation for why Konohamaru and friends are there. They are then pursued by a giant centipede and it looks as though they are struggling to ... fight it. Then suddenly "RASENGAN"
Naruto comes in with the save, easily killing this creature. It is then revealed that this is the chunnin exam, however this isn't just a promotion or a contest between villages, this is to strengthen the Allied Shinobi Forces. It skips to the next part of the exam which is the one on one battles. As Temari explains the rules to the competitors Konohamaru and Naruto are having a petty argument that is supposed to produce some laughs.
Next the most anticlimactic reveal occurs in which the viewer finds out Konohamaru and Naruto are fighting.

This is when everything goes from bad to horrific.

The fight starts off and instantly, Naruto takes out Konohamaru handedly, and obviously because if he didn't that would be completely ludicrous
The crowd is disappointed in the battle that never was and Konohamaru is laying there looking unconscious, he finally gets up and suddenly has a huge burst of energy and his goal is to land just ONE hit on Naruto.
Naruto begins to completely man handle him, which he should, until Konohamaru gets another sudden burst of energy and starts using jutsus from the first Hokage and Asuma.
Naruto begins to get flustered (never by the akatsuki or any other villains but from this shithead)
He starts walking backwards trips over a rock and Konohamaru lands a single punch, which do to the terrible camera angles you can barely see.
For some reason this triggers Naruto to go into Sage mode......sage mode against a little kid that he was just bitching around for 3 minutes like he was a rag doll.......

Suddenly it cuts to literally EVERY important character in the crowd all just saying "idiot" .....why we needed every characters reaction i have no idea.
We then learn about the dumbest rule in the history of Naruto, apparently going into sage mode was banned to make it more fair for the other competitors and Konohamaru wins.


Overall: this was pointless. it was the same cheesy BS that Naruto has been living off of for years, however the series is actually enjoyable do to the cool characters, awesome fights, and decent story.
This though was just another reason to make money. There are so many problems with this OVA its insane, Why does that horrific rule exist? Why was every important character you can think of watching the chunnin exam if they were supposed to be preparing for a war? Why did Naruto feel he had to try so hard after he was just bitching this child around? This was a pointless cash grab and the epitome of what is wrong with Naruto today