Naruto Shippuuden

"Naruto: Shippuuden" or "Naruto: The Hurricane Chronicles" is the latest installment to the Naruto series that has recently started to air in Japan and is still in production with new episodes each week. As the series is fairly new, it has yet to be released to the United States. There's a high chance that Naruto: Shippuuden will not be released to North America for perhaps another year or two as it takes awhile to come up with new episodes. There are not enough episodes for a set produced to have a license sold to a United States or Canadian anime studio. Once the series is licensed in North America, there is a long process of interviewing voice actors.

This second installment of the Naruto animated series picks ups two years after the event that have transpired in the original series excluding the filler episodes and story arcs where. The actual end of the Naruto story was when Sasuke Uchiha the rival and best friend of the protagonist named Naruto Uzumaki has left the Hidden Leaf Village to become a "missing-nin" or a renegade ninja to learn under the villainous Orochimaru to be powerful enough to take on his brother another missing-nin and S-Class criminal Itachi Uchiha, who had murdered the entire Uchiha clan. Sasuke was the only one spared. To understand Naruto Shippuden, one must be familiar with the earlier Naruto series from when they were twelve to thirteen years of age.

Like in the manga, Naruto: Shippuuden goes more in-depth with the sinister dark organization known as Akatsuki which Itachi is apart of. Akatsuki had barely made an appearance in the earlier anime episodes and manga chapters but have made a presence which Sasuke started to doubt his own abilities. Watching the first few episodes, I have seen that the anime has done a good job presenting the transition over two and a half years as the characters have gone through several changes which looks to be a very important part of their growth throughout the story let alone the series.

Naruto Uzumaki himself is no longer the typical prankster and showoff but seems to be a bit more mature. But he tended to pick up his teacher Jiraiya's perverted ways.

One Piece

Considered by some to be the heir to the throne of Dragon Ball in terms of Japanese market penetration, One Piece is certainly a phenomenon. The manga's print run recently outpaced Dragon Ball and the series, at more than 130 episodes, is still going strong. It's easy to see why; One Piece follows a very simple and very successful shonen action formula. It worked in the past for Rurouni Kenshin and Dragon Ball and it's working wonderfully for One Piece. The premise is pretty basic. Luffy D. Monkey, an irrepressible youth, ate the Devil's Fruit, which gave his body extra-strength elasticity. He's searching for the One Piece, a legendary treasure that will make him the King of all Pirates and finally allow him to prove himself to his childhood idol, a selfless pirate by the name of Shanks. Along the way, he collects an army of somewhat freakish rogues, including a tough swordfighter named Zoro who fights with a sword in his mouth, and Nami, a spunky thief. Together they have wacky adventures, beat up the bad guys, and collect treasure. It all sounds pretty harmless, right?

Well, right, it is. One Piece is completely harmless entertainment. The battles can be surprisingly brutal at times, but overall, this is pure shonen action entertainment. It is entirely unpretentious and knows exactly what it wants to be, and excels at that. That having been said, One Piece is not a particularly deep show, although the characters are well developed. The focus seems to be on the crazy villains and the endless string of fights the main characters go through. Luffy and his crew of misfits go from town to town, saving the repressed masses and eliminating evil pirates who stand between them and the One Piece. In some ways, it's very reminiscent of Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin and Luffy are both laid-back badasses with hearts of gold that surround themselves with surprisingly capable outcasts and defeat circus freak-style enemies in episode after episode. If you like that sort of thing, One Piece delivers. If you don't, One Piece is going to bore the faith out of you.

So, for fans of formulaic action shows, One Piece is a well-animated bit of fluff that sports decent music and some well-done action scenes. Unfortunately, the bizarre character designs are sure to turn a lot of folks off. One Piece is not done in a traditional anime style. It's very unique and it's bound to rub some people the wrong way. Otherwise, if you like your anime rife with fight scenes that last several episodes, declaratory statements (“Ore wa Kaizokuo ni naru da!” or “I will become the Pirate King!” is Luffy's favorite thing to say...), screwball humor and a touch of originality, One Piece will not fail to please.

Bleach

Imagine what your life would be like if your whole life, you'd been able to see spirits and ghosts. No I'm not referring to 'The Sixth Sense', I'm talking about the new action/drama/comedy anime called Bleach. The series follows 15 year old high school student Kurosaki Ichigo, and the adventures he has dealing with his rather unusual ability to see and communicate with spirits. But on one fateful night, he discovers that his until now harmless ability was about to put his own life and his families lives in great danger.

At first glance, Kurosaki Ichigo seems like your normal 15 year old high school student. But life at the Kurosaki household is anything but normal. He lives with his father and two younger sisters who all help run the clinic they own. With a father who enforces the curfue with his fists and two sisters who can see ghosts also (but not talk with them like he can), there is never a dull moment in this house. But things get even stranger when one night he meets a spirit girl named Kuchiki Rukia, a Shinigami or an angel of death. She explains to him that because of his high spiritual concentration, he will be targeted by evil spirits called Hollows who would very much like to devour his soul. The only way for Ichigo to protect himself and his family is to become a Shinigami himself.

So Rukia decides she will help him out by giving him half of her own powers to him, but in the process of doing so he unwittingly steals all of her powers. Weakened, Rukia is forced into her backup body (which unlike her regular body, normal humans can see it) until she regains some of her powers. Until she does, it is up to Ichigo to take over Rukias duties sent to her from Soul Society, or heaven. As if dealing with school and family weren't enough, young Ichigo must decide whether or not he is willing to accept the harsh responsibilities he will face as a Shinigami.