TMNT Meets Naruto Review
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are invading the world of Naruto. This story marks the most recent crossover of the Mutant Teenagers, and is the first crossover with an Anime/ Manga property.
The story involves a special mission for the Kakashi led Team 7 to deliver reporter April O’Neil ( a very different looking version of the comic character, similar to the new Mutant mayhem version, to Big Apple Village. This is obviously an analog to New York City.
Team 7 consists of the Ninjutsu prodigy Sasuke Hatake, the pink haired shinobi Sakura Haruno, the last in class, yet secretly powerful Naruto Uzumaki, and their teacher and mentor Kakashi Hatake.
For those Naruto Fans who are curious as to when this fits into continuity in the manga or Anime, I believe we would count this among the early missions that took place before the escort mission to the Land of Tea where they met Idate Morino.
Lady Tsunade has charged Kakashi’s team with a B-Ranked mission to safely escort April O’neil to her destination, but they expect some trouble along the way. The Foot Clan is in pursuit of April’s findings about a Ninja Scientist who is conducting Bio-experiments to combine Animal Traits with those of Shinobi.
Inevitably they are attacked by the Foot Clan, led by a white Fox Shinobi, trying to kidnap April and learn what secrets she has uncovered. The Foot begins to attack the young Shinobi, but they are quickly beaten from the concealment of smoke bombs by some green hands with familiar weapons.
“You May look different, but a real shinobi knows how to see through deception, and this is all too real, however unexpected. It’s good to see you again Hamato Yoshi!”.
As you have seen on the covers of the book, the Turtles emerge with their Porcelain Animal Masks, which are to conceal their identities. A comparison for Naruto fans can be made to the Ninja of the Anbu black Ops squads, who conceal their identities and take on masks from animal images. A misunderstanding happens and of course the two hero teams face off against one another.
There are several pages of really exciting action, as you might expect from an Anime or manga-themed series. This should be why you paid the price for admission.
April O’neil films silently from the sidelines, sensing an opportunity for a Scoop, rather than clear up the misunderstanding. Giving the readers a chance to see what both teams can do. The action comes to a halt when Master Splinter faces off with Kakashi, who suspects that he knows these Shinobi, based on the familiarity of their fighting styles.
With lightning fast reflexes, Kakashi removes the masks from all of the Ninja revealing, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael and Master Splinter’s faces to April and the rest of the crew.
This is the most surprising part of the book where Kakashi reveals that he does know the identity of Hamato Yoshi. “You May look different, but a real shinobi knows how to see through deception, and this is all too real, however unexpected. It’s good to see you again Hamato Yoshi!”.
An action packed journey into the world of Naruto, and a blending of two different Ninja cultures to create a story that is sure to excite the legions of fans of both alike.
Writer Caleb Goellner and artist Hendry Prasetya take a stab at the Ninja infused world of Naruto and add the characters of TMNT into the mix. Goellner is best known for his work on the IDW series TMNT Adventures and TMNT Amazing adventures, as well as his Anime affiliations with his work on Crunchy Roll, VRV and Toho International. Hendry, is best known for his work on the Boom Studios Mighty Morphin Power Rangers books.
The Ninja test: This book gives us a glimpse into a familiar world of the Anime/ Manga of Naruto, but enriches the setting by combining the world of the IDW TMNT characters into the Naruto-verse.
It shouldn’t be much of a spoiler if we see them all on the cover of the comic, but it’s more about the why and how, than the what and who in this first issue that leaves the reader asking for some more.
I think for a first issue this passes the Bell exam. The dialogue is mostly true to both properties, and with the exposition written out as a Mission briefing, the readers are thrust directly into the world. We are already aware of the differences in April from the first pages, but the twist to incorporate the Hamato Clan as an existing part of this world, is a mystery worth solving with the next issue.
The artwork is really satisfying. It blends the Anime style with a traditional comic book format, and works really well for the sort of action we see in the story.
For as strange a pairing these two properties are, I think that it does work. I give this a 3.5 out of 5.
A fun collaboration for Naruto and Turtle fans alike.
