Customer Reviews

Naruto, Vol. 48: The Cheering Village

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I've never been one for manga, but when teenagers at our library started asking, 'Do you have this one?', or 'That one.', and 'This is a great one!', I knew I had to do something about it. So I started reading this series as well as a few others to see what was so great about it before I bought them for our library. To my surprise I was instantly hooked and ended up reading the entire series in a matter of days. (I don't think I ate during that time or slept...)

Anyhow, this volume impressed me, as they all do. Naruto has now defeated all the Pains' and he now knows where the TRUE Pain is. In this book we learn of the background of Pain and what lead him to his decision to destroy the Hidden Leaf, and everything they stand for. Now knowing, Naruto will face Pain, even though all he wants is revenge for what Pain has done to his village. But can Naruto break the cycle of hate that the ninja world has produced?

Since I'm not going to give it away, you will just have to read it yourself. This is a beautifully done series, one I formally 'BRAVO!' and I would definitely say, read it to teens and adults. Some of it might be a little too hard to understand for children because of it's deep meanings and hardship. Still it's a must buy, check-out, or 'borrow' from a friend book.

Naruto 48 contains Naruto chapters 443 - 453 (a whopping 11 chapters) that appeared in the monthly Shonen Jump # 82 - 84 (10, 11, 12, October, November, December 2009 Volumes). The last volume included the epic climax of the Pain Invasion arc and this volume builds right off of it. This is ideally not a volume that a newcomer to the series would jump into and I highly urge them to go back and experience volumes 45-47 before starting this one. With that said, this one immediately starts off with Naruto having defeated the final Pain in Konoha.

This volume also serves as a cool down to the climax while allowing the reader to see how Naruto has grown after being affected by the late Master Jiraiya. Now to spoil anything but for those looking for intense action this is possibly not the volume of choice. However it was an awesome experience in concluding the arc and the author wasted no time at all starting the next arc. I was emotionally relieved to get through this arc that was full of emotional turmoil and such and I was glad to see Naruto finally relieved. This volume also contained two shockers for the next arc too!

Chapters:

443: The Interview!

444: The Response

445: Top of the World

446: I Just Want To Protect Them

447: I Believe

448: Heirloom...!!

449: The Blossom of Hope

450: The Cheering Village!!

451: Sasuke's Disposal!!

452: Pressured by Danzo!!

453: Gokage Summit's Eve!!

Having this many of chapters helped to conclude the arc, shuttle us into another arc all in time for the few months to wait before this new arc gets started. It is still going on in the monthly Shonen Jump mangazine releases. I find that having read the monthly releases for the chapters covered in this volume and seeing them all in one volume is truly a pleasant read and I enjoy the way VIZ/SJ handles Naruto. I do hope for Naruto to keep on going as I love it and the cover design is particularly awesome too!

This volume also came packed with a Naruto Collectible Card Game card!

This series was my first dive into Manga. It is very well done, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Manga.

If you want your 10 year old son to read...buy these books. I get zero complaints when he has to do his daily reading.