Naruto the Abridged Series
Naruto The Abridged Series is another of the myriad Abridged Series on the internet, this one done by two guys named MasakoX and Vegeta3986. Unlike the countless LittleKuriboh imitators out there on the net, this one is actually pretty hilarious.
It rather heavily riffs on all the Fridge Logic the series provides (e.g. "Why does Naruto wear orange?).
Episodes are found at both YouTube and DailyMotion, though the original account for the former is suspended. They also have a MySpace page. As of September 3rd, 2011, the series has 31 episodes. A movie is also supposedly complete, with Part 1 up. Not to be mistaken for Naruto the Abridged Comedy Spoof Series Show.
On June 20, 2011, MasakoX told his fans in a video that he would no longer be working on Naruto Abridged, due to work-related reasons. Seeing as Vegeta3986 left Team FourStar around the same time, the theories for the creators' split are flying thick and heavy, though both insist it was amicable.
However, on September 3rd, 2011, Vegeta has posted episode 31 of NTAS, with a new co-worker with him.
- The Abridged Series (of course)
- A Fate Worse Than Death: The Filler Arcs.
- Ascended Extra: Iruka
- Beat:
Third Hokage: Ooh, ooh, Abbott and Costello?
(beat)
Orochimaru: (sarcastically) Yes Hokage, I resurrected Abbott and Costello to kill you.
- Berserk Button: Do not eat a Klondike bar in front of Sasuke.
- Bi the Way: Kakashi's retelling of his, Asuma's and Kurenai's encounter with the Akatsuki makes it sound like he fantasizes about the other two.
- Big No: Several but the best so far is probably this gem.
Naruto (Helping Sasuke up after getting his butt kicked by Itachi); Oh hey look like they left you something.
Sasuke: Really? (See The Log and a half eaten Klondike Bar): NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
- There's also the one Kakashi gives when Gai challenges him to a contest of Who Can Get The Most Naked. Gai wins.
- Big "Never!": When Kabuto asks Orochimaru to turn down his music.
- Bittersweet Ending: In episode 27, they defeat the villain, but lose the race.
- Book Ends: Episode 25 has Naruto, before the opening theme and before the stinger, saying "Son of a-"
- Bowdlerization: "Nope! Not today, fangirls! You know who you are!"
- Brain Bleach: Gaara needs some mind soap after this line:
Gai: That's right Lee, shake ya goods!.
- Brick Joke: Sasuke tells us in Episode Three or so that he wants to kill his brother because Itachi took the last Klondike bar. Twenty-some episodes later...
- It happened twice with a Red Shirt character: Shigure, a one shot character Gaara killed during the Chunin Exams, is referred to the episode after his death (he was working for charity), and again in episode 26 for mocking his use of an umbrella.
- Butt Monkey: Sakura. Oh god, Sakura
- They've implied that they'll start treating her better once they hit Shippuden, given that she becomes competent in the real series at that point.
- Shippa-who?
- And let's not forget the series itself is a butt monkey of the series it drew from, being Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series.
- They've implied that they'll start treating her better once they hit Shippuden, given that she becomes competent in the real series at that point.
- Canada, Eh?: Rock Lee is depicted as a Canadian, claiming to represent Maple Syrup, Hockey, and the Mounties.
- Catch Phrase: So many:
- Naruto's "Believe it!" is cranked up to such levels he's annoyed by it.
- Everyone else but Iruka's "Ah, touché".
- Boom chicka chicka chicka Gaara....of the funk!
- Which is later parodied(yes, a parody parodied itself!):
Naruto: We finally found you, Gaara...of the fu-
Temari: NO! NOBODY'S in the mood right now!
Naruto: .....funk. (Boom chicka chicka chicka Naruto's a douche!)
- Heh, heh... moo.
- Ninja Info Cards
- Character Exaggeration: In proud Abridged Series tradition, everyone gets either this or Alternate Character Interpretation.
- If you're up on the manga, Itachi manages to be both at once.
- Charge Into Combat Cut: In Episode Nine, Sasuke gets cut off in this manner twice before going into a fit of profanity and later refusing to do the scene.
- Double subverted in episode 31.
Sakon: "I hope they don't cut off our figh-"
Kiba: "Dude, what did you stop for?"
Sakon: "Oh, sorry, I thought they were going to cut off-"
(scene switches to Naruto vs. Kimimaro)
- Cluster F-Bomb: Gamabunta.
- Cooking Duel: Three words: DDR Dance-Off.
- Recently, it has been revealed that Temari has Guitar Hero powers.
- Kankuro also has funk powers, but got slammed before he could reveal them.
- Completely Missing the Point: "SASUKE'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"
- Confusing Multiple Negatives: "Were you never not a non-ninja?"
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Instead of a stabbing, Itachi uses the Tsukiyomi to make Kakashi go through 72 hours of Caramelldansen.
- Haku makes "Mickey Mouse" and his lackeys listen to the 4Kids' dub of One Piece when the former tries to "touch Zabuza's face for no reason."
- Naruto stops Gaara from killing Rock Lee by dancing.
- Creator Backlash: See the top of the page.
- Curse Cut Short: After they lose the race (See Bittersweet Ending), Naruto ends the episode with "Ah FFFU--"
- Cut and Paste Translation: Vegeta3986 did NOT like Kiba's defeat in the Chunin Exam arc against Naruto and edited the scene so that Kiba lost but with some degree of dignity.
- Another point would be their re-editing of the Baki/Hayate fight. In this series, Hayate kills Baki with the "Death From Above!" attack and Baki dies from the infections. In the real series, its reversed. Baki kills Hayate, in other words.
- Dance Battler: Gaara
- Deadpan Snarker: Kakashi and Sasuke (and pretty much everyone else, at least once).
- Defeat Means Friendship: Parodied with Mortal Kombat when Naruto defeated Gaara.
Voice Over: Flawless Victory! Friendship!
Naruto: *Pissed off* Goddammit!
- Devil in Plain Sight: "*Evil laughing for half a minute* Do you have... evil tea?"
- As a matter of fact, yes, yes they do.
- Excellent! *More evil laughter*
- As a matter of fact, yes, yes they do.
- The Ditz: Naruto has his moments of these; in episode 26, he thought Idate was Batman until he slipped and fell... then he thought he was Sonic the Hedgehog.
- WAIT FOR ME CIRCUS!!!!
- Dramatic Pause: Orochimaru tries to employ this, to no avail, as his dramatic reveal was kinda irrelevant.
- The Driver: Rower.
- Everything's Better with Chickens: Clucky. "Cock-a-mother****in'-dooo!!"
- Face Heel Turn: Sasuke in episode 28. The first thing he asks for after becoming a villain?
"Get me a goddamn Klondike bar."
- Fast-Forward Gag: Kakashi uses a remote to fast forward over the Wave Country Filler, but ends up breaking it right before the opening.
- Filler: "Sasuke, I've got three words for you: Curry Of Life!"
- Don't forget:
Kakashi: Welcome to the wonderful world of filler.
Everyone else: NO!
- As of episode 26, there's a small label titled "The Filler Chronicles" [1] to lampshade this.
- During Sasuke and Naruto's fight in 28, Sasuke says that he'll kick Naruto to the filler episodes. When he does kick Naruto, he literally kicks Naruto into the Curry of Life arc for about a minute.
- Filler Villain: The guys Naruto's team fought before Orochimaru during the second round of the Chunin Exams return. Vegeta isn't pleased...
Vegeta3986: Really? Really?! The villains of this arc are the Map Quest ninjas? That is the best they could come up with!?!
MasakoX: Hold on, Vegeta. In a later arc, they bring back Mizuki.
Vegeta3986: (Frustrated groan) I hate filler arcs.
- Foreshadowing: After Naruto's stupidity gets to him one too many times by the Tea Country arc, Sasuke drops this line: "Know what? Screw it. After this arc, I'm gone." He also mentions he'll be leaving again the next episode.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Not so much forgotten, but after Tsunade becomes Hokage, Sarutobi isn't missed ... Well, except by Naruto and Konohamaru.
- Grumpy Old Man: Weaponized by the Third Hokage, in his fight against Orochimaru. "Old Man Monologue Jutsu!"
- Highly-Visible Ninja: Naruto is actually visible from miles away.
- Ho Yay: With Jiraiya and Orochimaru, surprisingly.
- Hypocritical Humor Episode 11:
Vegeta3986: "Me? Well, I'm Temari. I'm Vegeta3986's girlfriend and..."
Masako X: "Vegeta, What the hell are you doing?!"
Vegeta3986: "Shut up, and just go along with it!"
Masako X: "Dude, you can't do that!"
Vegeta3986: "Oh, come on!"
Masako X: "Gimme that mic..." [Sounds of fighting] "God, you're acting like a kid. Now where were we?" [in Hinata's voice] "Sorry Naruto, but I'm already going out with Masako X."
Vegeta3986: "What the ****?!!! You goddamn hypocrite! Gimme that mic back!" [Sounds of fighting] "Now where were we? Oh yeah..."
(As Temari) "My Name's Temari, and I'm Vegeta3986's Girlfriend. He's Awesome."
- I Do Not Own: "NarutoisthepropertyofMasashiKishimotoandTVTokyo. Thismovieisaparodyandnothingmore. Sopleasesupporttheofficialrelease. Gotit? Youdamnwellbetterbynow. Beendoingthisforthreeyears."
- Improbable Age: Discussed
Naruto: Hey, old guy!
Old Guy: You bunch of--! What constitutes as old to you people?
Naruto: Eh, in this show, anyone over 18.
- Informed Ability: Parodied in episode 26, after Sakura suddenly lifted the mast of a ship with her bare hands.
Naruto: [[[Angrish]] stutter] Since when could you do that!?
(Sakura's been training with Tsunade.)
Naruto: What the!? Are you telling me we just throw lines on top of the screen and people will buy it!? Why the hell didn't anybody tell me this sooner?!
(Since the Hokage's death, Naruto has learnt the ability to summon hamburgers.)
Naruto: Oh boy!!! [eats a hamburger]
Sasuke: Hey, let me try that.
(Sasuke has learnt the ability to defeat the log and his brother... [Short Beat] Yeah, no.)
Sasuke: Damn it!!
- Intercontinuity Crossover: After dying, the Third Hokage ends up in a better place... with King Yemma. Mahogany.
- The Sound Ninjas are only stopped by The Neighborhood Watch Comity of Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged.
- The Load: Everyone, especially Sakura.
- Larynx Dissonance: Masako's female voices (Hinata, Ino) are surprisingly convincing, while Vegeta's (Sakura, Temari)... Aren't.
- Men Of A Thousand Voices
- Mega Chicken: Clucky in episode 18:
Jiraya: Holy sh** itsagiantchicken!
- And again in episode 24:
Clucky: Cock-a-mother-f***in'-do!
- Mr. Exposition: Lampshaded: everyone who does it is either incompetent at it or is just doing it to pad for time.
- My Friends and Zoidberg: From the movie trailer: "Three heroes... And Sakura."
- Never Say That Again: "Believe it!"
- And hookers.
- Ninja Log: What clomps down stairs, alone or in pairs, and crushes the neighbors' dog? Sasuke's greatest rival- The Log.
- No Fourth Wall
- No Swastikas: "Dude. It's an 'x'."
- Official Couple: Apparently Kakashi and Anko.
- Once Upon a Time: "...There were magic balls. And now there's a race!"
- Paper-Thin Disguise: "Hey guys! It's me, Nay-roo-toe!"
- Given a Call Back in episode 30.
- Rage Against the Author: The Baki Appreciation Society, Gaara after the Shigure tribute
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: Is the Hokage's strongest weapon.
- Relax-O-Vision: Subverted. On a couple of occasions, an extremely graphic scene is replaced by soothing landscapes and music, though we can still hear the screams of pain and sickening crunching noises.
- Running Gag: Several, including:
- Sasuke's ongoing rivalry with The Log.
- People stealing Iruka's catchphrase ("Ah, touché!"), followed by his expressing annoyance.
- By Episode 17, he's given up on the "expressing annoyance" part, and just leaves whenever someone says it.
- Kakashi's fascination with a milk carton ("Heh, heh. Moo.").
- Orochimaru's utter inability to fool anyone with his disguises.
- Everyone telling Kankuro to shut up.
- A discontinued one would be Naruto's One Foot Tall Brick Wall to counter Sasuke's log. Clucky, Naruto's pet chicken from the comment special, however, is still around.
- A relatively short-termed running gag was the Rower's incessant singing... And how awful it was...
- Schedule Slip: OH GOD. It nearly took the better part of NEARLY TWO WHOLE YEARS for Naruto Abridged 23 to come out.
- Probably because they, especially Masako, are spending a lot of their free time on Dragon Ball Abridged.
- After 10 months of the series being brought to yet another standstill, it appears they're trying for more frequent releases; episode 27 came out the very last day of February and Masako has announced on Twitter that they've finished writing for 28.
- And don't forget about the movie...
- Schizo-Tech: Lampshaded, and the source of the quote on the article.
- She's a Man In Japan: Haku is female in this version, despite being canonically a very effeminate boy in the series itself.
- Shout-Out: To Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series, naturally. Little Kuriboh actually guest-starred in a couple of episodes.
- One to Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged is made during the Forest of Death when a certain someone in a truck reveals the location of the Sound ninjas. "Damn you, Neighborhood Watch Committee!"
- "Note to self: Naruto's getting a Death Note."
- The computer gives some names to abridged creators, like Lanipator.
- Also later in Episode 29
Naruto: C'mon, it'll be an adventure!
Kiba: An Excellent Adventure?
Naruto: Yeeeeep!
Kiba: Excellent! *air guitar*
- Simpleton Voice: Kisame's voice is a reference to Jabberjaw, and he's just as bright.
- Suddenly Fluent in Gibberish: Naruto's group come face to face with Zabuza... Except they initially can't understand a word he says because of his face mask. Cue Kakashi revealing he can speak muffle.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Naruto to Tsunade in episode 24
Tsunade: "Where are they [Orichimaru and Kabuto]?"
Naruto: "I beat em!"
Tsunade: With the Rasengan?
Naruto: "Uh... Yeah! (Stammering) With... the... Ra... sen... gan."
- Take That: So, so many. There's Sasuke's opponent during the Chunin Exams, Yoroi, aka AnimeFlagger123, who "keeps flagging anime videos on YouTube". Also, in episode 20, some people lambast Gaara for copying LittleKuriboh.
"You're copying him! He said "the" in one episode and so did you! Quit copying him!"
- And then there's when Shino mocked Zaku's voice actor for lacking range.
- Tempting Fate: Subverted when the giant snake destroyed the guard tower next to Bob and Mike.
- Played straight with Zaku announcing nobody could save Sakura, "not even that pussy, Sasuke!", cut to Sasuke "You were saying?"
- The Other Darrin: With Zeromastera taking the place of Masako X, this was inevitable. Hilariously Lampshaded during the episode:
Kimimaro: Hey, didn't you used to be British?
Kabuto: Didn't you used to be healthy?
Kimimaro: Touché Kabuto... Touché.
Iruka: Goddamnit I haven't even been in this show for seven episodes!
- And Masako X never voiced Iruka to begin with!
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: Sasuke's "Sharingans only, bitch!" line
- Touché: Spoofed, because Bob's plan was pathetic.
- Only Sane Man: Probably Kakashi, but that's debatable.
- "Heh, heh...moo."
- That's actually been explained. Turns out they make Makeout Tactics on tape.
- "Heh, heh...moo."
- Totally Radical: Neji and Kiba, intentionally invoking Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure (complete with air guitar).
- This is probably a nod to the Naruto AMV Real Ninjas.
- Likewise with few bits with Orochimaru and Kabuto
Orochimaru: Pack your back Kabuto we're going on a roadtrip (Cut to a scene of some cars driving across a desert and loud blaring rock music)
Kabuto: WILL YOU TURN THAT DOWN!
Orochimaru: NEVER!!!
- The Unintelligible: Zabuza, whenever he has his bandages on (when he doesn't, he sounds like Jerry Lewis). In his first appearance, even the other characters have trouble understanding him, except for Kakashi, who can also speak Muffled (for obvious reasons). His dialogue is helpfully subtitled in later episodes.
- Viewers Are Goldfish
Naruto: Wait, this is only the eighth episode! Why am I having flashbacks? ...Oh yeah, the audience can't remember the stuff that happened in episode 5!
- We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies: Has its own "We Didn't Start the Fire" parody.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Sasuke, often in terms of the Log and/or Itachi. See Informed Ability above.
- ↑ Now with 60% less Neji