While Realme isn't particularly new in pop culture/anime collaboration, churning out Dragonball Z and Garena Free Fire-themed phones in the past, the latest partnership with the popular anime/manga franchise Naruto seems to be their most hyped cross-brand release yet. 

As a longtime fan of Naruto, getting my hands on a special Naruto-themed phone certainly made the fanboy in me come alive. From the eye-catching packaging to custom back design to special UI themes, the Naruto Realme GT Neo 3 stands out as a unique piece of collectible. 

Normally, the packaging wouldn't be considered an important part of a phone review. However, this particular special-edition phone's uniqueness mostly relies on how it is arranged in the box, or in this case, the scroll. 

The scroll-like container features a design and size similar to the ninjutsu scrolls featured in the Naruto series. It is made from plastic held together by leather flaps that act as buckles, and despite being a bit clunky to hold, makes for a memorable unboxing experience. Opening the right side of the scroll gives access to a small pin, pulling which brings out the inner compartment that houses the actual phone. The packaging is done quite delicately and it is definitely a lot of fun pulling out a phone from a giant scroll. 

Inside the inner compartment, you will also find a SIM ejector pin, an instruction manual in a designed cardboard cover, the charger, a USB Type-C cable and a transparent back cover. To note, everything except the back cover are Naruto-themed, with a range of symbols and colouring on them referencing the Japanese series.

The phone, unsurprisingly, also sports a Naruto theme. The back side is painted in a brilliant combination of black and orange, akin to the titular character Naruto's preferred gear. The camera is placed on a metallic glass island that is designed to look like Naruto's headband, even donning his signature Hidden Leaf Village symbol. The phone, when held from the back, gives the appearance of Naruto as he appears in the series - a cool detail that any dedicated fan would appreciate. 

The phone also comes with a Naruto-themed UI theme, wallpapers, icons and charging animation. However, aside from the unique packaging and these small features, the phone is your run-of-the-mill Realme GT Neo 3, which, performance-wise, is slightly less alluring than the packaging it comes in.

Realme GT Neo 3 measures 163.3 x 75.6 x 8.2 mm, weighing about 188 g - making it feel quite lightweight and easy to move around. The phone features a decent display size, with the AMOLED display measuring 6.7 inches with 1080x2412 pixel support. The display and performance make the phone good enough to watch movies on the go, and the sound quality is decent as well, though nothing particularly mind-blowing. 

Our review model came with 12 GB RAM (extendable up to 7 GB more) and 256 GB memory space. It runs on Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 8100 processor with Realme V3.0 UI and Android 12 OS. The phone feels smooth to use, loading apps at impressive speeds.

The phone consists of a triple rear camera setup of 50 MP main, 8 MP ultra-wide and 2 MP macro. The 16 MP front camera adds details to selfies, but as a whole, the camera is decent yet nothing truly exceptional. It is still a fine choice for quick selfies. The zooming options and camera features also feel similar to OnePlus phones - unsurprising given the same parent company.

The most impressive aspect of this phone is its amazing 150W charging with a 4500 mAh battery. Our review model reached up to 50% charge in about 5 minutes - faster than current flagships - retaining decent output throughout.

It is difficult to gauge how impressive this phone truly is as the international price range hasn't been decided yet - owing to the phone not yet being commercially released outside China, where it is priced around 2,799 to 3,099 yuan (about Tk. 38,800 to Tk. 43,000). You can most probably get a better phone specs-wise by churning out a bit more cash, but for any dedicated Naruto fans, this is a must-have collectible - believe it!