「サスケとサラダ」 (Sasuke to Sarada)
“Sasuke and Sarada”

As much as I love this show, I hate it whenever things slow down like this.

General Impressions

Let me preface this paragraph with this one simple statement — I love this show and want it to be the best god damn show ever. That said I can’t look past it when the story decides to suddenly nosedive into stale and somewhat overused territory. Especially when we know just how amazing the story can be!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I personally think that everything up to the end of this week’s episode was pretty damn good. We had Sarada finally getting some decent screen time which in turn finally allowed the story to develop her character from something more than just being the student who excelled at things. We got to see that she’s a good kid who tries hard for her family and doesn’t mind going out of her way to help out those who are close to her. We even got to see her breakdown a bit as the stresses of real life started crashing down (both literally and figuratively) around her! All things that when put together would of made for some fantastic storytelling. Except, instead of that, we now have to deal with the threat of Uchiha Shin, a new villain that seems to have enough clones to give Star Wars a run for its money. A threat that I think the show is using in the completely wrong way.

At the heart of it all, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with a new villain appearing. The Naruto series has always been known for its progressively stronger antagonists and I don’t we could have asked for anything better than a surprised Uchiha. However, the introduction of this new villain and how the story is trying to tie it into Sarada’s story is beginning to drive me insane. Like, if you look back at this week’s episode, there were so many opportunities for Sasuke (or Sakura) to answer Sarada’s questions that it actually hurts to think about it.

Anyways, before closing this post out, let me change gears for just a moment to talk about Naruto. As someone who grew up without parents and is having trouble dealing with Boruto, I have to give him massive props for being the father figure Sarada needed. While it would have been nice to know about any major interactions in the past, there’s no denying I got some really strong goosebumps from the nostalgia trip I went on whenever I thought of how Iruka-sensei did the same thing for Naruto when he was a kid.

Overall, not that bad of an episode and if anything I’m just biased. In any case, I’ll catch you guys in the comments next week since Zaiden should be back from his excursion out into the wilderness. It’s been a blast and I hope we all get to see Sarada have a happy ending soon :’).

See you later!

 

Preview

13 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2012.jpg
    seriously, I can never imagine anyone doing this to their eye in real life. To be unable to sleep or even blink. It’s painful just thinking about it.

    https://randomc.net/image/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations/Boruto%20Naruto%20Next%20Generations%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
    Strange, this dude has the kamui, so why can he be hit so easily? Shouldn’t Sakura “pass through” this guy?

    L002
  2. I like how Sakura reveals that she’s known about Sarada’s sharingan having been awoken for god knows how long, knows the emotional trauma it takes for something like that to happen especially at her young age and decides… to adopt a wait and see attitude until her daughter eventually runs away from home?

    qwert
    1. You really are on a vendetta about Sasuke. Sure he is not the best “papa” (btw, all little children say papa or mama, then they begin to learn the language of their parents) we know

      Worldwidedepp
  3. The problems of pacing and contrived coincidences are, for once, not the anime’s fault. They were already in the original source material and the adaptation is trying to play it as straight as they can…

    …which may not be the greatest idea at this point. The battle animation was very bad. These are ninja demigods walking, yet their battle is overshadowed by the choreography of several of Boruto’s past fights (especially that wonder that is his one on one fight against the Nue in episode 14).

    That said, I like the little additions and changes they made. Like giving more depth to Sasuke’s gestures to show that, despite his cold attitude, deep inside he really cares. Or that conversation with Naruto in the flashback. The flashback in the manga was very different and stressed how important his search was, regardless any other concern. Here, however, Nauro had the chance to voice the concerns any person with common sense would have about Sasuke’s family life choices.

    Mistic
  4. I didn’t plan to watch any ep of Boruto, but was curious and thought that maybe this ep will make me want to watch more, but it was horrible. In episode full of action I nearly didnt see any movement and didnt even try make up for it with ‘steady’ animation. Didnt like that they skipped many things like shocked face of Sasuke to stabbed Naruto (was Sasuke thinking about Sarada an extra? dont remember if it was in manga). I can’t even see any friendship between Sasuke and Naruto, chemistry they had before is just gone… At least it’s not as much awkward as interaction between Sasuke and Sakura, who are supposed to be married? This at least I can’t blame on anime producers, because it’s the same in manga.
    Anyway, too bad that I won’t watch anymore, since I don’t want to ruin my memories of Naruto series more.

    Shirocat
  5. After almost 20 episodes a shounen anime about ninja warriors starts picking up the pace with action and a villain appearance and you see it as slowing down… That’s peculiar. Increasingly so, if one takes into account that you loved the watching-paint-dry ark that opened Boruto: Next Generations.

    Kiritsugu

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