Boruto Episode 155

Boruto Episode 155

Mitsuki’s Rainy Day

It’s been 70 days since Boruto episode 154, but the anime is finally back with a one-off filler episode. And if you thought that was a bad way to come back from such a long break, at least it wasn’t an episode about Chouchou; that’s next week.

I have some mixed feelings about this episode, though. It wasn’t one of the worst filler episodes around. But that doesn’t mean it was a good episode either. I think the new character and the general idea behind the episode were interesting. However, it followed the same exact formula that most of the more serious Boruto filler episodes do.

That formula goes like this: The featured main character makes a friend, something bad happens, and then it turns out that their new friend was the culprit. As soon as Mitsuki and Mikazuki (the cat) find Samidare injured in an alley, I knew this was going to be the formula for the episode.

The "Rainy Day Killer" from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
The “Rainy Day Killer”

If you didn’t suspect that formula right from the start, it should have been made abundantly clear as the series progressed. By the 8-minute mark, all of the information needed to come to the conclusion that Samidare is the Rainy Day Killer was available.

We knew his sister worked for a large company in the past and that she’s now dead. And we also knew that all of the Rainy Day Killer’s victims were connected to a deadly accident at a large company. It doesn’t really take much to put those pieces of information together.

I get that these one-off filler episodes generally have cookie-cutter plot so it’s easier to crank them out when needed. But I really wish a little more thought went into them.

Mikazuki and Samidare Amaashi

Samidare Amaashi is a fairly interesting character all things considered. However, you have to read between the lines a little bit (and know a little Japanese) to get the full picture of his background.

The first clue we get about him comes when he first mentions his sister, Mikazuki Amaashi. He says that she moved to the Hidden Leaf Village in order to work at the company where the accident eventually happened. And he mentions that he hadn’t visited her since she moved there.

So what does this tell us? It tells us that neither Samidare nor his sister was a Leaf Village native. They both came to the village from the outside. But where did they come from?

Mikazuki Amaashi's grave from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Mikazuki Amaashi’s grave

The next clue actually comes from Samidare’s name itself. Generally speaking, character names in Naruto/Boruto are written in hiragana and/or katakana. For example, Mikazuki’s gravestone reads “あまあし ミカヅキ” which translates to “Amaashi Mikazuki”. Here, Amaashi is written in hiragana and Mikazuki is in katakana.

However, if we write Samidare’s first name in kanji, then it’s “五月雨” which translates to “May rain.” This connection to rain is important — not only because he’s known as the Rainy Day Killer, but also because of the type of jutsu he specializes in.

Next, if we look at his signature jutsu, it’s a Water-style jutsu called “Needles of Falling Rain.” Generally speaking, a jutsu that relies on it to be raining isn’t all that useful the majority of the time. So why would this be the jutsu Samidare specializes in?

The simple answer is that he comes from a place where it rains a lot. And what hidden village (he said he used to be a shinobi) do we know of where it’s almost always raining?

That’s right. The Hidden Rain Village.

Needles of Falling Rain

The fact that Samidare (and Mikazuki) are implied to originally come from the Hidden Rain Village is extremely interesting to me. Often times, you can’t really tell where a shinobi is originally from simply based on their signature jutsu. But with Samidare, his jutsu is so specific, and there are so many other clues, that we can infer where he’s from.

So let’s talk about Samidare’s Needles of Falling Rain jutsu. As I mentioned, it’s not really all that useful the majority of the time in most places. Undoubtedly, Samidare can use other Water-style jutsu to make up for this when it’s not raining. But the most logical thing would simply be for him to be permanently stationed within the boundaries of the Hidden Rain Village.

When within his home territory, Samidare has an exceptionally powerful jutsu. You could argue that all Water-style users have an advantage within the Rain Village because of the weather and proximity to bodies of water. However, the Needles of Falling Rain jutsu was purpose-built for this environment.

Mitsuki using his Snake Lightning jutsu against Samidare from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Mitsuki using his Snake Lightning jutsu against Samidare

Due to the flashy, large-scale attacks that some shinobi, like Naruto, use, you may forget that shinobi are supposed to be stealthy assassins. When Samidare uses his jutsu, there’s nearly no way for his targets to see it coming. It’s silent and it blends in with the rain.

The only reason Mitsuki was able to see it coming is that he figured out Samidare always strikes when it’s raining because his jutsu relies on it. But someone infiltrating the Rain Village wouldn’t have that information because it’s always raining. There’s no way for them to determine a pattern in Samidare’s attacks.

Of course, there are always exceptions. Anyone with one of the three great dōjutsu, especially the Byakugan, could probably see the attack coming.

Conclusion

What did you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 155? I thought the fact that they used the same, old formula was pretty boring. But the inclusion of information hinting to Samidare being from the Rain Village was pretty cool. Also, are you excited for the return of the Boruto anime? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of episode 156 is available here.

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