Boruto Episode 198

Boruto Episode 198

Does Delta Stand a Chance?

The fight between Naruto and Delta that begins in Boruto Episode 198 is extremely disappointing so far. It’s not disappointing because it doesn’t have Episode 189 levels of animation, though. It’s disappointing because Naruto has to be nerfed in order for it to be a fair fight.

Does Delta actually stand a chance in a 1v1 fight against Naruto? No. Absolutely not. If the two of them fought at full strength 1,000 times, Naruto would end up with 1,000 decisive victories. There’s simply no way Delta could ever actually defeat him.

That’s why I think this fight is an extreme disappointment so far. We know how strong Naruto really is. This isn’t a fight in which he’s going all out. This is maybe 10% of his strength. And because I recognize that Naruto is being nerfed for this fight to be fair, I can’t be invested in it.

Delta being cocky from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Delta being cocky

I’ll be going through some of the things Naruto doesn’t do in this fight later in the review. But for now, let’s just take a look at what he does do. Naruto only uses three techniques in this episode, and that’s pretty telling.

First, he uses a Rasengan. That’s to be expected, it’s Naruto. Second, he goes into his Nine-Tails Cloak/Toad Sage form. That shows that he’s at least giving the impression of taking the fight seriously. And third, he uses a Lava Style Rasenshuriken.

I was actually surprised by the Lava Rasenshuriken. That’s not something we’ve seen him use before. But at the same time, it’s not really a big deal for him. Naruto can use Lava Style thanks to having part of Son Gokū, the Four-Tails, inside of him.

Monsters

In this section, let’s have a Japanese lesson and take a look at what the title actually means. I want to do this because I noticed that the way I would have read the Japanese title is different from its reading depicted in the episode. And if anyone knows why, please let me know in the comments.

So, the kanji writing for this title is 怪物. These are the kanji for “mystery” and “thing” respectively — which translates to monster(s). That’s all good so far. However, where things get a bit confusing for me is that I would have read these kanji as “kaibutsu” (かいぶつ).

That’s a correct reading of those kanji. But the furigana (small kana above the kanji written to show the pronunciation), says otherwise. They say “bakemono” (バケモノ). Before I explain why this confuses me, just know that this can also translate to monster.

Naruto going "all out" from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Naruto going “all out”

So, why is this strange? After all, kanji have multiple readings. Well, I don’t have an issue with the “mono” reading for the second kanji. That’s fine. But I’ve never seen the first kanji read as “bake” before. And when I looked it up, I couldn’t find another example of it occurring.

The writing of “bakemono” I know is 化物, as you can see used in Bakemonogatari of the Monogatari Series. I’ve never seen it written as 怪物 before. And I really don’t understand why they would pronounce 怪物 as “bakemono” when “kaibutsu” is already there as a perfectly good reading.

Is kaibutsu just a more difficult word than bakemono, so they chose to write the furigana for the latter despite the kanji being for the former? I guess that works since they mean the same thing. But it’s still odd. If anyone is better at Japanese than I am and knows the answer, please let me know.

Naruto and Kawaki Forgot

Back to the actual episode, I already went over the techniques Naruto used. So, now let’s take a look at what he didn’t use. Most notably, Naruto doesn’t make a single Shadow Clone during this fight. How can you say he’s going all out if he doesn’t even use Shadow Clones?

Also, both Naruto and Kawaki apparently forgot that they can actually absorb jutsu just like Delta can. Delta can absorb jutsu into her right eye and release them back with her left. But both Naruto and Kawaki can absorb jutsu into one of their palms.

Kawaki didn’t have to take the hit from Delta’s eye lasers. He could have just absorbed them. Yes, they’re the product of scientific ninja tools, but they’re still jutsu that use chakra. He might get a bit injured from it, but it’s better than just tanking the hit.

Delta charging her laser eyes from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Delta charging her laser eyes

Another thing that was seemingly forgotten is that Naruto can call for backup. Now, this may not have actually been forgotten. Because, as I mentioned, Naruto isn’t really in any danger here. If he wanted to, he could kill Delta easily.

But, let’s pretend that Naruto really is in danger and Delta is on par with him. Naruto has a direct line to Ino. No matter where he is in the village, he can contact Ino. And then Ino can contact anyone else who’s within the village to relay Naruto’s message to them.

We saw this used when Ino notified Naruto that Delta was heading his way and Naruto told her to have everyone else stay away from the area. But if Delta was actually a problem, Naruto could just have Ino call in Sasuke as backup. What could Delta do against being teleported into another dimension by Sasuke?

Conclusion

The problem with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 198 is that there’s no real threat. Yes, Delta is an Inner of Kara. But Naruto is so obscenely overpowered that she can’t be taken seriously. I honestly think Naruto and Sasuke together could take on all eight Kara members at once.

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My review of Episode 199 is available.

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