Boruto Episode 75

Boruto Episode 75

Introduction

Episode 75, “The Trials of Ryūchi Cave” is the second episode of Boruto which aired this week, alongside episode 74. Since there were two episodes this week, there will not be an episode next week. Instead, episode 76 will be on October 5th.

Because of this, there will be no episode review next week either. I could have held this review off until then so there wasn’t a blank week, but I figured I should write about it while it’s new instead.

Summary

Boruto, Sarada, Shikadai, Cho-cho, and Inojin all make their way into the entrance of Ryūchi cave. Here, they face a number of trials, some of which are overplayed tropes, and others which are fairly unique. However, I wouldn’t exactly call this episode good by any means.

This entire arc may be filler, I’m not actually sure, but for the first time in Mitsuki’s arc, this episode actually felt like a filler episode. There are three main trials the genin have to pass in order to make it to the White Snake Sage, but first they notice they’ve been walking in circles, as is the trope when traversing unknown regions.

Shortly after making this realization, the genin are lured in to the first of the three trials. Each trial is administered by a snake princess (whose names I’m not going to go back and find out). They each look human at first glance, but it seems they’re just hiding their true forms as monsters.

Since everyone who enters Ryūchi Cave to meet the White Snake Sage is in search of his power, the trials were devised to prevent those without a strong heart from making it into the temple where the sage resides. While this seems to make sense at first, what the sage says later in the episode seems contradictory.

But, before we get to that, it’s time for the first trial. A large hotel appears in front of the genin who are tired and hungry from their journey. Inside, they’re welcomed by the first of the three princesses who tells them to rest and eat their fill of the banquet that’s been laid out for them.

While Cho-cho (obviously) and Inojin willfully partake in the luxuries handed to them, Boruto, Sarada, and Shikadai are a bit more wary. Interestingly enough, it’s actually Boruto who ends up seeing through the charade, not Shikadai with his brain, nor Sarada with her Sharingan.

Once Boruto sees that this hotel is merely a distraction, the mirage disappears and it’s revealed that many others have apparently lost their lives to this first trial. The food which was presented was actually poisoned, and the snake princess planned to eat the genin once they became paralyzed by it.

However, we learn that the snake princesses are only permitted by the sage to eat those who fail their trials, and so the genin are allowed to move on deeper into the cave. From here, Boruto gets separated from the rest of the group for the final two trials, likely because he seems to be the leader and was the one who saw through the first trial.

In the second trial, Boruto is trapped in a room with a bunch of gem-like stones on the floor, each with a unique shape. The gems correspond with holes in the door, and he’s told that if he solves the puzzle he’ll  be able to leave unharmed.

While this puzzle seems easy enough, Boruto appears to have a surprisingly difficult time figuring out his shapes. Clearly Boruto was the kind of kid who didn’t understand that the square doesn’t fit in the round hole, but at least he’s finally learning.

In the end, there’s just one hole left to be filled, but no stone that seems to fit in it. It’s at this point that Boruto steps on a stone, breaking it, and gets an idea. He takes a larger stone that didn’t fit anywhere else and snaps it in two so that the two halves can be arranged to fill the final hole.

For the final trial, Boruto is alone once again. This time he’s bitten by the final snake princess and seems to have some sort of curse mark temporarily activated which stops him from breaking out of genjutsu. In this trial, he’s presented with mirages of his friends who are all telling him how selfish he’s being.

Obviously Boruto isn’t going to be stopped after coming this far, and so he says that he knows he’s being selfish, but he’s also doing it to find out Mitsuki’s will. This seems to be a good enough answer, and so the genjutsu is released and Boruto is able to go into the temple where his friends are unconscious.

The White Snake Sage as seen in the anime Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
The White Snake Sage

After everyone wakes up, the group climb the stairs inside the temple and finally come face to face with the White Snake Sage. Or, at least I think they do. While this character does claim to be the sage and wears his headdress, they look drastically different from the White Snake Sage of Shippūden.

In Shippūden, the White Snake Sage was actually a giant snake, just like how the toad sage is a toad. This time around, the White Snake Sage seems to be an old lady, but it’s implied to be the same sage since they seem to have known Orochimaru for a long time. Maybe we’ll see the sage’s true form later on.

Earlier I mentioned that the sage says something contradictory to the reason for the trials being in place, so let’s discuss that now. The trials are supposed to stop anyone who comes to Ryūchi Cave in search of the sage’s power, but the sage claims that by passing the trials, Boruto has earned the right to learn sage jutsu.

This is fine, I suppose, but the fact of the matter is that anyone who passes those trials doesn’t care about snake sage jutsu in the first place, so why would they agree to learn it? It’d be one thing if the trials were supposed to show that Boruto had a pure heart, but instead they just showed that he doesn’t care about snake sage jutsu at all.

In the end, the White Snake Sage agrees to take a look at Mitsuki’s snake, but only if the genin complete one final trial. There’s a giant snake deep in Ryūchi Cave which they must find and retrieve a reverse scale from (a scale from under its chin).

However, it seems that the White Snake Sage doesn’t believe the genin will come back alive and is simply sending them to their deaths rather than giving them an actual trial. I’m sure if Sasuke was given this trial he probably just killed the snake and brought the whole thing back.

Next Episode

Next episode will cover the final trial in which the genin attempt to retrieve the reverse scale. From the preview, it seems that they come into contact with a number of giant snakes within the cave, but the one they need to fight is red with a scarred eye.

Other than that, we weren’t really given much information about what’s going to happen. Maybe we’ll catch up with Moegi, wherever she is. Or, maybe we’ll finally learn where Mitsuki is.

Conclusion

What did you think of this second episode of the week? Did you think it felt like filler as I did? Did you enjoy it? What about the next episode, what do you think is going to happen? Leave your answers to these questions in the comment section down below.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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