Boruto Episode 95

Tactics for Getting Along With Your Daughter

The third and final episode in the Parent and Child Day mini, filler arc follows Sasuke and Sarada, so you already know this is going to be the best one. However, that’s not to say I don’t have any complaints about it overall.

One major issue I have with this episode is its depiction of Sasuke. We know that Sasuke has mellowed out some since the events of Naruto: Shippūden, but this episode seems to take it to a whole different level. It’s almost as if Sasuke isn’t even the same character anymore.

When he first reunites with Sarada during Parent and Child Day, he mentions that he just happened to be in town and that he wasn’t there specifically to spend this new holiday with his daughter. While this sort of blunt phrasing is supposed to be very Sasuke-like, it felt a bit too tactless, even for him.

And, over the course of the episode, we’re shown even more examples of Sasuke being your stereotypical out-of-touch father who can’t connect with his teenage daughter. I always felt that Sasuke’s charm was that he didn’t care about things like that, so to see him worried about being unable to connect to Sarada feels out of place.

You’d think that he would act more like his brother and father, in that they’re cool and often distant, but still care deeply, and yet this isn’t really what we see. Instead, we see a loser of a parent who’s trying all sorts of weird tactics to get his daughter to bond with him.

At least, as I’ll discuss later, by the end of the episode we do get to see the Sasuke that I was hoping for all along.

Make-Out Tactics

I can’t imagine this is the first time Make-Out Tactics or any of the other books from this series have been seen in the Boruto series. But, since I probably haven’t talked about it before, now seems like a good time.

For anyone who never watched the original Naruto or Shippūden series, this is a little history lesson targeted towards you. Make-Out tactics, along with the other books from the same series, was written by Jiraiya. Jiraiya was the student of the third Hokage and teacher of many including Naruto, Minato, and Nagato (Pain).

This book series made its first appearance all the way back in the second or third episode of the original series, and is something every long-time fan is familiar with. In fact, it’s Kakashi’s favorite series, and he’s the one who originally introduced us to it.

So, with that in mind, why doesn’t Sasuke seem to know what Make-Out Tactics is? I refuse to believe that Sasuke has somehow forgotten the Make-Out series, even after all these years. It was such an important part of his early training with Team 7, and yet he seems to be oblivious to what it is.

Seriously, why would he take Kakashi’s advice and use tactics for picking up women in an attempt to bond with his own daughter? Sasuke, what have the Boruto writers done to you?

I will say that the one thing I sort of liked about how Sasuke was portrayed in this episode was his lax attitude when talking to Kakashi. Typically Sasuke would have added Kakashi’s title of sixth Hokage, or at least the “-sensei” after his name, but not this time. Instead, he speaks more familiarly, and even jokes about throwing Kakashi into the river.

Sasuke’s Childhood

So, why does Sasuke have such a hard time connecting to Sarada? For starters, it could simply be that she’s at that age when parents and children don’t really have all that much in common, but I think there’s more to it than that.

We have to remember that Sasuke and Sarada have had very different childhoods. For example, Sasuke had a brother, while Sarada is an only child. While that’s one of the more minor differences between the two, it’s still important as Sasuke had his brother to serve as his mentor when he was younger.

The major difference between the two is that by the time Sasuke was Sarada’s age he had already seen his brother massacre their entire clan. That’s something that wasn’t brought up in this episode, but I feel it would be ignorant to think this doesn’t play a role in how Sasuke sees the world.

But, you might think that because Sasuke lost his family so early on, he would cherish the family he has now and be more connected to them than he currently is. While he certainly does care about his new family, the problem with him being unable to connect to Sarada at this point may be a result of his age when he lost his family.

Like I said, by the time he was her age, he was alone. So, he doesn’t really know how a child of that age normally interacts with their parents, because he never got that chance himself. The same can also be said with Naruto and his relationship with Boruto, which is something Boruto has even brought up in the past.

Parent and Child Day Ends

In the end, it was Sakura who saves the day (as always), by telling Sasuke that Sarada isn’t expecting him to be someone he’s not, and so he should just interact with her normally. This is when we finally see him treat Sarada the way he always wanted to be treated by his brother and father.

Well, it’s actually better to say that he treats Sarada the way he always wanted to be treated by his own father, not his brother. This is because although he praises her, which is what he always wanted from his father, he doesn’t actually take the time to teach her, which is what he wanted from Itachi.

And, the fact that he didn’t actually teach her about changing the trajectory of her shuriken to hit things she can’t see was pretty frustrating. I thought Sarada was going to pick up on what Sasuke was trying to show her, but when she didn’t he didn’t even try to explain it to her.

But, I guess that’s just something Sasuke feels Sarada needs to figure out on her own rather than by being told. After all, I don’t think Itachi ever explicitly explained how to do that to Sasuke, instead Sasuke learned simply by watching his brother train.

Speaking of training, we also got a scene at the very end of the episode of Boruto and Naruto training before Child and Parent Day officially ends as well. And, Boruto was using that stupid parent and child kunai Naruto bought. I’m just glad this is an anime only filler arc and has no effect on the main arcs of the series.

Conclusion

I know I skipped last week’s episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations because it followed characters I don’t care about or like (Choji and Chocho), but, don’t worry, I shouldn’t be skipping any others in the near future. But, just as a reminder, the episodes should continue to be filler for the next few weeks, likely until the next season begins.

As for next week’s episode, it’s going to follow Team 15, which is made up of Wasabi, Namida, and Sumire, and is led by Hanabi Hyuga. While this episode seems to focus on Namida, another character I don’t like, I’ll still review it because I like both Hanabi and Wasabi.

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My review of the next episode is available here.