Even though Boruto: Two blue whirlwinds Promising a fresh start, the latest installment of the Naruto series still seems uncomfortable with allowing female characters to fend for themselves. Sarada Sasuke, with all her newfound confidence, still ends the chapter mainly with the intention of making the male lead reappear as spectacularly as possible. Unfortunately, this has become a recurring pattern since Naruto, where female characters are rarely allowed to influence the plot personally.
Masashi Kishimoto, who is overseeing this new addition to the series, needs to prove that the time skip is the beginning of a new and improved storyline. However, the worrying thing is that Sarada didn’t even get a chance to show off before Boruto’s return. If old, problematic storytelling habits return, they could signal how Boruto’s other problems will return to the plot. At the very least, since the fan reception for the Naruto sequel series has been mixed, fixing the major issues from Naruto and the first Boruto must have been a high priority for Boruto: Two Blue Vortex
Sarada’s first role in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex was the Hero’s Call to Suffering
Two Blue Vortex got off to a promising start, establishing the older Sarada’s agency by having her argue with Shikamaru, the new Hokage, about Boruto’s innocence. But when it comes time to fight, the story chooses to cast her aside. Code appears and tells him how much he will hurt him until Boruto turns around: “I hope you can scream beautifully… let it reach him,” he taunted. But before either of them could put that theory to the test, the hero of the same name jumped onto the scene, completely foiling the entire plot of “intimidating Sarada” before he could say another word. again.
Boruto: Two blue whirlwinds can’t make Sarada suitable
It’s understandable that the manga titled Boruto would want him back as soon as possible, in the most dramatic way possible. But Sarada’s presence in the story suffers; genin has no chance to fight his Code or Claw Grimes. In fact, nothing happened to her, nor did she do anything to affect Boruto’s return. The manga is likely to have at least one chapter with Sarada fighting alone to show off her latest skills, before asking Boruto to reappear to rescue her from deadly harm. Instead, she became the most flimsy excuse to rescue: “the bad guy said malicious things to the girl”.
The absence of women is a frequent problem in many shounen manga marketed to boys. For most heroines, their combat prowess is glorified, but they mainly act as props to promote the hero, whether by chance or someone to rescue. Sakura Haruno in Naruto, Rukia Kuchiki in Bleach, and even Kaoru Kamiya in Rurouni Kenshin are just a few examples of women whose powers are said to fail to make an impression. Thus, Kishimoto Boruto: Two blue whirlwinds seems to be continuing that tradition with Sarada Sasuke.
