English Dub Review: Naruto Shippuden “Road to Sakura”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

If there is one thing I hate, it’s filler episodes. If there is one thing I hate more than filler episodes, it’s filler episodes that center around a character that doesn’t mean shit in the overall picture, as well as derailing the big story that has been building for this entire show. That’s cool and all, but Sakura is someone who is hard to give a shit about. Devoting 17 of a 23-minute episode to a universe displaced Sakura was a pass. Then, the second half of the episode was a recap of what was going on in the war so far. This is derailing to the letter.

The plot for “Road to Sakura” was weird. Let’s break it down a bit. Ino is walking on a day off, where Sakura just falls from what seems like a hole in the sky. Sakura seems off to the entire village, to the point where she wants them to act like their counterparts from Road To Ninja: Naruto the Movie. Yes, kids, this is just a promotion for the new movie. See how this works? When the movie was in theatres, this episode came out. When Road to Ninja came out here, we are “blessed” to get “Road to Sakura.”

Anyway, during the episode, Sakura lost a necklace given to her by her father. This is where the real “plot” happens because Sakura and Ino are having problems trying to find it. Suddenly, this universe’s version of Sakura’s parents’ walkthrough and they give her the necklace. It dropped in front of their house, and then Kizashi pulls out the same necklace. Somehow, that triggers the dimension jump, What the hell is going on here?

Listen, I shit on filler all the time. I make no bones about it because the most filler is absolute garbage. But this…this is grade A, rotten fish garbage. This was a 16 minute commercial for the movie, and it did nothing to actually convey any of the plots, except that the alternate Sakura from Road To Ninja can make her way to the canon universe.  There was no mention of how she got there, nor any real way to tell the audience about how she got back. This episode was a pile of “this makes no sense.”

The last six minutes of “Road to Sakura” was a very brief recap of the ninja war. I think it was a little premature, but watching this was so much better than the first 17 minutes. Hell, this isn’t even considered part of the episode, according to the Naruto Wiki. This is a shame. I’d take Shikaku and Mabui talk about the Ninja War after every episode. “Road to Sakura” was a derailment that puts this season of The Legend of Korra to shame. Oh well, at least it’s only one episode, because next week, the war continues!