English Dub Review: Boruto “Memories from the Day of Snow”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

The Byakuya Gang’s influence continues to take hold of the public, as Denki’s father’s corporation, Kaminarimon Company, is besieged by protesters who claim it has corrupt business practices. Denki’s father is confused by this, as he believes he’s never treated his employees unfairly…which makes me wonder why they didn’t protest at that game company that failed bank robber worked for that was CONFIRMED to be abusive to its workers. But the point of this is that it’s simply fake news spread by the Byakuya Gang to get people on their side and give the people an enemy to focus their anger on.

Ryogi questions this, but his leader Gekko tells him it’s for a noble cause and they only have one last job left. Ryogi remembers his past of admiring his father, who was a hard-working Hidden Snow Shinobi who would go on missions with Gekko, but one night, his father came back stumbling over and bleeding out, having been killed by a rogue ninja. That ninja then also killed Ryogi’s mother but was killed by Gekko, who took Ryogi under his wing as part of the Byakuya Gang.

The Leaf Ninja scramble to contain the growing protests, but they only continue to gain support. Shikadai is also frazzled but meets Ryogi for their usual matches with a smile. That is until he asks him point-blank whether or not he’s part of the gang. When he denies it, Shikadai tells him that a lamp he brought was one of the items stolen, which tricks Ryogi into accidentally confessing. Shikadai tries convincing him to quit, but Ryogi bites back that Shikadai never takes anything seriously, so he would never understand. With that, Ryogi flees back to the rest of the gang, who begin the final operation.

OUR TAKE

Well, there goes any sympathy or dimension to this villain group! Right in the garbage! I don’t identify as a socialist, but you kind of have to actively ignore how crappy working conditions are for people who work for companies such as Amazon and the like. It’s a serious problem that is very prevalent in modern-day topics, but it seems that Boruto thinks that the best way to utilize this is by making those who help the destitute and bring up any issues with major corporations are just liars and manipulators. Just start a protest somewhere, no matter if they’re actually abusing their employees or not, it doesn’t matter if the abuse is real as long as people are angry and allowing us to steal stuff! And anyone who’s actually sympathetic and believes in their cause is just being manipulated and doesn’t know any better! Way to handle a touchy subject, Studio Pierrot!

Then again, as I said last week, this was likely already handicapped by the fact that the old cast is essentially running the government in this show, and they’re all basically put on a pedestal and kept from just about any further development. Which means there’s no way they’re ever going to even remotely imply that Naruto isn’t doing the most bang-up job as Hokage…even when showing starving villages that are dying because of lack of resources. Nope, Approval Rating 200%! So, whatever problems are going on in the Leaf Village, you will be certain that it will never be Naruto’s fault as Hashirama as my witness! Believe it! BECAUSE THE STATE TELLS YOU TO BELIEVE IT.

Ugh…just when I thought I could get genuinely interested in something going on in this show. This arc still has two episodes to go, which I imagine will probably be focused on the battle for Ryogi’s soul. A battle that I can’t imagine will matter much either way because I’m willing to bet a cool five dollars that Ryogi will not be making any significant appearances for the next three years worth of story once the arc is done, nor will he learn any middle ground on this matter about how there might be genuine problems in how the Leaf handles or regulates its business that can be dealt with without the need for radical owl-themed terrorists. Erik Killmonger he is not, so Erik Killmonger he shall not be.