Boruto's Best Sakura Moment In Years Is Ruined By One Simple Fact

Even though their series concluded with an ending that's aged like fine wine, Naruto and Sasuke were a great help in providing some of the Boruto series most exciting moments in its first arcs. From a writing point of view, it was a brilliant way to entice long-term fans into the new series while also laying the groundwork for Boruto and his colleagues to take over the focus of the plot. Still, for being a Naruto sequel, there is a disappointing lack of characters or abilities from the first series that would greatly contribute to the ongoing story.

With Sasuke and Sakura's daughter, Uchiha Sarada, playing the role of one of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex's main protagonists, there have been plenty of appropriate reasons to bring her mother back into the franchise's ongoing plot. Sarada has been going through several particularly stressful situations that could be alleviated with motherly support or advice, and chapter #34 almost delivered the perfect moment between the two underserved characters.

Believe It, Sakura's Pep Talk Failed

After Sarada unlocked arguably the strongest Mangekyō Sharingan ability, she quickly learned how hazardous the eyes can be to the user's stamina and sight. After using her overwhelming Ōhirume ability only a few times, the young Uchiha's sight has already begun to diminish. The last time she tried to use it against the Human God Tree Mamushi's massive clone army, she passed out after the attack failed to manifest, leading her to Konoha's hospital and into the care of her mother, Sakura.

Since the ending of the Naruto series, Sakura has become the village's best medical ninja, which has apparently kept her out of the perilous events of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. Chapter #34 finally reminded readers that she exists with a touching moment between Sarada and Sakura. The former teammate of Naruto and Sasuke is more than familiar with the drama that comes with swearing loyalty to a rogue ninja, and after seeing her daughter going through the same thing, she provided a needed pep talk that ended with Sakura's catchphrase, which unfortunately went over the heads of English manga readers.

Sakura's understanding and support of her daughter's actions is exactly what Sarada needed to hear in her mission to help Boruto. And while the pep talk's final line, "Oh, yeah!" fired up Sarada, it's not a particular line of dialogue that holds much meaning for English fans. People who have enjoyed the Naruto anime in Japanese with English subtitles are much more familiar with Sakura's catchphrase "Shānnarō," which she's used consistently when she was particularly annoyed or delivering an epic attack. It's a line that carries more weight in Japanese and to Sarada, but fell completely flat in the manga's English translation.

Why Sakura's Catch Phrase Never Caught On In English

Several attempts to translate Sakura's epic declaration have been made, with the most accurate often meaning "Hell yeah!" or "Damn it!". Unfortunately, much like Naruto's own "Dattebayo!", the Japanese term "Shānnarō" does not have a direct English translation. When it came time to bring the beloved story to English, liberties were taken to replace the personable language quirks with something that made more sense. Naruto's catchphrase was translated into "Believe It" and was consistently mocked, leading to the dubbed shying away from using it and other catchphrases nearly as much as the source material.

Because the dub did not include most characters’ vocal quirks, English-only fans failed to form any sort of connection with Sakura’s “Shānnarō” line or an English version of it. This unfortunate truth robbed the impact of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex chapter #34’s beautiful moment between Sakura and her daughter. Still, learning that Sarada never truly understood the origin of her mother’s catchphrase but is still fired up by it speaks to the strength of the line that’s been around since Naruto’s first chapters was a heartwarming moment for Sarada and those who understood where it was coming from.