‘Boruto’ Meme Trolls Impatient Fans About Teenage Boruto Transformation

The recent “If you don’t love me… you don’t deserve me…” social meida trend has inspired some pretty humorous memes that touch upon a variety of subjects, so it was only natural that the anime genre would be included in the lineup. And when it comes to the Naruto franchise, Boruto got a spot-on version of the meme that fans will appreciate:

This opening scene of the Boruto anime series has been the major hook that has kept fans hanging on – even through some of the anime’s worst filler episodes. The vision of a teenage Boruto who is a hardened ninja warrior was a badass promise that fans want to see fulfilled. Therefore, there’s a certain amount of snarky truth to the notion that this meme raises: if fans can’t hang in there for the full span of Boruto’s saga (from young, brash boy to battle-hardened shinobi) then they probably don’t deserve the full payoff when we finally come back around to that opening scene again.

This past week, Boruto episode 52, “Sasuske’s Shadow” dropped the first real breadcrumbs that will lead to Boruto’s radical transformation down the line. After encountering the threat of the Otsutsuki Clan for the first time, Boruto realizes that he is nowhere near the powerful ninja he needs to be. A history lesson on some secret chapters of the Fourth Great Ninja War from Konohamaru gave Boruto a new path to follow: training under Sasuke to become the great ‘ninja in the shawows’ that will protect Hidden Leaf – and finally earn Boruto the full respect of his father, just like Sasuke did.

Fans are understandably excited ot this new arc leading to the Chunin Exams take shape. We’ve just reached the point in the anime that connects back to the original Boruto movie form 2015; that film saw a rapid change in Boruto, as he trains under Sasuke and makes the leap to mastering the Rasengan. After that milestone, the pathway to Teenage Boruto will be wide open.

Boruto airs new episodes Wednesdays on Funimation and Hulu.