Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 1×263 Review – “Bloom, Hana! The Teacher’s Gifts”

Boruto anime episode 263, titled ‘Bloom, Hana! The Teacher’s Gifts’, was kind of disappointing. The writers tried to develop Hana as a competent teacher but failed.

With Hana making her debut as a new character in the current arc, I had been looking forward to learning more about her. Hana’s shy and not very authoritative as an instructor. However, according to Shino and Anko, she’s got the necessary skills as a teacher. So, I was kind of excited to see Hana “Bloom” in the latest episode, as stated in the title. But I was left unsatisfied.

I get that being sympathetic is a good character trait to have. And yes, teachers should be sympathetic toward their students as they try to help them develop into better adults. But how the writers went about having Hana interact with her students could have been done a lot better.

Hana’s clumsy nature doesn’t do her any favors. She’s trying to support her students. However, she’s not even good at it. For example, Hana read about Soul liking Might Guy. So, she made a poorly sewn outfit for Soul without realizing that her young student was not a fan of Might Guy’s fashion sense.

Similarly, she invited Ehou to ‘Ichiraku Ramen’ without asking if he’s already had dinner. Furthermore, she planned an entire picnic for her students, but the food wasn’t well-cooked. Hana seems to be a walking talking personification of “Please, give me praise because at least I tried.”

I get that Soul appreciated Hana being so sympathetic, but truth be told, I read the word “sympathetic” in the subtitles as “pathetic” at first. And frankly, that would have fit, too. Having watched this episode, I’m still unsure about why the heck Hana was hired as a teacher to train young ninjas. Hopefully, an upcoming episode will show her stepping up to protect her students when assassins come after Kae.

As for the rest of the episode, I liked how Boruto continued to tease Kawaki when Team 7 showed up as special instructors at the Ninja Academy. I wonder if Boruto will ever find out that Kawaki’s attending the academy due to being assigned a mission to protect Kae. Personally, I will be okay with Boruto finding out. But I want that to happen after Kawaki’s mission is complete. I say this because I want Kae to be protected by Kawaki and the rest of her classmates without Team 7 interfering.

Seeing Boruto’s plan to promote teamwork amongst the young students go off the trails made sense. He basically made the inexperienced younglings go through a Chunin-level exercise, switching Scrolls with Red Balls and withholding lunch. I enjoyed seeing the mess unfold. Boruto trying to settle things between Soul and Ehou by making them play the Extreme Shinobi Card Game also backfired. Boruto’s got a lot to learn about teaching kids. The same goes for Kawaki. His idea to calm things down also didn’t work.

So, while I liked the comedic elements featured in this episode, Hana’s characterization left me rolling my eyes.

What did you think of ‘Bloom, Hana! The Teacher’s Gifts’? What do you think of Hana as an instructor?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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