#and then i felt all despaired and ashamed because i thought my translation must Suck

[joziokowalski]

hate how most things i supposedly do for the fun of it or out of curiosity or because i supposedly find them meaningful are almost always poisoned with hunger for approval which i can never get enough of. like i remember translating a passage from my favourite book and feeling not too bad about myself or the process while it lasted and i Thought i would feel satisfied when i finished it, but then all i felt was drained and depressed and in a way abandoned because it seemed to me that none of the people close to me took any interest in it. All Joy Completely Ruined

[nayrael]

Analyzing Shigaraki Sumire

 So now that we all know who the Mastermind is, I thought I’d look back at earlier episodes and use it to check why Sumire did what she did in each ep, what it means for her character, and just how evil she truly is.

And if you don’t care about analysis and stuff, there’s a lot of picture with Sumire’s inner thoughts that might be funny to read! Probably more so than the analysis itself :P

So without further ado...

Episode 1 - Uzumaki Boruto: the first episode, and the first Ghost Incident. We don’t see Sumire outside the OP and until the end of the EP, so we don’t know how she chose Denki. If I had to guess, the commotion that Boruto made while saving Denki attracted her attention and she followed them since then.

But we can guess WHY she chose him: as a girl who lives solely to fulfill her father’s wishes no matter the costs, she must frown upon this boy who doesn’t want to do what his own father wants him to do. So once Denki split from Boruto, she tailed him all the way to his home, and waited for a perfect moment to strike.

The next day, she has gone to the Academy, so she would not witness what would happen to Denki. Her first victim, and she does not seem to care to even see what happens to him. Quite cold of her!

“Today my glory days begin! And all these losers will be the sacrifice!“

“But look at this one! Are you really Uchiha Sasuke’s heir? Are you even trying to walk the most honorable path of revenge?“

Interestingly, we also see that Denki was not actually her first victim: he was the fourth. The tattoo on her back gained one spike, while it had three before it.

And here’s the disturbing part: in later episodes we find out that her attacks officially started at the Academy. So Denki and Metal are officially her first victims.

But you know what? Her two parents are dead. And they were crazy.

In translation: it’s possible that they forced their daughter to suck all the life out of them. This might explain why her guilts doesn’t get in way of her mission: an even greater guilt is fueling her.

ep14 Update: thankfully, this proved to be false... for the most part. Her dad probably is one of those spikes. And though he gave up his own life, I do believe that Sumire felt guilt and thus responsibility to see the plan completed

Episode 2 - The Hokage’s Son: one of rare few episodes where no Ghost Incident occurs. However, it’s the episode where our main antagonist is introduced. We see that she has not only befriended Chocho and Sarada, but that she also earned the trust of other students, thus becoming their Class Representative.

We also see her panic attacks. Back then I thought that they are a bit weird, and one was even sudden. I guess that I should have taken that as a hint: she was still getting used to the act. But she did fool everyone, including the audience which immediately labeled her Hinata 2.0.

For whichever reason, she also seems to have developed a liking for Boruto, and seems earnestly glad that he gets along with others. As we have seen in ep13, she does seem to be fond of him.

Says aloud: “Thank goodness, Boruto is getting along with others!“

In herself: “And just when I hoped he would get depressed and I could suck Hokage-sama’s chakra out of him. Well, another time then.”

Or maybe not. Hard to know what she thinks of her cattle.

Episode 3 - Metal Lee Goes Wild: her act continues, to the point that she pretends to suck at shuriken throwing. Seeing as it would be easier for her if she at least pretended to be somewhat competent (just in case she had to defend herself from another threat), one has to wonder if she enjoys this whole act.

Selecting her fifth victim was easy: Metal Lee was practically served to her on a silver platter.

“What is that smell behind me? Oh yes, the sweet, sweet Chakra! I’ll pass on the burgers, Boruto-kun~”

Speaking of which, we saw this same image in the preview one episode ago. Thought she looked menacing then, realized I was wrong and just read too much into it, and now I know I was closer to being right the first time.

Episode 4 - A Ninjutsu Battle of Sexes: yet another episode with no Ghost Incidents... but it was made up by the fact that the Nue finally appeared.

“Come on, give in to your hate! Humiliate one another into depression my dear piggies! I’ll be watching!“

But it was not her who made him appear, but Boruto. And interestingly, we see her losing all the spikes that were on her tattoo. Unintentionally, Boruto might have destroyed all the hard work she did up to this point. She must have been pissed.

“Wha.. .what the... wh... WHERE THE HECK IS MY CHAKRA GOING?!“

I could start guessing on why Boruto is able to do this, and how he is connected to Nue.. .but I won’t. This is about Sumire, not about Boruto and his techniques. What is important is: Boruto can meddle with her Nue, and thus is a potential threat.

And quite frankly, I feel ashamed. Because this episode is what made it clear that something was clearly not right with this girl. I mean, she sees that Chocho almost died, she saw the Nue disappear, and what does she do? Ask Chocho if she is alright? Nope! Wonder what the hell this beast was? Nope! Take the flag from the ground? Yep! Literally a moment after the Nue disappeared, her eyes looked away, and then down at the flag, and she took it. It kind of feels like she wanted to move everyone’s attention to something other than the Nue.

Now, others are no better: they all also forgot about all this fairly quickly and returned to their pointless game. But Sumire was always shown as the most empathetic and kindhearted of the group. If one character was supposed to come running and asking if everyone was OK, it was her. But she didn’t come, and for a reason: someone summoned HER Nue. And this made her anxious, so for a moment she may have forgotten how she was supposed to act.

And just look at her face during all that:

“Okay, what the hell just happened? I did not summon it.”

“Don’t look, they must not think it concerns you. We’ll think about it later.“

“Good heavens, is that the flag?“

“Oh wait, I did not think this through! Just HOW am I going to convince the boys that it’s completely normal and natural to demand them to let me suck their Chakra?“

But then again, it’s not like any of these kids cared much about the tragedy that almost happened. Still, the change of expression from pic1 to pic2 is a bit weird.

Also, while we are on the episode about sexes... did anyone notice that she only sucks up the males?

...

Okay, this has ended up sounding more perverted than I intended. Sorry. Let’s continue before this gets any more weird.

Episode 5 - The Mysterious Transfer Student: possibly due to losing five days of hard work, Sumire has started attacking people outside the Academy. Men with bad fashion sense, like that guy who wore a karate kimono over thick cream-colored jester with a hood, were dishes hard to ignore.

Unfortunately for her, Boruto, Iwabe and Shikadai have formed a team of people hunting for her. And what’s worse, a guy called Mitsuki comes to the village and the first thing he does is ruin her Chakra collecting. As if Boruto wasn’t enough, now there‘s some strange kid from another village randomly attacking her dishes.

“Because how am I supposed to make my evil plans when you guys JUST KEEP BLABBERING!”

But at least she got another guy offered on a silver platter. For some reason, she decided to have some fun and talk to her next dish.

“I mean, those clothes... I possessed people who dressed less outrageously. To be honest, they trigger me.“

“Nothing, just checking your... potentials.“

“But you still do a horrible job, and I expect more from people who take care of my cattle. If you don’t get your act together, I’ll have to fire you and find myself a new caretaker. No offense, but I do have to take care of my business assets.“

“You don’t say...“

“I find that hard to believe.“

“Ufufufufufufufufufufu! UFUFUFUFUFUFUFU!“

Speaking of which, what the hell is with that smile? Add this to the list of hints.

And of course, next thing that happens is that his bugs screw up, and he falls further into despair. As I said, silver platter.

“... I hate bugs. You are gonna be next, bitch.“

But she already possessed someone at the academy, and that guy went rampage after Shino screwed up. And this confirmed her greatest fears: Boruto is getting more and more people to join him in hunting the Ghost. She may be the Class Rep in title, but he is the one getting them all together... against her. And add to that the fact that he can summon her Nue, and you get a big effing problem

If she did not decide to get rid of him before, she decided it so now because in the next episode.

Episode 6 - The Final Lesson: I know what you may be thinking: Sumire does not appear in this ep. So there is nothing to talk about.

Well you’re wrong. These is a LOT to talk about.

First, let’s consider a possibility: the Nue can choose where to lead his victim’s thoughts while possessing them, and Sumire can give him the orders. In episode 11, we will even see her influencing the Postmaster to defend herself.

What is the point of that? Well, Shino took Boruto, Shikadaki, and Mitsuki out to the deep forest to harm them. Now it makes sense why he would be pissed at Boruto: he is a big problem child. But he should not care much about Shikadai, while he is supposed to sympathize with Mitsuki. So why take the two of them with him?

Well, it makes sense if you look at it from Sumire’s perspective: Boruto is her archnemesis, so he has to go. Shikadai is the brain that helps, so he has to go too. And Mitsuki seems to know something about what is going on, and is clearly not as soft as the other kids. In other words, he might become a threat greater than Boruto in future, thus he must go.

Basically, Sumire ordered Shino to kill her three classmates because they have started getting in her way. She went to school with two of these boys for weeks, she ate with them, laughed with them, and then decided to kill them. Until now we could claim that she just closed her eyes while others suffered because of her and maybe hoped it all ended well... but this goes beyond simple apathy. 

And for that she used Shino, the man she knew was having a hard time, but had a good heart and was giving his best to make life better for his students. they had such a heartfelt talk, yet the moment he became vulnerable, which is soon after they had their talk, she attacked. And she made this teacher, who wants the best for his students, to go and assault them.

And the day after, she continued smiling, laughing, and fooling with people who thought she was their friend. If she regretted anything she did, she did not show it. We often see villains like her in Anime, and we usually see them regretting or hesitating. But Shigaraki Sumire was not shown signs of hesitation or regret. The story could have made it look like she was in a bad mood and make it look like it was something else, but it did not that.

Even if we take a guess and say that she did not make Shino do it and he came up with it himself, it does not change the fact that Sumire was never shown to be in depressive mood.

Sumire is, frankly, cold-blooded. 

Episode 7 - Love and Potato Chips: It’s just another day in Konoha: the boys are continuing with their investigation into the Ghost Incident, and Sumire is in a foul mood because her heart aches from all the evil she is forced to commit. You can see that she looks back on her life, at her choices...

Truly, she is in pain and anguish!

Definitely not thinking about which boy she would feast upon today.

Anyway, the start of this episode holds another hint to her true nature: though both Chocho and Sarada are supposed to be above Sumire in Shinobi skills, only she notices that someone is taling them. Now we know that this is not a coincidence as in ep13 she told Mitsuki that hiding is her specialty. Basically, the stalker was just n00b to her. And the n00b asks her to be his girlfriend.

“How pitiful! How pathetic! You are... PERFECT! I’m sure my Nue-chan will love you!“

And although she has decided to make him her next victim, food and dates don’t mix so she rejects him. It helps that this just makes him more depressed and angry, and she likes that in her food.

“Are you crying? Seriously? Oh man up. You’re making it real hard for me to keep this act up.“

But she forgot two important things: (1) that boy will definitely target her in anger, and (2) he is creepy. And since she pretends to be a weak-ass girl who can’t even throw a shuriken... well, it doesn’t work out well for her. For the first time ever, she shows honest expressions on her face.

“Awawaw... I knew I would regret not taking Badass Martial Artist Chick as my fake persona...“

“Thinking of which, why did I not take the Obnoxious Ojousama who Never Respects Anyone as my fake persona? Nobody expects those to be the bad guys, and I could have avoided all this creepy shit.“

In any case, Chocho uses Talk no Jutsu and saves the n00bish stalker. as if Sumire did not have enough annoying kids ruining her plans. 

But though he was saved, he ended up having to be hospitalized. Sumire’s Nue had grown stronger 

Also, I think this is the first time that Boruto talked about the black shadows in front of her. She must have found it... interesting.

“You want to tell me what’s wrong Boruto-kun? Do you? Well... it’s YOU! You always get in my way! You stole all my chakra from me once! And now you’re telling me that you can see my Nue with some special magical eye? Just what’s your problem?! Hawawawawa!“

But unknown to her, Boruto is the least of her worries. Someone else has started suspecting her. Fans laughed that it was him being jealous, but now we know it was a hint that something was amiss with Sumire.

And the Hokage too. The closer she gets to completing the Nue, the more enemies she has.

Episode 8 - The Dream’s Revelation: I know what you may be thinking: Sumire does not appear in this ep. So there is nothing to talk about.

Well you are right. Moving along.

Episode 9 - Proof of Oneself: No Sumire this episode, but there is a Ghost Incident. This episode supports the theory that Sumire can control her victims, as just conveniently our victim walks pasts Boruto, and just conveniently he goes to an abandoned building where he attacks him.

And I think this was her testing the suspicions she may have gotten in episode 7: that Boruto can see whom she is possessing. If she was watching, she now knows that Boruto could see the Nue and, if she was not careful, her using the Nue. From now on, she would select people away from him.

Episode 10 - Ghost Incident: The Investigation Begins!: As we just mentioned, Sumire must now know about Boruto’s eye and she likely tested it with the movie star. A week has passed, and the number of victims has skyrocketed... and most are away from Academy, and away from Boruto. She’s not taking any risks.

Yet her safety measures did not stop there: she also changed the girls she is hanging with, probably because Sarada and Chocho seem to be too close to the boys doing the investigating, and they have the bad tendency to help them.

“Somewhere far away from Boruto-kun and his magical eye, please.“

They had to choose a place to visit and see how adults work, and she knew just the place! Water Purificacation Plant was an excellent location to experiment with certain possibilities, and it was the one place that a boy like Boruto would NEVER visit!

“Why. Are you. Here? Like... I’m so angry I could blow this whole place up!“ (now that I look at it... she does gaze at him as if she wants to commit murder)

“Yeah, horribly so. As a matter of fact, I counted on it to keep you away! But that isn’t stopping you from haunting my every step, is it now?! Why don’t you summon Scooby Doo already and complete the team?!“

“And I came to thinking... why bother with all this Chakra-sucking, and explosions, and even blowing myself up when I can just poison the plant and murder everyone that way?”

When I first watched episode 10, I thought how it was cute that Sumire cares so much about it. Now though... I find it extremely disturbing. It’s true that the Water Purification Plant is Konoha’s lifeline, but she is a villain who seeks to kill everyone in the village.

Now, normal sabotage and poisoning would probably not work as Konoha no doubt  has countermeasures against it... but what if she can throw something in that makes everyone who drinks the water into a Chakra factory for the Nue? If in ep14 or ep15 Nue starts sucking the Chakra out of every villager because Sumire did something at the plant... well, you heard it here first!

ep14 update: Okay so this was wrong. Doesn’t mean she didn’t consider it... or choose it because she thought Boruto would never visit such a boring place :P

In any case, she seems to have selected her next victim before visiting the plant. And we see the sorry state this little purple Succubus leaves the men that are not saved in time.

Women... they suck all the life out of you if you are not careful.

In any case, both Boruto and the Hokage are nearing on her, so she must be getting anxious to get this over done as soon as possible. And since her movements are limited, she selected someone from the plant as her next victim. I’m not sure if she let herself get hurt because she wanted to make it look like she was not the Mastermind, or if the victim just got out of control.

In any case, her movements are about to become even more limited.

“In retrospect, maybe I should not have tried to use chemicals to turn all water in Konoha into liquid fire before putting some effort into studying chemistry.“

Episode 11 - The Shadow of the Mastermind: ah yes, the episode where every watcher started suspecting that Sumire is the bad guy!

Anyway, having heard that Sumire got hurt, all of her friends rush to visit her and the other two girls at the hospital. This is also the first time that she starts showing signs that she is not happy at all this. I guess she hit her head very hard there.

I mean like... REAL HARD.

“Awawa... oh my, all my little piggies have come to visit me. What is going on with me... I’m starting to feel like I should call them... kitties!“

“And you were in danger because... I was nearby. Why do I feel so down about it?“

“Now please leave, looking and listening to you all I’m starting to feel this strange new emotion called Guilt and it’s kind of disturbing me!“

“Oh... seeing that mug which constantly ruins my plans is making me feel all evil again.“

“But I must say that you have started to look quite dashing, and I’m not talking only about your chakra.“

Yeah, she hit her heads pretty hard. Even so. she went out to get herself a new victim... Like some postman. Because Boruto gets along with them lately. And fuck Boruto, with that pretty hair and his pretty jacket and those pretty blue eyes!

And typically, just when she breaks her new rule to keep away from Boruto, she gets caught in a trap and now everyone know that there is a person behind all this. The friends who were standing with her a few hours ago were now hunting her down. To Sumire, who has started to feel regret for what she was doing, this must have been extremely painful. Even more so because just a little while ago they were all so nice and friendly with her.

Still, she manages to suck up enough Chakra to almost finish her tattoo. remembering her father’s words, she leaves all newfound remorse behind and starts preparing for one last Ghost Incident.

Episode 12 - Boruto and Mitsuki: Be it due to everyone being on high alert, or her getting reluctant, or the fact that she would die once she finishes collecting the Chakra, she takes her sweet time going after one last victim.

Yet, we still learn more about her thanks to our dear friend, the wise Inojin. And this might show us what she truly thinks of Boruto. Inojin says: 

“Boruto could care less about what others say.“ - in contrast, Sumire cares only about what her already dead father and mother would think

“He makes up his own mind about everything.“ - in contrast, she never let her own mind and heart guide her. She clod-heartedly did everything for her father’s wish

“He got sick and tired of being judged just because he was the son of Hokage.“ - the people whose families have ties to the Foundation are always threatened to being judged by the rest of Konoha

“That’s why he tries extra hard to see through things with his own eyes.“ - maybe she wants it too, but can’t do it

“Being accepted without prejudice is a great thing, right?“ - she wants to give it all up, and be accepted like that as well. But if everyone knew what she was doing all this time... is that even possible?

“Oh, but having a guy like that around can be a pain. Especially for people like Class Rep. She must be feeling the most stress.“ - and all that just pisses her off further.

But she can’t let go of it anymore. Her parents have brainwashed her too far.

“Now dearie... don’t forget to read Peter’s Evil Overlord List before going to bed.“

“I’m telling you kid, that shit is goooood!“

In any case, Mitsuki comes to visit her, and their little convo proves that she has truly come to enjoy her times at the school, to see everyone as her friends, and to regret what she was doing all this time.

“Me? The meanest girl in all Konoha feeling like this? What is happening to me?“

But alas, it’s not enough to dispel her obsession, and she knows it’s only a matter of time until her ruse is discovered, All she can do now is put an end to all this... in the only way her misguided mind can think of.

“Like today... before I turn into a good person... I must finish it! And no Boruto will stop me this time!"

Also, I HAVE to applaud the writers here. Though she went through character development in following episodes, she also went through character development as the story went on. The girl that for so many episodes easily kept her facade up, was now spilling beans and regretting everything in front of Mitsuki.

Episode 13 - The Demon Beast Appears: 

“I am the night!”

“I am the darkness!“

“Nothing shall stand in my-“

“Oh **** this.“

For this one, we will try to guess what she is feeling right now.

Sumire goes on one last assault, but she is no longer able to hide. The Shinobi of Konoha know what is at stake and whom they are searching for. She prepared to fight, but in the end she is knocked down by Sai, who promises her that he will help her. Another kind soul... and another burden to her heart.

“Arhhh... more sweet words trying to corrupt me! Nue, wake up and come here! It’s time to wreck hell into Konoha!“

The face she shows here is regret. She could still give up, and return to the good guys. But once more, she chooses the part of revenge.

“Now where was I? Ah yes...“

“Nothing shall stand in my way!“

Her face has changed, and now she is resolved. In her mind, she might think that going against Sai is what cut all of her other options.

Anyway, she goes on to meet Mitsuki. One thing I found interesting is that before Sumrie answers his first questions, she goes “ahah” after which she straightens up and acts more confident. I guess her panicking was not a lie... at least to some extent. Then they go on, discussing various things, but it ends up in Sumire almost getting killed.

“Hey Mitsuki, as a fellow follower of path of darkness, why don’t we join forces and have fun blowing up Konoha together?“

“As a Sound shinobi, I do find that idea intriguing. But can we spare Boruto?“

“What?! No! He is my arch-nemesis who has been torn in my plans from the very beginning! I won’t be at peace until I take him down once and for all!“

“I’ll take that as a no.“

“But we can negotiate, right? How about we share him?“

“I’ll take that as a no.“

It’s then that, at nobody’s surprise, Boruto arrives at the scene. She confirms that she is the villain, that she intends to destroy Konoha, claims she cares not about her friends... though not before showing that she is fond of him with her shaky eyes and looking away.

“Oh Boruto-kun, once more destiny has brought us together to play our eternal game of cat and mouse. And this is our final one, my love..."

“For one of us will have to die tonight, and only live in the other one’s memories!“

Though it’s both in her convo with Boruto and in her convo with Mitsuki that we see what her actual wish might be.

At this point, she looks like she hopes to be killed so everyone could be saved from her. She has accepted that she is a villain, and deserves to die. It may not stop her from going on with her plan, but it might have made her less effective, Even her giving herself to the Nue has the suicidal sound to it. 

At this point, the story might be less about saving Konoha from Sumire, and more about saving Sumire from herself. And that’s what Boruto’s, the Sun’s, test might be about.

But until then, there will be some more fighting and arguing involved.

(and sorry, I could not come with anything interesting for the rest of the ep’s screencaps :’( )

Summary

There have been many evil young teens in the Naruto franchise. Some, like Gaara, have a huge trail of blood that Sumire, who never seems to have killed anyone, will never fill. Yet, in a way she is eviler than Gaara and all of them: none of them have been smiling and playing with their friends, all while at the same time plotting on how to use them to accomplish a goal that would kill them all. Being betrayed by someone you trust is seen as one of the greatest crimes one can commit, and Sumire has the utter trust of all her comrades. And she did that betraying while acting like a cute, panicky girl.

Yet, she did learn to earnestly see others as friends. And to no little thanks to Boruto. And by that I don’t mean the effect he left on classmates, but on how his actions constantly ruined her plans by taking out her victims before they could be truly sucked out of their chakra, by possibly destroying all the hard work she did until Boruto summoned the Nue, and by bringing out so many students to continue looking for her victims, and delaying her plans even furhter. if not for Boruto and his acting up, she may have completed her plan before Konoha truly got a notice of her, and before she softened up enough to start stumbling and not giving her best anymore.

And now all that remains is to save Sumire’s most threatened and pitiful victim yet: she herself.

And I hope he succeeds, and that she stays the part of the story (hopefully no shit like her having to be moved elsewhere). Yet, I don’t want her to revert to her old self (knowing her true nature, those braids and the cute clothes don’t fit her anymore), and I hope that the students look down on her so that she has to work to being accepted by them again. She may be redeemed in one night, but her repentance is something she will need to strive towards for the rest of her life. And I think that this would be an interesting part of her character.

As far as storytelling goes, Boruto Anime has yet to disappoint me, so I remain hopeful.

Overall, thank you for being crazy enough to read this whole post.