There is hardly anyone who has not heard of Naruto. It is one of the most iconic anime of all time and had a massive role in the booming of the anime industry. Considered as one of the Big Three of anime, Naruto has over 700 episodes, divided into two parts. After the series ended in 2017, people were not ready to let go of their favorite characters and had their wishes fulfilled with Boruto.
Boruto is about the next generation of shinobi and how they sustain a peaceful world. It is a common fact that mangaka have a friendly relationship with each other and often use references from other anime. While most people may have overlooked it, in Pokémon Sun & Moon, there was a Naruto reference. It was one of the cutest crossovers ever to happen.
Bolt Pikachu Connected the Naruto and Pokémon Franchise
There are several anime that have used Naruto’s reference and vice versa. Some mangaka even draw the manga cover with protagonists from other anime. While they all are great, few come close to how Pokémon used Boruto Uzumaki’s reference. Boruto Uzumaki is the protagonist of Boruto anime. In Pokémon Sun & Moon episode 129, there was a particular trainer named Pikala.
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Like Ash Ketchum, Pikala also had a Pikachu. But there was a massive difference between the two. While Ash’s was a normal one, Pikala’s Pikachu was named Bolt and had the same hairstyle as Boruto Uzumaki. In Japanese, Boruto means bolt or screw. Pokémon using a Naruto reference was out of the blue. What stood out most was Bolt’s hairstyle, and how it was the same as Boruto’s and even had a strip of hair sticking out from the middle of his head.
Pokémon Sun & Moon episode 129 is named Battle Royal 151! and is episode 1068 of the Pokémon series. There have been several references to Naruto in other anime like Jujutsu Kaisen, when Yuji Itadori was desperate to have a special technique and named Rasengan, which is Naruto Uzumaki’s signature move. Pokémon gifted the Naruto fans the cutest crossover ever.
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Boruto’s Popularity Has Reached Other Anime
Pokémon began in the late 1990s and is still going strong. It began with Ash Ketchum as the protagonist, but it might soon be changed to Liko and Roy. Compared to Pokémon, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is more recent, even though the franchise is old. Boruto began in 2017, and it took a couple more years for the fans to get a sneak peek of how he would look as a Pikachu.
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It was worth the wait. Pikachu has a name for mimicking other Pokémon, and people enjoy it when it happens. The next Pokémon series might take some time to release since it is the only anime that is based on video games instead of manga. It won’t matter how long it takes to premiere; a Pikachu with a Naruto reference would be more than enough to keep the fans busy.
