the Ultimate Ninja series. In some games, she uses "Inner Sakura" in combat as well as numerous different genjutsu. Naruto Shippuden: Gekitou Ninja Taisen! EX (2007) marks the first appearance of Sakura in her Part II design in a video game, with the second one being Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 (2007). Meanwhile, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (2016) marks the first appearance of Sakura post-Part II; specifically, her appearance in The Last: Naruto the Movie, set two years after chapter 699 of the manga. Reception In the Weekly Shōnen Jump character popularity polls, Sakura had many times been placed in the top ten and reached the top five once; in the most recent poll, she was ranked twelfth. Numerous pieces of merchandise based on Sakura have been released, including action figures, key chains of her Part I (Naruto) and Part II (Naruto: Shippuden) appearances, and various character patches. In a poll from 2021, Sakura was voted as the 6th most popular character in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Several manga, anime and video games publications and other related media have provided praise as well as criticism on Sakura's character. IGN writer A.E. Sparrow commented that every anime and manga benefited from a strong female presence that Sakura provided for the Naruto series, although characterizing her as "stereotypically girly". In a review of episode 110 of the anime, IGN celebrated the culmination of the development of Sakura's character throughout the series and the growing out of the "girly" personality. GameSpot said that Sakura's character had largely been used in the series as a form of comic relief and to often state the obvious. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews considered Sakura to be a stereotypical echo of similar love interests of protagonists in other shōnen manga and that she was not likable. On the other hand, she was also regarded as "an interesting character to throw into the mix [of Naruto]" by Mania Entertainments Dani Moure due to how her differences with Sasuke and Naruto helped to balance Team 7. In the book New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders, Amy A. Zenger wrote that Sasuke and Sakura's relationship was popular among fans of the series even at the time when the former had not yet reciprocated the latter's feelings. The character's change in Part II (Naruto: Shippuden) has been praised by Anime News Networks Casey Brienza for being one of