It’s time to talk about peak fiction and by that I mean Boruto of course. It’s no surprise that initially a lot of people were rather down on the series. Sequels can often be met with a lot of skepticism at first because you’re worried at how they’re going to humiliate the old characters in favor of the new ones. Well I can say not to worry because Boruto is actually a great series. Yes, the old protags are done extremely dirty and the power levels get kind of crazy but at the end of the day the series does a lot of things exceptionally well.
The series picks up after the first series ends with the world finally at peace. Unfortunately becoming Hokage has gone to Naruto’s head and he has started to shirk his family duties to do paperwork all day. Gone are the days of Naruto being the ultimate family man and this has caused his son Boruto to resent him. Boruto has no interest in becoming Hokage and just wants to be a cool ninja so Naruto can acknowledge him. Unfortunately it won’t be so simple as more aliens are arriving on the planet and seem to do battle. Can he surpass his father and put these guys in their place?
For me personally, I actually get really excited whenever there is a big sequel. I love to see all of my favorite characters in a new setting. Did they keep up with their training and how quickly will they be power creeped? As long as it isn’t overly disrespectful to the old characters I’m generally okay with them being crushed and anything like that. The old characters actually get a fairly big role at first and it starts to lessen as the series goes on but they’re always relevant which is nice. This is a true sequel in that sense and not some thing 100 years in the future when everyone is dead.
To address the elephant in the room, I don’t think the art is all that great. The images I chose here are some of the worst so don’t think that the whole series looks like this but my main problem is that it often ends up getting too cluttered the more the series goes on. In some ways I would say it actually looked clearer before. Take the image of Naruto that I attached in this review. Sure people may poke fun at it but it is easy to read and you know that’s Naruto right off the bat. I’ll take simple art like that which clearly shows who we’re supposed to be talking about over something that’s more on the vague side any time. That’s just the way to go. Still, it’s not bad but I would consider the art to be the weakest part of the series.
Now let me address the next biggest part, what about Naruto and Sasuke? These two were absolute beasts in combat before. They are the strongest Shinobi on the planet. Well, for some reason Naruto never gave Sasuke his arm back and I could see that being for emotional reasons but still it’s a slight nerf. You’d still expect them to absolutely dog walk any opponent in the series and that doesn’t really happen. Delta actually gives Naruto a good fight for a while there. Then later on, Naruto and Sasuke struggle rather hard against Momoshiki, they get absolutely clobbered by Jigen, and they get humiliated by Isshiki.
They are consistently shown to be old news at this point. They get just enough hype to be used as hype tools for the villain but they aren’t winning the fights. So why do I still love Boruto? Lets face it, there’s nothing wrong with a little power creep. I do think that the way it is written doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. You can’t tell me that Naruto would be fodder with Sage mode when Boruto was holding his own against Kawaki while still being really young. It seems to be that Naruto and Sasuke were heavily nerfed to give Boruto his chance in the sun. I completely get fans being upset about it but in general power levels are not the kind of thing that I deduct points for. It hurts yeah and I definitely will always bring power levels up but at the end of the day I’m more concerned with portrayal.
In that sense, Sasuke still looks really good. He may have calmed down a whole lot since the old days but he’s still the tough rival. With his Rinnegan abilities he actually serves as more of a threat than Naruto at times. I would like to see him use the sharingan more often to one shot opponents immediately but in general he gets a lot of hype for being a tactical mastermind. He’s absolutely one of the highlight characters of the series. He did a lot in making Boruto a better character by showing him the true way of the shinobi. He’s still not quite what I would call a family man but he’s someone you can depend on.
As for Naruto….uh oh. Now here’s something the series did drop the ball with. There is still no possible explanation for why Naruto would have ditched his family like this. He doesn’t even attend Himawari’s birthday in person which crushes her and infuriates Boruto. From the dialogue we see that he hasn’t had time for them for years at this point. I’ve heard every excuse in the book for this but none of them stick. You want to know why? Shadow Clones. For a guy who can make thousands and thousands of these, there is no actual reason why he can’t just have a shadow clone doing the Hokage paperwork. You see all the memes all the time of how the previous Hokage handled the business better.
Is Naruto just a bad Hokage? I mean that’s possible but kind of a depressing thought. So Naruto was character assassinated early on. This was all for a character arc where Boruto gets him back into his prime self but that sure took a while and didn’t make sense. After that though he is back to being the Naruto we grew up with. He has a lot of great moments and it’s just really nice to see him again. We rarely get to see the main character after he has achieved his dream so this is really an honor. It’s another reason why I love the series, just seeing Naruto and Sasuke again is a blast. It’s why I will always appreciate Dragon Ball Super as well for all its faults. We get to see Goku and Vegeta again. It’s a bit different since they’re more or less the same age but it is still a vehicle for getting way more moments than what we had before so it works out really well.
Okay…so this review’s been way more about Naruto than Boruto so far but that makes sense since that’s what happens in real life as well. There are so many people I’ve seen online who basically skipped to the moments involving the original characters and ignore the Boruto stuff. Hopefully they’ve changed their ways though because it is great. So lets talk about that now. To do that, we have to start with the main character Mr. Boruto Uzumaki himself! This is the kind of character who can easily hold his own series.
At first I was more indifferent about Boruto. He was a nice enough main character but there wasn’t much to him. He was a little whiny at times and also cheated on an exam. Well, here’s where the character development really starts to come into play. He goes from that to being one of the more mature leads who really talks a good game. He absolutely dishes out the disrespect against all of the villains and it was great. At one point he was smack talking in every single chapter for quite a long time. That’s the kind of energy I want to see. Boruto doesn’t put up with any nonsense from anyone. He also does feel like a bit of a mix of Naruto and Sasuke. Boruto can make some good speeches and knows what it means to be a hero but he’s also more aggressive like Sasuke and will just start fighting at times.
There was a whole lot of pressure on Boruto himself in order for this series to be good and he definitely pulled it off. He held his own really well and so the series was able to take off. The fact that we already have a new sequel series for the time skip is super impressive. I expected that Boruto would still keep going for many years but this one only ended because the sequel was coming out which barely counts as ending. So in a way I still feel like I was right, you know what I mean?
As the main heroine, Sarada is solid as well. She has a hard time keeping up with Boruto here so as the series goes on her role gets smaller and smaller but she fights hard and does her best. It’s always fun to have more Uchiha fighters in the mix and the fact that she wants to become Hokage is a nice change of pace here. You would have expected that it would be Boruto and instead he went in the opposite way. I wouldn’t be shocked if he eventually makes that his aim though. If that happens then it could be hard for her since he is the son of the Hokage after all. For now at least it’s nice to see that the modern version of Team 7 actually gets along really well.
The third member of the group is Mitsuki and he’s not bad but he really gets the shaft in this series. He just doesn’t get a chance to show off what he can do even though we know that he should be pretty strong. If there’s any main criticism for the Boruto series, it’s that the supporting cast rarely get anything to do. They’re around to be sure but for the most part this is purely the Boruto series. If you’re not directly related to him or crucial to his story then that’s it. Interestingly the anime sort of works as an extension of the series so it you really want the side characters then you have to watch the anime. As far as the manga goes, you’ll barely know who half of the new Genin 11 even are.
The first main arc is about the Chunin Exams. Team Boruto is entering to finally get their ranks up and in the meantime the next two aliens are here to cause some trouble. It’s a great way to kick things off. Yes, it keeps the old characters in the mix to start the ratings off on a high note and then in theory you stick around for the new characters. I actually think this is a fairly good idea as a transition. It’s also a pretty good arc in general if you take power levels out of the equation. Again you won’t really care about most of the kids introduced but the villains are solid.
Kinshiki and Momoshiki are sort of like Kaguya. They show up with crazy feats and start messing with everyone. Kinshiki sort of gets the short end of the stick here. He was a very loyal villain though and I rather liked him. He may not have lasted long but he did his best to fulfill his mission. Meanwhile Momoshiki would go on to be one of the most interesting villains. I actually liked him quite a lot. The guy had quite a lot of presence the whole time and would go on to have a lot of fun moments in the series. His role is like the Nine Tailed Fox’s but he’s not quite as nice as that beast was. Even by the end of the series you could argue that Boruto should not trust him at all.
After that we get the first main mission without the old characters so things are toned down quite a lot in terms of scale. The heroes have to deal with a cannibal villain and there’s a kid who needs protecting. The arc shows us more of Boruto’s character like how he plays video games and has a full card collection. This helps him bond with the kid somewhat. Boruto also gets to act a little more mature here. It’s a solid enough arc even if it is technically the weakest. The villain is rather forgettable though.
After that we have the introduction to the villain group Kara. They’re basically a poor man’s Akatsuki but they do have a rather big role in the series. We get to see how they’re such a big threat that even Naruto and friends have trouble. Ao even shows up so Konohamaru finally gets a good fight. The arc has a lot of good fights and in general this is always a soli thing about Boruto. Every arc has some big fights involved and so there are a ton of milestone moments. Again the power levels get dicey when Naruto and Sasuke show up but it’s still nice to see them having to give their all to fight these new threats. It does raise the stakes a whole lot.
Ao makes for a solid opponent. It’s interesting to see how far he has come during the Naruto days. You can easily see why he changed a whole lot. I don’t have much sympathy for the guy but his debut was undeniably cool and he left an impact. I was also glad to actually see Konohamaru show up and fight. The guy can actually hold his own now which is nice character development. his role is still really small overall but that’s just how it goes. There are a lot of characters to juggle.
Delta is one of my favorite members of the villain group. She has a lot of confidence and can fight really well. Her speed is impressive and her fight with Naruto still ranks up there as a highlight moment in the series. Then we have Koji who I found less interesting but there is a lot of mystery around his character. He looks a whole lot like Jiraiya so why is that? I just didn’t care much about Jiraiya back in the day which is why I found it hard to care about this guy. Koji is tough to be sure but he’s no Delta.
Then we have Jigen who is another true powerhouse here. The guy is crazy strong and that led to another hype fight. He would eventually be Isshiki so you could go by either term here. Regardless, the guy is one of the cooler villains here to be sure. It may be a valid complaint to say that he doesn’t have a ton of character and it’s more about his overall abilities but I’d argue that he still has enough to back him up. I was interested in what he was going to do at least.
Around this time we also got introduced to Boro who was one of the weaker Kara members. The guy was a power type so he mostly exists to get wrecked and show off everyone else’s hype. The role works well though as it still has Sarada’s best Chidori and I liked seeing everyone’s teamwork. I don’t really care about Boro but he had an intimidating character design. Then we met Amado, the scientist with a grand master plan. His whole thing is that he’s sort of like an evil version of Shikamaru. He’s always got a plan at the ready and has many different contingencies. You definitely don’t want to underestimate this guy.
I’m not really a fan at the moment though. He talks tough and gets a lot of hype but hasn’t done anything with it yet. Unless he has a super big reveal, I don’t really see him rising up the ranks. At least we do have Kawaki though, which finally gives us a rival for Boruto. The problem is that he’s no Sasuke though. When Kawaki first shows up you can see how he’s stronger than Boruto but that changes real quick. Kawaki gets crazier and crazier as the series goes on which ultimately does hurt him. I don’t care for his motivations or reasonings quite as much as Sasuke.
There is still a lot to like about his character though so don’t get me wrong. He’s solid enough as an antagonist and rival pre time skip. He gives Boruto a reason to keep on training hard and has a lot of clutch moments. At this point in time he’s a very interesting character and we needed Boruto to have a challenge. Most of the other figures here just can’t do that anymore.
Finally, we end the series with some more villains showing up. We now have androids at the ready. I do have some major problems here like in DBZ though. There’s no way you should be able to create new villains that can rival the gods. It’s just not happening and the power scaling goes absolutely crazy so you will want to avoid that. The main new villain here is Code and he wants to destroy Boruto to avenge Isshiki. He wants to take everyone down for that reason really since he basically worshipped the guy. To do this, he wakes up Eida and Daemon, two other figures to take down the heroes.
The series goes pretty hard in trying to set them up as powerful fighters but you can tell that the series is writing itself into a hole. First up is Daemon who cannot be injured. If you even so much as think about hurting him then the damage is reflected to you. He’s said to be stronger than Naruto and Sasuke combined. No worries, this technique gets nerfed in the sequel but for now that’s an absolutely crazy ability. I never cared for him as a character though. He may be strong but he’s not my kind of villain.
Then there is Eida whose ability makes it so that everyone falls in love with her. Additionally, she can see all events in the present and the past. It’s basically an omnipotence ability and it’s certainly handy. So nobody can really attack her and you can’t keep any secrets from her either. She isn’t really a physical fighter as far as we know but that means she doesn’t need to engage in physical combat anyway. Another character where I can’t say that I give her a real thumbs up though.
So that leaves Code and well the poor guy constantly gets clowned on. He got a ton of hype when he first showed up but it all went downhill from there. The main problem is that he gets surpassed too quickly which absolutely undermines his character arc. If he could have been allowed to slowly be surpassed that would have worked better. The guy just ends up whining a lot which doesn’t help his case at all. The guy had a promising future but he fell flat.
That’s roughly all of the characters. Shikamaru gets a big role on the heroes’ side but naturally he doesn’t look very good either. He’s mainly here to get wrecked or to hype up another character. His days of always being the smartest and being in the lead are absolutely over which is a shame. I’m still waiting for characters like Kakashi and Tsunade to show up as well. They should be able to help out a little bit after all and acknowledging them would be cool. Sometimes the series feels a bit too isolated which doesn’t work when everyone in the lead village should still be in peak shape. If they get to fight, it’s usually to get one shotted. So again, don’t get too attached to the old character.
At this point it’s a bit of a meme that we’ll never get to the quick moment that was teased at the very beginning of Boruto. It was a flash forward hinting at some epic things and it just never happened. So in a way people were right which is kind of crazy because you would have assumed that it had to appear. Still, it will likely show up in the sequel series which is what counts. I don’t think anyone could have guessed that this manga would end on a cliffhanger. Since there’s a sequel there’s nothing to worry about for folks who don’t like an unfinished story though. If anything this manga ends in an extremely hype way. The final page is awesome with another one of Boruto’s best moments. Like I said before, he really came a long way from the opening chapters and is just an awesome main character now. He can hold his head high next to Naruto.
Overall, Boruto was a great manga series. It really does a good job of continuing the legacy of the characters and showing us what happened next. This really is the next generation of Naruto and I can safely say that the legacy is in good hands. If you’re looking for great action and a solid plot then you have come to the right place. It can only adapt so much though so don’t expect this to answer your questions on where every old character is. Some have not yet gotten to appear and others probably won’t, even in the sequel series. For the most part you do get the picture of how things went down though. The sequel series is also off to a great start right now so it’ll probably be going for a long while. Once it has been completed then I will have a review up for it though.
Overall 8/10