Amazing artwork by ferstra on deviantart
This week’s episode of Boruto was basic, but in a very good way. It was basic in the sense that there was little wasted dialogue and no filler scenes. Couple that with a dash of action and what I refer to as “feelgood”, and the chances of entertainment success increase astronomically.
Starting where last week ended, Boruto is pinned by Kakashi undergoing his harsh lecture on what it truly takes to be a shinobi – resolve. (Side note: Anyone else feel like a lot of animes really hammered on that theme last week? Resolve, that is.) Kakashi questions Boruto’s lack of awareness for what his future is, questioning whether or not the entire class will have the resolve to be ninja when all they really do is follow Boruto. Then, in true Jigsaw a la Saw manner, Kakashi tells Boruto the only way he’ll be able to get out of the hold he’s wrapped within will be to break his own arm. Does Boruto have that kind of backbone? Does he have the ability to acknowledge a situation and act on it, despite the consequences that may be reaped if they’re for the good of the village?
There’s not long to dwell before he’s saved from his situation by Mitsuki and Iwabe. Despite knowing that Kakashi could obliterate these children in the blink of an eye, it’s always fun to see shinobi teamwork tactics in action.
The little group huddle preplan scene was cute, and interesting to see how different Boruto’s childhood is than Naruto’s. Already his class is so bonded, when it took Naruto hardship after hardship to develop connections with his fellow genin. Actual battles, in some cases. I suppose it can be attributed to the times in which they live in, but it’ll be interesting to see if the bond is as genuine (or inspires the same feel of genuine connection in the audience). Regardless, as the students rally around Boruto in order to pep him up after his defeat, it brought little goosebumps to my arms. Naruto’s uncanny ability to befriend everyone can be seen within Boruto throughout the episodes, and it’s nice to see the culmination of that.
When it comes to the action of the episode, it was hype this week! The group split into two and each focused upon one opponent – Konohamaru and Anko, respectively. The nostalgia of Naruto originals amped the intensity of the battles up, as I’m a sucker for old school vs new school showdowns of any variety.
The Anko fight was a good chance to showcase some of the ninja that haven’t been properly introduced, at least in the combat sense. Wasabi probably gained the most appreciation from me this episode, as she was described as an underappreciated medical ninja with speed comparable to Metal Lee. This speed seems a result of her cat-like abilities, with tail and ears to match. Not to say that the others weren’t awesome in their own right, though I probably could do without Namida, who screams her way to victory. I’ll probably have to bite my tongue later when she becomes a sound wielding badass, but for now, I’ll hold firm.
The fight with Konohamaru was cool because we got to see some exemplary teamwork for future teammates Sarada and Boruto. With others involved for sealing jutsu purposes, Boruto and Sarada essentially fool Konohamaru into believing that they are one another. This is so that Konohamaru let’s his guard down as Boruto (actually Sarada) gets in close and can use the sharingan to use genjutsu (illusionary techniques) on him. As this succeeds, Konohamaru is blind to the kunai that is sent toward the target on his chest and is thus “slain”. It was an simple but sweet strategy that worked to perfection.
Of all the fights, I’d have to say that the Kakashi fight was probably the biggest disappointment. It wasn’t necessarily a bad fight, but the fact that they re-use the same jutsu to snare Kakashi kind of dulled the value. And although it was a cool nod to his father, who used mass amounts of shadow clones due to his massive amount of chakra, it was kind of boring to see everyone jumping at Kakashi seemingly blindly (transformed into Boruto). The sweetest moment in the fight was definitely whenever Kakashi used “Purple Lightning” and attempted to blow back everyone around him. The dust took a moment to settle as I shook my head, admiring their attempt. And then the clouds clear and the students are still holding Kakashi firmly in place. Chills raced up my spine (and again as I thought about it while writing) at their determination, and I could hear the “Hoo! Ha!” music from Naruto playing in my head.
They just miss the bell before the 24-hour limit expires, although Kakashi assures them that getting the bell was absolutely out of their reach the entire time. Instead it was, of course, testing their resolve.
Overall it was a good episode this week, with a lot of good new content. I look forward to the adventures of her new genin whenever they finally get within their three man squads and take on missions. It will be most interesting to see what kinds of missions there will be in a world filled with peace, although I imagine a lot of filler-like content. We’ll have to see though, as for now I’ll let myself marinate in content with this week’s episode of Boruto: Naruto’s Next Generation!