This is such a nothing chapter I wasn't even going to talk about it. It's another big fighting chapter and these slow the pace of a monthly manga to a snails crawl. It's an entire month wait for new content and you read it in 2 seconds. It's a really big problem with TBV in particular. I had this criticism about the Granolah Arc in Dragonball Super which was absolutely INSUFFERABLE because it was nothing but fighting for an entire year's worth of releases. Boruto isn't nearly THAT bad but if they were to ever do something like the War Arc in Shippuden it would become just a massive slog to get through. Long fights just don't translate well to a monthly series and only work if you have several things going on at once or break up the monotony between chapters.
It is really hard to deal with such a small amount of pages. That is what I consider the problem. Such stories demand more pages or more issues. Maybe it should have been bi-monthly?
A lot of people are cooming over the cover art this week. It's Boruto this time, sporting a new blue dress shirt instead of of his white one. There's not really much of a difference between every other shot of Boruto and this. I like the blue a little bit better since it's just something different. However, holy shit is his neck off. It's standing like a solid foot from the rest of his body. Boruto looks like a friggin giraffe here if you stare at his neck for too long. His face is also weird too. He's got the traditional Ikemoto "Baby face" thing going on that I loath. We're not off to a good start.
It is a normal cover. I do not see the point of all the noise. He has done better, he has done worse.
The chapter picks up with Mitsuki and Araya when Jura pops out of a Claw Grime, shoots into the sky and starts flying off. He completely ignored the Soul Thorn Bulb to everyone's shock. He's not here to retrieve them, but is here for Boruto. Boruto is on the scene now, having saved Konohamaru. He tells Konohamaru to take the bulb and get going. Jura starts shooting at the two of them. Boruto throws Konohamaru out of the way and tells him to find the others. Boruto and Jura start fighting, the former hitting him with a Rasengan. Jura says fighting Boruto fills his heart with glee, even though it's a bad habit. We cut to Koshi and Eida who are talking about the obvious. According to them, Boruto is trying to buy time for the others to escape but Koji is pissed. He says Boruto can't beat Jura like this and he's as good as dead. He also says teleportation won't work and there's no real way of helping him.
I hate Kashin Koji. He is the trickster mentor that will keep half the information hidden from you only to be surprised when you have a problem with it. He did not prepare Boruto for the inevitability of death and now Boruto stops trusting him. You lied to an emotional teenager, of course he would rebel. If he was honest about things from the start, he would not be in this situation that he is right now.
Jura asks who Boruto's accomplice is and where to find him but Boruto refuses to answer. Jura asks him what is love as he thinks it's a weakness that's a byproduct of intelligence. He says his love has lured him to a place of death. The two keep fighting while Boruto tries to charge up Uzuhiko. Jura pins him down though and takes his sword. Boruto says that's a precious gift from Sasuke. Jura threatens to break it for the information he's looking for and saying love has doomed Boruto again. Boruto retorts with maybe love is a weakness, but that's why they'll never be more than trees and busts out, hitting him with Uzuhiko. Jura however undoes it almost instantly saying Uzuhiko is very similar to his tiny Bijuu Bombs and that's how we end the chapter.
I really do not like this "what is love" argument. Ikemoto is not smart enough to ask such philosophical questions. "Love is necessary to create and maintain societies and civilizations. Without that glue to hold people together, there can be neither as the people will not think of each other as kin and nothing will lead them to work together." There Ikemoto, I did the work for you. Just remember to credit me.
Like I said, really brief nothing chapter. The only question I have is why is Uzuhiko like the Sniper shots Jura has? Uzuhiko is from the rotation of the planet while the Sniper shot is just a tiny Bijuu Bomb. Why does Rasengan hit him just fine but the Uzuhiko does nothing? How are these two similar in any way? I think he's alluding the Rasengan being made after the Bijuu Bombs in general but Uzuhiko isn't really the same thing. It's a very poorly done reference. It's also hilarious how in just a few days of in story time Boruto's best move has gone from one-shotting Hidari to completely useless against Jura.
It is CERTAINLY referencing the fact that the Rasengan was based on the Biju Bomb. Problem is, Ikemoto is not a good writer and it feels wrong. It is right, it just FEELS wrong. Indeed, Uzuhiko is different from a normal Rasengan as it is more Taijutsu based.
ALSO, QUICK QUESTION! If Koji could see the future, why did he not worn Boruto that his new trump card was useless on Jura? Sounds like something he should have mentioned on day one of the Uzuhiko training. He should have also taught him other jutsu to use on Jura. Goddammit, it is tiring! Ikemoto forgets his plot all the time!
There's also something to be said about Kashin Koji. His eyes see everything yet he can't have seen this coming? Seriously? Nobody needs future sight to see that Boruto ain't gonna just sit there and let his friends die. Boruto just isn't that kind of person and Koji should understand that by now. Heck, he's Jiraiya's clone and wasn't understanding people Jiraiya's whole schtick? This really is a fatal flaw of his but it's just not amounting to anything, at least not yet.
To be fair, Jiraiya made mistakes too. He did nothing for Danzo, he did not keep in touch with the orphans, he did not teach Naruto jutsu etc etc. There was not enough thought put into Kashin Koji or his role in the story, imo.
Man, when the whole Omnipotence shit happened, i was expecting Boruto to basically become a renegade and have to fight against the entire world to recover everyone's memories and stop Kawaki. They pulled a huge asspull to create this awesome sounding scenarios but...
Instead, they swept the entire Omnipotence plot under the rug in the first chapter and now we are fighting trees.
Fucking riveting writing.
It is a really hard plot to write as it will have to dominate all the narrative. There is not enough room for much else. Developing other characters is a bitch as you have to write around the constant psychic mindwipe happening that prevents progress. I would much prefer that Boruto was framed for murder the normal way as it is so much easier to resolve. They should not have allowed that plot to happen.
