Naruto/Boruto Griefing Thread

[Gorillion others]

Hm...

 

[Eventide]

Hm...
https://youtube.com/watch?v=sF4B9A19zng

Boruto sucks 'cause it went all in on arguably the worst part of Naruto - the dumb magic tree aliens.

EDIT:

Unrelated, Burger King in the US is giving out Naruto toys for some reason:

...this would have been cool. In 2006.

 

[Chilson]

Boruto sucks 'cause it went all in on arguably the worst part of Naruto - the dumb magic tree aliens.

EDIT:

Unrelated, Burger King in the US is giving out Naruto toys for some reason:

View attachment 7688493

...this would have been cool. In 2006.

The last time I, and everyone else I know, was in a burger king was probably around 2006, so that makes sense.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Hm...

Maybe the anime is overhated but the manga certainly isn't. Judging by the comments section, I'm not the only one who holds that sentiment. The anime fleshes out things a lot more that the manga speed runs. I think why Boruto is so particularly frustrating is because we know Kishimoto can do better.

The Minato one shot is a pretty decent comic. We've seen better things in Boruto itself too. My personal favorite moment in Boruto is when Naruto gives Boruto's pills to suppress Karma made by Amado. They could have really nasty side effects, including killing Boruto, and Boruto just gobbles them up without thinking much to Naruto's horror. Its a great moment that shows and doesn't tell. You can tell Naruto feels terrible about his son having these problems and simultaneously get a good glimpse at who Boruto is. Kishimoto is at his best when he's Bottle Showing but for whatever reason, he doesn't ever take the time to do it.

Unrelated, Burger King in the US is giving out Naruto toys for some reason:

These are pretty neat. I'd actually dig these as a kid.

The last time I, and everyone else I know, was in a burger king was probably around 2006, so that makes sense.

The last time I was a Burger King, was when I asked my friend what he wanted for food. I named off a bunch of good places but we were driving by a Burger King and he said Burger King. All I could say is "Why?!".

 

[Son of Big Boss]

Boruto sucks 'cause it went all in on arguably the worst part of Naruto - the dumb magic tree aliens.

EDIT:

Unrelated, Burger King in the US is giving out Naruto toys for some reason:

View attachment 7688493

...this would have been cool. In 2006.

They are even using Part 1 designs for maximum nostalgia factor. That's cool!

 

[Incecticyder]

Maybe the anime is overhated but the manga certainly isn't. Judging by the comments section, I'm not the only one who holds that sentiment. The anime fleshes out things a lot more that the manga speed runs. I think why Boruto is so particularly frustrating is because we know Kishimoto can do better.

I really liked all the adventures. I also liked the samurai chick that replaced Shumire. Shumire is just another love triangle with a pairing that that we already know the conclusion to (if you do not think Boruto will end up with Sarada, tell me what are you smoking because it must be the good stuff!). At least the samurai had cultural clash as something going for her.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Boruto Chapter 25 is out. This is probably my longest post on this site, but there's a lot to say and talk about.

We start by catching up with things from the end of the last chapter. If there's a cover page, I haven't seen it yet. If we get one, I'll add it here.

We open the chapter with Konohamaru and co. taking the Soul Thorn Bulb to Moegi. On a side note, fuck you Ikemoto for the first panel being Cho Cho. No, I won't get over sticking the fat chick in a sports bra. Anyway, they stick it in her tree and that's it. Moegi's free and Matsuri is now confirmed dead. Well, this blows. In some of the previous chapters I had hoped we would get a bit of a rivalry between the two to give Konohamaru, and perhaps even Moegi, a chance to actually be useful to plot. That seems to be pretty much dead now. With the confirmed death of Matsuri, any character development for either of them goes out the window and they'll be back to the back burner soon. This is the Sarada and Boruto show after all and we can't have those pesky Naruto characters clogging up the screentime, now can we? (Ironically this is actually a bad chapter to make that joke, as we'll get to soon enough.) I thought Matsuri had a lot more story potential than just this. Unfortunately this is all we're getting and with the way this chapter is going, it looks like the tree arc might actually be wrapping up sooner than expected. Anyway, Moegi is free but passes out immediately and everyone including Himawari who's there for some reason, is happy to see she's okay.

In a rather funny shot, Boruto is also watching from above hovering in the sky because he mastered Ki control. Seriously, how is he doing that? Has he ever actually just flown before? Or did Ikemoto just forget Kawaki, and Delta (and now Sarada, I guess) are the only ones who should be able to fly? I don't think we've ever seen Boruto flat out fly before. Or are we just going full DBZ now for no apparent reason? Secondly, why is he flying there just staring down at them like a creep? Go and join them, you ass hole. We dropped the Omnipotence plot line. Stop pretending like it's a thing. Shikamaru isn't hunting you anymore and you just saved Konohamaru's life. You were crucial in saving Moegi's as well as Shinki's and Gaara's for fuck's sake. If you're going to make everyone who actually matters not give a shit about hunting Boruto, then just drop the pretenses and let the damn kid celebrate for once with his friends and family. Fuck off with pretending like anyone wants to arrest and detain Boruto at this junction. Its done with, leave it alone. Or is he just too much of an emo fuck to bother and actually enjoy a happy moment? If so, then grow the fuck up Boruto. Drop the brooding schtick. You're not fucking Batman no matter how much Ikemoto wants you to be. This was supposed to be a one line joke but it became this paragraph long rant because it's just a pattern with Boruto at this point.

Anyway we cut back to Kankuro.....Wait really? *Checks notes* Well, okay. It's only a panel but Kankuro is talking with Shikamaru and confirms Gaara is safe and Shinki is going to be okay. No mention of Yodo though. Wait is she actually dead? We don't get an answer for that because Sai comes in and tells....Really? Sai? I think that's the first time we've seen him since Boruto. Plus, he's sporting a new redesign. Aside from terrible hair, his outfit is pretty good. I like it. In fact, this probably should've been Boruto's default outfit. Another Ikemoto design I actually like, go figure. Sai tells Shikamaru that the Elders are calling for him.

We cut to the hospital and see Sakura tending to Meogi. She says she seems fine for the most part, however her chakra flow is sluggish due to being drained by the tree and she has a mild case of malnutrition. Well, it isn't a Boruto chapter unless we do something mind numbingly stupid, is it? Here's the problem with this. If the tree is giving Moegi malnutrition and her body is still processing basic functions, then Sasuke should be dead. Moegi having a mild case of malnutrition is fine, she's only been in the tree for a couple of weeks, maybe a month at most. Sasuke has been in that tree for a very long time. If I'm not mistaken, he's been in there for years. Saving him at this point is impossible, he should be long since dead or would die the moment he's freed. Yeah, this is just a throwaway line but this callous throwaway line makes all kinds of problems because now we're theoretically on a time limit. Sure, nobody cares about Bug and freeing him, but they would care about Sasuke. If this is a mistranslation, and I hope it isn't because it's funnier that way, then so be it. If not, then stop doing dumb things Ikemoto.

Sarada asks Sumire to talk for a little bit. Just something to note, the art's a little...off in this chapter for whatever reason. Sarada's hair is one of the most inconsistent things in this manga, but here it's really evident. I think there's supposed to be wind in the background, but her hair is changing constantly from panel to panel. Back to character development though, Sarada apologizes to Sumire. She says that she genuinely didn't care about Boruto that way at the start. However, over her time as his squad member she kept seeing him have to deal with difficult situations. Her worry about her teammate gradually morphed into genuine concern and care for Boruto. She didn't understand how she felt though. She felt bad knowing how Sumire felt and tried to ignore it out of guilt. We get a flash of Yodo telling her how she ignores reality. She finally comes out and says though that she likes Boruto too. Eida, who's been watching is shocked at hearing this. (She's been becoming a bit of a gossip diva.) Sumire thanks Sarada for being honest and says they don't have to hold anything back anymore then. In a genuinely good panel, Sarada and Sumire walk off holding hands having made up. Was bottle showing that hard? Eida asks the sensor team to connect her to them for...some reason we don't find out this chapter.

We cut to Himawari. She's in her room meditating. We see in her inner world, she's training with Kurama. He's trying to teach her chakra control to fight more effectively but she's having some difficulty. Kurama tells her that she's special now, she's a Jinchuuriki. He tells her to think of herself as an embodiment of chakra and throw away her common sense. She doesn't seem to get it though and he kicks her out for the time being to nap.

Boruto is watching her from afar and perhaps taking inspiration from her, decides to do a little talking to his own roommate. He shows up to Momoshiki, who's lounging around. He's pretty pissed off Boruto's still alive. His soul is trapped inside of Boruto. He can't mind control him. He can't reincarnate. All he can do is wait to die. Boruto asks for his help in exchange for his strength in beating Jura, he'll give him his body. We end the chapter on this bargain while Sarada and Sumire are laughing about how Boruto is clueless about their feelings.

We have a lot to chew on this month because now that the fighting is done, Ikemoto has a chance to bottle show. It's nice seeing Sarada and Sumire act like normal teenagers. We actually don't get a lot of that even in OG Naruto but Boruto is a lot more character driven whereas Naruto was story driven. We finally get follow up on Himawari after that plot point dropped. It's nice to see Kurama training with her too. It would also be nice if he bothered to explain what "fighting like the embodiment of chakra" actually meant so we could know what the hell he's talking about, but I'll take what I can get in this trash heap. I'm not sure what Eida's deal is but I am curious to know. The art is this chapter looks a little off. I'm not sure what it is but every panel either looks too heavy with the lines or too light. I think Ikemoto had a lot of work to do drawing-wise this week. There were a lot of large full body panels for important moments, more than the usual chapter. We don't get official confirmation that Yodo is dead, but I'm guessing since nobody bothered to mention it otherwise, we're assuming for the time being that she is actually dead. We got to see some OG Naruto characters again even if it's only for a second. All in all, this was the Boruto chapter of Boruto chapters. We finished a main arc, ended a subplot, followed up on a few plot beats, and started the next subplot. It had everything good, bad, and stupid all wrapped into one. I'll give Ikemoto credit for one thing, it does feel like part of the story is over and this is a season finale chapter. If he were to take a hiatus for a little bit, now would be a good place to do it.

Since this is the 25th chapter and it's a very character focused one, I want to give some thoughts on the main cast. I'll spoiler this as this post is already too long, but I do have a few things to say.

Spoiler: Thoughts on Characters

Sarada - Let's start with Sarada since the series opens with her and she just had her big moment. I'm not a fan of her. She's a very passive character in all the wrong ways and often fails to stand out. Her "denial of reality" bit comes out of nowhere and feels genuinely forced. We don't ever actually see this play out in real time because she doesn't ever actually get all that much to do. The plot isn't about her and it hasn't been for a very long time. Sure, she's done things but not really. She has no impact on the story. She gets to screen time sure, but what has she actually done? She got her Mangekyou and then what? Three years and she hasn't bothered with it once to our knowledge. Three years of Omnipotence and what has she done? Virtually nothing. Hidari shows up and she doesn't get a chance to talk to him before Boruto blows him up. So this power up of hers, although already granted, doesn't exactly feel warranted. I never got the whole "hiding her feelings" schtick. It comes off as very hollow. Sure, she likes Boruto and can admit it now, but she barely ever gets a chance to speak to the damn guy. The first time she sees him in three years, she only has a handful of minutes to talk to him and there were more pressing things at the time. So in 20 chapters, we never actually got to see Sarada have this problem and it bare any consequence to the story. Her girl boss moment in chapter 1 is also terrible.

Sumire - Sumire is actually pretty competently written. She's smart and intuitive. She's not a fighter, but her role as a best friend and opposite end of a love triangle nobody asked for, is filled well by her. She's never really annoying or frustrating. From a writing perspective, I can imagine she's very useful for Ikemoto to have around. She drives a lot of story beats and progression forward. She's often our POV into events, so even though she's a "just there" kind of character she feels like has more of a presence than she does. Not being a fighter is probably to her character's benefit because she stood out in that role until Eida showed up and helped give her some uniqueness.

Eida - I don't think Eida is a very popular character given her role in OG Boruto, but she's growing on me. Her ability to see current events, allowing her to always be there wound up giving her more page time than most characters. She's a teenage girl and she acts like it to an amusing degree. She also gets the only character development I actually liked in this manga with Mitsuki. The idea of her despising her power of Love but Mitsuki being grateful for just being able to get a chance to feel an emotion he never thought he would, is probably the best character dynamic Ikemoto ever came up with. Shame they don't get more scenes together and I'm not holding my breath on them getting more. She also gets one of the better panels in the series too when she's trying to spy on the trees and Bug turns to her instead, now able to look back and see her. Omnipotence is really stupid though, and Eida is the one responsible for it so she's a bit of a mixed bag. Also nobody likes the Living Together arc and she's responsible for that too.

Mitsuki - What I said above is all Mitsuki gets in this manga aside from the revelation that Boruto is his sun and not Kawaki. Not much to say.

Shikamaru - He's flat out assassinated by the series. I could go on listing all the ways but he's dumbed down when the plot needs him to be. He's also a massive douchebag.

Koji - Terrible character. 0/10.

Himawari - Another character I don't really like, but she also hasn't had much of a chance to do very much. All of my dislike for her comes from how she's immediately made the bestest evarrr. It's one thing to see her training with Kurama, but we don't have any idea what they're actually training to do. Its just generic training and the whole thing rings hollow. Sure, she has a lot of potential to be strong and I'm sure she will get there, but it's really shoved down our throats without any rhyme or reason. She's the first and only one who doesn't believe Boruto killed Naruto and so far that's really all we get out of her. We'll have to see in the future. Part of what's so bad about Himawari though is I think there's a lot of wasted potential here. She's an inverse of Naruto. Her parents aren't dead. They're just missing. She has a tailed beast, but he's helping her, not hurting her. She does have a brother, but he's missing. The brother she does have, doesn't give a shit. She trains pretty hard for her age, but she's not anywhere near the rest of the cast. Honestly, we should've just had Himawari as the main character for a bit when TBV started and it would make all that Ikemoto is asking us to swallow, a much easier sell.

Kawaki - I fucking HATE Kawaki. Why do I hate Kawaki? He's Sasuke with none of the sympathetic backstory, none of the charm, and none of the cool factor. He treats everyone around him like dirt to an autistic level. He seemed to be turning around in OG Boruto but in TBV? He's a flat out villain. However, he's also a pathetic one at that. Up until chapter 24 it was a running joke of mine that every time Kawaki was in a chapter or mentioned, it was to get bitch slapped. He was absolutely pathetic. He even rather hilariously dies in every timeline according to Koji. He's constantly dunked on by everybody and it's hilarious. Is there a redeeming factor about him? No, not really. As of this chapter, he's still a terrible, awful person. He plans to just vanish after killing the Ootsutsuki anyway so he doesn't care about anyone else or anything.

Boruto - The main man himself is...a frustrating one. I find myself liking his character less and less over time. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not, but that's what's happening. Ikemoto tries way too hard with the cool factor and "aura farming" to try to make Boruto seem almost Batman-like. After awhile, it just gets annoying. In OG Boruto, he had a bit of a death complex. He didn't care about what happened to him, he just didn't want to harm others. His life was always filled with difficult situations from the plot, so he was never able to care about his well-being. In TBV, this is cranked up to 11. Boruto is a man on a mission and keeps everyone at arm's length so they get dragged into his bullshit with him. Here, he makes a deal with the devil to sacrifice himself to stop Jura. In a way, him and Kawaki are the same. Boruto might genuinely care about everyone, but he's not treating them any better than Kawaki is. The main problem is there's only so long this can drag on for and it's becoming tired to the point of stupidity watching him burden himself with literally everything. I'm tired of seeing him brood all the time.

 

[Incecticyder]

We open the chapter with Konohamaru and co. taking the Soul Thorn Bulb to Moegi. On a side note, fuck you Ikemoto for the first panel being Cho Cho. No, I won't get over sticking the fat chick in a sports bra. Anyway, they stick it in her tree and that's it. Moegi's free and Matsuri is now confirmed dead. Well, this blows. In some of the previous chapters I had hoped we would get a bit of a rivalry between the two to give Konohamaru, and perhaps even Moegi, a chance to actually be useful to plot. That seems to be pretty much dead now. With the confirmed death of Matsuri, any character development for either of them goes out the window and they'll be back to the back burner soon. This is the Sarada and Boruto show after all and we can't have those pesky Naruto characters clogging up the screentime, now can we? (Ironically this is actually a bad chapter to make that joke, as we'll get to soon enough.) I thought Matsuri had a lot more story potential than just this. Unfortunately this is all we're getting and with the way this chapter is going, it looks like the tree arc might actually be wrapping up sooner than expected. Anyway, Moegi is free but passes out immediately and everyone including Himawari who's there for some reason, is happy to see she's okay.

Making the DTs' deaths necessary meant that they would all die. If you got attached on them, that is on you. Ikemoto made a huge misstep with that. As for Cho Cho, she is only slightly chubby by the standards of Asiatic characters. She is rather normal if slightly pudgy for a Western inspired character (which she is).

In a rather funny shot, Boruto is also watching from above hovering in the sky because he mastered Ki control. Seriously, how is he doing that? Has he ever actually just flown before? Or did Ikemoto just forget Kawaki, and Delta (and now Sarada, I guess) are the only ones who should be able to fly? I don't think we've ever seen Boruto flat out fly before. Or are we just going full DBZ now for no apparent reason? Secondly, why is he flying there just staring down at them like a creep? Go and join them, you ass hole. We dropped the Omnipotence plot line. Stop pretending like it's a thing. Shikamaru isn't hunting you anymore and you just saved Konohamaru's life. You were crucial in saving Moegi's as well as Shinki's and Gaara's for fuck's sake. If you're going to make everyone who actually matters not give a shit about hunting Boruto, then just drop the pretenses and let the damn kid celebrate for once with his friends and family. Fuck off with pretending like anyone wants to arrest and detain Boruto at this junction. Its done with, leave it alone. Or is he just too much of an emo fuck to bother and actually enjoy a happy moment? If so, then grow the fuck up Boruto. Drop the brooding schtick. You're not fucking Batman no matter how much Ikemoto wants you to be. This was supposed to be a one line joke but it became this paragraph long rant because it's just a pattern with Boruto at this point.

It really is discount DBZ at this point. And of course, Omnipotence. You know, I would rather see Eida talk about how her power works. I am done speculating.

Anyway we cut back to Kankuro.....Wait really? *Checks notes* Well, okay. It's only a panel but Kankuro is talking with Shikamaru and confirms Gaara is safe and Shinki is going to be okay. No mention of Yodo though. Wait is she actually dead? We don't get an answer for that because Sai comes in and tells....Really? Sai? I think that's the first time we've seen him since Boruto. Plus, he's sporting a new redesign. Aside from terrible hair, his outfit is pretty good. I like it. In fact, this probably should've been Boruto's default outfit. Another Ikemoto design I actually like, go figure. Sai tells Shikamaru that the Elders are calling for him.

Yodo is such a non-character for me. Every time she spoke, she sounded like a Wikipedia article. I do not know but she lacked personality beyond in love and reckless.

We cut to the hospital and see Sakura tending to Meogi. She says she seems fine for the most part, however her chakra flow is sluggish due to being drained by the tree and she has a mild case of malnutrition. Well, it isn't a Boruto chapter unless we do something mind numbingly stupid, is it? Here's the problem with this. If the tree is giving Moegi malnutrition and her body is still processing basic functions, then Sasuke should be dead. Moegi having a mild case of malnutrition is fine, she's only been in the tree for a couple of weeks, maybe a month at most. Sasuke has been in that tree for a very long time. If I'm not mistaken, he's been in there for years. Saving him at this point is impossible, he should be long since dead or would die the moment he's freed. Yeah, this is just a throwaway line but this callous throwaway line makes all kinds of problems because now we're theoretically on a time limit. Sure, nobody cares about Bug and freeing him, but they would care about Sasuke. If this is a mistranslation, and I hope it isn't because it's funnier that way, then so be it. If not, then stop doing dumb things Ikemoto.

I think Ikemoto forgot that Sasuke has been in the tree for so much longer. He did not think of the implications of that throwaway line.

Sarada asks Sumire to talk for a little bit. Just something to note, the art's a little...off in this chapter for whatever reason. Sarada's hair is one of the most inconsistent things in this manga, but here it's really evident. I think there's supposed to be wind in the background, but her hair is changing constantly from panel to panel. Back to character development though, Sarada apologizes to Sumire. She says that she genuinely didn't care about Boruto that way at the start. However, over her time as his squad member she kept seeing him have to deal with difficult situations. Her worry about her teammate gradually morphed into genuine concern and care for Boruto. She didn't understand how she felt though. She felt bad knowing how Sumire felt and tried to ignore it out of guilt. We get a flash of Yodo telling her how she ignores reality. She finally comes out and says though that she likes Boruto too. Eida, who's been watching is shocked at hearing this. (She's been becoming a bit of a gossip diva.) Sumire thanks Sarada for being honest and says they don't have to hold anything back anymore then. In a genuinely good panel, Sarada and Sumire walk off holding hands having made up. Was bottle showing that hard? Eida asks the sensor team to connect her to them for...some reason we don't find out this chapter.

I think the hairstyle is meant to showcase wind or something and failed. That or Ikemoto's love for complicated hairstyles and inability to draw hair well are at it again. Still, I am interested in seeing this developing. Sumire will have to find someone else to end up with and I wonder who that is.

We cut to Himawari. She's in her room meditating. We see in her inner world, she's training with Kurama. He's trying to teach her chakra control to fight more effectively but she's having some difficulty. Kurama tells her that she's special now, she's a Jinchuuriki. He tells her to think of herself as an embodiment of chakra and throw away her common sense. She doesn't seem to get it though and he kicks her out for the time being to nap.

Kurama is a bad teacher. This is where we should get Killer B or another Jinchuuriki for a teacher.

Boruto is watching her from afar and perhaps taking inspiration from her, decides to do a little talking to his own roommate. He shows up to Momoshiki, who's lounging around. He's pretty pissed off Boruto's still alive. His soul is trapped inside of Boruto. He can't mind control him. He can't reincarnate. All he can do is wait to die. Boruto asks for his help in exchange for his strength in beating Jura, he'll give him his body. We end the chapter on this bargain while Sarada and Sumire are laughing about how Boruto is clueless about their feelings.

Boruto is not helping himself with Kawaki here. He could have told him something along the lines of "Things are bad but you do not have to be alone". Also, if he is clueless, then tell him.

We have a lot to chew on this month because now that the fighting is done, Ikemoto has a chance to bottle show. It's nice seeing Sarada and Sumire act like normal teenagers. We actually don't get a lot of that even in OG Naruto but Boruto is a lot more character driven whereas Naruto was story driven. We finally get follow up on Himawari after that plot point dropped. It's nice to see Kurama training with her too. It would also be nice if he bothered to explain what "fighting like the embodiment of chakra" actually meant so we could know what the hell he's talking about, but I'll take what I can get in this trash heap. I'm not sure what Eida's deal is but I am curious to know. The art is this chapter looks a little off. I'm not sure what it is but every panel either looks too heavy with the lines or too light. I think Ikemoto had a lot of work to do drawing-wise this week. There were a lot of large full body panels for important moments, more than the usual chapter. We don't get official confirmation that Yodo is dead, but I'm guessing since nobody bothered to mention it otherwise, we're assuming for the time being that she is actually dead. We got to see some OG Naruto characters again even if it's only for a second. All in all, this was the Boruto chapter of Boruto chapters. We finished a main arc, ended a subplot, followed up on a few plot beats, and started the next subplot. It had everything good, bad, and stupid all wrapped into one. I'll give Ikemoto credit for one thing, it does feel like part of the story is over and this is a season finale chapter. If he were to take a hiatus for a little bit, now would be a good place to do it.

This chapter felt like it ended. Not much else. Glad we got character moments, I just wish they were better ones.

Sarada - Let's start with Sarada since the series opens with her and she just had her big moment. I'm not a fan of her. She's a very passive character in all the wrong ways and often fails to stand out. Her "denial of reality" bit comes out of nowhere and feels genuinely forced. We don't ever actually see this play out in real time because she doesn't ever actually get all that much to do. The plot isn't about her and it hasn't been for a very long time. Sure, she's done things but not really. She has no impact on the story. She gets to screen time sure, but what has she actually done? She got her Mangekyou and then what? Three years and she hasn't bothered with it once to our knowledge. Three years of Omnipotence and what has she done? Virtually nothing. Hidari shows up and she doesn't get a chance to talk to him before Boruto blows him up. So this power up of hers, although already granted, doesn't exactly feel warranted. I never got the whole "hiding her feelings" schtick. It comes off as very hollow. Sure, she likes Boruto and can admit it now, but she barely ever gets a chance to speak to the damn guy. The first time she sees him in three years, she only has a handful of minutes to talk to him and there were more pressing things at the time. So in 20 chapters, we never actually got to see Sarada have this problem and it bare any consequence to the story. Her girl boss moment in chapter 1 is also terrible.

I think what Ikemoto was trying to say is that Sarada is denying the reality that she is in love. Uchiha get their power from intense love and she suppresses hers which made her weaker. I think the fact that it was said by a very flat character made it hard to understand. I do dislike the fact that it took so long myself as it reminds me of the Naruto time skip where Naruto barely got any stronger.

Sumire - Sumire is actually pretty competently written. She's smart and intuitive. She's not a fighter, but her role as a best friend and opposite end of a love triangle nobody asked for, is filled well by her. She's never really annoying or frustrating. From a writing perspective, I can imagine she's very useful for Ikemoto to have around. She drives a lot of story beats and progression forward. She's often our POV into events, so even though she's a "just there" kind of character she feels like has more of a presence than she does. Not being a fighter is probably to her character's benefit because she stood out in that role until Eida showed up and helped give her some uniqueness.

I would be interested in seeing her fights though. In a battle shonen, those are necessary to show character.

Eida - I don't think Eida is a very popular character given her role in OG Boruto, but she's growing on me. Her ability to see current events, allowing her to always be there wound up giving her more page time than most characters. She's a teenage girl and she acts like it to an amusing degree. She also gets the only character development I actually liked in this manga with Mitsuki. The idea of her despising her power of Love but Mitsuki being grateful for just being able to get a chance to feel an emotion he never thought he would, is probably the best character dynamic Ikemoto ever came up with. Shame they don't get more scenes together and I'm not holding my breath on them getting more. She also gets one of the better panels in the series too when she's trying to spy on the trees and Bug turns to her instead, now able to look back and see her. Omnipotence is really stupid though, and Eida is the one responsible for it so she's a bit of a mixed bag. Also nobody likes the Living Together arc and she's responsible for that too.

Eida is a weird case. Omnipotence is too big a power for a character to have as it bends the world around it and needs to be addressed since it is one of the main plot points. She has potential. It is just that her potential is easy to mess up and it was messed up.

Mitsuki - What I said above is all Mitsuki gets in this manga aside from the revelation that Boruto is his sun and not Kawaki. Not much to say.

Mitsuki is an idea. I remember seeing him for the first time and telling myself that this guy will be the third wheel. He exists but he would never get the actually juicy plots. He is the Sakura of the manga. He will not matter except in a few situations.

Shikamaru - He's flat out assassinated by the series. I could go on listing all the ways but he's dumbed down when the plot needs him to be. He's also a massive douchebag.

Shikamaru should have been in small doses. That is all. He should not have been made Hokage. Tsunade, Kakashi, anyone really should have been dragged back temporarily until Naruto returned.

Koji - Terrible character. 0/10.

Koji has a lot of potential. He is written by an idiot though. He should have had a sit-down with Boruto and talked about his ability. Some real brainstorming. He failed at it and now Boruto does not trust him as he should. He is bargain bin Urahara.

Himawari - Another character I don't really like, but she also hasn't had much of a chance to do very much. All of my dislike for her comes from how she's immediately made the bestest evarrr. It's one thing to see her training with Kurama, but we don't have any idea what they're actually training to do. Its just generic training and the whole thing rings hollow. Sure, she has a lot of potential to be strong and I'm sure she will get there, but it's really shoved down our throats without any rhyme or reason. She's the first and only one who doesn't believe Boruto killed Naruto and so far that's really all we get out of her. We'll have to see in the future. Part of what's so bad about Himawari though is I think there's a lot of wasted potential here. She's an inverse of Naruto. Her parents aren't dead. They're just missing. She has a tailed beast, but he's helping her, not hurting her. She does have a brother, but he's missing. The brother she does have, doesn't give a shit. She trains pretty hard for her age, but she's not anywhere near the rest of the cast. Honestly, we should've just had Himawari as the main character for a bit when TBV started and it would make all that Ikemoto is asking us to swallow, a much easier sell.

Himawari is not THE BESTEST EVAAAARR! BUUUUT she should have been. That is my problem with her. She has amazing genes and innate talent. And what does she do with it? Nothing. She should have used her Byakugan. She should have used Gentle Fist. She should have put on a better fight but she did not. Her parents are missing and the Hyuga did not train her for a possible kidnapping? Why?

Kawaki - I fucking HATE Kawaki. Why do I hate Kawaki? He's Sasuke with none of the sympathetic backstory, none of the charm, and none of the cool factor. He treats everyone around him like dirt to an autistic level. He seemed to be turning around in OG Boruto but in TBV? He's a flat out villain. However, he's also a pathetic one at that. Up until chapter 24 it was a running joke of mine that every time Kawaki was in a chapter or mentioned, it was to get bitch slapped. He was absolutely pathetic. He even rather hilariously dies in every timeline according to Koji. He's constantly dunked on by everybody and it's hilarious. Is there a redeeming factor about him? No, not really. As of this chapter, he's still a terrible, awful person. He plans to just vanish after killing the Ootsutsuki anyway so he doesn't care about anyone else or anything.

Kawaki is such a hollow antagonist and character as a whole. He should not have been spoiled as the Sasuke of Boruto, imo. That was the worst decision regarding him. Now, we know not to get attached to him. We had bonded with Sasuke by the time of his betrayal, that is what made it work.

Boruto - The main man himself is...a frustrating one. I find myself liking his character less and less over time. I'm not sure if that's intentional or not, but that's what's happening. Ikemoto tries way too hard with the cool factor and "aura farming" to try to make Boruto seem almost Batman-like. After awhile, it just gets annoying. In OG Boruto, he had a bit of a death complex. He didn't care about what happened to him, he just didn't want to harm others. His life was always filled with difficult situations from the plot, so he was never able to care about his well-being. In TBV, this is cranked up to 11. Boruto is a man on a mission and keeps everyone at arm's length so they get dragged into his bullshit with him. Here, he makes a deal with the devil to sacrifice himself to stop Jura. In a way, him and Kawaki are the same. Boruto might genuinely care about everyone, but he's not treating them any better than Kawaki is. The main problem is there's only so long this can drag on for and it's becoming tired to the point of stupidity watching him burden himself with literally everything. I'm tired of seeing him brood all the time.

It is NOT intentional. Ikemoto is trying to have him be Batman but fails. Even Batman cracks jokes from time to time. Do you know what Boruto needed? A training arc where Boruto bonds with Koji and become a sort of uncle and nephew pairing like Jiraiya and Naruto. That would have fixed a lot of things. Unfortunately, Ikemoto sees one of the best tropes as beneath him.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Making the DTs' deaths necessary meant that they would all die. If you got attached on them, that is on you. Ikemoto made a huge misstep with that

I knew they would die, but I was just hoping this arc and rivalry would go on longer. Think Ichigo and Grimmjow. You could have 2-3 encounters between the two and really sell the tragedy of these Trees being like sentient and not able to cope and then having to die for the real one. It could've been compelling. In better hands, Matsuri could've been great and given Konohamaru relevance. Instead, nothing.

You know, I would rather see Eida talk about how her power works

She doesn't know how it works. I wouldn't be surprised if Omnipotence never comes up again. It will, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

Kurama is a bad teacher. This is where we should get Killer B or another Jinchuuriki to teacher.

It would have to be Killer Bee but that won't happen. Gaara and Naruto are out of commission.

I would be interested in seeing her fights though

Sumire is more of a plot device than a full blown character. She's like the Piccolo of the manga where she's there to make certain things happen and be a POV, and help out but not much else. She's really more of a tool for the story than a fully fledged character. Which is fine, those can work if you just accept them for what they are.

Mitsuki is an idea.

He's the Sai of the group.

Tsunade, Kakashi, anyone really should have been dragged back temporarily until Naruto returned.

They couldn't. Tsunade or Kakashi would've believed Sarada right away ever time she told them and the plot would've snapped in two.

Her parents are missing and the Hyuga did not train her for a possible kidnapping? Why?

Lol, you think the Naruto world exists in Boruto outside of In Name Only.

Do you know what Boruto needed? A training arc where Boruto bonds with Koji and become a sort of uncle and nephew pairing like Jiraiya and Naruto. That would have fixed a lot of things. Unfortunately, Ikemoto sees one of the best tropes as beneath him.

I'll settle for anything at this point. This suggestion finally made me realize why Boruto bugs me so much. The guy has no emotions. He never emotes anything. Heck, even Kawaki displays emotions. Sure they're all negative like anger and hatred. But Boruto? He doesn't emote anything. The guy is a fucking robot. I don't think he's smiled once in the entire manga. Aside from slight anger, his emotions range from scowl to scowl. It's absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

She got her Mangekyou and then what? Three years and she hasn't bothered with it once to our knowledge

To be fair Mangekyou does have a serious downside if you spam it too much and don't have Madara to bail you out.

 

[Incecticyder]

I knew they would die, but I was just hoping this arc and rivalry would go on longer. Think Ichigo and Grimmjow. You could have 2-3 encounters between the two and really sell the tragedy of these Trees being like sentient and not able to cope and then having to die for the real one. It could've been compelling. In better hands, Matsuri could've been great and given Konohamaru relevance. Instead, nothing.

Grimmjow was an Espada. The Espada did not need to die in order to win. Aizen was the only one needed to be defeated in order to get everything they need. Same goes with X-cution and the Wandenreich. Grimmjow lived and no one went on to kill him as it was not necessary. The certain death character that cannot survive no matter what is a hard one to pull off and Ikemoto failed.

She doesn't know how it works. I wouldn't be surprised if Omnipotence never comes up again. It will, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.

Then she better figure it out because marriage with Edge Lord does not seem as rosy as it did at first. Shouldn't she try to practice with it at least? In small ways?

It would have to be Killer Bee but that won't happen. Gaara and Naruto are out of commission.

Yeah, I know. Honestly, anyone would have been fine. Kurama is not co-operative. Did he not pay attention when Naruto was doing shit? Just let her have V1 cloak at least. Naruto could handle it just fine.

Sumire is more of a plot device than a full blown character. She's like the Piccolo of the manga where she's there to make certain things happen and be a POV, and help out but not much else. She's really more of a tool for the story than a fully fledged character. Which is fine, those can work if you just accept them for what they are.

Do not drag Piccolo into this. Piccolo has a defined fight style and character during combat. He has the highest intelligence of the protagonists and is the best strategist amongst them. Say what you will about him but his combat characterization is well done.

He's the Sai of the group.

Jesus... That is true...

They couldn't. Tsunade or Kakashi would've believed Sarada right away ever time she told them and the plot would've snapped in two.

Ikemoto could choose not to write them in-character. He did that with so many others.

Lol, you think the Naruto world exists in Boruto outside of In Name Only.

I do not but Hanabi was heavily featured and she is a prodigy. She is Sumire's captain for Christ's sake!!!

I'll settle for anything at this point. This suggestion finally made me realize why Boruto bugs me so much. The guy has no emotions. He never emotes anything. Heck, even Kawaki displays emotions. Sure they're all negative like anger and hatred. But Boruto? He doesn't emote anything. The guy is a fucking robot. I don't think he's smiled once in the entire manga. Aside from slight anger, his emotions range from scowl to scowl. It's absolutely ridiculous.

The art of the training arc has been lost in recent years. Seriously, when was it the last time when an anime had an honest to God training arc? We even sprinkled in some real villains in order to spice things up. Naruto had Orochimaru attacking Tsunade as he was practicing the Rasengan, Ichigo had to face Byakuya as he was training his Bankai, Luffy had Kaido to face etc etc. Before that we had DB with Goku doing training, Yusuke was training for the Dark Tournament in Yu Yu Hakusho and more. Anime need breather arcs. Even HxH has those. Every other arc is a breather.

I am telling you, modern manga do not know how to space themselves.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

To be fair Mangekyou does have a serious downside if you spam it too much and don't have Madara to bail you out.

That's true, and it's not like she has anyone to show her either.

Every other arc is a breather

Boruto TBV has no breather. Its very bare bones as far as mangas go. I assume they're counting on the anime to fix a lot of its problems.

Also, I went back and looked. We get one panel where he has a half smile. In 1000 pages of manga, Boruto has not smiled once.

 

[Incecticyder]

Boruto TBV has no breather. Its very bare bones as far as mangas go. I assume they're counting on the anime to fix a lot of its problems.

Nowadays we only get one breather episode tops. This is an apt metaphor. They have bones but they lack meat. The modern anime and manga are like a bodybuilder that wants to have zero bodyfat and ends up dead.

Also, I went back and looked. We get one panel where he has a half smile. In 1000 pages of manga, Boruto has not smiled once.

Not smiling is such a middle schooler syndrome idea of cool. Boruto is designed for that crowd. He has a mystic eye and a magic tattooed demon arm. That is what that syndrome calls for. He is made for cringy teen boys specifically.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

That's true, and it's not like she has anyone to show her either.

Never forget that Itachi went over a Decade without going fully blind and Sauske went like a week at most.

Sadara taking after her Uncle and only using the thing that might make her go completely blind if she over uses it in certain situations is probably the most intelligent thing she will ever do.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Never forget that Itachi went over a Decade without going fully blind and Sauske went like a week at most.

I always considered that to be a very stupid plot hole. Its clear Itachi used his full Susano'o more than once. He even got that Sealing Sword thing and that Mirror Shield thing. Those apparently didn't just come packaged with his Susano'o.

Or maybe Sasuke's just insane. Based on what we know about the Sharingan and how it's basically brain damage, maybe Itachi was just a lot more put together than Sasuke was. Thus, Sasuke only went blind because he was super ultra mega emo.

Not smiling is such a middle schooler syndrome idea of cool. Boruto is designed for that crowd. He has a mystic eye and a magic tattooed demon arm. That is what that syndrome calls for. He is made for cringy teen boys specifically.

It's so tiresome. We already have a scowling, angry character in Kawaki. Boruto is just....boring. Thanks to this thread, sometimes I get Boruto clips on my YouTube feed. What happened? OG Boruto laughs, has personality, even when things are bad. Manga Boruto still was pretty emotive. TBV Boruto sure has more problems, but he's about as expressive as drywall. He's "paint drying" the character. I could tolerate it for a few chapters but we're at 1000 pages and it's borderline ridiculous at this point. It's really grating when it's juxtaposed against everyone else who acts.....normal.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

I always considered that to be a very stupid plot hole. Its clear Itachi used his full Susano'o more than once. He even got that Sealing Sword thing and that Mirror Shield thing. Those apparently didn't just come packaged with his Susano'o.

Or maybe Sasuke's just insane. Based on what we know about the Sharingan and how it's basically brain damage, maybe Itachi was just a lot more put together than Sasuke was. Thus, Sasuke only went blind because he was super ultra mega emo.

Actually I was wrong, Sauske went blind in 2 arcs because he had the Mangekyo against Killer B so its not as bad as I remember.

However Sauske went full reliant on his Mangekyo once he got it, I am willing to be in one fight Sauske uses the Mangekyo more than Itachi did entirely on screen.

Itachi used it 3 times pre time skip, then like twice post timeskip until the Fight against Sauske where he spammed it quite a bit more.

Sauske used it almost constantly during the Kage Summit.

 

[Incecticyder]

I always considered that to be a very stupid plot hole. Its clear Itachi used his full Susano'o more than once. He even got that Sealing Sword thing and that Mirror Shield thing. Those apparently didn't just come packaged with his Susano'o.

Or maybe Sasuke's just insane. Based on what we know about the Sharingan and how it's basically brain damage, maybe Itachi was just a lot more put together than Sasuke was. Thus, Sasuke only went blind because he was super ultra mega emo.

I think that the sword and shield are itachi's special Susanoo abilities. Like, his Susanoo got them from the start and they're exclusive to him.

It's so tiresome. We already have a scowling, angry character in Kawaki. Boruto is just....boring. Thanks to this thread, sometimes I get Boruto clips on my YouTube feed. What happened? OG Boruto laughs, has personality, even when things are bad. Manga Boruto still was pretty emotive. TBV Boruto sure has more problems, but he's about as expressive as drywall. He's "paint drying" the character. I could tolerate it for a few chapters but we're at 1000 pages and it's borderline ridiculous at this point. It's really grating when it's juxtaposed against everyone else who acts.....normal.

They made Kawaki and Boruto into Sasuke because Sasuke is "cool".

 

[Son of Big Boss]

Itachi only used his Mangekyo very rarely. He probably used it only once or twice per fight, then allowed his eyes to rest and heal before using it again.
Sasuke used it like 15 times in the span of two arcs, with no time to rest his eyes or recuperate.

 

[Incecticyder]

Itachi only used his Mangekyo very rarely. He probably used it only once or twice per fight, then allowed his eyes to rest and heal before using it again.
Sasuke used it like 15 times in the span of two arcs, with no time to rest his eyes or recuperate.

This. I think it was showcased well enough even if we did not always get it the first time.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Kurama is a bad teacher. This is where we should get Killer B or another Jinchuuriki for a teacher.

The official translation came out. The only thing that changed that's noteworthy is that Himawari does actually say she can't even imagine what Kurama is talking about. So, to her credit she does at least call out what her problem exactly is and Kurama just...chooses not to bother explaining.