Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Review: Is It Worth Watching?

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is, just like the name suggests it to be, an anime series to continue the legacy of the Naruto Series. The series has finished its first part with a total of 293 episodes. It aired for a period of almost six years, from 2017 to 2023. It indeed was an adventure to watch the children of the characters from the Naruto series and the main characters who survived themselves.

This anime series has been highly anticipated by the fans of the Naruto franchise. The show does not disappoint in terms of delivering action-packed adventures, just like the Naruto series, and maintains its legacy. The best part of the series is that the characters are not carbon copies of their parents but something more complex and something new in every arc.

Main Characters

Uzumaki Boruto:

He is the son of Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata and also plays the role of one of the main characters in this show. He is the son of the Hokage and pretty much has everything except for a father who could give him time. He strived to get his father’s attention throughout his work and become a better ninja. But he got greedy at times and stumbled onto the wrong and easy path for a while, but later on, he started hardworking back toward his dream.

Kawaki:

He is portrayed as an angry and vulgar teenager who dislikes everyone but is actually quite a humble kid. He knows how to act according to the situation and stay collected. He is also known to be observant and problematic, without letting his temper get the best of him. He has never had friends and was taken in by Konohagakure was quite resistant to having them but later started developing bonds with many people.

Mitsuki:

He is the son of Orochimaru, more like a synthetic clone made by him. He is bad at displaying emotions but stays humble almost all the time. His only mission is now to protect Uzumaki Boruto (whom he has declared as his Sun), as he needs something to protect in order to feel an emotion as felt by Orochimaru. He also has a natural Sage mode embedded in his body which he can tap at will, but it still needs practice.

Uchiha Sarada:

She is the daughter of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. She is a very studious girl but has yet to learn the powers she possesses (the Sharingan). She can tap into the Sharingan but can not maintain it for long. She is also a member of the team formed with Mitsuki and Boruto.

The Plot

A few years after the events of “Naruto,” the world entered an era of peace, and technology has made great progress. However, the mysterious “Otsutsuki” that threatens the peace and stability of the world creates a new threat. With the help of his friends and mentors, Boruto becomes a skilled ninja and sets out to protect the world from these new threats.

Boruto makes a bashful entrance at the entrance ceremony to the Ninja academy and surprises everyone. This is practically where everyone got to know who Boruto is. The show then moves on showing and helping the viewers catch up with how the characters from the ‘Naruto’ series are doing.

Throughout the series, Boruto faces various physical and emotional challenges and struggles as he deals with the complexities of growing up and the expectations of his family and community. Along the way, he makes new friends, reunites with old ones, and discovers the true meaning of being a ninja.

Over the first 100 episodes, we see the updates on who has married whom from the ‘Naruto’ series and then see who their kid is. We see how they train their kids even though the time is of peace, but there are uncertainties all the time. Then we move on to see how Sarada, Sasuke’s daughter, has never seen her father, so she aims to conduct a small investigation to find his location and meet him. But during this period, she is attacked by another kid who possesses the Sharingan and is trying to revive the Akatsuki but is eventually defeated.

Soon the plot turns to the Otsutsukis, which connects the plot to what was left by Kaguya and the White Zetsus. This arc explains who the Otsutsukis are and why they have returned to the planet. In this arc, the five kages come together to beat the Otsutsuki and rescue Naruto. Meanwhile, this is where the main part of the series starts, as Momoshiki is involved.

There is a time travel arc where we see the generation of Boruto going back in time with the help of a device to complete a mission. They tend to meet their parents’ past selves and become friends with them. The kids get to understand how the times were then and under what circumstances their parents have grown compared to the peaceful lives they live now. This time travel arc does not exist in the manga but was put as a tribute to remember the Naruto series.

Then we move to where the real storyline lies. Till now, all this was just barely set up the base of who the real villains are that have been plotting in the shadows and developing strategies to hit all the villages with one big attack and take it all down. The secret organization is called ‘Kara.’

Many more characters who are very interesting and powerful with various new techniques not known to the ninja world are introduced. Like the character Amado, he is not specifically strong but just a very skilled scientist. His obsession with reviving his dead daughter helped him come across the godly powers of the Otsutsukis, and he was able to harness the powers and divide them among a certain number of individuals who become stronger than any normal ninja.

The Review

This anime does well to give the old ninja vibes which Naruto gave during its early stages. It does keep the legacy of the old series going on. The only sad part of the series is that it is spoiled by too many spoilers in it. The series contains entire arcs of fillers which are super kiddish and not so much fun to watch.

The series does justice by focusing on the main characters shown at the start of the show, Boruto and Kawaki, fighting a war. But the fact that the other characters do not contribute even a little to the story is kind of irritating. Sarada and Mitsuki, who have stayed beside Boruto, have barely developed till the end of Part 1 of the series.

They just managed to stay on the sidelines most of the time, while Boruto, Sasuke, and Naruto had most of the fun beating the bad guys. During the end parts where Kara was introduced and so was Kawaki, things started to get interesting. Before that, it was just children playing around with each other.

There are just so many useless arcs in the series on which the budget has been wasted just to keep the series going. Thankfully the good part of the series will soon start as per manga readers, so we have something to look forward to. The 2nd part of the series will hopefully not be so childish and filled with fillers, but that all depends upon the studio.

The Momoshiki Arc was the first well-animated arc that even had proper sound effects for the fights and was able to create enthusiasm. After that, it came during the fight with Jigen and during the fight with the Kara members. Hopefully, the future battles will be more promising and less filler filled.

The series is great to watch if you do not compare it with Naruto, but it literally says in the title that it is the legacy of that show. The fact it has so many fillers is actually annoying, but still, they are well-animated. But the later arcs of the show where Jigen, Kawaki, Delta, and Code fight are actually much better to watch.

This show is an excellent watch if you can ignore the fillers. Also, the end arcs are so precisely animated in accordance with the manga that it is so appealing. The voice actors have also done a wonderful job of portraying the characters as they should be, which makes the show more worthwhile.

Our Rating: ⭐ (4.1/5).