Boruto Episode 88

Boruto Episode 88

Clash: Kokuyou!

Boruto is finally back from its week-long break, but if I’m being honest, I’m not all that excited. This entire arc has been pretty predictable so far as you may have been able to tell from reading my previous episode reviews. In fact, a couple of my predictions came true in this one episode alone.

The majority of the episode focuses on a final battle between Team 10 and Kokuyou of the Hidden Stone. While this battle is going on, Boruto and Sarada run into Kirara while searching for Mitsuki, but I’ll briefly discuss that when we get to the section about the next episode.

So why are Team 10 fighting Kokuyou once again? Weren’t all the Hidden Leaf genin captured by Kirara?

They were, but upon entering the village, Ohnoki realizes that the streets are abandoned and akuta are walking around in the open. He then confronts Ku, who tells him it was necessary to take control of the village. Ohnoki then relieves Ku of his command for disobeying his orders, but Ku attacks him and states to the other homunculi that the plan is going to proceed.

At this point, Shikadai, who had broken free from his cell earlier, rescues the other four genin as they’re being escorted, and the battle begins. Once again, Team 10 opt to fight Kokuyou on their own and send Boruto and Sarada ahead to find Mitsuki.

Despite how I felt about this episode overall, I thought this fight between Team 10 and Kokuyou was actually good because it showcased the various skills each member of the team has at their disposal.

For Shikadai, he used his Shadow Paralysis Jutsu, of course, but we also saw him simply using his knowledge of the terrain, his opponent, and his teammates. I really liked when he lured Kokuyou into a false sense of security by showing him that the Shadow Paralysis Jutsu doesn’t work in the shadows, and then having Inojin hide a light source so that it could be used later.

Though, I do find it extremely stupid that the Shadow Paralysis Jutsu couldn’t be used in a shadow. Based on how it’s been explained and shown in the past, such as during the chunin exams in Naruto, the more shadows there are, the stronger the jutsu is. So, fighting in the shadows should be no problem for Shikadai.

As for Chocho, yes, she uses her signature Partial Expansion Jutsu, but she also makes use of her least favorite jutsu in her arsenal, Human Boulder, which just goes to show how dire their situation was. Chocho isn’t about to break out that jutsu unless she really needs to.

Out of these three, Inojin was my favorite during this fight, which says a lot considering Shikadai is the clear best choice of the three. I just loved that they actually brought back the fact that Inojin knows the Mind Transfer Jutsu and actually used it as intended, as a secret jutsu.

However, one thing I didn’t like about how the Mind Transfer Jutsu was used is that its use was tied into the plot of “everyone has a heart, even homunculi.” Apparently the Mind Transfer Jutsu affects the heart. I’m no physician, but last I checked, the mind was located in the brain and has nothing to do with the heart.

I’m not sold on the changes which have been made to various jutsu which have been around since the beginning of the Naruto series such as the Shadow Paralysis and Mind Transfer Jutsu. Next they’ll be trying to tell us that Shadow Clones are actually flesh and blood clones.

Although, to be fair, the Shadow Clone Jutsu was originally a forbidden jutsu, and yet everyone knows how to make at least one. It was even technically taught in the Academy, so there’s precedent for at least the status of jutsu to be changed.

Once Kokuyou was defeated, it was stated that the reason for his defeat was that, despite having a heart, Kokuyou didn’t have the power of friendship. Classic shounen anime.

Akkun

But, while Team 10 has defeated Kokuyou, they didn’t do it entirely on their own. In fact, the real hero of the battle was Akkun the Akuta, who made his way across dangerous territory just to save Inojin, whom he had formed a special bond with.

Unfortunately for our hero, Akkun was killed by Kokoyou when his mask was shattered during the fight. However, I saw this coming months ago, and even made sure to point out my prediction about Akkun’s demise being linked to protecting Inojin.

[Akkun] will likely meet its demise by protecting Inojin from one of the other Akuta or one of Ku’s homunculi. I’m fairly confident that Inojin’s lesson about the preciousness of life is going to come full circle, and [Akkun] will give its life to save his.

That quote comes directly from my review of episode 81, which was posted just under 2 months ago.

Inojin Yamanaka and Akkun from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Inojin and Akkun

Although Akkun’s death was expected, I did find it to be surprisingly more emotional than I was expecting. While I didn’t really care for Akkun when he was around, now that he’s gone I think I’ll miss the little guy.

That said, the one thing I didn’t like about Akkun’s death scene was when he said Inojin’s name. I get that this was supposed to add more emotion to the mix by showing that Akkun had a heart and bonded with Inojin, but it felt very out of place, much like Pikachu suddenly talking in that one, new Pokémon movie.

Next Episode

While Team 10 is dealing with Kokuyou, Boruto and Sarada are making their way downtown to “rescue” Mitsuki, who isn’t really in a position he needs rescuing from. However, before they can locate him, Kirara appears before them and challenges them to a duel.

One might think that Sarada’s Sharingan would be effective against Kirara’s own dōjutsu, but this doesn’t actually seem to be the case as she’s easily able to capture both genin with her genjutsu. From the next episode preview, we see that she intends to make the two of them fight to the death with swords.

However, the preview also showed Sekki, the Hidden Stone shinobi from episode 85 who got stuck in the Sanzu Plains with Boruto and Ohnoki. My guess is that Sekki is going to come to Boruto and Sarada’s rescue before they do too much damage to each other, and he may even be the one to defeat Kirara.

I should also mention that Konohamaru has infiltrated the Hidden Stone and met up with Mitsuki. This, combined with the increasing number of homunculi which are being defeated, makes me hopeful that this arc will conclude soon.

After Kirara, the only two homunculi left are Sekiei and Ku, but something tells me that Sekiei won’t actually have to be defeated. He seems to genuinely want to be a good person and fit into human society, he’s just a bit misguided on how exactly to go about doing this. He’s also Mitsuki’s friend.

Conclusion

What were your thoughts on this week’s episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations? Were you expecting something more exciting after the Winter break, or was this episode everything you hoped it would be and more? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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