Boruto Episode 92

Boruto Episode 92

A New Ordinary

While I’m glad the Hidden Stone village arc is finally complete (I think it was the longest Boruto arc to date), we’re now unfortunately in the inter-arc filler period. Today’s episode was essentially the wrap-up of the arc, but the next couple episodes, perhaps even up to episode 100, are going to be 100% filler.

If you don’t believe me, although I don’t see why you wouldn’t, the next episode is about child-parent day and follows Naruto and Himawari as they go around the leaf village to meet all of Naruto’s old friends. You can be extra sure it’s filler because Tenten makes an appearance.

But, as I touched on last week I believe, while these next few episodes are going to be individual pieces of filler, the entire Hidden Stone village arc was filler too. So, how can you tell if an entire arc is filler or not? There are two ways:

  • It feels like filler.
  • Nothing changes from beginning to end.

This may sound crazy to some of you, but there are many cases in which you can tell an arc is filler simply by the way it feels. The pacing usually slows down and you’re introduced to a lot of new characters who seem pretty pointless to the overall plot.

However, if you couldn’t tell the Hidden Stone village arc was filler while watching it, the next way to tell is by looking at how much has changed from the beginning to the end of the arc. Our main characters are all back together, Boruto no longer has a summoning pact, and none of the new characters are still around; i.e. nothing changed.

A Day of Mourning

If there was one theme to be found throughout this episode of Boruto, it was funerals. We saw Ohnoki’s funeral, Akkun’s funeral, and Sekiei’s funeral (as well as the other homunculi, but they don’t really matter).

The first funeral of the episode was for the Third Tsuchikage, Ohnoki. All five of the current Kage were present, along with Akatsuchi and what seemed to be the entire rest of the Hidden Stone village. Ohnoki’s death was the one thing that changed over the course of this arc, but since he was already so old I don’t think it really matters.

Naruto, Gaara, Chōjūrō, and Darui from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Naruto, Gaara, Chōjūrō, and Darui

Next up is the funeral of Akkun, which we only see in the form of a flashback while the Hidden Leaf genin are heading back home via train. As I’ve said many times, it was clear that Akkun was going to die ever since he was first introduced, so his death doesn’t really have any lasting effect.

And, speaking of having no lasting effect, we also have the funeral for Sekiei and the rest of the homunculi. Just as Inojin will probably reference Akkun at least once in the coming episodes, Mitsuki will likely do the same with Sekiei, but overall their deaths were meaningless since they were just filler arc characters.

For further proof that the deaths of Akkun, the homunculi, and even Ohnoki don’t really change anything, we need to look no further than the TV coverage of the events which took place in the Hidden Stone. The entire conflict has been swept under the rug by the various leaders, and even Ohnoki’s cause of death was a fabrication.

However, this cover up is no more than a way to tie up the loose ends of the filler arc.

Team 7 Reunited

Team 7 is reunited once again, but let’s be honest, we all knew Mitsuki was going to be returning to the Hidden Leaf village (not only because this was a filler arc). However, what I’d like to talk about in this section doesn’t really have to do with the fact that they’re reunited.

Instead, let’s take a quick look at the rise and fall of Team 7’s status, and specifically the status of Boruto. After their return to the Hidden Leaf, all three genin members of Team 7 are stripped of their rank as shinobi for about an hour before being reinstated once again.

Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki

Can you think of a single time someone’s rank got demoted in all 720 episodes of Naruto and Shippūden? Because I can’t. And, I think it’s fair to say that the main cast of those series did worse things than what we saw Team 7 do over the course of this arc. I mean, even Sasuke is still a shinobi after being a mass murderer for a while.

But, that’s not all! This is actually the second time Boruto has been stripped of his rank as a genin. What are the chances of that? He has to be the first shinobi in the Hidden Leaf village’s history to accomplish a feat like that.

I’m hoping that constant and pointless reductions in rank isn’t a theme for Team 7 going forward, because it’s already been done too many times as is. And, I’m hoping they stick together from here on out as well, because we’ve already seen the fractured team dynamic play out for most of Shippūden.

As a side note, does anyone else hate the fact that their headbands are now just elastic sweat bands?

Movement in the Shadows

With all this filler arc wrap-up, it would be easy to say that this episode, and arc in general, didn’t matter at all. But as is always the case with Naruto franchise filler arcs, this isn’t exactly true.

Yes, none of the actual events of the arc matter in the long run, but it’s still being used as the setup for a future arc, possibly the next arc. We learn from Orochimaru and one of Mitsuki’s clones that the body of the scientist who helped create the hidden stone homunculi has gone missing.

This is important for a couple of reasons. The first is that Orochimaru wasn’t involved, which means someone else is researching the creation of artificial humans alongside him. The second is that whoever this other person or organization is, they aren’t leaving any evidence of their involvement behind.

So, who’s really behind the events of the attack on the Hidden Stone village? Did they purposefully create the homunculi to disobey Ohnoki’s orders? And, what are they really after? I think I already know the answer to the first question thanks to the manga, but don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil anything here.

All I’ll say is that the series should begin getting a lot more interesting in the next real arc, and I’m looking forward to reviewing those episodes when the time comes. But, for now, as previously mentioned, we’ll be having a few weeks of individual filler episodes.

Conclusion

Do you have any guesses as to who’s working behind the scenes and creating artificial humans? Let me know in the comments. I’d say that you’ll get a special discord role for the right answer when the truth is revealed, but it’s too easy to simply look up.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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