Boruto Episode 147

Boruto Episode 147

The Fateful Moonlit Battle

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 147 concluded the Hozuki Castle Prison arc, which took me a bit by surprise. I believe it was just last week that I explained how the arc would probably end on episode 149 or 150, so this early conclusion wasn’t expected.

But with that said, the next episode is apparently going to finally bring us back to an arc from the manga. I don’t know when the last anime episode was from the manga — that’s how long ago it was. I know the Hidden Stone arc was still anime-only content, and that was back in 2018.

So, yeah, we’re going back to manga content with the next episode, which I’m sure a lot of people are ready for. However, you shouldn’t get your hopes up too much. Just because it’s manga content doesn’t automatically mean it’s any better — some of it definitely is though.

The first thing you’ll have noticed if you watched the next episode preview is that episode 148 looks like a filler episode between arcs. It’s not, but it looks like it should be. So don’t expect the next arc to be great right from the start.

There’s also the fact that the Boruto anime is considered canon, which is something I’m sure manga readers like to pretend isn’t true. If something happens in the Boruto anime which isn’t in the manga, it’s still canon; the author has stated as much.

He basically uses the anime to tell all the parts of the story he doesn’t have time to tell in the manga. And that’s why a lot of the best Boruto arcs so far have actually been anime-only.

Team 7 vs. Team 7

It might come as a surprise, but I would consider the Hozuki Castle Prison arc to be one of the better Boruto arcs. It’s definitely not the best, as I’ll explain, but it does have its moments. And this episode in particular, much like the arc as a whole, has its highs and lows.

The battle between Team 7 and their moonlight shadow clones is one of the lows of the episode. While it’s true that this is where the best animation of the episode came in, there wasn’t very much of it. And there definitely wasn’t enough of it to carry a fight which we’ve basically seen before.

Those of you who are newer to this franchise might not know, but the same fight concept was used back at the start of Naruto: Shippūden. During the Gaara Rescue Mission arc, Team Guy fights clones of themselves just as Team 7 does here. At least this time around the fight animation was better.

Boruto and his moonlight shadow clone from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Boruto and his moonlight shadow clone

But the main difference between the Team 7 and Team Guy clone fights are the clones themselves. Team Guy was fighting against “elemental” clones of themselves created automatically upon the release of seals. Team 7 is fighting against shadow clones of themselves created by their opponent, Tsukiyo.

Further, what made the Team Guy clones so dangerous is that they had no real weakness. They were simply clones of the team members which didn’t tire out.

The Team 7 Clones have a major weakness: any light source that isn’t the moon. However, to compensate for this weakness, they not only don’t tire out, but use their “originals” as a source of chakra for jutsu. So if Boruto’s clone uses the Rasengan, it saps away Boruto’s chakra as if he used it himself.

Gentle Fist Technique

It’s not often that we see Boruto using jutsu, or techniques, from the Hyūga side of his family. He doesn’t have the Byakugan (he also hasn’t used the Jōgan in a while), he rarely uses the Gentle Fist technique over the Rasengan, and I’m not sure if he’s ever used the Eight Trigrams stance.

He probably has used Eight Trigrams in the past, but I honestly don’t remember it ever happening.

In most scenarios, it’s hard to see Boruto as anything more than a copy of Naruto. Sure, he has a few more jutsu at his disposal, like Lightning and Water style jutsu, but for the most part he fights in the same way. He creates Shadow Clones and then finishes his opponent off with a Rasengan.

Boruto defeating Tsukiyo with the Gentle Fist technique from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Boruto defeating Tsukiyo with the Gentle Fist technique

It’s for this reason that the fact Boruto uses the Gentle Fist technique in this fight is so special. Aside from Naruto not having any of the Hyūga clan jutsu or techniques, one of the biggest things differentiating him from Boruto is his massive amount of chakra.

Boruto doesn’t have a tailed beast sealed inside him, and he isn’t Kisame; he has a standard person’s amount of chakra. That means his chakra reserves can realistically run out, which we saw happen in this fight. He no longer had the chakra to make Shadow Clones or a Rasengan at the end.

But, because he knows the Gentle Fist technique, he could still fight. This is a fighting technique, not a jutsu — it doesn’t require chakra.

Things Which Apparently Weren’t Important

Before we get to the end of the episode, which was my favorite part of the arc, I feel it’s only right to mention some of the problems the arc had as a whole. And what better way is there to do that than by pointing out a few of the plot points which never ended up going anywhere?

Remember the Chinese lantern plants for which Hozuki Castle is named? Back when Boruto needed to get into the infirmary to meet Kokuri, he ate one. And although he was specifically told not to eat a white one, that’s exactly the kind he ate.

At the time, I expected Boruto eating the white flower to come up again later. However, I quickly forgot that was something which happened, and apparently so to did the writers. Nothing ever came from Boruto eating the wrong colored flower, and I only remembered it because in this episode Kokuri hides in the field of these flowers.

It’s possible that the distinction between the two colors of flower is supposed to be a reference to the Naruto movie which takes place in the prison. But, I haven’t actually seen that movie, like most Naruto movies, so I couldn’t tell you.

The other “issues” I can think of with this arc come about as a result of the arc ending so abruptly. As I mentioned earlier, and last week, I expected there to be at least two more episodes in this arc. Generally speaking, there’s at least one episode at the end of each arc which serves to wrap everything up.

We don’t get that for the Hozuki Prison Arc.

We see Lord Mujo recover and return to the prison, but that’s it as far as the prison is concerned. Benga’s fate is left unclear, as are the fates of Boruto and Mitsuki’s three original cellmates. Sure, we see that Kedama appears content with still being in prison, but what about the fact that his jutsu are no longer sealed?

And although we can be fairly sure that Benga isn’t around because we see Dragu’s status reduced to that of a normal inmate, we don’t know anything else. Is he still working at the prison? Is he even alive? Last we saw he was laying on the ground either unconscious or dead.

The Mujina Gang

Before getting into what actually happened at the end of the episode, I need to go over what I thought happened. Obviously I thought Tsukiyo drowned and Kokuri swam to safety, but that’s not what was immediately important.

After Tsukiyo is said to have drowned, my first thought was, “did Boruto just kill someone?” Sure, Boruto didn’t deliver the finishing blow, but he was the one who knocked Tsukiyo off the cliff, which eventually resulted in his drowning. I’d count that as a kill for Boruto, indirect as it was.

However, we later learn that’s actually not what transpired.

The leader of the Mujina Gang in Kokuri's body from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
The leader of the Mujina Gang in Kokuri’s body

We don’t yet know his name, but the leader of the Mujina Gang has a very interesting signature jutsu. He can physically take over the bodies of those he’s killed — or perhaps just anyone who’s dead, we don’t really know. But what we do know is that he used this jutsu on both Tsukiyo and Kokuri.

Apparently, Tsukiyo had already died and the boss had taken over his body before being sent to the prison. It’s unclear if the boss killed Tsukiyo specifically so he could use this jutsu. And, if that’s the case, why didn’t he just let Tsukiyo do the job?

But when “Tsukiyo” and Kokuri fall into the water, the boss chokes Kokuri and then swaps into his body. He then uses Kokuri’s body to escape via the Hidden Leaf Village. The boss then returns to the Mujina Gang hideout and transforms into his true form, which I have to say looks worse than mafia Kokuri.

So, this brings up the question of: is the Mujina Gang boss effectively immortal like Orochimaru? He “lives” within corpses, so we can assume he can’t die unless his host is completely destroyed.

Conclusion

What did you think of Boruto episode 147? And what did you think of the Hozuki Castle Prison arc overall? I liked the episode, and I liked the arc. However, I’m a bit disappointed that we’re switching to a different arc after the reveal at the end of the episode. Hopefully we’ll come back to the Mujina Gang later on in the anime.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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