Kawaki’s Own Karma

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 289 confirmed a lot of my predictions. The first of these predictions I want to go over is how Kawaki regains his Karma. In my review of Episode 288, I said that it seemed like Kawaki was going to have Amado reactivate his Karma.

Well, it turns out that’s exactly what’s going to happen. It hasn’t happened yet, of course. But, we’re on track for it to happen. Amado explained that Kawaki is still technically Isshiki’s vessel. and as such, still has access to Isshiki’s power within him.

At first, the fact that Kawaki is still Isshiki’s vessel may sound bad. After all, what if Isshiki revives himself using Kawaki? Well, that’s not actually a problem. Even though Kawaki is Isshiki’s vessel, Isshiki’s soul is gone. He can no longer take over Kawaki’s body.

Now, we also know that Kawaki can still use some of his Ōtsutsuki powers — notably, the ability to alter his body. However, more of Isshiki’s power lies dormant inside Kawaki. To access it, he’ll need to reactivate his Karma. And this is exactly what Amado suggests Kawaki does.

By implanting an artificial Karma into Kawaki, Amado can help Kawaki unlock his power. And since this will be Kawaki’s Karma, there’s no threat of another Ōtsutsuki taking over his body. Rather than being a Karma used for revival, it will be a Karma used for combat. But, what’s the catch? What does Amado get out of this?

Naturally, Sumire has concerns about Amado’s plan. And the fact that he doesn’t want to tell her more is suspicious. But, we already know what he stands to gain from unlocking Kawaki’s power. I’m betting that Amado wants Kawaki to destroy his creations — Code, Eida, and Daemon.

Eida’s Senrigan

Something else we learned from Episode 289 is the name of Eida’s dōjutsu. Eida has the Senrigan. And, before I explain anything else about it, I need to point out that we don’t know if it’s natural. It’s unclear if this is something Amado gave her like her charm ability.

I already explained how the Senrigan works last week. So, I’m not going to go over that again. Instead, I want to look at the name of this dōjutsu. Senrigan (千里眼 / せんりがん) is a pretty good name for this ability.

Let’s start with the final part of the word, “-gan” (眼 / がん). You’ll recognize this from literally every other dōjutsu — Sharingan, Rinnegan, Byakugan. It means eye.

What about the rest of the word, though? Well, you may also recognize “senri” (千里 / せんり) because Sasuke’s hawk is a Senri Hawk.

“Senri” contains 2 kanji, “sen” and “ri.” “Sen” (千 / せん) is the number 1,000. And “ri” (里 / り) is a measure of distance. So, “senri” means 1,000 ri, which is approximately 2,440 miles. Altogether, Senrigan literally means 1,000 ri eye. But, we need to go a bit deeper than the literal translation.

Although “senri” means 1,000 ri, it’s not used to mean the literal distance of 1,000 ri. What it actually means is a long distance in general. For example, Senri Hawks can fly a long distance, not exactly 1,000 ri. And this same logic applies to Eida’s dōjutsu.

Eida’s vision isn’t limited to 1,000 ri; she can see anything anywhere.

Eida also may have other abilities we don’t yet know about. At least, she hints at this being the case. And if she does, they may or may not be related to her Senrigan.

Daemon the Cyborg

My other main prediction from last week was that the kid seen with Eida and Code in the OP is related to Eida. That turned out to be correct, as we now know his name is Daemon and he’s Eida’s younger brother.

But, how did I know this was going to be the case? It’s pretty simple. First, we saw Daemon in the OP, so we knew he existed. And second, Eida said the only people her charm doesn’t work on are blood relatives and Ōtsutsuki. Why would she mention blood relatives unless one of them was going to appear?

She wouldn’t.

So, from that, it was pretty obvious that the kid in the OP was going to be a relative of Eida. But, why is it important that Eida’s charm ability doesn’t work on blood relatives? Daemon seems to love his sister anyway. They could have just said it works in a familial, not romantic way with relatives.

Anyway, enough about Eida. Daemon is the new character this week (even if I don’t like him). Look, I’m sure some people like Daemon. But, I think he has a bad design and an annoying personality. Also, I don’t like this whole dynamic he, Eida, and Code have going on.

But, what about Daemon’s abilities? So far, we know he has one ability that reflects attacks. Specifically, it works when someone has the intent to kill Daemon. If they have the intent to kill him, the attack they would direct at him in the future gets turned around on them.

We don’t yet know how this works, as Eida told Daemon not to reveal all his secrets to Code. But, it looks like Daemon also has a dōjutsu of his own. So, it likely has to do with that.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 289? What other abilities do you think Kawaki will get by unlocking his Karma? Do you like the name Senrigan for Eida’s dōjutsu? And, how do you think Daemon’s ability works? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 290 is available now.

Seeing Through Time and Space

In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 288, we learned a lot about Eida. Specifically, we learned what abilities she has and what her goal is. To start this review, I want to first take a look at her abilities.

The most unique ability Eida has is her knowledge of everything. But, how exactly does this work? Is she simply a genius? Not quite. The way she’s able to know everything is that she can see everything that happens everywhere. As long as something exists at the same time as Eida, she can see it.

As an example, she uses this power to see what Kawaki’s up to, and she sees him fighting with Boruto. When she does this, we see one of her eyes change to look like outer space. But, she implies that this ability is actually active at all times. So, how does that work?

If Eida can see everything all the time, why does she have to do something specific to see Kawaki? My guess is that’s just how she zeroes in on a particular person or place. If she doesn’t do that, she sees everything — like she’s looking at CCTV footage of the whole world at once.

Now, the other part of this ability has to do with time. Eida can’t only see the present. She can also see the past (as long as she was alive). So, if she wants to see what Naruto was doing the day she was born, she can.

As far as we know, Eida’s eyes are artificial, not natural, dōjutsu implanted by Amado. But, that’s not the only ability he gave her. He also gave her the ability to charm anyone who sees her. And, this charm ability is always active.

Training to Defeat Code

In the middle of the episode, we get to see Team 7 training to defeat Code. But, their chakra control training session goes gets derailed thanks to Kawaki. He’d rather be doing combat training because he thinks that’s what’s most important.

There are 3 important things to take away from this scene. The first is that Kawaki wants to get stronger at any cost. That seems very similar to how Sasuke felt as a teenager. But, the difference is that Sasuke wanted power for revenge. Kawaki wants power so that he can protect people.

Next, Kawaki said something interesting during this fight. He said he’d defeat Boruto here so Boruto can’t fight (and lose to) Code later.

Finally, during the fight, Boruto cuts Kawaki’s forehead protector in half. This seems to be foreshadowing his break from the shinobi path that we know will happen.

So, what does this all mean? Well, first, Kawaki’s desire to get stronger no matter the cost could be how he regains his Karma. In my Episode 287 review, I theorized that Code could implant his Karma onto Kawaki. But, what if Kawaki actually gets Amado to reactivate his Karma?

Also, maybe I’ve been thinking of the opening series the wrong way this entire time. Kawaki might never swap sides and become an enemy of the Hidden Leaf Village. Instead, what we saw in Episode 1 was Kawaki protecting the village in his own way.

During that fight, he tells Boruto that he’s going to send Boruto to where he sent the Seventh Hokage. But, what if that doesn’t mean killing Boruto? What if that literally means sending Boruto somewhere out of the way so Kawaki can fight Code on his own?

Eida’s Love

Eida’s ultimate goal has to do with her ability to charm anyone who comes in contact with her. According to her, there are only 2 kinds of people who aren’t affected by her charm — blood relatives and Ōtsutsuki.

Code is a failed Ōtsutsuki, so he’s still susceptible to Eida’s charm. And this fact is pretty obvious considering how cringe Code acts when he’s around Eida. But, because Isshiki was an Ōtsutsuki, he was immune to Eida’s charm. This is how he was able to order her destruction. Unfortunately for Isshiki, though, Boro was not immune.

Now, the problem for Eida regarding her charm ability is that she can’t tell if people actually like her. Everyone she interacts with loves her. So, how does she know if they really like-like her? She doesn’t — unless they’re an Ōtsutsuki. And that’s where Kawaki comes in.

That’s right, Eida’s ultimate goal is to have a romantic relationship with Kawaki. I really thought she was a cool character up until this point. Well, her charm ability was never that cool. I’d rather it be that she can win people over by using her galaxy brain to tell them what they want to hear.

However, now that we know all she wants is love, she’s kind of lame. That’s not a very engaging villain origin story. But, what’s most disappointing is that she’s not going to be able to carry Code now. Code is a terrible character. I wanted Eida to make up for that.

I guess the last thing I want to bring up about Eida is her comment about blood relatives. Why would she say this? Could the kid we see with her and Code in the OP be related to her?

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 288? Do you like Eida’s ability to see through time and space? Do you agree with my new assessment of Kawaki’s actions in Episode 1? And does Eida’s goal make you like her less? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 289 is available now.

What it Means to Be an Ōtsutsuki

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 287 was a very good episode. Not only are we getting back to the main story of the series. But, we also got some pretty nice art and animation at times.

Right at the start of the episode, though, we see our old friend Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. His spirit appears before Code and directs code on what he should do next. And what I found most interesting about this is that Isshiki doesn’t stand to gain anything. It’s not about reviving himself, it’s about the will of the Ōtsutsuki clan.

At this point, Isshiki can’t revive. He doesn’t have a Karma implanted in anyone. But, gives Code some advice on how to become effectively his replacement. And the first step is for Code to implant a Karma of his own into someone else.

Specifically, Isshiki tells Code to implant his Karma on either Boruto or Kawaki. Why these two? Is it for revenge? To an extent, maybe. But, the real reason is that he knows both Boruto and Kawaki are compatible with Karma. So, the idea is that Code can revive using one of their bodies and become a true Ōtsutsuki.

Then, once he’s done that, Isshiki tasks him with creating a Chakra Tree and sucking the planet dry. After that, he’s to go to other planets and do the same thing until he becomes an ultimate being. This is what being an Ōtsutsuki is all about.

Also, I’d like to point out that Isshiki’s advice solves a major issue. In Episode 1, Kawaki has a Karma. In the present, he does not. So, how do we get back to him having a Karma? Well, it looks like Code is going to implant it in him.

Code’s Claw Marks

I don’t remember if this was mentioned before. But, Code is, apparently, stronger than Jigen. That might have come up in the anime earlier. Or, that could be something I got spoiled on at some point. Either way, Kawaki said it in Episode 287, so I can talk about it.

Personally, I don’t like that Code (and Eida) are stronger than Isshiki. But, I understand why that’s the case. The next “big bad” always has to be bigger and badder. Still, it’s kind of lame for some of the cyborgs created by Amado to be stronger than Isshiki Ōtsutsuki.

For now, though, Code isn’t stronger than Isshiki. Amado put a limiter on his abilities to keep him in check — at Code’s own request. But, Code is now looking for a way to release his limiter. That could involve kidnapping Amado. Or, he could use Eida’s help to do it.

But, what do we know about Code’s abilities right now? Well, we know he has claws. Code can transform his hands into claws. However, what makes these claws special are the marks they leave behind. Code can instantly travel to any person, place, or thing that he’s marked.

Also, as far as we know, there’s no way to remove Code’s claw marks. So, even though the Hidden Leaf found some near the village, they can’t do anything about them. This means, at any time, Code could attack the Leaf Village from any one of a number of claw marks he’s set up.

Once Code removes his limiter, he’s going to be a pretty formidable opponent. I don’t know what other abilities that might unlock. But, considering he can already teleport, any additional buff is going to be strong. I’m not expecting anything crazy like dōjutsu, though.

Relationship Ended with Delta; Now Eida Is My Girlfriend

We’ve been seeing her in the latest OP, and she’s finally here. Eida is the new best girl of the series. It doesn’t matter that we barely know anything about her. All that matters is how she looks (and acts).

I’ve been a fan of girlboss Delta for a long time now. And from the brief interaction we got between Eida and Code, she seems like a girlboss too. But, what makes Eida better than Delta is her design. I like pretty much everything about Eida’s design more than Delta’s.

What do we know about Eida, though? Well, like Code, she’s one of the cyborgs Amado created that was stronger than Isshiki. So, already, we know Eida isn’t someone we should take lightly. However, I’m not sure that she’s actually a combatant like Code. We’re told that Eida knows everything — could that be her strength instead?

Even if Eida couldn’t physically defeat Isshiki, she may have been too smart. Her knowledge may have been what threatened Isshiki. And if that’s the case, I’m looking forward to seeing how she uses that knowledge going forward. She seems way more interesting than Code.

Something else to keep in mind is that Boro was supposed to destroy Eida at Isshiki’s instruction. We don’t know what Boro was planning by doing this, but he disobeyed Isshiki and preserved her, instead. I’m bringing this up because Kawaki mentioned that there were multiple cyborgs destroyed.

If Boro didn’t destroy Eida, then what about the others? Based on the OP, I’m going to assume there’s at least one other that survived. In the OP, we see a young boy(?) with green hair alongside Code and Eida. And he also looks like he might have some kind of dōjutsu.

Conclusion

What do you think about Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 287? Were you surprised Isshiki cared about the future of the Ōtsutsuki clan even if he can’t be part of it? Do you like Code’s claw mark ability? And does Eida have your favorite female character design of the series? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 288 is available now.

One-Handed Seals

Boruto Episode 286 concludes the Sasuke Retsuden arc. And, overall, I wasn’t very impressed by this arc. I remember hearing a lot of good things about the manga when it released. So, when I saw that the anime was adapting it, I had high hopes.

Anyway, what I want to talk about here actually isn’t the arc itself. I want to talk about Sasuke’s fighting style now that he only has one arm. Though, it’s not like this is new. He’s only had one arm for the entirety of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series.

We’ve seen Sasuke form one-handed signs for jutsu before. It’s not something most shinobi can do. The whole point of hand signs is that they help channel and manipulate chakra. But, since this is Sasuke we’re talking about, it’s not very uncommon for him.

What I think is the coolest thing about Sasuke’s one-handed signs, though, is that he’s been doing this for a long time. Well, sort of. Way back in the original Naruto anime, Sasuke was doing some pseudo-one-handed signs. In his first fight against Naruto at the Valley of the End, he used Naruto’s hand to complete his own signs.

In a way, those still count as one-handed signs. And then, under Orochimaru, Sasuke learned kenjutsu, or sword fighting. When fighting with a sword, Sasuke doesn’t have both hands free to make seals. So, by the time he loses his arm at the end of Shippūden, he has a bit of experience fighting this way.

Something else to consider is that Sasuke has the Sharingan and Rinnegan at this point. I believe most shinobi we’ve seen using one-handed signs also have Sharingan/Rinnegan. So, that could be playing a part in how Sasuke can do this.

Jiji and Margo

Next, let’s talk about the whole Jiji and Margo situation. First of all, it seems that Jiji does have some sort of true reincarnation jutsu. It doesn’t work in the same way as the reincarnation jutsu we’re familiar with. And, we don’t actually know exactly how it works.

But, the fact that he has a reincarnation jutsu is important because of his goal. He wants to use the Ultra Particles and his jutsu to revive his dead wife, Margo. That’s why he teamed up with Zansul and the prime minister. But, it wasn’t only the Ultra Particles he needed.

You see, unlike the reincarnation jutsu we know and love, Jiji’s doesn’t use a stand-in. He can’t use some other, random corpse to revive someone. He needs the corpse of whoever or whatever he’s reviving. And this is an issue because he doesn’t have access to Margo’s corpse.

In a very creepy line, Jiji talks about the prime minister making Margo’s corpse “available to him.” When he said that, it didn’t sound like he was talking about reviving her if you know what I mean. But, regardless of what Jiji planned to do to Margo’s corpse, it doesn’t matter now.

Not only was the prime minister’s plot stopped, but it turns out Margo is still alive. The prime minister and Zansul lied to Jiji about her death as a way to get him to help them. And this means Jiji’s reincarnation jutsu was known before he went to prison.

Had Jiji attempted to use this jutsu before? It’s very possible considering he claims to have formerly been a rogue shinobi. He left the Hidden Sand village and joined Redaku’s military. So, his use of this jutsu may have been what forced him out of the Hidden Sand.

Sasuke and Sakura – The Perfect Combo

When I say Sasuke and Sakura are the perfect combo, I don’t mean in a romantic sense. As we all know, Sakura is actually my wife. When I say they’re the perfect combo, I mean that their strengths cover each other’s weaknesses.

Sasuke has a lot of long-range attacks with his Fire and Lightning release. Also, at this point, he can do things like teleport thanks to his Rinnegan. So, he can quickly close the gap between himself and his opponent to use his sword. Oh, and let’s not forget he has genjutsu at his disposal.

On the other side, Sakura is the ultimate close-quarters fighter. She has the strength to defeat most opponents with a single punch. And thanks to her healing jutsu, she can take a beating and keep fighting. Though, we haven’t seen her actually use her Strength of a Hundred technique in a while.

Obviously, both of these characters are strong in their own right. But when combined, they don’t really have any weaknesses. We saw this early on in the Boruto series when they faced off against Shin Uchiha. That’s still one of my favorite fights in the whole series.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see Sasuke and Sakura do a tag team fight in this arc. During this episode, they each focused on their own respective fights. But, they did still divide up their duties based on their skill sets. For example, Sakura helped the prisoners while Sasuke went after Zansul.

Sure, Sasuke can take out a bunch of dinosaurs at once with a variety of jutsu. But, Sakura can take them out, as well. And she has the ability to heal the prisoners. Meanwhile, Sasuke’s Rinnegan made him the optimal choice for getting up to Zansul in the air.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 286? Are you glad Sasuke can use one-handed signs or would you rather him fight without ninjutsu? How did you feel about Jiji’s comment about Margo’s corpse being made available to him? And what character combo is your favorite in the series? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 287 is available now.

Sakura’s Chakra Ring

In Boruto Episode 285, we learned something interesting about Sakura’s ring. In my review of Episode 283, I had some questions regarding how Sasuke came to be in possession of the ring. Where did he get the ruby from? And how did he make the ring?

Well, it seems like we now have the answers to those questions. It turns out that it’s made of chakra. During their romantic scene by the lake, Sasuke asks Sakura if she’d like a real ring — one not made of chakra.

So, why is this piece of information worth talking about? It seems like the ring is another example of Sasuke using Earth Release. He used Earth Release to manufacture a key to Zansul’s cellar in Episode 284. And in that review, I mentioned how we don’t see Sasuke use Earth Release very often.

But, if Sasuke made both the ruby and ring out of chakra, that would mean he used more Earth Release. He probably made the ring using the same method we saw him use to make the key. However, the ruby is a bit of a mystery.

You can use chakra to make crystals, like rubies. But, we’ve only seen one person who was able to do this before. That’s Guren, the Crystal Release user from Naruto: Shippūden Episode 89. Crystal Release is a kekkei genkai we assume is related to Earth Release. And as far as we know, Sasuke doesn’t have that kekkei genkai.

But, why am I assuming the ruby itself is fake? Couldn’t it just be the ring that he used jutsu to create? Think back to Episode 282 when Sasuke gambled the ruby against his cellmates. It was too convenient for it to be real.

Where the Sky Fell to Earth

In Episode 285, Sasuke and Sakura discover the location of the Ultra Particles. And, honestly, the location wasn’t much of a surprise. On the outskirts of the prison, there’s a crater filled with water. This fits the description of where the Ultra Particles should be in 2 ways.

First, there’s the fact that a meteor created the crater. A meteor crashing into the ground is like if the sky were to fall to Earth. Second, there’s the reflection of the sky in the lake created by the crater. It’s as if the sky is on Earth.

Despite how obvious that stuff is, I get why it took Sasuke and Sakura so long to figure it out. They didn’t know there was a crater nearby. If they did, they probably could have connected the dots sooner.

Finding the location of the Ultra Particles is only one half of the puzzle, though. They also needed to figure out how to actually get their hands on the Ultra Particles that had been sealed away. Luckily, while Sasuke found the location, Sakura found how to unseal the particles. Now that’s teamwork.

It turns out, you have to perform a specific set of hand seals while at the crater to unseal the particles. The 12 most common hand seals get their names from the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. I went through them briefly in my review of Episode 269, if you need a refresher.

But, how do you know which hand signs to perform and in which order? The Star Lines card game has the answer. In Star Lines, there are six cards that make up the earth hand. Performing the hand signs associated with these six cards is the key.

Zansul’s Army of Dragon Beasts

In previous reviews from this arc, I’ve been using the term dinosaurs instead of dragon beasts. That’s because the only dragon beasts we knew of looked like Meno, who’s a dinosaur. But, that’s no longer the case. Not all dragon beasts are dinosaurs.

Here’s your biology fact for the day: Pterosaurs aren’t dinosaurs. Those are two, completely different categories of reptiles. So, from here on out, I’m going to use the term dragon beasts to refer to them all as a group.

With that said, I do still want to go over the various dinosaurs within the dragon beast group. We see some raptors, like Meno. There are also larger, carnivorous therapods (think T-Rex). And there’s a pachycephalosaurus that gets decked by Sakura. At the end of the episode, we see an absolutely massive sauropod emerge from the ground.

Now, how was Zansul able to revive these dragon beasts? First, he needed fossils excavated by the prisoners (as I predicted). Then, he fed apricots from the surrounding area to chickens. These apricots absorbed the Ultra Particles from the nearby crater. And finally, he relied on Jiji’s jutsu to activate these ultra particles.

It’s still a bit unclear how exactly this all works. In Episode 284, we clearly see a chicken transforming into a dragon beast. But, Sasuke likens how Zansul is reviving dragon beasts to the reanimation jutsu. The reanimation jutsu requires using a sacrifice as a vessel — not transformation.

Either way, there’s the question of whether Zansul’s actions are ethical. Sasuke believes that not only is it unethical, but it’s also illegal. However, I don’t see it the same way. Zansul isn’t sacrificing people. And I don’t think reviving an extinct animal is the same as bringing a dead person back.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 285? Does this episode confirm Sasuke has the Crystal Release kekkei genkai? Did you figure out the Ultra Particle riddle before Sasuke and Sakura? And, is reviving dragon beasts ethical? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 286 is available now.