Boruto Episode 64

Introduction

This week’s episode of Boruto was titled “Rescuing Naruto!” and mainly focused on the efforts of the four other Kage, Sasuke, and Boruto travelling to another dimension to, as you can probably guess, rescue Naruto.

Last week we saw the setup for this next mini arc, and my review of that episode can be found here.

As with many of these episodes which are remakes of the arcs from the Boruto movie, not much has really changed. We might get some new characters thrown into the mix, or some extra background information, but so far the plot has essentially stayed the same.

Summary

At the beginning of the episode we find out that Mitsuki has survived his encounter with Urashiki (which should come as no surprise), but it’s unclear what the effects of Urashiki’s jutsu on him are. Gaara also had his chakra stolen by Urashiki, but still appears to be able to use jutsu.

Will Mitsuki still be able to perform sage jutsu? I’m hoping the answer is yes because I want to see more of it, but maybe he’ll be unable to use it until his chakra is recovered from Urashiki. Only time will tell.

We then get some flashbacks from Naruto of all the times he didn’t acknowledge what Boruto was trying to tell him, which shows that this arc is about not only Boruto’s growth as a ninja, but Naruto’s growth as a father. No new information was given to us here.

The second half of the episode is where things really started to get interesting. First of all, this is where most of the action took place so that’s always a plus in a shōnen anime. Sasuke, Kurotsuchi, and Chōjūrō fought against Kinshiki, while Gaara and Darui took on Momoshiki.

After subduing Kinshiki, Sasuke moved to help Gaara and Darui with Momoshiki, and Naruto and Boruto prepared to help as well. This marks the end of the action for the episode, but we still get some new, interesting information.

Momoshiki uses his Byakugan to look at Boruto and appears to be able to sense his Jōgan (although it hasn’t been named that yet in the anime). He then mentions to Naruto that it’s a shame he has no way to pass his power down to the next generation, and that Boruto is “burdened with an interesting fate.”

From this we can infer two things. The first is that Boruto will not become the next Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox because there’s no way to pass that power down to him from Naruto (which isn’t exactly true since we know tailed beasts can be extracted or implanted).

Whether or not it’s technically possible, however, doesn’t matter. The important takeaway is that this line seems to be hinting towards Boruto not being able to rely on the power of the tailed beasts in the same way Naruto does, which is good because Boruto is his own character.

The second part about Boruto’s fate is potentially even more important. It shows that the Ōtsutsuki clan, or at least Momoshiki, is aware of what the Jōgan is, does, and means, but also reconfirms that the Jōgan will likely be Boruto’s defining trait, much like how the Nine-Tailed Fox chakra was for Naruto.

I think it’s likely that we’ll learn a bit more about the Jōgan by the end of this arc since Momoshiki appears to have information about it.

The episode ends with Momoshiki consuming the chakra (in physical form) of Kinshiki in order to attain even greater power. This is the primary part of the episode which diverges from the Boruto movie.

While in both versions of this arc, Momoshiki devours Kinshiki’s chakra, the outcome is slightly different. In the movie version, Momoshiki’s skin becomes red and he gains the appearance of an oni (ogre). He gains a Rinnegan on his forehead, but it’s the standard color of lavender.

In the series version, however, Momoshiki takes on a “god-like” form rather than an oni form. His skin becomes a combination of black portions and white portions, his eyes turn gold, the Rinnegan in his palms turn gold, and the Rinnegan on his forehead is gold.

This form reminded me a lot of the Pillar Men from the Battle Tendency season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, although Momoshiki isn’t quite as buff. It will be interesting to see if this form will signify something more important than just a change of appearance from the movie.

Next Episode

Next episode we should see the continuation of the battle against Momoshiki in his new form, but I doubt we’ll see the end of it. As previously mentioned, I’m looking forward to seeing how much Momoshiki’s new form will change the plot from what happens in the movie.

Will this simply be a different appearance and everything else remain the same? Will Momoshiki have new powers he didn’t have in the original version for the movie? Or will this signify that Momoshiki’s story isn’t going to end with this arc like it does in the movie?

Finally, I almost forgot that Urashiki was actually mentioned in this week’s episode as well by Shikamaru. It seems that the leaf village is aware that Urashiki escaped, but may still be hiding somewhere nearby, ready to attack the village at any moment.

This hints at Urashiki being a B-plot antagonist for this arc. While the Kage, Sasuke, and Boruto are fighting Momoshiki in the other dimension next episode, I’m expecting Urashiki to make a return to the leaf village and get into a battle with some of the supporting characters.

Likely we’ll see Shikamaru, Kakashi, Shikadai, and Sarada. It’s possible that the other genin could be involved as well such as Mitsuki, but I don’t think it’s likely for a large number of the supporting characters get involved.

Sarada and Mitsuki are main characters, Shikadai is the primary supporting character, and Shikamaru and Kakashi are the strongest ninja in the village with Naruto and Sasuke being away, and Sakura being busy tending to the wounded (yes, Sakura is at least as strong as Shikamaru, maybe not Kakashi).

My review of Boruto episode 65 is available here.