Boruto Episode 203

Boruto Episode 203

Koji’s Mission

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 203 was a good episode. In fact, there have been a lot of good episodes recently. I may have to bump up my rating of this series soon from a 5 to a 6 out of 10. But, I’ll hold off on that for now.

Anyway, the big surprise of this episode is that Jigen can use Kawaki’s Karma as a warp point and teleport to wherever Kawaki is. As Koji mentions, this means that there was never a reason for a Kawaki retrieval mission. This also explains why Jigen wasn’t in any rush to have Kawaki captured.

But, there’s another side to all of this as well. Jigen had Koji, or let Koji, perform the investigation and retrieval specifically because he wanted to test him. He wanted to see what Koji would do, and likely gauge whether he was truly committed to Kara.

Koji Kashin from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Koji Kashin

I think it’s fair to say that Koji didn’t pass this test with flying colors. I’m not sure that he necessarily failed, though. It’s not as if Koji acted against Jigen at any point. He was merely observing Kawaki (and Boruto) for the time being rather than capturing them.

But, something Koji himself says is that he “thought [he] was investigating Jigen’s true intentions.” This implies that Jigen was right to suspect Koji and that Koji isn’t a devoted member of Kara. However, this information brings up the question of why he isn’t.

I’ve been assuming that Koji is a clone of Jiraiya. I still think that’s the case. But I also assumed that since he was made by Kara, he would be devoted to them. It would seem that Koji is more like Jiraiya than I had anticipated.

Advanced Karma

Something else we see in Episode 203 is Kawaki’s Karma transformation going beyond what we’ve seen before. When this happens, Kawaki develops an Ōtsutsuki-like horn. And, I would go so far as to say it kind of resembles Jigen’s horn when in his Ōtsutsuki form.

Kawaki’s horn doesn’t wrap all the way around his head as Jigen’s does. But, I think we can probably attribute that to the fact that Kawaki’s isn’t a complete Karma transformation yet. If it was, I think we’d see that he would resemble Jigen’s complete form.

As for why I think that, Kawaki is Jigen’s vessel. From what we’ve seen, the horn shapes of the Ōtsutsuki are unique to each member and used to identify them. So it would make sense for Jigen’s new vessel (Kawaki) to retain his horn shape.

Kawaki going into a more advanced Karma transformation from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Kawaki going into a more advanced Karma transformation

I guess this also means that Boruto will eventually begin to grow horns as well. And when he does, will they look like Momoshiki’s? I kind of hope they don’t. Momoshiki’s horns weren’t that cool. Just as Kaguya’s looked like rabbit ears, Momoshiki’s looked like dog ears.

Also, when Jigen saw how far Kawaki’s Karma had advanced, he was surprised. Clearly, the Karma shouldn’t have been advancing this quickly — at least not without Jigen being part of the process. But, I think we can attribute that to Boruto.

The advancement of Kawaki’s Karma is probably due to its resonance with Boruto’s Karma. I have no idea what that means for Kawaki and Boruto, though. My guess is that Kawaki is supposed to be resonating with Jigen to gain his power or something.

So if Boruto is resonating with Kawaki, is he also getting some of Jigen’s power? Will his eventual horn look more like Jigen’s than Momoshiki’s because of that?

Jigen’s Power

I don’t remember how many weeks ago it was, but at some point, I said that either Naruto alone or the combination of Naruto and Sasuke could probably defeat every member of Kara at once. Now that we know more about Jigen, I can’t say I still think that.

If you remove Jigen from the equation, I’d say that claim probably still stands. Koji would be the one to watch out for. Naruto could beat Delta, Boro, and Code on his own I’m sure. With Sasuke’s help, I think they could beat those three and Koji.

Jigen is just built different. As an Ōtsutsuki, he’s far more powerful than your average (yet still powerful) antagonist. Do I think Naruto and Sasuke could beat him if they teamed up? Yes, but not 100% of the time. Do I think they’ll beat him next week? No, because that would be bad writing.

Kawaki stopping Jigen from destroying the Leaf Village from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Kawaki stopping Jigen from destroying the Leaf Village

If we take a look at the other Ōtsutsuki clan members who were defeated, we can see that Jigen’s not going to be taken down that easily. To seal away Kaguya, it took the combined effort of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi — the latter two to a lesser extent.

To defeat Momoshiki, it took all five Kage, Sasuke, and Boruto. Sure, the end of the fight was just Naruto and Sasuke with Boruto delivering the final blow, but whatever. And as for Urashiki, Boruto, Sasuke, Naruto (child), and Jiraiya were involved.

Jigen is probably going to be the only one defeated without Naruto and Sasuke’s involvement in the end. Instead, I think we’ll see Boruto and Kawaki be the primary fighters, probably backed up by the rest of Team 7. I think that’s what needs to happen for it to not feel like Naruto and Sasuke carried everyone else.

Conclusion

What do you think about Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 203? Is Koji really an agent of the Leaf Village? What do you think Boruto’s eventual Karma horn is going to look like? And who do you think will be involved in the final battle against Jigen? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 204 is available now.

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