Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 245

Hebiichigo Returns

At every turn, Hebiichigo proves me wrong with her actions. I had predicted that Hebiichigo was going to face off against Funamushi and his forces on her own. And I assumed Buntan and Kyohou would catch up to her and join the fight.

But, that’s not what happened in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 245. Instead, Hebiichigo was really running away from the battle. She only decided to go back to fight with her friends after learning that the elite Funato squad knew about the ambush they had set.

As I said would be the case in my review of Episode 244, Hebiichigo fleeing from the battle has made me like her less. It doesn’t really matter that she came back in the end. Throughout this entire arc, she hasn’t done anything to make me think she’s a good character.

The character trope of running away from a fight, feeling guilt over abandoning one’s friends, and then returning to “save the day” after learning some key piece of information isn’t a good one. It’s boring. It’s bland. And most importantly, it’s overused.

What I will say, however, is that this is a better outcome than Hebiichigo becoming a traitor. She could have teamed up with the Funato — she even mentioned the possibility of doing that at one point. But, that really would have ruined her character arc, in my opinion.

There’s a time and place for a traitorous character. This wasn’t it. Hebiichigo already had her traitor phase when she attempted to kill Kagura. From that point on, her character arc should be all about redeeming herself since we know she does actually care about her friends.

Also, speaking of caring about her friends, this episode was the first time I noticed she calls Kyouho “Kyou-nii.”

Battle for the Village

To say I was disappointed by the action in Episode 245 would be an understatement. All I really wanted was a fight between Buntan and Funamushi (preferably animated well). We didn’t get anything like that.

Not only was there not a fight between Buntan and Funamushi but there wasn’t good animation either. However, I’m still holding out hope for this fight to happen in future episodes. It may not be next week, but I don’t think the door has closed on this fight happening just yet.

As much as I don’t want to, I guess I need to talk about Funamushi now. So, despite his name and the previous summoning jutsu we saw him use, he did not use any insect-type jutsu. Instead, he used a giant water twister jutsu.

I don’t mind that Funamushi used this water twister jutsu. Although I would have rather he used something a bit more unique, it makes sense that a high-ranking member of the Funato could use something like that. However, it’s the second time he uses this jutsu I have an issue with.

Boruto, or maybe someone else, points out that Funamushi can’t use his jutsu again because there’s no water nearby. Funamushi responds to this by gabbing two of his subordinates, draining their blood, saying “blood is water.” He then uses their blood to create another twister that’s very clearly made of water, not blood.

The issue I have with this is that he’s specifically using their blood. Perhaps you aren’t aware, but blood isn’t water. Blood contains water just like the rest of the human body. It would have made way more sense if he just absorbed all the moisture from their bodies rather than specifying that he was absorbing their blood.

R.I.P. Kagura

Uh oh, Kagura got stabbed through the chest by Funamushi! I guess that means he’s dead now. Well, that’s what I would have said if this wasn’t Boruto. Have any Boruto-specific characters been killed off throughout the course of this series? And obviously, I mean major non-antagonist characters.

The closest I can think of was Koji Kashin. But, as a clone of Jiraiya, does he really count? I’m not sure. Everyone else who was killed off that I can think of was around before the Boruto series, such as Ao and Kurama.

Basically, I don’t think Kagura is actually going to die here. He might, but I doubt it. I don’t really think killing him off right now benefits the series in any way. Kagura being gravely injured is enough to rally his comrades on its own.

Obviously, wounding Kagura like this isn’t going to work out for Funamushi in the end. Now Boruto, and perhaps Buntan, Kyouho, and Hebiichigo, are going to go all-out to take him down. I expect Boruto will play a major role here. However, I’d like for this to be the catalyst for Buntan’s fight against Funamushi.

Also, I want to point out how Funamushi spoke about Seiren within this episode. Multiple times, he mentioned needing to avenge her. He even said he was “robbed of lady Seiren.” Put together, these statements seem to imply that her wounds were fatal.

Again, I don’t believe this is true. As far as we know, Seiren is not dead. She’s severely injured, but alive. So, I’m going to use that as “evidence” that Kagura won’t be killed off either. He didn’t kill Seiren, so I don’t see him being killed in retaliation.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations? Has Hebiichigo done enough to redeem herself yet? Do you think we’ll get the Buntan vs. Funamushi fight that I want? And do you think Kagura is going to die? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 246 is available now.