Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 254

Boruto’s Death

At the end of Episode 253, Boruto offered up his life in exchange for stopping the war. Now, in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 254, he follows through on that offer. But, I have to say that I don’t agree with his reasoning at all.

In fact, there are a lot of things in this episode that I don’t agree with. So, while I did enjoy Episode 254, let’s focus on all the things wrong with it today. And we’ll be starting with Boruto’s reason for sacrificing himself.

According to Boruto, he wants to sacrifice himself to stop both the war and the cycle of revenge. But, how does his sacrifice stop either of those? At best, his sacrifice would stop Kobuna from continuing to seek revenge. I’m struggling to see how his death would have any impact on the war as a whole, though.

Boruto’s an outsider in this conflict. Yes, he fought alongside the Hidden Mist Village. But, the war has nothing to do with him. The Hidden Mist Village wants to tame the seas. And the Funato want to stop this (and seek revenge for their fallen allies). None of that has to do with Boruto.

Even with Boruto dead, the reason for the war doesn’t go away.

Next, we have something I’ve complained about many times over the past few weeks. Everyone keeps blaming Boruto for Funamushi’s death. But, as I’ve been pointing out all this time, it was Buntan who killed Funamushi.

Considering the facts of the situation, Boruto’s death doesn’t actually avenge anyone. The whole idea of revenge in a war already doesn’t make much sense. But, the only reason Boruto is a target for revenge is that he’s the protagonist. It’s convenient for the plot.

The Sea Dragon

So, we finally got to see the Sea Dragon. It was first introduced back in Episode 241 as an ability unique to the Funato Clan. The full name of this ability is the Power of the Sea Dragon; it allows them to control the sea.

What I found interesting about how the ability appeared in this episode is that it took the form of a dragon. Okay, I get that it might seem obvious for that to be the case. But, it was never implied that the Sea Dragon described the appearance of the ability.

The ability is the Power of the Sea Dragon, not the Sea Dragon itself. And, there are already other Water-style jutsu that take the form of a dragon. For example, there’s the Water Dragon Bullet Technique. That jutsu has been around since Naruto Episode 9 when both Zabuza and Kakashi used it.

Anyway, I wasn’t a fan of how Ikada used the Sea Dragon in this episode. It didn’t feel like we earned the resolution we got. After Sarada and Mitsuki refuse to take revenge for Boruto’s “death,” Ikada decides the war is over. He then uses the Sea Dragon to save Boruto.

This is something I expected but still ended up disappointed by. As I’ve said before, Ikada’s character had no good way out of the corner he found himself written into. After he went full supervillain, there was no way for him to come back without it feeling cheap.

Using the Sea Dragon as a metaphor for the power of friendship was boring. I liked that Ikada saving Boruto from drowning here is the vision Boruto had at the start of the arc. But everything else surrounding that felt like a cop-out.

The Most Dangerous Pirate

What do you think the worst part of Episode 254 was? For me, it was the death of Araumi Funato. Kawaki breaks into the bridge of the mobile fortress and cuts Araumi’s throat, killing him. That’s it. That’s all it took to defeat the most dangerous pirate in the Land of Water.

Why was Araumi held in such a high-security prison? He doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. The Hidden Mist Village could have assassinated him at any point they chose. Like, he didn’t even put up a fight against Kawaki.

Throughout this entire arc, we never saw Araumi use a single jutsu. I can’t even remember him using the Protection of the Sea Dragon. The only thing he did was tell Isari’s harpoon to kill Isari. Other than that, Araumi never actually posed a threat to anyone. And, it seems like even the Funato grunts recognize this.

While Araumi’s death was my least favorite part of the episode, it did come right after the funniest part. So, Ikada gets talk-no-jutsu’d by Boruto from the grave and decides that war is lame, after all. And when Araumi tells his underlings to fire the chakra cannon anyway, one of them informs him that the war is over.

If the Funato grunts had any respect for Araumi, this guy wouldn’t have told Araumi “no.” Could you imagine if some random Outer of Kara said that to Jigen? Jigen would have killed him on the spot.

This arc had so much potential with the Funato clan as antagonists. I’ve complained enough about the older Funato siblings, so I won’t do that again. But we could have at least gotten a fight against Araumi. I never expected much from Ikada. But Araumi was perfect to fight.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 254? Do you think Boruto’s sacrifice made sense? How do you feel about a dragon made of water roaring? And did you think we were going to get a fight against Araumi? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 255 is available now.