Boruto Episode 209

Boruto Episode 209

Kawaki’s Dream

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 209 opens with a scene of a destroyed Hidden Leaf Village, with the bodies of the citizens littering the ground. It may even have reminded you of how the series as a whole began back in Episode 1.

However, the scene we saw this week wasn’t reality. It was a dream Kawaki was having, and one which he seems to have a lot as of late. Ever since Jigen appeared and was able to defeat Naruto and Sasuke, Kawaki has worried about the village’s fate.

Although I would largely consider this episode to be “filler,” it’s still a decently important episode for Kawaki’s character. Even if it wasn’t in this episode, we knew there would come a time when Kawaki would have to question his place in the Leaf Village.

The Uzumaki family dead from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
The Uzumaki family dead

I think it’s fair to say that Kawaki has come to view the Leaf Village as his home and the Uzumaki family as his family. And it’s because he feels that way that he doesn’t want to put them in danger by sticking around. After all, he’s the one Jigen is after.

But, since Kawaki doesn’t end up leaving the Leaf Village by the end of the episode, I’m left wondering exactly how he’s going to be lured away later on. Are we going to see Kawaki go through this same introspection again? Or is he going to be kidnapped successfully next time?

Something’s going to happen that puts him back within Jigen’s grasp. Perhaps that’s where Code comes in. Aside from Amado, who seems to be a non-combatant, Code is the only Kara member to have not revealed himself to the Leaf shinobi.

Jaggy the Wolf

The part of this episode that makes it feel like filler is the whole middle section with Himawari, Kawaki, and Jaggy the wolf. Something you may have noticed is that a lot of filler episodes focus on an animal that represents one of the main characters of the episode.

Whether it’s a stray cat representing Mitsuki or an outcast wolf representing Kawaki, this is a very common trope throughout the Naruto/Boruto series. We’ve actually even seen it before with Kawaki, but that time it involved a stray dog.

With the stray dog, the comparison to Kawaki was that they were both on their own and had to fight in order to survive even though they didn’t want to live that way. The story with Jaggy in this episode has some of those same features but is ultimately a different one.

Himawari and Kawaki gathering food for Jaggy from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Himawari and Kawaki gathering food for Jaggy

Yes, Jaggy and Kawaki are both outcasts who have to be vicious in order to survive. But the real comparison being made between them is how they both have to leave their family for the good of the group.

In Jaggy’s case, his white fur makes him stand out too much. This both attracts enemy wolves or other predators, and makes it easy for prey to spot him. That was detrimental to the rest of his pack, and so he was kicked out.

Kawaki views himself in much the same way due to the fact that he attracts Jigen and the other Kara members to the Leaf Village. But, what’s different between the two is that while Jaggy was probably forced out, Kawaki is making the choice to leave on his own.

Also, the fact that Jaggy ends up being killed by a bear serves as a warning of what’s to come for Kawaki if he does leave. He won’t be able to fight against Jigen on his own.

The Hidden Leaf Family

When Kawaki was attempting to leave and Shikamaru showed up, there were a couple of different ways I thought their interaction could feasibly go. Though, I have to say that Shikamaru simply allowing Kawaki to walk away wasn’t one of them. That’s not in his nature.

First, I thought that maybe we’d get some dialogue between them with Kawaki assuming Shikamaru would use his Shadow Paralysis jutsu on him again. In this scenario, Shikamaru wouldn’t use his jutsu on Kawaki, and would instead “talk-no-jutsu” him.

That’s almost what happened, but Shikamaru did end up using his jutsu on Kawaki temporarily. I wouldn’t say that he used his jutsu in a hostile way, though. It was more like he used it just to stop Kawaki long enough so that he could say what he needed to.

Kawaki deciding not to leave the village from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Kawaki deciding not to leave the village

Now, the other way I could have seen this going was if Shikamaru had told Kawaki that he wasn’t allowed to leave. Shikamaru has been wary of having Kawaki in the village, sure. But at this point, allowing him to leave and potentially rejoin Kara is also a threat.

If things went like that, Shikamaru would have restrained Kawaki with his jutsu. But this time around, I don’t think Kawaki would have absorbed the jutsu as he did previously. He probably would have let himself be captured and then planned to break out later on.

I would have said that last option was most likely except for one major detail: This is a “filler” episode. Something that significant was never going to happen in this episode. So, what we ended up getting was probably the most realistic expectation of what we could have gotten.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 209. How do you think Jigen is going to bring Kawaki back under his control? Do you think we’ll get a third “filler” episode in which Kawaki is compared to an animal? And did you think Kawaki was actually going to leave? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 210 is available now.

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