Boruto Episode 219

Boruto Ōtsutsuki

As was reiterated in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 219, Boruto and Kawaki are now 80% Ōtsutsuki. Last week, I mentioned that this is probably how Kawaki is going to be able to use the power of the Karma in the future despite not having Karma right now.

But, what’s going to happen to Boruto? Since he does still have Momoshiki’s Karma, his Ōtsutsukification isn’t going to stop at 80%. It’s going to continue progressing until Momoshiki is revived using his body.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the revival of Momoshiki (via Boruto) isn’t something that’s actually going to come to pass. However, I’m not really sure what can be done to remove the Karma from Boruto unless Momoshiki somehow has another vessel further along than he is.

Based on the information we have right now, Boruto can’t get rid of the Karma until Momoshiki is killed. And Momoshiki can’t be killed until he’s revived through Boruto’s Karma. So Boruto seems to be stuck in a pretty bad situation.

Luckily for Boruto, a new twist was introduced into the series this week: Code’s Karma. Code has a defective Karma that seems like it’s going to be the solution to Boruto’s problem. If Boruto can somehow transfer his Karma to Code, Momoshiki can then be revived and killed.

And since we don’t know anything about how Code’s defective Karma works, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out that something like this is possible. Whether it’s going to be Boruto transferring Momoshiki’s data into Code’s Karma or Code stealing the data from Boruto’s doesn’t really make a difference in the end.

I’ll discuss Code more later on in this review, but I think that’s going to be his main role in the future.

Revisiting Naruto vs. Sasuke

Before getting into the full discussion of Code and his defective Karma, I want to switch gears to revisit the classic Naruto vs. Sasuke dynamic. Which one of them is actually stronger has been up for debate for a very long time.

Personally, I think Sasuke has almost always been stronger than Naruto. When they had their little tussle on the hospital rooftop (where Boruto and Kawaki were briefly in this episode), I think Naruto was the stronger of the two. Sasuke didn’t really have much control over his Chidori at that point.

However, by the time they get to their first real fight at the Valley of the End, I’d say that Sasuke was easily stronger than Naruto. Sasuke could have killed Naruto if he wanted, but since Naruto technically won/tied the fight by scratching Sasuke’s forehead protector, he didn’t.

Up until their final fight (also at the Valley of the End), Sasuke was still the stronger of the two. This fight was more of a definitive tie. But, afterward, once Sasuke actually has a mastery of his Rinnegan, I’d once again say that Sasuke was the stronger of the two.

What about now that they’ve both been nerfed? Naruto lost Kurama and Sasuke lost his Rinnegan — so which of them is stronger now? Well, it’s Sasuke. And I think this is probably the time when the gap between them is at its largest.

Naruto even admitted that it felt like he was cheating when he was able to rely on Kurama’s power. And even though he was cheating, he generally fought Sasuke — who wasn’t cheating — to a tie.

Also, keep in mind that Sasuke still has his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. He can use powerful genjutsu, Amaterasu, and should still be able to use Blaze Release.

The Code Problem

As I already mentioned, Code is a potential solution to the problem of how Boruto is going to free himself from Momoshiki’s Karma. However, Code is still a problem himself. Not only is he a problem for our heroes to overcome, but he’s kind of a problem from a writing perspective as well.

Code never seemed like much of a threat. We actually never saw him fight at all, and the other members of Kara didn’t really treat him like their equal. He seemed like he was going to be a filler Kara member who just gets easily defeated at some point.

But, no. Now it’s revealed, rather suddenly, that Code is actually the strongest member of Kara. He’s even stronger than Jigen/Isshiki, apparently. And on top of that, he has a Karma that grants him immense power without the drawback of being consumed by an Ōtsutsuki upon their revival.

This twist is similar to when Kaguya appeared at the end of Naruto: Shippūden. Suddenly, there’s an enemy who’s stronger than the previous enemy the heroes had been fighting against. That’s not something I would really call good writing.

Also, I’d argue that code has the worst character design of any Kara member. Deepa’s design was pretty bad too, but I think Code’s might be worse. It’s going to be pretty difficult to view him as a real antagonist, especially considering he doesn’t have that much of a personality either.

I’m guessing that Koji and Delta are going to be used to add legitimacy to Code’s power, though. I get the feeling that they’re not dead yet. Code will probably finish off Koji, then have a fight against Delta since the two of them never got along. By defeating them, he’ll cement his place as the new antagonist for real.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 219? How do you feel about Code being revealed to have a Karma and being the strongest Kara member? Do you think my prediction about Momoshiki reviving via Code is correct? And who do you think would win between Naruto and Sasuke now? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 220 is available now.