Boruto Episode 66

Boruto Episode 66

Introduction

I know last week I said it was the end of the Boruto movie arc, but this week was really the end of the arc. However, it was simply the episode to wrap up the arc, not the arc where the action stops (so it’s not that important).

That said, this episode wasn’t a complete waste of time because it began to set up the next major arc of the series (or at least what I hope will be the next major arc of the series.

Summary

At the start of the episode we see the returning heroes come back through Sasuke’s portal (well, we really just see Boruto, Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara). They’re all reunited with their friends and family, and nothing else important happens here.

Later on we see Boruto going around the Leaf village apologizing to everyone for cheating during the chunin exam, including Shinki’s squad. At this point, Shinki ignores Boruto, but we later learn it’s because he’s conflicted about how to feel since Boruto was able to stand up to an enemy he had no chance of defeating.

Gaara reminds Shinki not to compare himself to those around him, but it really feels like Shinki’s character development is going to follow Gaara’s from the original Naruto series (minus the whole tailed beast thing). I want Shinki to be an interesting character, but so far I just see him as a Gaara clone.

Some other unimportant stuff happens, and we then get a scene of Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru discussing how to proceed onward after the Ōtsutsuki clan attack. At this point, we’re reminded by Sasuke that Urashiki Ōtsutsuki escaped during the battle and should still be considered a major threat.

He also hints that Urashiki’s true power has yet to be seen, although it’s unclear if he’s referring to his chakra rod (because that was unseen by those taking part in this discussion) or if he’s referring to some other ability we, the viewers, have yet to see as well. My bet is on the latter due to the final scene of the episode.

Skipping forward to that scene, we end by seeing Urashiki talking to himself about Boruto being the one Toneri Ōtsutsuki had his eyes on (this is from one of the Shippūden movies I haven’t seen; The Last I think). This final scene appears to set up Urashiki as the next main antagonist of the series.

Speaking of Toneri, the movie involving him takes place before everything else in the series. Because of this, it’s likely we’ll learn more about him through both flashbacks and things Urashiki says, but I don’t believe he’ll be a real character in the series.

However, if they do add him into the series in some important way (which they might because it’s hinted that he’s the reason Boruto has the Jōgan, or at least the Jōgan is why he’s watching Boruto) they’ll probably have to reintroduce him as a character unless they’re assuming everyone has seen The Last movie (which is unlikely considering they remade the Boruto movie arc).

But now, back to this week’s episode in no particular order.

Mitsuki was visited by his parent, Orochimaru, who expresses his displeasure at Mitsuki using his Sage mode where he could have been seen by the Hidden Leaf villagers. To this, Mitsuki replies that it’s worth it as long as he’s able to continue to observe Boruto, and Orochimaru appears to accept that reasoning.

From this conversation, we can assume that Mitsuki has not completely lost his Sage jutsu after having his chakra stolen by Urashiki. If that were the case, it likely would have come up in this conversation between him and Orochimaru.

The last thing about this episode I want to mention is the conversation between Boruto and Sasuke about what happened after Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki was defeated. Apparently, they’re the only two who witnessed the interaction between Boruto and Momoshiki after the fight.

Sasuke informs Boruto that whatever happened to him wasn’t normal, and that he should contact Sasuke immediately if he begins to have any trouble (presumably with his arm). It’s unclear how exactly Boruto is supposed to get in touch with Sasuke when he’s off tracking down Urashiki.

Later on in the episode, however, Boruto removes the bandages from his arm and we see that he has a diamond mark in the palm of his hand. At this point, it’s not known if Sasuke is aware of this mark or not, because his dialogue could work in either case.

What we can assume, though, is that this mark is some form of curse mark which is what we see Boruto activating in the opening scene of episode 1 when he’s about to face off against the unknown enemy, Kawaki. Hopefully this means the series is going to get more interesting soon.

Wasabi, Sumire, and Namida from the anime Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Wasabi, Sumire, and Namida

Next Episode

Considering this episode was the true final episode of the arc, there isn’t too much speculating we can do about the next episode. However, there are a few things we can take away from the next episode preview.

First of all, the next episode is going to be filler, or at least as close to filler as it can get. How do I know this? Well, dear reader, there are two simple ways to tell:

  1. Team 7 is sent on a mission to protect an actor, which is most likely going to be an extremely menial mission.
  2. The episode also appears to focus on Chocho.

If you’re hoping for more action and plot that actually matters, my guess is that you’ll have to wait at least a few weeks because that’s typically how it goes with the Naruto series. Between each real arc, there are filler arcs, never two real arcs back to back.

And just to be clear, by filler arc I simply mean a block of filler. Not all filler comes in arc format. Sometimes, like what we’re likely about to get next week, filler comes in the form of a block of standalone filler episodes.

My review of the next episode is available here.

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