Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Part 1 Review

293 Episodes of Boruto

It’s finally time to review all 293 episodes of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. The last time I did a review of the Boruto series “as a whole” was after Episode 50. And, between Episodes 50 and 293, I reviewed 215 episodes on a weekly basis.

So, while I’ve covered most of the Boruto series, I technically haven’t reviewed it all. That’s what today’s review is for. Though, I won’t be going into as much detail as I did in the episode reviews.

Now, to start off, I need to talk about where Boruto Part 1 ends and the future of the series. The 293 episodes of the anime covered 67-68 chapters of the manga. That makes it a bit of an odd stopping point, considering Part 1 of the manga has 80 chapters.

Why didn’t Part 1 of the anime stop at the same point as Part 1 of the manga? I don’t know. But, what I do know is that Part 2 of the manga is called Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. I’m interested to see if Part 2 of the anime eventually uses that same name.

The other important thing I want to mention in this part of the review is the flash-forward in Episode 1. Way back in 2017, we saw Boruto and Kawaki facing off with the Leaf Village in ruins. So, did we get to that content in Part 1? No.

After Episode 1, we didn’t see Kawaki again until his introduction in Episode 188. And, even by the end of Part 1, we still didn’t get to the fight between Boruto and Kawaki foreshadowed in Episode 1. I don’t even know if Part 1 of the manga got to it (I only watch the anime).

Akatsuki vs. Kara

At the start of Boruto, we saw an attempted revival of the Akatsuki made by Shin Uchiha. That didn’t last very long. But, eventually, we met the real bad guy organization of the series, Kara. And, in many ways, Kara is similar to the Akatsuki.

Kara has nine members, though, really eight since Kawaki isn’t a willing member. And, like the Akatsuki, Kara’s goal is to use the Infinite Tsukuyomi jutsu. One difference is that the members of Kara appear to understand what using that jutsu means.

Remember, back in Naruto: Shippūden, the Akatsuki were pawns of Kaguya. Well, Nagato was the pawn of Obito, who was the pawn of Madara, who was the pawn of Kaguya. That’s not exactly what’s going on here. They know the Infinite Tsukuyomi is a jutsu of the Ōtsutsuki clan. Some of them think they can survive it, for some reason, though.

Anyway, the biggest differences between the groups are their leadership and cohesion. In the Akatsuki, Nagato (Pain) was at the top and Konan was his second-in-command. Then, the other members were paired up. And, every member of the group had the common goal of creating a “perfect” world.

Kara is very different in that Isshiki (Jigen) is the absolute ruler. You could say the same thing about Nagato. But, Isshiki is actually a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan. So, Kara is more like a cult that worships Isshiki than the egalitarian Akatsuki.

To me, that difference makes Kara less interesting as an organization. But, the members are also less interesting because they don’t see themselves as equals. Most members of Kara are secretly plotting against the other members. They all think they can spin the group’s goal to suit their needs. That’s less intimidating than the monolithic Akatsuki.

Did Boruto Ever Get Better?

Alright, it’s time to answer the big question. Did the Boruto anime ever get better? I know a lot of people dropped it early on or didn’t give it a shot at all. So, is it any good? Sort of.

The series definitely improved over time. My rating for it after 293 episodes is higher than my rating after 50 episodes. But, it still has a lot of flaws. There’s what I said about Kara not being as interesting as the Akatsuki were. And then there’s the fact that there are a lot of filler episodes and arcs.

Individual filler episodes are almost always bad. But, the filler arcs weren’t the worst. Some of them were pretty good. However, most of them were average. And when a significant portion (maybe even most?) of a series is average content, that’s not great.

If you haven’t seen Boruto, everything I’ve said might make sense, so far. Sure, it could have stayed average or below average. But, it shouldn’t be too surprising that it improved a bit over 293 episodes. What might come as a surprise, though, is that Boruto had the best episode of the entire franchise.

Yes, I’m saying that there was a Boruto episode better than anything in either Naruto or Shippūden. And if you want to see for yourself, it’s Episode 189. As I mentioned earlier, Episode 188 is Kawaki’s formal introduction into the series. But in Episode 189, we get his real introduction.

Honestly, Episode 189 has everything. Basically, the whole episode is one awesome, brutal fight scene. It also has some amazing animation. And, even the art style of the episode is way better than anything else in the series. They pulled out all the stops for Episode 189.

Boruto Part 1: 6/10

Back after Episode 50, I gave Boruto: Naruto Next Generations a 5/10. Now that all 293 episodes of Part 1 are done, I think it’s a 6/10. That’s not much of an improvement. But, it’s a start. Hopefully, the series continues to improve in Part 2, whenever that comes.

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