Boruto beats Naruto with his side character handling

While Boruto: Naruto Next Generations suffered from the same problems as its predecessor, but with a much less confident and thoughtful delivery, its sequel gained momentum. It’s hard to imagine the sequel truly surpassing the original in terms of hype, especially for something like Naruto. However, Boruto: Two Blue Vortices is compensating Naruto’s gaps with secondary characters.

Boruto still lacks much of Naruto’s brilliance, except in one key area

Make no mistake; Naruto is still the dominant series in the eyes of its consumers, with 250 million copies sold compared to Boruto’s In total, 10 million sold to date. The first is a thriving franchise, often integrated into the second in video games, and the Naruto the anime is legendary in the eyes of its fans, flaws and all.

But beyond these and other benefits, like the fascinating world of Kishimoto imported into his collaboration with Mikio Ikemoto on Boruto, two blue vortices shines even when its star is not present. Many of the manga sequel’s most exciting moments, like Sarada’s Mangekyo awakening, Inojin’s new mission, and Koji Kashin’s Prescience revelation, incorporate Boruto, but without him as the focal point.

Although each of them is related to Boruto to some extent, many pages of Boruto: Two Blue Vortices space out his appearances compared to his predecessors. Two Blue Vortices chapter #1 brings Boruto only towards the end, while Naruto chapter #245, the beginning of Shippuden, makes the world almost resume its functioning when Naruto returns in its first panels.

The series continues this way for much of its narrative, and this is thanks to multiple factors, from its monthly format to a more confident presentation of characters outside of Team 10, Kawaki, or legacy favorites. It’s a nice quality that makes each chapter something to look forward to, as it potentially means unearthing sleeping shinobi deserving of more attention.

Boruto’s use of supporting characters solves a long-standing Naruto problem

Although this is not exclusively a problem for Naruto, as it appears in Boruto Additionally, the response many fans cite to how the franchise approaches underutilized characters is inevitably “filler.” As wonderful as some of the filler elements are in the series, or really in any anime – One piece G-8 Arc comes to mind – these are basically unimportant episodes.

This is especially the case for manga fans who don’t want anime to add tedious filler just so they can enjoy their favorites that seem forgotten by Kishimoto or Ikemoto. While there are still no appearances from characters like Metal Lee, seeing extended interactions with the new Team 10, or developing relationships like Moegi and Konohamaru, looks promising.

This certainly does not mean Naruto didn’t have its shining moments when it came to spotlighting the supporting characters. The Suppression of Akatsuki mission arc is a great example of excellent Naruto a narrative that is not fulfilled. The Tenchi Bridge reconnaissance mission highlighted Sai and Yamato. The final arc, while bloated, features many fascinating character moments.

But when it comes to many characters, like Rock Lee, Tenten, various Jinchuriki, and many others, they often get stuck in filler. Once Naruto entered their space, they disappeared into the background, as Boruto: Two Blue Vortices integrates them, like the sensory unit cooperating and listening to Boruto like in Chapter 7 and beyond.

The sequel recognizes Boruto as the star but gives others the reputation of being a star

Custom image by JR Waugh

Boruto Uzumaki’s identity and the Konoha public’s perception of him are radically altered to the point of Two Blue Vortices, with them instead seeing him as Boruto Otsutsuki. That is to say, Boruto doesn’t spend as much time in Konoha and has to stay out of the spotlight in terms of public life, and the narrative benefits from that as well.

The story in Boruto: Two Blue Vortices has complicated casting, with Shikamaru’s role as the Eighth Hokage being a precarious balance between protecting his village while seeing Boruto as an ally, or at least an asset. Sarada is practically alone at the beginning in defending his innocence. Himawari is Kurama’s new Jinchuriki, which arguably makes her just as important.

As a result, this set tells its story, broken into segments within each chapter where readers are given a compelling treatment of their unique positions in the story. Sarada and Sumire love Boruto and reconcile their differences to watch over him. Kawaki, despite having already betrayed Boruto and his family, is defended by him.

The messy foundation of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations therefore begins to bear fruit in this sequel. Eida’s Clairvoyance makes her an asset and a channel through which she sees and relays major events in the world. Koji Kashin’s Prescience ability makes him an invaluable seer to the story in Chapter 13, allowing him to step out of Jiraiya’s shadow in a meaningful way.

But there is another huge problem Naruto eu, it is apparently to benefit from reasonable treatment in the Boruto following. Beyond introducing individual supporting characters, systematically integrating them into the plot to play unique roles that seemingly cannot be replaced, an obstacle is being overcome. Boruto begins to better manage its female characters.

Boruto handles its female characters better than Naruto

It’s no secret that Masashi Kishimoto didn’t handle the female characters in Naruto GOOD. In fact, although Sakura Haruno is a member of Team 7 and an integral part of the plot and its main characters, she is often overlooked as a “side character”.

It’s something Boruto I also had a lot of trouble. This practically distorted the original versions of the underexposed films. Naruto characters like Anko, and it lacked confidence in bigger stars like Sarada. Other important female characters like Mei Terumi see their roles fade naturally, while classics like Tsunade are virtually non-existent.

But Boruto: Two Blue Vortices shows promise in all the right ways. Sarada and Sumire’s rivalry, instead of being a parallel to Sakura and Ino’s argument over Sasuke, turned a corner with them preserving their friendship in Chapter 25. Sarada’s desire to become Hokage is increasingly compelling as she allows herself to be vulnerable while awakening her power.

In fact, the female characters of Boruto: Two Blue Vortices are increasingly empowered to respect the rules of the world. Sarada’s Mangekyo Sharingan is an incredible ability, but her Uchiha blood and having Sasuke as a father made it inevitable. Himawari even wields a power previously reserved as Naruto’s plot armor. The coolest “aura” moments in the manga belong to the girls.

Ikemoto and Kishimoto seem less afraid of killing off supporting characters

In their attempt to eliminate the God Trees in the Land of Wind, the first major casualty occurred with the death of Yodo of the Sand in Chapter 20. This, in terms of side characters, is a mercy killing instead of keeping her alive and letting fans hope she shines in filler episodes.

This is not to say that the manga should commit massive massacres of side characters once they have achieved their goal. A substantial Metal Lee appearance would be great. But this raises the tension of the series, especially since the characters have the potential to return to other places and raise the stakes of the shinobi world.

With the monthly format and a still important place among the five most broadcast series on Manga Plus, Boruto: Two Blue Vortices shines in his V jump House. It struggled for years and fell behind many other major stalwarts in terms of sales figures. But longtime fans are able to embrace it as it develops its plot and handles its characters wonderfully.

Writer

Masashi Kishimoto

Writers

Masashi Kishimoto