JuicyTalk
The Naruto franchise has been in an interesting spot, lately. Diehard Naruto fans are content with the original manga, with the anime’s filler being one lingering frustration, yet it hardly drags down the overall experience. It’s one of the best-selling manga of all time, and one of the most recognizable franchises worldwide. But over a decade since Naruto’s manga ending, its successor, Boruto, has hardly received similar acclaim. Despite having brilliant fight scenes and some pretty enthralling characters by its anime’s end, audiences who have kept up on Mikio Ikemoto and Masashi Kishimoto’s manga know what’s ahead is Boruto at its best.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ manga wasn’t even fully adapted when the corresponding anime bowed out on March 26, 2023. Ten chapters remain as part of the series’ best arc to close out Part 1, the Omnipotence Arc, before the time jump leading into Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. While its manga has achieved stability lately, its anime prospects, beyond even the simple four remade episodes promised for OG Naruto fans, remain underexposed despite the series reaching some key milestones. But as Boruto: Two Blue Vortex and the Omnipotence Arc have confirmed, the best is yet to come for Naruto’s next anime.
Naruto’s Next Anime Will Handle Its Story Better Than the Previous Sequel
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations had big shoes to fill in its April 5, 2017 debut. Naruto: Shippuden’s conclusion featured cathartic conclusions to its biggest storylines, and some truly spectacular fights to close out the series, along with a practically blissful ending for many of its principal characters. By comparison, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations differed sharply in its anime from even the movie’s similar events, or the manga, quickly setting off interludes to set an absurd pacing problem. While it was naturally going to happen for a weekly anime adapting a monthly manga, Boruto’s next anime in the Naruto franchise has years of content already written.
Studio Pierrot in a better position to handle the Boruto anime’s pacing now, but that’s not the only positive part of the confirmed Part 2 coming, whenever it does. The Omnipotence Arc set up the biggest conflicts for the entire Boruto saga, namely, the splintering of Boruto and Kawaki’s relationship; the brainwashing of Konoha against Boruto; and Naruto and Hinata being taken out of play.
Adapting what’s little more than 10 monthly chapters remaining from the first Boruto manga will present a much more mature story, Boruto’s alienation from his village will hit that much harder. Furthermore, Pierrot’s new production model will put the new Naruto anime’s story in greater focus for a clear reason.
Studio Pierrot’s Seasonal Approach Is Paying Off
With even old-guard anime like One Piece ditching unsustainable weekly releases for a seasonal release schedule, Pierrot’s decision following rival studio Ufotable’s Demon Slayer success is looking brighter than ever. Black Clover is finally coming back, and its glimpses look incredible. Kingdom continues to look great as a generational seinen anime far beyond its humble beginnings as a junky 3D CG-laden anime. But Pierrot’s absolute coup de grâce for anyone doubtful of the extent to which they can improve their anime, is Bleach. Thousand-Year Blood War is a phenomenal adaptation of a fellow Big Three franchise with next to no filler.
The Naruto franchise was only just stopping its pipeline of new anime episodes as Pierrot’s model took off initially in 2022. With a whopping 70% filler rate for Boruto’s first anime, the bar isn’t exactly high for the Naruto franchise’s next move, and it’ll almost certainly be felt with production teams being allocated more strictly to the main story. This is excellent news, as well, as Boruto’s story truly takes exciting new generations in its sequel manga.
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Has the Tighter, Better Story Than Its Predecessor
While middle arcs and key fights like those against Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, it’s not hard to find Naruto fans who balk at watching the entirety of the Boruto anime. It’s notably different from its source material, and in some ways, for good reason (Ikemoto’s child character designs are particularly rough early on), but Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has extremely positive potential.
Boruto’s manga is celebrating its 10th anniversary, and its creators and publishers are only starting to kick off its first-phase celebrations with Two Blue Vortex’s first official figure of the protagonist himself. Ikemoto’s excitement, as well as the general enthusiasm around the series, is quite tangible as shown in his quote commemorating the anniversary’s first update. Not only that, but Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has virtually always stayed at or near the top of Manga Plus’ hottest trending series, commonly only behind One Piece. Its creators, as well as its viewers, recognize that the series is truly more special as it has matured over the years.
Finally, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex’s anime would unify what everybody loves about Naruto: Shippuden, namely, its primary characters more battle-ready and capable of succeeding their mentors, while infusing a bit of Ikemoto’s stylistic influences. From Dragon Ball to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, moments and still action panels such as Boruto’s dynamic return in chapter #1, or Sarada’s showstopper Sharingan moment from chapter #21, as highlighted in a recent and brilliant manga trailer, all speak to how exciting Boruto’s anime would be. While Boruto’s first anime cast Naruto’s franchise future in doubt, Two Blue Vortex may yet bring it back to its glory days.
With three years, a handful of Boruto’s previous manga chapters, and over 32 chapters, Naruto’s next anime is looking well-equipped as its legacy voice actors begin to gather for its production. Pierrot’s seasonal approach is more-or-less proven to be a net win for the studio, with Naruto poised to receive an astonishing quality upgrade for its eventual new releases. But more importantly, for those following, the new Boruto anime will simply be better, adapting a better story, characters having grown to become better shinobi, new attacks, and terrifying twists on Naruto’s most powerful villains. The franchise, upon this anime’s arrival, has plenty to be optimistic about.
- First Film
-
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
- Latest Film
-
Boruto: Naruto the Movie
- First TV Show
-
Naruto
- Latest TV Show
-
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
- First Episode Air Date
-
October 3, 2002
- Cast
-
Junko Takeuchi, Maile Flanagan, Noriaki Sugiyama, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Nana Mizuki, Hideo Ishikawa, Yûko Sanpei
Naruto is a franchise spawned from the manga series penned by Masashi Kishimoto that began in 1999. Generating several tv series, games, movies, and more, Naruto follows the exploits of a young outcast ninja harboring the spirit of a demon fox who seeks to become the Hokage, the leader of his ninja village, to break the stigma against him. Upon the conclusion of the initial series, Naruto expanded into Boruto, following many series protagonists’ children and returning faces.
-
- Writer
-
Masashi Kishimoto
- Writers
-
Masashi Kishimoto
- Penciler(s)
-
Mikio Ikemoto
- Inker(s)
-
Mikio Ikemoto
- Colorist(s)
-
Mikio Ikemoto
- Publisher(s)
-
Viz Media
Years after fleeing his village with Sasuke, Boruto returns to confront the dark changes that have occurred. With memories altered and Kawaki now seen as the hero, Boruto faces a world where he is the outcast. The two rivals must settle their differences as their Otsutsuki powers grow more dangerous.
