Shounen Boruto by Ukyō Karachi and Mikio Ikemoto

[Franz]

In short, kishi remembered they are ninjas not ghost in the shell.

The problem is not so much Kishi's writing, but Ikemoto's drawings. Not only does he have terrible design ideas, but he is a really lazy designer, you can see it both in the fights (look at the ones in this chapter, in which Mitsuki does nothing but spm giant snakes and Boruto dodges them) but also in the statistical panels.

You look at the last part of the chapter: six pages of Boruto stuck to the wall with the same expression on his face.

OK, like Dragon Ball GT we'll retcon all this and start a new, keep what worked and start fresh"

Uh ?

Just look at the terrible levels of writing and plothole used to justify the timeskip, like no one is looking at the family portraits?!

They do, but as Sumire explains, they prefer to believe their memories.

And what's the end game here, Naruto comes back, he's not Hokage anymore and the country tried to kill his son, Konohamaru got screwed over, where is the end game here aside from kill Kawaki which Kishi doesn't have the guts to do.

Let's see, in the best case scenario Naruto will return when the matter is resolved, but already proving to the world that he is alive would be a big advantage for Boruto, since this would make Kawaki a liar and would make him no longer wanted.

The only character that has been largely accept is Sumire, and the ANIME TEAM made Hinata 2.0, not the author who was fired, what does that say about the level of writing here? Not only that but the numbers are in; Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke sell the merchandise and Kishi allowed all three to be written out of the story in the dumbest ways leaving fans extremely annoyed and unsatisfied. So much so the anime was cancelled; do you know how BAD an established series like Naruto has to do to suddenly have their anime cancelled like that, BAD

Sorry, what does anime have to do with it?

Just look at this site, mangahelpers is HUGE and "Boruto" hasn't been updated here since NOVEMBER. That's pathetic for Naruto, which used to have as much active user buzz as One Piece and Fairy Tail!

Ah, now a forum is proof of the existence of a fandom.

The anime is projected to return 2027 and it's looking like that actually isn't going to happen at all!

What ?

That and the manga sales are no where near the Naruto levels, whoop dee doo, Blue Vortex had a bump, it's a timeskip volume those always have a bump.

I don't think anyone expected it. Boruto sells well for the magazine where he is and he is fine with it.

So no, there is no "fixing this" there is either accept it and end the series in disgrace, pull a massive retcon to restart (which that ridiculous Eida power already showed Kishi isn't agaisnt idiotic asspulls for "plot"), or the most likely answer: Pulling a "GT to Super" and make a new sequel and win all the fans back with Naruto and Hinata as the stars

Ok.,,

Wow, this will definitely lift things up....

There is no fixing any of this, I shouldn't have to stomach through, how many chapters and YEARS of real time disappointment to just suddenly get to "Oh it's starting to get a little better", that's unacceptable and not gonna happen. Especially when all the story beats he's trying to do, again, were done much better in "Naruto". How about actually surprising us and KILLING the bad kids this time and show us you mean business Kishi?

But if Boruto is as bad as you say, why didn't they close it years ago? Evidently they like it in Japan.

 

[Caster Pheonix]

I think we have to remember this is Boruto's story( he did say this in chapter 1?), not Naruto's and his parents being taken out of the story was supposed to be beneficiary to the overarching narrative of growth for Boruto(from spoilt kid to fully fledged ninja, again chapter 1 at ninja mount rushmore).



@Grimzilla32



I won't refute your dislike because I think it's been a hard read as well and it has left the manga in a tough spot, but I do think it can be salvaged. The time skip gives the manga a chance to start on a clean slate and get back some good will. Its early doors so let it cook. The omnipotent power of eida is probably gonna be countered by one of the Iza-techs of m.sharingen of Sarada methinks in the future.



@Franz



The artwork for me only bothered me with the creepy dress sense of the kids(I'm looking the Boruto harem of sarada,sumire and mitsuki). I still pine for the Naruto days as the designs are better, but this isn't as terrible as people make out. I think the more telling issue rather than the fight was the talk-no-jujistu done on mitsuki was lazy and unintentionally funny the continuous t-n-j
done on shikamaru cos he forgets.


Blue Vortex Chapter 7: https://ragnarokscanlation.net/manga/boruto-two-blue-vortex/chapter-7/

 

[Yunkers]

But if Boruto is as bad as you say, why didn't they close it years ago? Evidently they like it in Japan.

Big series rarely die fast, there is still a lot of money flying around just from eg. merchandise. Boruto will problably live for years, just because it's Naruto successor. But you can see that Boruto is struggling. Manga is no longer published by the biggest magazine "Weekly Shonen Jump", anime is on big hiatus, there were no new games for years. They have to do something to keep Boruto alive to cash on what's left (I'm not writing that in negative way, it's normal that you want money for your work) so they keep manga alive, and we will see if the series return to it's former glory.

 

[Franz]

Manga is no longer published by the biggest magazine "Weekly Shonen Jump"

But this has been the case for years now.

 

[Yunkers]

But this has been the case for years now.

It's the exact problem. Boruto has been losing its position for years, it didn't happen recently.

 

[Erinyes]

From Masashi Kishimoto Source here



" To be honest, I don't know what to write or how to write about this all of a sudden. However, for now, I would like to express my thoughts and feelings to Toriyama-sensei, something I wish he would have asked me someday. I grew up with Dr. Slump in the lower grades of elementary school and Dragon Ball in the upper grades, and it was natural for me to have his manga next to me as part of my daily life. Even if I had a bad experience, watching Dragon Ball every week made me forget about it. It was a relief for me, a country boy who had nothing. Because Dragon Ball was really fun! It was when I was a university student. Suddenly, the Dragon Ball that had been a part of my life for so many years ended. I felt an incredible sense of loss and didn't know what to look forward to. But at the same time, it was also an opportunity for me to truly understand the greatness of the teacher who created Dragon Ball. I also want to create works like yours! I want to be like my teacher! As I followed in my teacher's footsteps and aspired to become a manga artist, that feeling of loss began to disappear. Because making comics was fun. I was able to find new fun by following my teacher. My teacher has always been my guide. I admired it. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I would like to express my gratitude to the teacher. For me, he was the god of salvation and the god of manga. When we met for the first time, I was so nervous that I couldn't say a word. However, after meeting him many times at the Tezuka Prize screening committee, we became able to talk. As Dragon Ball Children, I and Mr. Oda went back to being children again, and when we talked excitedly about how much Dragon Ball was fun, as if we were competing with each other, I forgot how he looked a little embarrassed and smiled at me. I can't. I have just received the news of the death of my teacher. I felt an even greater sense of loss than when Dragon Ball ended... I still don't know how to deal with this hole in my heart. Now I can't even read my favorite Dragon Ball. I don't feel like I've been able to properly write this sentence that I want to convey to my teacher. Everyone around the world was still looking forward to seeing your work. If one Dragon Ball wish really comes true...I'm sorry... Maybe that's selfish of me, but it's sad, Professor. Thank you, Akira Toriyama-sensei, for all of your enjoyable works over the past 45 years. And thank you very much for your hard work. We are sure that the remaining family members are still deeply hurt. Please take care of yourself. I pray that Mr. Akira Toriyama rests in peace.
Masashi Kishimoto "

(twitter translation)

 

[Battle Wolf]

This note hits me hard for real...

 

[Grimzilla32]

Man put more thought into that touching note than he's put into his own series let's be honest

 

[Franz]

Kishi's post is more commented on than the Boruto manga.

 

[Grimzilla32]

Kishi's post is more commented on than the Boruto manga.

There's an obvious reason for that, because "Boruto" is the Dragon Ball GT of his work

Heck Toriyama's passing may be the push he needs to cancel it and make a Dragon Ball Super style retcon to save his franchise cause, let's be honest...

 

[Franz]

There's an obvious reason for that, because "Boruto" is the Dragon Ball GT of his work

Let's not exaggerate, come on.

Heck Toriyama's passing may be the push he needs to cancel it and make a Dragon Ball Super style retcon to save his franchise cause, let's be honest...

Ah yes, because Boruto is really condemning the franchise, yes yes

And in your opinion they should cancel 8 years of manga because...

 

[Yunkers]

Seriously guys, someone's passing is not a best time for sarcastic comments. Please be more sensitive...

 

[Franz]

The comparison with Dragon Ball GT is ridiculous for me:

Gt literally lasted a spit, after a year it was already finished. Boruto, on the other hand, has been on the V-Jump for years, and has even received a second official part. If it really was that bad, they would have closed it down right away. Obviously, in Japan they likes the manga.

Even the sales pitch takes its time: no one expected it to sell as much as Naruto. It sells just enough to be a V-Jump series.

 

[Yunkers]

Even the sales pitch takes its time: no one expected it to sell as much as Naruto

Where did you get that information from? We were getting a lot of Boruto-related stuff before the manga even started (which is a little funny, because we were getting more Boruto things before Boruto than now ). They even started anime knowing that they won't have a material for it for years just to keep the momentum from Naruto. They clearly wanted Boruto to be as big as Naruto and did a lot to promote it.

 

[Franz]

Where did you get that information from? We were getting a lot of Boruto-related stuff before the manga even started (which is a little funny, because we were getting more Boruto things before Boruto than now ). They even started anime knowing that they won't have a material for it for years just to keep the momentum from Naruto. They clearly wanted Boruto to be as big as Naruto and did a lot to promote it.

In my opinion they must have been really stupid to believe that it was even close to Naruto's levels.

If you want to read Naruto.... you read Naruto. Point.

 

[Yunkers]

If you want to read Naruto.... you read Naruto. Point

If they didn't want Boruto to be Naruto successor, they why they keep "Naruto" in the name for 7 years? Why the games were called "Naruto x Boruto"? A lot of times sequels/prequel remove "original title" (eg. Harry Potter prequels or games do not contain "Harry Potter" in their titles at all). They clearly wanted Boruto to be Naruto, which is not bad thing, and I'm not sure why are you pretending it is.

 

[Rikudobito]

@Grimzilla32 for me the original sins were:

1. Isshiki fight and power scaling. That was god damn awful

There was nothing remotely awful with the Isshiki fight in terms of scaling.

Most complaints I have seen are linked to an overestimation of Naruto and Sasuke’s capabilities.

 

[Franz]

If they didn't want Boruto to be Naruto successor, they why they keep "Naruto" in the name for 7 years? Why the games were called "Naruto x Boruto"? A lot of times sequels/prequel remove "original title" (eg. Harry Potter prequels or games do not contain "Harry Potter" in their titles at all). They clearly wanted Boruto to be Naruto, which is not bad thing, and I'm not sure why are you pretending it is.

They simply wanted to make the connection obvious, but no one expected it to sell millions of copies like Naruto, come on.+


Tell me a sequel manga that sells at least as much as the original, come on.

100 Years Quest, Mokushiroku no Yonkishi....sell much less than Fairy Tail and Nanatsu.

There was nothing remotely awful with the Isshiki fight in terms of scaling.

Most complaints I have seen are linked to an overestimation of Naruto and Sasuke’s capabilities.

It's a mix. On the one hand we have characters who in theory would be semi-divine who fight in a monotonous and unoriginal way, on the other we have the devaluation of the protagonists.

But in my opinion the main flaw of Boruto are Ikemoto's drawings: if the work had been drawn by an author whose style was based on Kishi or at least knew how to render basic things such as fight scenes, backgrounds, facial expressions etc it would have been very less criticized.

 

[Rikudobito]

People exaggerate when it comes to Boruto’s volume sales.

90k copies sold in a month’s time is above average. Anyone who tells you this is mediocre has little understanding and knowhow of sales numbers in this industry. Most series struggle to attain that much.

Selling over a million copies in a single volume like Naruto has done for years is very far from being a common occurrence in this industry.

The issue here is that Boruto is compared to Naruto, so relatively speaking, over 90k per month
(which as I said is above average) looks mediocre compared to Naruto’s million plus in terms of sales volume.

As @Franz said however, sequels selling far less is a common occurrence, and regardless, Boruto is still doing fine amidst the downward trend; although, it has recouped a few hundreds compared to the previous 2 volumes sold, so the downward trend has been effectively clipped for now.

Another factor people are not taking into consideration is that more and more people are opting for digital copies over physical ones, thus having a direct incidence on the quantity of physical copies demanded and sold.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 11, 2024, Original Post Date: Mar 11, 2024 ---

It's a mix. On the one hand we have characters who in theory would be semi-divine who fight in a monotonous and unoriginal way, on the other we have the devaluation of the protagonists.

But in my opinion the main flaw of Boruto are Ikemoto's drawings: if the work had been drawn by an author whose style was based on Kishi or at least knew how to render basic things such as fight scenes, backgrounds, facial expressions etc it would have been very less criticized.

I have been disappointed by Momoshiki and Code, but Isshiki has been impressive.

His Sukunahikona and Daikokuten shinjutsu are among the very best powers in the series.

He makes a shrinking ability deceptively dangerous and creative; he can shrink to microscopic sizes, essentially becoming invisible to anyone except those with microscopic vision, and he can also shrink non-living things, meaning he can nullify all incoming attacks (save for physical ones). Offensively, he usually shrinks his chakra-draining rods to implant them on unknowing victims and turn them into porcupines once the rods have been restored to their initial size.

Most dangerous however is his Daikokuten ability.

This power can store anything (living things and objects) in a dimension where time does not flow. Anyone sent there will be unconscious and frozen in time, as it happened to Naruto and Hinata.

Isshiki’s anti-sensing boxes and chakra-draining rods are already stored within the timeless dimension, but the best part about it is that he can build an entire repertoire bu storing weapons and even opponents’ jutsu that have been shrunk.

An additional perk is that is that Isshiki can telekinetically manipulate the objects he summons from his dimension.

Lastly, what makes Daikokuten more deadly is the fact that Isshiki can determine where the objects he summons will appear. For instance, he had his clothes magically appear and fit him. He did not even need to put his pants on and he had a glass of wine appear right in-between his index finger and thumb.

A poor Konoha shinobi had his shuriken shrunk, stored, and magically summoned/teleported right into his eyeballs. So Isshiki can basically look at someone and their head would be instantly filled with rods.

It is also worth mentioning that this is not the same as when Jigen was launching microscopic rods at Naruto and Sasuke. That was a tactic where Jigen launched microscopic rods from his hand, which would physocally move towards the opponent, hence why Sasuke could track them.

Isshiki’s Daikokuten meanwhile teleports attacks at the opponent all while Isshiki does not even need to nove.

In a nutshell, Sukunahikona is a shrinking power; whereas Daikokuten is a dimensional storage, time freeze, telekinesis, and teleportation/summoning all-in-one.

As you said however, Ikemoto‘s style does not have that eye-catching aspect, which Kishimoto for instance had, and which Yusuke Murata is a master in.

 

[Yunkers]

They simply wanted to make the connection obvious, but no one expected it to sell millions of copies like Naruto, come on.+

And that's exactly the issue I'm talking about. They have wanted us to believe that Boruto is Naruto and they have wanted us to compare these two. So I don't understand why we are having so many problems with comparing those two. Boruto is doing worse than Naruto, it's obvious. It's also obvious that authors and publishers wanted more.

They could have easily do "this is new stuff, only related to Naruto", but they decided to tell "this is Naruto" instead. And this tactic didn't work as good as they wanted, and the fact they renamed manga "Blue Vortex" (removing "Naruto") is a proof of that.