I'm positive of one thing... Boruto's biggest flaw isn't actually the pairings, though excuse me when I say I do think they suck. Nah, it's the fact it's trying to, more or less, tell the same tired story Naruto went through while discarding all the characters we grew to like on Naruto's journey. Boruto and company, just by existing, are exponentially more powerful than Naruto, Sasuke, etc. all because, well, they're the "NEW" generation.
I'd like to compare it to the far more successful for the time but now seen as a meh series due to the series now having a "true" successor, Dragon Ball GT. At least with GT, when it decided to continue the Dragon Ball storyline, it knew exactly who everyone was rooting for and focused on. Goku, while definitely portrayed as a completely different character and also plot devised into de-aging and maybe given way too much focus, was still the main character. Compare that to how the story treats the title character of it's predecessor, Naruto. Dude literally takes all the L's imaginable despite being god of the ninjaverse. Oh and Kaguya, who was already a plot device used to defeat Madara, she was the weakest, uhh Ōtsutsuki?
Seriously, we went from ninja's with the ability to basically do magic... to kittening aliens. And the sales are going down? Who'd a thunk it lol
The thing is they had a solution to this in the story that if they had focused on Boruto may have actually been successful. Focus on Sarada's journey to become Hokage. Naruto's journey was pretty much abandoned and replace for the chase after Sasuke, and then killed by the last. So, this is a story that the audience didn't really see but they know there is interest in. Instead a repeat of the SNS conflict with a bit more build up, but is so blatant that no one cares about it.
I generally dislike comparisons to Dragon Ball because its status allows it to get away with things that other series can't. I haven't read Borotu in sometime, but the parts I did convinced me of the same things. That it was just Naruto's journey rehashed with new characters (and the old ones hanging around).
The GT team likely knew that from the experience Toriyama had in Z. Toriyama initially tried to end it with Frieza, tried to tank it with an out of nowhere pairing in the Cell sage, tried to kill off Goku permanently to pass the torch, tried writing an arc initially centered around Gohan, and still brought Goku back. My understanding is that fan backlash was so bad that they felt compelled to bring Goku back in the Buu Saga. So, by GT they knew it was Goku or bust.
That said, I agree generally. People can and have done successful next gen stuff, but its both hurt and helped by its predecessor. Yeah, you have a built in audience, but that audience is attached to the previous characters. That attachment hangs over your attempts to create new characters. Avatar was very much like that for me. I liked Aang and Co and since they weren't going to be in Korra very much my interest was already low (some unholy fights in the fandom I saw killed off even that mild interest). For me, I'd be watch muching the same show without the characters I liked.
For Naruto it was the same bit with less likeable characters and worse writing, so I stopped.
As for the powers: yeah, that problem lies at the heart of the Shounen story structure and Hero's Journey form it uses. Dragon Ball wisely abandoned any concept of objective power level by the time it got to Cell because it couldn't be done without being ridiculous. For the most part, power is now relative between characters. But shounen uses has the arc of hero getting ass kicked, getting powered up, and defeating villain. Do that enough times and it's hard not to lose control of ever increasing power levels. Kishimoto's early attempt to focus on strategy and tactics was a good idea that I like, but was abandoned (especially in Part 2) and he lost control of their powers. It a shame because the initial fights were interesting because those kinds of ideas just got lip service it started to move toward who could fire off the biggest jutsu.
EDIT: I'm not sure it about them being the new generation per se. If Boruto was facings the same level off stuff 12 year Naruto did, you always have Naruto and Sasuke able to swoop in an take care of it by farting in the enemies general direction. Those two ended stupidly powerful by the end, which meant you needed threats and circumstances sufficient that they couldn't just waltz in and fix everything (or at least leaving the audience wondering why they aren't doing that).
People have a misunderstanding of Toriyama and Dragonball.
Toriyama wanted to end Dragonball at the first arc but was convinced by his editor to continue. He wanted to end it after the Red Ribbon arc, but was convinced by his editor to continue. He wanted to end it with KIng Piccolo, but was convinced to continue by his editor. He wanted to end it once Goku defeated Piccolo Junior, but was convinced to continue. He wanted to end it with the fight with Vegeta, but was convinced to continue. He wanted to end it after Freeza, but was convinced to continue. He wanted to end it after Cell, but was convinced to continue. He wanted to end it after Buu, he did, finally, but the anime staff wanted to continue with GT which he allowed. Then years later, he got embarrassed by the Live movie adaptation of Dragonball to the point he revitalized Dragonball and made Dragonball Super, which he then passed onto a successor.
Toriyama always wanted and planned to end Dragonball on the arc he was on but was convinced by his editors to continue the manga. So, nothing outside the first arc was planned from the start. However, the foundations of the story built by previous arcs worked enough to build the manga we know as Dragonball. Also, his constantly planned ending the just become concluding the arc got him very used to resolving the story. So, when it finally ended most people where fine with it, but also allowed for the story to continue.
Naruto's story was abandoned at the last minute for Hinata so her son could be the true main character of the franchise. No satisfactory conclusion to be built off of.
Oh the power scale in Boruto has been broken from the start. Generic no name villains are S-Rank missing ninja. He is often fighting Kage level threat on his own or with his team tagging along.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 25 May 2022 - 11:59 PM.