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[Bail o' Lies]

Have a migraine due to that chapter make better opening post later, and fix the posts below.

 

There are as many mistakes in the Boruto manga as there are stars in the night sky.

 

Such that it is difficult to notice, find, explain, and categorize them all. So at the moment I have limited to 6 general topics to focus on those for the moment:

 

1) Art, though I don't have much of understanding of it, Ikemoto work as an assistant that work on the background and Kishimoto trust to run the sequel when he refused to make it.

 

2) Story as something I can understand so I can notices the issues of.

 

3) Plot Devices that I have a problem with.

 

4) Combat, as this is a shounen battle manga.

 

5) One of the highlights when people talk about Naruto is, its characters. Which the Boruto manga inherited.

 

6) Relationships because two relationships/pairings that define the manga is Boruto and Sarada, that should be the core of the story, as her goal is to become Hokage while he wants to become her enforcer, but this is completely neglected to focus on the Bond of Bros between Boruto and Kawaki.

 

But before that lets talk about how Boruto came about, and to do that we have to talk about Naruto and its ending.

 

Now, Naruto was started in 1999 by a young energetic talented but inexperienced mangaka named Masashi Kishimoto. However, he had incredible luck in two ways his First Editor Kosuke Yahagi, and a content drought in animation during the mid 2000's. Most Weekly Shounen Jump Editors are only on a manga for about two years, even if they are the ones to approve the manga's publication. Yahagi who approved the publication of Naruto stayed on the manga for an impressive 10 years; from the development of Naruto to until right before the start of the Pain Arc. This gave him deep understanding of Naruto that most manga editors don't have, as he was there from the beginning. Dictating the story's direction at first to young inexperience mangaka, but slowly switching to guiding, that editors are suppose to do, once Kishimoto found his footing. This helped Naruto become the success it became, but this relationship left Kishimoto with a trust in editors most mangaka know not to have. Second, while Naruto was well received and popular in Japan, it was always second to One Piece domestically. However, when it hit the international market there was a content drought in animation. A lot of popular animated shows had ended and new ones hadn't start up yet. Not only that but its anime competition had problem when they went international. One Piece was given to 4Kids where it was butchered to fit their standards. While Bleach due to it being about death was relegated to Adult Swim. So because it had no real competition when it started internationally. It became a popular, well received international success considered the best animated show of its time. To such an extent that it would not be surprising during some years of its run it was the most successful manga/anime IP ever, for a time.

 

However, that led to its own problems as Toonami aired only part one before it was cancelled. Which disrupted the most vocal international viewers, Americans, watching of Naruto. Which affected how they see the story. As they watched part one, which had very little filler, until after The Sasuke Retrieval Arc. When it had its giant 2 to 3 years of filler before it started part two. So they wanted to continue watching onto Part Two, they then had to hunt for it either on other stations or online. However, this disrupt the connection the viewers had with the story, not help that filler arcs were more intermixed in part two. This created in Naruto's American Viewership a disconnect with the two parts. Similar to how they see Dragon Ball as an unimportant prequel to Dragon Ball Z, instead of the same story. They see Part One of Naruto as the true definitive story of Naruto and Part Two as just filler. So what was focused on, or more importantly what they perceived to be focus of the story, in part one particularly in the Chunin Exam when viewership was at its highest: hard work, pain of loneness, defying fate, loser nobody dreaming to be Hokage, following your dreams, and the Hyuuga clan. Were vastly more important than what was focused on in Part Two: Restoring Team 7, His Promise of A Lifetime, Bonds, His budding relationship with Sakura, Ending the Cycle of Hatred, Naruto being seen as a weapon and his desire to be recognize as human, and the Uchiha clan. All of that is seen as unimportant filler. That is part of the reason why they are so obsessed with Hinata as the heroine, because if you saw the Chunin Exam. Just the Chunin Exam itself, not even the entire arc, as the whole story of Naruto. Then it should be no surprise they wanted Hinata as the Heroine and some even declare they saw her as the true main character of Naruto.

 

Since I keep expanding this, let's talk about the Chunin Exam Arc. Again, if you looked just at the Chunin Exam. Right before the first exam starts, we are introduced to this nice shy quite girl, Hinata, who is sat right next to Naruto. She is so nice and kind that she was willing to let Naruto cheat off her paper. Even though he refuses because he remembers the examiners are watching. But she doesn't know that, so she just thinks he is being noble. Sakura meanwhile was planning on quitting the exam even though it would anger Sasuke to protect Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage, as the Examiner had threatened that if one fails the final question they will never make it to chunin and Naruto hasn't been able to answer a single question so far. They don't interact during the second part of the exam, The Forest of Death. Instead, we see Sakura chastise Sasuke for being a coward while praising Naruto fighting Orochimaru without fear, and then protecting both her teammates while they were knocked out. Then at the preliminaries for the 3 part of the exam. She silently supports Naruto, and recalls how much she admires him, while he fights her teammate Kiba. Sakura meanwhile is openly cheering for Naruto. Just like he did for her fight with Ino, even helping her resist Ino possessing her. Then, when it her turn to fight her Cousin Neji, who is so much more gifted than her, she wants to quit, but Naruto cheers her on, so she fights. When she loses Naruto vows to avenge her lost against her opponent Neji. They talk before the match and he compliments her. Since Neji is his last opponent he faces in the Chunin Exam, this must be the most important fight, right? If you think the Chunin Exam arc is literally only the Chunin Exam. They talk about being bound by fate and defying it. Naruto avenges Hinata. Since this clearly is the end of the Chunin Exam and nothing important happens afterwards. Hinata is therefore the most important female character. She deserves Naruto. She deserves to be the Heroine. No, she deserves to be the true main character. The manga should be renamed to HINATA the second she was introduced. She deserves it. She is entitled to it, in her fans mind at least.

 

However, if you look at the Chunin Exam as a whole. Naruto starts off being punched for claiming Sakura is his girlfriend to a bunch of kids, he is embarrassed by opponents in the upcoming Chunin Exam while making Sasuke shine, and the biggest threat of the exam Gaara makes it clear there is no point in Naruto telling him his name because he is so beneath him. By the end of the arc Naruto is fighting Gaara to save Sakura with people around him assuming she is his girlfriend by how fiercely he is fighting for her, while he is to busy to respond because he is trying to rescue her, Sasuke has been shoved to the wayside forced to watch Naruto fight someone he can't handle then afterwards tell Sakura Naruto was the one who rescued her, Gaara who dismissed him before is terrified by the end that after a speech he changes his world view, and Sakura gives Naruto an admiring look after hearing what he did for her. Sakura starts off as spoiled focused only her desire to date Sasuke, is forced to realize she must take being a ninja seriously to protect the people she cares about, is frightened by Sasuke once he uses the curse seal which is the start of her losing faith in him, makes peace with Ino, and start to look at Naruto and care about him. Sasuke got a taste of power and started down the path of darkness. As for Neji, Hinata, and the Hyuuga clan yes they were important for the arc, but they stopped being mention or involved in the story much afterwards.

 

Please note. That Dragon Ball IP was dormant for most of the Naruto's run. Even if, it was more successful as well as profitable overall, it wasn't really doing anything during Naruto's prime. It was Toriyama's disgust at DragonBall Evolution that he decided to involve himself again in Dragon Ball, revitalizing the franchise after Naruto ended. 

 

Huh. I decided to ask the AI if they knew all Kishimoto's editors. But they say there were only three...wait now it gives me four. Though note that the AI keeps giving me other editors. Apparently the 15 editors I have always said were the problem, as Yahagi worked with Kishimoto for the first ten years, then supposedly the next 5-6 were about 14 editors. Since the normal tenure is 2 years, that means there had to been constantly fights with editors being let go only for a new one to come in and all last on average less than 6 months. According to it, those were the assistants or sub editors. It was always a pain to find info about this and I was disinclined to buy the manga volumes again after the ending to check. Also, apparently, it likely wouldn't have help because their translators had a problem mistranslating the terms. Viz media was also notorious for taking liberties and changing meaning in their translations of Naruto. I think the Gemini ai started to translate Japanese sources finally. As I could never find this info online before, beyond hearsay...Ah I just remembered, how Twitter was doing the same recently and the Japanese Twitter hated it because they now have to deal with Westerners and are constantly being harassed.

 

Kosuke Yahagi (1999 – 2008 / Chapters 1 – 402)

Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi!

Hunter X Hunter 

Current Editor-in-Chief of Jump Square

 

Yuka Takemiya (2008 – 2010 / Chapters 403 – Early 500s)

Jump Festa Manager 

 

Yuki Honda (2010 – 2012 / Mid-500s)

Current Vice Chief of Weekly Shounen Jump 

Haikyu!!

Dr. STONE

Assassination Classroom

Undead Unluck

 

Jo Otsuki (2012 – 2014 / Climax to Chapter 700)

Naruto: The Last Movie

Nisekoi: False Love 

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

 

Always stick to what you know, even if its hearsay, until you can find actual information. Then be willing to change your position after careful consideration of the new information. 

 

Even the editors I am using for this post might still be wrong. So it best to check as this is still hearsay.

 

So after his time with Yahagi, Kishimoto had great trust in Editors. So when the new editor Yuka Takemiya came in he trusted her. Old rumors said that the new editor was such a huge fan Hinata and demanded she become the new heroine. That still might be the case, but given that everything the AI said about her is. She is a trans-multimedia brand manager that focuses less on the manga and more on marketing the brand/IP as a whole. She probably talked to the anime staff, who were always huge supporters of Hinata, and was convinced that Hinata must be a popular character that needs to be the heroine to increase sales. She is apparently the one that would never stop bugging him about Hinata to the point he finally publicly complained about it at Jump Festa 2010. Of course her actions backfired. 

 

So just imagine Kishimoto had a traditional editor that focused on the story for ten years. Then having to go to this, a girl from marketing, likely always in a power suit talking about her various marketing degrees, that just comes in, probably doesn't ever look at the manga, just starts making changes to everything the second she comes in that she demand everyone conform to, constantly coming up with new ideas on her own that must be adopted while demanding no resistance, speaks using strange corporate buzz words, and constantly shows up with folders filled with spreadsheets, flowcharts, and data points. If you have ever worked at a company...it is no surprise Naruto became such a mess after Yahagi left.

 

Ok. After learning about her. We are taking a look at the other two editors, now that I can finally get info on them before continuing. So I, and therefore you, can see the exact damage they caused.

 

Hiroyuki "Yuki" Honda is apparently known as a hit-chaser. He just constantly went for big hype moments to boost sales. Going from one hype moment to the next, the bigger the better. He is the reason Naruto lost its tactical fighting style and degraded to Dragon Ball Z rip offs. He was in charge of most of the War Arc.

 

Jo Otsuki is apparently the editor they bring in to finish a manga. So once Kishimoto said he wanted to end the manga he was brought in, so it would be finished in a way that wouldn't negatively affect the brand. So his job was to make sure Kishimoto ended the manga at Chapter 700, once Corporate decided it would end there, and get the story ready for the sequel Boruto. He is the one who ordered Kaguya's creation to tie the Corporate Planned Heroine to the plot and to the planned villains for the sequel. Also, he was the lead coordinator for The Last Naruto Movie; he may have even been the one to ordered it to be about nH. Granted, from everything I recall, it was the anime staff that wanted to make it a Hinata movie. So, even if it was ordered, which I don't think it was the case, its not like there was much pressure needed.

 

Wait a minute...Otsuki...Otsutsuki. Was the Otsutsuki clan named after him!? The AI says, no. However, we are dealing with a mangaka whose planned undercover named for Obito was Otobi before Yahagi ordered him to drop the O to make it less obvious.

 

I think I preferred the 15 editors chaos to this, because its clear how Naruto fell. After Yahagi, an actual editor, left Kishimoto got some marketing girl focused more on charts, to a "make explosion even bigger" hype man, and finally Mr. "Wrap It Up How Corporate Wants It."

 

So Kishimoto resisted at first, even getting the other mangaka to help him, because it was obviously a bad idea to replace The Heroine that has been developing a bond with the Hero for ten years. For a minor character that barely got any screen time. But he was gradually worn down over the next 6 years. Also if it was Corporate's desire because they been told by a data sheet that Hinata would give them more profits. Then it doesn't really matter what Kishimoto wants. Kishimoto apparently said in interviews he held out ending NS for so long; he didn't even see The Last as The Love Story of nH but The Funeral of NS. Now, what worn him down beside the 6 years of harassment on a 15 year long manga was the death of his father, early in 2014, and the realization he wasn't spending enough time with his family. His wife had to raise their children on her own, while he was a stranger to them, and he could never take his wife out on their honeymoon or a vacation despite being married for 10 years by that point. So his desire to end it so he could spend more time with his family and justified it with, "it is what the fans wants, and if the anime staff, Otsuki, and Ikemoto were willing to do the work to make nH/SS work. Let them."

 

Please note. That he already was planning on ending the series, which is why Otsuki became his last editor on Naruto. It was a mixture of Corporate Desires, his own desire to end the manga, his issues in his personal life, 6 years being told that "this is what the fans want" by the anime staff his editors & some of his assistants, and Mikio Ikemoto supporting nH/SS because he was the one that would be doing the sequel. All of that was what decided the end pairing as well as convince a reluctant Kishimoto to go along with it. He still did chapter 693 where Sasuke laid out why the character doesn't like the pairing.

 

Corporate didn't want Naruto to end. Even 12 years later after it ended, it is still the biggest anime IP for Tv Tokyo due to licensing. The Naruto Ninja Storm games were the Crown Jewels of Bandai Namco before Elden Ring took off. And once Naruto is gone, what manga could Shueisha replace it internationally at the time? It was the King of International Sales and walking money printing cash chow. They did not want it to end and if it ended they wanted a sequel that would make them the same money. If they are told they will make the most money with nH/SS, then that is what they want.

 

Of course, before Kishimoto left he did write the Start of Boruto. As Corporate needed to show he was involved in its making and wasn't completely detached from the sequel. Which is why he was also made a supervisor on the manga. How he wrote the Start of Boruto brought problems that damaged the IP, even if he didn't intend it. The appeal of nH/SS is that they are suppose to be the perfect parings. Sasuke is the perfect dreamy bad boy only I can fix, with Sakura being an insert into that fantasy for its supporters. Hinata was suppose to be the perfect dream girl for guys who wanted revenge against girls that friend-zoned them. Now granted, he likely just wrote them, as how he logically saw them, and how they would act within the story. But, because they were last minute pairings that don't have any real connection or bond in the story. Well that means they are logically, not perfect.  He made Sasuke leave the village to wander around, never visit his family for 12 years, and while he might care about Sarada because she is his daughter. He cares more about his student Boruto than them. Naruto is utterly miserable married to Hinata and his brats are spoiled rotten. This destroyed the primary appeal of those pairings. Corporate couldn't stop it before the damage was done because all they knew is, they had to have these pairings for them to make money. They didn't really understand the appeal and by the time they realized that the damage was happening it was too late. Those issues became the foundation of Boruto. Not helped that the pairings were only allies because their goals aligned. If NS happened than neither of their pairings could happen. But if either nH or SS than it was likely the other could happen as well. But they don't like each other for a fundamental reason. SS self insert into Sakura, nH fans hated Sakura for her being a friend-zoner, they see Hinata as a better woman than Sakura therefore a better woman than a fan that see herself in Sakura, and that she is lesser than their dream girl. So of course, they now fight over which of them is better and that chases off the fans that want a good manga. That hadn't already left due to the ending.

 

Now, we can finally get to Boruto and Ikemoto. Ikemoto clearly took the job because he thought, it would be easy. There was zero risk of it being cancelled, because it was just suppose to continue on for years, so they could milk the IP. Kishimoto to make sure Ikemoto wasn't overworked, made it a monthly manga instead of a weekly. However, there is clearly part of Ikemoto, that despite taking on Boruto for a safe paycheck, wants to do his own manga. Also he clearly sees Kishimoto as just lucky, that he is better than Kishi, and he can do better than him. That smug arrogant slothfulness could only work if the IP is healthy enough for one to coast off the brand. Even then, that's not a good idea. Naruto however, had structural issues that needed addressing that the ending made worse.

 

Not helped that this slow approach that just assumed Boruto would be successful ignored up and comers like My Hero Academia. Around 2016, streaming anime really took off and restored international interest in anime. Allowing anime that normally wouldn't be even known to dedicated anime fans, to hit the mainstream. Look at One Piece. Which in an interview around the time of the ending of Naruto, in 2015, Oda admitted that he had long accepted that his story didn't seem to have international appeal compared to Kishimoto's Naruto. It was finally able to achieve international success, that it was denied a decade before, allowing it to surpass Naruto because of streaming, global theatrical releases of its movies, and the Live Action adaptation. So, by the time Boruto anime even started, in 2017, it was already replaced. Worse Boruto was facing something Naruto never faced, competition. 

 

Mind you, while Naruto never faced competition internationally, it was still number 2 in Japan behind only its rival One Piece. So, even if it was released into the Era of Anime Streaming or had competition when it originally aired. It would have been able to hold its own. It wouldn't be the biggest anime ever, but it would have held its own. Boruto cannot. Hell, the changes to seasonal anime probably would have helped it as that would have given SP less time to focus on Hinata, no weekly anime putting stress on the manga, and not being the sole international money maker would remove a lot of demand from it.

 

Despite the Corporate's disappointment in Boruto for a time new successful IPs that were able to surpass it constantly with little effort manage to distract and appease them. So, they were content to leave Boruto on the backburner while they profited from their new money makers. Of course that only lasted as long as one of those IP were running. A change from the Big three era to the current era is that mangaka don't want to spent over a decade on a constantly expanding story. So they often single out the big bad that needs to be defeated to end the story early on and work their story towards that fight. So they could end the story logically when they wanted it. When that happened Corporate would return their gaze to Boruto and find only disappointment. An IP that used to produce a hit movie every year. Hasn't made one in over a decade because its biggest hit wouldn't even register as a success now a days. An anime that is more filler, about 75%, than plot; that even makes Naruto's infamous filler arcs, about 41%, seem modest. No major games in over a decade. Naruto that used to average 3.1 million per volume, while part one of Boruto average around 100,000, and then its part two 50,000.

 

Kishimoto was brought back after Samurai 8 flopped. However, he grew to hate other people interfering with a mangaka due to his own experience. Apparently, after the manga ended he finally looked into the fanbase to see why they wanted the ending the way they did; instead of just relying on the people around him. He was not happy with what he found. He already understood SS was, "the dreamy bad boy only I can fix," which he found cliche and always hated the pairing. But, he finally realize that people wanted Hinata, if for nothing else her big breast. Sacrificing his health, his mind, his time with his family, his story, and his reputation for that would not make anyone happy. Just put yourself in his shoes for a moment. You have been working on a manga for ten years (1 year pre production 9 writing and drawing) as far as you know its a huge international success and everyone loves your characters. A new editor comes in and says you have to change out your heroine because she is too hated and replace her with a side character you forget about most of the time because she is so minor in the story. As she is apparently too popular to be a side character. You ask, "how Sakura is hated and how is Hinata so popular?" They can't give you a straight answer. You spend 6 years trying to fix the apparent flaw your heroine apparently has, so you don't have to upend your story. Every time you try something, the people around you simply say, "it won't work". You ask, "what makes her hated by the fans and how can you fix it?" They reply vaguely, at best they show you foreign Youtubers. As everyone knows Sakura wasn't hated domestically or you would have heard it before. So you listen to these guys videos, to try to figure out why they hate Sakura. You watch tens, dozens hundreds maybe even thousands of these videos about why your heroine is hated and why they like this side character, but you can never figure it out. That's because if they said the truth on one of their online videos, they would be called a pig. They rely on audience presumptions, that the viewer already knows the issues before they even think about watching the video. So, they never have to say it, as people watching should already just know. Which doesn't help trying to fix the issue when you still have churn out a chapter every week. So when the manga finally ends with the pairings they forced you to have. You go online to see why people liked Hinata and hated Sakura. You find what the people around you wouldn't tell you, it was the size of their breasts. Sakura was so hated because her bust was modest while Hinata was popular because hers were large. It a bit more complicated and nuanced than that, fans didn't like that she didn't get into fights often enough, she didn't seem to do anything, that she hit Naruto, that she was still pining after Sasuke instead of moving on to Naruto, but when you boil it down. It really just comes to how big their chest are. So he couldn't fix the "real problem" by the time his new editors were bringing it up. To fix it, he would had to have known before the start of part two. So he could to make Sakura's breast so large, that she'd knocked Naruto out with them instead of her fist. And all he needed to do to make sure Hinata remained a side character, was make her flat chested; to the point when people looked at her, they thought of a cutting board. Granted maybe not that extreme, but at least enough that when the anime animated Sakura they don't remove her figure entirely and treat her body like it is a straight line. Remember that when Ikemoto drew Hinata with a modest bust in the Boruto manga, her fans went apoplectic. Could you bring yourself to care afterwards beyond getting your paycheck? Now also think of this. While he was searching online to figure out why they hated Sakura and love Hinata. What was happening to the Naruto-Boruto IP? It was suffering a backlash due to the pairing changes. Almost immediately after chapter 700 large portions of the audience spoke up wondering why did Naruto ended that way it did and made clear. They didn't like the Ending. They asked questions and the answers they got did not please them. They made their displeasure known, and it became clear most of the audience did not hate Sakura. Some loved her, most liked or were fine with her; at worse she was tolerated. They only people that hated her were the Anime Staff and the international fans that have been pirating the story for years. They were always really anime watcher that follow the story how anime told it, and only read the manga for spoilers. They openly bragged that they pirate your story and even though you made the ending for them. They feel no inclination nor obligation to start financially supporting it. Also, it becomes pretty clear that the people that are leaving because they were unsatisfied with the ending were the fans that actually paid for it. As quickly sales go down. The Naruto volumes average 3.1 million, on their first week it was rare for a volume not to sell a million copies. The last volume 72 sold about 800,000 on its first week despite being the last volume, and pretty much volume sales have been declining ever since. Would you be working yourself to death to fix something for corporate when it was their fault, and if they had just left you alone in the first place they would have gotten what they really wanted? Also, he felt he owned Ikemoto for taking over the sequel. So he supports and gives advice if Ikemoto ask, but did not take control to turn it around. So him being brought in changed very little.

 

They ended the anime as the staff were sick of making endless filler. The irony is that it was their fault they were in such a situation.

 

So they ordered the end of part one and moved the manga into part two to shake up the story. It didn't help. As there is nothing that can really turn Boruto around.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 09 June 2026 - 01:57 PM.

[Bail o' Lies]

1) Art.

 

It is important to remember first off that Ikemoto was an assistant of Kishimoto since the beginning of Naruto. His job was background and pretty much anything Kishimoto needed finish when he was tired. To be honest, I am not that good at drawing nor do I know much about the techniques. That said, I can at least tell when something looks bad, and that is often in this manga. But generally, I comment on it when I am typing the summary and looking over to the manga and can only think one thought...Wow, that looks bad.

 

An example, often characters have very round faces. That shall be round, no matter how they are position in the panel. Even when they are 3/4 pose, their faces will still be as round as if we are seeing the whole thing. The round faces also make it hard to tell the characters' age. As normally unless a person is fat, round faces are normally when someone is young and still has their baby fat. So his characters, especially his females, have this perpetual toddler-like face even when they are suppose to be teenagers or even adults. Which is even weirder that no matter their age; he will give his female the bare legs of a 25 year old. Face of a toddler, body of a child, and an adults bare legs describes most of the figures for his female characters, no matter their actual age.

 

A trait of his art that sticks out is, his nose holes. Anime/Manga artist will often not draw detail noses on their characters. As it is rarely the most appealing part of the face and can look weird on cartoon characters. Often, they will mark their characters with circles or triangles to show they do have noses, that they are not drawing in detail. Ikemoto is the first I have seen that has instead decided to draw the nasal holes to show his character has noses he is not drawing. And, it is clear why most don't after you look at his art. As his characters just have these two weird black holes on their face that look off-putting.

 

Due to the fact that his faces are so bad and he can't really draw them. He is bad at showing and changing their expressions to show emotions. Often characters constantly have a very neutral expression regardless of what they are saying or what is occuring. Helping to make the story feel incredibly bland, flat, and emotionless. The most infamous example is, Naruto's reaction to Kurama's death in part one. I have seen people show more distress over eating slightly burnt toast, than he did over a friend that has been with him his entire life dying right before his eyes.

 

As for the designs for his characters, they also don't look that impressive to me. He apparently copies designs from Korean pop fashion magazines, as he thinks that is what is hip. Often, his cover art looks like a cover of a fashion magazine, likely traced. However, he doesn't get how they are cool, why they work for Pop idols, but don't work for his ninja characters. For example, baggy pants, loose jackets, and so on are not something ninja or really anyone should be fighting in. Kishimoto's characters tended to wear sporty clothes and if they had jackets they zipped them up. Then, it doesn't help, that he likes his designs complicated with a lot of unnecessary flair that just takes longer to draw and more likely for mistakes. For example, in part two Boruto is on the run, hunted by the entire world due to being accused of killing Naruto, but his shirt (which is the most notable part of his outfit besides his cloak and pins) is a fancy expensive looking dress shirt. Is he supposed to be on the run, or on a runway? Also, while it was someone else that noticed it elsewhere. I do agree with them. That the reason his characters wear those baggy outfits is likely to hide their bodies during fights. So the reader doesn't notice Ikemoto's mistakes when trying to draw the human body in combat.

 

As for if I hate any silly character or their fashion designs, like say Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure? No. I don't. Araki can clearly draw. His designs and poses while often strange/silly still are clearly intended, consistent, and expertly drawn. He took his liking for strange fashion choices of models and music stars and poses of statues made them his own. Then turned it into an iconic look for his manga. If someone doesn't like it they wouldn't read it, but it is recognizable. Doesn't help that Ikemoto seems to "take inspiration," try to copy, Araki's art style, which just makes him look like a poor copy instead of his own artist.  

 

From what I can tell from the tone of the manga, Ikemoto wants his art to be seen as better than Kishimoto's, by being more realistic. However, he can't draw consistently and his characters are constantly off model. Not helped by, not having a singular design philosophy for his cast. He has Kishimoto's characters that he modifies to look more realistic while trying to keep some traits of Kishimoto's art style to try to make them recognizable. Which doesn't help, as it makes them look off as they can look similar due to certain retained features while at the same time so different, they are unrecognizable. For example, Sakura was given his female faces and hairstyle, so the only way to recognize her is her forehead seal. Don't see it and you could mistake her for Hinata because they have the same haircut and face. Then, he has his own characters that are so wildly different from the rest of the cast, they look like they are from a different manga. For example, Clone Jiraiya looks like he belongs in Vinland Saga. Which could work if he kept it to the villains to make them more foreign and alien but he hasn't. So, this mingling has left a constantly feeling of permanent inconsistency in the art.

 

His character's hair is often why I ascribe him having an attempt at the more realistic look. As often, it is the most detail part of the character. Often, to the rest of the arts detriment. As it common for a character to have really realistic hair on top of a poorly drawn cartoon head. Doesn't help he gave these to old Naruto characters as well as changing their look. So it is even harder to recognize them as often the most recognizable thing about an anime character is their unique hairstyle. As its part of their iconic silhouette. I already mentioned Sakura but I remember very early on Nos could not recognize Konohamaru because he had changed his hairstyle from his spikes to a bunch of curls. Also doesn't help his female characters all have the same face; so they only way to recognize them is often their hairstyle. Its why I couldn't tell who Tree-Moegi (who is apparently his favorite Naruto character) was a clone of her until they said it, because her face looks like any random Ikemoto female, and the imitation of her hair through the belts made her look like a jester. 

 

The Backgrounds are one of the few things that feels like was it carried over from Naruto. Probably because the guy that did them is now the main artist. Of course, this still somehow backfires due to Ikemoto's other artistic choices. As by having the background remain the same while the characters be a different style leads to an uncanny valley effect. As they feel foreign, alien, invaders into something familiar. Also does not help that there are a limited types of backgrounds in this manga. Its either the leaf ninja village or barren wastelands for the battles.

 

Now the cover pages, as you have to see them at the start of every chapter. They are lazy, they are just one of the characters posing like they are on a cover of a fashion magazine with the most interesting thing, besides noticing they are off model, is that he swaps around their color palette. So the cover pages would be Bolt (Boruto) standing but this time his cloak is blue, and another cover his cloak is green, and a third his cloak is red. While other manga might start out with their characters just posing they would eventually branch out. Like showing their characters doing something like taking a nap, reading, spending time together. Sometimes they would be in outfits they haven't worn in the manga. Or Oda's Cover Stories in One Piece. If Ikemoto had a sporty combat outfit for his cast and then dressed them up in K-Pop idols on the cover page that would be fine as well. Anything instead of the most intended interesting aspect of the cover page being this time their jacket is yellow.

 

From what I recall. The anime never used his style when drawing characters he inherited. They always defaulted to Kishimoto's style instead. For example, they had a tame version of his Salad outfit for the first anime arc before switching to Kishimoto's outfit in the second arc and then never switching back despite the fact, it should've been the opposite. This also made his own characters stand out more and put off anime viewers because the anime had no clue how to make them look like Naruto characters because they were so wildly different. So they just had to put them in as he drew them. This is also why I think in part two, he has characters outright talk about his design changes. So if/when the anime comes back they have to make the characters match his style. Despite the fact his art is harder to draw than Kishi's, who kept his style simple & streamlined for the benefit of the anime staff, and not that appealing to anime viewers.

 

Supporters constantly try to defend the art by saying it is improving. However, the core problems have always been there and they have never been improved upon. The art at the start of the manga was abysmally atrocious; that there are very few that still try to defend it. So people have taken it becoming mediocre and then settling there for years as the art is improving. As they now use the early art to lower the standards of others. So people can't critique the below average art the manga has had for years. Ikemoto was not an inexperience artist when he took over drawing for Boruto. He is a veteran in the industry with decades of experience. Even if he was an assistant and not a full mangaka.

 

The AI eventually said that apparently, in response to my criticisms about the art that, "Ikemoto doesn't want the story told through the art," as an excuse for why his characters show no emotion, "but through the dialogue." I just want to point out that Ikemoto is a manga artist not a writer. They had to hire and eventually fire Kodachi who was in charge of the writing. Though I suspect not the story. If the script is more important to Boruto than the art, why was the script writer replaced and not the artist?

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 02 June 2026 - 11:25 PM.

[Bail o' Lies]

2) Narrative.

 

Let's start off with why I called Part One of Boruto The Never-Ending Prologue. Well for one, it was easier to say and sounded better than the actual title. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations(...wait it has an "s" at the end.) I kept changing it to either. Boruto: Naruto's Next Generation. Or. Boruto: The Next Generation of Naruto, in my head constantly. The second reason is that the manga itself said that its prologue wasn't over till after chapter 15, of a monthly manga with a weekly anime waiting on it. So I wanted to make clear my opinion that the manga was wasting time it didn't really have. Finally, third, it just never seemed to get started, every chapter just meandering refusing to truly start the story until it was force to by the executives by starting part two.

 

The plot often has a yearly cyclical structure that allows it to be repetitive and feels that nothing is happening. In part one, at the start of the year it will often try to wrap up the fight from last year for about 3 chapters. Then 6 chapters in the village setting up the next fight and having character moments. Then for the last 3 chapters of the year the new villain arrives at the village to fight the cast. Now while editorial/executive pressure has changed this somewhat (mainly the timing) in part two. The problem still persist. It also doesn't help that they never really defeat the organization their foes are coming from. In Part One, Kara, who can just reveal more members and in Part Two, the Tree-People, who can just make more if they run low of tree-people for the cast to fight for the year. So, it feels like they are largely doing nothing but sitting around and waiting to be attacked; while nothing is really ever resolved. Hell, this latest time, to fight against Tree-Bug, is the first time they have honestly trained in preparation for the attack. Hell, even then its not even really training but set up the power ups that are going to be important for the up coming fight.

 

There is also the problem of the manga chapters feel like the chapters are just extended weekly chapters, and are also not worth waiting a month for. But also means that each month the manga was only giving their weekly anime enough material for at best one episode. More likely half an episode. 

 

I want you all to remember that it took so long for the manga to do anything. That the anime didn't even introduce his True Main Character, Nail (Kawaki,) until around episode 200 (188); well into four years into the anime's run. By that point so much filler has been done anime fans had already decided on which character they wanted Bolt to end up with. Salad (Sarada) because either she is Sasuke's daughter or they understand the storyline. The Clone (Sumire) which the anime supports as she is their own character and they want another Hinata-like character to be the heroine and love interest. Or Cups (Mitsuki) for the fujoshi; which is the worse for Ikemoto as those are the ones who should be loving his Nail. So, as the anime ended around 300 (293) episodes, they didn't spend as much time on the "Bond of Bros." Despite the fact that Ikemoto clearly wants it to be the main story.

 

Think about it. It took him so long to actually get his story deep enough into its plot, so that the anime adaption could actually adapt the manga's story, they went through it in less than half the time the spent making filler waiting for it, and that is even call all the episodes since Nail's incorporation into the cast canon. The anime still was making filler episodes during that time and it would not surprise me if it was still more than the episodes based on the manga. When in theory, the manga is suppose to be the main story and a skeleton for the anime to fill out with their own arcs. Or to expand on story ideas introduce in the manga but doesn't have time to cover. The problem with that is, for one, its clear the anime staff like with Bleach were sick of making endless filler and decided to just cancel it and wait for the story to get done to adapt it. Which hurts the story because its very hollow and was designed for the anime to add depth through there original arcs. They didn't even finish the story of part one. They ended it after the arc where Nail "killed" Bolt, from what I recall. Which means his pacing helped to destroy the justification for the risky idea of a monthly manga with a weekly anime. The second problem is that his arcs are very...sequential. Each one clearly leading to the next with very little logical time in between them. Often it feels when an arc ends and the new one starts that very day in story, at best a week later. When the story needs for the arc to feel like there is enough time between them to justify putting in several anime original arcs between each. To expand on the previous arcs ideas, to give focus on characters the manga isn't focusing on, and lead into the next one. There were only two logical break points the manga ever gave the anime once Nail appeared. One they used, when Nail was first adopted by Naruto there was implied weeks if not months where he bonded with everyone in the village or at least the cast. Then another one when Madoc (Amado) gave Bolt those magic pills to stop the karma seals advancement. Which was clearly internal story justification and an excuse for the anime to put more anime arcs before the next fight. Instead, the anime instantly went to the next fight to finish the arc. Then cancelled the anime.

 

There is also the problem is that they fired the guy whose job was to work with the anime staff to keep the manga and the anime story aligned; Kodachi. There was apparently a problem with the anime constantly going against the manga's story and making mistakes. Hell, even when he was there they did that as the core of the first anime arc. The flash-forward had Bolt's right eye had a scar and byakugan. The implication being like Kakashi that something happened to that eye. Implant or traumatic power awakening. When it turned out to be a side effect of the Karma seal integration or possession by that Otsutsuki. The anime wanted to give Hinata's son a special eye that was more powerful than a byakugan and tie the Last into the story. Then it was never used again, even in the anime after the first arc. So the anime staff had given the main character Bolt a powerful kekkei genkai that the audience is going to remember because it was the focus of the first arc of the anime, and constantly wonder "why it isn't being used?" Because its so powerful, but the anime can't use it because they made an non-canonical power that manga doesn't want to use as the focus of their first anime arc. Just showing how good the anime and manga staff were at cooperating and communicating from the beginning and was probably a major factor in why the anime ended early.

 

As in theory, what they should have done is asked Kodachi. If Ikemoto had any plan for Boruto's right eye, and could they make a new eye power for Hinata's son? So either they didn't communicate and just did this on their own. Even though this would force the manga to include it making it clear all anime arcs are canon or ignore it and make it clear anime arcs are filler. Or they did and the manga staff didn't go through with it. I feel its the former and way they did it was a desire to make all their anime episodes canon. A large part of the reason nH became the end pairing of Naruto and Boruto even exist is because of all their filler glorifying Hinata. However, all those arcs are filler. Naruto is infamously known for its endless filler arcs even more than other anime. People refused to get into Naruto to avoid watching the anime's endless filler arcs. And people trying to introduce people to Naruto had to create spreadsheets and guides on which episodes to watch to avoid the endless filler. Part of the reason I suspect anime went from anime that airs new episodes weekly the entire year to seasonal anime is the downfall of Naruto and the success of My Hero Academia. But if they can first use the Boruto manga to say all their episodes are canon both for the Boruto and retroactively for Naruto then people have to watch them all. This didn't work out and clearly backfired damaging the story and image of Boruto.

 

Now people on this site, in the wider internet, and even the manga staff itself used Dragon Ball Super doing a similar idea of a monthly manga with a weekly anime; to justify why this setup wasn't a bad idea. The major difference and why it worked for Super was; Toriyama gave both the anime and the manga an outline for the arc for them to work on at their own pace. So there was no issue if the anime overtakes the manga, as they were both doing their own thing. As for which one is canon, Toriyama said which ever the viewer wanted, though he worked more closely with the manga. This setup would likely still be ongoing if not for two deaths, the death of Bulma's Japanese Voice actress Megumi ended the anime, and Toriyama's death ended the manga. For Boruto, the anime is clearly subordinate to the manga and is largely filler to expand the story unless Ikemoto decides otherwise. Which he barely cared about and likely wasn't going to do until the anime staff made it clear. They were unsatisfied with this arrangement. Forcing him to add their Hinata Clone, Sumire, to his cast but not the two others Denki and Iwabee despite them being Bolt's close friends.  Which also means their teammate, Metal Lee, rarely is in the manga as well. Also she was Hanabi's student in the anime as a clear, "your favorite aunt approves of her Bolt, get with her instead of Salad" ploy. While she is an assistant to whoever is the current scientist who is in charge of the exposition dumps, in the manga. Another reason the anime staff ended the anime despite it holding up the IP by that point. 

 

The Villains. The story has made it very clear that Tree-Jenga (Jura) is so strong that he could kill the entire cast if not the entire world in a second with barely any effort if he wanted to. He doesn't because of mere whim and the story would be over if he did. So the main villain is doing nothing because if he did anything, he would win. The story requires that he has to let his kind be killed off and eventually the protagonist find a way to beat him. While he largely does nothing, because if he doesn't, he'd beat them all in a panel.

 

Since Boruto takes a lot of "inspiration" from Dragon Ball, and their villains can also be described as able to kill the Heroes in one shot but don't. So, lets compared them:

 

Pilaf trapped the cast before trying to make his wish, and even when they foiled him. He just put them in the death trap because it would kill them come morning. How was he suppose to know Goku could transform into a giant monster that could destroy his castle?

 

The Red Ribbon Army could not believe that a little boy with a tail was annihilating their forces and finding the Dragon Balls faster than they were. Due to his smaller Dragon Radar. Once they realize it was true, they hired Mercenary Tao to take him out and got the radar to find the balls faster. Of course this made them an enemy to Goku, instead of a nuisance he saw them before that, so he wiped them out.

 

King Piccolo once he was released assigned one of his son to kill all martial artists. So he could not be sealed again by the Mafuba (Evil Containment Wave.) When two of his sons were killed he immediately went to where they died to kill the one responsible. He confirmed he killed Goku before continuing on with his plot. Killed anyone else that got in the way of his wish. Killed the Eternal Dragon Shenron so no one could make a wish against him. Then went to the King's Palace to take over the world. It wasn't his fault Goku somehow lived and got a power up.

 

Piccolo knew he needed to defeat Goku before he could plot to take over the world. He knew Goku was training with Kami and would come down for the World Martial Arts Tournament. So he trained till then, and made a counter to the Mafuba. Goku was just stronger then him.

 

Raditz was stronger than Goku and Piccolo combine, but he didn't originally want to kill them. He wanted his brother Kakarot to join his squad. By the time he got serious the trio of Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo were able to stun him long enough to kill him.

 

Vegeta wanted to punish Goku for defying him and get the Dragon Balls to wish for immortality. So he had his goon Nappa play around with them while ordering him to avoid killing Piccolo because he realized, he must be connected to the Dragon Balls. But once he realize Goku was actually a threat. He increasingly stopped playing around and tried to go for the kill.  

 

Freeza could not find them for most of the arc because he can't sense energy. Also, he had minions to do the searching and fighting for him. When Vegeta starts killing them; he orders in the Ginyu Force. When he finally finds them. He wants to slowly torture them as punishment for denying him his wish. Which backfires as his screwing around drained his stamina.

 

Cell was actually weaker than the cast, or at least Piccolo, till he could start absorbing the androids to achieve his perfect form. So he hid while slowly absorbing energy till he could find the androids. Once he did that, he was stronger than the entire cast, but was curious how they can get stronger in a day's time. So he organized the Cell Games to play around with them as none of them were stronger than him. Once Gohan showed that he was, he twice tried to blow up the planet. 

 

The Majin Buu arc is more the heroes refusing to take him seriously despite numerous warnings till he blows up the planet.

 

Tree-Jenga sits around reading books, talking to Tree Sasuke, eating ice cream all the while going on about love while his kind are being killed. When he could travel through the belt network to be at the battle in an instant to defeat anybody. Never really helping his comrades eat their desired people for the goal to evolve/complete themselves/what ever they go on about.

 

Tree-Jenga knows that the cast can beat the tree-people, knows that they know how to free the people stuck in a tree, and knows there is someone helping them that can see the future. Therefore, is setting up a plan to beat them. Yet, he barely bothers to try to achieve his goals of devouring certain people despite every opportunity and barely set up any counter measures. Beyond sending Punk (Code) to go look for Bolt's ally. It also doesn't help that Dragon Ball villains are arc villains. So they are gone once their arc is over...unless they turn good. Tree-Jenga is the over arcing Penultimate story villain. Once he is defeat it is likely all that will be left is to convince Nail to release Bolt's parents. Yet, he does nothing except show up every once and awhile to show how deep, cool, dangerous, intelligent, and powerful he is. When he is none of those.

 

Another issue is Lack of Object Permanence, Character Freezing, Literal Time Pacing and a lack of Diegetic Chronology. I am bad with terms so I tried to explain it to an AI and those are what it spit out. To lay it out Ikemoto has a problem understanding that some events should happen off panel. Even as simple as travel time or the passage of time. I'm particularly thinking about that week time skip before that Tree-Bug fight that seemed to both happen and not happen for the second one. There seems to be a rule in this story that, if a character isn't doing anything on panel they aren't doing anything. If the characters haven't talked about something on panel then they have never talked about it, and the first time its brought up on panel is the first time the characters have had this conversation. Also, because of this need for everything to be on panel we are forced to read dialogue that most manga will skip. I am thinking of the chapter Shikamaru gave a summary of knowledge we already knew for an entire chapter that was unneeded that shook me out of my apathy for this manga and return me to burning hatred for its very existence for a while.

 

There is also a problem of poor retcon cycles through out the story. In short, Ikemoto does not think about the implication and consequences of the "concepts" he introduces to the story. But then an editor or Kishimoto either through fan complaints or on their own realizes there was a problem with the introduced idea and he needs to adjust/fix/clarify. Often his fixes are just as poorly thought out as his initial idea. Which creates a cycle of him introducing an idea and then anywhere from 3-5 monthly manga chapters later he is having to reexplain it, then having to reexplain again the next chapter, and this keeps going. Till you can tell the editor doesn't think its fixed, they just gave up. If you want examples...it is pretty much everything he has introduced into this story. For some look at the next part of this line of post.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, Yesterday, 01:28 PM.

[Bail o' Lies]

3) Plot Devices.

 

Omnipotence was some cheap shock event at the end of part one to hopefully get the reader interested in part two. "Oh No! Bolt is now hated and chased by the village while Nail took his place!" But the mechanics and how it would be played out in the story was not thought up beyond that. "Bolt will slowly convince the cast that he is Naruto's son in their heart, and after defeating Nail he will release his parents, who were unaffected by the spell, who will tell the rest of the cast he is their son. Breaking the spell." Of course, there is always the possibility of a "shock twist" that they are also affected and believe Nail is their son, but that would be cheap. However, they do not know how to reach that point in the story; while keeping the story thread going till they reached that point. So, they have to constantly reexplain why people can't break the spell. Which again just makes it clear they shouldn't have done this storyline.

 

Prescience. Clone Jiraiya's power to see the future. Now future sight is always a difficult element for a story to have, and it is something ikemoto should have avoided. CJ has visions of the future. He uses those to prepare to fight the Tree-People by training the main cast by giving them power ups and telling them the power and weakness of the Tree-People. If CJ tells the main cast the powers of the Tree-People to defeat them because their no other way they can handle them. Then the story and the fights becomes predictable as they should know and been prepared before the fight even started. If they still fail they look incompetent. Also doesn't help that part of the drama for part two is that CJ is operating in adjusting events in narrow margins so the course of events don't diverge wildly from his visions, while Boruto resents not being told everything. This gets old fast as it means either CJ refuses to tell Boruto his reasoning, or he does, constantly, and like the spoiled child he is Boruto refuses to listen. Its the latter.

 

Karma Seal. That totally original unique cool power up and plot device that Kishimoto could never come up with. It looks exactly like Tsunade's & Sakura's Yin Seal; which they eventually justify by saying theirs is based off it. When activated it slowly spreads out and corrupt the person who has it, like Orochimaru's curse seal. And, it has a entity inside of it that is trying to take over the host body like the various Jinchuriki seals. Yes, totally original. It is an USB stick/seal containing the information of an Otsutsuki member that they download into a person to take them over after sacrificing themselves to the World tree so it produce its chakra fruit...don't look at me like that. This IS the explanation they give in the manga. It also powers up its host and give them millennia worth of combat experience. Which is part of the reason is why Bolt and Nail are stronger than Naruto by the time the are twelve; this was also explained in the manga. Its suppose to be the ticking time bomb of the story especially in part one. Where we slowly, very slowly in long info dumps, learn about it. The thing is the first time we learn about its infection rate, we learn that its almost complete. Then in the next fight its resolved. There are hints that the Otsutsuki could still take over Bolt, but nope, it is made clear in Part two he can't. Its rare to see a story flub one its primary elements so hard and so often. 

 

Shinjutsu. Divine Techniques. The new tier of power that apparently the Otsutsuki always had; that Madoc is able to give to the cast through making people cyborgs or through the Karma seal. Making anyone that does not have one powerless before the villains of the story. Leaving only the cast Ikemoto grants these powers to are able to fight against his villains, anyone else is fodder. Does matter if even they are Kage level ninja, without Shinjutsu they will lose fights to any of Ikemoto's mooks. Limiting the cast that can fight. But they often aren't that impressive as they are hyped up to be. Looking at Bolt's signature Shinjutsu, the Uzuhiko, which was hyped up to be an ultimate attack, that just gives people vertigo, till people pointed out how unimpressive it was, and so they changed it to a rasengan-spirit bomb.

 

Scientific Ninja Tools. Now I understand, this idea was thought up by Kishimoto. Granted it was to show off cool sci-fi gadgets but was also about how society advance technology and a question of hard work verse technological convenience. Ikemoto just inherited it and has to incorporate it into his manga. It doesn't mean I have to like it, that I feel he has done a good job in using it, nor give him a pass because it wasn't his idea. For one, it breaks the feel of the world without really adding anything. For example, when he gave characters guns. In anime, guns are either instant kill weapons or utterly useless. His were useless. Two, often it is just an excuse to give a character a power up, most often than not Nail or one of Ikemoto's personal creations, and not need to explain it because, its Magical Science.

 

Please note what made me completely give up on this manga ever being good and going into apathy was The Scientific Ninja Tool: Scroll Memory. A Ninja Scroll that was USB stick. Just looking at my first thought was, "Dear god. They are trying to make their tech feel like it fits the ninja theme of the world but it just looks ridiculous." Why have a two hand size scroll instead of a normal USB stick? That they could just stick on their belt or put in their pouch. Why have a scroll solely for data constantly on their person? It looks ridiculous. It is like when Disney Star Wars have character use their lightsabers as a light source instead of a flashlight/glow-rod in lore or lantern. It is as silly as it is impractical. What are there no portable light sources in Star Wars beyond lightsabers? Did no one think to shrink down their USB sticks so they are more convenient? Knowing Naruto's Schizo-Tech issues, I wouldn't be surprised if there were USB sticks in Naruto.

 

The Psychic Ninja Phone Company. Near the tail end of Naruto during the war arc, it was revealed that the Yamanaka clan had the power of telepathy and can use it to communicate and coordinate the massive Ninja Alliance's Army. Granted with some restrictions. They needed a special made device to do so and communicating with them all at once was dangerous for the user. In Boruto, they started using this after Hime's (Eida's) power was revealed that allowed her to spy at anyone at anytime. So they started having the Sensor Division led by Ino set up mental links so important people can communicate important information between each other without the risk of her listening in; as she can't read minds. It quickly devolved into near every conversation was done by these mental links. To the point, it becomes hard to tell when people are actually talking instead of using these mental links. As well as to tell at time who is involved in these conversations. As sometimes it would seem like its a one on one conversation through these telepathic links then suddenly reveal that others were listing in the entire time. Others someone would give a grand statement to the entire cast then suddenly shift to a private conversation; with only the context of the conversation making that clear. They can seemly start these conversation with anyone at anytime. So one much ask, is it always active or not? Did the main cast learn telepathy or is still an Yamanaka only ability? The rules, limits, and the mechanics are never explained and one increasingly get sick of its overuse.

 

Amado/Madoc's Constant Endless Exposition Dumps. In part one, after he switches sides from Kara and joins the village. Half if not more of any chapter is listening to him explain, theorize, and pontificate about the Karma seal, Kara, the Otsutsuki, or the ongoing battle. Sometimes it is important as he is explaining the villains' goals and power. But, it quickly became tiresome and obnoxious because if he started talking he would take up at least half the chapter. So even if a battle could be interesting on its own, it loses it ability to grab a reader's interest and invest them in the battle because the fight would constantly be broken up with him opining about something. This eventually was reduce, could be editorial demand as readers complain about it, but because it started to fade once Kodachi left. I will say it was one of his contributions to the manga. Seeing as he was a light novelist, he probably wasn't used to relying on visuals to explain what is occurring in a chapter and felt their needed to be text to explain and give context. 

 

Kurama's Death & Revival. Now, one of the hooks/pulls/plot threads of this story since the first scene is the hint of The Death of Naruto. Which was implied to been either been done by Kawaki or why he turned evil. It was hinted that Naruto was gone and likely dead. They ended up going with sealed. However, I believe that Ikemoto did fully intend to kill off Naruto. For the same reason a lot of Western Media have killed off their old heroes. They don't want their new cast of character constantly compared to the old cast, especially between the main characters. So they they hope if they are dead and disgraced it makes it easier for their cast to shine. Of course this always backfires because the audience is watching the media because they like the old characters. So when Ikemoto originally planned his death was his fight against Otsutsuki Isshinki in control of Jigen the leader of Kara. When he activates his baryon mode or as I call it the Suicide Nuke Mode. How it works is, that the tailed beast and their host burn through their chakra by combining it like nuclear fission to give their foes Chakra Cancer through Chakra Radiation. That is not the explanation they give but its simpler than what they say. Of course it was suppose to be an Ultimate Form at the cost of the user's life, but it barely did anything in the fight in the manga. As despite Jigen already being at death's door as an Ikemoto Character, he cannot lose under any circumstances to a Kishimoto character. So it was the most hilarious and pathetic Ultimate Super Mode upgrade you will ever see. The anime tried to fix this of course. Naruto was suppose to die once it was over. However, Boruto only got ratings or got any notice on the internet when Naruto was doing something is the story. So they order him at the last minute, especially once Kishimoto returned as a supervisor, to not kill Naruto. However, the story made it clear someone is going to die because of that mode. So who do they kill? Answer, Kurama. They tried to lazily retcon this by saying Kurama was hiding that the form will kill him. When he made it clear to Naruto as a warning that he (Naruto) would die if he used it. Now to make it dramatic they made it clear that it was a permadeath with no chance of revival what so ever. As Tailed beast can reform after their host dies, it just takes them time. Granted the manga went on about the tailed beast being extracted from their host, because Ikemoto is a moron. Also the fact he doesn't have Naruto emote at all during this made it one the most infamous and ridiculed scenes in the manga. Which again, the anime had to put in all the work to fix.  

 

Now why he was revived? Well because of the failure of ikemoto's chosen cast to actually appeal to the general audience in part one. In part two, He was ordered to add in the characters Kishimoto made for the sequel that were focused on in the anime as the fans actually liked them. One of them being Hinata's daughter who was younger than the rest of the cast. Now in the anime she was in the academy like all children her age were, but for some strange reason in the manga she wasn't. But needed to be added to the manga's story in part two. Now Ikemoto had set up three tiers of power for his cast. Boruto and Nail who have the Karma seals are basically gods, The Demigod-Cyborgs Amado makes that gain Shinjutsu Edia and Daemon, and then the rest that can't do anything. Now to make those characters be involved in part two he made Clone Jiraya gain future sights so he can teach the cast abilities they would have gain in the future that make them situationally useful for a fight. Now again, Ikemoto decided that apparently no one had ever trained the daughter at all before the end of part one. So she has no powers to get involved with the story. So she needs to be given something. So they gave her Kurama; who they had said was perma-dead. Well they couldn't think of a justification so they gave a whole list of possibilities so the reader can just pick one. But then you must ask, Naruto had to basically kill himself to barely inconvenience Jigen who is a hundred times weaker than the Tree-Person Jura (Tree-Jenga.) How is she even suppose survive fighting them much less hold her ground? When her Kurama is barely a fraction of the original that was in Naruto? She is apparently the most perfect Jinchuriki host to ever to been born. Even though she doesn't have a 1/100th the chakra or battle experience she is 1000 times stronger than Naruto ever was with a fraction of Kurama's power. Also she was made the world's greatest healer. No matter what the injures are, she just has to pour chakra over the wound for a second to instantly heal them. She first showed this restoring Inojin who was at death's door and it implied he could have been up and walking in a second afterwards if he just got over not having a torso for a minute. The cast cannot die now as long as she is there to heal them.

 

Try-Hard Edginess and Coolness. Often times if one were to read the manga they would come across a panel where a character is standing or saying something. That if one thinks about it for a moment was an attempt at being cool or deep that fell flat. Ikemoto wants his manga to be this cool deep dark edgy manga that is better than Kishimoto's Naruto. Among the many problem with that is he lacks the aesthetic tastes to pull it off. For one, because his artwork is inconsistent and doesn't have a define style. It is trapped between wanna-be seinen and a poor copy of Kishimoto's art style. The manga lacks a define style the reader to attach themselves to. If he had done his own, it might have worked. If he had kept Kishimoto's but refined it to be a bit darker, it could have worked. But because he didn't, the readers will often be left confused by the art or notice the inconsistency making near impossible for an image to impress a sense of coolness onto them. The story often tries to have cool moments or be serious but does things to constantly undermine any attempt. As he doesn't know what is cool and just copies something that is considered cool, which risks losing the context of what made it cool in the first place. Also the anime decided early on that it was going to be a lighter and softer take on the Ninja World compared to Naruto. So that leads to clashing tones, when either the scene must be adapted or an anime watcher reads the manga or vice versa.

 

Tree-People. I forget what they are called in the manga or if they have even been given a name. At the end of part one Punk (Code) after being dumped by Hime decided to mess around with Kara's Ten-Tails/Divine-Tree to create an army of minion through his belt power. He created the Nudist (Claw Grimes) they have Freeza's lower body (feet and tail,) upper body of a human male with a soul patch, and covered in patches of belt leather. Over the time skip they slowly gained sentience by attacking people and sticking them in trees made from a Nudist. They used the trapped people to give themselves sentience. They are the trope of plant creatures absorbing people, putting them into pods, and making an army of clones. Their goal is to eat other characters important to the people they are based off of to gain true free will or something like that. On paper it isn't a bad idea for villains. The problems come from the implementation. Part of the importance of the trope is recognizing who has been taken and is being used to create plant copies. In Boruto, this has two layers to the problem. First is Ikemoto's art style, makes it hard to recognize who is the base for his tree-people because a mixture of a lot of his characters look the same and the modifications of their new forms make it hard to tell who it is. Second, he picks characters that are too obscure for the audience to really care about them and haven't got focus in his story as he has been solely focus on Bolt and Nail. So your suppose to look at a character and go, "Gasps. Sakura has been captured and transformed! Oh No!" Instead you go, "Oh No...wait who are they?" Then once you learn who they are based on you go, "Wait, who is that again? ...oh them. Wow, haven't seen them in years." Which kind of lessens the impact it suppose to have. Second is that how much they know about the person they are a copy of is vague and because most of the people that have been copied are obscure so most of the audience does not have much familiarity with their personality. So you don't really have much of the cruel mockery of the person they are a copy of besides appearance and maybe power. Finally, is how to defeat them. Often times that's where the real drama of this type of situation comes from. How do you free the person that has been captured and put into a pod? What are the risks? How much time do you have to free them? Is there a risk if the cast takes too long the character can be completely absorb and be gone forever? Is their a risk that harming the clone can harm the original? In Boruto, that is explain almost out of the gate. Each Tree-Person has a soul bulb. If you defeat them then place the respective bulb on the tree holding the person they will be release. No side effects. No time limit. How dull.

 

Oh they did a patchwork on the Tree-People to add some drama. The Soul Bulb only last a few minutes...which doesn't make sense because the first two they got from Tree-Shinki and Tree-Moegi were in the middle of nowhere days away from either of their bodies. But this was a patch to add some danger or suspense to it. Still don't work and one of Ikemoto's poorly thought out retcons.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 14 June 2026 - 12:06 PM.

[Bail o' Lies]

4) Power Levels and Fighting in General.

 

The fights are not interesting because they can be boiled down to, the villain is invincible till a mid-fight power up, after that, they die in one attack. This upcoming fight against Tree-Bug is the first one hinted to be different, as they have already laid out the power up the main cast have gotten and the villain's power and tactics beforehand. However it so basic that its unimpressive, and feels like someone else has come in and ordered a change to the story. Instead of something naturally develop by Ikemoto.

 

If you were ask anyone, 'what is the primary moral message of Naruto was,' they would say: hard work. It isn't, but is still an important aspect of Naruto and a major part of its identity in the general public. Every character in the story has to train to learn and develop new powers, even people born with special powers have to train to grow stronger. If Naruto wasn't fighting in the manga he was more likely than not training. Even though most of the cast is from powerful clans they slowly have to learn their clans powers over time. In Boruto, everyone is a gifted prodigy apparently. Most of the cast starts off with all the powers their parents had by the end of Naruto before Boruto even starts. They seem to rarely train either through implication or in the manga but seeing as its a monthly manga not showing it can be given a pass. Even when they are shown training its them learning their future powers from Clone Jiraiya. So it doesn't even feel like they have earned their growth as much as they have been given to the character to justify them being allowed to join in the battles again.

 

Power level being broken in this manga is something I talk about frequently in the summaries. In a Shounen battle manga, it is important for the readers to have an understanding of roughly how strong a character is at any given time and how they would match up with another given character. Strength, combat abilities, growth capabilities, intelligence, adaptability, fighting style, powers, endurance, and so on should be guessable at any point of time with logical reason. In Shounen manga the story should go through a gradual escalation to show of the growth of the cast and the foes that are able to match them. Of course a mangaka should try to be creative with their approach. In Naruto, his strength level went from genin to low-chunin by the end of part one. To high-Chunin to Jonin to Kage Level through part two to Demigod by the end with foes to match him. At the start of the series Naruto could not fight the big bad of an arc because they were too high level. so he fought a powerful minion while an adult fought the big bad. He fought Haku while Kakashi fought Zabuza. He fought Gaara while the Third Hokage fought Orochimaru. He fought Kabuto while Tsunade and Jiraiya fought Orochimaru. In part two, he fought alongside Kakashi against the Kage Level Akatsuki till he was eventually fighting them on his own. In Boruto, Naruto and Sasuke are in theory the two strongest ninja in the world with vary few able to match them. Boruto constantly fights side by side with them with no issue at age 12 and very quickly surpasses them, or at least Naruto. Especially after they were powered down by killing Kurama, and stabbing Sasuke's rinnegan. Able to handle the demigod level foes on his own at, at best 13 years of age. The justification for this is the Karma Seal. But this makes his growth unnatural, artificial, and uninteresting to read about. Almost no one in the cast is able to do anything. Unless they have either gotten cybernetic upgrade from Amado that allow them to use Shinjutsu, or some training from Clone Jiraya to learn moves they would have developed naturally later. Spreading the issue to the entire cast. As any character is either useless or they have just been given a upgrade that allows them to be useful now.

 

Fighting in Konoha. Nearly every fight has been in the village. Beside getting sick of this story almost never leaving the blasted village. The other problem is power scale and other ninjas. In Naruto, battles rarely happened in the village. For the leaf village is a main base and home to one of if not the strongest military power in the world, filled with thousands of ninja. This was how they were able to turn around the Invasion of the Sand and the Sound, with few losses, despite it being a surprise attack. As well as shown when the Teams Sensei battled Itachi & Kisame. Long battles tend to run the risk of other ninja sensing the battle happening and coming over to help their fellows. It also happened when Naruto and Sasuke fought on top of the hospital, Jiraiya and Kakashi both sensed it and rushed over. So, any fight needs to either be quick so the intruder isn't swarmed or you need someone so strong that it doesn't matter a la Pein. Yes, the village was invaded more often in the anime by random people, but those are in filler arcs. They don't count, as they are non-canon. So, by constantly having the battles in the village, this in theory runs the risk that the old cast would and should sense what's happening and get involved. And they should still be, in theory, stronger than the current cast. So any fight they get involved with would and should be quickly resolved. As the old generation cast that make up their parents are the strongest ninjas in the world at the moment. However, Ikemoto doesn't want their involvement. As he wants to focus on his own cast. So, it leads to two questions of are where are the adults and why are they so useless when they get involved? 

 

Explaining the powers. Normally, a manga would hint at what gimmick abilities someone uses. So their opponent can show how smart they are for figuring out the gimmick mid fight and find a way to counter it. Both the hero and the villain can do it and in Naruto, especially in part one, both sides did. However, Ikemoto is terrible at anything that is standard for those fights. He does not know how to set up or limit powers. So they become broken (until they are fixed later on.) For example, Moe's counter power was invincible when first introduced. Later on Ikemoto was ordered to add the requirement of contact for it to work. Which he often ignores anyways. Second, is that normally the main character spends half the fight slowly trying to figure out the gimmick. You know in increments. "Ok, they are doing x. I see they can only do X with in a certain range. Oh they have a recharge rate of y many seconds. Oh they can't affect something or it has some sort of limit." Sometimes it will be, "wait I got it their power isn't X its Z." In Boruto, anytime someone reveals a foe's powers it all at once and is accurate to the letter. It doesn't feel like they figured out their opponents power as much as they been given the script. So they don't come off as smart. Then in a normal well written story, once they figure out the power and its limitations; they have to come up with a way to counter it to defeat their foes. Which shows off the character's creativity, ingenuity, and adaptability. In Boruto, they just keep fighting till they win, at best they get a power up. I swear most fights end in part one with..."and Bolt activates his karma seal and it one-shots the enemy."

 

So, this revealing of a power early is normally done because the opponents power is so strong or tricky; that the main character needs time to think of a way to beat it. Here, its so Ikemoto understands what the power is, so he doesn't overhype it or make Tree-Bug unbeatable, because normally he gives them some powers that makes them dominate the first half of the fight till the contrivance happens (normally the karma seal activates and becomes an instant win.) Now, he as at least laid out how the fight will go. They have to wait till Tree-Bug spams copies till their about 25 of them. Blond Sai will use his mind powers to screw with them. Bolt will combine his new super cool sword with Uzuhiko to one shot them or something.

 

Well, since the battle with Mamushi (Tree-Bug) is over, lets go over the fight. Again, Clone Jiraya has informed everyone of Tree-Bugs power. He makes copies that are exact equal of the original that are part of a hive mind, the more he makes the dumber overall he gets, somehow. So informs them that they needed to keep Tree-Bug's copies under 40 so they don't overwhelmed the cast and above 20 because he will be stupid enough to beat him, as he won't think to retreat or keep one of himself away from the trap. The prep was Bolt getting a new sword, and CJ teaching Blond Sai a new Yamanaka mind jutsu that allows him to make a map grid out of chakra (think one of those holographic sci-fi maps in a futuristic military setting story to help understand what it looks like and what is does.)

 

Both the sword and map was unneeded despite Tree-Bug making a thousand copies of himself. They try to justify that the map was important to keep an eye on him. But they just lure him to his target Hime and all his copies go to that place. So was it really needed? He is a hive mind. So by using the basic mind transfer jutsu. He can possess the Tree-People and enter Tree-Bug's hive mind to destroy his eyes. All the Tree-People's power is apparently from their eyes. So they were able to wipe out the thousand clones with no issue afterward to the point it was done off-panel something Ikemoto rarely does.

 

This of course creates a massive issue. I had assumed because the Tree-People are just the divine tree/Ten-Tails just given human-like form and sentience. It has the same powers and abilities as the divine tree. Namely if you get in contact with them they will start draining a Ninja's chakra. Therefore, logically, if a Yamanaka tried even the mind transfer jutsu on them; their soul would be absorbed. But nope, they could just hop into one of the Tree-People destroy their eyes' and have the daughter heal them with no downside, and the threat of the Tree-People is completely neutralize.

 

Power of the Gods is nothing compared to just getting some five year old Yamanaka to just hop into them to destroy their eyes. 

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 30 May 2026 - 04:21 AM.

[Bail o' Lies]

5) Characters.

 

Characters of Boruto can be broken up into three groups/caste:

 

Old Naruto Characters. Who are often visually unrecognizable due to the art and design changes in the manga. They are often treated as worthless, useless, and incapable of doing anything.

 

Boruto cast that Kishimoto made before giving it over to Ikemoto. Since, they were created for this manga and were barely in Naruto you get used to their designs in the manga, but because they were made by Kishimoto they have the Ikemoto redesign issues where they always look poorly drawn. Unless forced to they are rarely used.

 

Ikemoto's original characters. The only characters he can bother to drawn properly. Constantly treated in story as superior to the rest of the cast being smarter, stronger, and cooler than the rest of the cast, especially the old Naruto characters.

 

When I am mocking the original cast in my summaries. I am mocking their underuse and how Ikemoto treats them. Ikemoto does not want to use most of Kishimoto's characters unless he is forced to, he wants to focus on his own original characters(, like Nail, Moe, Madoc, & Hime,) and there are only a handful he clearly likes Jiraiya, Moegi, and Ino. While loathing using the rest. The worse and most consistent example of this is Shikamaru, the smartest of Kishimoto's characters, is constantly treated like an absolute moron and is constantly dismissed and disrespected by any Ikemoto character he interacts with. This would be less of a problem if his cast left the village on missions so they can be focused on, like Kishimoto did in Naruto, but Ikemoto refuses to leave the village for his fights. So you constantly have to ask two question about both the old and new characters. Where are they!? When they are not around while half the village is destroyed. Why are they so useless?! When they are involved in the story.

 

It also doesn't help he doesn't care about his inherited cast of Bolt's generation either. I am convinced that if Bolt's name wasn't in the title, he likely would have been left in the dust as well. So, Ikemoto could focus solely on his original characters. Who are uninteresting and most readers do not care about. So, he had to start including more of his inherited cast in part two.

 

Now, I don't want focus on every single character at there is in Naruto-Boruto. That cast is too large for realistically any medium to handle. Want I want is to know is, who are the main characters, and what is their story? In One Piece, its the Strawhat Pirates. Sure Luffy is the main character and the rest of the crews importance varies depending on the arc. But you know who the main characters of the arc are and who are there just for the arc. In Naruto, it was, in theory, team 7 that was the main cast. Of course, Kakashi had less focus because he was the mentor. But, Sakura rarely got any focus. Kishimoto, got bored of Naruto and eventually just turned him into the ninja Messiah. And Sasuke nearly consumed the plot. But in Boruto, who are the main characters? Is it Neo-Team 7? Going by part one they are certainly not. Konohamaru got no focus in part one. Mitsuki (Cups) and Salad were pretty much background characters to show Bolt was on a team in the manga. Is it Ikemoto's original characters? Nail, Hime (Eida,) Amando (Madoc,) and Daemon (Moe.) Well fans didn't care for them. So, now in part two, the cast has been expanded to add the next generation characters that Ikemoto didn't care about in part one. For example, it was hinted in Part One that Moe (Daemon) had feelings for Hinata's daughter and they were going to be a pairing. In Part Two, she is in a pairing with Inojin (Blond Sai) who was constantly one of the most popular characters of the new generation in the anime.

 

Which is why I want the main cast to leave the village on missions more. So we can focus on the main cast. Instead of wondering, where is everyone? When half the village is being destroyed again in another battle.

 

Now I have gone on about Ikemoto's tier system and how his refusal to leave the village causes frustration as the village can be destroyed but only like 2-4 characters are fighting the one causing the damage. But seeing how only about a quarter to at best half a year's chapter will have combat. The means most of a year's chapters are focus on character dialogue, interactions, and growth. So how are they? In a word, repetitive. Pretty much any character in this story, with rare exceptions, has one topic that bring up if they are involved in the plot and that's it. Naruto instantly trusts any Ikemoto's character. Shikamaru he doubt Ikemoto's characters but he is dumber than them all. Mitsuki worships Boruto as his sun. Sarada has feeling for Boruto. Sumire has a crush on Boruto/is friends with Salad. Boruto his bonds of bro's with Kawaki, his daddy issues, the Karma seal, and him not liking Clone Jiraiya's plotting. Kawaki his bonds of bros with Boruto, his troubled past, and him wanting to eliminate Kara/Otsutsuki. Clone Jiraiya talks about his future sight and his plans. About four years of the manga were focus on Amado being enigmatic and the cast couldn't tell if he was on their side or not. Not that any issues are ever really resolved, they are just repeated. When in theory for a story like this, a conflict introduced in the downtime that would be resolved by the cast fighting together. If they are even brought up. Mitsuki seeing Boruto as his Sun was never even discussed/mention by Boruto until part two. So most of part one all they talk about is, "we can't trust Kawaki & Amado." In part two its, "we have to work together with Boruto, but we hate him due to the perspective flip." So it gets very dull.

 

Oh, let's talk about one of the few rare things that isn't Ikemoto's fault, but he still doesn't help fix. The likability of his main character, Boruto. First, let's look at why his father worked. Naruto was a loud, stupid, and obnoxious brat that got on the nerves of both the characters around him and the audience. Yet, he was able to impress both through his hard work ethic. He would challenge notions he disagreed with and if he couldn't get through the person by beating them up. He would go off to train to get stronger. He was constantly training, therefore, working towards his goal of either becoming Hokage or returning Sasuke to the village. His backstory of being a lonely dead last at school orphan that no one cared about made Western fans feel empathy towards him. That gave him a pass on a lot of his antics. And if he got really annoying Sakura would often hit him when he was acting really rude or obnoxious act as a stress releases before Naruto really got on anyone's nerves. Maybe too well, as while she had no problem with the Japanese fanbase. The Western part of the fandom grew to hate her for constantly hitting him.

 

Boruto was born the privileged son of Naruto. Savior of the World and as Hokage, leader of his home village. Going off the movie, therefore Kishimoto's original intentions for the character. Naruto while busy, clearly made sure his children didn't suffer through the same issues he suffered when he was a child. Naruto was considered a moron will into his adulthood due to being dead-last in his graduating class. To make sure his son wasn't considered the same, he clearly personally tutored him while he was in the academy. For example, teaching him the Shadow Clone jutsu. So, he wouldn't fail a test due to being unable to form a standard clone like he did. Oh wait. In the anime, in Episode 36 Boruto said to Kakashi. That Naruto never taught Boruto anything and he just somehow learned the Shadow Clone on his own. Because he is just that gifted of a prodigy. Right. We are ignoring that stupidity for this part because it isn't in the movie. Boruto was the top of his class through out his time in the academy and considered a gifted genius prodigy. Naruto understood Boruto's skill level to such an extent. That he was the only one to realize Boruto was cheating during the chunin exam because he, Konohamaru, and Hinata never taught him any of the moves he was pulling off. He wanted to make sure his son was never friendless, so he asked his friends to set up playdates with their kids. The thing is, because the kids could feel their parents forcing him on them. While they didn't reject him, they didn't like hanging out with him. For example, during the movie, the boys were playing a new RPG fighting game. Boruto was given a hacked maxed out character by someone trying to gain favor with his father. The boys were annoyed by this and it is clear that this was a constant occurrence. Also, Boruto already knew the character was hacked before he met up with his "friends" to paly against each other, with them boast how much they grinded and built up their character, and he didn't delete the character and start over. So to not ruin it for his supposed friends. He was only upset about it once they complained about him having a maxed out character which he clearly got through cheating and left him alone after making their frustration clear. Sarada, who clearly grew up constantly spending time with him, due to their parents being teammates, saw him as a spoiled arrogant lazy brat. Her opinion and her feelings on him did not changed till after the Chunin Exam. Of course, he feels frustration that he never truly struggled and any success is already assumed because of who his father is. The only real issue in his life is the fact that his father is busy. Which is why he attaches himself to Sasuke so quickly as he is the first person who clearly doesn't bend over backwards for him, gives him standards that he can fail, and doesn't constantly praise Naruto.

 

That said, he has issues that are faults of his actions and behavior alone and not anything caused by Naruto. It is made pretty clear, he doesn't really care about anyone outside himself, his mother, and his sister. It is them being upset and mistreated that makes Boruto have issues with his father. He doesn't bother to even try to bond with his teammates at all. Despite one being a big brother mentor figure all his life who had a very similar life to his growing up, one who has been his "friend" since before they could walk who also has an absentee father as well, and the newest addition is probably the only person in the world genuinely interested in him. He is also lazy despite how gifted he is. When he asks Konohamaru to teach him the rasengan. Konohamaru is overjoyed because this is the first time Boruto has ever asked for training. He thinks he is finally taking being a ninja seriously and wants Konohamaru to train him like Naruto taught him. He was able to learn it in a day. Even with the short cuts Naruto discovered that would make the training easier, that is still impressive. Of course, that was only so he can get training with Sasuke. This is why whenever he calls Konohamaru, "sensei," in part two, it always comes off as absurd to me. As he never treated him with any respect when he was studying under him. He clearly coast through life barely bothering to do anything, passively accepting the handouts he is given because of his father instead of refusing them, clearly never refusing the privileges no matter how much he may claim to dislike them, and would have failed the Chunin Exam in the earlier parts on his own. When he would have easily passed if he had put any effort into his training. If not for his teammates carrying him or him cheating when he couldn't just rely on them doing all the work. He still uses the illegal equipment despite knowing its wrong, and just blames Naruto when he is caught.

 

Now the movie is suppose to be his lowest point before he changes for the better. This is both what Kishimoto wrote and clearly intended when he handed the story off to Ikemoto and the anime.

 

Of course, it was a bad idea to make daddy issues the core of Boruto. A large among of the appeal of Naruto-Boruto is the likability of Naruto. Boruto acts out the exact same way Naruto used to when he was the pariah of the village. So that implies Naruto is neglecting him on the level of how the village used to treat him. Either this is false and it makes Boruto look like even more of a spoiled brat. Or its true and it destroys Naruto. 

 

The anime because it starts earlier overplayed those traits and turned them into his defining characteristics in the show. They make it clear that he is the most gifted prodigy ever. To the point that it is utterly confusing that he even needs to cheat to win. He knew 3 elemental releases before even leaving the academy, wind water and lightning, something that would make someone Jonin level in Naruto's days. Also, he somehow instinctively learned the shadow clone jutsu in the anime and was never taught it. He is very arrogant and obnoxious, constantly acting like he is better than Naruto in most episodes. Well, until the anime needs to do something to get the kids to laugh; then he acts wackier than Naruto ever behaved. Also, the more time before the chunin exam means extending the daddy issues plotline dragging it out to the point of apathy. 

 

For the manga, because the story is so cyclical, it never seems like Boruto improves. Despite making supporting Sarada's dream of becoming Hokage his life goal. He still doesn't show much care of his teammates. Instead it is just him adding Kawaki into the handful of character he actually cares about. He never works towards his goal even after he supposedly changes. He never tries to change anything, just constantly complains to the adults that are both required and used to listening to him whine. He doesn't train and it's not like he needs to because the Karma Seal makes him stronger than Naruto over time. He is an obnoxious smug selfish arrogant lazy brat that constantly thinks he is better than anyone. His privileged background means he is not given a pass for his behavior like Naruto was by the audience. It would be better if Sarada hits him like her mother used to. In order to release some of the frustration the audience felt for him, before it reached the apathy stage, but they fear her being hated like her mother. So no one really criticizes or complains about his behavior. I am 95% convinced that Inojin's popularity, as he was considered at times the most popular character of the new generation by anime fans especially in Japan, is because he is one of the few that does. Which is likely why he was made the love interest of the daughter in part two over Daemon. The one Ikemoto clearly wanted for her to be in a pairing with.

 

Part one of the manga should have been several arcs of him admiring Sarada's dream of becoming hokage and what she would do that would make it so worth it to be her shadow. Have him addressing Mitsuki seeing him as his sun. As well as learning something from Konohamaru and treating him as his teacher just like Naruto does for Kakashi; as Sasuke should be his Jiraiya. That's way how he behaves in part two, suddenly caring about them which he never did before, doesn't come out of left field.

 

In part two, Ikemoto made him more like one of his characters. Arrogant yet selfless edgy cool stoic silent lone wolf that the manga clearly wants you to think is cool, but just comes off as fake. He seems like a completely different person. Well, until he starts having hissy fits again. Also even here when clone Jiraiya trains him CJ makes it clear he is going to train Boruto in the most optimized way to make him the strongest he can possibly be, and it all but stated he is the strongest in the world with no one being close to his level; besides the Tree-People.

 

So (anime) before he left the academy he was the greatest genius ever to be born just able to learn advance techniques on a whim instinctively with no training, (movie) he is a lazy brat that doesn't train and had to cheat to win, (part one) even when he supposedly turns himself around he is given a seal that instantly makes him one of the most powerful ninja in the world, and (part two) he then undergoes training with someone who uses future sight to optimize his training to make him the most perfect version of himself. Where is the hard work?

Edited by Bail o' Lies, Yesterday, 05:22 PM.

[Bail o' Lies]

6) Shipping & Character Relationships.

 

I have gone over why the Shipping in the story is pointless before but let's go over it again. The goal of the character Boruto at the start of the manga is the be the Shadow Hokage/Hokage's Shadow for Sarada-like Sasuke is for Naruto, and Danzo was for Hiruzen when he was Hokage. So what matters is, why does he want to be her shadow enforcer when she becomes Hokage? Does he agree with her policies? Does he agree with her moral views? Does he agree with her philosophy? Does he support any reforms she wants to enact? Does he think she has good economic policies? Does he think she would be good at governing the village? Why does he support her? Whether he ends up with her romantically or not doesn't matter, because his dream job is still to be her shadow enforcer. Whether he ends up with Sarada (Salad), Mitsuki (Cups,) Kawaki (Nail,) Eida (Hime,) or Sumire (Clone) does not matter. As working for Sarada is still his goal regardless to who he ends up with; if he ends up with anyone. Neither the anime nor manga, as far as I know, have even attempted to cover this in the slightest. The only answer that might have been given is that, he is in love with her. If that is the case, if that is the only reason he has to support her when she becomes hokage. Then, he must end up with her and all other pairings considerations are a distraction. As he has no other reason for his stated end goal, besides his feelings for her.

 

This also brings up another problem of Salad's constant under utilization in the story. Her becoming Hokage is the end goal for both her and the Protagonist, Bolt. But it is rarely mentioned, never addressed, never explored, never examined in the story. The only thing she has is her feelings for Bolt, which she is unwilling to admit she has but everyone can see. Why should the audience care about when she becomes Hokage at the end, when the story itself won't till the ending?

 

The Sarada Gaiden was well received by the fans. One of the main appeals of the miniseries was the growing bond between Naruto and Sarada that eventually inspired her goal to become Hokage. Which Boruto despised and resented in equal measure. Now, if this had led to a mentorship role similar to what Sasuke has with Bolt, it would have fixed a major issue both in Boruto and Naruto. As its never made clear what Naruto even accomplished once he became Hokage? Why should readers even care about his goal of being Hokage  when he seems miserable in the role and doesn't seemed to accomplish anything? Him mentoring Sarada and showing what he has accomplish as Hokage would solve the issue, as its would demonstrate how important it was for him to become Hokage and why its important for Sarada to follow after him.

 

This mentorship didn't happen, beyond them not thinking about it, for two reasons. For one, Ikemoto wanted to focus on Naruto being a father-figure for his character Kawaki. The other? The main message of that Gaiden was blood isn't important, bonds are. It doesn't matter if Karin is Sarada's mother or Sakura. As Sakura is the one who raised her, so she is her mother. The problem is that message leads into a logical question of, who is her father-figure then? Sasuke is her biological father, no one denies that, but because she wants to be Hokage due to spending time with Naruto. Doesn't that mean that she sees Naruto as her father-figure? This line of thought isn't allowed as it would mean the daughter of SasuSaku really wishes she was a NaruSaku daughter instead. So she isn't allowed to have more of a bond or interactions beyond what she had in the Gaiden with Naruto, despite this restriction harming the story.

 

Let me make this clear: the damage of not going with NaruSaku as the end pairing for Naruto is minor compared to them not going with BoroSara for Boruto. Granted, the difference is like be comparing the iceberg hitting the Titanic and a nuke going off. Not going with NS negatively affected Naruto as what was the point of the promise of a lifetime, why did Sakura confess to Naruto and try to kill Sasuke to atone for how she burdened Naruto, why did Naruto forgive Obito, and the bench scene meaning a purpose being erased made Sakura have a flat to not even having a character arc as she loved Sasuke at the start and she got him by doing nothing. But it didn't destroy the story entirely by not going through with it. That was the Last that did so, by making it why NS didn't happen worse. As instead of just Naruto moving on, so his two friends could be happy together. They made it, he never had feelings for her, and was only pretending to for over a decade to spite Sasuke, like an utter scumbag. While in Boruto, the only reason for the purported end goal of the story is their feelings for each other. They have never given another reason. They have never explored another reason. This story has been running for nearly ten years now. As even if they started next chapter, it feels too late to do something that should have been a part of the story all along.

 

And what did the story focus on instead of developing the end goal of the story? An attempt to make an improved Naruto-Sasuke conflict with Bolt and Nail. Their "Bond of Bros" is the primary if not the sole story focused in the manga and its not interesting. While one of the major weakness of the chase after Sasuke, is we didn't spend enough time with team 7 together. So fans got tired of why Naruto focused so much on a character they barely spent time with and didn't want to return to the village. In Boruto, most of the actual story in part one is building and bashing you over the head that Bolt and Nail are total Bros. They are the ultimate bros that totally care for each other like brothers. Please ignore that Nail constantly acts like an ass and Bolt is a spoiled brat. They are totally bros with a deep bond. Has the story mentioned that they are real bros enough yet, no? Don't worry they just have every chapter just constantly go on about how much they are bros. Of course that's till the end of part one, with the "tragedy" of Nail deciding to kill Bolt, his bro who he totally cares about bro, to destroy the Otsutsuki within him in order to protect Naruto his father figure. The problem is he tells no one of this, so the entire cast has to guess his motivation, and when Naruto and Hinata refused to kill their son just because Nail wants to. He seals them away, pretends they are dead, with the plans to release them after he kills their son, and anyone else that gets in his way. However, the first time we see Femmy in Bolt's head in part two, he makes it clear he has no power over Bolt, he can't take over his body, he can't influence him in the slightest, he is just a voice in the back of Bolt's head. Waiting for him to die so they can both end it. Unless Bolt gives him control. Which he had even given up on that by the time we saw him again. So, the reason for the conflict between them is moot.

 

Now, you can argue that the story can say, "well, Nail doesn't know that and can't believe Bolt even if he tells him." Sure, but the problem is the audience knows Femmy is no threat. Beyond maybe a fake out there is no risk or danger of Bolt being taken over by Femmy. So there is no suspense and its just an excuse for the conflict to continue as there is no other reason, conflict, or the story to continue the manga without it.

 

Sasuke's reasons made sense in character for why he left the village. He wanted power to avenge his family and felt the village was making him too soft to accomplish this goal. Of course the story needed a reason to keep the chase going. So he didn't just return to the village after he killed his brother. Therefore, making the chase after him unnecessary. As Naruto should've just trusted Sasuke would have returned after he killed Itachi and all he had to do is give him a heads up on why Orochimaru wants his body. But the way Kishimoto went about to try to keeping the chase going, the village ordered his clan to be purged by his brother, made so Sasuke was justified in never returning to the village and in fact making him an enemy of the village. While Naruto's reason for obsessively chasing was under developed because of the limited time they were on a team together, and not coming up for a reason Sasuke should return to the village beyond "bonds."

 

What is going to happen at the end of Boruto is obvious. After defeating all the tree people. They will have a fight where Bolt just keeps going over and over, "Just trust me, Bro." Until he wins/convinces Nail to release his parents. Then he gets instantly forgiven by them despite entrapping them for years while he brainwashed the world to chase down and kill their son.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 14 June 2026 - 06:50 AM.

[Bail o' Lies]

Well now that the site is back. I fed this to an AI and here is what it made a thesis statement and a summary.

 

Thesis Statement: The structural collapse of Boruto stems from an fundamental mismatch between its corporate ambition and its creative execution. The franchise attempts to build a high-stakes, sci-fi-infused battle shonen while relying on a monthly artist who uses visual shortcuts to mask anatomical and emotional drafting weaknesses. By abandoning organic ninja world-building, clear tactical combat logic, and cohesive character development in favor of unearned power-ups, mechanical retcons, and hollow emotional stakes, the series transforms a legendary legacy into a sterile, hyper-focused sandbox that fails to justify its own narrative existence.

 

1.) The Visual Identity Crisis: Mikio Ikemoto’s background as a background rendering assistant leaves him fundamentally unequipped for dynamic human anatomy and organic facial expressions. To compensate, he relies on overly baggy K-Pop aesthetic choices to mask skeletal combat movements, isolates characters with off-putting visual anchors like literal nostril holes, and strips legacy cast members of their defining silhouettes. This structural limitation results in an emotionally flat world where characters lack facial nuance, and the visual storytelling fails to convey genuine human grief or kinetic momentum.

 

2.) The Structural Failure of the "Never-Ending Prologue: "The series operates on a broken mathematical reality: a monthly manga attempting to feed a weekly anime. This creates a sluggish, highly repetitive annual plot loop that stalls progression for years. Because the manga cannot generate enough source material, the narrative becomes a hollow skeleton designed for the anime to fill with filler. When the anime staff ultimately halted production, it exposed the structural failure of the series' pacing—leaving a story with zero organic downtime, rapid-fire sequential arcs, and deep bonds that exist entirely on paper rather than through sustained canonical buildup.

 

3.) The Illusion of Innovation Through Recycled Plot Devices: The central narrative engines of Boruto—the Karma Seal, Omnipotence, and Shinjutsu—are marketed as revolutionary expansions but function as lazy shortcuts. The Karma seal strips away the horror of parasitic takeover by becoming a glorified, consequence-free stat multiplier that drops millennia of combat data into a child’s muscle memory. Meanwhile, the Omnipotence memory warp locks characters in an artificial cognitive loop, forcing the story to repeatedly re-explain the spell's mechanics because the writers cannot allow logical deduction to break the predetermined endgame early.

 

4.) The Erasure of Strategic Shinobi Warfare: Combat has degraded from a game of high-stakes tactical chess into a highly scripted, binary sequence. Ikemoto establishes antagonists with absolute, flawless invulnerability, only to introduce a sudden mid-fight narrative contrivance or immediate power-up to end the fight in a single blow. Furthermore, by locking nearly every battle inside the borders of Konoha while completely ignoring the organic deployment of the village’s military and sensor divisions, the manga creates a geographical paradox that makes the world feel utterly empty, sterile, and devoid of stakes.

 

5.) Corporate Favoritism and Character Erasure: The cast is explicitly fractured by authorial preference. While Ikemoto’s original cyborg creations dominate screen time with un-counterable abilities and intellectual superiority, legendary strategists like Shikamaru are deliberately written as short-tempered morons to artificially elevate the new cast. When editorial pressure finally forced the inclusion of popular next-gen characters in Part Two, they were dropped into the frontline without prior organic development, proving that if the protagonist's name wasn't in the title, the entire inherited generation would have been completely abandoned.

 

6.) The Death of Narrative Purpose: The ultimate failure of the series manifests in its emotional core. By completely ignoring the political, philosophical, and structural governance of Sarada’s dream to become Hokage, Boruto’s foundational life goal of becoming her "Shadow Enforcer" is stripped of all ideological weight. The story backs itself into a corner where romantic love is the only remaining justification for the plot. To fill this void, the manga hyper-focuses on an artificial "Bond of Bros" between Boruto and Kawaki, which collapses in Part Two once the internal threat of Momoshiki is revealed to be completely contained.

 

Ultimately, Boruto functions as an artificial corporate enterprise rather than an organic continuation of Masashi Kishimoto's masterpiece. It is a story where the characters do not solve puzzles through ingenuity, but because they have read the writer's script. It is a world where conflicts do not conclude through thematic resolution, but through raw genetic privilege and immediate power-ups. By substituting systemic depth with superficial flash, the series validates "Bail o' Lies" critique: a narrative built entirely on broken promises, hollow stakes, and the systematic dismantling of the legacy that birthed it.

Edited by Bail o' Lies, 01 June 2026 - 09:06 AM.

[Bail o' Lies]

Did the intro found interesting info.