Review of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Here’s what you should know about me: I don’t watch filler episodes. Generally. I mean, for the beginning of Boruto I did every so often, but by the end of it, I was strictly watching the manga canon episodes. Some people might find this stupid, but whoever is reading this review needs to know that to understand why I’m reviewing this as I am. Listen: Boruto is good. And, by that, I mean the manga canon is good. There are some anime canon episodes that were super fun to watch, but the manga canon episodes really convinced me that following Boruto’s story was a good choice.If I was solely rating the manga canon episodes—as I did when I watch Naruto and Shippuden—I might be tempted to give this somewhere between an eight and a ten. I thought the concepts introduced over the course of these episodes were really intriguing, and the balance they struck between showing how unencumbered Boruto’s life was growing up and the harrowing events of his adolescence really drove home the impact behind the story. The character dynamics, as well, especially with Kawaki, were super well-done. I cannot wait to jump back into this story in the future and see what we saw at the very beginning of the very first episode realized.

But I just can’t look past all the filler. If I’m rating this anime as a whole, the filler content—and yes, I include the anime canon within this, even if they were approved-by-the-magaka storylines—I can’t ignore all the times the anime veered away from what was really interesting and compelling about Boruto, his life, and his abilities. I understand why we got so many episodes that had nothing to do with the main plot, but it really hurt the viewing experience. I don’t really have much else to say on that front, but I do want to tell anyone who’s reading this and wondering whether to watch the series for the manga canon episodes, I’d highly recommend that you do. There are some properly heart-wrenching, incredible, fascinating, and exciting moments in them, and I only hope that, when we see Boruto on our screens again, those moments are the only ones we’ll see.