Have you been slacking on the new Boruto episodes? If you are a Naruto fan, chances are you are also watching Boruto, but do you also have that pit in your stomach when watching Boruto and feel like there is something missing? It might just be nothing, but why is Boruto so boring?
Boruto is boring because it has a different vibe to Naruto. A different mangaka worked on Boruto and deviated from the setting of Naruto. The anime release was also rushed. Further, the anime is full of fillers so the characters are not showcased properly. The lack of villains is also a problem.
Are you getting impatient as to what is the goal of Boruto? Do you also miss the thrilling and emotional sequences we watched in Naruto? Here’s to hoping that Boruto lives up to the reputation of Naruto, but in the meantime, let us take a look at the reasons why Boruto is underwhelming.
1. Boruto Was Not Initially Written By Masashi Kishimoto
Boruto was initially written by Ukyo Kodachi. He was the co-writer of the movie, Boruto: Naruto the Movie. This is a huge problem from the very beginning as the original writer of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto did not supervise the series from the get-go.
Of course, just like with other works, if the original creator is not behind it, then there are bound to be huge differences in the way the story is told as well as the style. A lot of fans think that Boruto is entirely separate from the Naruto series in the way the story is unraveling right now.
There is still good news! Even if Masashi Kishimoto was determined to stay away from the Boruto universe, he is back as the writer for the manga (as of November 21, 2020) and he will also supervise the scripting and storyboarding of the anime.
We are not saying that Ukyo’s handling of Boruto was bad, we are simply saying that it has a different feel from the original creator of Naruto.
Keep in mind that the majority of the audience of Boruto are Naruto fans, so we are bound to notice the difference between the two worlds.
Fans are definitely expecting a shift in pace as well as how the story is retold in the anime which will closely resemble the presentation of events in the manga.
Who knows? We might be watching an earth-shattering fight scene in the new episodes!
2. Boruto Was Rushed
The viewers of Boruto who did not watch Naruto are probably so confused right now because the opening scene of Boruto has still yet to come into fruition. In fact, the current episodes are not showing any signs of fulfilling what we saw in the first episode.
On the other hand, Boruto viewers who are also Naruto fans know for a fact that the release of Boruto was rushed. Unlike what happened in previews of key events in Naruto, the production team of Boruto had no idea how the first scene ties into the current Boruto happenings.
There have been a lot of talks that the people behind the anime are struggling to find reasons to arrive at the confrontation scene that was shown in the first episode. This is proof that by the time they released the first few episodes, the storyline, as well as the characters, are not yet set in stone.
This is probably the reason why new viewers stopped watching Boruto as they were not patient enough to wait for what became of the first scene. As for long-time Naruto viewers, we are still holding out hope that everything will be addressed in the end.
The first episode started with, “The age of shinobi is over” For a lot of fans, this spelled the different direction that Boruto is going to take. With this statement alone, a lot of Naruto fans resolved to skip Boruto.
3. New Characters Are Underdeveloped
It might be possible that we are just so attached to the original characters that we are not giving the new characters a chance to show who they really are.
However, after a closer look at the main and side characters, we cannot help but feel that we are given cheap copies of the original characters.
Well, they are actually copies of the original characters as they are their kin, but their stories are unfledged. In Naruto, we knew the side characters so well that we demand more of them.
In Boruto, interesting characters are not given much screen time, and we cannot seem to connect easily with the characters that are given too much screen time.
In Boruto, we do not have the drama that the Jiraiya-Pain sequence brought in Naruto. The same as the struggle of emotions with the Kakashi and Obito tandem.
It is a fact that people loved Naruto because of the stories of the side characters, but in Boruto, they are just lurking in the background while the main characters do not have solid stories themselves.
4. Boruto Has Too Many Fillers
This is the classic case of the anime trying to keep up with manga releases. Filler episodes are understandable especially when we are talking about an anime where the manga is not yet done.
In the case of Boruto, they made sure that people will skip the filler episodes.
Naruto was also full of fillers, but they made it a point to somehow make the fillers interesting and some of them even add value to the main story.
According to the creators of Boruto, 100% of the episodes are actually canon, but long time fans claim that it is not. The statement of the creators pretty much added to the fire as the audience sees this as storyboard laziness.
When you take a look at it, the so-called “fillers” were made to be side stories. However, they are character-driven and does not add to the plot. Even then, the said “fillers” also do not add anything to the characters arcs.
This is why fans think that there are too much fillers.
5. Boruto Is Not An Ideal Protagonist
It is very common to see people saying that the anime, Boruto is not even about Boruto. This is brought about by the clamor of fans to see more of the original characters and how they behave now that they have the new generation.
Also, unlike Naruto, Boruto is still an incomplete character. Keep in mind that this is a shonen that we are talking about, so, if at the first episodes, the audience does not care about the protagonist, then is it even shonen at all?
You will notice that a lot of fans do not like Boruto as he does not have this ultimate goal that can change the world.
He can be very annoying and it feels like he is doing all these epic things just to get the approval of his father. He does not really have to be like Naruto as a protagonist, but at the very least his character should have depth (which he does not have)
Probably, the characterization of Boruto is a departure to the past feel of Naruto and was not intended for long-time fans of the Naruto series.
Then again, even the people who just watched Boruto and not the other Naruto shows claim that the character of Boruto is a bit shallow.
6. Boruto Has Weak Villains
When we say weak here, we are not referring to their powers. Instead, we are pointing out the fact that these villains do not even pose a strong villain arc nor do they add a lot of value to the story.
Key fight scenes become lame as the characterization of the villains are rushed. The ending? We see the nerfing of the powers of the original characters. Further, there is always a discrepancy for the power scaling. This might be just a little thing to some people, but for shonen anime fans, this is extremely important.
Power scaling spells the likelihood of a victory and defeat of a character. Sure, in Boruto they took on the “ninja tool” way and did not focus on jutsu as much, but since there were already a lot of awesome jutsus available that we saw in action in Naruto, it is so weird to watch a character struggle against what could have been an easy opponent.
For a lot of fans, the Jogan of Boruto alone can decimate the villains in Boruto. There is a lot of hope for the upcoming episodes in terms of power scaling, now that the original creator is back in charge.
7. Boruto Manga Is Better Than The Anime
Boruto anime seems boring as there is still not much content in terms of the story. There are a lot of side plots that concentrate on the characters, but ultimately do not add to their character arcs (which is really weird)
On the other hand, the manga focuses a lot on the conflicts brought about by the new organization and also Karma. The power scaling issue is actually not a problem in the manga, and you will see there that the powers of the original characters are actually being utilized.
The manga has more of that “Naruto feel” due to the dark plots and focus on the villain arcs. Therefore, when you compare it to the anime, they feel like they are not even the same Boruto.
Then again, to cut the anime some slack, this is done due to the pacing between the manga and anime releases.
Lastly, the manga is so consistent in terms of quality. As the anime tends to veer towards side plots to release as much episodes as possible, there are bound to be inconsistencies when it is time for some story progression.
The result is the viewers do not even get hyped when there is some progress to the story and dismissing Boruto as boring.
Final Thoughts
Did that boring feel towards Boruto become clearer now? Will you still keep watching it or will you just pause or even quit watching?
As you can see, the problems with Boruto has a lot to do with planning and production. At a glance, even if it is different from Naruto, it still has an interesting story. The problem is its execution to be in line with the past Naruto shows.
As it is still not done, we are still holding out hope that it will definitely get better. There is a lot of room for improvement and there are too many possibilities for plot points. So let us be more patient and see what Boruto offers us in the future.