Boruto Is Taking a Bold Risk With One Feature That Made Naruto Great

Undertones of love and connecting bonds have always been a steadfast-held theme in the world of Naruto, and as the series came to an end, we began to see how these deeply bonded characters fleshed out the reality of their emotions. Boruto: Naruto the Next Generations and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex take inspiration from their predecessor but then continue taking the theme a step further and to its newest heights as of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, Chapter 20. This latest arc has followed along as the remaining Konoha ninja face off against the “Human God Trees” and has had repeated mentions of love and trust as recurring emotional themes.

These feelings being featured in the forefront of the arc aren’t exactly new to the series at large, as all of the Naruto series had these emotional bond themes present but more as undertones and backings to the foreground of things like peace, war, and past mistakes. It does make sense that a series succeeding in a world filled with war and violence would focus less on the narrative plot points that were solved previously and would rather evolve towards the remaining themes. However, the question held here is whether or not Boruto: Two Blue Vortex is jumping into these story beats too headlong and not allowing them the room to breathe.



Much like the love present between some of these characters, there’s a chance the compact narrative will smother those it targets.The Romance Blueprint Set by NarutoLove and connections were a recurring and underlying theme often highlighted through Naruto’s desire to become Hokage so the entire village would be his “family”. Beyond that, there was Naruto’s crush on Sakura, Hinata’s crush on Naruto, and Naruto’s bond with Sasuke, being the driving force for many of the protagonist’s decisions.

With all of that laid out in front of us, we can see that Naruto is no stranger to love. However, romantic love has always been a lower-tiered theme within the series, even when delivering a payoff with these themes by the end of the series through pairing up different beloved characters. Our hero started the series alone and determined, and eventually found people to love and connect to through his time as a ninja, and these bonds are what directly led to Naruto becoming the Hokage and managing to bring peace between the other villages.

The Next Generation’s Spin on Naruto’s GroundworkBoruto: Naruto the Next Generations takes a very similar stance and starts with important bonds and the undertones of infatuation as themes and story beats for many of its characters. The main focus of early Boruto was our protagonist navigating his emotions toward his father while becoming a ninja in a peaceful society. Young Boruto doesn’t suffer much adversity aside from the aloofness of his father, but he quickly becomes a shining light for other aspiring ninjas in the series.

Kunoichi, like Sumire and Sarada, are shown to have complex feelings towards Boruto for different reasons, yet their emotions toward the young ninja are still prevalent for character work in the futureWe then get characters like Kawaki and Mitsuki, who both feature intense bonds with Boruto and other characters within the series. Mitsuki is introduced as a mysterious ninja related to Orochimaru, who focuses heavily on how Boruto’s dedication to being a ninja will help him find his way as a hero and ninja as well. Mitsuki is the first sign we see of subverting the bonds and love themes as through the scheming of Kawaki and Eida, Mitsuki’s feelings toward Boruto are swapped to Kawaki.

We then have Kawaki, whose entire story arc in Boruto: Naruto the Next Generations revolves around his evolving familial love for Boruto, Naruto, Hinata, and Himawari. This bond eventually leads him to the decision of sealing Naruto and Hinata away to keep them “safe” and deciding Boruto needs to die because of the dangers his Karma seal presents.[RELATED: 10 Best Naruto: Shippuden Filler Arcs]ShueishaLoving Too HardFinally, in talking about Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, we can discuss the stark uptick in love and emotional ties being at the forefront of major themes of this series.

As Boruto: Naruto The Next Generations wrapped, we were quickly submerged in a complex plot from Kawaki to “protect” those he loves through villainizing Boruto. As the sequel to Boruto has progressed, love as the featured concept has become the clear goal. Characters such as Jura have shown a fascination with “love” and the way emotion can be a controlling force that causes irrational action.

Jura is presented as cold and calculating, however, this can not be said for the rest of the Human God Trees he is leading.As of chapters 19 and 20, Jura has deemed “love” a dangerous force for the God Trees as it is an anomaly that accompanies intelligence. Along with Jura’s assertion that they must overcome love, we get panels of two different battlefields involving both sides.

One battlefield focuses on Sarada and her team, where we see Yodo, who eventually ends up seemingly losing her life in an attempt to play on Ryū’s emotions. As Yodo is fading, she then tells Sarada that she can tell she’s been holding back and that it is okay to use your power even if it’s only to protect that “special person”. Along with this speech, we get a panel of Boruto as Sarada then begins to use her Mangekyo Sharingan.

Within the same two chapters, we also witness the battle between Konohamaru and Matsuri, who repeatedly refers to her enemy as “Konohamaru-chan” while the ninja continues to show discomfort in the sentiment. During this fight, we get the insight that Matsuri has Moegi’s emotions and that Shikamaru warned Konohamaru that they would need to capitalize on this to defeat the Human God Trees while they are still not at full potential. This fight boils down to quick moments between the two characters where Konohamaru successfully gets Matsuri to drop her guard by appealing to her emotions, which he then strikes with a Rasengan.

As the fight appears to be over, the ninja begins to hesitate as he sees Matsuri crying from the betrayal, and in that split second, she strikes back, saving herself and possibly killing Konohamaru.These moments, although at times compelling and very much highlighting Jura’s way of thinking, have begun to cause fans to question whether Boruto: Two Blue Vortex is forcing and rushing their bonds and love. The groundwork was set for these emotions to play a role thematically, but the question still stands that all of this focus on characters’ “love” for other characters may serve as a disservice to the character’s growth.

With the concept of a ninja using emotions to strike down an opponent featured in the fight against Matsuri, we also got a surprise ode to the idea that Sarada may be stifling a love for Boruto that could likely set characterization back chapters.The post Boruto Is Taking a Bold Risk With One Feature That Made Naruto Great appeared first on ComicBook.com.

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