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mintichoco · 2 years

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'Boruto' series re-envisioned

tw. opinions (and the wording is all over a mess so read at your own risk), plot-bashing (is that even a thing?)

[This is my opinion on what Boruto, as a sequel to one of the greatest Shounen franchises should have been. Remember, this is entirely my wishful thinking and I don't mean to disrespect any of the writers, animators or the fandom.]

Boruto, as an MC, had immense potential. This point has been chanted to the ground but it is true. He is a third gen Uzumaki and second gen Hyūga. And we all know Uzumaki have monstrous chakra reserves. What he needed was to work hard for it. Where was the training arc?

Think about it. We never got much backstrory about the Uzumaki clan and what their motives and morals were. It would have been cool to see another character use the chakra chains (beside Kushina and Karin). He could have explored Uzushio, the plot could've called for contacting the remaining Uzumaki who supposedly scattered all over the globe.

Maybe Boruto could have worked with seals? Minato, his grandpa, is known as one of the greatest seal masters. If the writers were going for symbolism, why not use that?

Same goes for his Hyūga lineage. We get so much info about the Uchiha in Naruto, it could have been refreshing to see the Boruto lore delve into the Hyūga faction, which isarguably the third (or even the second, not counting the Senju) strongest clan in Konoha.

Think of all the jutsu Boruto could have had in his arsanel with a Byakugan. It's hightime they get the deserved recognition.

Coming to another member of Team 7, Mitsuki is a clever character idea but ultimately wasted postential as well.

If the power scaling continues to get upped in the pace as it is now, there will be nothing left for the Time Skip. Shippuden gave us Sage Mode but Mitsuki already has that. Viewers will look for something new and we all know even Kishimoto wrote himself up a wall with Rinnegan and the Otsutsuki race. What will Ikemoto give then?

Speaking of Otsutsuki, it was sort of dissapointing to see them getting introduced this fast. Some will say Boruto is slow paced and yes, I agree, but in terms of keeping that air of anonymity, it fails terribly.

It would have worked better if instead of Momoshiki landing like a bug out a tree, they got clues and rumors instead.

The whole Code and Kara situation should've been handled first and then led to the reveal of an Otsutsuki nest, perhaps?

Or a portal like the one in Last to a mirror dimension or somthing where the Otsutsuki live? Maybe a dive into how they came to be? It is revealed that humans are an entirely different race and what we see of the Naruto cast are a mix between Otsutsuki and humans.

Also, WHERE IS THE BACKSTORY? Same thing with Hyūgas really. The Hamura thing came out of nowhere. The Last is a below average excuse to tie up loose ends.

Now, Kawaki, I have a love-hate relationship with him. On one hand his backstory provides the perfect intro to post-war tragedies (and a hc of mine that smaller villages in the outskirts still get ignored in favour of the capitals)

But he just feels like a dollar-store Sasuke. As if the writers were like, oh Boruto needs a rival? Add in an angsty guy to contrast his sunny demeanor. I know this is a recurring trope in shounen but it works because it is handled well.

And people say Boruto is handed everything on a silver platter? Kawaki basically lives with the freaking Head of the Village, the elite of the elites, is looked after by the former heir to the Hyūga and gets to be a genin because he has a cool explody power? And all that why? Because he is a mistreated orphan? (what about the kids who lost their parents in the war? what about aforementioned kids in small-sized villages? what about cases like sumire? what makes Kawaki SPECIAL, naruto?)

Kawaki shouldn't have been given any of those benifits. Let him figure out how the world works, let him make mistakes, show his potential as a good guy, let him prove himself as a character worth stanning. Give him a serious politics-based arc explaining that part of the Boruto era rather than some murderers chasing a boy with some magical cure.

Coming to the side characters (yes, I'm saving Sarada for later and there is a reason behind it), let's start with Shikadai. First thought, he is the most carbon-copied version of his dad out of every next gen character.

It's no news that scenarios and often characters revered as prodigies are dumbed down to make him shine but imo most of it is owed to the factor that there is no element of suspense or an ultimatum for that matter.

Kakashi, Minato, Itachi, Orochimaru, Shisui worked as prodigal characters because of the situation. It was war time and kids were forced to grow up. The stakes were high and even then, the plot revolving around them was such that it made them raise the bar higher.

Shikadai seems flat compared to many characters. Remember, Shikamaru was not called a prodigy, he even flunked tests because he was too lazy, but whenever the situation was tense, us viewers could count on his snippets of thoughts for a clarification, or little behaviors to show he realized and often times refused to work for what is right over what is needed because that is smartness, taking a level-headed decision with the least collateral.

On the other hand, Shikadai is fed information and he just 'explains' stuff like a NPC.

I can't help but think, what if Shikadai inherited Temari's temper? Mix that with Shikamaru's actual genius (not the baby puzzle-solving we see in that one arc with Kakashi) and he could be one of the team members to look for clue about the Otsutsuki's existence. Also, I'd like more windstyle-user Shikadai plz.

Moving on to Inojin. He is also one of those characters that I neither like nor dislike. He's just... there.

What Boruto needs is better world-building and ain't no better way to accomplish that than exploring side characters. Inojin doesn't have an affinity for the Yamanaka mind-body-switch so make him train for other stuff.

Let viewers know where jutsu like that stems from (yin and yang release), give him some productive time with the border patrol, stress on the fact that Konoha's citizen don't go to sleep at peace just knowing Naruto will pull some god-level jutsu.

The Yamanaka are an extremely important part of the security system. Remember how Inoichi was part of the team figuring out Pain's black chakra recievers? Make Inojin do something similar with, perhaps some Otsutsuki relic or remains (going with the mystery au)

Then comes Chocho. How to put it simply? At first I despised her. And no, it has nothing to do with her appearance. Actually, I find her and that new girl from the recent Labyrinth Game arc, Batta, amazing.

The fact lies with her attitude. Tell me one attribute that comes to mind while thinking of her other than Butterfly mode and eating chips. Sure, she loves to eat, we get it. The fact again boils down to her falling flat as a character.

Chocho could use her lightning release in many ways and it must be strong too, considering her mother comes from Kiri. She could have earth-release, that would be great to see as none of the main cast prior to this have that.

And if they are going for a Ino-like character, let the girl have some reality to her. A twelve-year old girl is far mature and has other troubles than just thinking about cute boys and girls.

She can retain that aspect but make her serious when it comes to missions, or her family, show her spending time partaking in her hobbies that do not include eating, ogling at movie stars and muttering un-funny jokes and inuendos. Give her depth, for a lack of better words.

And for Hagoromo's sake, LET THESE KIDS HAVE SOME SORT OF GOAL and not just exist because their parents hooked up smh.

Last but not least, Sarada. I, like many others, really like her character. She isn't yet another girl who despises anything remotely 'girly' and is not afraid to show her emotions and voice her thoughts loud and clear. She is practical and relatively smart without being an overkill.

What bugs me is her very existence.

No, I do not want to get roped into a 'sasusaku : good or bad' debate but they just don't make sense to me. And this is coming from someone whose first anime ship as a ten-year-old was sasusaku.

In any case, Naruto (not citing the last few chapters) made it clear that Sasuke did not see Sakura nor Karin as a romantic interest. And honestly, I still am onboard with him being an aro ace because, hello representation!

And whatever happened behind the scenes post The Last are only headcanons, so the idea of Sasuke suddenly marrying Sakura seems a stretch to me. Let alone him having a kid who he suddenly cares so much about after ignoring her for twelve years...(coming to the problem of 'as to why he did that anyway' later)

Sarada, in my opinion, should not exist.

Like, okay, Naruto has a kid but why should Sasuke as well because of that? PTSD is a thing and we are repeatedly shown that Sasuke has grown a fear of familial bonds due to obvious reasons.

If we calculate their ages, the new gen was born sometime when they were 20-23 y/o. Yeah, I'm willing to bet Sasuke did not get past that nagging anxiety of eighteen years in just three or four.

If they wanted to make Sasuke the mysterious sensei figure who is rarely in town and is always going in these crazy amazing solo missions, don't make him a deadbeat dad. Come onnn...

Canon!Sasuke would never just abandon his wife and child for the sake of the village that ruined his family (again, trust issues), the village that he saw ab*sing a child because of something out of his control (who's to say Sarada was not picked on and scrutinized because she is a former nuke-nin's kid and an Uchiha like Naruto was due to Kurama?)

Instead, Sasuke should have just been a traveller. He should still be wandering the nations to find his way in life, being someone beyond an Uchiha and escaping the burden that was placed on his shoulders at a very young age.

You know how I keep mentioning the small villages that probably get ignored? Show him helping them, him cleaning up traces of corrupted organizations like in the last few episodes of the anime.

Show his kinder, softer side in a believable way (not the comic relief that Boruto provides), show us him seeing the beauty in life and finding a reason to live.

The Sasuke we see now just feels like an empty shell. I remember seeing a post the other day saying that he showed genuine emotions in Shippuden but now he looks like he has lost all motivation to even stay alive. And he was definitely guilt-tripped into returning to Konoha.

Yes, that would mean Sakura would remain either unmarried or marry some no-name character. Though, that seems unlikely as her pining over Sasuke eliminated all chance of relationship progress with any other character.

It would be refreshing to see her let go of her childhood crush and just moving on, leaving behind the last link to a Sakura she did not accept, the one she changed. I don't mind having an episode dedicated to them having a heart-to-heart as good old pals, all romantic feelings aside.

Maybe on that bench too, if you get what I mean. It would show us how far they have come, as shinobi, as Konoha's ninja and as people, from naïve kids to being the village's pillars.

Now, as to what the overall plot of Boruto should be, I have this idea of the war still going on when Naruto ends. Just hear me out.

If Ikemoto wants to resolve the Otsutsuki matters in this series, why not begin it with an intense fight scene where the generations following the main cast (Konohamaru and the rest) are fighting some low rank entities who serve the Otsutsuki.

It could lead to multiple of these strange class of aliens attacking from portals like ones the Rinnegan creates and base the entire series as a survival genre. Not only would that raise the stakes from being a one-episode conflict resolve, as it is now, it would mean the generation in the middle would become hardened veterans who the kids could look up to, not cannon fodder.

Make the prior war times return, but this time with an unknown race altogether. Make rifts between the Alliance, comment on how that affects the social and economical standings of various nations, involve the Daimyo.

Naruto can still be the all-powerful Hokage but make the rest of the caste equally useful.

Another idea that just popped up while writing this: what if they made mosters like in the Worm series appear? That threaten the world and some villages are forced to break the truce as they believe some ancient jutsu caused these attacks but cannot figure out from which nation.

Not even jutsu, it can be scientific modelling too since the Boruto era are scientifically far advanced.

Maybe I'm just reaching but with the huge power scaling like they have done, the stakes actually need to be high. Or else, every situation that they come across, we know they will get through it because of high rank jutsu they possess.

And for the last issue, just 'Boruto'. As in, the name. I'm aware it is supposed to be an homage to Neji but it feels so rip-off. There are so many good ones like : Hiro(for its irony as he is to be a hero and it starts with 'H'), Akihiro (personal favorite, means bright), Kaito (means ocean, an homage to the land of whirlpools), Asahi (mirror's Hinata's name meaning which is sun), Shinya (genuine, personal favorite), etc. etc.

A/N : That is it for this part. I can make another as I have ideas just buzzing in my mind and no time to turn them into fanfiction. Let me know if you enjoyed these and feel free to PM or reblog adding your own ideas too!

Also, anyone wanna be friends? 😅 I really want to rant about Naruto with someone and none of my friends watch enough anime to even comprehend what I'm saying most times.

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