Highlights
- Boruto: Naruto Next Generations struggles with maintaining a consistent quality of writing, with the story becoming stale because of many questionable decisions.
- The series fails to properly utilize old characters, robbing them of their powers and reducing their roles, while new characters are lackluster.
- The excessive amount of filler content in Boruto is a major flaw, and a seasonal anime format would help eliminate the need for fillers. Additionally, introducing a power limit and focusing on more relatable characters would improve the series.
Since its release, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations has managed to gain a massive fan following. It is a well-known fact that many of them wanted to see the old characters from Naruto. As Boruto continued, things became interesting, and fans believed that it could become a huge success like Naruto.
However, they were mistaken, as the series soon came under serious fire. Both the manga and anime suffered from quality issues, causing them to go on hiatus. Recently, the manga confirmed its return, but there has been no update on the anime's future. While Boruto has its flaws, the series can still make amends and win over the audience.
6 Better Story
The series as a whole has struggled to maintain a consistent quality of writing. Initially, the manga released some excellent chapters that managed to successfully capture the attention of the fans. However, it wasn't long before the story turned stale, and Kishimoto made it worse by getting rid of Naruto and Sasuke's abilities.
The anime has not been impressive at all. Most of the episodes in the series are fillers that add no real value, especially when the characters rarely appear in the manga. Even if the series has no other option but to keep releasing fillers, they should at least be interesting, like the Time Slip arc, where Boruto and Sasuke went back in time.
5 Better Handling Of Characters
As the sequel to Naruto, Boruto was expected to have all the old characters, and they would be properly utilized. No fan would have believed that the older generation of ninjas would serve as nothing more than a tool to generate hype around Boruto and his friends. Naruto lost Kurama and Sasuke lost his Rinnegan, both of which were bizarre decisions. Naruto and Sasuke worked tremendously hard to get to their present level, so it didn't make sense to rob them of their powers.
The other characters, such as Shikamaru, Konohamaru, and Shino, are barely relevant, and they hardly contribute to the story. It would be a good decision on the part of the writers to give them screen time and make use of their skills. Aside from the older characters, most characters from the new generation have been useless as well. Kawaki and Boruto have hoarded the spotlight, while the others have reduced roles.
4 Fewer Fillers
Both Naruto and Boruto appear to have a fondness for including an obnoxious amount of filler content. One would have thought that Boruto would have learned from the mistakes of its predecessor by cutting the filler content, but it seems the series is intent on surpassing Naruto.
Most of the episodes in Boruto are fillers, and it is extremely difficult to sit through these episodes as they are lacking in quality. The best way to handle this problem would be to make Boruto a seasonal anime. This would let the manga maintain a healthy lead over the anime, thus eliminating the need for fillers.
3 Introducing A Power Limit
It is common to see the power level increase as the story progresses. In fact, this particular quality is one of the main reasons why shonen anime attract such a crowd. Fans love to see the protagonist improve and unlock new powers to defeat his opponent.
At the very beginning of Boruto, fans witnessed the power of characters like Momoshiki Otsutsuki and Kinshiki Otsutsuki. Both of them were stronger than 99% of the characters in Naruto. The writers should have stopped at the two Otsutsuki; instead, they continued to churn out even more powerful characters. Not long afterward, the manga introduced individuals like Isshiki, Boros, Delta, Eida, and Daemon. These characters possess absurd powers, which make them unstoppable. To combat their threat, Boruto and the other characters have had to develop at an unrealistic speed. As the series returns with its second part, it should definitely stop introducing new overpowered characters.
2 More Relatable Characters
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations seriously lacks any relatable characters. In Naruto, the characters felt more realistic, and there was some kind of emotion present in them. This alleviated the overall experience and helped fans understand the reasoning behind the actions of these characters.
In Boruto, the individuals rarely show their emotional sides as they are preoccupied with gaining more power. A character like Mitsuki felt more natural, and he seemed to have a goal that wasn't motivated by becoming stronger. Unfortunately, Mitsuki has been completely sidelined, and the focus is mainly on Boruto and Kawaki. Due to this reason, if someone dislikes Kawaki or Boruto, they will be incapable of enjoying the series. Part 2 should definitely focus on giving the spotlight to other characters.
1 Boruto Needs More Depth
Boruto is the main protagonist of the series, and there is no easy way to put this, but he is extremely lackluster. Early in the series, Boruto behaved like an entitled kid who wasn't willing to understand his father's position. To get Naruto's attention, Boruto went so far as to cheat in the Chunin Exams, for which he was publicly humiliated afterward.
Boruto has grown a lot since the incident, and he understands Naruto better. However, he still lacks depth as a character. Fans like seeing a character struggle and experience hardships so that they can improve. However, Boruto has rarely had such humbling experiences.