The anime adaption for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is often flacked by anime watchers. The series only has a 6.03 on MyAnimeList (and it dipped below this for a while, too), based on input from over half the users who watched it. The series is disliked for many reasons, including its general inferiority to its predecessor, Naruto. This sequel series took one of the most popular and lucrative anime franchises ever and performed what felt like the minimum amount of effort to keep the lights on.
Despite its poor reception, the series ran for nearly 300 episodes and is scheduled to eventually continue the manga's story from where it left off. Most viewers attribute Boruto's staying relevant to its connection to Naruto rather than its independent quality. However, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations gets more right than people give it credit for. It may never live up to the expectations of longtime Naruto fans, but it's still a worthwhile addition to the franchise.
How Boruto Fixed Naruto's Filler Episode Problem
Boruto Turned Filler Episodes Into Relevant Ones
One thing the Boruto anime did was take one of the original Naruto anime's most glaring weaknesses and turn it into one of its greatest strengths — it made the anime's filler into something worth watching. Naruto is infamous for having at least two-thirds of its 720-episode run devoted to content that only served to extend the length between canon, manga-based events. For many viewers who only wanted the story to progress, waiting anywhere from weeks to months to years for new canon episodes became agonizing.
Boruto never presented itself with the pretense of trying to adapt the manga at a reasonable pace. The start of the manga covered the Versus Momoshiki Arc from May 2016 through March 2017. Since this arc was a retelling of the events from Boruto: Naruto the Movie, which the anime had already proven it could get done in about an hour-and-a-half (only about four or five episodes, if that).
While the manga had an eleven-month head start over the anime, it was also a monthly series, which meant it would take even longer than the weekly Naruto manga for new canon material to be released. By the time the Boruto anime began airing in April 2017, the manga was only beginning to transition to new content. This slow pace for the manga forced the anime to release more filler episodes relative to canon ones than Naruto ever did.
The absurd amount of filler in the Boruto anime was justified by being deemed a separate continuity from the manga. This was further justified by the anime's divergences from the manga, like introducing Boruto and his next-generation friends to characters who impact future plotlines (legacy characters, anime-original characters, etc.) and teaching them ninjutsu techniques they never had in the manga. With this, the burdensome expectation of keeping up with the manga at a reasonable pace was all but lifted from the Boruto anime.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Covers Naruto Side Stories
Boruto Adapts Extra Content From Light Novels & Bonus Chapters
The Boruto anime also became a platform for telling side stories from the Naruto franchise. Naruto: Shippuden did this with a few light novels released near the end of its run, like Itachi Shinden and Shikamaru Hiden. Boruto continued the concept to bring fans more canon material between manga chapters. The anime could hold off on airing manga-canon episodes without resorting to filler episodes by adapting light novels, bonus chapters, and anything else separate from the mainline Naruto and Boruto manga.
In the Boruto anime's case, this resulted in arcs like the Sarada Uchiha Arc (adapted from Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring) and an episode covering Mitsuki's backstory (Naruto: The Path Lit by the Full Moon). Masashi Kishimoto may have written and drawn these manga chapters, but they're not counted as part of the mainline series. Therefore, the anime had the right to adapt these stories at the times of their choosing. They will likely do something similar for the Minato one-shot.
It also resulted in adaptions of the Naruto Shinden light novels, like Naruto: Naruto’s Story — Family Day (Episodes 93-95). Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls was also adapted into the Steam Ninja Scrolls Arc (Boruto Episodes 106-111); ironically, this 2016 light novel was animated in 2019, three years before it was published in manga form (2022). In a more traditional order, Naruto: Sasuke's Story—The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust began as a light novel in 2019, became a manga in 2022, and was animated in 2023 (though the anime arc wrapped up before the manga).
Even if the Boruto anime takes its time returning to telling its protagonist's story, it would be worth it if it meant seeing more of these side stories animated. This would affirm the canonicity of these stories and make them a formal part of the Naruto franchise's grander narrative. It's also an ideal way for casual fans who would rather see a Naruto story than read it to figure out what happens in the light novels.
The Boruto Anime Expands the Cast Greatly
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Fleshes Out Characters More Than The Manga
The Boruto anime's departure from the manga meant it could tell its stories as it pleased. It could take as much or as little time between canon events to do things that fleshed out its version of the series' continuity and give it more of an identity. For example, the anime begins with Boruto's Ninja Academy days, something that was yet to be covered. This gave fans insight into who Boruto was (beyond the Versus Momoshiki Arc) and who his friends and classmates were.
The expansion of Boruto's classmates was interesting because it let fans get to know characters besides lookalike children of Naruto characters, like Iwabe and Denki. The franchise expected fans to get to know these new classmates, too. When the Ao Arc started in the Boruto manga, it casually introduced Sumire as though readers were supposed to know who she was despite never making a formal appearance before that point.
Regardless, she's since become integral to the manga's plot. With any luck, the rest of Boruto's classmates (or at least the interesting ones) will make their manga debuts and become driving forces in the plot themselves. Several formed teams with Konoha 11 children, so they should become relevant sooner or later. Speaking of the Konoha 11's children, the Boruto anime helped flesh them out, too.
So far, the manga has left them firmly on the sidelines for much of the story. Most readers don't even get to know these characters and can only guess what they're like based on who their parents are. The anime helps fans to understand Metal Lee's insecurities, Inojin's snarkiness, Chocho's Main Character Syndrome, and more. The Boruto anime has also covered several more plot points that should profoundly influence the Naruto franchise's grand narrative.
One of these events is the revelation of Mitsuki's ability to use Sage Jutsu. Other such events that could factor into the canon series include Boruto and Sasuke's travels to the past, Himawari befriending Shukaku, Onoki's death, and everything that happened in the Hidden Mist Village.
The Boruto Anime Is Already More Than It Needs to Be
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is The Perfect Sequel
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations arguably already does everything it's supposed to do as a Naruto sequel series. The initial premise of Boruto's story is a continuation of adventures in the ninja. It primarily follows Boruto and other shinobi following Naruto's generation. In the process, it expands the world, introduces new characters, makes callbacks to the old series without relying on them, and ultimately keeps the franchise relevant. These were the minimal requirements for Boruto's series to function as a sequel to Naruto, but it did more than that.
Boruto managed to do something Naruto fans hoped would happen for a while and lowered the stakes and intensity of the fights. While the shift to bombastic Dragon Ball Z-styled wars, fans yearned for the days when Naruto fights were won with strategy and skill rather than by who could hit the hardest. Boruto lowered the power ceiling and allowed for more intimate and story-driven fights like in Naruto's early days; this makes sense, as Naruto Next Generations is Boruto's equivalent to Naruto's first part.
The fights eventually get out of hand again once the Otsutsuki clan and Kara are involved. However, even then, the fights manage to be about more than throwing Rasenshurikens with the force of nuclear explosions. The gaps in power are kept low enough for the young Boruto and his contemporaries to make a difference with their relatively meager techniques. Even if the villains are more powerful than ever, the stakes and scale of the fights are just high enough to avoid reaching the absurd levels of end-of-series Naruto.
In any case, raising the stakes for Boruto was always optional. The Fourth Great Shinobi War is as intense as the Naruto franchise can and should get without covering older wars. Boruto lives in a time of peace Naruto and his friends fought so hard for. It would be a disservice to have it undone by enemies who successfully throw the ninja world back into chaos. It's okay for powerful new enemies to arrive and threaten the Uzumaki family and their friends, but the stakes should be fine by leaving things at that select group of people (and maybe the Leaf Village). In these regards, the Boruto anime is better off for never reaching the heights of its predecessor. Boruto could have been a slice-of-life series and people would have gladly tuned in.
