by Natalie Kipper Wednesday 5th April 2017

Geekscape Reviews: ‘Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ Vol.1

Can’t get enough Naruto? His story may have ended but its success spawned the sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, staring the now-adult ninja’s son named – you guessed it – Boruto. This series also features children of many of other characters from the original series.

In truth, I did not keep up with Naruto, but thankfully this manga has little side-notes about which children belong to which couples. As a relative newbie to the series, I greatly appreciated this feature. Without giving to much away, expect the offspring of pretty much every character you can imagine. It was fun to the teenagers from the first series as adults living peaceful, domestic lives. I imagine fans of Naruto will get an even bigger kick out of it than I did.

BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS © 2016 by Masashi Kishimoto, Ukyo Kodachi, Mikio Ikemoto/SHUEISHA Inc.

The first volume centers around three key plot threads. The most prevalent of which is Boruto’s rocky relationship with his father. It looks as though, while Naruto may be a great ninja, he sucks at being an involved parent. Boruto’s dislike for his dad drives him to make several choices that I think he normally would be ambivalent about.

Which leads us to the second thread: the Chunin Exam, a ninja certification test. Originally planning to sit it out, a series of events coaxes Boruto into participating. A good portion of the volume is dedicated to the trials of the Exam. This part felt a little boring. I realize that the whole “heroes facing a trial” trope is prevalent in shonen manga but it just wasn’t something I cared about. To the story’s credit, the characters did make use of some clever solutions to their tests and I imagine that fans of this genre will be wowed.

The third and final thread follows Orochimaru’s children and the odd relationship they share with him. This sequence takes place at the end of the book so I don’t want to spoil too much but there it is safe to say that a) Orochimaru is a weirdo and b) there is a twist at the end.

As I said before, I didn’t have a ton of experience with the original Naruto manga to build on when I read this. All the same, it was somewhat enjoyable. I don’t think this is something that I would purchase nor continue to read on my own but I can imagine why readers who dig this type of story would be interested. It isn’t very often that fans get a chance to revisit beloved characters and see how their lives have progressed (fan fiction not included). That merit alone should warrant it a read for Naruto lovers.

Volume One of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations earns a 3 out of 5 in my book. If you are a fan of the first series, that score would probably be closer to a 5 out of 5. I can see this sequel caters to fans and that is awesome but it also makes it harder for those initiated to jump into the story.

[This review is based on a sample provided by VIZ Media. All opinions are my own.]