Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime has taken a very long, winding, path away from the manga series. 2019 was particularly turbulent for Boruto, as the anime got bogged down in more than a year and a half’s worth of filler material since last adapting the manga’s thrilling “Vs. Momoshiki” arc. However, Boruto managed to end the year with renewed vigor, as the anime debuted a Time Travel arc that brought Boruto and Sasuke back to the Hidden Leaf village of Naruto’s youth. The series followed up that renewed fan favor by announcing it was going back to adapting the manga – specifically the Mujina Bandits Arc.
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The official synopsis for Boruto’s anime adaptation of the Mujina Bandits Arc is now out – you can read it below, courtesy of OrganicDinosaur:
“Shinobi who have committted crimes are sent to Houzuki Castle, which is a prison exclusively for shinobi. That castle is located in an isolated island that’s surrounded by the sea, and the shinobi who are imprisoned there have their ninjutsu sealed away. In order to atone for their crimes, they are to serve many years of penal servitude. A criminal claiming to be one of the former member of the Mujina Bandits was serving their time at that castle; A request arrives to Konohagakure Village from them. The contents of it roughly read, “Someone from the Mujina Bandits who are imprisoned in the castle are aiming for my life. If you save me, I’ll give you information about the Bandits.” The Mujina Bandits are a thieving group who make their livelihoods by stealing across many nations – Even the complete overview of that organization and its boss were a mystery. Since this was a unique opportunity for them to be able to obtain information about the Mujina Bandits, the Nanadaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, decides to accept their request. The ones whom he assigned to this mission to infiltrate Houzuki Castle are his son, Uzumaki Boruto, as well as Sarada and Mitsuki. In order for Team 7 to protect their client’s life, just the three of them head out to Houszuki Castle, which is a den full of rascals. They planned on sneaking into it. As expected, it was riddled with criminals: Will Boruto and his comrades be able to survive….?” —Organic Dinosaur
If you read the Boruto manga, you probably realize that this anime version of the story arc will be stretched out to fill many additional episodes of the show. That’s all well and good if the anime can add depth to the story and characters – and hopefully the manga source material will keep the extra filler material relevant.
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.
