Boruto: Two Blue Vortex is, for all intents and purposes, the Naruto: Shippuden to Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Taking place three years in the future since last we saw Boruto Uzumaki, the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha has become a very different place from what it once was. As the original Naruto series focused on a teenage protagonist with Shippuden, Two Blue Vortex is looking to follow in its shoes but has some big mistakes that it will need to avoid if it is hoping to overcome its predecessor.
Warning. If you haven’t kept up with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ manga, we’ll be diving into spoiler territory for events that have yet to take place in the anime. The Ninja World has changed thanks to the powers of Eida, the girl who was once a member of the Kara Organization. Wishing for the world to believe that Kawaki was the son of Naruto and Hinata, and that Boruto was responsible for the death of the Seventh Hokage, Konoha is now gunning for the star of the shonen series. Luckily, Naruto and Hinata are not dead, but they’ve been placed into a sort of limbo thanks to Kawaki, who wants to kill Boruto in his goal to eliminate all the Otsutsuki.
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While Naruto: Shippuden had its fair share of amazing moments, it also struggled with a few key aspects, the following of which Two Blue Vortex needs to avoid.
Pick One Villain And Stick With Them
Naruto: Shippuden had so many rug pulls it was almost tough to keep count. While the second part of the Naruto franchise focused initially on the Akatsuki, a villainous collective of rogue ninjas aiming to gather the Tailed-Beasts, it shifted focus quite often before the finale took place. Revealing that Tobi was Obito, former teammate to Kakashi, Madara Uchiha was revealed to be pulling his strings. After nearly defeating much of the Ninja World single-handedly, an even bigger threat was revealed in Kaguya, the matriarch of the Otsutsuki. Kaguya’s appearance hardly felt earned when all was said and done, taking power from Obito and Madara’s menace. Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has quite a few villains in the tank, but one needs to stick to the forefront and not be revealed to be the puppet of another.
Less Otsutsuki, More Ninjas
This one’s a tougher ask considering Boruto’s relationship with Momoshiki, the member of the Otsutsuki who is residing inside the body of Naruto’s son. Acting as a parallel to Naruto’s relationship with the Nine-Tailed Fox, Momoshiki is clearly going to have a big role in the Two Blue Vortex moving forward. When the Otsutsuki were introduced so late in the game in Shippuden, they took a lot of weight away from the “human” villains that had connections to Konoha. They lack something of an emotional bite that Obito and Madara had, for all their faults. At present, Code might be set up as the biggest bad, but Naruto Next Generations did lay the groundwork for another Otsutsuki arrival, which might take weight away from Jigen’s right hand.
Keep It Simple
There are a few different factors that are making up the Boruto sequel series as it stands, but at its heart, it’s turning into a story that focuses on a son and an adopted son who are struggling with their place in the world. Keeping Two Blue Vortex focused on Boruto and Kawaki specifically is the right approach and lends emotional heft to the series. From the very start of Naruto Next Generations, Boruto and Kawaki were prophesized to one day be at one another’s throats and now that the table is set, creator Masashi Kishimoto need only stay the course. The series doesn’t need to keep escalating and presenting a world-ending threat when Boruto’s status and his redemption in the eyes of Konoha is enough.
Character Moments Are Key
Some of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ best moments are the quieter, heartfelt character beats. The death of Kurama, Kawaki’s back story, Boruto struggling with the shadow that his father left as such a success story, these are the kind of examples that Two Blue Vortex should mine to overcome any weaknesses of Shippuden. Naruto: Shippuden’s escalation ravaged out of control with dozens, if not hundreds of characters being introduced. The Ninja World War saw characters coming back from the dead to the point where it was exceptionally difficult to keep track of what was happening.
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has potential and by avoiding some big pitfalls, it might become an anime classic.
