Naruto: Breaking Down Boruto’s Sequel and Its Timeskip Designs

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has officially debuted its first manga chapter, taking the world of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations years into the future. The Boruto timeskip has been so significant that the young central characters of the series have all had to have major redesigns to age them three-to-four years from adolescents to teenagers. Obviously, puberty brings some massive changes to the bodies of young people – not to mention the changes that come with their own sense of identity, fashion, etc. 

Now that the Boruto timeskip redesigns are official, Naruto fans are debating them like crazy. If you haven’t seen the final product, or want to jump into the discussion, just check out the post below: 

Boruto – Boruto is (not surprisingly) the character who seems to be getting the most love from Naruto fans for his timeskip design. If Boruto was criticized in his first volume for being a bratty, spoiled, softer Gen Z version of Naruto… it’s clear that the timeskip design was made with those concerns in mind. Years of living like an outlaw, under the tutelage of Sasuke, has had exactly the kind of influence on Boruto’s fashion and temperament that a lot of fans hoped for: namely, making him look tougher and more badass, with a proper balance in his Naruto/Sasuke influences. 

Sarada – Causing a bit more debate is Sarada’s new design. The over-achieving student with geek glasses from the first series is gone; needless to say, a lot of fans are having a hard time initially reframing their thoughts of Sarada as a thirst trap. However, Sarada has had her views on life significantly changed by seeing Boruto and Kawaki’s lives re-written by Aida, so it’s not all that surprising that being one of the only ones to remember the truth (plus maturation) has made Sarada dress more like a rebel outsider like her dad, and embrace being her own person as a young woman. 

Mitsuki – Mitsuki is probably the most unnerving character re-design out of the former Team 7 crew. His light-colored clothes and wistful childlike demeanor have been replaced with black garb and an attitude to match: living for nothing else but seeking out and killing Boruto. After so many years of Mitsuki being Boruto’s most sycophantic fan, this change feels like it could be one that ends in serious tragedy. 

Kawaki – Kawaki gets respect for getting Bourto’s cushy life but still retaining his bad-boy outsider attitude and fashion! Like Boruto, an older Kawaki looks more influenced by Sasuke than Naruto – although the cool overcoat he wears is somewhat reminiscent of the style of his former evil master, Isshiki Otsutsuki, hinting that the villain’s DNA inside of Kawaki has forever branded the young shinobi. 

Which Boruto character has your favorite new look in “Two Blue Vortex”? Sound off in the comments! The manga is free to read online right now.