Naruto/Boruto Griefing Thread

[Gorillion others]

He seems

Kishimoto's doing

We all know this isn't the case. Somebody had to beg this mushroom to even include; eurgh, tenderness between women.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Boruto TBV 35 has dropped. Let's go.

Spoiler: Boruto TBV 35

Cover this time is Hidari/Sasuke. I don't have much to say except what the hell is wrong with his feet? I never looked before, but I guess they are on model. It's just they're weirdly huge for some reason.

We open with Jura pondering over Mamushi's death. He says that his basic animal instincts was some form of love, lmao okay. He asks Hidari what he thinks. Hidari says it's a shame they didn't have enough time to collect his bulb. Okay, we're just rolling with that now apparently. There was time to save Ryu/Matsuri, but Jura didn't. He asks Jura why he saved his though. Jura replies that he tried to ponder a world without Hidari and it made him sad. Which gives Hidari the ick. Jura tells him not to disappear on him, to which Hidari says while it's icky, he's okay with the way Jura views this. Jura for the first time in the series, smiles at this. I don't like Jura smiling. Eida is watching and asks if they're seriously...and doesn't finish the thought. Since she doesn't, I'm just going to assume there was some booty cheeks clapping with the undertones we're getting.

ANYWAY, Boruto at some point learned to just hover in the sky and throws a kunai to Sarada telling her to follow him. Then he just flies off like it's DBZ and I'm sorry but this will never not be stupid. How, when, and why can everyone just suddenly fly like this? I can get Delta flying but how does Boruto just fly around like this? Anyway, Koji tells Inojin that he's going to monitoring him at all times and be ready to use his Mind Transmission Formation at a moment's notice.

Meanwhile, Kawaki runs into a toad. He's told to come to Amado's lab where it turns out he's created quite a few of them. They're all scientific ninja tools and Sukuna Hikona will work on them. They're for Kawaki's combat abilities. He developed these toads as a proxy for chakra control for Kawaki to switch him between offense and defense remotely. Granted, he must keep these toads on him 24/7. This is will be Kawaki's newest power up moving forward. He also asks him to do something very urgent for him, but we'll come back to that later.

We cut back to Boruto and Sarada. She's envious he can fly. Oh okay, we're just going to joke about it and not give an explanation. Fine. She apologizes for his right eye but Boruto doesn't mind. He says that there was so much going on at the time that he never got the chance to worry about it and that it makes him look like a badass. Finally, at long last after 35 CHAPTERS. 35 FUCKING CHAPTERS, that are 40 fucking pages each. Mind you, that's THREE YEARS in real time and 1400 pages. Boruto, at long last, FINALLY smiles. It's the tiniest smile on the tiniest panel, but it's the first time in the entire series he hasn't had that stupid scowl on him 24/7. Hallelujah! Ikemoto learned to draw other facial expressions. Oh and Boruto gives her two emblems and tells her to let herself get captured by Code to trap him and something about hope. Honestly it's not as important as Boruto having another facial expression that isn't brooding.

We cut back to Jura and Hidari. Jura asks him about a book Hidari has been reading lately. Hidari says gazing, not reading. Jura doesn't understand. Hidari hands him his book, "Neko, Para Cat, Cat Paradise". It's a picture book of cat photos, LMAO. Hidari asks Jura what he thinks of it. Jura says there's nothing to think about. Without words, he doesn't learn anything from it. Hidari asks if he finds them cute.

Amado meets up with Inojin, he gives him a scroll with data from the battle with Mamushi. He wants him to give it to Kashin Koji. He asks if it would be faster to just give it to Boruto but Amado insists Inojin take it. Before I move on, I just have to reiterate once again...Is Kashin Koji stupid? Does he not understand the subtext of this situation is "I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING RIGHT NOW, KOJI". Wtf. This should set off every red flag. That being said, what he says next is ALSO a red flag. Koji finds this all strange. He has never once seen this scene and there's no Prescience update yet meaning he hasn't gotten a vision lately. Yet Koji, finds none of this odd. He takes the scroll anyway but decides not to open it until he gets an update. Upon reverse summoning, he's immediately ambushed by Kawaki and Amado knocks him out with a frog and a Command Code to shut him down. Amado captures Koji back to the lab.Seriously, WTF.

The chapter is...kind of light honestly. We're setting up the dynamics for what I think is going to be the finale of this little Tree Arc. I think once we get going, it's going to be a straight shot to the end without any breaks. That being said, there's a theory I've had for awhile now but I think it's time to bring it up. Amado is essentially Black Zetsu and his daughter is actually a vessel for Shibai, or is Shibai him/herself. I think ultimately Ikemoto is redoing Naruto's finale, but fixing it in the ways he can. Which isn't a tall ask, but still. I think Koji's future sight is ultimately leading him to a future where Shibai is revived/restored and he simply never thought of what the end game of these visions was. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. I could be wrong.

 

[Incecticyder]

We open with Jura pondering over Mamushi's death. He says that his basic animal instincts was some form of love, lmao okay. He asks Hidari what he thinks. Hidari says it's a shame they didn't have enough time to collect his bulb. Okay, we're just rolling with that now apparently. There was time to save Ryu/Matsuri, but Jura didn't. He asks Jura why he saved his though. Jura replies that he tried to ponder a world without Hidari and it made him sad. Which gives Hidari the ick. Jura tells him not to disappear on him, to which Hidari says while it's icky, he's okay with the way Jura views this. Jura for the first time in the series, smiles at this. I don't like Jura smiling. Eida is watching and asks if they're seriously...and doesn't finish the thought. Since she doesn't, I'm just going to assume there was some booty cheeks clapping with the undertones we're getting.

Thank God others noticed it too! Gay undertones are what was missing.

ANYWAY, Boruto at some point learned to just hover in the sky and throws a kunai to Sarada telling her to follow him. Then he just flies off like it's DBZ and I'm sorry but this will never not be stupid. How, when, and why can everyone just suddenly fly like this? I can get Delta flying but how does Boruto just fly around like this? Anyway, Koji tells Inojin that he's going to monitoring him at all times and be ready to use his Mind Transmission Formation at a moment's notice.

I assume it is Momoshiki inside him that grants him the ability to fly.

Meanwhile, Kawaki runs into a toad. He's told to come to Amado's lab where it turns out he's created quite a few of them. They're all scientific ninja tools and Sukuna Hikona will work on them. They're for Kawaki's combat abilities. He developed these toads as a proxy for chakra control for Kawaki to switch him between offense and defense remotely. Granted, he must keep these toads on him 24/7. This is will be Kawaki's newest power up moving forward. He also asks him to do something very urgent for him, but we'll come back to that later.

It is a boring ability. And Kawaki is a cunt. He doesn't listen or understand his situation. No defense means you only need to get unlucky once.

We cut back to Boruto and Sarada. She's envious he can fly. Oh okay, we're just going to joke about it and not give an explanation. Fine. She apologizes for his right eye but Boruto doesn't mind. He says that there was so much going on at the time that he never got the chance to worry about it and that it makes him look like a badass. Finally, at long last after 35 CHAPTERS. 35 FUCKING CHAPTERS, that are 40 fucking pages each. Mind you, that's THREE YEARS in real time and 1400 pages. Boruto, at long last, FINALLY smiles. It's the tiniest smile on the tiniest panel, but it's the first time in the entire series he hasn't had that stupid scowl on him 24/7. Hallelujah! Ikemoto learned to draw other facial expressions. Oh and Boruto gives her two emblems and tells her to let herself get captured by Code to trap him and something about hope. Honestly it's not as important as Boruto having another facial expression that isn't brooding.

Just kiss. Why bother with this song and dance? I wish they stopped wasting time and just confirmed the relationship. The manga needs strong moments at this point.

We cut back to Jura and Hidari. Jura asks him about a book Hidari has been reading lately. Hidari says gazing, not reading. Jura doesn't understand. Hidari hands him his book, "Neko, Para Cat, Cat Paradise". It's a picture book of cat photos, LMAO. Hidari asks Jura what he thinks of it. Jura says there's nothing to think about. Without words, he doesn't learn anything from it. Hidari asks if he finds them cute.

I get that this is supposed to be cute and human but it feels very uncanny. There is no talk between them that makes this feel complete. It just stops. Hopefully next chapter but the Trees feel they lack too much humanity but not enough to invite horror.

Remember Ulquiora and how he gained humanity throughout his fight with Ichigo? Feels like that only more forced.

Amado meets up with Inojin, he gives him a scroll with data from the battle with Mamushi. He wants him to give it to Kashin Koji. He asks if it would be faster to just give it to Boruto but Amado insists Inojin take it. Before I move on, I just have to reiterate once again...Is Kashin Koji stupid? Does he not understand the subtext of this situation is "I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING RIGHT NOW, KOJI". Wtf. This should set off every red flag. That being said, what he says next is ALSO a red flag. Koji finds this all strange. He has never once seen this scene and there's no Prescience update yet meaning he hasn't gotten a vision lately. Yet Koji, finds none of this odd. He takes the scroll anyway but decides not to open it until he gets an update. Upon reverse summoning, he's immediately ambushed by Kawaki and Amado knocks him out with a frog and a Command Code to shut him down. Amado captures Koji back to the lab.Seriously, WTF.

When I read that part I was like "No way that paranoid hermit with the ability to see the future allows himself to fall for the most obvious trick in the book" and I was in awe when it happened. It almost undid every bit of good will Ikemoto had earned.

The chapter is...kind of light honestly. We're setting up the dynamics for what I think is going to be the finale of this little Tree Arc. I think once we get going, it's going to be a straight shot to the end without any breaks. That being said, there's a theory I've had for awhile now but I think it's time to bring it up. Amado is essentially Black Zetsu and his daughter is actually a vessel for Shibai, or is Shibai him/herself. I think ultimately Ikemoto is redoing Naruto's finale, but fixing it in the ways he can. Which isn't a tall ask, but still. I think Koji's future sight is ultimately leading him to a future where Shibai is revived/restored and he simply never thought of what the end game of these visions was. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. I could be wrong.

Light doesn't begin to cover it. Vacuum has more calories than this. As for the Zetsu theory, I hope Ikemoto isn't this derivative. He probably isn't. I have full faith in him finding new ways to disappoint.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Chapter 36 just dropped.

Spoiler: Boruto TBV 36

The cover this time is Amado who's going to be the main focus of this chapter. It's not a bad cover, but I don't really like the color scheme chosen. Moving into the chapter proper, we get a follow-up of Amado planning to capture Koji with Kawaki. He seems to be able to sus out that Koji's Prescience/Future Sight seems to have a gap. He gets Kawaki to take advantage of this and captures Koji.

Meanwhile Lord Kobu is in a briefing meeting with the two Elders who I'm convinced are immortal by this point. Kobu recounts the events that took place earlier. However, Kobu thinks this was a staged act to make it seem like Boruto saves Kobu. He's convinced Shikamaru, Boruto, and the Divine Trees are working together. He accuses Shikamaru of treason, much to Sai's horror. You know....despite Boruto and co. fighting Mamushi in plain site of EVERYONE. Yeah, somehow they missed the ARMY of Mamushi clones that various people in the village were fighting against. Anyway....The Elders are going loopy and senile from being 100+ and just go along with this. Kobu plans to find evidence and remove Shikamaru as Hokage. Which is incredibly stupid and the story is snapping its spine in two to make this conflict happen but...whatever, story has to story. Also Inojin was watching this meeting too.

Shikamaru gets notice from the sensory unit that Koji has entered the village. He immediately classifies it and runs off to Amado's lab. Which I'm sure is something he won't regret doing later. Man, Kobu's job is going to be easy.

Meanwhile, in the lab Koji finds himself strapped down to a table. After a brief catch up, Amado tells him that during the fight with Mamushi, he pieced together how Prescience works and how to exploit it. He realized there was a gap between visions and decided to target him during that period of weakness. He tells Koji that he's decided to tweak his brain waves just a little bit. This should enable Prescience to occur more frequently and more accurately. He tells him that as his creator, this was his way of showing his parental love. He stated he wanted to do something helpful, but Koji doesn't fully trust him. Amado shows Koji his daughter Akebi's clone. He tells him that Kawaki's karma stores Akebi's memories and data and once he implants that Karma, she should be restored. He cuts right to the chase and asks Koji if he has ever seen a future where Kawaki implants his karma into Akebi's clone. Koji, reluctantly admits that no, he has not seen a single future where Akebi is restored. He explains that, as we already know, Jura appears and in almost every future, Kawaki is killed. Amado says he looks forward to what the next future update holds and lets Koji go. Shikamaru makes it to the lab but he's locked out.

Koji, upon returning finds Boruto also arriving at the same time. He asks what happened to him, but is told right now there's no time. Koji immediately contacts Eida and asks him to go over everything Amado did in the past hour. However, before Eida gets the chance, Koji gets another vision. Elsewhere, Sarada is hunting for clawmarks to bait out Code who immediately ambushes her. Koji tells Boruto that his plan to use Sarada as bait will fail. Before Koji has a chance to say anything else, Boruto heads off. Code immediately realizes what Sarada is trying to do and gets rid of her metal emblems to summon Boruto. He takes her into the claw marks while Boruto shows up, too late to save her.

This is a much more focused chapter than usual. We're focusing on the conversation between Koji and Amado for a large bulk of it. There's a lot of fluff text that I also left out of my recap because it's only so important. To Ikemoto's credit, he does a good job here with his paneling. Much of the under text here is effectively conveyed via facial expressions and they're usually very small panels like eyes or mouths. There's a lot told with not a lot of space in a very minimalistic style. Maybe it's because I'm just coming off of Hunter X Hunter, but it was a relief to see facial expressions and fluff talk/double speak do some heavy lifting. I already made my criticism on how the logic of the story is bending itself to make this work, so that's about all I have for now.

 

[Incecticyder]

Meanwhile Lord Kobu is in a briefing meeting with the two Elders who I'm convinced are immortal by this point. Kobu recounts the events that took place earlier. However, Kobu thinks this was a staged act to make it seem like Boruto saves Kobu. He's convinced Shikamaru, Boruto, and the Divine Trees are working together. He accuses Shikamaru of treason, much to Sai's horror. You know....despite Boruto and co. fighting Mamushi in plain site of EVERYONE. Yeah, somehow they missed the ARMY of Mamushi clones that various people in the village were fighting against. Anyway....The Elders are going loopy and senile from being 100+ and just go along with this. Kobu plans to find evidence and remove Shikamaru as Hokage. Which is incredibly stupid and the story is snapping its spine in two to make this conflict happen but...whatever, story has to story. Also Inojin was watching this meeting too.

I feel like Kobu thinks that Mamushi isn't actually dead.

Shikamaru gets notice from the sensory unit that Koji has entered the village. He immediately classifies it and runs off to Amado's lab. Which I'm sure is something he won't regret doing later. Man, Kobu's job is going to be easy.

Smartest guy in the room.

Meanwhile, in the lab Koji finds himself strapped down to a table. After a brief catch up, Amado tells him that during the fight with Mamushi, he pieced together how Prescience works and how to exploit it. He realized there was a gap between visions and decided to target him during that period of weakness. He tells Koji that he's decided to tweak his brain waves just a little bit. This should enable Prescience to occur more frequently and more accurately. He tells him that as his creator, this was his way of showing his parental love. He stated he wanted to do something helpful, but Koji doesn't fully trust him. Amado shows Koji his daughter Akebi's clone. He tells him that Kawaki's karma stores Akebi's memories and data and once he implants that Karma, she should be restored. He cuts right to the chase and asks Koji if he has ever seen a future where Kawaki implants his karma into Akebi's clone. Koji, reluctantly admits that no, he has not seen a single future where Akebi is restored. He explains that, as we already know, Jura appears and in almost every future, Kawaki is killed. Amado says he looks forward to what the next future update holds and lets Koji go. Shikamaru makes it to the lab but he's locked out.

I feel for Amado here. He is trying to help his daughter and the only one who can do it is the one guy that doesn't want to do it. Nice reminder that Kawaki is an idiot.

Koji, upon returning finds Boruto also arriving at the same time. He asks what happened to him, but is told right now there's no time. Koji immediately contacts Eida and asks him to go over everything Amado did in the past hour. However, before Eida gets the chance, Koji gets another vision. Elsewhere, Sarada is hunting for clawmarks to bait out Code who immediately ambushes her. Koji tells Boruto that his plan to use Sarada as bait will fail. Before Koji has a chance to say anything else, Boruto heads off. Code immediately realizes what Sarada is trying to do and gets rid of her metal emblems to summon Boruto. He takes her into the claw marks while Boruto shows up, too late to save her

Who is surprised by this? Boruto's plans are always in need of more time in the oven. He thinks himself a mastermind but he is in actuality the guy who thinks he is the mastermind.

This is a much more focused chapter than usual. We're focusing on the conversation between Koji and Amado for a large bulk of it. There's a lot of fluff text that I also left out of my recap because it's only so important. To Ikemoto's credit, he does a good job here with his paneling. Much of the under text here is effectively conveyed via facial expressions and they're usually very small panels like eyes or mouths. There's a lot told with not a lot of space in a very minimalistic style. Maybe it's because I'm just coming off of Hunter X Hunter, but it was a relief to see facial expressions and fluff talk/double speak do some heavy lifting. I already made my criticism on how the logic of the story is bending itself to make this work, so that's about all I have for now.

I liked how vulnerable Amado was here. At least there is one person worth cheering for. He has been dealt a bad hand and he is trying to bluff himself a win.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

I feel for Amado here. He is trying to help his daughter and the only one who can do it is the one guy that doesn't want to do it. Nice reminder that Kawaki is an idiot.

I don't really know what to make of it honestly. Ikemoto wasn't entirely clear with what Koji meant. I understand how Amado INTERPRETED it as Kawaki never going through with things. However, we KNOW from Koji, they simply never make it that far. In every future Kawaki is killed or the world is destroyed based on what Koji says. Kawaki never gets the chance to bring back Akhebi. So I'm not really certain on what Amado is thinking here, and I think Ikemoto is being ambiguous on purpose.

I think the real tragedy though is despite Amado's efforts up until now, it's sadder that he doesn't even get to the finish line.

 

[Incecticyder]

I don't really know what to make of it honestly. Ikemoto wasn't entirely clear with what Koji meant. I understand how Amado INTERPRETED it as Kawaki never going through with things. However, we KNOW from Koji, they simply never make it that far. In every future Kawaki is killed or the world is destroyed based on what Koji says. Kawaki never gets the chance to bring back Akhebi. So I'm not really certain on what Amado is thinking here, and I think Ikemoto is being ambiguous on purpose.

I think the real tragedy though is despite Amado's efforts up until now, it's sadder that he doesn't even get to the finish line.

From what I understood, Kawaki always dies before he can be of help. I think that Amado came to the same conclusion: Kawaki is too stupid to live long enough to do this.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

Chapter 37 is out after a hiatus and we have...a relatively tame and short chapter.

Spoiler: Ch 37 TBV

The cover is Koji this time and it's a decent look for him. I like his outfit and design in TBV.

We pick up right where we left off. Sarada is kidnapped by Code, and we get some more details about how Borutos symbols work. Koji cuts Boruto out of the communication to tell everyone he saw a future where Momoshiki takes over and everything goes to Hell and back. It all has to do with rescuing Sarada and he just wanted to warn everyone to use caution because Boruto and Momoshiki share minds. Boruto suspects there's a way to save Sarada.

Meanwhile, Code brought Sarada right to the Trees to turn her over in exchange for killing Boruto. Unfortunately Jura is gone and Hidari doesn't give a crap. He immediately attacks Code and Sarada and despite Codes attempts at negotiation, he simply doesn't care. Sarada breaks free seeing her chance and now it's a free for all match between Code, Sarada, and Hidari.

We cut back to Konoha and Jura is in the bookstore. The owner, Furuta has some small talk with Jura as he's become his number one customer. Jura tells him about Hidaris love for cats and Furuta suggests he take his friend to the cat cafe in Konoha. He seems to finally understand friendship. Shikamaru contacts Furuta and asks him to stall Jura as long as possible.

Meanwhile Boruto realizes Sarada left him a way to teleport to her via her earrings. Kojis toad hops on and says they should go knowing he can't stop Boruto anyway. Shikamaru is also contacted by Kobu because one of the ninja narc'd on him.

And that's it. The chapter is so anemic, I barely have anything to say. I like how Hidari just doesn't give a crap about any of Code's plans. Code consistently taking Ls even when he wins, is pretty funny. That seems to be an ongoing thing in Boruto. Our side villains get utterly humiliated every chance the manga gets until they switch sides.

 

[Incecticyder]

We pick up right where we left off. Sarada is kidnapped by Code, and we get some more details about how Borutos symbols work. Koji cuts Boruto out of the communication to tell everyone he saw a future where Momoshiki takes over and everything goes to Hell and back. It all has to do with rescuing Sarada and he just wanted to warn everyone to use caution because Boruto and Momoshiki share minds. Boruto suspects there's a way to save Sarada.

Boruto is a bad main character. He actively works against the plan.

Meanwhile, Code brought Sarada right to the Trees to turn her over in exchange for killing Boruto. Unfortunately Jura is gone and Hidari doesn't give a crap. He immediately attacks Code and Sarada and despite Codes attempts at negotiation, he simply doesn't care. Sarada breaks free seeing her chance and now it's a free for all match between Code, Sarada, and Hidari.

Possibly the only interesting thing to happen in this.

We cut back to Konoha and Jura is in the bookstore. The owner, Furuta has some small talk with Jura as he's become his number one customer. Jura tells him about Hidaris love for cats and Furuta suggests he take his friend to the cat cafe in Konoha. He seems to finally understand friendship. Shikamaru contacts Furuta and asks him to stall Jura as long as possible.

I am liking this idea more but it doesn't retract from how bland the trees are.

Meanwhile Boruto realizes Sarada left him a way to teleport to her via her earrings. Kojis toad hops on and says they should go knowing he can't stop Boruto anyway. Shikamaru is also contacted by Kobu because one of the ninja narc'd on him.

Good job, Sarada. Bad job, Boruto. Should have let the guy die.