English Dub Review: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations “The Final Lesson!”

The final lesson is DEATH!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Shino, possessed by a chakra spirit, is dead set on teaching his students a lesson in good behavior, by murdering them. Boruto, Shikadai and Mitsuki are in disbelief about Shino’s turn to evil, but they quickly realize the seriousness of their situation when Shino’s bugs start to swarm them. The three manage to escape and lick their wounds, but it becomes clear that they need a plan to beat their teacher.

Realizing that Shino’s chakra bugs are useless in the water, he constructs a plan to get Shino dropped into a nearby lake so they can take him down. The plan goes well, with Boruto providing a distraction while Mitsuki grabs the bug ninja and electrocutes him underwater, which purges him of the chakra spirit.

However, Mitsuki begins to drown, and when Boruto jumps in to save him, he starts to drown too. Shino returns to his senses in time to save them, but the two very nearly meet their end. Shino reports what happened to the hokage, but it’s still a mystery what these chakra spirits are and where they come from.

Our Take:

Boruto is finally taking the time to up the stakes a little bit this week, by having Boruto, Shikadai, and Mitsuki go up against their teacher who’s possessed by an evil chakra spirit. This follows the “Chakra monster of the week” format that the show has been rolling with since its start, and, as usual, the story it can tell in this style is a bit lacking. There are things it does better than before, the most obvious being that having your teacher who is way stronger than you be your opponent puts you in a whole heck of a lot more danger. Yet, this episode never elevates itself above “Okay.” It lacks thematic importance, it lacks tension, but most importantly, it lacks the character motivations behind the battle that gives a good fight meaning.

Fighting in any story, anime or not, is never just about the fighting. The fighting is an expression of a larger conflict, given physical form through a human ritual as old as time: beating the crap out of someone. A good fight carries weight, importance beyond just “being the winner,” and anime provides plenty of opportunities to construct fights that are both meaningful and creative.

Why is it, then, that Boruto can’t figure out how to hit either of those qualities?

This episode can’t draw out any meaning because Shino is just possessed by a spirit. Of course, the spirit can only possess him because he’s frustrated with being a teacher, but that is still not a strong character motivation for the fight. He exists as an obstacle, but not as a willing agent of the story. It’s as if the writers of the show just said: “It would be cool if Boruto fought his teacher” and just went with it without finding a way to tell a better story. Furthermore, the fight itself is just a wee bit boring. There’s a real lull in the second third of the episode where Shikadai, Boruto, and Mitsuki just explain obvious things about Shino to each other for about five minutes that really kills the tension. Everything feels so safe and pre-determined; from the very beginning I know there’s no way Boruto is going to lose. It’s not even a question.

I would really prefer it if Boruto could start taking itself seriously at some point. This slice-of-life about overpowered ninja kids isn’t really doing it for me and judging by the scores this series is getting, it’s not doing it for other people too. Right now, this show is just a glorified fanfiction; nothing more, nothing less.