English Dub Review: Boruto Naruto Next Generations “The Graduation Exam Begins!”

Another wasted episode.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Boruto this week follows the conducting of the Ninja Academy Exam that Boruto and his friends have all been training for. We begin with Denki and Iwabe stealing the answers to the exam, which everyone acknowledges is fair game in the world of ninjas. They all pass, especially Boruto, who does quite well.

Kakashi is worried that Boruto is overconfident from his writing exam success, so he decides to come down and approach the ninja kids to speak with them. He explains that he’s the proctor of the exam and that there’s no place for troublemakers in the ninja world. The other examiners then arrive, and Kakashi explains the test. He has a bell that must be stolen, which means only one of the students can graduate. In addition, the other examiners, who are the students’ teachers, have targets on their chests which, if broken, knock them out of the test.

The test begins, and everyone splits up into different groups, where they take on different teachers with their strategies. Mitsuki uses his powers to great effect defeating Shino, while Shikadai and the other “Weaklings” gang up on Anko to try and take her down.

All the while, Boruto fights against Kakashi, but finds himself completely outmatched. Even though Boruto is considered to be very strong by Kakashi’s standard, he isn’t able to grab the bell. The episode ends with Kakashi having Boruto caught in a corner with his sharingan, and things don’t look good.

Our Take:

This might be considered a good episode of Boruto. It has a lot more going on than in the usual fare we have to deal with in this anime. But while it’s acceptable in a relative sense, it’s far from decent when it comes to comparing it to a show that’s actually, you know, good. It’s shallow, doesn’t emphasize character and lives off of what little flash it has to be entertaining.

I don’t know what I expected, but Boruto doesn’t even try to do something original this episode. I, as I imagine most Boruto viewers have, distinctly remember the “Bell test” that Kakashi put the members of Team 7 through in the early chapters of “Naruto.” To that end, I already knew that this test is something of a red herring, an impossible exam designed to test the mettle of the students regardless of whether or not they get the bell. Guess what? That means the tension present in this sequence is completely nil. It’s like reading a book when you already know the ending. And there was no reason for this plot point other than recognizability. The writers could have taken this anywhere they wanted to and they decided to retread old ground for no reason than a cheap reference.

In addition, this battle lacks the quality necessary to make it something fun to watch. It lacks in creativity and is spread way too thin to retain focus on a few important characters. Not to mention, instead of it being a more pure test of skill and determination like it was in the original series, we get bogged down in the less-than-stellar powers of the forgettable main cast. I laughed out loud when I heard Denki placed a GPS tracking device on Kakashi. That’s one way to make your show more boring, I guess.

The animation is the only thing that isn’t lame about all of this. We’ve still got the stiff character models and sense of cheapness that accompanies everything, but at least we get to see some flashy attacks. This is, however, the equivalent of jangling keys in front of someone’s face to be entertaining.

Ultimately, by trying to make something that echoes the original exam Kakashi put Team 7 through, this show shoots itself in the foot by necessitating comparison between the two exams. This would be much better if it was it’s own thing, something new and fresh that might create and develop some themes of this show that don’t just make it feel like a rip off of better material. Yet, sadly, that’s all this is.