English Dub Review: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations “The Super Beast Scroll Slump!”

Say that five times fast.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Inojin, in a stroke of cleverness, decides to try and use his drawing jutsu in a different way, by printing out copies of a drawing he’s made and then copying them so he can use a bunch of jutsus all at once. However, much to his surprise, he finds that using his jutsu in this way doesn’t get him the results he wants. Rather, he finds that his paintings disappear almost instantly and disintegrate into thin air. Inojin doesn’t know why this is happening, but his father, Sai, tells him it might be a good idea to enter an art contest so that he can work on his art in a competitive setting.

Though his artistic skills are quite good, his painting of Konoha village still doesn’t win first place. Rather, it’s Himwawari’s heartfelt drawing of her and her father that wins first place. Inojin chalks his loss up to bad connections, but it becomes increasingly clear that there’s something about his art that just isn’t doing the job.

Inojin struggles heavily with this concept, and the next day, his worse fears come to light. Shino informs him and the other classmates that they’ll be fighting in three-man teams, and that during this test there is a chance that people can fail the class entirely and not graduate. Inojin starts the battle by trying to possess Iwabe with his special body-swapping jutsu, but it’s not very effective because of his poor mana control.

Bitter and dejected, Inojin goes to Himawari for help on his drawing jutsus, since she won the contest. Himawari teaches him about the power to put your own strength into your paintings, and he Inojin realizes that he’ll have to really put his all into his painting jutsus if they’re going to be any good. All is well until Himawari loses her prize-winning painting to the wind and it’s about to fall into the river. At the very last moment, Inojin finds his resolve and uses his painting jutsu to fly the picture to safety before bringing it to life. Himawari is quite happy with Inojin, and the young man unlocks a new facet of his own power that can be used to great effect.

Our Take:

This is a filler episode within a series that is basically just filler already. While not terribly executed, this particular episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations has so little going for it it’s kind of embarrassing. The conflict from the beginning to end is weak and half-finished, while the show still suffers from the same issues with structure and pacing that it’s had in years past. Inojin’s character isn’t well established and the plot is tired and predictable. All in all, it makes for an episode that isn’t really worth watching, whether you’re a fan or not.

This plot reminds me of something you might see on the Disney channel back in it’s heyday. I come to anime for plots that are imaginative, challenging, and maybe even a little bit provocative. Yet, this is just the most tidy, shallow, “Wrap it up in 20 minutes, no muss, no fuss” sort of episode I’eve ever seen. Inojin is a character who has gotten little to no development up to this point, so I’m not exactly thrilled to see him become the main character for an episode. While there is certainly a context of seeing him fight and fail to use his powers effectively, it feels as if this character just has very little going on. You’ll know how this story ends the minute you see that Inojin can’t find his confidence to draw. While still a somewhat heartwarming tale, Inojin has so little going on in terms of character development.

“Naruto” was always a show that focused on detail and realism within its world, but the egregious work done to the setting here is just ridiculous. We can now add “Ninja copiers/printers” to the list of absurd technological developments in the world of Boruto, which makes one’s eyes roll into the back of their head as soon as these scroll copies come on screen. What’s worse, Inojin’s story is solved by little more than the “Power of heart”. I would have preferred to see something a little more involved with the characters than just a cliched trope about how these jutsus won’t work unless the “Artist puts their heart into it.”

This is just a really boring episode all around. There’s some stuff here that might be considered a little good if it were taken in a different direction, but that’s not what we got. Even after spending a whole episode with him, I don’t feel like Inojin is a character worth paying attention to. Ignore this one if you can, Boruto really bares it’s ugly teeth today.