English Dub Review: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations “Metal Lee Goes Wild!”

It’s like Tiny Toon Adventures, but they’re ninjas.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Boruto and friends are learning how to throw shuriken in their ninja academy training. During their practice, we’re introduced to Metal Lee, presumed son of Rock Lee, who is pretty damn skilled but is a nervous klutz. Later, when the kids are assigned to chisel some repairs into the Hokage faces, (That’s kind of a weird thing to do in school, don’t you think?) Metal gets too nervous and ends up wrecking some of the mountains with his chisel.

Shikadai lectures Lee on not being such a nervous wreck, and that night his dad, Shikamaru, lectures on him on the importance of leadership and training. The next day, Boruto and friends run into Metal Lee, who is possessed by an evil chakra spirit. The three of them wear Lee out, and eventually, the spirit leaves his body. They all makeup and stay as friends, playing video games together until Metal Lee breaks Boruto’s ninja Gameboy by mistake.

Our Take:

The main issue I’m having with Boruto, three episodes into this series, is who this show is actually for. Fans of the original series might be entertained by the fanservice aspect of seeing the burgeoning spawn of their favorite “Naruto” characters, but that wellspring of appeal quickly runs dry. The fact of the matter is that this series is much more a slice of life about elementary school kids than it is the dark, emotional shounen that was the original series. By that same notion, if you’re a new viewer, no doubt you’ll be quickly alienated by the noticeable lack of characterization. Metal Lee, Shikadai, Boruto, and the other Konoha kids have no apparent character differences from their parents. They feel like miniature versions of Lee, Shikamaru, and Naruto, but with different haircuts.

The plot is…tepid, to say the least. The character foundation that’s been built so far is rather weak, and there’s been very little driving conflict to get me interested in what’s going on. Everything is far too pleasant, and Metal Lee’s difficulties with nerves feel so unimportant, in large part because, well, he and all his classmates are just stupid kids! They don’t know any better, and they’re not an age where the decisions they make and the challenges they face have any real importance. The original “Naruto” picked up with Naruto as a teenager, a tender age that defines one’s adulthood, but the going-ons of ten-year-olds cannot possibly carry that same weight.

Naruto has always had some issues with its setting, but its always had a sort of rugged appeal to it, with some anachronistic flair. However, now, with ninja trains and video games, Konoha is indistinguishable from modern-day Japan, which just sucks the imagination right out of the series. The show simply doesn’t transport me to anywhere I want to go. And without the fantasy, the immersion of being in a different world, what’s the point of a shounen anime in the first place? Everything about this show just screams “Uninspired.”

There is very little that’s working here in Boruto. While its functional as a show, and not insultingly bad, it struggles with the definition of what it is and why this story matters. “So what?” and “Who cares?” are the big questions I’m asking here.  If Boruto can’t start answering those, then we’re going to have a problem.