I can see both sides. On the one hand, just because your parent had a rough childhood does not mean that their failures in parenting don’t hurt. You also can’t expect children to understand the past if they are not TOLD about the past (and there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the Bort generation is told much of anything about their own parents history–Boruto knows nothing about Hyuuga branch slavery, Sarada doesn’t recognize Team Taka, etc).
Naruto is not a competent Hokage. He is overwhelmed by paperwork in a way that previous Hokages were not shown to be, despite having as many or more people to delegate to, and being younger and more vibrant to start with. He is also hypocritical with regard to how he uses his clones. He doesn’t make significant changes with regard to the shinobi system, in particular the fundamental unjust basis of it, which is “military and police work based on ability to pay”. The daimyo and his son feature prominently in the Bort manga and it’s made completely obvious that the ninja world economy and government is some kind of bizarre feudalist/capitalist hybrid, the literal worst of both worlds if you’re a have-not. Nor has anyone apparently learned any lessons from their recent history. The whole Sumire plotline for example–what the fuck were the Sixth and Seventh Hokages thinking with regard to Root that they let that situation happen?
On the other hand, Boruto’s predicament just can’t be as compelling and attractive to the reader as Naruto’s, and the reader is comparing them as stories. Moreover, what makes Boruto annoying to me personally is how much the narrative keeps giving him unearned rewards of people’s adoration. The whole “Boruto is Mitsuki’s sun!!!” trope is annoying as fuck to me, especially in light of the entire thing being shown to be Snakebert brainwashing Mitsuki into becoming obsessed with Boruto, so when next gen fans act like this is sweet and wholesome instead of creepy af, that annoys the hell out of me.
Mitsuki is not a sweet healthy boy with an appropriate crush; Mitsuki is a massively traumatized child who has been literally drugged and brainwashed into an obsession with the son of an extremely important man. Brrrr. Heebie jeebes. Y i k e s. But the franchise itself is so eager to recreate the S///NS “dynamic” for the $$$$ and is treating it like ship teasing and agah;dslfkjs it’s gross okay.
And it’s not just Mitsuki; Bort gets all kind of “barely adolescent male power fantasy” shit that only makes sense when you realize it’s meant to appeal directly to 12 year old boys. Like a lot of people shit on Hinata for the way she blesses Boruto going off into deadly danger even though he just failed the chuunin exam for cheating and there are certainly many experienced adult ninja available (including Hinata herself!!!), but you need to understand Hinata isn’t a three dimensional character anymore; she’s purely “Boruto’s mom” in this power fantasy where the 12 year old boy gets told “oh yes, sweetheart, I, your mother, think of you as equal to an adult male–no, BETTER than the average adult male, a HERO among males, TOTALLY ready and able to go and SAVE THE WORLD while I stay here!”
To me, THAT is the annoying shit.
The problem isn’t that silly adolescent power fantasies shouldn’t exist. I have no problem with Dragon Ball type franchises where there’s no societal depth and everything is pure escapism about power rankings and people’s hair turning colours even though it isn’t their final form yet.
But original Naruto teased us with so much more than that. But either they didn’t have any intention of following through or they chickened out.
I liked Naruto because he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to get validation, and then he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to DO things with that power to help others.
Boruto wants to be like Sasuke, because…? He’s a “real” ninja? He’s cool? He fight real good?
That’s annoying, and off-putting. All style, no substance.
Fool me once, I’ll fuck off to fanfiction land before I ever let you fool me again, Naruto franchise.
Imagines how powerful Neji Hyuuga would have been as an adult if he hadn’t been unnecessarily killed off for the sake of a plot point
Gets super pissed over all the missed opportunities, had Neji lived. Wonders about the change in the Hyuuga clan didn’t have but would have had, had Neji survived. Thinks about how great it would have been for Neji to have been Boruto’s sensei as opposed to Sasuke (tho I do love Sasuke) and how epic it would have been to have incorporated and widened Neji’s potential as a Main rather than supporting character.
Is bitter because the Hyuuga never really did change and seems like it would have had Neji lived long enough to try to change it. How unfulfilling his ending was because his death didn’t even feel like it was about him, rather a plot device used to strengthen Hinata’s character. That apparently the takeaway here is that the caged bird can only be freed by death but hey, that’s fine as long as you die for the people that you love. Yeah okay, that wasn’t dumb at all I mean he didn’t have a novels worth of potential, no it’s fine just kill him off. It’s not like it was a smack in the face to his fans or the character himself. No not at all…
Imma add – I always felt like Hiashi would have been a better sacrifice for this plot. It would have meant all the same shit and more seeing as his brother gave his life for the clan (already locking in that caged bird fate shit).
And he could do the whole “zomg lesson learned clan must be changed” dying wish.
Fucking right! It would have been better and would have meant more that Hiashi would died protecting his child whom he was ambivalent towards at most, and the nephew that was wronged. It would have meant that change was inevitable that it needed to be changed from the ground up and who better to do it than Neji and Hinata. It would have given both a significantly larger role in the next series. Instead of the hot mess of the next series being so close to the original narrative that was Naruto it could have focused on Boruto and his sister being Hyuuga and Uzumaki dealing with where they stand in the clans ever changing infrastructure.
Then again, it would have changed the theme of the series and would have been branded for adult audiences as it would have been steeped in political intrigue but who gives a shit. The point is that it would have been better for Neji to have been given the chance to change his and the fates of the branch families with his own hands, his father’s death would have been avenged with the death of his uncle.
I swear I’ve been saying all this for the longest! THANK YOU!
yeahhhh and ending defenders are like “oh but it was already resolved before the end of the manga 🙂 Hiashi told Hizashi that the branch house and main house now fight alongside each other as equals :)”
Yeah? Talk is cheap.
1. Neji, pre-Talk no Jutsu, told Naruto that his inescapable destiny as a branch house member was to die for the benefit of the main house.
2. Neji died to protect the heiress of the main house.
Some resolution of his storyline. Neji was “free” to “choose death” more or less exactly the way his father Hizashi was “free” to “choose death”.
And then his death was wasted! “Does Uncle Neji like sunflowers?” Let me tell you about your Uncle Neji, Himawari: when he was younger than you are now, he had a painful seal placed on his head that humiliating branded him as property, and his uncle, your grandfather, regularly punished him by activating the seal and causing him intense, seizure-inducing pain. Nobody stopped your grandfather from doing this, and he said sorry that one time so everybody forgave and forgot.
Sounds pretty horrible, right? I mean, God, what kind of horrible Hokage would let someone torture a child and just do nothing?!
Oh yeah, your dad, Naruto! He knows allll about this but he does nothing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Cheloneuniverse 