Board Thread:Boruto Discussions/@comment-36231087-20180718001729/@comment-5085906-20180718132534

I'm not happy with how bland and disjointed both the manga and the anime (but especially the manga) seem. I had high hopes that with the introduction of the Daimyo during the Shojoji Arc, we would venture into uncharted Naruto territory - new places, a deeper look into the politics of the Narutoverse. Shojoji itself, upon introduction, struck me as a breath of fresh air as he was unrelenting and didn't have a sad backstory to make us feel bad about him. However, Ikemoto managed to screw that up by making it about Boruto and the Daimyo's kid whose name I can't even recall (and that says a lot). Shojoji turned out to the blandest villain in Naruto, to the point where I don't even know what his purpose was - what item did he try to obtain in the Konoha Bank? What was the purpose behind his demand to release the prisoners in Hozuki Castle? From the way how he was presented, it felt like there was gonna be more to him, but the writer also wanted to introduce the new Akatsuki to the series as fast as they could, so he just aborted his arc and relegated him to a plot device that would help transitioning from arc to arc.

Yes, Naruto's first arc was also fairly isolated, but at least Kishimoto dropped hints to a much bigger world than what was being presented and he made sure to elaborate on them later. We were told Zabuza was one of seven Swordsmen and that there was a Village Hidden in the Mist - from that point, we could already feel that the world was organic and that life kept on going even off-screen. Moreover, Zabuza had a clear motivation and a surprisingly nuanced personality. Boruto provides none of that, and unforunately I feel like the series is already past the point of no return and is gonna continue maintaining this degree of quality.

There are other things I'm mad about too - I thought Boruto was gonna develop his character once he gets out of the rebellious phase, but so far he's turning out to be very hollow. Both Konohamaru and Mitsuki are getting shafted in favor of Boruto. Sarada is being sexualized, which is just weird.

I guess I just want the series to end as quickly as possible. Though if they could fix these issues, maybe I could learn to appreciate what's left of it.