if any other bitch in konoha had been gay apart from sasuke none of this would have happened to my son naruto.

OK boruto verdict. thus far obviously. i assumed part 1 of the anime would be ending right before the timeskip shippuden-style but that isn't what happened lol. so i guess the split is kind of arbitrary. anywho its not as good as naruto which is to be expected. but its cute!

i was tbh pretty shocked that boruto stands out as his own character pretty well. he still has some of the Shounen Protag Syndrome that naruto had, meaning its not particularly difficult to guess what he would do in a given situation and there is an element of same-ness to him and every other cheery roughboy protagonist, and there's still a lot of overlap between him and naruto, but i think he's very cute. i love his stubbornness and black and white thinking. he reads as someone who grew up in a loving household but has a mounting frustration with feeling trapped without really knowing whats trapping him.

tbh my biggest issue with boruto thus far i think is that it feels very undercooked, like theres a ton of interesting dynamics that are introduced then barely explored, and if they are its in a kind of cursory way that doesn't really show a lot of respect for the characters involved. the biggest offender with this imo is naruto and boruto's relationship, but sarada and boruto, mitsuki and boruto (mitsuki and sarada on their own as well tbr), and sasuke and sarada are also big examples.

naruto's characterization sort of seems like its gotten lost in an attempt to make him more mature, which like Yeah he should be more mature and i don't think that "naruto is the hokage now and because of how dedicated he is to konoha and to maintaining peace and making everyone in the village feel like they belong, he ends up being stretched too thin and boruto starts to feel ignored and left behind by someone who should be his biggest supporter" is illogical, but his ability to verbally tell people he cares about that he cares seems to have taken a hit, not just his ability to SHOW it (which could logically be stunted by his role as hokage). there shouldve been more exploration into naruto's feelings about boruto as his wayward son who causes problems and doesn't know what he wants. boruto's pov was well and good, but the whole dynamic feels half baked because it's written in a way that naruto isn't supposed to be the focus of it, even though there are obviously two equally important sides to a parent-child dynamic. for naruto's feelings to be so unexplored beyond "i'm so busy" and "i don't want him to grow up" is just a bit of a let down. dgmw there were definitely still really powerful moments between the two of them, but considering parent-child relationships is sort of a focal point of the series i feel like the amount of direct attention that naruto's feelings towards boruto are getting is a disservice.

tbh though i think a lot of the naruto cast has been watered down at least somewhat in order to fill a role that needed to be filled, ive complained about temari a couple times, sakura is rarely seen without an apron on, etc. sasuke is honestly fine, but im genuinely sick with want for a look into how he feels about his and naruto's families in a way that doesn't feel like im being lied to, even though that will never happen. but to be honest his relationship with boruto serves as a pretty good indicator. lol.

i think its interesting that we're exploring a love/obsession/devotion sort of situation this round, again i think it could be made to hurt more but its fine. everything could be made to hurt more. but whatever. its an interesting way to expand on the power and value of love themes in naruto. its unique if anything, which is nice because there are a LOT of story beats that feel lifted right out of naruto. i quite like kawaki in a vacuum, he feels sort of like an odd one out in the cast though im not really sure how that could be remedied. i think he and boruto needed to interact more on regular terms before they started calling each other brother and saying i feel like i could do anything when im with you etc. slow down cowboy! but kawaki's situation as someone who was so horribly abused, finds a family that loves him and is truly and heartfully accepted by naruto as a son, then to become dangerously devoted to protecting naruto because he's the first person to make kawaki feel like his life was worth anything, is Quite interesting to me. if a bit sudden. but i guess thats intentional too.

the plot itself is very very much an ohhh you thought you defeated that guy? well he has SEVERAL friends! type situation. like this didn't need to happen and was clearly tacked on. but its p much exactly what i expected and its managed to create some pretty effective moments for what it is. the fights are really cool and don't drag their feet as much as the ones in naruto did, which is nice.

overall its good, its cute, the new characters are fun even if its at the expense of some of the OGs. there are a million things that i think need to be explored that aren't aliens, but i know they never will be etc. its fine. (it isnt.) it feels more cobbled together than naruto did. but its cute.

many naruto thoughts head overloading

ok im only like 20 episodes into shippuden and i skipped a Lot of filler in original naruto bc i do not have the patience </3 (i will come back to the filler one day though) and while i love this anime theres so much i wish... was not written how it is

first of all sakura... i love her sm and i just wish her character was given some more care like at this point in shippuden im actually really enjoying the direction shes taken but i heard a lot of her growth is sidelined when sasuke comes back into the picture and thats my biggest issue. im sorry but if youre going to introduce a TRIO of main characters i want to see that main group equally fleshed out. first going all the way back to the beginning i wish that sakura was allowed to fight??? like we KNOW shes super smart and has powerful chakra so even when at that time she wasnt the most skilled fighter (as far as we KNOW at least. given that we barely got to see her fight who knows!) she couldve in the very least played a similar role to that of shikamaru as far as leadership and strategizing. and ok her crush on sasuke should have dissipated a lot more after the chunin exams. even though i do hate to see her spend so much time fawning over sasuke when hes not even particularly kind to her i think a crush in the beginning could still work IF the moment of her cutting her hair (“sasuke likes girls with long hair”) and her battle w ino during the chunin exams were like an eye-opening moment for her when she was like “wtf am i doing i am going to work hard as a ninja to prove that i can do this to MYSELF and MY RIVAL first” (which. ok she does get to this point later and again i love her learning chakra and getting strong as HELL during her training w tsunade but again. i want to see that REMAIN parallel to the enormous power level leaps that sasuke and naruto make. also let sakura and ino have a fun friendship rivalry that has nothing to do w sasuke) . i think it would be better if she naruto and sasuke were just friends who ALL help and motivate each other. and so when sasuke leaves sakura is STILL super fucked up over it and maybe even has a hard time trusting naruto again after he comes back? (but ofc she eventually does bc power of friendship) like IDK loss of one best friend, then almost immediately after your other best friend (who u just learned secretly is sealed w the nine tails and the akatsuki is after him just like orochimaru was after sasuke) leaves you for THREE YEARS??? kind of a salt in the wound moment! also im simply not even going to touch on all the comphet marriages in the end

next im going to talk about rock lee my friend rock lee who i adore. anyways he either should not have foregone the surgery from tsunade or died from it. HEAR ME OUT! this surgery was good in showing how powerful tsunade is as a healer but like? was it necessary? after she brought naruto back to life??? as far as lees characterization his whole thing is that he may not have special jutsu or the same prodigal abilities as his peers but he can still be as powerful or more powerful! and idk i hate when characters have serious life changing stuff done to them and not seeing it fully explored in the story. like ok so we’ve got tsunade telling lee (who cant be older than 12? 13?) theres a 50/50 chance he’ll die in the surgery to heal him. and then guy ENCOURAGES HIM, HIS FAVORITE STUDENT, to go through with the surgery so he could then go on to be a ninja and continue risking his life?????? so i thought that was pretty screwed up. which leads me to the two paths that i think would be interesting to see play out: 1. lee doesnt get the surgery, but continues to train as a ninja. his injuries still exist but lee learns to fight WITH the injuries and creates a really cool badass unique fighting style and goes on to be a great ninja like he dreamed 2. lee dies in surgery. id hate it i would and i dont WANT lee to die but it might be a fuckin wakeup call to all these adult ninjas urging kids into warfare. lee is beloved by all so it would be a good moment of pause for everyone to think like “ummm so the systems that be are kind of majorly fucked up.”

those are the two main ideas i had but heres a few misc things:

-jiraiya can be the author of as many trashy romance novels as he wants but him hitting on younger women and being like a peeping tom and UGH the way he was introduced w narutos ‘sexy jutsu’ is just. not good. take it out.

-let tsunade look her age. like the whole “she uses her chakra to make herself look young”? i dont buy it. i dont care that you just didnt feel like drawing a woman who looks over 20. you will do it anyways bc i said so.

-i dont dislike n/ruhina as much as i dislike s/susaku bc at least its clear theres a mutual respect and admiration there but hinata, like sakura, has so much more potential to be explored. idk if its looked at in filler or later in shippuden (id sure hope so) but i think her parallel to sasuke is kind of interesting? both have intimidating, extremely powerful older brothers (i know neji is technically hinatas cousin or smth but whatever older brother figures. also i know hinatas sister is also supposed to be super powerful but idk her yet) who are held in high esteem by their families and have all this pressure on their shoulders to want to surpass them? given that neji didnt um. do the things itachi did clearly its not the SAME between hinata and sasuke but i feel like examining the hyuga family dynamics would be SO interesting in comparison to sasukes arc. i didnt mind seeing hinata motivated by naruto the first few times but like. there is SO MUCH MORE THERE than JUST hinatas relationship to naruto.

-all of these kids need therapy but ESPECIALLY sasuke like the signs were there. halfway thru the bell test thing SUPER early on sasuke went into a full-fledged “i am an avenger.. i have to kill a certain someone” monologue and given the fact that everyone knows his entire clan was killed and that sasuke is likely VERY traumatized... who thought it was a good idea to let him become a ninja before addressing any of that. my god. like i love kakashi and i know he has his own devestating backstory and that hes a product of the system but why the Fuck would he let sasuke take the chunin exams. give team 7 a year more of training and getting to know each other and give sasuke some time to create bonds and maybe even open up emotionally and begin to heal and then MAYBE we can THINK ab chunin exams.

-asuma and ino apologize to choji for telling him not to eat as much challenge? did asuma not know that chojis clan uses food to replenish their chakra? it would make sense if ino didnt know but chojis teacher?? either way still p fucked, leave choji alone

-speaking of ino i want more of her character tok. why was she not included in that mission to save sasuke that shikamaru, her TEAMMATE, led?? was there an explanation for that?? i feel like her not being there was a missed opportunity for some real growth/bonding between team 10.

-speaking of the last bullet point shikamaru being like “ugh women 🙄” is tired and boring. very misogynistic “i hate my wife” facebook dad humor. cut that shit out

-orochimarus coding and his whole um. intent as a villain is just very. Hm. i dont think i like that very much but im not going to go into it bc im sure its been touched upon a million times