Be warned, everyone is about to start pretending they’re big Boruto fans again. Boruto episode 214 brought the continuation of Kashin Koji’s desperate battle against Jigen. On top of that, Amado once again took the role of narrator and explainer for that fight. At this point, he is the one in control of all information. As angry and Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sasuke are, they have no choice but to wait and see. This has been an incredibly unique position for the Leaf to be in; rarely have hostage situations lasted very long. Even more rarely do they paralyze some of the most powerful characters in the series.
This is why the current arc is so interesting. Boruto has generally been under Naruto in terms of action and plot purpose. Boruto as a character lacks the basic motivations that most shonen protagonists tend to have. There is no simple goal of becoming Hokage, or King of the Pirates, or the strongest fighter. Even more, Naruto and Sasuke being as strong as they remove tension from most arcs. In this arc, we’ve seen the godlike duo lose — both physically and strategically. Ultimately, Boruto episode 214 represents a lot about the future of the series. Enemies have to pose a threat. Finally, one poses more of one than any villain ever has in the series.
The discussion ahead contains spoilers for Boruto episode 214; read with that in mind.
This episode finally revealed Kashin Koji’s origins, something many fans likely saw coming. Koji is a clone of Jiraiya, Naruto’s master who died at the hands of Pain. This is pretty clear from Koji’s techniques, especially in this episode. Boruto episode 214 showcased Koji using a mastered Sage mode and showing physical prowess far beyond what Jiraiya is capable of. Personally, his being a clone raised a lot of questions for me, both when I encountered this scene in the manga and now.
For one, it’s confusing to me that the Leaf’s chakra detection system allows deceased persons’ chakra signatures in. For a world that was almost destroyed by reanimated corpses and a village that lost a Hokage to reanimated corpses, this is surprising to me. Secondly, I found myself searching for a clear reason to clone Jiraiya rather than stronger deceased ninja-like Hashirama. Obviously, there’s a risk of anyone being recognized. But, if an entire room of people who have seen Jiraiya fight don’t recognize his signature techniques, maybe they’d forget who invented wood style too, who knows. My main reaction is the hope that Naruto will dissect his thoughts toward Koji further. Either way, this choice of clone is intriguing for the series and weird while interesting.
The primary plot point of Boruto episode 214, however, was clearly Isshiki’s revival. Despite losing access to the power of Karma, Isshiki is an absolute beast. His prowess with shrinking matter is far more advanced than it was even against Naruto and Sasuke. His speed, power, and destructive ability are likely much higher as well. Personally, I was a bit disappointed at the detail of this fight, namely its hand-to-hand combat scenes. Naruto and Sasuke’s fight against Momoshiki set the bar for what I expect in the Boruto anime’s “boss fights” and even throwaway fights from anime-exclusive content looked good. This fight, in comparison, came across as sluggish and frugal, lacking the detailed animation I expected.
Hopefully, this just means future fights are where all energy went for the series. This is my personal guess. As Amado said pretty clearly, the only ones strong enough to take down Isshiki are Naruto and Sasuke. My hope is that this fight will be one of the most visually spectacular so far. We know it’s coming soon; Isshiki clearly stated his body won’t last and, unlike after his last fight, he didn’t give any sort of delay for planned recharging. Until that fight, be ready for more and more buildup like we saw in Boruto episode 214!
Check out last week’s review here!
Boruto Episode 211 Images courtesy of VRV
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