Boruto Has Officially Become A Romance Manga (And That’s a Bad Thing)
Warning: Contains spoilers for Boruto chapter #71,It seems that Boruto has finally stepped away from its predecessor Naruto, but the change in tone and pace of the story is so random and unwarranted that it’s turning the manga into something completely different. Recent developments in the story make Boruto look and feel like a romance shojo rather than a ninja-themed action shonen.,After the defeat of the main villain of the series, Isshiki Otsutsuki, Boruto has really struggled to move forward and find another impressive antagonist. Rather than changing gears completely, the manga resorted to introducing new members of Isshiki’s group, Kara, who had been hidden until now. Code, Isshiki’s successor, seemed poised to be the new main villain, but things got shaken up when two powerful cyborgs, Eida and Daemon, were awakened. While they were created by Kara’s main scientist, Amado, Eida and Daemon have completely different goals and unique and problematic powers, which have combined to transform Boruto into something completely new in the span of two chapters.,,Eida has the most overpowered ability in the Naruto world: she makes anyone who sees her immediately fall in love and unable to resist her commands. If that wasn’t problematic enough, Eida’s only motivation seems to be to meet Kawaki, a former vessel of Isshiki who escaped Kara and resides in Konoha. Apparently, Eida is completely in love with Kawaki, to the point of blushing every time she talks about him. Code, instead, hoped to use Eida’s powers to destroy Konoha and pursue Isshiki’s will. In chapter #71 of the manga by Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto, readers find out that Code is actually also in love with Eida, but if this is due to her abilities or to a genuine feeling remains unclean. Now, Code’s new objective is to become Eida’s only “knight“, which puts him in competition not just with Kawaki, but with Eida’s bother Daemon too.,Taking aside the brief battle between Code and Daemon, the summary of Boruto‘s chapter #71 does not read like an action shonen manga at all, but rather like a high-school drama where many characters are competing for the same girl. This could be just a consequence of the fact that Eida’s powers are so overwhelming that they end up influencing the whole story. However, Code being hopelessly in love with Eida is completely sudden, and even unnecessary, considering that the character already has his own goals to pursue (becoming a true Otsutsuki by harvesting the Chakra Fruit). Code never showed such affection for Eida before, and his declaration that he wants to find out if his feelings are real or not is a hint that he may, in fact, be actually in love with her. All the other characters affected by Eida’s abilities, in fact, are fully aware that it’s just a manipulation.,The love triangle between Kawaki, Eida, and Code (with Daemon thrown in the mix) is not adding anything of value to Boruto‘s overall story, which was already struggling and generating unflattering comparisons with its much more successful predecessor, Naruto. Be it due to a precise choice by the authors or just because of poor storytelling, Boruto is turning into a romance manga, and it does not look good at all.,,The latest chapter of Boruto is now available on Viz Media’s Shonen Jump App!