Why is the Boruto anime so bad compared to Naruto?

This is my first post here, so, I won’t go too deep into this, and I’ll be as gentle as possible, because I’m planning on writing multiple Naruto rants and then extensive Boruto rant. I only read the manga so I can avoid the filler bias. This is just a surface level rant for those who’re constantly trying to prove that “Boruto is good”.

1.Boruto is a poor sequel. The argument made is that it’s a peaceful time and Naruto succeeded in peace. I agree with this. You know what we call stories that pretend to have a plot after a happily ever after? Fanfiction. If Boruto was fanfiction, it would have been the best there ever was since at the end of the day, it’s not canonical.

By being canonical, it undermines the end of Naruto Shippuden simply by existing. Naruto as a story was a legend. Boruto is a retcon. It’s not fair but it is true.

2.Boruto isn’t interesting as a shounen either. Even on the manga, Boruto’s appeal is really as a Naruto sequel. The Kara are some of the worst first big baddie threats and their philosophy doesn’t challenge the cast in a meaningful way.

Boruto especially isn’t an interesting protagonist. That’s normally fine in shounen but his fellow cast is also not interesting. Only the old cast and Kawaki are worth your time.

3.The fight choreography is good, sometimes even great but the fights have no story to tell, no true struggle of will so we are always left with pretending it does ie ‘Boruto is smarter thus he fights like that’

It’s okay to like Boruto. But don’t shove off all valid criticisms and pretend that the show isn’t shallow.

Boruto is one of the most hated anime/manga shows in the world. Since Naruto is insanely popular, Boruto, a sequel to it, is bound to get an unbelievable attraction and inevitably unfavorable criticism.
I watched Naruto only recently and continued Boruto once it was over. So I will my honest opinion on why Boruto as a series gets too much hate.

1. The Way Naruto Ended

I think Boruto started off at a great disadvantage with the way Naruto ended. Naruto and Sasuke are basically reincarnations of Gods. The world is now at peace with no major conflicts. So the sequel has nothing to work with and the only thing they had remaining is the Otsutsuki concept.

Kaguya is the literal Goddess they had to fight during the original series of Naruto. So every conflict the characters face from here on should be solved easily by just Naruto or Sasuke. Boruto has to introduce new villains who most of the time don’t make any sense at all. Hence the eventual victories don’t really pay off as we had already seen a literal Goddess getting defeated.

2. No Mysteries

This is just a problem most sequels face. The world, the power system, the power ceiling, the politics, history, the lore, etc are all already explained. So Boruto has no big mystery left to explore. Otsutsuki is the only mysterious thing left and they went with it.

In Naruto, mysteries played a huge part in its success. I also think they could have explored other villages more along with Otsutsukis.

There were so many mysteries in just Naruto part one alone like Kakashi’s Sharingan, Itachi’s story, Akatsuki, Third Hokage, remaining tailed beasts, other villages, etc just a few to name. I just don’t think Boruto has such mysteries in its story and it is tough to engage in it with it having a very straightforward plot.

3. Too Much Fillers/Anime Canon

Boruto Manga has its fair share of memorable moments. But Anime entirely just feels like a filler filled with some Canon manga chapters sometimes.
There are some anime canon arcs that are just unbearable to watch. In the first arc, Sumire, the daughter of a former Root member has been living all her life to take revenge against Konoha. But Boruto somehow convinces her to change her mind. Boruto is a 12-year kid with no real-world struggle and how can he even understand what Sumire goes through when he cannot understand Naruto’s struggle.

Note that the above one was one of the better anime canon arcs. There are arcs that are way worse than this in the anime and fillers are even more ridiculous.

4. Bad Antagonists

Otsutsuki’s only aim is to consume Devil fruit chakra harvested by planting Ten-tails. Both Momoshiki and Isshiki in form of Jigen have this same goal.
This goal of them is pretty lame for compelling storytelling and their character just becomes bland and robotic. Even the other members of Kara aren’t interesting too. Giving them origin will be a good idea but that will just create plotholes since they have to explain what they were doing during the old days.

I am not expecting another villain of the caliber of Pain but at least give us memorable antagonists who have some depth to them. Kaguya legitimately is a more interesting character than Otsutsukis in Boruto.

5. No Ideological/Thematic Conflicts

There are no thematic or ideological conflicts in the story. A good story should have some ideological conflicts between the characters in them.

Naruto initially focused on the underdog theme with characters such as Naruto, Lee, Guy, etc and the theme of peace was the main conflict overall in the story. Lee vs Gaara is the battle between natural talent and hard work. In the end, Lee loses but is seen as victorious in viewers’ eyes. Pain vs Naruto is just a battle of whose idea of peace is better. Naruto has to beat Pain ideologically to win the fight.

Boruto doesn’t have such scenarios. Otsutsukis are just some evil aliens that have no real idealogy to relate with. Hence fights will be just about strength. We can make the fights cool through choreography and animation but they will never top the emotional feel that was felt in Naruto.

6. Boruto – The Unlikable Main Character

Boruto’s personality traits are just unlikeable. He is a 12-year-old living in a loving family and doesn’t have to face any real-world problems. He acts entitled, doesn’t like Naruto for stupid reasons, has no dream, and has no personal problems. I get what the series is trying to do. His traits can be justified as some teens with a comfortable life will act like that in the real world. But that doesn’t mean viewers will get to like him.

But if his personality remained like that for just one or two arcs, it would have been alright. The anime has been running for more than 150 episodes and still, he isn’t likable. Also, he is just forced into the important parts of the story for no reason. Also, people keep on telling him that he is just like Naruto when he doesn’t behave like Naruto at all. He doesn’t warrant the acknowledgment he gets from other characters.

Since Manga got straight to the Kara plotline, he is much more tolerable but still nowhere likable.

7. Lack of Focus on Side Characters.

The cast seems very thin as there is less focus on side characters. Anime only arcs tried to solve them but those arcs don’t leave a strong impression. Even characters such as Konohamaru who is a Jonin just seem like fodder. Even the established characters from Naruto aren’t convincing like before.

The story just revolves around very few characters and it makes the world so small. To be fair, it was a problem in the original series also but it has become even worse here.

8. Escalated Power Level

This is a problem that even the war arc in Naruto faced and Boruto continued it. The end game villains like Madara, Kaguya, etc were just out of the protagonists’ reach and they had to make Naruto and Sasuke reincarnations of god to bridge the power gap.

Since Naruto and Sasuke have become too powerful, now the story won’t have high stakes if the villains are weaker than Kaguya or Madara level. So every villain has to be near Kaguya level or the story won’t be interesting.

But this makes other side characters seem irrelevant. Also, this makes characters like Shin Uchiha injuring both Naruto and Sasuke look illogical.

9. Illogical Plotlines For Narrative Convenience

How can Orochimaru create several artificial humans with Mangeyko Sharingan?
Why are there even artificial humans in the first place?
Where were Kara members during the Naruto times?
Where was Jigen all these times?
Why are there advanced cyborgs now all of a sudden?
Why is Naruto even getting tired of doing paperwork?
Why can Boruto create Invisible Rasengan?
Why is Boruto in every important place?
Why is there even a time-traveling power available?
Why has technology progressed so rapidly in just a few years?
Why is Chojuro even a Kage?

I know you can probably explain some of these through some brainstorming. But they are just too many of them in the series that it isn’t easy to ignore. You can’t expect the viewers to accept such glaring inconsistencies repeatedly.

There are certain things going well for the series, mainly Naruto and Sasuke. The manga is pretty decent though nothing exceptional.

Do you agree with these? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Is Boruto as good as Naruto anime?

Is Boruto anime better than Naruto Shippuden?

How does Boruto compare Naruto?

Is Boruto a good anime?