When the sequel spin-off series of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, Boruto, first came out, fans were too skeptical about it as it had big shoes to fill. It was the time for the second generation to showcase their talents as shinobi and establish their place in the world. However, they could not get out of the shadows of their parents who already made their place in the narrative.
One of the most important reasons why the characters from Boruto could not free themselves from the shadows of their parents was because of the uncanny similarities between them. Although this affected the overall reception of Boruto as a series, Kishimoto already warned the fans about it, as he knew that Boruto’s narrative would not be able to avoid the occurrence of these clone-like characters.
But with the story moving forward, Kishimoto decided to reduce the overall impact of characters from Naruto on the series which was pretty evident after the time skip in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. However, the jury is still out about whether these characters are better than their former self or not.
Masashi Kishimoto Warned Naruto Fans About Boruto
In 2017, the Naruto creator was interviewed by Weekly Shonen Jump for Jump Festa, where he was asked about the similarities between the characters from Boruto and its prequel, Naruto. Kishimoto explained that a little similarity was necessary to set the base of the characters and express who they are.
Kishimoto stated:
Yes, it was. Part of it is that if the characters aren’t similar, if they aren’t a little clone-like, it can be hard to express who they are. And I have some who are pretty much clones. Shikadai is a lot like his dad. And some of the new characters are a combination of their parents, like Cho-Cho. With manga, sometimes you’re going to get archetypal characters like that.
The biggest example of Kishimoto’s comment was Boruto who looked exactly like his father but still developed a unique personality of his own and through his mistakes and ambitions learned to grow. Still, the resemblance between the two makes it difficult for fans to sometimes think about him as a separate character in the story. This is why he is compared with his father’s standards.
Other Boruto Characters Who Are Clones of Their Parents
While cloning characters as their offspring worked for series like Dragon Ball, Masashi Kishimoto faced a lot of backlash because of it. The major reason was the story being divided into two different series. Fans expected something new out of Boruto, but seeing the exact replicas of the former major characters took away the intriguing element of the story.
And although it was understandable with major characters like Boruto, Sarada, and even Mitsuri, the supporting characters also just denoted their parents and their abilities in a little different environment. The biggest example of this is the new Ino-shika-cho of Boruto, which includes Inojin Yamanaka, Shikadai Nara, and Chōchō Akimichi, who represent their parents in more than one way.
Boruto has got a second chance with Boruto: Two Blue Vortex to establish its characters as individuals who are better than their parents despite being their clones and if the series manages to do so, it might help in the overall success of Boruto as a sequel spin-off series.
You can watch Boruto and Naruto on Hulu.
