u/San_Forcier7

sweet one of boruto and Sasuke, made by me

Edit:
For transparency’s sake, yes this is AI, I created this for myself as a wallpaper and though I’d share it, apologies for not putting ai in the description or title, I’m a new Redditor, you can check my accounts a month or two old, and I wasn’t aware that was a rule in this sub

this was so interesting to me and is a very sweet tone shift, it gave Fmab vibes honestly, Boruto admitting that love can be a flaw and can hinder us as humans from logic, but is what allows us to retain our humanity was quite well done honestly,

it’s also mixed with a sick moment of Boruto also putting donw the enemy at the same time, and also pulling off uzuhiko and flying raijin was an absolutely sick moment, can’t wait for it to be animated

what did you think when reading this? It’s a part that stands out for me in the manga personally

(repost because the previous post got deleted :(, accidentally forgot to add spoiler tag)

There’s something I’ve noticed even early on in tbv about Boruto which is very interesting, that being the fact we dont see Borutos thoughts at all throughout, and it’s a very interesting writing point. I mean.. most MCs like Naruto, you can always tell what they are thinking, as the writer allows you to see their thoughts or saying it out loud (ie screaming what they feel into the air every five seconds lol) which lets you know the mcs motives and feelings, which leads me into a few points and reasons for this

Aura

As funny as it sounds, having the main character not spouting his ideals or his emotions, and not being able to be in the head of the MC creates mystery around the character, as well as an aura that they are in control. An example being in Boruto nng, we see Borutos thoughts process as he’s panicking or as the gears in his brain are turning and trying to work something out, but by removing those thoughts, it makes him look like an expert in his field

Writing

Show, Don’t Tell

It’s a very bold writing move, by locking access to Borutos mind and thoughts, it elevates the writing and suspense, it goes more for show and don’t tell, which is usually a hallmark of golden standard of writing, eg in naruto we know hes sad or determined because they would say so or a thought bubble would show us, whereas in tbv, with Boruto we have to infer his state of mind through his body language and actions, it forces the reader to often pay closer attention to what’s happening or Boruto himself,

Protagonist mystery,

usually mystery is preserved for villains, vut Making the protag a mystery, the author creates a unique tension, it keeps stakes high, and makes us worried for him at time

Growth, shonen tropes, and side charcaters

by not allowing us to see his thoughts, in a way it shows his growth from a cheeky kid into a stoic, calm survivor, it shows that he’s become hardened, and changed the way he processes the world , it also elevates sode characters, as we can see their thoughts funnily enough, which while also bringing focus to them, also gives Boruto a force of nature feel to him, it also subverts shonen tropes, and makes him stand out, more like the transformation ten has in s4

experiencing the story as an outsider

we as the reader, don’t really see the story from borutos pov it feels most of the time, it feels more like we see him from other characters pov and see everyone else reacting to him, putting us in the shoes of the other characters or the leaf village, turning him into a mystery box, often we don’t know how he’s going to solve a problem, like when he goes to fight Jur4, we had no idea that he was going to bring kawaki as we can’t see his thought process.

Parallels and similarities to Eren:

as you may have clocked from recent posts, I’m a big aot fan, with Eren being my no.1 favourite and Boruto being my no.2, they both follow post timeskip a similar kind of character with parallels that are very interesting writing choices,

Black box protagonist

for one they were both previously louder MCs, but post timeskip they are stoic, and bring alot of mystery, we don’t see internal conflict, they feel more like a force of nature, it creates a tactical feel, like they know exactly what they want and how to get it.

Perspective shift

We see Boruto more from the point of the side characters and the villagers, which similar to Eren, where we spend more time in the heads of the warriors and marley than we do Eren himself

Burden of choice and knowledge Assymetry

the lack of knowledge of what Borutos thinking, causes a knowledge assymetry, we don’t know everything he knows, and it keeps us on out toes, as he has knowledge of the future off of kojis ten directions, similar to how eren had knowledge of the future through the attack titan, and they both know that the decision making that can make or break the future rests on them

Action as the primary language

They both prioritise action to get the point across, like erens surgical strike on liberio, or Borutos drop in to konoha, he doesn’t first explain uzuhiko, he uses it and then tells us, which leads to us respecting his strength more

Judgment Over Diplomacy:

this one might be a little bit of a stretch, but This narrative style reinforces the idea that the "Old System" (the Shinobi world or the Eldian cage) has failed. Their silence is proof that the time for talking has ended and the time for a "hard reset" has begun.

Momoshiki and Naruto

another reason maybe to show us that Boruto himself is blocking his thoughts and practicing zen, in order to not have momoshiki take over his mind, its also a technique used to make Boruto massively differ from Naruto, cause shouting his ideals and his ninja way constantly was like one of narutos main shticks

Conclusion

im sure there are many more points that I can come up with, but I’ll leave it here, may expand on it in a later post, but this change can be seen as a total change in the mangas DNA, by lockign the door to Borutos thoughts, creating a black box protagonist, it shows that in a world of corruption and noise, Borutos silence in his thoughts may be one of the loudest things in that world.

So what dyou guys think about this, I’d be interested to hear your opinions, this was something i noticed when rereading the manga, and stuck out to me after reading Tokyo ghoul especially, it seems like ikemoto is using this as a deliverate writing choice

https://youtu.be/0pDe0gn8yU0?si=Xh1KAegwOF-w_uVK

can anyone help me find the ost from the first 45ish seconds of the clip please?

In my personal opinion, Boruto has my favourite 1st minute out of anything I’ve ever watched, the beginning is so hype and creates so much mystery and gets your hopes high, my favourite pilot episode would have to go to attack on titan cause there’s so much happening in it. Can’t wait to see two blue vortex animated, we’ll get to see this version of Boruto animated, I hope they keep this artstyle for tbv, it would genuinely be peak