Years have ed since Boruto left its audience on a massive cliffhanger, effectively canceling any continuation of its anime in early 2023. Although no official announcements were ever made, the release of Black Clover’s movie and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War indicated that the studio, Pierrot, may have placed Naruto’s sequel under hiatus to allocate resources to those other franchises. It was the best decision it could have made as Boruto’s animation was beginning to suffer under intense production needs and scheduling.

Love it or hate it, Boruto was iconic for bringing a beloved anime back into the mainstream. Many fans were looking forward to how their favorite characters from Naruto would grow up and what kind of adult lives they would lead all while the story featured their children following in their footsteps. The anime was extremely popular when it first debuted, achieving similar heights as Naruto years prior. But as time went on, its flaws only became that much more apparent.

Boruto Was Quickly Running Out Of Material

There Wasn’t Enough For Another Season

The largest issue surrounding Boruto’s anime was that it was developing in tandem with the manga, releasing episodes a year after each chapter. Because of this, there were many times when the show would be ahead of its source material, resulting in the series focusing on filler episodes instead of the canon. It isn’t uncommon for an anime to air so soon after a chapter is completed, but shows like Full Metal Alchemist have suffered in the past due to quickly adapting the story before an original blueprint became serialized.

Boruto is another case study of this phenomenon, with the series being unable to keep up with the demands animation creates under the time constraints of annual episodic releases. The anime’s cancelation couldn’t have come at a better time. It allowed Boruto’s manga to take a brief hiatus so that later in the year, writers Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto could play catch up and properly conclude Part 1 of Naruto Next Generations.

Today the manga is ahead again, with the Code and Prophecy arc yet to be animated. Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has also been consistent in updating chapters, leaving more breathing room for the anime to return. By the time Pierrot is ready to pick up the series again, there will be plenty of source material for a proper flow of canon content.

Boruto’s Anime Is A Victim Of Terrible Pacing And Inflated Filler

The Anime Has Canon Moments Not Included In The Manga

When comparing the anime to the manga, there are a lot of uned-for storylines that have given Boruto a bad reputation for being mostly filler. Naruto was also infamous for having a high percentage of arcs that weren’t present in the original manga, but its successor is believed to have an astonishing 70% of filler episodes. When looking at the chapter-to-episode ratio, Boruto has only 80 chapters in Naruto Next Generations in comparison to the 293 episodes of its anime, begging the question of where the source originated from.

The biggest difference between the two franchises is that Boruto doesn’t take inspiration from just its manga. At the time when the anime was released, there had only been 10 chapters in Naruto Next Generations, which wasn’t nearly enough to supplement a full series. Instead, the story builds up to the point in the manga by following Boruto's time at the Ninja Academy as represented in the light novels. This helped to give the new main characters their moments to shine while allowing the writers time to create the blueprint Boruto would eventually follow.

Most of Naruto Next Generations can feel like unnecessary padding. But Boruto’s filler is essential because it serves as a lens for fans to observe the ninja world that has now drastically changed thanks to technological advances. Boruto’s canon stems from more than just its manga. The anime and light novels have helped to carve out the sequel’s own identity in a way that is more sci-fi fantasy than the traditional form Naruto characterized.

What Boruto May Need Is A Change In Production

Seasonal vs. Annual Episodic Releases Could Help

Boruto was an annual anime, so episodes were released weekly all year round to ensure the popularity of the franchise never had a chance to die down. This can do wonders and harm to a show because, while the product may be delivered quickly, there are no guarantees that it will be good. Annual anime like One Piece do well because the manga itself has always served as a blueprint to pave the way, though it isn’t an exception for resorting to using side stories to pad out times when the weekly releases would catch up.

In comparison, Boruto had to resort to filler more often because there simply wasn’t enough of the source material to pad out that extra runtime. The production itself was also beginning to suffer, with the anime’s quality taking a dip in later seasons due to the tight time constraints weekly releases fell under. For this reason, fans have suggested that Pierrot should switch Boruto’s format to a seasonal anime, since it would only serve to benefit the sequel.

Although this would mean waiting longer for each update, shows that are released seasonally are known for better quality in animation and have an easier time pacing their story through fewer episodes. Boruto's manga could continue to publish chapters at its own pace while the anime focuses on wrapping up the conclusion of Naruto Next Generations. This would solve one of the biggest problems with Boruto. Seasonal releases don't require as many filler episodes because production can focus solely on the story.

It would serve the narrative better for Pierrot to conclude Part 1 just before the skip so that fans can feel a similar sense of time ing before the anime expands to Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.

In a way, this would also tie in with Boruto's future time skip. Like Shippuden, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex will take place a few years after the events of Naruto Next Generations. Pierrot still has yet to fully adapt the Code and Prophecy arc from the manga, so once Boruto returns, the season will continue where the anime left off. It would serve the narrative better for Pierrot to conclude Part 1 just before the skip so that fans can feel a similar sense of time ing before the anime expands to Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.

Pierrot canceling the anime was the right call. It allowed the manga to get ahead again, marking a clear direction for the story, and gave the studio time to experiment with the success of seasonal shows such as Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War. The anime couldn't succeed with the amount of pressure that weekly releases placed on its fragile foundation, but under a new format, Boruto could come back stronger than ever and finish the tale of his unique ninja journey.