5 Point Discussions: Boruto – Naruto Next Generation 65: “Father and Child”

With everyone assembled, will they be able to take down the powered up Momoshiki Otsutsuki? Or will he succeed at reviving the chakra tree and become even more powerful? Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. By now I’m sure everyone’s heard, but still. Hats off to Boruto for pulling off what is currently the best animated fight scene of 2018. The fight scene choreography was absolutely bonkers from top to bottom. Once Cell Momoshiki reaches his Perfect Form, he proves the word Kage is about as threatening as the word “sandwich”, easily knocking out all four of the other Kage with zero effort.
But of course, the true MVPs of the ninja world are Naruto and Sasuke, and they both come through here in a superbly animated fight scene that manages to make Momoshiki look like a threat while simultaneously reminding you why both heroes are so revered in the first place. There’s not much in the way of repeated animation, just proper martial arts combined with just enough ninjutsu to spice things up–with well-timed substitution jutsus, weapon usage, and even some last minute summons which resembled something out of a Final Fantasy game.
At the end of it, the guys who beat Kaguya finally come out on top since they’re no longer wasting all their energy trying to protect a bunch of innocent citizens. This whole thing was popular enough to get Boruto a much larger look than it was getting, so I hope they don’t waste it going forward.

2. This whole segment of the show pulled me out of what’s otherwise a great episode. It’s Euphemia’s death from Code Geass, or Goku giving Cell a Senzu bean–the writer essentially wrote themselves into a corner and thus has a character do something so stupid it’s literally incomprehensible. After Naruto and Sasuke work together, they make quick work out of shutting Momoshiki down–and once the other Kage wake up, it’s really only a matter of time until Momo is taken out for good.
…And then out of nowhere Katasuke and his camera man show up, with Katasuke using his scientific ninja tool to try and bring the villain down…only to charge him back up to full power again. How’d they get there? Who knows?  The Kage assume they must have snuck in through Sasuke’s portal, but the group had tons of people watching them as they left, so unless Katasuke managed to convince them he was just going so they could put the fight on whatever the ninja equivalent of Worldstar is, I’m not sure how that works.
And wasn’t he there when Boruto was futilely wasting his attacks on this guy only for him to absorb them all? This was just all around dumb.

3. In the end, with Momoshiki stronger than ever thanks to Katasuke’s stupidity, our group is literally stuck. No, they’re actually literally stuck, thanks to Momoshiki using Shikamaru’s shadow paralysis jutsu. It all winds up coming down to Boruto, which is pretty contrived but the show is named after him so logically there probably was never a way out of this.
In a neat bit of properly done foreshadowing, we learn that Boruto’s “weak” Rasengan was never weak at all–without realizing it, the nature of his chakra changed the Rasengan into a new version of the technique, creating a “vanishing” Rasengan which disappears shortly after creation but still deals massive damage. Taking advantage of Momoshiki’s arrogance, Boruto manages to toss this out without him absorbing it, and it hits hard enough to break the shadow spell.
Realizing their opportunity, Naruto helps Boruto create another version of this with his own chakra. Remember how I said this was basically the Cell Saga? Welp, here comes the Father-Son Rasengan, only executed several times better, complete with unnecessary references to Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke double-team Momoshiki long enough to distract him, then at the last second Boruto pops up with the final technique, blowing Momoshiki to bits.

4. Once Momoshiki is finally evaporating into nothingness, he offers one last warning to Boruto. This warning ties back in to what we saw at the very beginning of the series, when Boruto was fighting in the ruins of a destroyed Konoha. It’s clear that whatever Boruto’s destiny is, it’s going to be just as insane as his father’s, if not moreso. Which I guess is obvious, because 65 episodes into the original Naruto Sasuke was still trying to figure out how to get past Gaara’s sand technique.
I’m all for Boruto being the DBZ to Naruto’s Dragon Ball, but I do wonder where things go if you’ve already beaten the people who created ninjutsu…twice.

5. Next Episode: With the Otsutsuki Clan down (…except for the weird fisherman guy who disappeared), things are attempting to get back to normal. But what’s normal look like, with Boruto having been stripped of his right to be a ninja?
This is clearly an epilogue episode to wrap up all the loose ends, which is necessary even if not exciting. What’s cooler though is next up supposedly we’re getting an arc about the coolest character in the series: ChoCho Akamichi!
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is available on Crunchyroll and Hulu.