Highlights
- Boruto introduces futuristic technology and cybernetic body parts, blending cyberpunk elements with its anachronistic setting.
- The use of scientific ninja tools changes the power scales and offers alternative advantages in battle for ninjas.
- The addition of cybernetic enhancements, the karma and a character like Amado aims to settle for a more adult cyberpunk story but gets caught in trying to connect with fans’ nostalgia,
Naruto was always lost between two worlds – a fiction in some ways set in a medieval Japan but with modern-day utensils and technology popping up from time to time, perhaps to solve plot holes or perhaps to add a unique feel to the series. Boruto could have stayed the same way simply adding the technology of today, and it did that in certain ways, but still decided to go a few steps beyond.
Truth is, in Naruto there was always a cyberpunk-like approach to the body thanks to Orochimaru. His pursuit to transcend his body and achieve immortality could very well be the main plot of a cyberpunk series. However, it is depicted as removed from modern technological representation. His shape-shifting and body changes, although achieved through lab experimentation, are organic based. Boruto continued this approach but added futuristic technology and cybernetic body parts.
From the very start of Boruto one the main themes is the use of scientific ninja tools. This addition makes for a fascinating change in power scales. Developing weapons that can imitate any jutsu even non-ninjas could pose a threat at any given time. At the same time it gives the actual ninjas an alternative that could improve their chances in battle.
Of course, this development comes with prosthetic body parts that improve the attack power among other things as it was shown during the test Naruto did of a prototype arm, for example. What before relied almost entirely on Hashirama’s cells now is just a technological feature on a world that mixes cyberpunk with medieval, modern and current Japan.
Amado is the one brilliant character that completely turns the story and the world into cyberpunk fiction. The desire to bring back his daughter led him to build and develop incredible androids with AIs autonomous enough that they could very well pass as humans. The figure of genius doctor that goes beyond every known limit and changes the world with its creation is a cliché at this point.
Conscience Transmission
Amado’s research would have never happened with another key element of the plot, the karma. The method the Otsutsuki have to achieve immortality, the ability to transfer their conscience, all their information and power, to a different body through an implant. This way to compress a person into a peculiar storage unit is the heart of the whole Boruto story.
The key in this case was trying to reproduce another Kurama-Naruto dynamic with Boruto. That first original idea paved the way for the latter development in terms of switching the conversation towards how the karma functions and how could that translate to humans, Amado’s life work. After all, it wouldn’t really be cyberpunk without some kind of conversation about transcending the limits of the human body.
For that purpose, the Otsutsuki are depicted as a much advanced civilization in terms of technology, rather than simply alien demigods as they were at first. Their ability to travel dimensions and other objects used for time travel or enhancing their bodies also add to this statement. Pretty unexpectedly, the supernatural powers of the Naruto world now have scientific ties and explanations. Almost as if they transitioned between faith and science from one generation to another.
Aesthetic Change
When a series takes such a dramatic turn in their narrative it comes to no surprise that there are also some substantial changes in terms of design. Skyscrapers and big cities, screens everywhere, gaming, big corporations, tons of scenes inside labs or futuristic facilities. The scenery is quite different from what it was before. It also affects the new characters, pretty much everyone in Kara responds to cyberpunk aesthetic codes.
Although regular swords are still a thing, now there are prototype lightsabers and all kinds of long range weapons. Ao is perhaps the best example. A ninja known for being old-school and having some questionable traditional principles, underwent a complete rebuild. He changed every part of his body, that was severely damaged during the war, for a scientific ninja tool.
With cyborgs going around and enhanced ninjas being the imminent future, the fights about throwing shuriken at each other feel extremely outdated. Perhaps one of the biggest contradictions in Boruto is that its aesthetic keeps too much of the old things for how much everything has changed in this world. Boruto wants to be cyberpunk so badly, but it also wants to keep Naruto‘s charm.
Target Audience
The story has been trying to grow with its fans. Almost nothing is left from the early days of Naruto. A show that became one of the most popular ever in the entire world, but also a series that started almost two decades ago. The cyberpunk questions about identity, the value of life, transcending the body, they were all there from the beginning, they just weren’t represented according to the genre’s tropes.
However, the switch in Boruto is more than natural. The intention to include these elements after the necessary time skip gave the story a lot of possibilities. This would allow for a more complex story with new more complex characters that would keep fans engaged, playing in the fine line between shonen and seinen. But this plan had one major downfall, this is an era of nostalgia.
In the indecision between maintaining what once worked and opening up to new possibilities Boruto was born. By going cyberpunk you will keep some adult fans, even attract others, add layers to the story, give a different meaning to the powers scales in this universe and leave room for exciting twists. By keeping a lot of the old characters and ideas you keep selling only thanks to the fans’ nostalgia.
The anime adaption doesn’t do a lot favors to keep this somewhat adult tone and theme. The manga does better, but still succumbs to some fair criticisms. Going cyberpunk wasn’t a bad idea at all. Doing it with some reserves made the execution fail. If anything it should have being a more confident approach. The cyberpunk genre is not one to take for granted. It has steadily embraced the cyberpunk elements more, but it still sits at an in-between land.
Boruto is available to stream on Prime Video.
