Title: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Vol. 19
Author: Masahi Kishimoto (Creator), Mikio Ikemoto (Art), Ukyo Kodachi (Story)
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 176
Genre: Shonen, Battle
Publication Date: April 2, 2024
The Story
With Code’s affiliation with Eida and Daemon severed, Amato looks to return to Konoha with both of them. In a communication with Shikamaru, Amado informs him of their arrival and that he will divulge everything, including his true motives and goals. Prior to his arrival, Shikamaru summons all of Team 7 and Kawaki to Naruto’s office for a brand-new mission. They speculate that the mission would be to take down Code or to take down Edia; however, that’s not it. Their mission is… co-habitation!
In other words, Boruto and Kawaki are to live with Eida and Daemon. This gives Eida what she wants… intimate personal time with Kawaki, and it allows them to survey her up close and personal through non-traditional means. In exchange, their hope is that Eida will help them in dealing with Code now that his limiters are off.
Speaking of Code, he takes Bug to see the ten-tails and while there, he uses his claw marks to wrap the ten-tails up and dissect it into multiple beings… similar to how the chakra beasts were created… except these are human in shape!
Through Amado’s story, we also learn about another member of the Ohtsutsuki clan… Shibai… who devoured so much chakra fruit that he ascended to godhood. As a god, he was able to use powers with simple gestures. Amado called this Shinjutsu and that Ninjutsu was their way of trying to replicate those god-like arts but could never reach that level.
While all of this is going on, an ominous feeling is spreading throughout Konoha!
Characters
The biggest development here is Amado. He talks about his true goal of bringing his dead daughter back to life. He tried cloning a human and transferring a digitized copy of his daughter’s memories and feelings into it; however, no matter how many times he tried, it was never truly his daughter. This is when Jigen/Isshiki Ohtsutsuki approached him and offered restoration of his daughter in exchange for his services; however, despite the touching backstory, something isn’t adding up (to anyone’s surprise).
If anything, Amado is proving to be the ultimate persuader with his stories. He’ll give you the information you want all while hiding more from you. Information is his weapon and he’ll keep stringing you along with the truth while using it to deceive you; however, for what reason? That’s the hook with Amado as a character… he keeps you wondering and guessing.
Through Amado’s tale, we learned of Shibai and through that, we learned a bit more about the ninja world. To think that the main series is long gone and we’re still world-building with the sequel. Just when we learned about the ten-tails, the chakra fruit, and the origins of both ninjitsu and the three great eye techniques, we now get shinjutsu and the true origins of ninjitsu thrown in. It’s quite nice to know that even this late in the game, the Narutoverse can still expand like this!
Final Thoughts
The next volume is the final volume of part one before we get into Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. The nice thing here is that they don’t truly set up what’s going to happen next. Sure, we have Code making his moves with the ten-tails, we have the whole coercing of Eida plan, and a new development with Boruto and his interactions with Momoshiki; however, nothing in this volume leaped out and said “This is where we are heading” for the first part’s finale. The hints and possibilities are nice and we can pretty much guess logically that we’ll have an encounter with Code and whether or not Eida/Daemon will play a role in that will be determined by how much Kawaki can give Eida what she wants.
If not, then perhaps Code will be biding his time until the next part. Not sure but with the way they talked about Code’s power not being an issue if they get Eida on their side, it makes it feel as if they are treating Code as an afterthought. The true intrigue here is what Momoshiki said to Boruto and how what he mentioned is approaching faster than he realized. Given the way the manga series started back in Chapter 1… this could offer a massive clue as to how we ended up at that starting point for the series.
Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Code and what happens overall. Obviously, whatever happens will be the lead-in to Two Blue Vortex. Since VIZ is under the umbrella of Shueisha, I’m more than certain we’ll get it here in the States so while Volume 20 may be the “end,” it’s far from over!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
