Summary
- The best Boruto episodes balance new mythology with old storylines, creating captivating content for fans.
- Filler episodes in Boruto may divide fans, but the series shines in showcasing epic fight scenes and character development.
- Mitsuki’s character exploration in Boruto highlights agency and unique powers, adding depth to the franchise’s mythology.
The best Boruto episodes are a mix of those that spotlight the new mythology in the franchise and those that continue old storylines while still developing new characters. Boruto had big shoes to fill thanks to the success of the Naruto franchise, and it mostly succeeds. Starting as a manga serial in 1999, Naruto became an anime and spawned numerous movies. The spin-off series Boruto debuted shortly after Naruto concluded. While a movie debuted first, the anime and the manga are now flourishing.
Debuting in 2017, the anime (available to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu) hasn’t seen all of its episodes get English dubs yet. That hasn’t stopped audiences outside of Japan from devouring the series and discussing just how the Boruto anime compares to the manga.
Some fans hate the filler episodes that occur between breaks in arcs based on the manga, while others prefer the episodes with epic fight scenes. The truth is that the best Boruto episodes, however, showcase a little bit of everything the show has to offer.
25 Episode 39: The Path Lit by the Full Moon
Mitsuki Shows He Can Shine on His Own with Team 7
The creation of Mitsuki is an example of how far Orochimaru has come in the Naruto franchise while also creating one of the most fascinating supporting characters in Boruto. The episode explores his sense of free will, including during his cooperation with Sarada, Orochimaru’s parental status over him, and his similarly synthetic brother, Log. It’s an early example of Mitsuki seizing a sense of agency for himself in Boruto and demonstrating his unique powers as the spawn of the legendary Sannin of Konoha.
This episode is an adaptation of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations chapter #0, which occurs just as Team 7 is being formed before starting their first mission. Noteworthy developments include glimpses at Mitsuki unleashing his Sage Transformation and some fascinating moments featuring Orochimaru in the sequel series. But perhaps most interesting, this episode discusses Mitsuki finding his sun, a recurring possible love story for the Team 7 shinobi in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.
24 Episode 187: Kāma
Koji Kashin Attack Team 7, Prompting Boruto To Unleash a Terrifying New Power
Koji Kashin is one of the most enigmatic characters in Boruto, and his first real time to shine comes in episode 187, Kāma. The episode sees Koji attempt to kill Tema 7, only for Konohamaru to intervene and show off just how powerful he’s become. Unfortunately, it’s not enough, forcing Boruto to activate the power that gives the episode its title. While the power proves too much for the young shinobi, Kāma is one of Boruto’s most important powers and will play a much larger role in future Boruto storylines.
Kāma has a lot going for it with the proper introduction of Koji, his fight with Konohamaru, and Boruto unlocking the new power. Ultimately, these elements all come together to create an episode that’s just as satisfying to watch as it is to rewatch, easily letting it rank among the series’ best.
23 Episode 62: The Ōtsutsuki Invasion
The Otsutsuki Begin Their Attack on Konoha
Anime arcs that adapt movies are notoriously hit or miss, but Boruto episode 62, The Ōtsutsuki Invasion shows how it’s done. The episode sees Momoshiki, Urashiki, and Kinshiki descend upon the Chunin exam arena in order to abduct Naruto so they can steal his chakra. All of the series’ legacy characters react in horror to the returning threat of the Otsutsuki. Given that it took the combined efforts of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to take Kaguya down, the prospect of facing three is certainly daunting, even for the veteran ninjas.
The Ōtsutsuki Invasion is another great setup episode that establishes a powerful new threat and leaves viewers wondering how the heroes can possibly overcome the new enemies. Of course, Momoshiki, Urashiki, and Kinshiki aren’t quite as much of a threat as Kaguya was, but they’re still all incredibly powerful beings in their own right. Though Boruto had been running for some time prior, episode 62 is the one where the plot truly starts, making it an important moment in the series’ history.
22 Episode 254: The Spiral of Revenge
Boruto Stakes His Life to Stop Further Bloodshed
While the storytelling is somewhat formulaic, it’s a good example of Boruto’s pacifist actions in this penultimate episode of the quasi-filler Great Sea Battle of Kirigakure Arc. Boruto and Team 7 wish to prevent bloodshed, with the protagonist being willing to lay down his life to do so to help end the conflict between the Funato clan and Kirigakure. But what’s perhaps most fascinating about The Spiral of Revenge is it helps scratch the itch of Boruto fans craving some pirate action in their ninja anime, alongside having some beautiful visuals.
Chief among the draws of this Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode is seeing Ikada demonstrate his powers. Part of the Funato clan, Ikada has the Power of the Sea Dragon and can manipulate the surrounding ocean waters to create a massive, swirling dragon construct out of water in a beautiful sequence during the arc’s climax. It’s a nice focus episode highlighting Boruto’s qualities before leading into an arc more focused on Kawaki.
21 Episode 203: Surprise Attack
Naruto & Jigen’s Battle Over Kawaki Begins
Boruto has a solid mixture of setup and action, but few episodes do both as well as episode 203, Surprise Attack. The episode sets up more than a few plot points for future episodes such as Boruto’s Kama reactivating and Jigen’s return, while also providing some solid fight scenes.
knowing Naruto’s childhood and the isolation he faced, seeing the 7th Hokage fight so ruthlessly to protect the younger ninja is truly heartwarming
Though Jigen/Isshiki and Naruto’s fights in later episodes is far grander, the one present in Surprise Attack is still quite a thrilling brawl. Boruto often gets criticism for its mountain of filler, but Surprise Attack shows that when the series sticks to its main plot, it can do incredible things. Beyond everything else, what makes Surprise Attack so effective is how it puts Naruto’s devotion to Kawaki on full display. Kawaki is a divisive character, but knowing Naruto’s childhood and the isolation he faced, seeing the 7th Hokage fight so ruthlessly to protect the younger ninja is truly heartwarming.
20 Episode 186: How You Use It
Boruto’s Team 7 Unites to Face Off Against Ao
Few episodes show the Boruto generation’s Team 7 acting as one cohesive unit quite like Boruto episode 186, How You Use It. The episode sees Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, and Konohamaru face the cybernetic ninja Ao. The result is a standout episode that makes a great case for why the new Team 7 more than lives up to the legacy established by their predecessors.
With Boruto being the main character and legacy fighters like Naruto and Sasuke hanging around, it isn’t as often that Boruto gives Team 7 an important battle. This is what makes How You Use It such a great episode, as it’s fun seeing the team use their various powers together in fun and interesting ways. While the episode doesn’t quite have the spectacle or emotional gut-punch of Boruto’s top episodes, its solid animation and fight choreography elevate it to something special.
19 Episode 80: Mitsuki’s Friend
Crucial Symbolism Highlights Mitsuki’s Bond with Boruto
One of Mitsuki’s more scaled-back episodes, Boruto episode #80 is loaded with exposition. However, it’s not meaningless, instead serving as a dive into Mitsuki as a character from the perspective of one of the offspring generated from White Zetsu, Sekiei in the latter half of the episode. Mitsuki’s Friend is a strong examination of humanity, both for Mitsuki and Sekiei due to their mutually unusual origins.
With Boruto seen as Mitsuki’s sun, the visual storytelling incorporates a gorgeous sunset as Mitsuki relays his wisdom to Sekiei. The emotional delivery is impactful, too, and is a fairly strong illustration of the more melancholy aspects of a beautiful friendship, namely, it being a fleeting feeling where inevitable and short absences occur once the sun goes down. It’s a beautiful reminder of Boruto’s presence among his friends and the wonderfully articulate observations Mitsuki makes about his connection with him.
18 Episode 206: The New Team 7
Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, and Kawaki Unite Against Boro to Rescue Naruto
While episode 186 was a great display of the new Team 7’s skills, episode 206, The New Team 7 is on another level. The episode sees Boruto, Sarada, Mitsuki, and Kawaki travel to an alternate dimension in order to free Naruto. There, they meet and face off with the Kara member Boro. Understanding that the stakes have never been higher for them as Naruto and their lives are all on the line, Team 7 gives everything they have to beat Boro.
Team 7’s teamwork in The New Team 7 is what makes the episode truly shine. While the team has a long way to go before any of them individually is a threat for a skilled shinobi like Boro, as a team, they’re far more effective. Naruto’s Team 7 spent large portions of their series broken up, so it’s great to see the new generation band together to try and take down a threat with capabilities far outpacing their own.
17 Episode 214: Predestined Fate
Koji Kasshin’s Battle With Jigen Heats Up and Reveals Isshiki
Predestined Fate sees Koji Kashin battle Jigen while Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Boruto, and Kawaki watch on. Though Koji’s battle with Jigen is interesting, as is Amado’s commentary on it, what really defines the episode is Isshiki’s appearance. After Jigen runs out of chakra and options for dealing with Koji’s flames, Isshiki appears and proves why he’s the franchise’s strongest threat to that point. Koji is an incredibly powerful shinobi considering he’s a clone of Jiraiya, but even he is no match for the might of Isshiki.
A third party commenting on a fight is nothing new to anime and especially not to Naruto and Boruto. Given that the franchise often incorporates incredibly powerful abilities with complicated rulesets, that commentary is a necessity. In Predestined Fate though, Amado’s battle commentary is just as thrilling as the battle itself. The result is a fascinating episode that firmly establishes just how much of a threat Isshiki truly is.
16 Episode 129: Village Hidden In The Leaves
While the original Naruto series explores the idea of other dimensions and universes made from dreams, Boruto features more exploration of time and space, allowing for time travel. Boruto and Sasuke end up in the Konohagakure of the past, specifically during the years of the original Naruto series. The arc in the show is largely filler, but this episode allows Boruto to gain a new perspective on his father.
Boruto thinks he is drastically different from Naruto, but this episode highlights how similar they really are when they both, as children, interact with a young Sakura and an adult Sasuke. While the audience has always known about their similarities, an episode focusing on them gives Boruto a new appreciation for his dad and results in the young ninja shirking some of his more juvenile tendencies, resulting in some solid development for the title character.
15 Episode 23: Bonds Come In All Shapes
Part of the appeal of the Boruto series is exactly that it is a sequel series. It continues storylines started when Naruto was a child and answers some questions that the audience might have had after the end of Naruto. One of those questions is the sustainability of Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship. Though Sakura has always cared for him, Sasuke’s feelings haven’t always been so clear. Even their daughter Sarada is confused by the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura, which Bonds Come in All Shapes highlights in an effective way.
Sarada learns how much they care about one another and her in this episode, making it one of the most emotional of the early episodes in the series, and one of the best Boruto episodes. Though Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship would be given a better highlight or two in later episodes, this one was reassuring for any fan who wondered whether Sasuke and Sakura could really work together.
14 Episode 207: Regeneration
Boruto, Mitsuki, Sarada, and Kawaki have to work together in an attempt to defeat Boro in Regeneration. One of the aspects that makes this rank among the best Boruto episodes is the unique fight that results. All four of the young shinobi use their usual attacks, but Boro is either able to easily counter them, or completely regenerate any injured part of himself too quickly for the foursome to keep up. Boruto’s new Team 7 might be powerful, but it’s clear in Regeneration just how much further they have to go if they want to stop the major threats facing them and Konoha.
Eventually, Sarada is able to remove Boro’s core, the part of him that powers all of his scientific ninja tools. It really ups the science fiction factor of Boruto but also demonstrates how well the group works together despite all of their differences.
13 Episode 208: Momoshiki’s Manifestation
Is the Episode Where All the Puzzle Pieces Start to Fall Into Place
While Momoshiki’s Manifestation features the tail end of the fight from the previous episode, it’s the kind of episode that occurs in the climax of a mystery. It’s where all the parties involved in trying to solve the case put their clues together, but they still don’t have all the puzzle pieces. In the case of Momoshiki’s Manifestation, the mystery of what Kara is and what the mysterious group wants is put into the spotlight as the series’ characters try and figure things out.
Sarada, Boruto, Mitsuki, and Kawaki give their different perspectives on the fight that occurred while Shikamaru speculates about the potential dangers of Kara. Naruto and Sasuke compare their own notes about the organization. It’s as though almost all the puzzle pieces are there for the audience to fit together, but a few are still out of reach.
12 Episode 132: Jiraiya’s Assignment
Boruto & a Younger Naruto Train Together in the Timseslip Arc
Fanservice can take many forms in anime, but one of the trickiest to pull off is bringing classic characters back from the dead. Boruto manages to thread that needle successfully in its Time Slip arc, as it gives the young Boruto a chance to interact with many characters he never would have been able to meet otherwise. Jiraiya’s Assignment is about Boruto and Naruto training together, with the former still scared of Kurama’s chakra.
Though Boruto and Naruto’s training together forms the bulk of the episode, what really makes Jiraiya’s Assignment stand out is Boruto’s conversation with Neji. Boruto is subtly named after Neji, actually, so the two finally getting a chance to meet is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Despite how much Neji had resented Naruto in their early interactions, the Hyuga’s meeting with Boruto shows how much he came to respect the future 7th Hokage. The meeting is a great moment that manages to be meaningful for both Boruto and Neji, making Jiraiya’s Assignment a great episode for fans of Naruto.
11 Episode 192: The Past
Kawaki Narrowly Escapes a Grim Fate
Even though Kawaki was originally taken in by Kara, this episode examining his earlier childhood is occasionally unsettling yet effective in its delivery. Kawaki spends his childhood in a sad existence, an abusive home, and relative poverty when even buying goldfish would be a luxury. Episode #192 of Boruto explores the past life of Kawaki and how things could have gone potentially worse for him.
Despite being enticed by the offer to learn the trade as a potential future goldfish vendor, Kawaki is in for a rude awakening when the vendor reveals his true identity and ambitions. However, Jigen also shows up in this episode, eventually buying Kawaki off his father while encountering the merchant, a trafficker who could have sent Kawaki to a much more ominous fate. As Kawaki wakes up from this dream, in the presence of Boruto and his friends, this episode serves a reminder that, even though Kawaki’s past is fairly dark, it still wound up bringing him to a safe place.
10 Episode 189: Resonance
Displays Kawaki’s True Ruthless Power for the First Time
For fans who were waiting to see just how truly powerful Kawaki is in Boruto (and hadn’t read the manga yet), this is the Boruto episode they were waiting for. When Kara member Garo comes after Kawaki, intent on retrieving the “vessel” for the organization, Kawaki doesn’t go down lightly. Konohamaru, Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki can do little more than watch the carnage unfolds.
Leaving no doubt left about his incredible power, Kawaki literally punches a hole in his opponents’ stomach with an arm that changes shape. Then, when all is said and done, he blows up his enemy before his energy is depleted, warning everyone else he’ll do the same to them if he finds out that they’re enemies. Not only does the moment establish Kawaki’s raw power, but it also establishes just how dangerous and ruthless he can be when he really puts his mind to it.
9 Episode 22: Connected Feelings
Sarada Develops Her Gifts as Old Sins Resurface
The early arcs of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations include some fairly special episodes, with the Sarada Uchiha Arc having many excellent moments featuring the franchise’s best characters. Sarada develops her Sharingan Eye, while secrets are unearthed about Shin Uchiha’s bodily modifications and the recurring sins of Orochimaru once again bubbling to the surface. It’s also a fascinating worldbuilding exercise, exploring the vast implications and reach of Orochimaru’s experimentations in the past.
Chief among these is the realization that the Sharingan-covered body of Shin was partially harvested to give to Danzo, thus explaining the Uchiha’s missing arm. In addition to the use the character has for cloning, Sarada’s own gifts as an Uchiha are expanded in this episode, with her Sharingan Eyes beginning to appear in this arc with Naruto’s guidance. There are multiple fascinating elements in this episode as well, like Shin’s desire to revive the Akatsuki, Sasuke’s palpable tension facing Orochimaru, and Sarada learning more about Sasuke’s past.
8 Episode 292: Hunger
Features One of Boruto’s Most Dramatic Moments
Regardless of how Naruto fans feel about Boruto as a character, it’s undeniable that his ‘death’ in Hunger was one of the series’ most shocking moments. The image of Kawaki blowing a hole straight through Boruto is powerful enough on its own. The image of Boruto having a hole blown through his stomach is iconic for all the right reasons. Beyond just how well done the actual ‘death’ itself is though, what’s most exciting is what’s implied.
Any fan who watched Boruto: Naruto Next Generations’ first episode knows that the young ninja lives to see Boruto’s mysterious flash-forward opening, so the question becomes how he survives and what this means for his future fight with Kawaki. Boruto and Kawaki’s final battle has been foreshadowed for so long that it’s satisfying to see the first real hints of why that might happen. All of it is compelling stuff, leading into the next episode and next part flawlessly.
7 Episode 286: Sasuke’s Story: The Ring
Is Boruto’s Best Display of Sasuke & Sakura’s Relationship
Sasuke’s relationship to Sakura has always been controversial among fans of Naruto, and unfortunately, Boruto made it worse in some respects. This is why the Sasuke’s Story sub-series is such a breath of fresh air. The mini-arc sees Sasuke infiltrating a prison in order to find a cure for a mysterious illness afflicting Naruto. Using her own skills, Sakura also infiltrates the prison by becoming its doctor.
The entire arc is quality from the start, but it’s the final episode The Ring which is the best of the bunch. Any fan of Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship owes it to themselves to watch The Ring as it finally shows just what makes the duo work so well together. Despite all of Sasuke’s many problems when he was younger, age has made him much kinder, and a much better partner to Sakura.
6 Episode 216: Sacrifice
Reinforces its Main Theme of Sacrifice With Aplomb
As the title Sacrifice implies, one of the best Boruto episodes is all about heroes who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. In this case, it’s Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Boruto Uzumaki. The trio goes up against Isshiki, and when Boruto finds that his father and his mentor are both down and out, he makes a pretty gutsy choice. Boruto banks on the fact that Isshiki won’t kill him and threatens to take his own life to protect the rest of the world. It’s a big gamble, and it doesn’t win the fight, but it buys him time.
Naruto also chooses to take on a powerful new form, even though Kurama makes him aware it will likely kill him. Father and son have no qualms about dying to make sure everyone else lives, and it’s both heartbreaking and a reminder of just what great heroes they’ve become.