Naruto is back in a new series named Boruto: Naruto Next Generation, and fans of the iconic anime series Naruto could not be happier.  This new series features the children of the characters we as fans have grown to love over the years.  I will be recapping the episodes as they come out.  Here are my thoughts and highlights of episodes 1 Boruto Uzumaki.

Naruto has been near and dear to my heart for a very long time and I was heartbroken when the series ended.  The characters of Naruto have been apart of my life for so long that, like Harry Potter, it was really hard to let it go.

Then I spotted Boruto on crunchy roll and I got excited all over again because it was a new adventure with familiar characters that I get to go on from the very beginning.  But I think that is enough about me and my obsession with Naruto. Let’s get to the recap of episode one named Boruto Uzumaki (which is much like the very first episode of Naruto named Enter: Naruto Uzumaki).

Boruto starts with a flash forward, which was not often done in the original series.  In this flash forward, we get a glimpse of a devastated Konoha (much like the devastation caused by Pain).  Boruto is facing off with a man named Kawaki.  His enemy is claiming that the lifestyle of the ninja is dead and that technology infused powers and abilities was going to be the wave of the future.  More importantly, he also claims that he has killed Naruto though we do not know how or why.  Boruto uses his Bakugan (but only in one eye) which I have never seen before with Bakugan.  He takes on this new nemesis who seems to have powers infused with technology.

Some key things to note about this new future is that Boruto has some of the same markings as Kawaki has which seems to power him up.  He also has a scar over his Bakugan eye and his headband has the well known slash through the hidden leaf symbol.  The slash through the symbol suggests that at one point Boruto has gone rogue.  Interesting.

We then jump to present, which takes place about ten years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War.  Boruto and his friend Shikadai are boldly (and dangerously) jumping on a moving train that takes them to get a limited edition hamburger.  Boruto seems to be the instigator into getting into trouble while Shikadai, who has been enlisted by Hinata, is there to keep his friend from getting into too much trouble.  We learn that tomorrow is the first day of ninja academy that Boruto and Shikadai will be attending, but the school has changed a bit; it now has academic courses as well.

They part ways after their little adventure and Boruto heads back home.  On his way home though, he spots a kid who is being cornered by bullies.  Boruto jumps in and intervenes, saving the kid.  The kid is Denki Kaminarimon.  The Kaminarimon company, which is run by Denki’s father, is a powerful and wealthy tech company.  His father wants Denki to join the ninja academy to learn ninjutsu as well as academics to inherit the company, but that is not necessarily what he wants to do.  Denki is a shy, easily bullied boy, but after Boruto convinces him to stand up to his father for what he wants, and Denki’s confidence grows.

Denki then goes home and confronts his father with this new confidence.  The confrontation does not go over well though and his new confidence is crushed.  While leaving his father’s study, a mysterious snake ghost creature attacks Denki from behind and bites him.  Is the ghost of Orochimaru coming back?

The next day is the opening ceremony for all the new students at the ninja academy, and Boruto is of course running late.  While on his way to the academy, he decides to take the train to get there faster. While he is waiting for the train, he sees the snake controlled Denki walking to the train.  He knows something is wrong as he uses his one eyed Bakugan to see the snake in Denki.  Boruto follows Denki.

The three bullies are led onto a train with money, but all the cars are empty except for Denki.  Boruto follows.  The train is owned by Denki’s father’s company and is faulty in design.  No one is  driving the train.  In steps Boruto.  He knows something is wrong and tries to stop the snake controlled Denki.  That is when he realizes that Denki has lured them onto a train that is on a collision course with another train.

Denki snaps in and out of it as he tries to gain control from the snake.  Boruto gets on top of the train and uses his shadow clone jutsu to switch the train tracks and get the train off of the collision course. He starts to fall while holding his other clone selves.  They manage to hit the switch and change the tracks, but soon Boruto is being held by Denki from certain death.  When it looks like both boys are about to fall out the window, the bullies jump in and help save both Denki and Boruto.

The adventure is not over yet though as the train is indeed faulty and their caboose is falling apart.  Their car comes loose from the other cars and the bullies jump into the next car of the train.  Denki and Boruto on the other hand stay in the faulty car as it rumbles down the tracks towards the academy.   The car jumps the tracks and becomes sky born where it lands right smack into Naruto’s stone face on the Hokage memorial.

Boruto and Denki made a huge entrance to the Academy’s opening ceremony much to Naruto’s shock.  It seems Boruto is already making a name for himself, but it may not be the name he really wants.  At least, he has made a new friend that he can start the academy with (that is after his suspension is over).

I liked this episode and I am excited to see what is in store and I want to see the road that leads to the flash forward we saw in the beginning.