Boruto anime to likely be delayed further as production manager quits abruptly

It was announced on Thursday, March 30, 2023, that Shuhei Nakata, the production desk for the Boruto anime series, would be leaving Studio Pierrot to join Wit Studio in a new role. Nakata’s updated Twitter bio mentions the upcoming switch from Pierrot to Wit.

For the uninitiated, a production desk is someone who supervises an anime’s schedule and manages the work of the production assistants.

The announcement came from Shuhei Nakata’s own official Twitter account, with Nakata being the first to break the news of his departure. Having been involved at Pierrot for the last seven years, Nakata has overseen the entirety of the production for the Boruto anime series as what is essentially the series’ production manager.

While the overall quality of the show will likely not be impacted by Nakata’s departure, fans are particularly concerned about a potential delay in the series stemming from the resignation. Follow along as this article fully breaks down exactly how Nakata’s exit may delay the return of the Boruto television anime series.

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Production desk vacancy could heavily delay Boruto anime’s return date if not filled quickly and properly

As the production desk for the Boruto anime series, Nakata’s role included many responsibilities, including the ones discussed above. In addition, Nakata was responsible for distributing the budget for episodes and participating in meetings focused on the show’s progress. In essence, he was responsible for making sure the production of the series stayed on track.

After being promoted to the production desk role, Nakata listed six goals he had for the show. These were to improve the schedule, review unit price (per episode price, essentially), increase the number of staff, reduce driving work of production assistants to zero, incorporate blender drawing techniques, and get overseas animators involved with several episodes.

While Nakata was somewhat successful in these goals, fear amongst fans of the television anime series is that the work he did accomplish for Boruto will come undone with his departure. Although this is purely speculative, these fears of fans aren’t exactly baseless or unwarranted, especially depending on who is hired to replace Nakata.

At the very least, the impact on the series will likely be delayed when the second part of the anime is set to return. While the series has no official return date as of this article’s writing, internal estimates by the adaptation and production teams will likely be pushed back. This is especially likely if Shueisha and the adaptation team have difficulty filling the role.

The current estimated return date for the Boruto anime series is in October 2023, which would be within the first few weeks of the Fall 2023 anime season. However, the possibility exists that the series will instead be released in early 2024. In fact, Nakata’s departure makes this later release window more of a likelihood than ever before.

In any case, fans likely won’t see the impacts of Nakata’s departure much, if at all. That being said, Nakata’s departure will undoubtedly impact the series in some way, whether by way of his absence period, or as a result of whoever ends up replacing Nakata in the production desk role.

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Follow along for more Boruto anime and manga news, as well as general anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.