Did Masashi Kishimoto save the Boruto manga with his return to writing? Explored

As fans would know, Boruto manga is considerably more popular than its anime. This is due to the slow pacing of the anime, which was trying to not surpass the events of the manga series. Hence, several fans have continued to favor the manga, even though, initially, many had trouble getting into the manga series as well.

However, soon after, during the Kawaki Arc, fans could finally see the direction the story was moving towards, which helped them enjoy the series. For fans who are unaware, Boruto manga switched its writer between its serialization itself. Earlier, the script was written Ukyō Kodachi, but the responsibility was later overtaken by the franchise creator, Masashi Kishimoto.

So, did Masashi Kishimoto effectively save the Boruto manga with his writing?

Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers from the Boruto manga.

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Masashi Kishimoto may have saved Boruto manga

Boruto characters as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

Boruto manga was initially written by Ukyō Kodachi. Meanwhile, Kishimoto acted as the editorial supervisor in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump. Hence, since its serialization began in May 2016, Kodachi was responsible for the script of the manga, which was illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto.

Therefore, Masashi Kishimoto only supervised the story but had no real control over the same. Meanwhile, he also started writing Samurai 8. After some time, the manga was transferred to Shueisha's V Jump magazine in July 2019. Around the same time, the Samurai 8 manga was also canceled.

Kawaki as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

During this time, the manga had begun the Kawaki Arc. However, the series did not manage to create as much hype as fans might have expected. This is because the pacing was too slow, and all fans could hope for was to witness the events from the flash-forward from the beginning of the series.

Thus, about a year later in November 2020, Masashi Kishimoto took over the writing responsibilities of the Boruto manga from Ukyō Kodachi. It is believed that the manga creator took over the series to save it from a lackluster finish. However, as announced by officials from Shueisha, the takeover was pre-planned, although it might have been delayed for a few more years if Samurai 8 had a longer run.

Naruto's Baryon Mode as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

This was around the same time Boruto chapter 52 was released. For fans who are unaware, Boruto chapter 52 featured Naruto Uzumaki's Baryon Mode. Any Boruto fan could confirm that the series' story has only elevated following the reveal of the Baryon Mode. Thus, there is good reason to believe that Masashi Kishimoto's work as the series writer is what helped the manga to become even more interesting, pushing it away from its slow pacing.

One could argue that the manga may have already had a story structure created by Kodachi. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the manga's popularity highly rose following Kishimoto's return. Thus, it would be accurate to say that manga creator Masashi Kishimoto's return as a writer saved Boruto manga from a possible savior.

Following his return, the manga creator has not only introduced several developments in the story, but also initiated the timeskip, and begun the sequel manga, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.