Ikemoto's exploring Love in Boruto may have a major purpose and it has to do with Shibai Otsutsuki

Modified Mar 09, 2025 02:30 GMT

Ikemoto — Boruto and Shibai Otsutsuki as seen in Boruto manga (Image via Shueisha)

While the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga has been unraveling fantastic developments, there is one persisting element that has become quite overbearing in the series: the concept of love.

While it is important for characters to have romantic interests that explain their actions, the sequel manga series has been focusing on love much more than one would expect from a Shonen manga series.

Fortunately, a new Boruto theory may finally answer Mikio Ikemoto's obsession with love in the Two Blue Vortex manga. Surprisingly, it may have something to do with the enigmatic Shibai Otsutsuki.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga.

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex's obsession with love may have something to do with Shibai Otsutsuki

Hidari and Jura as seen in the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga (Image via Shueisha)

As fans may have observed in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, most young characters bore some form of love for their counterparts. Sarada and Sumire are romantically interested in Boruto, while Eida and Mitsuki recently became interested in him. While their emotions were different, all bore love for the protagonist.

However, this wasn't just the case for the protagonist but also the supporting characters, as Inojin was interested in Himawari, and the Sand trio Shinki, Yodo, and Araya seemingly were in a love triangle.

The shocking thing is that even the Divine Trees weren't immune to such developments, as Matsuri had a crush on Konohamaru and wanted to devour him to stop the emotions that made her feel "crazy mad."

Matsuri and Konohamaru as seen in the manga (Image via Shueisha)

The good thing is that the manga may not have left the fans completely clueless as the recent chapter saw the Divine Trees leader Jura discuss the topic with Hidari and Mamushi.

"For that isn't the only harmful effect of intelligence. The other concept carries with it the risk of causing even us Divine Trees serious problems. It's called Love."

As per Jura, while "Reasoning" was a dangerous side-effect of intelligence, there was one concept more vicious than that called "Love." This was also very clear in the manga chapter as Matsuri was losing control while trying to deal with her emotions for Konohamaru. She was overly bothered by Konohamaru rejecting her from calling him "Konohamaru-chan," and the only solution she could come up with was to devour him.

Kaguya Otsutsuki as seen in the Naruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

Jura indeed came to this conclusion after observing Ino-Shika-Cho's actions in wanting to save Himawari. However, given his identity as the Ten Tails' Divine Tree, there is a chance that he may know more than he is leading others to believe.

As fans may remember, during Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, it was discussed that love did not work on the Otsutsuki. However, this contradicted Kaguya Otsutsuki's actions when she arrived on Earth. She fell in love with a human and gave birth to Hagoromo and Hamura Otsutsuki.

So, there is a chance that Shibai Otsutsuki may have betrayed the Otsutsuki clan for a similar reason. It may not be that love was never a thing for the Otsutsuki clan, but it was something known for bringing doom upon them. Following such a development, the Otsutsuki clan may have banished love within the clan due to its so-called "side-effect." Therefore, Ikemoto's obsession with "love" in the series may have something to do with how they could defeat the Divine Trees using love.