Kishimoto’s Influence Over The Plot, Explained

Masashi Kishimoto is one of the most influential mangakas writers of recent years. As the magaka of Naruto, Kishimoto had solidified his name among legends. Kishimoto’s magnum opus went on to become one of the most popular manga in history, and until recently, was the most popular manga from the Big Three overseas.

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Things have changed drastically since Naruto ended however. The story has since then gotten a sequel, called Boruto, which focuses on Naruto’s son, Boruto Uzumaki. Unfortunately, this story hasn’t been as much of a success as fans would’ve hoped for, and this makes readers wonder as to what Kishimoto’s role has been in all this.

The Initial Involvement Of Kishimoto In Boruto

• Kishimoto Wrote Boruto Initially
• Right Now, Kishimoto Doesn’t Write The Story

The Boruto series was established quite quickly after the Conclusion of Naruto. Just a few years following the conclusion of the story, the basis for the Boruto series was already established. Kishimoto himself wrote the Boruto story at first, and much of that is down to the fact that it was Initially meant to be a movie. When Boruto: Naruto The Movie was released, the man behind it all was none other than Kishimoto. This was also quite evident from the level of quality that the plot of the movie delivered. Eventually, however, the Boruto movie got its own manga adaptation, and the series then continued thereafter.

Boruto continued as Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, and it is safe to say that the story was quite exciting at first. Back then, Mikio Ikemoto served as the artist of the series, while Ukyo Kodachi was the writer. Kishimoto’s involvement was more than it is today. According to Kishimoto himself, he used to give rough outlines to the team and they would fill in the gaps themselves, with the goal being to bring the outline to life. Of course, this was quite an interesting way to keep Kishimoto involved in the story and it was something that the fans admired as well. But, things have changed quite a lot since.

Largely speaking, Kishimoto’s Influence over the story has lessened quite a bit, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the popularity of the series is dwindling. For starters, Ukyo Kodachi is no longer the writer, and all the work is being done by Ikemoto himself. Kishimoto still serves in his supervisory role, but things are far different right now than they were long ago.

Kishimoto Still Supervises Boruto But Isn’t The Writer

Ikemoto Serves As The Primary Writer Of The Boruto Series

Mikio Ikemoto had continued to write the Boruto series ever since the shakeup happened. From what the manga tells fans, Kishimoto is still involved and more than ever before. After all, his name still pops up as the supervisor of the story. This isn’t entirely wrong, but Kishimoto’s own words clearly suggest that he’s no longer the writer of the story and that even his draft which was provided to the team long ago, has changed quite a bit. Ikemoto has more freedom than ever before to do whatever he wants with the characters that were established by none other than Kishimoto himself, for better or for worse. Here’s what Ikemoto had to say about how Boruto’s serialization works at the moment:

What I mean is that things don’t always go as planned. Small changes have often been made right from the beginning. But little by little, the story develops in a direction that’s different from Kishimoto-sensei’s outline. Various factors can explain this. But the biggest reason is that I needed to create for myself a new outcome for the shonen part and a concept for the seinen part.

Once that was decided, Ada and Demon were born. Kashin Koji’s role was renewed, and Amado’s escape to Konoha followed. Moreover, Code should’ve died a long time ago. To be honest, an even more important character’s life was also spared. Even if the initial idea is to make the manga even more engaging, we are far removed from what was originally planned.

Currently, I’m in the situation of developing the story on my own. So I think the biggest challenge in the production of Boruto—including for Kishimoto-sensei who gives me his approval—is to continue to handle successive unforeseen changes. – Ikemoto

Clearly, Ikemoto has changed the story quite a bit from when it first began. Kishimoto had given the writers a draft quite a while ago, and while it was still being followed to a certain degree, at the end of the day, small changes kept being made and eventually, the story ended up getting way too far from what Kishimoto bad intended for it to be.

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As mentioned by Ikemoto himself, the idea of Ada and Demon was not in the original drafts, but something that came up along the way. Similarly, Kashin Koji’s role was altered drastically as well. But the biggest takeaway is that Kishimoto wanted to kill off a major character and Ikemoto prevented that from happening. Perhaps, this character was Naruto Uzumaki himself.

How Much Does Kishimoto Influence The Story?

Kishimoto Influences The Story In Small Parts

Kishimoto’s influence over the Boruto series still exists. Fans know that Kishimoto is deeply involved and he still supervises everything when it comes to this series. However, that doesn’t mean that Kishimoto is the writer. As Ikemoto mentioned, he makes all the writing decisions now in an attempt to make the story his own. However, that doesn’t mean Kishimoto isn’t involved at all. Kishimoto still has to discuss and approve whatever Ikemoto is writing and tweak things in his way. Only then is a Boruto chapter published.

As such, calling Kishimoto the writer of the Boruto series wouldn’t, strictly speaking, be accurate. He doesn’t write the story anymore and even his initial draft isn’t exactly what it was supposed to be. That said, his role as supervisor still stands in some aspects, as he approves or rejects ideas that Ikemoto wants to incorporate into his story.

Ikemoto intends for there to be more similar changes to the story in the future and, as mentioned earlier, this series is getting further away from Kishimoto’s initial idea with each passing chapter. But, that isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing. As long as what fans are getting is exciting and engaging, fans don’t mind who the guy behind the pen is. All that matters is that the story is heading in an exciting direction, and that’s certainly what’s happening right now. It is safe to say that Ikemoto has done a decent job with Boruto, especially with Two Blue Vortex, however, fans must also acknowledge that it’ll never hit the same heights as Naruto and is, in large parts, a subpar sequel story.

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Release Date

April 5, 2017

Creator

Masashi Kishimoto