Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 1×287 & 288 Review – “Claw Marks” & “Captives”

Boruto anime episode 287, ‘Claw Marks’, and episode 288, ‘Captives’, were about returning the anime to the manga-canon material. We got to see more of Code’s plan, Kawaki’s resolve, and a new dangerous player got added to the chessboard.

‘Claw Marks’ opened with a quick recap of Isshiki Otsutsuki’s soul giving Code final instructions before Isshiki’s actual death. The OP Otsutsuki wanted Code to continue the Otsutsuki’s habit of devouring planets and evolving into higher beings. Isshiki wanted Code to feed Boruto or Kawaki to the Ten-Tails. The Chakra Fruit produced from such a sacrifice would help Code get one step closer to accomplishing Isshiki’s ultimate goal (obtaining God-like status) even though Code’s White Karma had been deemed defective.

‘Claw Marks’ jumped between scenes as we saw Code demonstrate his abilities against a bunch of opponents while seeking entry into one of Boro’s hideouts and Kawaki telling Boruto not to underestimate their current opponent. Even though Code had the White Karma and was incapable of serving as Isshiki’s vessel, the fact remained that the White Karma was still a formidable weapon. Code’s power level was higher than the rest of the Inner Kara members. All of the Inner Kara members were enhanced by Amado. In contrast, Code had limiters placed on him by Amado. Without the limiters, Code was stronger than Jigen. Not only that, but Code’s ability to basically teleport via his Claw Marks made him very tricky to deal with.

Code was going to come after those responsible for Isshiki’s death. It was only a matter of when. And Boruto and the rest had to be ready. I liked how Kawaki had already come up with a plan to handle Code. He wanted Boruto to place a Karma Seal on Code and then use Code’s body to resurrect himself. The process would even rid Boruto of Momoshiki.

Of course, our lead hero didn’t agree to said plan. It just wasn’t his style to take another person’s life to save his own in such a manner. Boruto was going to get grow stronger the old-fashioned way. But, as Kawaki later pointed out, they didn’t have time to train. I’ll talk more about that when I write about what transpired in ‘Captives’.

Sticking with the events in ‘Claw Marks’ for now, discovering Code’s Claw Marks so near to Konoha village understandably had Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sai shooketh. Naruto wanted the information to be relayed to Sasuke, who was out looking for Code, as soon as possible.

In my opinion, ‘Claw Marks’ was an okay episode that did a lot to amp up Code as the current villain. However, considering what ended up happening in ‘Captives’, it all felt like much ado about nothing. But at least episode 287 gave us a very good (albeit quite fan-servicey) debut for Eida.

It’s revealed that Amado had created cyborgs that Jigen deemed too powerful to keep around. So, the cyborgs were ordered to be destroyed. However, a female cyborg named Eida was kept safe, in secret, by Boro. Code wanted to use Eida’s ability to see everything to his advantage. But he got more than he bargained for.

‘Captives’ explained more of Eida’s ability of clairvoyance. She’s able to see any moment that occurred in the past or was happening in the present. However, she couldn’t see the future or glance into the past that transpired before she was born. It’s through Eida’s ability that Code (and the audience) got to see Kawaki being bored with Boruto, Salad, and Mitsuki wanting to train the traditional ninja way. Even though proper Chakra Control was important for every ninja, Kawaki felt it was a waste of time. He wanted to train through actual combat. Kawaki was very serious about not holding back when he attacked Salad. Boruto had to step in to defend her.

What followed was a clash of ideals as Kawaki encouraged Boruto to activate his Karma Mark while Boruto wanted to stick with the ninja way. Kawaki understood that Boruto was hesitant about Momoshiki taking over his body. But the Karma Mark was the only way he stood a chance against someone as OP as Code.

When push came to shove, Boruto did give Kawaki a good beating after finally activating his Karma Mark. The difference between their power levels was blatant. Naruto watching the young ninjas “train” added to the pressure Kawaki felt. Kawaki experienced a huge loss of power after losing his own Karma Mark. He wanted to get rid of Isshiki’s hold on him, but he also wanted to be strong enough to protect Naruto. Kawaki’s incapable of even fighting Code without the Karma Mark. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how the anime writers will handle Kawaki’s emotions and thirst for power.

Coming back to Eida, to his surprise, Code got to learn that she also had the ability to make people fall in love with her. It was the reason Boro couldn’t make himself follow Jigen’s orders and destroy her. You could see that her ability impacted people differently. She deemed Boro and Bug (one of Boro’s assistants) as cowards. Code, on the other hand, was much more open about his feelings for Eida. And as I mentioned a few paragraphs, seeing Code act in such a manner took away from how ‘Claw Marks’ was hyping him up as a villain.

There was a weakness to Eida’s ability, though. It didn’t work on Otsutsuki or blood relatives. She wanted to kill Amado for giving her such power because she had become incapable of experiencing actual love or friendship. Even if someone liked her for real, she just couldn’t be sure.

Frankly, I’m not a fan of the reason behind Eida’s motivation to team up with Code being wanting to flirt with Kawaki (because his Otsutsuki DNA made him immune to her ability) and having Boruto be fed to the Ten-Tails so Code could have his Chakra Fruit. But for other fans who have been reading the manga, Eida’s become one of the favorite characters in the Boruto fandom. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how she will be received by the anime-only audience.

Pieces have begun to move for an upcoming clash, along with a couple of twists, for our characters. I’m excited.

What did you think of ‘Claw Marks’ and ‘Captives’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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