Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 1×195 Review – “A Vase”

The latest episode of the Boruto anime, titled ‘A Vase’, focused on Kawaki trying to open up and learning more about the Hidden Leaf Village.

We know that Kawaki respects Boruto even though he has a weird way of showing it. Both of them share the Karma Mark that resonates with each other. So, it makes sense for Kawaki to want to strengthen his connection to Boruto and figure out how to deal with their respective marks. However, their clashing personalities is something the two need to work on a bit more. ‘A Vase’ had Kawaki take the first step in making things right with Boruto after Kawaki accidentally broke Himawari’s vase.  

With Naruto wanting Kawaki and Boruto to be friends, I liked how Naruto took out time from his busy schedule as the Hokage to walk around the Hidden Leaf Village with Kawaki. While we learned about Kawaki’s intention to keep Naruto around to stay protected from the Kara organization (Kawaki can tell how incredibly strong Naruto is), it’s clear he also appreciated Naruto’s company.

During their little trip, Kawaki saw everyone greet Naruto and show their respect for their kind and powerful Hokage. Naruto even treated Kawaki, Chocho, and Salad to some delicious Taiyaki. It was Kawaki’s first time eating such a snack and he loved it. Before I talk about what the characters did next, I want to mention how the writers handled Chocho when Kawaki called her chubby.

In the Naruto storyline, calling a young Choji (Chocho’s father) chubby meant he would get angry and attack you. In Boruto, however, a young Chocho has grown to handle people sharing their opinions on her weight in a different manner. She is disappointed when someone says such a thing, but it doesn’t make her angry. She takes it in her stride and continues being her awesome self. In my opinion, I think the anime writers continue to make Chocho behave in such a manner to tell young audience members that they shouldn’t allow their emotions to be riled up by someone else’s unsolicited opinions. There’s no need to waste your energy on such folk.

Also, seeing Kawaki end up being impressed by Chocho’s appetite and even call her extraordinary helped diffuse the situation. Now, I know that there are fans who ship Kawaki and Salad. Even though I think those are going to be endgame, I wouldn’t mind Kawaki and Chocho getting more time to spend with each other. Personally, I would like to see Kawaki getting to interact with the rest of the young characters like Shikadai, Metal Lee, etc. instead of always having Boruto around.

Coming back to the episode, Kawaki was blunt to Salad, too. As she accompanied him and Naruto to Ino’s flower shop to buy a new vase, he rebuffed all of her friendly advances. She did grow annoyed by him, but she also showed a level of maturity when required. Boruto and his friends already know that Kawaki’s different because of his incredibly unfortunate childhood. He needed time to feel comfortable living in the Hidden Leaf Village. That’s why I liked seeing Salad not hold a grudge and even telling Kawaki to count on her if he ever needed any help. She aims to become the Hokage after all and that includes being willing to help others without any strings attached.

A couple of interesting moments occurred in Ino’s flower shop. I enjoyed seeing Naruto and Ino have a quick interaction about keeping the Ino-led Sensory Unit alert. The scene showed that even though Naruto’s trying to make Kawaki feel safe, the Kara organization is a huge threat and Naruto’s doing everything possible (even if a lot of it isn’t being shown to the public) to keep the village safe. Also, seeing Ino running her family flower shop while leading the Sensory Unit is always nice. She can continue being a highly valuable ninja, a wife and a mother, and still spend time being passionate about flowers. I love that for her.  

The other interesting scene in the flower shop dealt with Kawaki’s PTSD. Anything resembling needles triggered horrible memories for Kawaki because of all the experimentation he’s been through because of the Kara organization. The way he experienced trouble breathing as Ino was about to put flowers (with sharp stems) into the vase he was holding made me feel sorry for him. Kawaki requires therapy. Maybe Sakura could be of assistance? She did open mental health clinics in different nations to help people, especially kids, experiencing PTSD after the great ninja war.

The only thing that felt out of place in ‘A Vase’ was Kawaki instinctively attacking a young kid who bumped into him while playing. Having seen Kawaki redirect his attack because it was going to hit a child, in episode 191, I think there was no need for such a scene to occur in this particular episode. But then again, according to Kawaki, he wanted to teach the child a lesson about the hidden dangers in the world. So, I’m not sure if he would have actually harmed said kid if Naruto hadn’t intervened or if Kawaki was just going to scare him a bit. Either way, it was a weird scene. 

Kawaki’s got a LOT to learn when it comes to emotions and expressing himself the right way. I smiled when Naruto tried teaching him about the importance of sharing food and he was just ‘meh’ about it. However, he did take on Boruto’s challenge to fix the vase he broke with glue. He realized that sometimes you can’t just go to the market to replace a thing you broke, you have to put in the effort to fix it. So, at least, Kawaki’s showing some progress.

Coming back to Naruto wanting the village to be kept on alert, the Kara organization’s ready to infiltrate and kidnap Kawaki. Kashin Koji being able to enter the village without an issue must have surprised anime-only fans. We know that it’s impossible to enter the village without being detected by Ino’s Sensory Unit as a potential enemy unless your chakra has been registered. Seeing Kashin Koji enter the village without raising a single warning flag even shocked Delta. Kashin Koji definitely has surprises up his sleeves. And of course, I’m looking forward to seeing what Kashin Koji and Delta decide to do next in the anime.

What did you think of ‘A Vase’?

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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