“Boruto: Naruto Next Generations” Manga Issue 73 Review: A Special Mission

Boruto manga Chapter 73, titled ‘A Special Mission’, had Shikamaru share a lot of information with Boruto and the rest of his teammates about how Konoha was going to handle Eida.

With Team 7 being called to the Hokage office in the previous issue for a new mission, many people in the fandom thought Team 7 was going to be tasked with escorting Amado, Eida, and Daemon to Konoha. Over the past couple of weeks, a bunch of fan theories speculated Konoha getting attacked by Code’s army of minions while Team 7 was away. However, ‘A Special Mission’ quickly shut down said fan theories. Team 7 was not being sent outside the Hidden Leaf Village at all.

‘A Special Mission’ showed Shikamaru delivering the details about a surveillance mission concerning Eida. Due to Eida’s innate ability to make anyone around her fall in love with her, Shikamaru decided to have Kawaki and Boruto be the ones to keep an eye on the dangerous cyborg. Their Otsutsuki DNA was immune to Eida’s glamor ability. Not only that, but Salad and Mitsuki were tasked with observing Eida, Kawaki, and Boruto from a distance.

While I wasn’t a fan of the overall issue, I did like Shikamaru’s plan because it worked on multiple levels. It allowed Konoha to keep Eida, Kawaki, and Boruto in check while also giving the two young boys something important to do and deter them from going to seek out Code on their own. Kawaki and Boruto weren’t happy about the fact they would need to live in the same house as Eida, but they had no other choice because the village’s safety was at risk.

In a sense, I’m looking forward to seeing the dynamic between Eida, Kawaki, and Boruto as roommates, especially with everyone knowing that Eida’s got a crush on Kawaki. It will also be interesting to see how Eida’s glamor ability impacts Salad and Mitsuki. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitsuki, due to being created in a lab by Orochimaru, had some kind of immunity or resistance to her power.

I was a bit surprised to see Sumire attend the briefing session. As it turned out, ‘A Special Mission’ had a reason for her to be there. With Boruto wondering why Eida couldn’t simply pick someone that had fallen in love with her instead of going after Kawaki, Sumire shared what Eida might be thinking. According to Sumire’s guess, Eida wanted to experience actual romantic feelings with Kawaki who was immune to her ability instead of wondering if another person’s feelings for her were genuine or not.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy reading stories that tend to address certain romantic or platonic relationships. Eida’s desire to seek an actual connection with someone is an interesting aspect that can be explored in her character arc. However, I think the continuous focus doesn’t work well for Boruto, especially when readers have to wait an entire month for a new manga issue to come out. Boruto is a Shōnen manga. In my opinion, wanting to see certain relationships develop has a place in Shōnen narratives, but it shouldn’t be the primary focus. There’s a reason the Boruto manga isn’t selling well. The pacing just seems off.

While we’re on the subject of feelings, I’m looking forward to seeing how Mitsuki will handle Boruto living in Eida. In a sense, Mitsuki (an organic being created in a lab) and Eida (a cyborg) have things in common when it comes to wanting to experience and understand human emotions. I wonder how Mitsuki, who is basically in love with Boruto, will feel if Eida ends up getting a crush on the titular young ninja.

The most interesting thing that happened was Kawaki and Sasuke being able to sense Momoshiki. Due to Kawaki’s Karma Mark sharing resonance with Boruto’s Karma Mark, it was expected for Kawaki to sense Momoshiki. However, Sasuke being able to sense something was off, after losing his Rinnegan, was unexpected as far as I’m concerned. I guess Sasuke still has some trace of the Rinnegan’s chakra in him? Hmmm.

Some other thoughts and questions:

• With Eida living with Kawaki and Boruto, where will Daemon live? I highly doubt he will be okay with living away from his big sister.
• I liked how Shikamaru was upfront about telling Kawaki and Boruto that they were ticking time bombs and a threat to Konoha. I think it also implied that the rest of the Kages saw them in a similar manner, too.
• I’m waiting for Salad and Mitsuki to finally learn that it was Kawaki who had killed Boruto and that’s what led Momoshiki to revive him.
• I’m kind of here for Momoshiki stirring up drama in the house Boruto, Kawaki, and Eida will live in. The Real Housewives of Konoha anyone?
• We got some kind of power scaling with Shikamaru stating that Code, with his limiters off, was stronger than Jigen but weaker than Isshiki. Also, we have to remember that Jigen extracted chakra from the Ten-Tails before he went to fight Naruto and Sasuke. So, it will be interesting to see if the current Code is stronger than a Ten-Tailed Beast-infused Jigen or not.

What did you think of ‘A Special Mission’?

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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