“Boruto: Two Blue Vortex” Manga Issue 22 Review: Jura

Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga issue 22, titled ‘Jura’, delivered a fast-paced action sequence as things continued growing worse for our titular young hero.

With Boruto appearing to save Konohamaru’s life against Matsuri, it was time for Jura to make a move. ‘Jura’ opened with Mitsuki asking Araya to take Ryu’s Thorn Bulb and use it to free Shinki while he stayed behind to defeat a couple of Claw Grimes. However, before the young ninjas could begin, Jura appeared by using one of the Claw Grimes. Of course, Jura ignored Mitsuki and the rest, focusing instead on sniper-shotting Boruto with a mini-Biju Bomb.

As for Yodo, I still have a feeling she’s alive. Gravely injured, but still alive. As I mentioned in my review of the previous chapter, her dying to only progress Salad’s character development doesn’t seem like a well-written decision. Also, Yodo putting herself in danger and (apparently) losing her life during a battle without Shinki being there to respond to such a loss would be another not-so-well-written route to take. So, yeah, I still think Yodo will survive somehow.

Though incredibly powerful, it’s a good thing Jura’s not 100% precise with his snipershots. Missing his target forced Jura to leave Mitsuki and the rest with Ryu’s Thorn Bulb. Jura wanted Boruto dead, especially because our lead ninja knew a whole lot about the humanoid Shinju. The other young ninjas could wait.

With Boruto slicing down Matsuri, he instructed Konohamaru to grab the newly created Thorn Bulb and run away ASAP. I liked how Konohamaru didn’t waste time asking Boruto unnecessary questions. Time was of the essence due to Jura rushing toward the area. According to Boruto, Konohamaru needed to regroup with Mitsuki and the rest. After that, they were supposed to travel to the spot where Team 7 first met Yodo and Araya to await further instructions.

At first, I thought Boruto was going to somehow manage to retreat from his battle with Jura and deliver the “further instructions” he mentioned. However, then I remembered that according to Kashin Koji’s visions, and he stated it again to Eida during the current chapter, the chances of Boruto winning against Jura right now were close to nonexistent.

Seeing Boruto struggle against Jura was nice. He couldn’t use his version of the Flying Raijin Jutsu to teleport further away from Jura because facing such an OP opponent made it tougher for Boruto to concentrate long enough to pinpoint a far enough location to teleport to. Boruto also couldn’t go through a sequence of teleportations to put some distance between himself and Jura because doing so was likely going to make Jura go after his comrades instead.

Boruto’s current strategy involved distracting Jura long enough for Konohamaru and the rest to reach a safe area. And that was easier said than done.

Even though Boruto landed some hits on Jura, he was surprised by his inability to read Jura’s facial expressions to determine how much damage he had dealt. Jura being able to completely negate the Rasengan Uzuhiko Jutsu was a devastating blow to our young hero’s trump card.

One of the fun things about the Naruto/Boruto series is that no matter how powerful or troublesome a Jutsu might come across, there’s always a weakness for an opponent to exploit or a drawback for the user. So, yeah, ‘Jura’ revealed another weakness to Rasengan Uzuhiko (the first being that Boruto needed to firmly plant both feet on the ground to begin using said Jutsu). Jura figured out that the Jutsu used similar principles to his Biju Bombs, allowing him a way to nullify it. If I were to guess, I think Jura simply reversed the Jutsu’s rotation.

Things aren’t good for Boruto. But we all know he can’t die… yet.

That’s why I think there are a couple of things that could happen to turn things around. An offensively powered Kawaki might show up in the nick of time to lend a hand. A more popular theory in the fandom involves Momoshiki finally taking over Boruto’s body to fight Jura. Or (and this is the theory I want to be true), Jura might incapacitate and capture Boruto, leading to Konohamaru, Shinki, Mitsuki, and Salad teaming up to go rescue him.

My theory could still happen with Jura being surprised by BoroShiki, engaging in a fight, and then deciding to capture Boruto instead of outright killing him to learn more about BoroShiki.

Regardless, whatever Kishimoto has planned, I’m very excited to read the next chapter.

Before I bring this review to a close, ‘Jura’ did have the main villain ask Boruto about love. Jura thought of love as an unfortunate weakness plaguing logical creatures such as humans. It made people do all kinds of reckless things. Love had made Boruto put his life in mortal danger for his friends. Love also made Boruto threaten Jura when the Shinju Boss picked up Sasuke’s blade.

I liked Boruto’s response that the mere fact Jura was trying to explain away love with logic and painting it as humanity’s flaw that needed to be eradicated was the reason Jura and the rest of his minions were never going to be more than humanoid versions of the God Tree. Sick burn!

What did you think of Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga chapter 22 ‘Jura’?

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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