Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 1×211 Review – “The Chase”

The latest installment of the Boruto anime, episode 211 titled ‘The Chase’, was all about Kakashi, Shikadai, Inojin, and Chocho trying to chase down and capture Kashin Koji. It still made for an enjoyable adventure even though they failed.

If you have been following my coverage of the Boruto anime, you know I have been hoping for the anime writers to give the rest of Boruto’s classmates something to do. ‘The Chase’ gave me what I was waiting for even though it only focused on a single team of young ninjas. With Kashin Koji breaking into one of the buildings to steal archival data, word got out about a spy in the Hidden Leaf Village.

I smiled at Chocho’s determination to apprehend the spy even if more experienced shinobi had failed to do so. I know that Chocho’s a polarizing character in the fandom. A number of fans find her to be quite annoying. As far as my opinion goes, I enjoy seeing her whenever she appears in an episode. She’s unapologetically herself, a good friend to Salad, a reliable team member, and has grown to not allow herself to be impacted by what others think of her. Also, when it comes to certain fans who don’t like her, I do side-eye some of their opinions. It’s not the first time some fans have been vocal about disliking a confident young fictional girl who isn’t skinny.

Chocho’s intuition is what leads her, Inojin, and Shikadai to Kashin Koji’s hideout. I liked how the writers showed that Chocho being a fan of watching movies played a role in her decision. Spies do tend to use abandoned buildings with a good view as hideouts (at least, when it comes to what’s depicted in media).

The kids aren’t the only ones looking for Kashin Koji, though. Kakashi, the former Hokage, teams up with them. In my opinion, the entire chase sequence involving Kashin Koji was well done. The scene made sure to show much Shikadai and his teammates have yet to learn. Inojin was worried about losing track of Kashin Koji if he walked into a crowded area because Inojin’s sensory skills still needed improvement. Kakashi warned them not to directly engage with Kashin Koji due to him being an impressively capable opponent. Shikadai and Inojin also failed to capture him on the Thunder Train. The episode also brought back the lesson of how ninjas need to find hidden meanings within hidden meanings to stay a step or two ahead of their opponent.

I appreciate seeing such scenes in the Boruto anime. They show that Boruto’s classmates still have a lot of training to do. Here’s hoping the anime continues to display their improvement because the Boruto manga definitely hasn’t been doing much with them. I want to see how much Iwabe and the rest have improved. 

One of the coolest scenes in ‘The Chase’ involved Kakashi encountering Kashin Koji in the building with archival scrolls. Of course, Kakashi figured out where Kashin Koji would appear next. Kakashi’s one of the smartest characters in the Naruto/Boruto franchise. While their battle was quite short, I still enjoyed Kakashi showcasing his skills. I still have my fingers crossed the anime decides to adapt the Retsuden novels because Kakashi is a beast in the Kakashi Retsuden novel. The anime-only fandom is not ready to witness the awesomeness he displayed in that particular story.

As for why Kashin Koji was stealing archival data, it was revealed that he was looking for shinobi data recorded before the Fourth Great Ninja War. The digitized data that Kashin Koji stole at the beginning of this episode only had records of shinobi in action after the war. The older data was still being stored in physical scrolls.

I don’t want to spoil stuff for anime-only fans, but I think many of them must have figured out Kashin Koji’s true identity by now. Even Shikadai shared his theory with Kakashi about Kashin Koji being an old ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village (who was active before the Fourth Great Ninja War).

With Kashin Koji and Amado ready to go ahead with their plan involving Jigen, I can’t wait to see the reactions from anime-only fans after Kashin Koji’s true identity is revealed.

What did you think of ‘The Chase’?

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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