“Boruto: Naruto Next Generations” Manga Issue 41 Review: The New Team Seven

After the events of issue 40, I was looking forward to seeing how Salad, Boruto, Mitsuki, and Kawaki would fare against Boro. Now, I’m not saying that Boruto manga issue 41 was boring. In my opinion, ‘The New Team Seven’ just wasn’t as good as it could have been.

After reading this issue, I’m a bit confused about how I should feel about it. Considering Salad said that Boro wasn’t fast, how slow is he supposed to be? I thought the Inner members of Kara were extremely powerful due to the different types of scientific ninja tools they used. But if Salad thinks Boro isn’t fast (enough), does that mean his speed is at the level of a typical Chunin? Is Jigen the only powerful villain in the current arc and the rest of the Kara members are fodder for Chunin and Genin-level ninjas to take down?

If that ends up being the case, I won’t like it at all unless the manga gives us some proper power-scaling for all of the characters we’re seeing.

‘The New Team Seven’ allowed Salad to shine. She hasn’t been getting a lot of screentime in the anime. So, I was glad to see her leading the charge against Boro in this chapter. I understood Mitsuki’s decision to designate her as the Team Commander.

The way she was able to figure out Boro’s ability was cool. Also, I loved that Mitsuki’s a little scientist.

The only thing I’m (still) not a fan of, as far as Salad is concerned, is her outfit. Not only does it come across as inappropriate for a 12-year-old to be wearing, but it also makes no practical sense for a ninja. Why the heck is she wearing those heels in battle? It’s weird fanservice involving a kid and I don’t want any of it.

We know that Kishimoto took (enough) care, when designing little girls during his Naruto run, to give Sakura, Ino, and Hinata outfits that looked cool and were also practical. We have also seen Salad wearing something practical when she was introduced. But then her outfit was changed (somewhere) during the Mujina Bandits manga arc and she ended up looking… not good.

With the Boruto anime covering the Mujina Bandits manga arc in January 2020, I really hope the animators don’t decide to give Salad her current manga outfit. They should, at least, change it up a bit. 

Another thing I didn’t like about ‘The New Team Seven’ were the several plot conveniences. Salad should have been dead after getting punched by Boro. Is the manga telling us that Boro is slow and physically weak? Should we not consider the Kara members a threat anymore?

Also, the fact Kawaki forgot about Boro’s regenerative ability made me roll my eyes. It was so bad.

The only thing Kawaki was good for in this chapter was when he explained what the Karma mark could and couldn’t absorb. Turns out, the Karma mark can only absorb chakra-energy. So, if a jutsu involves actual physical stuff (like water, fire, earth, etc. from a person’s surroundings), then the Karma mark wouldn’t be able to absorb it.

Let’s see what happens in the next manga issue. Waiting an entire month just to get an issue that only has fight sequences isn’t fun.

Apparantly, the Boruto manga is underperforming. And you know what? I’m not surprised at all. When you come down to it, (many in) the current fandom would rather the Naruto franchise had continued with a series detailing the adventures of Naruto and his generation in their 20s. And even when their kids were introduced, the story should have still been Naruto-centric; similar to how the Dragon Ball franchise is still about Goku and Vegeta even though they both have kids. 

What did you think of ‘The New Team Seven’? What do you think will happen next? 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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