Boruto Episode 212 - Enemies Turn!

With Boruto episode 212, the story finally returns to manga content. The bonus time for the Boruto anime to add additional context and world-building has elapsed. Now, the action is re-approaching a climax as Amado and Kashin Koji both continue making moves. In last week’s episode, Koji attempted to steal information from the Leaf Village. He attempted to do that and succeeding in taking some information on new information before retreating from a battle-ready Kakashi.

That episode ended with a unique revelation. Amado, the head of research and development for Kara, and Kashin Koji are conspiring to take down Jigen. At this point, and in Boruto episode 212, the exact reason for this plan is unclear. Fans of the original Naruto series likely recognize this sort of plot strategy however. Often in Naruto / Boruto (and action anime writ large) large elements of the plot are masterminded by single individuals. In Naruto, the vast majority of the ninja world’s history happened at the urging of one character, Zetsu. In this case, it seems likely that more parts of the current Boruto story have happened under the control of key players.

This episode was the first step in a more active stage of what seems like a plan years in the making. Obviously, to discuss the episode I’ll have to go over its plot. With that in mind, this article will contain spoilers for Boruto episode 212, but no spoilers for the manga.

Hostile Negotiations

The vast majority of the episode is a slow but crucial conversation. Ordinarily, this is something I might complain about for a battle anime. But, this episode of Boruto did a pretty decent job keeping the dialogue full of suspense. Amada deactivates a prying Delta, arrives at the Leaf Village early in the episode, and quickly takes Shikadai hostage. These early scenes really did well to establish the level and type of power Amado has over the cybernetic humans he controls. He effortlessly shuts off Delta completely and has technology capable of turning ninjutsu against its user. Even Kashin Koji, who was capable of taking on Kakashi, feared Amado’s control over his body. These small details underscore the extent of Amado’s creations and the intellectual power he wields compared to the destructive power of characters like Jigen or Naruto.

Even more than those displays are Amado’s negotiation tactics. My absolute favorite bit of this episode was watching Naruto, Shikamaru, and Amado negotiate Amado’s defection to the Leaf. While the conversation was (mostly) civil, the anime went out of its way to add severity to every word. Characters’ eyes had harsh shadows and their expressions dominated almost every scene. This is a massive shift in tone for the usual antics of the Boruto worlds. The Hidden Leaf is an incredibly lax and peaceful place. We rarely see characters like Naruto imply that they’re prepared to kill outside of an active fight. It was somewhat refreshing to see this attitude contrasted with Naruto’s usual willingness to be naïve and optimistic when it comes to dealing with Karma.

A Battle to Come

The timing of Amado’s arrival and Koji’s attack on Jigen line up perfectly. Toward the end of Boruto episode 212, Naruto and his comrades learned that almost every unplanned part of Karma’s operations happened to do Amado. Kawaki’s escape, which brought him into Naruto’s care, was part of that plan. It can’t a coincidence then that Amado arrives in the Leaf just as they realize they are incapable of properly repairing Kawaki’s complicated mechanical body.

This makes Koji’s impending fight against Jigen even more exciting. Like Delta, Koji was created by Amado, and notes he too can be shut down. This carries a strong implication: the sorts of powerful technology Delta used likely exist within Koji. Even more, he has access to a variety of unique toad summoning techniques, the Rasengan, and likely other jutsu.

As we saw this episode, Amado isn’t someone who acts without a plan. Koji, as Jigen notes, doesn’t act without Amado. Given those two facts in tandem, and Amado’s intimate knowledge of Jigen’s current level of power, this next fight likely won’t be too one-sided. A lot of fans didn’t appreciate how easily Jigen dispatched Naruto and Sasuke. This fight, in contrast, involves a Jigen weak enough that Amado is confident Koji can win. Personally, my hope is that the anime will take advantage of this to create a visually spectacular fight. Koji has cool techniques and the anime has plenty of time to improve what was already fantastic in the manga. Ideally, that improvement will exceed the fanbase’s very high expectations.

Check out last week’s review here!