5 Point Discussions – Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 73: “The Other Side Of The Moon”

Boruto and Sarada finally learn the truth behind Mitsuki’s existence! But can Orochimaru guide them towards his son, or will they need to rely on someone else? Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. Looked at another way, Naruto’s actions surrounding Mitsuki kind of make him come off a bit more dictator than peacemaker. We always assume the best of our heroes, especially when we’ve seen them do the right thing for so many years, but he managed to tick off literally everyone this week. With Mitsuki missing and presumed to have betrayed the village, Naruto was forced to come clean on the genin’s origins, explaining that he’s actually the son of sworn enemy of Konoha, Orochimaru to the elders of the village as well as the former Hokage.
Obviously it’s all for the best because Naruto’s one of the purest boys in shonen, but he’s also making massive, unilateral decisions without checking with anyone. He’s definitely in the wrong, even if he’s doing it for the “right” reasons.
Strangely though, I was very much on his side when it came to his conversation with Konohamaru. It does suck not to be told you’re teaching the son of the man who killed your grandfather…but so much of Naruto was about breaking a cycle of hatred. Ultimately, Mitsuki isn’t responsible for his father’s actions, and even though Konohamaru has every right to hate Orochimaru…Mitsuki has nothing to do with that. And Mitsuki deserved the opportunity to have the village get to know him without such an awful shadow over his head.

2. You’d think it would be hard for Boruto and Sarada to sneak into Orochimaru’s base when it’s guarded by a group of high-level Konoha ninja, but we’ve already established they’ve got the same skill level as the characters from 3 Ninja. So instead of it being an incredibly complex plan, Sarada just transforms into Mitsuki and gets their attention long enough for Boruto to break into Orochimaru’s base. She manages to escape their clutches for way longer than she should given the difference in her skill level and theirs, and by the time she’s caught her obsessive fairy godmother Karin has found her and distracts them long enough for Sarada to sneak in as well.
But nevermind all that, Boruto’s found Orochimaru’s weird lab where he’s growing a bunch of Mitsuki clones and he goes complete Blue Screen of Death as he starts to truly understand just how little he knew about Mitsuki. And while he asked a ton of really reasonable questions about Mitsuki’s origins, I’m stuck wondering something else: why is Orochimaru only copying Mitsuki? Was there some complex scientific research to discover this is the optimal appearance for humans?  We’ve seen his experiment with Mitsuki fail multiple times, so this might be the best evidence that Orochimaru’s still nuts. Why not try something new instead of cloning the same guy over and over?

3. The biggest flaw in this arc is we’re now two episodes in, and despite supposedly being focused on who Mitsuki is, we’ve been focused on everyone BUT him. The story’s been: how does the village feel about him?  What about his father Orochimaru, or his boss Konohamaru? It didn’t really hit me until I realized we only got a single glimpse of him this episode.  He’s working alongside some new people, but the scene itself is only seconds before we go back to everyone else. I get that it’s still developing him in a way, but it’d be good to finally see things directly from his perspective for an episode or two.

4. Boruto and Sarada make it to the end of this episode with a new goal. After asking if Orochimaru can derive additional information from Mitsuki’s pet snake, he reveals there’s no other messages there…but they could still try and view the snake’s memories. He claims he doesn’t have the ability to view a snake’s memories, but directs them towards a place known as Ryuchi Cave and someone called the White Snake Sage. How come I feel like that’s just gonna be Orochimaru in a funny hat?

5. Next Episode: Unfortunately for the remnants of Team 7, they run into Team 10 at the end of this episode. Next week? A show down between Ino-Shika-Cho and Boruto and Sarada. This should be something of a squash in favor of Team 10; they have the numbers advantage, but they’ve also got their Jonin mentor, Moegi, on their side.  Unless Konohamaru has a sudden, irresponsible change of heart, Boruto’s attempt to reach Mitsuki might be over before it ever begins.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.