Boruto: Two Blue Vortex—A Concerning Step Backwards?
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex and the Return of a Controversial Trope
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex chapter 15 dropped a bombshell—Kawaki's power is being artificially boosted by Amado, and to reach his full potential, these restrictions need removing! This is interesting in terms of character development for Kawaki. But it also raises serious concerns about how power is gained in this manga.
Fans are rightly worried that this is taking a page out of Boruto part 1's most criticized playbook—power-ups through scientific intervention, instead of earned powerups and training! This could undermine much of what Two Blue Vortex has already accomplished; particularly considering just how much emphasis that newer Boruto arc has on actual character growth, both narratively, psychologically, and mechanically!
Kawaki's Unearned Power Boost: A Critique of Unearned Powerups
The conversation between Boruto and Kawaki at the end of chapter 15 lays it out: Neither is strong enough to face Jura; the boss character now. To get a fighting chance against the Sentient God Trees boss? Amado needs to unleash Kawaki’s hidden power through the removal of those earlier, artificially imposed limitations, highlighting this important plot and creative point: Kawaki’s improved strength won't come through dedicated training! The easy reliance on technological and/or magical artifacts to overcome major hurdles in the story is the same theme many people had previously critiqued within Naruto’s sequel! Is this a mistake?
It’s baffling to give unearned upgrades! It really makes those battles in Two Blue Vortex’s earlier chapters largely meaningless. Giving Kawaki an instant, massive upgrade undoes any previously made progress and highlights this major criticism of part 1: The narrative reliance on convenient power-ups completely overshadows earned progress. This could harm a potential final Boruto vs. Kawaki battle; unless they really emphasize this key storytelling point – creating a much more complex confrontation.
Boruto's Past: A Comparison of Earned and Unearned Power
It is essential to differentiate between this sequel’s themes, and those of its predecessor, emphasizing this critical detail – how the handling of earned vs. unearned powerups are critical in those character design approaches and also the storytelling mechanisms. Naruto's message of hard work resonated deeply with fans everywhere and created an entirely inspirational story arc centered entirely around training, developing incredible character skills, and the necessary emotional strength, only to have much of these key themes removed.
In Boruto, those scientific upgrades using Ninja Tools and Karma often overshadowed actual hard work. Those scientific improvements or plot devices (Karma marks from the Otsutsuki clan), boosted characters way more powerfully without earning them in the narrative! This highlights this crucial point: Boruto and Kawaki received absurdly massive boosts in powers. This largely undercuts a key message from the original Naruto storyline!
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex: A Step Back After Great Progress
Two Blue Vortex, unlike part 1 shows some promise. It creates the right impression that this sequel would focus on actually showing and developing the necessary skills needed to create amazing levels of strength in various key characters. It features this newly refined Boruto who excels by sheer determination and his unique skillsets: This arc displays some remarkable and noteworthy improvements that some audiences already anticipated, and emphasizes why certain changes occurred that changed the feel. His mastery against figures like Code and Hidari, despite even getting insight through the use of Prescience (originally from Kashin Koji’s Shibai Otsutsuki cell implant); this all displays that major character advancement that made people think this particular narrative had already turned itself around. This however has now been undone.
This makes Kawaki's situation incredibly disappointing—an unearned upgrade! It essentially negates Boruto's prior hard work and sacrifices which are what created such a successful thematic element! It suggests the show might resort to convenient power-ups, which makes chapter 9 – when Boruto scoffs at Kawaki's lack of training and use of easy ways to overcome a difficulty that the ex-Kara member’s entire attitude was premised upon; makes that previously positive moment completely negated! This is entirely unexpected!
Conclusion: Can Two Blue Vortex Recover From This Setback?
Two Blue Vortex is early in its run! There is still immense opportunity for the plot to improve on several points discussed earlier. It shows serious progress compared to part 1, especially regarding how that crucial aspect involving actual character strength was created – earning skills through training! That however remains threatened. This relies far too much on simple solutions instead of developing that key thematic importance to build up narrative expectations. This needs improving for a satisfying experience overall. Will it return to those initial criticisms?
