In 2016, mangaka Ukyō Kodachi started writing Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, a sequel manga to Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, one of the best popular manga series ever written. Kodachi left the manga after 13 volumes, with Kishimoto himself taking over the writing duties of Boruto. Boruto follows the adventures of the titular character, Naruto’s son, years after the conclusion of Kishimoto’s Naruto storyline. While controversial for many fans, Boruto has been gaining popularity and was adapted into an ongoing anime series back in 2017. The anime is finally coming to a close in 2023, after six years on the air, but there will be more as Crunchyroll reveals some information, which we will present to you in this article.
In March 2023, Crunchyroll and Viz Media officially announced that on March 26, 2023, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations would end with Episode 293. But, it was also revealed that this episode would only mark the end of Part 1 of the anime series and that Part 2 was in the works, although it has not been revealed when we could expect it to start airing.
The rest of this article will tell you everything you need to know about the upcoming finale of Part 1 of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the anime sequel to Naruto: Shippuden. We are going to tell you when it is going to happen, what you can expect from it and what the future is going to hold for us, as far as Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is concerned.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Part 1 finale – release date revealed!
The Shueisha publishing house pleaded with Masashi Kishimoto to begin a sequel when the Naruto manga ended in 2014. Kishimoto rejected the notion and suggested that Mikio Ikemoto, an artist who had been Kishimoto’s assistant from the first chapters of Naruto, draw the character in its place. The new manga was advertised on the “Next Generation” countdown website. The serialization of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations was revealed in December 2015.
In December 2016, the anime adaptation was announced during Jump Festa, with the premiere announced for April 5, 2017, on TV Tokyo. In January 2017, it was announced that although it was an adaptation, the anime would contain numerous original stories. In February 2017, new main characters and returning old protagonists were announced along with the original voice cast.
The Boruto anime series never reached the same level of popularity as Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden. Still, it managed to bring back some old fans and attract a series of new ones, who also caught up with what happened in Naruto. Now, after 293 episodes and six years on the air, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations seems to be coming to an end. That is information that was, in March 2023, confirmed by both Viz Media and Crunchyroll:
As for Crunchyroll, the official press release revealed us the following:
“The official accounts and website for the BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS TV anime announced today that “Part 1” of the series will air its final episode with episode 293 on March 26, and that a “Part 2” for the BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS series is currently in development. A start date for “Part 2” was not announced at the time of reporting.
Other events and activities related to the Naruto anime’s 20th anniversary were also announced. The first will be selected episodes of the original Naruto series rebroadcasted this July, followed by four brand new episodes this September. “NARUTO THE LIVE” — a special concert series featuring KANA-BOON, CHICO from CHICO with Honeyworks, FLOW, Humbreaders, Anly and more — will also be held on September 2 and 3 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba. “NARUTO THE LIVE” is not planned to be streamed outside of Japan.” (Source)
The following announcement revealed several new pieces of information, and while the initial information was definitely a grim one for Boruto fans, the producers certainly made up for it with some exciting news about the series’ future. First and foremost, while we did find out that Boruto would be ending soon, we also found out that this was only Part 1 of the anime, something that we had not known until now, knowing how the second part of Naruto had 500 episodes, which was double the amount of the first part, we might be in for a treat. Building on that piece of information, we’ve also gotten confirmation that the second part was already in development, although a premiere date was not announced.
But, we did get some other great news! To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Naruto anime, several episodes of the original anime will be rebroadcast, presumably in better quality, but there will also be four new episodes of the Naruto anime as well! This will all start in July 2023; we don’t know how many episodes will be rebroadcast and when the new episodes will come out, but we assume it won’t be long after the premiere.
Finally, a special concert series was also announced to take place in September 2023. So, we assume that this year will be dedicated to Naruto, which means that the official continuation of Boruto might happen either in late 2023 or, more likely, in early 2024, which might seem long, but with all the new content coming, we’re sure that the time will simply fly by.
