Summary
Boruto: Naruto Next Generationshas now been continuously serialized for quite a long time and the story has certainly had its ups and downs. While there are undeniably moments in this manga that have excited the fans, especially towards the beginning phases, the path that it has taken ever since has been somewhat tumultuous.
Boruto divides the opinion among the fans greatly, and while some think that the series has a lot of potential, others have already dropped the series due to the subpar storytelling, and of course, the way it hashandled the legacy of Naruto, one of the greatest manga series to ever exist. Having largely failed to impress the general masses, it is now possible for Boruto to entirely get canceled.
Boruto’s Popularity Over The Years
Over the years, Boruto has somewhat proven to be successful. The series started off with great popularity, thanks to the volume version of Naruto the Movie. Of course, fans were incredibly interested in this segment of the story, largely due to the exciting plot surrounding the main characters of the Naruto series. Even the Boruto characters were certainly very impressive in the story around this time, however, this popularity did not stay consistent. While the sales for the Boruto manga were quite high in the beginning phases, it certainly dwindled downward with time.
For instance, the first few volumes of Boruto sold very well. The very first volume of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations accumulated a total of around 400,000 sales in around 7 weeks. Around this time, volume sales finally start slowing down, which makes it the standard point to calculate how successful a particular manga volume is. Of course, there can always be backlogs, however, in general, the popularity of a manga volume is determined over this time. Ever since then, the popularity of the Boruto volumes has consistently been going down. For instance, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations volume 2 only managed around 328,000 sales in the same time, which meant that the series was already showing signs of decline.
As the story continues, this decline continued as well. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations volume 3 sold only 307,000 volumes in the same amount of time, and of course, volume 4 was even lower, with around 262,000 copies sold. Clearly, there was a remarkable drop in sales here, and this was certainly not looking good for the series. Of course, at this point, the sales were still quite decent, however, which would mean that would continue, and it certainly did. Unfortunately, this trend continued andBoruto’s popularity took a very sharp decline, reaching extremely low numbers by the end of the first part of the series.
In total,Boruto: Naruto Next Generationshad 20 volumes, which is certainly quite a lot. While the first volume had around 400,000 copies sold in the first 7 weeks or so, the last volume,Boruto: Naruto Next Generationsvolume 20, had only 96,000. Clearly, there is a sharp decline here and these figures are incredibly low for a series to continue.
It was also around this time that the anime adaptation of Boruto was taken off air. However, a clear reason for that was not provided to the fans. Many believed that this was to give the anime more time to prepare for the adaptation of the upcoming arcs, however, there doesn’t appear to be any announcement that even implies that Boruto will return at some point later down the line. It is even possible for Boruto to never return again as an anime, and for the story to continue with just a manga for as long as possible before it gets axed.
The Hope For New Blood With Two Blue Vortex
With thedwindling sales ofBoruto: Naruto Next Generations,quite a lot of the fans had assumed that the series would reach new heights with the timeskip. Usually, timeskip periods often excite the fans quite a lot, with new designs, and of course, new storylines to tell. With these exciting changes being made to the story, many fans are usually drawn to post timeskip volumes.
In the case of Boruto, there appeared to be entirely new branding for the series. The series now went from Boruto: Naruto Next Generation, toBoruto: Two Blue Vortex.Whatever little connection the series held to Naruto with the title now vanished and of course, the plot, while somewhat interesting, kept going through the same cycles again, which included uninteresting storylines, and of course, treating the old Naruto characters as if they were non-existent.
The testing time came when Two Blue Vortex Volume 1 was published. While many had hoped that due to rebranding and the timeskip, the series would pick up in terms of popularity, the exact opposite happened. Boruto seems like it is facing the same issues as it did towards the end of Naruto Next Generations. The sales are consistently going lower. While Two Blue Vortex hasn’t had 7 weeks to determine a proper figure, what fans know is that the sales are even lower than the last two volumes ofNaruto Next Generations.
To put that into perspective, in the first 3 days, Naruto Next Generations volume 18 sold around 33.9k volumes, while volume 19 sold around 34k in 3 days. For the first 3 days of Two Blue Vortex volume 1, the series only sold around 31k units, which is even lower and continues the gradual decline of the series. Of course,Boruto won’t be axed anytime soon, however, if this decline continues and the series drops the sales numbers even further, being stuck in this strut, then, there is absolutely every chance for it to be completely axed.
Will Boruto Get Canceled?
At the moment, there is no confirmed news about Boruto being canceled. So far, the series looks like it will continue and fans will most likely get volume 2 of the story as well, with volume three likely releasing later down the line as well. However, if the sales of these volumes continue to go down, which they likely will, given that the series has consistently dropped in terms of sales and popularity, then, cancellation is something that’s on the cards for the series. At this point, it seems that the cancellation of theBoruto manga is inevitable in the near future.
The only way that the series can survive is if the sales somehow stabilize, or, there ends up a boost due to some miracle, finally gaining some momentum. If that were to be the case, then there is every chance for Boruto anime to return later down the line as well, which would then help boost the volumes even further. However, at the moment, this looks like a fantasy for the fans, and the only part thatBorutoseems to have in front of it is cancellation.
Boruto is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and theManga Plusapp. The release date for the next chapter of Boruto, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex chapter 8, is set to be July 28, 2025.
