WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 221, “Continuation of the Chūnin Exams,” currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
The Naruto anime left some characters with no development space, such as Sakura, while others like Asuma were developed leaving fans feeling hooked too soon – as soon as they became attractive. more attractive in the eyes of fans. That leads to Boruto trying to fix those things and not repeat the same old mistakes of course, but as the anime goes into an extra round by letting the Chunin exams take place again, it does waste a fan-favorite legacy character.
It’s none other than Mirai, daughter of Asuma and Kurenai. When Hidan killed Asuma during his battle with Akatsuki, fans were heartbroken when he left Kurenai alone while she was pregnant. Shikamaru then took care of them regularly as the years passed and peace was established, and honored his deceased teacher. With the alliance in full swing, the Boruto anime then brought Mirai become the center of attention. However, that was not enough – for someone connected with such important figures and with such an important inheritance, Mirai feels like an abandoned character in Boruto. In this contest – the contest was redone after the last part was interrupted by Momoshiki – Mirai defeating Namida and knocking her out of the Konoha Forest, she posed as the rescued victim to let the young shinobi know that they must be aware of intruders and impostors. She then imitates Mitsuki, escorting Sarada, only for the Uchiha’s little girl to take her down when she realizes the ruse.
It’s a great arc with teaching, but it’s too short. The problem is, given his active and relatively young age, Mirai should do what Konohamaru is doing. Both are grandchildren of the great Hiruzen Sarutobi (father of Asuma and the Third Hokage), who died when Orochimaru invaded at the first exam decades ago. Therefore, while Konohamaru is working more with Team 7, we should have seen Mirai more prominent, more active switching between teams or mentoring.
These were seen in the One-Tail arc, as well as the “Byakuya gang”, the disappearance of Mitsuki, and the “Time Slip story” where she met her mother. But the fact remains, Mirai felt like always supported in Boruto while others like Sai and Ino had a bigger role to play in developing Konoha’s defenses. Mirai should be a larger character of the series, fending off many sinister enemies outside, even working directly and continuously with Shikamaru as his sidekick. It would be a huge tribute to how he views Asuma as a father figure – especially since Mirai wields her father’s iconic chakra blades.
Mirai really deserves to be an important character rather than a cameo. As Sarada and the other girls need female teachers, fans have to wonder why Mirai isn’t treated equally like Konohamaru. He’s not that much older than her and that would increase the elements of equality in the film a lot more, representation and diversity – especially since Sakura herself isn’t a mentor, instead a medical director. In the end, Boruto’s treatment of Mirai – after Kurenai’s retirement was basically dropped from the series after becoming pregnant – made fans feel anti-feminist as well as demeaning and depressed Asuma’s family. weaker.
