The frustration has been building up for long. Every time Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime released an episode that in no way advanced the major plot, fans groaned and complained. The last manga canon episodes of the Boruto anime ended with the  Momoshiki arc.

Close to 75 episodes have been released after Momoshiki’s defeat and all of them have been painful filler arcs.

While there are some who argue that the series is adding more flesh and detail to the world that the manga is building, many fans could no longer stand the mostly useless and slice-of-life episodes.

Arcs like the Mitsuki retrieval mission and Boruto travelling to the past and meeting a young Naruto managed to entertain some, but it hasn’t stopped the fans from clamouring for the anime to follow the Manga content.

The wait has lasted for more than one year. 

When will Boruto anime follow the Manga?

Thankfully for the Boruto anime fans, the long wait is ending. Boruto anime will finally start following the Manga in 2020, sometime in February or early March. The series will adopt the Mujina Bandits arc from the manga. This arc immediately follows the Momoshiki arc in the Boruto manga and by adopting it the series will continue the manga canon from where it left off over a year ago. 

Boruto anime still has a considerable fan following, though it has gone down owing to the filler episodes. However, support for the anime might go up again as the series will start following the core story from the manga, which is on an entirely different level, even though creator Masashi Kishimoto does not write it.

The Bandits arc, though small, plays a major role in the introduction of the longstanding and main villainous group, Kara, who is dominating the Boruto manga storyline even now. The Kara is very reminiscent of the Akatsuki from Naruto Shippuden. 

This also means that fans get to see the mysterious villain Boruto was facing off in the flashforward scene from the first episode of the anime, Kawaki.

The Momoshiki arc in the manga ends at Chapter-11 and the Boruto manga has till date released 42 chapters, with a new chapter being released each month.

Also Read: Boruto Manga Chapter 42 Review!

This means that by stocking up non-manga filler content, the anime has given manga enough time to advance the main storyline, giving the Boruto anime lots of content to work with. Once the anime starts adopting the major Boruto:Naruto Next Generations storyline, there is no looking back, at least for some time. 

As the story moves forward, it will also some of the major fan theories that the fans have been putting out for sometime which is regarding the death of Naruto and Sasuke, who have been relegated to a side role in the whole series.

Nevertheless, if the anime starts rolling out canon episodes, it sure is going to be a great year ahead for the Boruto fans. Also, now would be the perfect time for new fans to start watching the series as they can skip all the filler arcs and focus only on the select few canon episodes and the movie before catching up with the storyline.

© @VIZ MEDIA/NARUTO PROJECT/BORUTO PROJECT/MASASHI KISHIMOTO