‘Kawaki Enters Ninja Academy’ Boruto Anime Ep 261 Review

Boruto Episode 261 of the anime, titled “Kawaki Enters Ninja Academy”, served as a promising start to a new multi-episode arc that looks set to give Kawaki more character development.

The premise of the current arc was basically that Kawaki was sent to the Ninja Academy in the village of Hidden Leaf due to his mission to protect a foreign student named Kae Yukiwari. It turns out that Kae is no ordinary student. She is a princess of the Land of Bamboo. Due to being the next to wear the crown, her life is in danger due to mysterious assassins hired by someone who wants to take her place.

I liked the comedic moments presented in this episode. Of course, Kawaki didn’t know how to introduce herself to the rest of her classmates. It also didn’t help that he was several years older than the kids and he was also bored of having to go through low level training sessions. Kawaki being so excited about wanting to be Kae’s friend was definitely a highlight for me. The way he told Eiki that he was “hugging” Kae because Kawaki didn’t know the true meaning of such a term made me laugh.

Even though Kawaki tries to get to know Kae as part of her mission, it’s obvious that he’ll start to see her as a true friend in future episodes. This will drive him to want to save her when she is inevitably kidnapped or finds herself in danger. As Naruto mentioned in his speech at the start of the episode, being a student at Ninja Academy is about more than just learning how to fight. It’s also about creating strong bonds with others.

I appreciated that the writers gave Kae a few layers instead of just having her be a character that Kawaki is supposed to protect. Kae clearly felt pressured due to the need to always maintain a primitive and proper facade in front of the media and general public. Kae tries to savor the time she has while in Konoha before she has to return to royal duties. It was nice to see her show some of her real personality in front of Kawaki.

As for Kawaki’s dynamic with Eiki, hopefully “Kawaki Enters Ninja Academy” will be the last time we see Eiki trying to mess with Kawaki to impress Kae. Fingers crossed that Eiki learned his lesson after stealing and using a summoning scroll to attack Kawaki towards the end of the episode. But again, he was knocked out and couldn’t see the summoned animal being shot by Kawaki. So I guess Eiki won’t change yet? Hmmm.

The episode also showed Himawari’s observant nature. She realized something was wrong with Kawaki when he kept acting strange in class, especially around Kae. I liked how she suggested that Kawaki buy a romance novel as a gift for Kae because she liked reading such books. Himawari also took matters into her own hands and decided to listen to Kawaki and Naruto to learn that Kawaki had been given a mission to protect Kae.

I can’t wait to see if Himawari will keep things to herself or let Kawaki know what she heard and express interest in working together.

What did you think of “Kawaki enters the ninja academy”?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid holds a double master’s degree in psychology and biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in molecular genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville and The Game Master of Somerville. It gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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