OLD MAN OTAKU / ANIME FEATURE • AUGUST 8, 2026
Where the Hell Is the Boruto Anime?
Three years after Part One ended, Part Two is still officially in development without a premiere date. Meanwhile, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex has built the backlog the anime desperately needed.
When Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 293 aired in March 2023, it was not presented as the end of Boruto's animated story. The official Naruto site announced that Episode 293 concluded Part One and that Part Two was already in development.
More than three years later, the strange part is not whether Boruto is supposed to return. It is that we still do not have an official premiere date.
The anime did not finish the original manga
Episode 293 stopped before the final pre-timeskip stretch of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. The manga continued through Chapter 80, including the events that radically reshape Boruto's relationship with Konoha and create the status quo for Two Blue Vortex.
That means a returning anime has unfinished business. Unless the production radically restructures the adaptation, Part Two needs to complete the original manga before teenage Boruto can properly take center stage.
Then Two Blue Vortex happened
The manga used its time skip to reinvent its protagonist. Boruto returns older, calmer, stronger and living in a world whose understanding of him has been fundamentally altered. The post-timeskip series has also developed its own visual and narrative identity rather than feeling like a simple continuation of the television era.
As of July 20, 2026, VIZ lists Two Blue Vortex through Chapter 36. That is a significant difference from the situation Pierrot faced when Episode 293 aired, when the post-timeskip manga had not even begun.
The hiatus solved one of Boruto's biggest problems
The original production faced an ugly equation: a weekly anime adapting a monthly manga. A monthly source simply cannot generate enough canonical material to indefinitely feed dozens of television episodes every year.
The result was extensive anime-original material and expanded stories. Some viewers enjoyed the additional character time. Others felt the canonical plot repeatedly disappeared behind long detours. Either way, the underlying production problem was mathematical.
The hiatus has changed that equation. There are now the remaining pre-timeskip chapters plus 36 chapters of Two Blue Vortex waiting beyond the anime's stopping point.
How much anime is waiting?
The exact episode count depends on adaptation speed. These monthly manga chapters are substantial, so a simple one-chapter-equals-one-episode calculation is not useful. But there is clearly enough material for a meaningful return without immediately catching the manga.
Pierrot could also expand fights and character moments without inventing entire waiting-room arcs. There is an important difference between expanding source material and producing stories primarily because the anime has run out of source material.
The best solution: make Boruto seasonal
Returning to an indefinitely weekly schedule risks rebuilding the exact machine that caused the problem. A seasonal or split-cour approach makes far more structural sense, although no such format has been officially announced.
Imagine a focused return that finishes the remaining pre-timeskip material, reaches the catastrophe that changes Boruto's world, and then makes the time skip itself an event: new opening, new visual language, new status quo, and finally BORUTO: TWO BLUE VORTEX.
That would give the franchise something it badly needs: another first impression.
Pierrot has a chance to make the return feel different
The original anime demonstrated repeatedly that its major fights could look spectacular when resources aligned. The challenge was sustaining that standard across a massive continuous run. A more concentrated production model could put time and talent where the story most needs them.
Two Blue Vortex is increasingly built around larger confrontations, stronger techniques and a more serious atmosphere. A rushed adaptation would squander that opportunity. A carefully scheduled one could turn Boruto's return into a genuine anime event.
Why has Part Two taken so long?
The frustrating answer is that we do not officially know. The March 2023 announcement said Part Two was being worked on, but it did not provide a broadcast window. As of August 8, 2026, the official franchise information still does not give us a premiere date.
That is why claims of a specific 2026 or 2027 return should be treated as speculation unless they come from the official Naruto/Boruto channels, Pierrot, Shueisha or the production committee.
The manga is finally far enough ahead
In 2023, the anime was parked dangerously close to a monthly manga. In 2026, the original manga is complete, the post-timeskip era is firmly established, and Two Blue Vortex has accumulated three dozen chapters.
For the first time in years, the adaptation has road in front of it instead of staring at the manga's rear bumper.
What should Part Two actually do?
Finish the original story first. Do not compress the final pre-timeskip transformation into a quick recap. Anime-only viewers deserve to experience those events with their full dramatic weight.
Then make the time skip unmistakable. Let Two Blue Vortex feel like the relaunch it effectively is, while preserving the continuity that makes Boruto's new circumstances matter.
The anime could get a second chance
There are Naruto fans who never started Boruto, Boruto viewers who dropped the weekly anime, manga readers who preferred the canonical pacing, and newer fans who discovered the franchise through the post-timeskip designs. A Two Blue Vortex adaptation can speak to all four groups.
It does not need a reboot. It needs a re-entry point.
What is confirmed, and what is not
Confirmed: Boruto anime Part Two was officially announced in March 2023 and described as in development. Two Blue Vortex has continued building the post-timeskip story, with VIZ listing Chapter 36 on July 20, 2026.
Not confirmed: a premiere date, a 2026 or 2027 broadcast window, a seasonal format, or the exact point at which the anime will adopt the Two Blue Vortex title.
RogueVerse prediction
The longer the hiatus lasts, the less sense it makes to return with exactly the same production model. Our preferred structure would finish the unadapted pre-timeskip story and then relaunch the next phase explicitly as Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.
Seasonal pacing would give the manga breathing room, reduce the need for prolonged anime-original detours and make the time skip feel like an event rather than Episode 294 quietly appearing on a random Sunday.
Three years later...
The odd thing about this hiatus is that the longer it has lasted, the better positioned the eventual anime has potentially become. The source material is farther ahead. The new era has an identity. The production has an opportunity to rethink how Boruto should be adapted rather than merely when it should return.
Two Blue Vortex does not need the old Boruto anime to simply continue. It needs Boruto to return the way he did in the manga: older, sharper and ready to prove that this story has become something different.