First Impressions
I'm going to be completely honest, I was not thrilled about Boruto at first. If anything I wanted to see more of Naruto and the others in their adulthood, but we got the next generation instead. Some of you may agree with me and some of you probably won't, but it made things worse when Boruto turned out to be such a brat. It was completely clear that he was nothing like his father.
Boruto came off as rude, unappreciative, and an arrogant know-it-all - mostly towards his dad. Also, it really didn't help that I already had no interest in seeing the next generation in the first place, but it added more salt to the wound when I quickly discovered that Boruto wasn't even likable. That was really tough for me to deal with, but the only positive that came from this was that we would still be able to see the adult characters; at the time, that was literally the only thing I looked forward to.
Boruto vs Naruto: Backstory
So, let's dive deeper.
We already know that Naruto had a horrendous childhood. He lost his parents literally the same day he was born, had a demon-fox spirit sealed within him, and then he was ostracized by the village; Naruto was hated for years for literally something he had no control over. The worse part was that he all alone and he had no one to be there for him. Sure, Iruka and the Third Hokage, as well as others he met down the road, embraced Naruto and they did what they could for him.
But the point is that Naruto suffered a lot.
Naruto had a reason to run around and cause mischief; his own village treated him like a monster and he had to mostly fend for himself. Naruto had no one to go home to and he was genuinely acting out for attention. Boruto, on the other hand, had no reason to act like a brat.
Naruto worked hard to become the Hokage and change things for the better, and Boruto came off as a spoiled and ungrateful child because his dad sent shadow clones home. I get that Boruto wanted his dad's attention, but taking that out on his mother, father, and everyone else around him was not the way to go. It was because of Naruto and the others, that Boruto and the other children grew up in a world of peace.
Boruto grew up with two parents, he wasn't ostracised or hated by the villagers, and he was able to make friends. He had the life that Naruto wanted to have but lacked. IMO, this is something that pissed a lot of people off - just knowing what Naruto and the others went through to get to this point.
Boruto's "pain" was nothing compared to Naruto's, Sasuke's, Gaara's, Kakashi's, Kisame's, and so forth and so on; the list is endless. So when Boruto whined or had temper tantrums, I felt nothing but irritation and severe annoyance. All in all, Boruto's behavior initially contributed to plenty of people disliking him; it was as if Boruto's very existence was an insult to Naruto and everything Naruto stood for.
The Turning Point
I would like to say that the saving grace for this series was Boruto's change in attitude towards his dad (thanks to Sasuke), seeing the adult characters we all love and know, as well as the fights. I will admit it was very hard for me to form an emotional attachment to these characters; unfortunately, it didn't come as easily or naturally as it did when it came to Naruto and the others.
However, things have gotten better.
I will say that constantly reminding myself that Boruto will be different than Naruto did help. Realistically, the conditions that the main characters grew up under are extremely different; thus, Boruto will never be like Naruto and the two can not be critically compared. In addition, the fillers are finally done (only took 200 episodes), for now, so we're actually getting into what's happening in the manga.
It was also nice to see the women doing more in Boruto; it is no secret that Kishimoto was not that great at writing women. He started off extremely strong with Sakura in Shippuden and then he just fell off and then he ended up completely forgetting about Tenten.
Personally, the women being more active contributed to the turning point for me as well, but what do you guys think? How do you feel about Boruto now compared to when it initially came out? Do you agree with my turning points or do you feel differently? Is there something that still bothers you?