Bromance or Romance: Masashi Kishimoto’s “Boruto” Raises a Question About LGBTQIA+ Representation in Anime
As Boruto goes on, many questioners of the series are gifted with new plotlines to theorize potential future instances that might matter down what I expect to be an extremely long line. Nonetheless, outside of character conspiracies, one thing that caught the eye of a few of us, was what appeared to be a romance in the making; an ‘unusual’ one for anime fans.
If this is your first time reading one of my articles, welcome! I plan to write about different topics daily. Yesterday, was a piece of text referring to unlikely black anime/manga characters, which you can check out on the link below!
Oh Really Now?
Absolutely! I’ll break this thing down for you step by step. For now, the character involved in this misty broship is the son of Konoha’s Shikamaru Nara, a great ally to the new Hokage(which is a country leader), Naruto. Shikadai Nara follows in his father’s footsteps in terms of being a witty shinobi and the brains of his squad and his friend groups. Unlike his father, Shikamaru, Shikadai doesn’t carry his dad’s formerly sexist tendencies, making it extremely interesting to see him interact with his kunoichi(women who are ninjas) counterparts and realize Shikadai by nature, already had respect for women on equal ground to himself, something his dad had to learn how to do.
My personal likings towards Shikadai stems purely on what kind of series “Naruto” becomes as a whole, going from being pretty dark, to extremely bubbly in some aspects. Shikadai keeps his core group grounded with an unintentionally humorous but no-nonsense intellect. Similar to his father in the original series, which made Shikadai feel like an ‘OG' as opposed to Boruto.
Who’s the Love Interest . . . or Best Bro?
Ryogi is Shikadai’s very close friend who he bonded with over a board game called shōgi(or Japanese chess) upon officially meeting the intelligent boy on a bench underneath a tree. Thanks to similar philosophies and an extreme degree of shared intelligence, Ryogi instantly became a prioritized friend to Shikadai.
Unlike Boruto, Ryogi was calm, mature, and extremely polite, especially to his friend that he’d constantly visit at a specific time of every day after their first meeting to play shōgi and chat. Shikadai became attached to Ryogi’s therapeutic presence, which in turn, was welcomed with Shikadai’s mutual but freshly delivered opinions on the life of a shinibi.
Romeo and Remeo or Bromeo and Dude-iet?
You guessed it! Outside of their genuine Disney-like connection right after meeting, their unspecified relationship was tested when Shikadai learned that Ryogi belonged to a group known as the Byakuya Gang; a group of noble thieves led under shadows by a selfish man named Gekkō. Gekkō even allows Ryogi to meet with “a friend" whilst remarking on the idea of Ryogi having any in the first place right before an operation against Konoha(Shikadai’s birth village).
Before we continue, I want to make some things clear for the next segment in this article:
- Important spoilers start here. All information up to this point is extremely obvious to pick up on, as it’s a pretty passively written story.
- Hope you like this so far!
Still here? Okay, great!
Prior to the start of the Byakuya Gang’s mission, Shikadai and Ryogi meet up once more to play Shōgi, Shikadai still going to the bench with hopes of meeting him again out of instinct. One of the coolest moments of the sitting was Ryogi pulling a lit lantern from a bag he made out of fabric when Shikadai notices how late it was getting, which prompted the Nara boy to stay and continue playing.
By the end of the game, Shikadai offered to allow Ryogi to remake his last turn, which shows off a different connection from his best friend, Boruto. In a previous episode, Shikadai wanted to kick Boruto’s ass for cheating in videogames, so this shows a new tender side of Shikadai, similar to how Shikamaru put his pride aside for Shikadai’s mother, Temari.
That’s when the (actual) coolest scene takes place, one we’d all been waiting for. Shikadai calls Ryogi careless for bringing the lantern mentioned two paragraphs up; it was on a list of stolen goods from Ryogi’s gang. At this point you can wonder if the kindness of Shikadai had been fake before that moment? Did he stay longer just to get more time to ask question?
No. Shikadai stayed because he simply wanted to talk and finish the game of shōgi. Shikadai says he will not turn Ryogi in, instead lecturing Ryogi with a passionate and fiery recap on their shared philosophies, making it clear that they were two sides of the same coin as opposed to both being the tail end.
What’s Next?
Ryogi’s perception of Shikadai is quickly taken over by his pawn mentality, choosing to serve his leader, Gekkō instead of distinguishing himself. However, we learn that this is largely due to a curse mark on Ryogi’s body that reveals itself to be part of the cause behind Gekkō’s influence of the purple haired boy.
Still, despite not knowing that initially, Shikadai chased down a train just to bring Ryogi back to him before any of Konoha’s ninja had the chance to arrest him. Over the course of dialogue and a one sided brawl between Ryogi and the passive Shikadai, it was evident that Shikadai was willing to die in order to break his friend free from the mark that controlled him. And with Boruto allying with Shikadai, he did just that — without dying of course.
So it Ends There?
Hell no! After breaking Ryogi out of the cursed seal’s influence, he and Gekkō were arrested by Konoha’s jonin(high ranking ninja)
The connection between the two characters doesn’t stop there! Its revealed right after that Shikadai visits Ryogi’s cell just to talk and play, waiting for him to get out.
Personal Opinion
As the series grows and expands, so will the characters. I’ll definitely keep up with the anime version and continue doing updates just in case this romantic theory branches off into actuality.
I personally feel intrigued by the vagueness of the relationship between the two characters. To some, this story can serve as a genuine and extremely close friendship between two boys, going out of the way of what’s expected as a typical friendship between two growing dudes.
This story can also serve as an introduction to an innocent love story that forms naturally between two growing powerhouses of opposite worlds. Showing different lifestyles that come together for a fantastical and properly transitional “click.”
I feel it’s a bit of both. I enjoy the direction of the two boys and I just say, for his wit, skill, and intellectual potential, Shikadai is by far my favorite new character to join the Naruto universe.
Hopefully you all will watch the show and form your own opinions!
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P.S: if you’re wondering, “why wouldn’t they just show the characters in explicitly romantic scenarios?” My answer to that would be the same answer I have for the “oddly colored black anime characters” that I have an interest in(referencing my previous work), when something isn’t explicitly stated, chances for backlash is lower. Many popular anime and manga are famous for villainizing or offensively humorizing people that dont fit the “cisgendered, extremely light skinned, and/or straight” norms given to the world by colonizers. Boruto(the anime) being very new, means it obviously has more source material to go off of with an undervalued group of people.
As far as Naruto as a whole, representation is extremely well once movies and light novels are taken into consideration — it’s partially why I love the cast of characters outside of their battling perceptions on reality.
Now, I’d actually like to say, thank you for reading, and expect more next week! And if I have you in my chokehold with the two articles I made, why not just subscribe for more?
