122 !!top!! | Boruto

– A lean, thoughtful filler episode that respects its lineage without being crushed by it.

This is mature writing for a 12-year-old character. Boruto doesn’t try to convert Kankitsu; he simply exposes the hypocrisy of revenge disguised as grief. And in the end, Kankitsu is arrested, not redeemed. The episode resists the saccharine conclusion that every villain deserves a hug. Some people, it argues, just choose the wrong path. Visually, Episode 122 is not going to appear on any sakuga reels. The character models are stiff, and the backgrounds are sparse. But director Yuki Kinoshita makes a virtue of necessity. The puppet battle is shot in wide, static frames that emphasize positioning and strategy over impact frames. When Boruto’s Shadow Clone feints and he slips behind Kankitsu’s puppet, you feel the tactical geometry of it. boruto 122

On paper, he is a Sasori-lite. In execution, however, the episode cleverly avoids the trap of imitation. Kankitsu’s puppets aren’t humanoid masterpieces; they are rugged, utilitarian, and animalistic (a scorpion tail, a spider-like trap). The choreography is rough, scrappy, and refreshingly low-tier. Unlike Sasori’s hundred puppets or the later Otsutsuki dimensional warping, this fight feels like a ninja fight again. Boruto can’t spam Rasengan or vanishing tricks; he has to think, dodge, and use wire strings of his own. The episode’s true strength lies in its protagonist. Modern Boruto (the manga/anime) often struggles to balance the character’s privilege with his growth. Here, Boruto faces a foe who is essentially a mirror: a talented young shinobi who lost his mentor and blames the entire system. – A lean, thoughtful filler episode that respects

But beneath its modest budget and low-stakes premise, Episode 122 succeeds for a simple, almost subversive reason: it stops trying to be Naruto and finally remembers how to be Boruto . Let’s address the elephant in the room. Puppet jutsu is sacred ground. In Naruto Shippuden , Sasori of the Red Sand elevated puppetry from a gimmick (Kankuro’s Karasu) into a haunting philosophy of immortality. Episode 122 invites that comparison immediately. Kankitsu, the villain of the week, is a failed Tanigakure shinobi who uses Kugutsu no Jutsu with a tragic backstory (dead master, destroyed village, desire for revenge). And in the end, Kankitsu is arrested, not redeemed

Boruto’s response is not the typical shonen “I will beat you and we will be friends.” Nor is it Naruto’s “Talk no Jutsu.” Instead, Boruto acknowledges Kankitsu’s pain (“I understand wanting to protect someone important”) but firmly rejects his method. The pivotal line comes when Boruto says: “Using your master’s legacy to destroy what he protected—that’s not honoring him. That’s just your own selfishness.”

In the sprawling, high-stakes world of Boruto , where gods and cyborgs now dictate the power ceiling, Episode 122, “The Puppet Battle,” is a curious anomaly. On its surface, it is a filler-lite detour: Team 7 (minus Sarada) arrives in the hidden village of Tanigakure—the "Village of the Meteor Hammer"—to retrieve a stolen scroll and encounters a rogue puppet user named Kankitsu.