WhatAGoodShow's Blog

Anime Relations: Bleach, Bleach: Sennen Kessen-hen

Toxicity exist in every group/fanbase and the bigger the size, the bigger the amount of toxicity will be naturally. Overall during the time the Bleach series continued strong, said toxicity was rather mild from my experience. Fans were making fun of Bleach themselves for the little amount of content they got or the lack of interesting things happening to make up for said lack of content.
The Fullbring arc was considered a joke. Most people hated Orihime. TYBW arc was a complete trainwreak with hardly any pay off. People acknowledged these mistakes either tolerating or enjoying it. Nobody insulted one another because someone said that Kyoraku's Bankai was a waste of time and rushed. We knew it was regardless how "broken" the power is or the "lore" surrounding it. What mattered was the execution for many. Where we satisfied with the reveal and how it was used. Most weren't, not because it one shotted or didn't work on the enemy since such moments were executed in the past much better.

Now regarding the Bleach community as of now, and by that I don't mean the whole thing but what I experienced, the fans are way too defensive of what they like. You can't say a single thing negative about the Fullbring arc or Orihime without being treated like the scum of earth.
If you don't get the "depth" of Bleach, you are "just a hater" or "too stupid". Terms like "peak fiction" gets thrown around giving the feeling your entered the One Piece fanbase by accident. I
If you criticize something that isn't explained, you are insulted immediately and get point to external sources like the Light Novels or Databooks that should be complementary materials and not explain details with key importance to the plot.

This brings us to the main topic, the return of the anime. I was completed to make a review of myself giving my honest thoughts about the first episodes simply because I felt the scores and reviews did not reflect the actual quality of the product.
Now why did I review something "I didn't like"? Obviously if you like something,you have to score it with a 8 to 9, right? If you don't like it, you shut up and move away. We don't need negative reviews here. Especially not from "haters" because they want to spread misinformation.
It can't possibly be that these "haters" are actual fans who are disappointed with the direction of the show and want to share said disappointment as a means to warn fans that look for a certain thing.

"Eh... you only reviewed 3 episodes... it is too early too judge." is another comment you may hear. If reviewers that don't recommend the show aren't allowed to make a review, why are the ones who enjoy it allowed to post recommended reviews?
Shouldn't everyone be forbidden to review the show until the moderators feel there is enough content to post?

"if you don't like it, why are you watching it?"
How is someone going to judge something without watching it first?

"You read the manga and thought it was bad. Why do you watch the anime if you think it is so bad?"
Perhaps because there are still scenes I enjoyed and want to see animated. Maybe I want to see some content that gets added. Perhaps I am still a Bleach fan despite all its issues and my curiosity got the better of me. It is not like everyone who posts negative reviews are haters as some of us want Bleach to do better and have praised it on several accessions.

"Whatever, you are just a troll. Your review is cringe. You make us look bad."
I wonder about that?
Whatever, whether it is true or not is one thing, but saying these kinds of thing don't come without consequences. I was fully aware that people will get upset after I read some of the positive reviews to Bleach and seeing the inflated scores. I wrote the review with full knowledge that it would make people upset regardless how nice I put it.
I am willing to have discussions with anyone, but most the time I see people just calling names or block you from replying to them (or delete comment) preventing you from having discussions. And yes, I did block 1 or 2 Bleach "fans" simply because the conversation was a waste of time and energy.
Are those to write these negative reviews or criticize the series, regardless if true or not, be the toxic ones? If anything, toxicity result from comments that treat the other side as villains.

Funny enough, despite me being such a "Bleach hater", I have at least 2 people who wrote positive Bleach reviews in my friends list. One of them agreed and discussed some of the points I made. Sadly, even he became a victim of one of the defenders just because he wrote something positive about my review. If he didn't, he would get praised by said person.

I am nobodies parent in the forum and I don't intend to police whatever anyone does on this platform or another one. All I wanted to do is warn (not to be mistaken with advice) about this issue. Whether you want to insult somebody or have a civil discussion is usually up to the person starting the conversation. Just keep in mind that, even if you are the minority, your comment can affect how others see the whole community. That is if you care how people see the community as a whole.
Some comments I received are ironically from users that just made an account which could technically be from people who already tried to make me feel bad.

Generally, I don't feel the Bleach fanbase is anywhere as toxic as some other large fanbases. But certainly the anime returning and the fanbase being run by mainly the most hardcore defenders, who have been made fun of, seem to indicate that it can get worse from here on. There could be also other variables that I can't calculate such as people being from other fanbases that could be even more toxic becoming fans of the show.

I don't mind what people say about me. I simply find it ironic being seen as toxic by certain individuals. As many seem to be so concerned about the community apparently, I thought I bring light to another perspective and where the toxicity may also come from.

You are welcome.

Anime Relations: Super Dragon Ball Heroes

The story overall is again a simple one. After Cumber was defeated and everyone escaped from Prison Planet thanks to Oolong in the manga and Goku xeno in the anime, certain prisoners were released from the Prison Planet too:
Mecha Merged Zamas, Rags or Lagss, Kamin, Oren and their leader Hearts.
They saved Cumber and their goal is to complete what is called the Universe Seed. One of the functions we learn in this arc is that the Universe Seed has the means to defeat DBS biggest fanboy Zeno also known as the Omniking. That alone made Hearts better than any antagonist in Super.
Before I mention which was handled better, Hearts is like a reverse Zamas who hates the gods instead, but unlike Zamas he isn't a crybaby, is reasonable, has a redemption arc and charisma. Some people like him just because of his voice actor to which I can't relate because I don't watch Jojo's bizzare Adventure or whatever.

So to power up they have to fight various in various universes to feed the seed giving us cameos of fan favorite characters like... uhm... Jiren? I guess Hit can be one... Sry, but I really dislike all these other universe characters especially Caulifla and female Broly. Glad they appeared for just a short while.

This time there are more differences between anime and manga. Only the final fight is particularly similar. So I will go character by character how they were handled instead of highlights

Generally I feel Hearts is handled the best in the manga. His power isn't infodumbed but told to use with visual storytelling. I really love that in the manga and it surprised me considering this is a promotional manga and should be "garbage" like the anime. He can read others objectives and goals which makes it far more reasonable for him to team up with Zamas since he can figure out whenever he would betray him.
Hearts' ability was also used against him in the manga especially when he had his glory moment and then "heard" the opinion of all mortals on planet earth making some believable decisions.
As for his defeat, in both he explained why he went all that far to stop Zeno since he is way to dangerous and restricts everyone's individuality and freedom. However, he realizes that he can't enforce his goal to others and accepts people willing to let the world stay the same.
Such a waste that a character like him will remain in an arcade game.

Lagss has the ability to manipulate glass. In the anime she can fire glash shards at her opponent and attack them with glass from behind. Sadly she had only a short moment against Goku and Trunks defeating them with ease, but later got defeated by Metal Cooler off screen in the Robot Universe.
In the manga, she saved Oren by turning Vegeta's arm into glass. Glas manipulation also helped her to keep up against opponents like Dispo and I loved how she never lost her composure even when facing Merged Zamas when he was about to betray them as she made quick work of him and Future Trunks.
Sadly she was defeated by Piccolo and Android 17. The fight was really impressive and we saw more about her feelings to Hearts. In the anime too she acted very respectful towards Hearts and showing concern. Dragon Ball isn't really good in making interesting henchmen characters and give them individuality besides being blind followers with the same goal. Sadly Rags appeared not long enough to least much of a lasting impression and feels rather wasted.

Kamin and Oren are Tsufuru from Universe 6 and Neo Machine Mutant to be exact like Bebi or Baby from Dragon Ball GT. So they have similar abilities in taking over others body starting with Caulifla and female Broly. Their character is basically the same. Kamin is female and Oren is male.
The only difference between manga and anime is who they fought really, but they didn't shine as much. Oren is the only one who possessed Vegeta and turned into a second form that challenged Ultra Instinct Goku in the manga and Jiren in the anime, but that only lasted for a short time.
When they merged they needed the power of Jiren or Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku to put them down. I really don't like the powered up version of them since it looks really dumb. The anime gave both his forms a longer battle. It's a promotional series so they couldn't be explored more. Would be nice to know.
I liked some interactions like in the anime when Oren wanted to switch with Kamin to fight Hit instead while in the manga Kamin appeared with Lagss to save Oren and threw the info from the Robot Universe to Hearts in a pretty casual way. It have the impression that they get along with each other as a group instead of being underlings for Hearts.

Cumber got the short end in this arc and feels like he is heavily nerved. He beat up Top with ease in the anime but had to go Full Power Super Saiyan 3 to fight Jiren despite being above Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken Vegito and even Ultra Instinct only defeated his regular state. Tho that fight was quickly interrupted by Hearts who send him to the Robot World.
In the manga he knocked out Top and Dispo with ease but still went Super Saiyan 3 to do so considering that Super Saiyan alone is too much for Vegito Blue. More questionable was when Goku appeared and fought him about evenly in Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan for a while. But regular Ultra Instinct was enough to knock him out.
But Cumber transformed to his full power state forcing him to clash with God of Destruction form Top with power claimed to be strong enough to destroy the planet by accident. However he was knocked out by Kamioren as consequence of his attack and then was kidnapped by Fu.
That leads us to the rematch between Cumber and Cooler. Cooler got mechanized becoming Metal Cooler or Meta Cooler for US plebs.
The manga version was rushed this time. Cumber was already weakened so there is that. Cooler immediately went Golden Metal Cooler and shot a beam through the Super Saiyan Cumber and latter finished him with his signature attack.
In the anime they had an actual good fight. Like the best fight in Heroes so far and puts many DBS fights in the dust. Cooler showed off a lot more of his regular power before flexing his final form. Ultimately Cumber lost that fight too even at full power.

The final member of the Evil Troop is Mecha Merged Zamas. There isn't much to say. In the anime he exchanged blows with Jiren and seemed a lot weaker than he should be. He protected Hearts before he can use the power of the Universe Seed and got betrayed by his conspirator.
The manga version was better again. Zamas did many things that went against Hearts goal like "killing" Hit but apologized. And I love these two together. Zamas is an awful character, but seeing him interact with Hearts who acts like its not a big deal is lovely. There are moments I feel Hearts even roasts him like him saying "You aren't a god exactly".
Also Zamas vs Hit was a very entertaining fight. It honestly blows any Hit fight in Super out the water. Probably because those fights were shit since this fight isn't that impressive. Both fighters seemed about evenly matched and competent.
This time however Zamas wanted to betray Hearts after finding out the Universe Seed is complete, but that didn't go too well as explained earlier.

Hit as I sad was handled in the manga better. He fought evenly with Zamas. Showcased Hearts power well. Later redeemed himself again in the rematch against Hearts.
In the anime he got humiliated by the Tsufuru or Tuffle twins. Like he looked weaker than Super Saiyan Vegeta. At least he took part in the final beam struggle unlike in the manga.

Jiren in both was shown like an unmovable force. Cumber and he were evenly matched in the anime. In the manga he one shotted powered up Kaminoren.
He also aided against Heart.

Top in the anime made just a cameo being defeated. In the manga he actually fought Cumber and managed to do something.
And Dispo also did something in the manga while in the anime he didn't appear.

Caulifla and female Broly had 1 scene where they were "badass" which cringed me out in the anime. I am glad they didn't shine individually in the manga. They fused and had just one page worth of action against the twins. To me the less we see of them, the better.

Cooler decided to team up with Fu and got his body modified taking full underling status for Fu. He was really impressive as he was capable on taking Cumber with little effort in both adaptation. So far the anime's best fight involved him.

Piccolo and Android 17 were both illogically powerful, With the manga I think it could be tolerated a little since Lagss was distracted and her power wasn't that clear. But in the anime they had no problem defeating Kamioren who separately put a challenge to Hit and the duo of overpowered female Saiyans. Not to mention, Kamioren in the anime who was strong enough to force Vegeta to turn Blue Evolution to beat them.

Vegeta had some shine and some embarrassing moments.
In the anime just arriving he got possessed by Oren and got defeated in that form by UI Goku. Prior to that he did shine beating up the twins in Super Saiyan and even when they took over the bodies of female Saiyans, he scared them off with a simple final flash.
In the manga, he and Trunks knocked out the Tufflized female Saiyans. Vegeta fought a little against Hearts unable to touch him just for Oren to take over his body. I liked how Vegeta managed to free himself quickly to Oren's surprise because unlike in the manga Goku was unable to beat him.
In the anime again, he defeated Kamioren. In both versions, they were unable to put work against Hearts.

Goku was at Grand Priest place appearing in Omen Ultra Instinct giving the impression he is able to use it at will. He knocked away Cumber in the manga and defeated Super Oren in the anime. Goku solod Kamioren too later. We saw him fight Hearts by himself in the anime and alongside everyone in the manga. The manga handled it better with everyone at screen while when in the anime everyone teamed up, it was for a ki blast or something.
The only time everyone really joined was when Hearts fully powered up in the anime, while they fought him as they arrived in the manga.

Lastly Gogeta. I think in terms of dialog both versions do justice to them. In terms of action, the manga is better again especially with the "mortal teamwork" part

I think that's pretty much it. Again the anime gave priority into some other things. They are far more balanced than the previous arc. The manga was on average better but the anime did have some better scenes executed better like Cumber vs. Cooler and showcasing Kamioren's Universe Seed power.

The manga stands out simply because how the characters where portrayed, has better use of a large cast fighting together and the transition.

I remembered the manga version to be far more rushed. After reading the translated version, I liked it a little more. I struggle to decide if I like this arc more than the Prison Planet arc. This arc just had better characters, but the Prison Planet arc had some hype battles and the Trunks and Cooler interaction. (Oh, I remembered Trunks was involved. He was basically filler screaming ZAMAS! all the time in both adaptation)
In the anime there is no contest, the Hearts arc was better.

As for the best Heroes arc, I think I wait until Big Bang Mission is over.
What are your thoughts about this arc of Dragon Ball Heroes?

Anime Relations: Super Dragon Ball Heroes

I felt like talking a bit more about Super Dragon Ball Heroes story. I really like talking about what I like or dislike about any arc of Dragon Ball. I feel despite many being satisfied, there is always room for improvement even in the best ones.
Obviously I am picking easy targets here. While I know even the longest arc of Dragon Ball, it takes way too much time to balance out a proper opinion piece relating to those arcs.

So I want to focus on the Universe Mission story and begin with the Prison Planet story arc. I will not talk about the ingame story since there is no way I can experience it. I will only talk about anime and manga, maybe refer to the trailer few times if it is necessary.

The story is simple. Future Trunks is trapped somehow in the Prison Planet and Fu came with Mai to ask Goku and Vegeta for help. On the prison planet they are trapped by Fu until they collect the 7 Dragon Balls. Trunks allies with Cooler and alongside our heroes and the Xeno counterparts, they confront Cumber, an overpowered Saiyan. Cumber gets defeated and they escape.

The story doesn't seem too bad. Dimensional counterparts make it possible to find a version of a character strong enough to rival our Heroes as seen with Cooler. There are some neat concepts like allying to reach a common goal.
But here is where the execution falls apart. There is no way around the bush, the manga handles the elements much better. The anime completely drops the Dragon Ball sub plot and only focuses on the Cumber fight. We see no fight against Bojack. We don't see Majin Otozo or whatever. It's just Cumber flexing on everybody.

Let's look at the main highlights

SSGSS Goku vs. SS4 Xeno Goku
I think there is no doubt in my mind that nobody likes the anime version of this fight. Simple reason because there was no fight. They transformed into their most powerful forms, Xeno Goku attacked a few times. Goku hit his head and then they clashed with a Kamehameha. They stopped fight and Fu is revealed to be a bad guy who just escape.

The manga version is a different story. Again, Xeno Goku attacks as Super Saiyan 4. He is caught off guard seeing a version of himself appearing to guard Fu. That is enough for them to start fighting, as Goku Xeno is impressed about the Blue Haired Super Saiyan. The action is great and it feels more natural since Xeno Goku doesn't know about Goku being unaware about Fu's intends. And Goku doesn't even know he is fighting a counterpart since Xeno Goku appeared as a Super Saiyan 4, a form that doesn't exist in Goku's world.
Fu being a bad guy is discovered more naturally as it's Vegeta's instincts that uncover it. Fu's motivation seem more genuine than in the anime. He is driven by his curiosity while in the anime he seems to want to make the ultimate fanfiction fight.
Fu even respects Vegeta to the point in handing the Dragon Ball he has for free.

Cumber reveal
Cumber is a different character in both versions.

Anime Cumber is obsessed with fighting and welcomes any challenge. When he broke out, Fu was enjoying to see it happen without calculating the consequences. He appeared scaring both Goku and Vegeta with his power... so much so they turn... Super Saiyan 2? Uhm.. what? And only Goku transforms. It feels so weird considering what will happen later.

In the manga, Cumber escaped surprising Fu. Fu has been shown pretty confident and calculating over the course of Heroes. But Cumber was on a whole different level compared to the time patrollers, Goku, Trunks, Vegeta etc.
In other words, before Cumber even arrives with his ki sealing suit, Goku and Vegeta went immediately SSJB.
You can immediately feel Cumber is a threat without even doing a single move.

Super Saiyan Berserk Goku
That terrible transformation I talked about recently appears when Cumber corrupts you with his ki which he doesn't do ever again.

The anime version of this form is a joke. Vegeta in Base avoids his attack and the newly arrived Trunks has barely any trouble either.

In the manga, Goku one shots Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta and almost kills Trunks by accident when going after Mai. Cooler had to safe him.
Speaking of Cooler.

Golden Cooler
After Frieza received a recolor transformation, people wanted to have Cooler to use it too. Heroes brought a version of Cooler that was capable of that. Now this is the moment for Cooler actually win a fight against Goku. How did the two versions handle it.

Again, the anime failed. Cooler had enough power to push away Super Saiyan Berserk Goku with a ki blast. The cringy part is upon transforming into the hyped Golden Form, Cooler literally copy pasted Frieza's line before attacking in his new form. He one punched Goku to the ground and released a Golden Nova at Cumber. That's it. Goku is back to normal showing how pointless his Berserk form was and Cumber remained unharmed. But he was impressed enough to actually break the armor and force Vegeta and Goku to use the potara.

The manga did it better. Cooler had to enter the battle not because he wanted to but he had to in order to safe Trunks for reasons I will mention later. Fu taunts him to the point Cooler actually decides to transform. This Cooler isn't trying to play any games with homages. Cooler had to prove himself that he is capable to beat such a powerful foe with his own power. This exchange, while still short, was more impressive. He decided to finish off both Saiyans with a Golden Super Nova. He reverted to his previous form. While he failed to kill Goku, it was impressive to see him knock down a Super Saiyan Blue+ tier opponent. At the same time, it showed how powerful Cumber's ki is as Goku might have died otherwise from the attack and the evil Saiyan is completely unharmed.

Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken Vegito vs Cumber
The premise with Vegito vs. Cumber is that we finally get a fusion of these characters fight seriously for once. Restricted Cumber took on two Super Saiyan Blue and survived the strongest attack of Golden Cooler in his restricted form already. Now that Cumber is freed from his jacket, he can use his full power in base form. There is no way around but to fuse.

The anime version let Trunks be the scapegoat to buy time. So much time that even after Fusion, Vegito didn't bother doing anything and Cooler gave up after his third ki blast. Cumber was outmatching Vegito effortlessly and didn't even bother covering himself in ki while fighting. Vegito had no choice but to use Kaioken. We don't know by how much, but Vegeto was still no threat to Cumber as even after winning the beam struggle, Cumber slashed the Final Kamehameha. Vegito's best move didn't do shit and regardless of that, Cumber transformed into a Golden Oozaru. Before Vegito could do anything, he defused.

The manga let Trunks safe Cooler and Super Saiyan God Goku and Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta pushed Cumber away only to be knocked out immediately after. With a teamwork of Oolong and Mai, Cumber was distracted enough for Goku and Vegeta to become Vegito (even if it made no sense for Oolong to stall this much time).
They didn't show the entire fight. The short parts of the first part was impressive since both were about even in power. When we cut back to them, Vegito decided to use Kaioken for the first time as he was facing a Cumber who already turned Super Saiyan.
Cumber didn't play any games anymore and decided to use his most powerful form, the Golden Oozaru. Unlike the anime, Kaioken Blue Vegito and Golden Oozaru Cumber were about evenly matched. You could really feel the power when both beam struggled. This was on a scale that could have happened in Dragon Ball Z.
Sadly, fusion ran out. But because the power was so large that the planet was getting damaged, Fu arrived and saved the Saiyans from Cumbers attack to minimize damage on the Prison Planet.

Super Saiyan 4 Vegito Xeno vs. Super Saiyan 3 Cumber
At this point, Cumber reverted back to his base form because of Fu getting rid one of his sources of power. The time patrollers showed up saving their counterparts from another attack from Cumber and decided to Potara Fuse as well.

The anime version of this fight gives Vegito Xeno more shine. Cumber immediately transformed into SSJ3 pretty much skipping SSJ and was pushed to the corner by SSJ4 Vegito Xeno. The problem with this fight is, the punches and kicks are way too similar to the Vegito Blue fight. This fight can't stand on its own since we get a similar beam struggle with Vegito Xeno winning again. But unlike Vegito Blue, the Xeno Version knocks out the Evil Saiyan before defusing.

The manga didn't focus much on the fight. The fused and pushed Cumber to turn SSJ3 where they began to have trouble until Goku turned mastered Ultra Instinct.

Mastered UI Goku vs. Cumber
UI did get justice in both versions.
In the anime, he dodged all of Cumber's moves and overpowered him with a simple Kamehameha.

In the manga, MUI Goku dodged moves even Vegito Xeno had trouble to evade. But we didn't see the conclusion because of Oolong wishing from Shenron everyone to be released from the Prison Planet.

Overall, the fan service was done better in the manga. It's the execution and the manga knew it's priorities better.
The main reason I prefer the manga, and I will get this out immediately that it focuses on the things that matter and manages to deal with the Dragon Ball Subplot. We see that Trunks teamed up with Cooler and how they dynamic work which doesn't happen in the anime at all. In the anime Cooler says sentence to Trunks and I recall them not speaking a single word with each other.
In the manga, Cooler enjoys Trunks helping him with the Dragon Balls and values his strength enough to enter the front line himself. He makes sure Trunks accompanies him when Majin Otozo escapes knowing about his knowledge about the whereabouts of the Dragon Balls. We see them team up against the Ghost Warriors while Majin Otozo manages to steal everyone's Dragon Balls to summon Shenron.
The manga adds Oolong as comic relief who saves everyone from Prison Planet at the end.

So what does the anime do to pander all that time with?
Well, one of the biggest offenders is the Cumber fight had many pointless fights. Did we really needed to see Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken times 20 Goku fight Cumber? Did we see everyone charge at Cumber as Super Saiyan? No, not really. When Fu took away the Golden Oozaru form, that is when the time patrollers should have shown up. But we got Super Saiyan God Goku fight Cumber instead so we can see Cumber remember the form. The manga did a better job in introducing that relation early on and there were 2 other moments Super Saiyan God could have been shown instead, like when Goku turned SSJ2, he could have turned God instead. Or in the Cumber fight start as SSJG. There was too much pandering with just that one pointless fight. While not the worst episode, it made the Golden Oozaru form rather pointless.

Well, those are my thoughts on which is better, but how good in the manga. There are a few inconsistencies like the Oolong part. Parts I would like seen bit more fleshed out like the SSJ4 Vegito Xeno fight, but considering it is a promotional manga, it was rather impressive. To me, even current shonen struggle to make arcs flow well. The manga version of the prison planet arc is definitively worth reading just for the Vegito Blue vs. Cumber fight. And while the other fights aren't as fleshed out, they are entertaining on their own way. The interactions, taking away a bit of focus from Cumber and actual teamwork instead of watching others do the job. When the characters didn't do anything but watch, they usually had a good reason from what we have seen.
Don't let the artstyle scare you away. When the action starts, it looks very close to the actual animated counterparts.

What are your thoughts on those versions of the same story? Have you seen both?

Anime Relations: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

It has been a while since the anime adaptation of the Kara Arc ended which so far is the best arc of Boruto so far.

Normally the Kara arc is made out of 2 to 3 mini arcs and technically the Kara arc isn't over. What I consider the actual Kara arc is when Kawaki is officially introduced since the Kara Inners are getting directly involved.

If for some reason you read this and haven't watched or dropped Boruto, I guess the term Outer and Inner wouldn't mean much. Inners are the main foes who pull the strings while the Outer basically are appearing in the everyday interacting with normal folks while working for the real bad guys. One of the Outer members who got his own arc is Ao, the former right hand man of the Mizukage and is the only surviver of the Ten Tails bomb.
While I don't think the Ao Arc was bad, it was above what we were getting from Boruto so far minus the movie retelling, it still can't hold up much compared to what we were getting in Naruto.

Prior to the Ao arc, there was an anime exclusive arc revolving one of the Inners... or rather two of them. That filler arc didn't really add a lot except explaining why Sadara (who is the daughter of Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno) got the two Tomoe Sharingan. All the new techniques Boruto learns like the Compressive Rasengan and that other one really won't appear ever again.
There is that one dude who appears who is going to die. A subplot about some brothers that died.
All you should know, it was boring. The highlight was Konohamaru seeing the person who lead to his grandpa's death appearing to safe him, Orochimaru. If you want to see Orochimaru fight a little, I guess that is worth watching that filler arc. There is definitively an underused of established characters in battle with the exception of the current Kage and Sasuke.

Coming to the REAL Kara arc, which many Youtubers hyped up who know what it is about. We see Kashin Koji appearing to clean up after Ao only for Ao trying to die a Ninja's way and protect Boruto and the others.
Kashin Koji has a decent amount of mystery and the reveal of his true identity retro actively speaking made sense even tho I still find it stupid. He can use the Rasengan, summon exploding frogs, summon flames from the eternal mountain and use Sage Mode.
We see Boruto using the Karma, a gift left by Momoshiki, getting activated for the first time allowing Boruto to absorb flames to protect Konohamaru before he got fried by Kashin Koji.
After the enemy retreated, they discovered Kawaki and find out that he is very important to the Kara. So much so that another Inner appeared with the permission of the boss with another Outer.
This Outer is basically fodder to show off what a weakened Kawaki can do, that the Karma can resonate and that he is more experienced with using Karma.
I wasn't impressed much as we don't know how strong that guy was. He could be weaker than Ino for all I care but he could be stronger than the Third Hokage. Sadly we will never find out.

Stuff happens and Kawaki is taken to the Leaf Village where he got introduced to Naruto. Honestly the interaction between Naruto and Kawaki is the best thing about the show so far. It isn't forced and Kawaki naturally opens up. Moreso to Boruto since he thinks that if both Karma users work together, they can get rid of it. Despite the immense power the Karma gives; which isn't limited to absorption but a significant boost in speed, power and battle experience; there is a catch to it since neither Momoshiki nor "Jigen" gave them away out of the goodness in their heart.

Boruto was a pretty annoying character but Kawaki does make him a lot more likeable too, giving a certain Naruto and Sasuke vibe.
Naruto's gestures turn Kawaki who cared only about his own survival to unconditionally care about others, even throwing away his own arm to an attack that prevents regeneration cells from functioning after destroying it.
That leads to Delta, the other Inner mentioned, who was responsible for it.
While we did see how strong an Inner is compared to a Jonin, the fight against Delta is there to show how they match up against Naruto, the strongest current Kage.

After that we get some really great bonding. The scientist of the village are unable to restore Kawaki's arm and they have no means to make artificial arms compatible with Kawaki. So Naruto gives him the prototype that was made for him and used his own chakra giving Kawaki a new limb. Naruto explains how Chakra was meant to be bonds with people and its about sharing making Kawaki wonder if he too has it and if he could become a Ninja. As you can imagine Naruto answered accordingly so far to make Kawaki his own student.
I think that works mainly because Naruto can relate to Kawaki's pain since he went through loneness himself and experienced many foes with similar issues.

Soon however the big bad would actually make his move to take Kawaki back himself. A lot of questions arise who Jigen really is as he is illogically powerful at first glance. He has access to another tentails and absorbed some energy before entering Naruto's home. He also has a Karma giving him incredible power surpassing that of Naruto's current strength. Even with Sasuke appearing they are no match for him. Amaterasu is useless against someone who can absorb Jutsu and the Susanoo's defense is worthless too. Tho Jigen can't handle the power he holds and has to seal Naruto while Sasuke barely escapes.
Animation wise this was beautiful and likely the second best fight in Boruto after the fight against Momoshiki. The animation really did justice to the manga this time.

But this isn't the end, as Boruto, Kawaki, Mitsuki (Orochimaru's child) and Sadara decided to enter the place where Naruto is sealed to save him. There they encounter the third Inner Boro and I have to say that fight was pretty well done too in animation and choreography. We see weaknesses of the Karma, Sadara as a team captain and also get a hint of what the Karma is as something took over Boruto's body and finished Boro off with ease.

With Naruto saved, they go back to the leaf explaining the situation.
From here on I don't want to get into more detail. Through a new reliable source, yeah, lets say that, they find out a lot of stuff what the Karma is and how to stop Jigen. Or rather Isshiki. The guy Kaguya worked for and apparently betrayed. He put a Karma on Kawaki and Jigen as means for his revival. Yeah, the guy who controlled Boruto was Momoshiki.
Due to circumstances, Isshiki had to be awaken earlier in Jigen's body which erases all the other Karma he put on others. Thus he had only 3 days left to put another Karma on Kawaki.
That meant Naruto, Sasuke and Boruto teamed up to stop him from reaching Kawaki.

If you think Jigen was strong... Isshiki is far far stronger and doesn't even need extra fuel to use his power, has a Byakugan and an eye that can teleport objects from other dimension like large cubes and pillars. He can already shink the size of non organic objects and move through dimensions...
Boruto was crutial since him being close to be ready for Momoshiki to awaken, he can be used to be feed to the Tentails instead of Jigen, thus giving immediate access to another Chakra Fruit from the Divine Tree which was the entire goal of Kara.
Eventually things get diecy. Naruto and Sasuke are no match. And the only way to stop Isshiki would be now. So Kurama decided to introduce us to another Ninetails power we didn't hear before. I heard many complain about this and why it wasn't used against Madara or Kaguya, but I feel the circumstances and stakes make it way more reasonable to be introduced now.
Baryon Mode is a temporary power up that drains immense amount of Chakra. It's insanely short. Yeah, Naruto could end even Kaguya, but that would hardly be worth it since it can kill its user. And by user it means Kurama... So Kurama died for a power up that didn't manage to finish off Isshiki... at least if that was the reason it was used. Since Chakra is a means to bond with others, the life force draining apply also to the opponent hit by it. So with each punch, Naruto was draining more and more the already short 3 days Isshiki had to live leaving him with just 5 minutes to get Kawaki and place a Karma on him.

I have to say, the Baryon Mode introduction and fight was the best one in Boruto so far. The anime really did an amazing job even adding some Easter eggs that look lovely from the Sasuke fight. Boruto has also shown a lot of violence and blood in the Kara arc, which makes Dragon Ball Super look like a total joke.

I think I will stop here since I feel I just give a summary of the Kara arc and some may haven't even seen it. The anime adaptation is fine. The beginning was a little slow and Episodes 198 and 199 were a sin, but the Kara arc did live up to the hype IMO.
The problem I had is how Sasuke in general was handled. After getting the Rinnegan, Sasuke should be far more capable of what is shown but we don't get to see a lot. He turned into Boruto's Vegeta. Tho unlike Vegeta he doesn't even get any power ups. Instead he gets weaker... more on that you should watch the rest of the Kara arc till the end.

So yeah, Kara arc, definitively worth watching Boruto for. Just skip some episodes... Not sure if I would recommend the anime adaptation of the Momoshiki arc. It was both better and worse than the movie. The Chuunin Exam is longer and more fleshed out, but the fights there are boring.
Speaking of Chuunin exam, they make another one... its filler so don't expect much. No matter how good the fights will be, if they don't add anything meaningful they will be forgotten like the Tsukage filler arc.