The Twitter account for Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto franchise posted this tweet on Monday:
漫画『BORUTO』について
Vジャンプ12月号（11/21発売）掲載の『BORUTO』52話をもって、当初からの予定に則り、制作体制が変更となります。
ここまで脚本を務められた小太刀先生、本当にお疲れさまでした。
今後、岸本斉史先生の原案をもとに連載して参ります。— NARUTO・BORUTO【原作公式】 (@NARUTO_kousiki) November 16, 2020
It states that Ukyō Kodachi, who has been the writer for the monthly Boruto manga series, will be retiring—and that Kishimoto himself will be taking up that position. This change, which has apparently been “scheduled from the beginning”, will start from the 52nd chapter of the manga—which will be published by Shueisha in their December issue of V Jump on November 21. The Boruto series will now be serialized according to Kishimoto’s original drafts—although fans do not know if the storyline will change due to this.
In a series of tweets, Kodachi also urged fans to continue to follow Boruto’s journey and thanked them for following his work so far. He also stated that he was excited to now follow the manga as a reader, and for readers to continue to contact V Jump’s editorial department for any comments and suggestions.
そのようなわけで、いよいよ『BORUTO』のバトンを岸本先生・池本先生のタッグにお戻しすることになりました！ どうかこれからもボルトたちの旅路を、暖かく応援してあげてください。僕も読者として楽しみにしています！ https://t.co/cOLbqzVT5G
— 小太刀右京/Ukyou Kodachi (@u_kodachi) November 16, 2020
Kodachi and illustrator Mikio Ikemoto started the Boruto manga back in May 2016 in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. It was shifted to Shueisha’s V Jump magazine in July 2019. He has also worked with Kishimoto on the screenplay of Boruto: Naruto the Movie (2015) as well as having written Gaara Hiden, the light novel adaptation of the movie. The movie is the basis for the manga—the latter continues the plotline of the movie.
Ukyō Kodachi is also the story supervisor for the anime adaptation of the series, called Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. The anime series began in April 2017 in Japan, with an English dub premiering in September 2018 on Adult Swim’s Toonami block. It has seventeen arcs so far and is available on streaming sites like Crunchyroll and Hulu.
The Boruto series also has a novel adaptation— Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Novel. There have been five novels released so far.
