As the Boruto anime releases Episode 242 to Japanese and subtitle-friendly audiences, western fans of the English dub have been left scratching their heads -- again. With little communication between Japanese producers and Western distributors and even less between those distributors and audiences, here is the information currently available about the future of Boruto's dubbed release.
The history of Boruto's English dub is controversial, as many tend to be, with a record of fans being subjected to restarts, contract changes and even streaming complications. Due to a combination of surprisingly low Western ratings, a tenuous global distribution relationship and a whopping Covid-19 delay, the Boruto English dub has been left in a state of limbo for many.
When Will Boruto's New English Dubbed Episodes Be Released?
The controversy surrounding Boruto's English dub begins with its initial distribution by Adult Swim, which released the first 52 episodes on Toonami before dropping the series from the programming block. Although the Boruto dub began with a reasonable 50-ish episode gap between its subbed counterpart, after being forced to restart the release via VIZ Media's home-release schedule and a COVID-19 delay, the dub now sits at around 100 episodes behind its sub counterpart.
As of now, the Boruto English dub has released 155 episodes by the aforementioned VIZ system. As of this writing, there are no plans to expedite the dub release, leaving fans to wait around three months for the airing of a few dozen episodes. According to VIZ's official site, the next batch of Boruto episodes (156-176) is set to release on May, 17 2022.
Where to Stream the Boruto English Dub
Despite the steady release of dubbed Boruto episodes from VIZ -- currently up to the "Mujina Bandits" arc of the story -- many fans are finding it difficult to stream anything past Episode 50, even with paid streaming services. With even legitimate platforms offering only so many episodes of the dub, some mistakenly believe its production has ceased entirely. However, the culprit is, of course, licensing issues.
52 episodes of the #Boruto: Naruto Next Generations English dub are now available to stream on @Hulu! ? pic.twitter.com/f6NmHp4Y7T
— VIZ (@VIZMedia) January 9, 2021
One legitimate platform that seems to have disappointed fans of the Boruto dub is Disney-controlled Hulu, which has garnered a slew of complaints regarding its lackluster release of the English dub. Since its announcement in January 2021, Hulu has maintained a mere 52 of Boruto's 155-episode dubbed release, leading fans to ask where the rest of them are -- seemingly into the ether.
Even worse is the experience faced by many Funimation subscribers across international markets, as there have been unilateral reports of the addition, and subsequent removal, of some licensed Boruto episodes. What's certain is that, due to the acquisition of Madman, Funimation eliminated the previous platform, AnimeLab, and is now offering only sporadic dub episodes from the full catalogue or, in some regions, none at all.
At the moment, it seems like VIZ is planning to transition its library of Boruto dub episodes to Hulu.
In any case, while there are 155 episodes of Boruto's dub released via box set, only around 50 to 100 of those are presently available between the legitimate platforms, Hulu and Funimation. This means that English-preferring audiences may have to wait a while before receiving a legitimate and consistent means of viewing the more-than-half of the series that is currently being kept from them.
