Boruto brings into the Naruto franchise a new generation of ninja and one of the most exciting additions is Kawaki. This mysterious shinobi is one of the first characters that was unveiled for Boruto but surprisingly they don’t appear straight away.
When Does Kawaki First Show Up in the Boruto Anime and Manga?
The first time Kawaki truly debuts in the Boruto anime is Episode 188 dubbed Awakening. Kawaki does appear in Episode 184 briefly, but the true introduction of the character takes place after Episode 187, so we’d classify 188 as his first true appearance.
While this is the first major appearance of Kawaki in Boruto the character did show up in the flash-forward scene right at the very beginning of the anime. Of course, this scene takes place in the future and we haven’t even come close to when it takes place yet, so don’t expect to see more of this scene animated for a long time.
For manga fans, the first time that Kawaki appears happens during the Kwaki Arc, which takes place between Chapters 24 and 55. These chapters are what were used to craft Episodes 188 to 220, which is where we see Kawaki make his anime debut.
It might be surprising to hear that Kawaki doesn’t make his appearance for so long given how heavily the character was promoted in the first episode of the series, and the first chapters of its manga. However, this isn’t the first time the Naruto franchise has withheld a character. Famously, Sasuke showed up for a scene in the first episode of Naruto Shippuden before disappearing for 51 episodes, despite being one of the franchise’s most popular characters.
The good news is that Kawaki is a major player in the story and once he does appear you’ll get no shortage of scenes for the character after that.
