Another heaping helping of “your mileage may vary” with Wano arc. As much as I personally would have liked to see more of the Robin and Black Maria fight, this week's entry instead shifts its focus toward boss Hyogoro. As such, how you feel about episode 1022 will likely depend on how invested you are in his character.
I like Hyogoro, so the overall experience is a net positive for me. Both familiar and unique, Hyogoro is in some ways similar to Rayleigh, an older mentor figure who helps Luffy unlock Haki/Ryou and achieve the next phase of his advancement. Unlike Rayleigh, however, Hyogoro is much more of a local legend than a world-famous pirate, and there's a greater sense of pathos surrounding him. Rayleigh is older, yes, but he seems to mostly have simply aged out of the game and moved on after Roger's passing. While that's still sad, he seems like a more jovial character overall, and provides a tangible link to the bygone era that is more reaffirming for Luffy.
Hyogoro has been a more tragic figure from the start. His long-term imprisonment, coupled with the horrible events that befell him in the takeover of Wano by Kaido and Orochi, have given him a more somber tone. There's an underlying sense of desperation with him that has made even Luffy's growth under his tutelage quite bittersweet. 1022 gives us a proper ending so to speak, a finality to his story as he faces down the disease that he can't seem to defeat. Chopper is working as hard as he can, but even victory may come at a great cost. Wano cannot shake off the shackles of tyranny unscathed – and Hyogoro knows that.
If you're not invested in Hygoro though (and who can blame you, he is one of dozens of side characters in this arc alone), this all may ring a bit hollow.
Manga about novelist, niece also has live-action film opening on June 7― Pony Canyon announced on Friday that Tomoko Yamashita's Ikoku Nikki (Diary of a Strange Land) manga is inspiring a television anime adaptation. The company also revealed a teaser promotional video, a teaser visual, and the show's main staff. Miyuki Oshiro (episode director for Durarara!!×2 Ketsu, Natsume Yūjin-Chō Go, To Your E...
Kaijin Fugeki manga launches on May 29― Manga creator Oh! great announced on Tuesday that he will launch a new manga titled Kaijin Fugeki in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine on May 29. A Twitter account for the manga also debuted on the same day. Oh! great launched a manga adaptation of NisiOisin's Bakemonogatari novels (pictured at right) in Weekly Shonen Magazine in March 2018, and ended it in Ma...
This week, it's hot monster mommies and less hot AI-generated light novels.― I Support Falin's Crimes We've long joked on the podcast about the quality of light novel writing, but the news is out that the developers of the RyokoAI project have scraped Shosetsuka ni Narou...are fully machine-generated LNs in our future? Plus: Things get gorier in Kaiju No. 8, the world of yatagarasu politics unfolds...
Each story is like a dark portal into a realm of human sexuality that society usually sweeps under the rug, but I can't look away.― Nude Model delivers on the promise of its lurid title. This manga, consisting of three equally intense short stories, is charged with eroticism and danger, with epiphanies lurking around every corner. Created by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, Nude Model is nothing like her most wel...
Find out about the young star who set the internet aflame and walked away with two medals. Plus: Thousand-Year Door updates, a new HunterxHunter game, and Miku!― Welcome back, folks! As is my wont, I'd like to plug my El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron HD Remaster that went up earlier this week... but I've also got the disappointing news that Megaton Musashi W: Wired finally released in the US la...
Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi shares what it was like to leave Pixar and how his studio will never shy away from honesty in their work, even when honesty isn't pretty.― Director Daisuke "Dice" Tsutsumi contributed to films like Toy Story 3 and Monsters University while simultaneously crafting what became his Academy Award-nominated animated short film, The Dam Keeper. His latest short film, Bottle George,...
Chris and Nick put on their headphones and dust off their vinyl records for a look at this season's guitar-strumming, mic-swinging girl groups.― Chris and Nick put on their headphones and dust off their vinyl records for a look at this season's guitar-strumming, mic-swinging girl groups. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News...
I cannot imagine how Square Enix could top themselves after this.― Final Fantasy VII Rebirth initially launched on the last day of February, and if you look at the date of this review's publication, you will immediately be able to discern one thing about this second entry of the FF7 Remake series: It is gargantuan. The first game got plenty of praise (and plenty of flak) for taking the relatively sh...
The Manga Guide library expands with six more series, including Trinity Seven -Revision-, Watch Dogs Tokyo, Fed Up With Being the Spoiled Queen's Genius Butler,, and more!― Welcome to Anime News Network's Spring 2024 Manga Guide! You may have seen one of our seasonal Anime Preview Guides, where a team of critics writes up each new anime television premiere as it airs at the beginning of a season. N...