One Piece episode 1052 was mostly just fine, though it was one of those weeks where I found myself a bit worn out by the events rather than hyped.
This is at least in part because we are still coming off a few very strong weeks in terms of what's been on offer. With 1052 we are back to the status quo which is still very high quality, but less than the literal apex of weekly animation. Which I completely understand; we can't expect the animation team to be firing on all cylinders 100% of the time.
But I think this episode is also lacking in terms of actual progress in the story. In theory, we get more of two key fights: Zoro versus King and Sanji versus Queen. In practice, not much happens in either struggle. There are a few more hints at what is to come with Sanji, and Zoro gets angry after being knocked around, but it's sort of perfunctory stuff. It does not feel like these scenes are naturally following from earlier in the fight so much as it feels like these are scenes that could be happening nearly anywhere between the start and end of hostilities.
Part of that has to do with my primary ongoing gripe with Wano: the interior of Onigashima. Almost without fail, the fights that take place within the actual tower of Onigashima seem to drag on to infinity. I don't know if it's the limitations of the setting or what, but once a fight starts taking place inside the tower it just seems to lose any sense of place, time, or meaning to me. I don't know why this is – ostensibly the roof of Onigashima is a blasted empty landscape, but any of the conflicts happening up there seem to really pop. Something about the Onigashima interior fights makes my eyes start to glaze over.
If nothing else, some of the exchanges between Zoro and King were well done this week and there's the hope that next week bears more exciting fruit.
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...