Last week, we saw our heroes on their way to meet the Duke of the Day, Dogstorm (or “Inuarashi” for those who prefer the untranslated name). Apparently in the world of the Minks, they have two leaders: Dogstorm by day and somebody called the Cat Viper (“Nekomamushi”) by night. The story is that these two rule the country equally, but they hate each other and would probably make attempts on each other's lives if given the chance. This day/night relationship is their agreement to both rule in peace, without the threat of having to see each other's faces.
The cliffhanger last week had Luffy blurting out something about the samurai of Wano, after several episodes of reminders that that is a taboo subject among the Minks. The cliffhanger implied something dramatic about to happen, but this episode opens immediately with the rest of the Straw Hats viciously beating Luffy for flapping his gums in a jokey attempt to disguise Luffy's words from Wanda. The whole exchange gets brushed off and the audience is spared any real drama.
We meet a few new characters in this episode, mainly Dogstorm himself, a giant dog Mink, probably around the size of somebody like Whitebeard. He's bedridden and still healing from the wounds he sustained in the battle with Jack's men. The second half of this episode continues that story as the Minks' Musketeers arrive on the scene to fend off the Gifters of Jack's group. These Musketeers include Wanda and Carrot, two of the stronger warriors on Zou, as well as a Lion Mink with a twisty mustache named Shishilian.
This episode is one of the kind that reviewers have the most difficult time with. There's not a whole lot especially good or especially bad to talk about, leaving it right in the boring middle. Honestly, the animation probably looks a tad bit nicer than it did last week, but not in any particularly exciting way. The new characters introduced this week seem cool enough, but they each have much more interesting counterparts hanging out in the background (Cat Viper for Dogstorm, and Pedro for Shishilian). The most interesting detail revealed in this episode was easily the Gifters' bizarre pseudo-Devil Fruit abilities. We already knew that Kaido was building an amy using Caesar and Doflamingo's fake Devil Fruits, but we only ever had a vague idea of what that meant. In this episode, we get to see a guy's hand turn into a wolf's head, and that's just weird enough to want to see more of it.
The biggest strength of the Zou arc so far has been its color palette. Usually One Piece does a pretty good job at making sure each arc has its own unique color feel that you associate it with, but Zou goes above and beyond in making sure that every scene is much more atmospheric than what we've gotten in the past. Even when the animation is below average, or exactly average like it is this week, you still have those colors to fall back on. That said, I'm a little let down by how little I have to talk about this week in terms of story, and I'm counting on it getting interesting again soon.
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...
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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...
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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...
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