Life can be tough. Sometimes it's your job to review an episode and feign at least some semblance of professionalism in lieu of a bunch of random keyboard smashes as you struggle to articulate why you like a cartoon bunny girl so much. But sometimes those are just the cards you're dealt.
The last episode left us with the surprise that Carrot had snuck onto the Thousand Sunny in order to join Luffy and friends on their way to rescue Sanji from Big Mom's home turf. Carrot is the resident bunny of the Mink people, one of the combative musketeers serving beneath the Dukes of Zou. She's small, but a strong fighter who's capable of the "electro" powers that the other Minks share. While on Zou, she never got the focus that Wanda did, but now she and Pedro are going to be part of the team, and they're more or less the only Minks we'll interact with for the coming arc.
For the Zou arc - and I felt this way reading the initial manga version - Carrot was just kinda there. She was one Oda-fied furry among many. It's the moment when Carrot appears on the Sunny, where she's got her puffy newsboy cap on and she's sparkling with adventure, that her personality really unlocks. It honestly feels like this is the moment when Oda really figured her out, and boy is she fun. She's a very excitable character who will change between big emotions on a dime, but instead of this being shrill or annoying, it's all really charming. It also doesn't hurt that her adventure outfit is super cute. I love her and can't wait to see more as the arc goes on.
After the Carrot shenanigans are out of the way, the episode resumes the montage of clip shows that started last week with the Alabasta and Fishman Island revisits. This week, it's an admittedly impressive remake of the Drum Island arc (the currently named Sakura Kingdom has a seat at the Reverie) and more importantly, Chōpper's tragic backstory involving the death of his mentor, Dr. Hiriluk. Again, this clip show takes up a little over half the episode, but I was surprised at how well-paced it was. It didn't feel like a ton was being cut out or abridged. This is such a cherished story from the classic days of One Piece, so it's nice to see it done with a lot of care. On top of that, we also follow up on the former king of Drum, Wapol, who's preparing for the Reverie himself to represent his new country: Evil Black Drum.
The most surprising thing here is that they actually animated (however limited) Wapol's cover story from the manga. The anime gave up adapting these stories a long time ago, little bonus narratives that follow characters we haven't seen in a while via the covers of each chapter, so this was a real delight. The cover stories are kind of strange beasts in terms of how much fleshing out they do or don't require, so I thought they found a perfect chance to catch us up on why Wapol's where he is now, through what's essentially a little slideshow that balances minimalistic-yet-effective movement with the sequential visuals of the manga. I was pretty impressed by the sequence.
I was really surprised at how much I liked this episode, since it's mostly another clip show, but in reality it's so much more than that. There's a lot of great story content sweetening us up before we arrive on Whole Cake Island, between all the fun Carrot stuff and the final revelation via the newspaper that the Revolutionary Army's headquarters has been found and destroyed by an unknown force. This is an episode that's carried both by great (however sparse) manga content and incredibly well-executed filler. I had a really great time.
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...