I assumed that we were back on a one-chapter-per-episode pace, but it didn't dawn on me last week that the tease of Sanji's next two brothers was meant to be much meatier than what we got. This week, we get the proper introduction of Ichiji and Niji, the red and blue rangers of the Vinsmoke family. This is a pretty cool scene as we watch these two and their Germa 66 army cleanly win a war that had been raging for years on a distant island ("Brock-collie Island." Get it?) The Vinsmokes and their military nation act as super powerful mercenaries for hire, and there's a lot of grey area as we don't know enough about either warring nation to find sympathies, despite all the blood and tears coming from both sides. Whoever the "good" or "bad" teams were, the Vinsmokes just wiped out one of them, and now they've got a wedding they have to get to.
The general sluggishness of the Whole Cake Island arc so far is at its worst yet in this episode, as we're only just now getting what should have been last week's big stinger as the opening scene, and the most exciting stuff about this week's corresponding manga chapter has been pushed back to next week. In the meantime, we get an extremely stretched out encounter between the Straw Hats and a giant sea centipede as they're interrupted on their way to get back Sanji.
This episode is saved thanks to the fact that it simply looks much nicer than last week's messy attempt. I love the way Luffy looks in the episode, as if he just jumped straight out of one of the recent One Piece movies and into the centipede's now-footprint stamped face. It also helps that the Straw Hats hanging out on the Sunny tends to be a lot more fun than sitting in a room talking to Pudding. It's unfortunate that even after a short sprint of filler, the anime's story content is still uncomfortably close to the manga's, and thus slow pacing like this is probably going to have to continue. Thankfully the arc thus far has been entertaining enough that it doesn't bother me too much, but now we're past the point where I can calms anybody's worries. It looks like it's going to stay this slow for a while.
From the looks of things, it appears as though we've taken two chapters of the manga and are breaking it into three episodes of the anime, which isn't a death sentence on its own but it has impacted the final scene of this episode in a really unfortunate way. The episode ends with us cutting back to Big Mom, who's now in the midst of a hunger pangs rampage that can only be calmed by her desired meal of the day: some delicious croquembouche. Even her own underlings and children are terrified of her when she's in rampage mode, knowing that the only thing that can stop her kaiju attack on the city is getting her croquembouche. She's not above killing anybody who gets in her way and we see her putting her Emperor level strength to good use.
This is another scene that's stretched out uncomfortably long, and anybody who's read the manga knows that it stops just before it gets to the most interesting part. Since her rampage has nothing to do with the Straw Hats at the moment, ending on a cliffhanger of "what's mama going to do next?!" is not as effective as the way this scene will actually conclude next week. It's an awkward way to end an episode that was already starved for content.
Slowness and iffy structure aside, the most filler-tastic stuff of this episode with the elongated fight between the Straw Hats and the centipede is actually the most entertaining. It's one of those cases where just seeing the main characters do their thing in a relatively nice looking scene is enough for me to enjoy. This episode could have been a lot better if it looked this good while also moving the main story along, however. That's the way the ship sails, I guess.
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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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...