The enthusiastic but slapdash structure of Whole Cake Island's climax has been starting to take its toll these past few weeks. Things were just heating up with Fourth Gear Luffy's onslaught against Katakuri, but the entire reason Luffy waited this long to bust this transformation out in the first place is that he knows it has a time limit and a gnarly recharge time. Katakuri's Observation Haki has returned and now Luffy's power is beginning to deflate, meaning he has to hightail it out of the mirror world altogether. He finds Brulee hiding around one of the corners, so he's able to kidnap her and escape.
There's a lot that's hit and miss about this portion of the battle. It seems with each escalation of the stakes, something else has to get dramatically undercut in the process. Luffy is able to escape the battle and leaves Katakuri stuck in the mirror world. That's good! But the mirror he exits from just happens to bring him to Nuts Island, where Big Mom is actively rampaging and throwing skyscraper-sized peanuts around. That's bad! I love that the second Luffy uses his Get Out of Jail Free Card he accidentally stumbles into a much, much worse scenario. There are so many places this could go, but unfortunately this will ultimately prove to be a momentary breather from the Katakuri fight, and all we're doing is wasting our time. The tension that was building during the actual important part of the story has been shot in the foot.
The animation isn't helping a ton either, and it really shows during the scene that needs it the most: a new musical number! That's right, this is still a musical arc, even in the heat of battle, and this time it's Praline singing away the Big Mom pirates' territory sea slugs. This is a nice return of Jimbei's Sun pirates, and a further extension of this arc's crazy Rube Goldberg machine of a plot. Though, it should feel a lot more effective and whimsical, really nailing the arc's equilibrium between the Straw Hats' crazy luck and their systematic domination of the Big Mom pirates, but it's barely animated and the song's composition feels unfinished. This could have been a perfectly timed breath of fresh air to contrast against the same-y Katakuri fight, but instead it's just really boring.
This is a big turning point for the climax of the arc. Luffy has changed locations, the Sunny crew is getting ready to make their next move, and the breading of the new wedding cake has been finished, meaning Sanji and company will be heading out to sea while they put on the finishing touches. Sadly, it's all too little too late. We're constantly waiting for the next big shake up, and yet when we get it we still feel like we're jogging in place. I like a lot of what this big operatic chase adventure is going for, but the weaknesses are showing through way too much this week.
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...
With a new Nintendo Switch port available, even more gamers can experience Enoch's transcendental adventure across the world. How does it fare on Nintendo's portable device?― El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron was a curious game when it released in 2011. The world wasn't quite ready for it then, but time (and a PC port) helped people accept it. With a new Nintendo Switch port available, even more...
Manhwa is starting to find its footing in American comic book sphere, but it's not just another version of "manga." Find out what makes Korean comics unique.― The door to English-translated manga opened in the 1980s, and despite some fits and starts, essentially never looked back. Manhwa, or Korean comics, have had a much more troubled journey to popular visibility in English. Around 2006, manhwa be...