With the wedding cake firmly in Capone's possession, Big Mom is giving up on the Thousand Sunny entirely and leaving the Straw Hats up to her kids. The Straw Hats are off to rendezvous with Luffy on Cacao Island, but they have one last challenge ahead of them due to the Big Mom pirates overhearing their strategy hours ago. Smoothie (one of the "Sweet Three" on Katakuri's level) is leading a fleet to their back, and Oven has amassed an army on Cacao Island, instructing the citizens to break every mirror in the area aside from one, so they can ambush Luffy on the slim chance that Katakuri fails to kill him. Everything is set to come to a head at 1:00 AM, depending on what happens in the meantime.
For the past few episodes, we've been leaning heavily on the Katakuri fight, which is still progressing at an incredibly slow rate. And while I still think the fight gets too samey for too long, this recent stretch has been really good at emphasizing how the fight is supposed to feel on an emotional level. Luffy's never-give-up attitude is starting to take its toll, because his injuries and fatigue are stacking at an increased rate. The added conflict comes courtesy of Flampe, who is both watching her brother in admiration and also sneakily trying to assist in the fight by shooting silent needle darts at Luffy, numbing his legs and leaving him open for Katakuri to stab him. This is Luffy's bloodiest injury yet, but he tries to keep going as if nothing's wrong, even if Katakuri now has a much greater edge.
The action looks amazing this week, coming across as cool and playful as ever. Overall this fight has been really consistent in quality, albeit way too repetitive and long, and I'm just amazed at how well it's translated into animation. I remember being worried that the size difference between fighters would be an awkward challenge for the show, but its been smooth sailing in that regard. This is an episode of body language, and Katakuri's frustration really comes through in different ways. At first it was because this little shrimp just won't die, and now it's because his opponent has seemingly reached his limitations. Katakuri doesn't know what he wants anymore; all he knows is that what's in front of him is unsatisfying.
The Katakuri fight has always had a bizarre pacing issue, where we're asked to endure a lot of the same material over and over, and then there will be a sudden upset like when we briefly saw what Katakuri was hiding underneath his scarf. Flampe is forcing the dynamic to shift once again, but the show is still keeping the true consequences of her meddling for next week, so this episode's strength is mostly just polish. We don't have any distinct "A plots" or "B plots" right now—the Katakuri fight and the Big Mom chase have been trading between those roles until now—so all that's left for us to do is sit back and watch the finale unfold.
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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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...