I think I've finally gotten to the point where Whole Cake Island's molasses pacing is getting to me. I had hoped we were returning to a one-chapter-per-episode pace soon enough, but I guess fate decided otherwise since the anime continues to break the original structure of the story in awkward ways. It's a shame too, because this awkwardness comes from the staff trying to get creative again with how they expand on the story.
Last week began the misadventures of the Straw Hats in the "Seducing Woods", the domain of Big Mom's haunted living objects and her more trickster-oriented subordinates. Luffy's fighting his mirror self, who may be an enemy in disguise, and the rest of the crew find themselves in an endless loop where they keep encountering a giant man partially buried in the ground (for his own enjoyment, he assures us). I felt a twinge of excitement once I realized that the morbid Disney musical thing from a few episodes ago might become a full-on motif for this arc, as the living trees and flowers start to sing about the Straw Hats' impending death. However, the excitement is dulled somewhat when the song ends fairly quickly, without getting much chance to deviate from the melody and tone of Big Mom's other recent number.
This is a mixed bag episode if I ever saw one, because I certainly like the idea of Toei coming up with fun ways to kill time as they try to keep their distance from the manga's current story material, but the execution isn't quite there, and the fragmentation of the original manga chapters ends up being disorienting and killing a lot of the intended drama. Oda's always been fantastic at dividing the story into juicy cliffhangers, and the stuff in the middle of any given chapter rarely makes a good end point for an episode. This isn't the worst example of that problem, but the repetition of the Seducing Woods gets exhausting, and the ugliness of the animation doesn't help.
Really driving home my problem with this pacing style is a scene that finally cuts away from the Seducing Woods where we get to watch a fight between Sanji and his brother Yonji. In the manga, this was off-screen, but the result of this confrontation connects us to the next major event between Sanji and his family. It makes sense that they would animate something like this instead of finding dead air to drag out elsewhere, but after seeing the manga get away with showing so little, going back and actually seeing the fight just feels like extra minutes on a screen. You know you don't need it.
I like the attempt, but it also demands the direction and art be much more engaged, and this is one of the weaker episodes of the arc from a technical perspective. As far as the canonical character introductions we manage to get in this episode, it's funny to see Chopper play the fed-up straight man to the dopey guy in the ground. We also get a non-Mink rabbit opponent for Carrot, and the episode wraps up with one of Big Mom's own daughters, Charlotte Brulee. Next week looks to focus a lot more on Sanji and his family, so thankfully we're not going to be hanging out exclusively in the Seducing Woods for the next couple episodes.
Series starring Miku Martineau, Ayo Solanke, more starts production in Toronto― The Hollywood Reporter entertainment news site reported on Thursday that showrunner Simon Barry (Warrior Nun creator) and Boat Rocker Media are producing a live-action series for Netflix titled BET that "is based in part" on writer Homura Kawamoto and artist Tōru Naomura's Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler manga. The show h...
Jean-Karlo attempts to condense two big video game showcases into a coherent column, from the revamped Silent Hill 2 to the grazing pastures of Story of Seasons.― Welcome back, folks. This is related to a big story for this week, but this past weekend, I listened to Utada Hikaru's re-recording of "Simple And Clean". It's very emotional. Utada Hikaru is a good twenty-plus years older than when she or...
In the Eisner-nominated work, Maki Fujiwara chronicles her daily life with her husband, lionized mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge. Though deceptively simple at first glance, a foundation of abuse is slowly revealed.― At first blush, Maki Fujiwara's My Picture Diary does what it says on the tin. It tells the story of her daily life as a housewife and mother, spending time with her daily activities, noting the...
Now streaming on Netflix, Tomotaka Shibayama's first feature animation mixes the magical with reality to share a simple but important message.―
Director Tomotaka Shibayama's latest film, My Oni Girl, is an action-adventure drama with elements of a buddy comedy and a relatable coming-of-age story. The film, produced by Studio Colorido, was released in theaters in Japan and on Netflix on May 24, foll...
Game that inspired multiple anime launched in August 2017― The X/Twitter account for the Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story PC and smartphone game announced on Friday that the game will end service on the PC version on July 1 at 3:00 p.m. JST and for iOS and Android on July 31 at 3:00 p.m. JST. The staff are working to release an "archive app" of the game to allow players to access c...
Miyano, Nukumi play original characters for August 2 film― The official website for My Hero Academia the Movie: You're Next (My Hero Academia: You're Next), the fourth anime film in the My Hero Academia franchise, announced on Friday that the film has cast Mamoru Miyano and Meru Nukumi as original characters. Mamori Miyano as Giulio Gandini, a butler who serves the Scervino family Meru Nukumi as Ann...
Kaiju No. 8 takes the top spot this week while Tonari no Yōkai-san pushes to #3 in the cmulative! Check out our weekly user rankings!― Let's have a look at what ANN readers consider the best (and worst) of the season,
based on the polls you can find in our Daily Streaming Reviews
and on the Your Score page with the latest simulcasts. Keep in mind that these rankings are based on how people rated in...
Mospeada is a work very much of its time, riffing on ideas and tropes that were all the rage when it was made, and doesn't do anything exceptional with them.― It can be easy for even longtime fans to forget that alongside Macross, there were two other 80's sci-fi anime that got Frankenstein-ed into what we'd eventually call Robotech. While this isn't the first time one of those series has made it to...
Main staff, cast reunite for new film― Warner Bros. Japan revealed on Thursday that it is producing a sequel film to its Batman Ninja CG anime film titled Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League. Junpei Mizusaki, the producer of the opening animation sequences for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and Kamikaze Douga CEO/founder, is returning from Batman Ninja to direct...
Hana Hishikawa, Misuzu Yamada star in J.C. Staff anime with designs drafted by Penguindrum's Lily Hoshino― The official website for the television anime of Yuzuki Akasaka's Mahō Tsukai ni Narenakatta Onna no Ko no Hanashi (The Story of the Girl Who Couldn't Become a Wizard) novel unveiled the first full promotional video and visual for the anime on Thursday. The video reveals the anime's cast as wel...
Following the upcoming retro programming block Toonami Rewind, Chris and Lucas look back fondly on the afternoons spent watching Naruto and Sailor Moon.― Following the upcoming retro programming block Toonami Rewind, Chris and Lucas look back fondly on the afternoons spent watching Naruto and Sailor Moon. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the v...
Yeah, yeah, Kaiju No. 8 has all the great action scenes, but Yatagarasu is chewing up the scenery as the royal ladies absolutely lose their minds!?― Why Aren't You Watching This Anime Yet? Yeah, yeah, Kaiju No. 8 has all the great action scenes, but Yatagarasu is chewing up the scenery as the royal ladies absolutely lose their minds!? The ANN After Show streams live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitte...
Here we have a from-the-ground-up remake, but does this beloved classic still hold up in a modern sense, or is that praise just nostalgia talking?― It's nice when Nintendo surprises us with a remaster or re-release of one of their more difficult-to-obtain games. The original Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo GameCube is a classic for many. However, since the game was never re-rele...
Miles Atherton crunched Netflix's latest numbers for some surprising anime discoveries, from the popularity of My Happy Marriage to the One Piece juggernaut.― Since the advent of streaming, it's been notoriously difficult to gauge how popular a specific anime is with international audiences, both for publishers looking to make informed decisions for a market that generates most of its revenue outsi...
With seven full routes and one mini-route with a character from the previous game, if you enjoyed Cupid Paradise, Sweet & Spicy Darling is worth playing.― The first order of business is this: if you haven't played the original Cupid Parasite otome game, there isn't much point in picking up Sweet & Spicy Darling. There is one new route for this sequel, but even that relies on you knowing the backgrou...
With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case.― With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case. Disclaimer: The views and...