One Piece trudges on as we continue to explore the world of Japa—I mean, er, Wano—and we get a whiff of the next fragrance of local flavor in the form of sumo wrestling! We've already met Urashima, the yokozuna of Wano, but now it's time to finally see him in action as he struts his stuff and defends his champion position.
Luffy, Zoro, and Kiku have arrived in Bakura town, trying to track down Tama and her kidnappers. Urashima is their next obstacle, since the second Kiku is in his sight he hounds her with more marriage proposals. There's so good action as Luffy and Zoro fight off a wave of sumo henchmen, but the central conflict lies in how Kiku deals with the unwanted affection and manipulation. Characterization-wise, she's been really all over the place and it's never clear how much of that is intentional in the writing. Even when the sumos straight-up kidnap her, the Straw Hats prefer to stay hands-off since they've intuited her strength and would rather let her protect herself or... some such? There's a weird gag where Zoro stops himself from jumping in because he doesn't feel right about cutting up a bunch of naked sumo wrestlers, and rationalizes it by acknowledging that Kiku is "not just some teahouse waitress." It's really unclear whether characters mean what they say lately.
Kiku can't seem to make up her mind if she wants people to know she's a samurai or just an ordinary local woman. She tries hard to present herself as a waifish damsel type, but she's bad at it, as demonstrated by how she expertly slices Urashima's topknot off and dishonors him front of a large crowd, only to blush immediately after like, "Oops. Did I just do something badass? Sorry, I'm trying to reign it in!" There's a ton to be read into this. At this stage I wonder if the classic samurai of yesteryear are supposed to be extinct or in hiding. There are also questions about Kiku's gender and how that may or may not impact the way she behaves in front of others. This episode is kind of a subversion of One Piece's more conventional damsel tropes, but there's the potential for that to be an incredibly loaded twist if done poorly. She comes across as kind of a ditz, which adds a socially awkward charm to her character when she interacts with our heroes, but she's also book-ish enough to take notes on her enemies. She's a smart, dumb, girly, manly character. Everything we've seen so far could be expanded on in a million ways, but the story's actual intent is so obfuscated at this point that it can be somewhat frustrating.
Presentation-wise, this episode is great. The music swells at its most dramatic point—a new track I think? I really dug it—and the small amount of action we get looks fantastic. This is another case where I wish we could knock each mini-boss out within a single episode, rather than teasing it out across multiple weeks. We didn't need two episodes of Basil Hawkins and we definitely don't need two episodes of Urashima. As of the cliffhanger, Luffy's jumped into the ring with his shirt off and gleefully lures Urashima into a sumo match of wildly conflicting weight classes. What could have been a dour subplot is turning out to be much more fun and adventurous as Luffy must get a taste of the action, even when we still have a missing little girl to find. Providing us with a whirlwind of story tangents and finding humor and tragedy wherever we go is what One Piece does best, but we still have so much to do and see before this arc is over that I wish things could be a tad snappier than they are.
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...
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...
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...