Last week our heroes arrived at the mysterious location of Zou, a monstrous living elephant supposedly carrying an entire civilization on its back. This week, Luffy and the Barto Club find the Straw Hats' ship, the Thousand Sunny, trailing behind the elephant safe and sound, meaning that Sanji and the others must already be up on top. It's been a solid 90 episodes since the whole crew has been together, so we're inclined to make haste.
That said, we still don't make it to the top of the elephant by the end of this episode, as we've got another info-dump load to cycle through first. We get an update on the Revolutionary Army, as Monkey D. Dragon sifts through the reports of Sabo and Koala's adventures in Dressrosa. It's nice to see Dragon and Koala discuss their mutual friendship with Robin, but I was far too distracted by the fact that Koala is suddenly cartoonishly over-endowed compared to the last time we saw her. Even by modern One Piece standards, it looks obnoxiously bad and I can't believe human beings chose to draw her like that. Robin gets it pretty bad in this episode as well.
Boobs aside, this scene connects us to an update on the Blackbeard pirates. Blackbeard himself has stayed hidden from our sight since the time skip, but we do get to see Lafitte and shiryu again as they answer a call from Burgess, who it turns out has tailed Sabo and Koala back to the Revolutionary's headquarters. I don't know if Blackbeard has any real stakes in anything the Revolutionaries are up to, but we know Burgess has it out for Sabo after the events in Dressrosa. The scene ends with the implication that there's going to be a battle between the two sides.
The rest of the info-dump comes from the two most recent additions to the Seven Warlords: the self-proclaimed son of Whitebeard, Edward Weevil, and our good friend Buggy the Clown, who appears to be using his new Government pardon to run a pirate mercenary business. The Weevil scene mostly just confirms a lot of the talk we heard last week about how this guy is overwhelmingly strong and hunting down the leftover members of Whitebeard's crew. On top of that, this full view of him makes it clear that, despite his strength, he looks like a big doofus without an original thought of his own, always doing what his bossy mother tells him. I'm fifty-fifty on whether he's legitimately the son of Whitebeard at the moment, but the story clearly wants us to doubt it.
The last scene in this episode involves Luffy and friends' efforts to climb the elephant. Kanjuro is able to use his art powers to make a super cute, super ugly doodle of a dragon that comes to life and allows everybody to ride on its back. I love seeing Robin break character to blush and internally fawn over how cute it is. As it scales the elephant, we wave goodbye to Bartolomeo and his crew. I'm gonna miss Bartolomeo, but when we see him again, I hope we get to see some of his obnoxious punk side instead of him just being a fanboy 24/7. It was getting a bit old, in my opinion.
After last week's awful looking episode, it's nice to get one that at least holds itself together. It's not super ambitious production-wise, but it doesn't need to be, since this is another episode all about the updates on what the other big picture characters are up to. I can't say that it avoids doing anything bad, since the women do look really terrible. It's a shame, because it was almost a perfectly fine episode without any hiccups. Fanservice is a-ok in my book, but not when it's this tacky and unpleasant to look at. It's like the people drawing it have no respect for the fact that this is a cross-generational franchise, or that it's actually some people's favorite show.
T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime.― I adore classic sci-fi, especially when it involves time travel and grand adventure. T・P BON embodies the spirit of classic sci-fi adventure like almost no other recent anime. Based on a 1978-1986 manga by Doraemon co-creator Fujiko F. Fujio, this ultra-shiny modern adaptation from studio BONES and director M...
Manga launched in 2009, inspired TV anime in 2014― Manga creator Mizuho Kusanagi confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday that her Yona of the Dawn (Akatsuki no Yona) manga is in its final arc. Kusanagi referenced the final arc alongside the news that the manga won an award in the Long Seller Comics Division for the Rakuten Kobo e-Book Award 2024. Kusanagi — the creator of Mugen Spiral, Game X ...
Art resurfaces when he was announced as judge for Shonen Jump's Sports Manga Award― Being talented in one aspect of your life doesn't stop you from being talented in other aspects. For instance, former seven-time Mr. Olympia Arnold Schwarzenegger went on to have a prolific acting career. But what about Shōhei Ohtani, the biggest name in sports today? Well, it turns out he's not just one of the great...
I can't recommend the series, nor think that any hypothetical viewer would enjoy it, but it is the kind of trash TV that's rewarding to dissect.― Have you ever wondered what Baki would be like if it had a conservative bent instead of queer undertones? Well, look no further because the answer is Kengan Ashura! While Kengan is trying to convey the same spectacle and white-knuckle action of the long-ru...
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...
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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...
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...
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...