The fighting continues but this time, for my money, the fights are easier to remember and root for. I am an unapologetic Nico Robin fanboy, so any screentime she gets has me both hooting and hollering. This episode in particular continues the setup of her battle with Black Maria, and while we only really get to see one major blow being traded hot dang is it a good one. Robin's powers are such that she is a huge threat in literally any encounter but we rarely see her cut loose. Here with Black Maria we get a brief glimpse of her using her powers to a large extent, creating massive limbs to deliver a monster of a smackdown in the opening parts of the episode.
There's a great sense of ramping tension as Black Maria gears up to fight. Unlike some other fights going on at Onigashima, the stakes feel much weightier here. Comparing this fight with a similar battle can reveal why. I love Robin and Franky and have for years, and they are both facing off against relative newcomers in the Tobi Roppo – Black Maria and Sasaki. Both Black Maria and Sasaki have cool designs and slick powers, so why does the Robin fight feel more engaging? The difference, I think, lies in Sanji and how this fight relates to both him and Robin: whereas Franky versus Sasaki just feels like another fight in another hallway, the fact that Robin is fighting to defend Sanji and both of them are learning something about themselves or revealing something to the audience is what makes the fight stand out.
Carrot and Perorin also get a lot of screentime this episode. I like Carrot, and while I'm not all that engaged with Pedro's loss, I do think Perorin's general creepiness makes the fight engaging if for no other reason than to root for his downfall. Uchida Yuya does such a marvelous job with those “perorin/lick” sounds at the end of his lines that you can't help but root for Carrot's success.
Some of Shonen Jump's biggest manga hits are approaching their end. Does the magazine have new heavy-hitters lined up to take up the mantle?― Some of Shonen Jump's biggest manga hits are approaching their end. Does the magazine have new heavy-hitters lined up to take up the mantle? Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Netwo...
Seki voiced Shutaro Kiba in Mōryō no Hako, Zhang Fei in Sōten Kōro― Talent agency En-kikaku announced on Tuesday that voice actor Takaaki Seki died on April 15 due to esophageal cancer. He had been undergoing medical treatment. He was 54. There was a funeral held for close relatives. Seki was born in Osaka, Japan on November 5, 1969. He entered the En Theater Institute in 1995 and joined Engeki Shūd...
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Some books are good. Some books read like self-insert fanfiction from the early days of AO3, but you can't stop reading and enjoying them. Dark Moon: The Blood Altar is one of those.― Some books are good. Some books are not and read sort of like self-insert fanfiction from the early days of AO3, but even though you recognize that they aren't objectively filled with literary merit, you can't stop rea...
Hayashi and Tōchi play mentee/mentor in heart-warming golf anime series.― Golf anime Tonbo! is one of the new anime premiering in the Spring 2024 season. At Anime Japan 2024, we sat down with lead voice actors Rika Hayashi and Hiroki Tōchi to talk about their characters, their experiences with golf, and the positives of country life in Japan. In her first voice acting role as a main character, Hayas...
What are non-Japanese anime fans' top choices?― Fans have been debating the greatest anime songs as long as anime has been around. Japanese TV regularly raises the topic for domestic fans, but every so often, Japan also presents the international perspective. On April 21, TV Asahi hosted a nearly three-hour special ranking favorite anime songs by non-Japanese and non-domestic anime fans. In a March ...
The third season of Sound Euphonium reignites the fandom controversy over Reina and Kumiko's relationship. Chris and Steve delve into it and why 'queerbaiting' is such a loaded term.― The third season of Sound Euphonium reignites the fandom controversy over Reina and Kumiko's relationship. Chris and Steve delve into it and why 'queerbaiting' is such a loaded term. Disclaimer: The views and opinions...
You can't accuse the Pretty Cure franchise of resting on its laurels. Wonderful Precure! could move too slowly for some viewers. But these episodes are full of unmitigated joy.― You can't accuse the Pretty Cure franchise of resting on its laurels. While there are distinct similarities between all iterations of the long-running Magical Girl franchise, recent years have done their best to maintain the...
Part District 9 meets O Maidens in Your Savage Season, part grimdark deconstruction of Doraemon.― Many anime films are adapted from manga and Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction is no exception. Usually, a film will cover a single arc of the greater plot—giving the story on screen a solid beginning, middle, and end. However, this is not the case with the first Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destructi...
People might think of this game as a celebration of the energy and experimentation of RPGs past, a tribute to a time when archetypes and genre conventions hadn't yet calcified and anything was fair game. And for once, they'd be right.― There's a point that Lady Perielle returns to often when people ask her why Nowa, a young warrior from a small village, is the leader of the resistance front against ...
