Remember how last week all I did was hoot and holler about how good One Piece is?
I'm afraid to tell you that the hooting and hollering will continue.
Because wow gang, One Piece 995 is a tour de force. It already has all the hallmarks of a “standard” Wano episode by this point: solid animation that even at its lowest ebbs is unmatched by entire seasons of other currently airing shows, strong characterization that leverages both the expansive past of the series and the new frontiers of recently introduced cast members, careful direction that juggles deep pathos and knee-slapping laughs, and terrific music.
But then, this episode feels like so much more than “merely” good. The culmination of Momonosuke's emotional arc at the top of Onigashima is a high watermark for his character. To say that I've not really been his biggest fan is to put it mildly, but seeing his memories of his father just before he proudly declares his name when cowardice would have been understandable – it gave me chills. And of course Yamato's escape from the bomb shackles provided another wave of emotion, in addition to the hilarity of the expressions post-explosion.
But who are we kidding? The real draw here are those final few minutes.
It's really astounding that this is weekly animation. The approach of the Akazaya Nine heading towards Kaido embodies nearly all of Wano's thematic elements. It is at once a thoroughly modern piece of animation, replete with skilled flourishes from the Toei Animation team, while at the same time decidedly retro in its execution. You get a real sense of the gritty tenacity and quiet impact that characterized the chanbara and jidaegeki films that likely filled Oda's youth. Black-and-white is stained with splashes of red as the Akazaya Nine burst forth from the past injustices into the full bloom of the violent now. Witnessing this collision of past and present, it's hard not to stand up and cheer.
Blades slice. Tyrants tumble. Blood flows.
Wano's grand finale, twenty years in the making, has begun. We are bearing witness to history.
Japanese studio to handle production slated for broadcast, streaming globally― Kadokawa and Singaporean game developer and publisher Garena announced on Monday that they are co-producing an anime adaptation of Garena's Garena Free Fire battle royale shooting game, with a Japanese studio handling the animation. Kadokawa's Kadokawa Qingyu subsidiary is the production manager. The anime is planned to b...
Healer Nanna's powers have one very unique caveat: she has to have sex with the person to heal them. See why Rebecca Silverman calls it "a cute story, decently racy, and generally good, fluffy fun."― One of the fun things about Seven Seas' Steamship line of racy manga aimed at a female audience is finding which romance tropes are prevalent in any given release. While every genre has its tropes and s...
What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf.― What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the s...
Train to the End of the World and Voice Actor Radio are getting a lot of love these last few weeks! Discover which other series stand out in 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...
Crystal Kay previously sang themes for 2004's Fullmetal Alchemist and Nodame Cantabile― Recently, Anime News Network was able to sit down with singer-songwriter Crystal Kay and talk about not only her involvement with anime over the years but also what it was like to grow up in Japan as the child of a Korean-Japanese mother and an African-American father. Anime fans likely know of Crystal Kay throug...
The plot is excellent in the romance camp. Everything that happens is to get Eui-joon and Gunwoo together, and it works pretty well.― You can read The Dangerous Convenience Store in English two ways. The first is to read it on the manhwa site/app Manta, which has all seventy-five chapters and four bonus stories available. The second is to read Seven Seas' print (or ebook) edition, which, as of this ...
Some older mysteries inch closer to resolution as the true nature of the Abyss slowly comes into view, and long-posed questions start to be answered.― Sometimes, being a fan of Akihito Tsukushi's acclaimed Made in Abyss series means acclimating to suffering. Like many Western devotees, I was introduced to this bizarre, squishy, disturbing world via the 2017 first season of Kinema Citrus' fantastic a...
60th, final episode of previous anime streamed on YouTube on Friday― The official Twitter account for the anime of Penguin Box's Odekake Kozame (Little Shark's Outings) manga announced on Friday that the manga will get a new anime series. Update: The staff revealed a visual for the new series in a press release on Saturday. The previous anime series debuted on YouTube last August, and its 60th and f...
As Slam Dunk reached its final stretch, I can see why this series is considered the sports classic that it is today.― This is the largest batch of Slam Dunk episodes that I've reviewed thus far. Originally, I wanted to review the show in more even seasons, but given its overall pacing and release, it wasn't easy to find a moment where it felt right to stop and start again. However, as we approached ...