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.
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The documentary was full of cool tidbits about the 82-year-old producer and the anime he's worked on—including Ninja Scroll, Pluto, and In This Corner of the World.― Late last month, Japanese television network NHK put out a documentary on anime producer Masao Maruyama as part of their Anime Manga Explosion series. In it, the show delves into the now 82-year-old producer's life, philosophies, and so...
Masaki Watanabe directs anime at TMS Entertainment― Shueisha announced on Monday in its first "Jump Press" video that Yuuto Suzuki's Sakamoto Days manga will get a television anime series in January 2025 starring Tomokazu Sugita as Taro Sakamoto. The video also revealed the main staff. Masaki Watanabe (KADO - The Right Answer, Bartender, several Battle Spirits anime) is directing the anime at TMS En...
This is where the series earns its place in anime history, setting a precedent that other magical girl shows will follow.― It's a moment of magical girl history, right there on the screen: in episode forty-six of Fairy Princess Minky Momo's original 1982-83 television series, Momo is hit by a truck and dies. Even putting aside the question of whether or not this is Truck-kun's first victim, this is ...
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This is a movie I never want to watch again. However, this is not because it's bad. Rather, it's a testament to just how incredible this film is.― Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction Part 2 is a film I never want to watch again. However, this is not because it's bad. Rather, it's a testament to just how incredible this film is. The film is full of well-developed and memorable characters—especiall...
Company acquires studio behind Lu over the wall, Inu-Oh, Scott Pilgrim anime, Tatami Time Machine Blues― The entertainment company Toho announced on Thursday that its board of directors has decided to acquire all shares of the anime studio Science Saru, effective on June 19. Toho will then make Science Saru its consolidated subsidiary from the second quarter (June-August) of the fiscal year ending i...
Chillin' in Another World pulls off a major dramatic spike and goes from trawling the bottom to #2 this week! See how all your favorites fared 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 ran...
If you're a Haikyu!! fanatic, or if you can overcome this background knowledge hurdle, you're in for a pretty good time and some of the best editing to come from an anime in recent memory.― To begin, I should note that this film is a continuation of the Haikyu!! anime and a canon adaptation of the manga. As such, if you're not caught up on the anime or at least generally aware of the franchise and i...
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We sat down with game creator Suda51 ahead of his MomoCon appearance to talk about his new game Hotel Barcelona, his current must-watch TV shows, and more.― The renowned Suda51 has been responsible for countless cult-favorite video games. From the psychedelia of Killer7 to the hells of Shadows of the Damned, from the sunny streets of Santa Destroy in No More Heroes to the blood-soaked setting of the...
Nestled in a Japanese neighborhood is the Tokiwaso Manga Museum, a detailed replica of the sharehouse that Osamu Tezuka, Shōtarō Ishinomori, and more manga artists called home.― In the midst of the modern Toshima ward in Tokyo, there's a two-story, multi-flat building with an appearance straight out of the 1950s. It sits behind a wrought-iron gate, flanked by children's play equipment. The outer fa...