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.
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...
Recently ended manga follows middle school student living with mysterious bird-looking creature― Shogakukan announced on Friday that Akira Konno's Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo manga is inspiring an anime. The "bird(?) home comedy" manga's story starts when first-year middle school student Arata Kōda meets a mysterious bird-looking creature named Kujima in autumn. Hungry and craving Japanese food, Kujima ...
Anime premieres in 2024― Adult Swim's YouTube channel began streaming a first look video for the Rick and Morty: The Anime series on Saturday. The show will premiere on Adult Swim and Max in 2024, and will also run on Adult Swim Canada. The anime will be an original work, with adapted themes and events from the main Rick and Morty animated series. Takashi Sano (Tower of God) is writing and directing...
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 ...
2nd part opens in Japanese theaters on June 7― The staff for the four-part Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture (originally titled Gode Geass: Z of the Recapture, or Dakkan no Zetto) anime project revealed a trailer and a visual on Saturday for the second part in the project. The below video previews MIYAVI's opening theme song "Running In My Head." The anime's first part premiered in Japan on Friday. ...
James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY.― Yatagarasu Gets Violent! James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu, in which Wakamiya plays his hand to find out the truth behind his older brother's scheming to obtain the throne. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY; Hunter x Hunter manga is on its ...
Making a sequel to Code Geass is a daunting task. But with its fantastic main character and a story that doesn't undercut what came before, Rozé of the Recapture is on the right track.― Making a sequel to Code Geass—especially one set close to the end of the series—is a daunting task. Any story that involves an ongoing war massively undercuts both the finale of the original anime and the sacrifices ...
The Switch sequel console is finally happening! The details are scarce, but you can find out more in this week's column. Also: an interview with El Shaddai's Sawaki Takeyasu, Microsoft layoffs, and more.― Welcome back, folks! What a wild week this has been for the gaming industry. We'll go further into it, but jeez. This past week also saw the disappearance of Capcom's Dark Void and Dark Void Zero. ...
The Code Geass creator discusses his new project with Web3 company Azuki, Enter the Garden, and his hope that this new path could help the medium evolve.― Los Angeles-based Web3 anime-styled brand Azuki and advertising conglomerate Dentsu debuted the first nine-minute episode of their joint anime endeavor, Enter the Garden, on April 30. The episode, which has already racked up a quarter of a million...
If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.”― If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.” Shiki and Fuyuki's interactions are a mixture of playful (and sometimes sexual) teasing and heartfelt feelings as the two come to value each other. They have real chemistry—and that drives the anime stra...
Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it.― Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed...