One Piece 1036 leverages Luffy's sinking beneath the waves to its utmost advantage. Without Luffy and Kaido battling on the top of the world, there is more space to give other characters a chance to shine.
It's great seeing the Toei team let loose on some of the supporting characters and their big moments. Izo and Kappa both get tremendously cool action sequences, which feels like a special treat. It's not uncommon to see them get a moment during an episode where everyone gets to show off one cool attack in a big rotation, but here it's nice just seeing two relatively important side characters get to show off. It still has the same problem many fights have in Wano in that it's not entirely clear where they are other than vaguely running around wiping out goons on Onigashima, but it looks great and there's some stylish direction at play so it's a big success.
Kinemon and Momonosuke's relationship takes center stage for the rest of the episode and boy does it deliver. It's easy to forget that these two have been with us since Punk Hazard, an arc that might as well have happened a lifetime ago, and Oda has clearly been building to this moment for a long time. Really reflecting on the emotional impact of Kinemon “faking” being Momnosuke's father is a smart choice. It really hits home how far they've come, what all they've been through, and that Kinemon has been Momo's surrogate father for more than just protection. Kinemon is willing to give up everything fro Momonosuke and Wano, and the crushing finality of Kaido defeating him hits like a mac truck.
Also there's lots of very “welp lmao that's One Piece” fighting in this episode. Sanjia cooks up a batch of rotisserie kicken and smacks a punk rock brontosaurus in the cheek to helicopter his neck around and deflect a shower of Perorin's licky candy arrows all while holding Zoro in his snoozy cruciform cocoon. It's over the top cool guy stuff, and looks great all the while. It also helps underscore that Luffy's crew never lose hope despite how dire things get - and when Momo gives his speech through tears to rally the samurai, the Straw Hats are still good to go.
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...