The Zou arc is continuing to shape up as a really solid chunk of the One Piece anime. There were a few average-to-below-average episodes in the middle there, but for now it seems like we're back on track with the good stuff. The story continues yet again with the flashback adventures of the Twirly Hat crew and their time bonding with the Mink tribe before Sanji's as-of-yet-unexplained disappearance. Zou is an arc of characters telling stories, and this time Brook takes the initiative to describe the next obstacle they faced in their time away from the Dressrosa crew.
The antagonists this time are the Big Mom pirates, who followed the Thousand Sunny all the way to Zou, represented today by the lion man Pekoms and the former super rookie Bege Capone. When Big Mom's ship originally appeared partway into the Dressrosa arc, they were after the Straw Hats' hostage, Caesar Clown, and this time it seems they have a second agenda up their sleeves.
This is a really entertaining episode, partly due to how relaxing it is. The little pineapple village that the crew hangs out in during their stay on Zou feels so occupied and alive. The anime has been doing a really wonderful job expanding on the interior lives of the Minks without feeling like they're just padding the story out. The drama picks up a lot for the final scene, but before then it's all shenanigans, like Sanji garchu~ing every lady Mink that he can (and the fact that the girls are into it allows Sanji to come off as endearing rather than creepy) and Caesar trying to don a disguise so he won't be associated with the good deeds he's being forced to do. It all serves as a really engaging moment to just sit back and live in. One of the reasons I like this sort of show to be slower is that it allows the more casual stuff to really suck you in.
This is also the second episode in a row with no model issues as far as I can tell, where everything looks tidy and well-drawn. Not an impressive episode in this case, but I'm happy to see this show looking right for the time being. The next episode preview looks solid as well, so I'm happy about that. Once the final scene rolls around, and Sanji decides to confront the Big Mom duo, the show returns to showing off its lighting and coloring Chōps that I was praising so much at the beginning of this arc, with the sun setting and all that.
Zou is inching the story forward very slowly, but it feels right at this point in time. Dressrosa was a huge battle arc with a million characters, so it's nice to slow down for the sake of exposition and atmosphere as opposed to unfortunate necessity. The story's got a mystery to hang over our heads, so the feet-dragging at least serves a dramatic purpose. I think it's a pretty interesting idea to have an arc focused primarily around unfolding a backstory that the characters missed out on, while we slip further and further into the shadows of the Four Emperors.
If I had any gripes with this episode it would be the exclusion of Brook's Cat Viper song. According to Oda, the character was inspired by a joke-y song that Brook's seiyuu, Chō, wrote for fun, and the song actually made an appearance in the manga at about this point in the story, but it was mysteriously absent here. Though, judging by the structure of the story right now, I'm sure they're saving it to put in a more Cat Viper-centric episode.
Crunchyroll to stream upcoming anime― Aniplex and Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that the late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo's Hana-Kimi manga is inspiring an anime. In addition, Crunchyroll announced that it will stream the anime when it premieres in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India. The announcement did not reveal the deb...
James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film!― Could There Be More Evangelion on the Horizon? James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film! Plus, we catch up with Kafka and the Ka...
Grant Jones dives into the wild world of giant monsters and how Kaiju No. 8 builds on their legacy.― Kaiju No. 8 is a series that wears its influences on its sleeves. As the first word in its title suggests, it comes from a long line of works in the kaiju genre, using giant monsters and burning skylines as a backdrop to tell stories. While many likely know kaiju in a passing sense, it may help to h...
This steamy manga's appeal is going to depend on how much you can stomach a female protagonist who kicks off the romance by assaulting her former fiance.― This is a tricky one. Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way with You is, to all appearances, a story that opens with a sexual assault. Agnès has been betrothed to Crown Prince Lucilleur since childhood, and she's been in love with him just as...
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...
Director adds that there are no definite plans, but it would be helmed by "someone other than himself"― In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, director Hideaki Anno acknowledged that "there may be plans" for more in the Evangelion anime franchise, but possibly with "someone other than [himself]" at the helm, who would receive a high degree of freedom. He added that there are no defi...
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 ...
Kenichi Suzumura, Ayako Kawasumi, Hiro Shimono, Nao Toyama, Takumi Yamazaki, Takaya Hashi join cast― The official website for The Magical Girl and The Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies, the television anime of late creator Cocoa Fujiwara's Katsute Mahō Shōjo to Aku wa Tekitai Shiteita. manga, revealed six new cast members and a third promotional video for the anime on Monday. The video reveals ...
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...