Every review it feels like I have to come up with a new way of saying "this is moving way too slow," but thankfully the show makes it a little easier on me by having vastly different pacing issues just about every week. These past couple episodes are especially hurt by trying to contrive suspense around every minuscule detail—which can range from effective to hindering depending on the episode—but somehow this episode manages to come across even more lifeless and meandering than last week's. It's not just the lack of manga content to cover this time, it's the incredibly stiff editing as well.
As for what's going on in the plot: Sanji's back, baby! And now the Straw Hats are devising a plan to crash his wedding and rescue the Vinsmokes. Most of the episode centers around Luffy and Sanji communicating with the crew through a small shard of mirror, since the rest of the gang are still hanging out in Charlotte Brulee's mirror world. There's a moment of fear over how the others might react when they hear the plan to go headfirst into a fight with Big Mom, but the crew is so relieved to know that they have Sanji back that this cancels out the terror of imminent doom. One of the stand-out moments in this conversation is when Nami, happy to be talking to Sanji again, still has to play the "I'll never forgive you for scaring us like that" routine. It's played like a joke, but I think it's going to get brought back up again by the end of the arc.
Given how elegantly all the loose threads and subplots have been weaving in and out lately, it's a shock to remember that there are still a number of important characters we haven't heard from in months. Luffy and Sanji don't have any concrete ideas for how they're going to deal with this wedding, but with expert strategist Jimbei on our side, it turns out we have more options than we considered, most notably a potential alliance with Capone Bege of the Firetank pirates. This leads to a really good example of the editing problems in this episode, because it tries to Tarantino us at the very end with an extremely abrupt jump to the meeting between crews, with everybody decked out in new gangster duds, but the attempt to jumble the scene order only comes off jarring as opposed to creative. (And it turns out that they're just trying to get clever in avoiding the last two pages of the chapter that's being adapted.)
So we've known Capone to be working for Big Mom, having married into the family through Lola's twin Chiffon. We've also seen him conspiring against Big Mom earlier in the arc when he shot Pekoms off a cliff and into the ocean. It turns out that the Sun pirates caught and rescued Pekoms before being eaten by sharks, and this is how Jimbei learned of Capone's Big Mom assassination plan and decided to communicate with him. Capone and his crew have been trusted to operate security at the wedding, and now it's to be seen if a mutually beneficial partnership can be made between the Straw Hats and the Firetanks. Between Luffy's crew, Capone's crew, Big Mom's crew, and the Vinsmokes, this has been quite the arc of people plotting each other's demise.
I really love how Whole Cake Island continues to add new aesthetic themes into the mix, making the elevator pitch for the arc even more delightfully absurd ("It's a Game of Thrones/Disney musical/mobster drama with bunny girls!"), but I think we'll have to wait until the next episode before we truly get to revel in it. This is an episode of exposition that sets us up for the juicier exposition to come, and the pacing problems only seem to be getting worse. Sadly, I didn't find myself enjoying this week all that much, since the adaptation doesn't feel very engaged. The last shot of the two crews meeting, covered in solid black shadows and rad outfits, is memorable and striking, but this will be easier to gush about next time.
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This is a good series to check out if you like more bite with your vampire romances.― Going into Bloody Sweet, I expected to find a fluffy rom-com about a girl and the vampire she accidentally gets attached to. Instead, I found a story about a bullied high school girl whose bullies are smart enough to evade all of the checks and balances the school has put in place. When Naerim accidentally awakens ...
In our brand-new column, Lynzee Loveridge comes clean about her backlog, starting with one of the most popular anime ever. Use this space here for critical finger-wagging and exclamations of disbelief.― I have a secret. A no-good, embarrassing, shame-inducing secret. I'm the executive editor at Anime News Network but there are, in fact, anime I have not watched. Not just forgettable mid-tier season...
Chiu shares how she brought the SEA simulcast service to the forefront after founding it at 17 years old.― Over the past six years, many streaming and simulcast services have catered to otaku in Asia, offering simulcasts of seasonal anime and theatrical anime screenings. One such service is Ani-One Asia, a Hong Kong-based Medialink Group brand that offers a competitive lineup of simulcasts every se...
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Laid-Back Camp narrowly claims the top spot this week, but Delicious in Dungeon is having none of that and bumps it down in the cumulative. Find out where your favorites rank this week!― 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 ...
Goodbye, Lara follows reborn mermaid, Ninja Skooler features ninja school― Kinema Citrus announced at its panel during this year's Anime Central event on Saturday that it is producing two new anime titled Goodbye, Lara (Sayonara Lara) and Ninja Skooler. Takushi Koide is directing the Goodbye, Lara anime with character designs by Shiori Tani. The anime is based on a concept by Kinema Citrus, and it t...
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Sony and Square-Enix are both reorganizing, from new CEOs to staff cutbacks. Also, sad news about Penny Blood, more Cotton, and the latest video game news!― Welcome back, folks! You know, it's always nice to discover old stuff from a franchise you love that you didn't know existed. For example, I didn't know that the old Captain N: The Game Master cartoon had an episode that featured the world of Dr...
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