Every bad guy's got to have their top officers. Doflamingo had his card suits, and now Big Mom's got her Sweet Three Generals (formerly Sweet Four, as we learn later in this episode), including none other than our current opponent, Charlotte Cracker. Luffy may be a big shot rookie with a 500 million berry bounty, but even he's a small fry compared to one of the Four Emperors who have henchmen nearing the billions range. I love it when we get a big dramatic bounty out of nowhere, just to get a whiff of the scale we're working with. Cracker's is 860 million.
Suddenly, my exhaustion with the Seducing Woods vanishes as we're able to set our sights on one very clear and challenging conflict. Nami has to remind Luffy to preserve his strength, because their goal is still to rescue Sanji and get out without a fight. If Luffy spends too much time trying to deal with one stronger opponent out of many, then this is going to be an arc of hardship like few others. The arc is still trotting along at its slow pace, but we're back to a groove I can sink my teeth into.
Also on the track of details meant to put the Straw Hats in their place is the story that Brulee tells about the other Super Rookies who have wandered into Big Mom's lair looking for a fight. Names that we know like Kid and Apoo never got anywhere, though Brulee's argument skills could use some work as she has to back-pedal on Bege Capone and Urouge. The former married into the family and Urouge was able to defeat one of the top generals, suggesting that maybe Big Mom's defenses aren't entirely impenetrable. It does make us wonder what kind of footing Luffy's pirate rivals may have found while we weren't looking, though.
Beyond that, this episode goes on to juggle the fights between Luffy vs Cracker and Nami vs Brulee. Luffy's as headstrong as ever despite his enemy not budging, but Nami is able to use her new Clima-takt to take out Big Mom's witch daughter for now. Pound, Big Mom's ex-husband and Lola's father, also finds the courage to fight alongside them for a brief moment, dooming him to an act of treason.
Multi-part fights are often hard to discuss an episode at a time, since the flow of several episodes running together is where their best qualities come out, but this is a decent episode all the same. The animation looks solid as Luffy does his best, and the next few episodes promise to escalate the action further. Now the Seducing Woods get to be what I hoped they would from the beginning: a little pocket conflict that the heroes have to fight their way through just to compete with the main story again. Before it was just a bunch nonspecific gags and challenges, but now it's got us wondering what will happen even if the main characters do win, because there's so much room for this fight to slow them down or tire them out while all the Sanji stuff continues on regardless.
The benefit of being committed to such a simple setup is that the story knows exactly what it needs to do to invoke the maximum emotional response for this type of story.― I Want You To Make Me Beautiful is a simple story that does everything it sets out to do. At its heart, it's a straightforward story about moving on from the pain of a bad breakup and reinventing yourself into something better. Th...
Masaaki Mizunaka, KENN, Daiki Yamashita, Maria Naganawa, more join cast― The staff for the anime of Kaoru Shinozaki's Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-level Spells (Hazure Waku no "Jōtai Ijō Skill" de Saikyō ni Natta Ore ga Subete wo Jūrin Suru made) light novel series revealed on Sunday the anime's ending theme song's title and artist, additional cast member...
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...
2019-20 anime was itself a follow-up to first 2013-16 Ace of Diamond anime― Production on a sequel to the 2019-2020 television anime of Yūji Terajima's Ace of Diamond Act II (Daiya no A Act II) manga has been green-lit. Terajima drew an illustration to commemorate the news: Terajima's original Ace of Diamond baseball manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2013, and Crunchyroll streamed ...
Honestly, you're getting a solid collection of character art with some disposable comic stories where you might get to enjoy some out-of-context obscure CAPCOM cameos.― As a lifelong fan of Street Fighter, it's easy to get excited about the potential of seeing my favorite fighters doing stuff in different mediums. The flip side is that Udon Entertainment's hold on the comic treatment of the characte...
The cast of the Demon Slayer stage play gave a memorable performance during the Japan Day Parade.― The Demon Slayer franchise continues to prove itself as an absolute powerhouse for fans worldwide. The hit manga by Koyoharu Gotouge has been adapted into multiple mediums, including anime, light novels, video games, and a stage play that has been running since 2020. Cast members of the stage play app...
2-hour programming block airs on Fridays starting on May 31― Adult Swim's Toonami programming block announced on Friday that it is creating a new block called Toonami Rewind that is dedicated to running anime, or versions of the series, that aired on the original Toonami prior to its 2012 revival. Toonami Rewind will air on Fridays starting on May 31 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, and it will feature Sailor Moo...
Pokémon Horizons continues to display some of the best the franchise offers with great character work, creative setpieces, surprisingly strong direction, and a focus on a plot that continues to feel engaging.― Pokémon Horizons felt like a breath of fresh air as a new mainline Pokémon series. With a more timid and empathic main character and a stronger emphasis on the adventuring aspect of being a Po...
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...
Ahead of the romance anime's second season, director Takehiro Kubota discusses the choices, the challenges, and balancing the story between the everyday and the supernatural.― My Happy Marriage began its life as a series of novels written by Akumi Agitogi, and it has since been adapted both as manga and, as of July 2023, an anime series simulcast by Netflix. Agitogi's tale, set in a nebulous time t...
Steve and Chris compare some of the highs and lows of an anime studio change-up, from Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man to Spice and Wolf.― Steve and Chris compare some of the highs and lows of an anime studio change-up, from Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man to Spice and Wolf. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.S...
You've probably read some version of this story before, but I doubt that you've ever seen it be this adorable.― You've probably read some version of this story before, but I doubt that you've ever seen it be this adorable. You and I Are Polar Opposites is based on the tried-and-true formula of a thousand romantic comedies: Suzuki is a popular girl, and Tani is the class nerd. She's bright and perky,...