Orochi begins barking orders at the gathered samurai to shoot Sanji and Zoro and kill anyone else who decides to intervene. Zoro and Sanji take a brief moment to reflect on the severity of the situation… ah who am I kidding, they start bickering as they always do. Old habits are hard to break I suppose. X Drake and Hawkins are shocked that the Straw Hats would be so brazen and the former goes full Animorphs into dino mode. Zoro decides that Orochi needs to be dealt with here and now, handing off Toko to Sanji. Zoro let's loose with a 720 pound phoenix but Kyoshiro intervenes to deflect the attack. On the sidelines, Shinobu, Kanjuro and the remaining Straw Hats split up - Shinobu and Kanjuro head off to keep the plan a secret while the Straw Hats move to help their friends. Franky leaps into the fray to gather up Yasui's body to get it out of danger.
This sets up a three-way struggle in the middle of the capital: Zoro taking on Kyoshiro, the Franky/Usopp/Robin/Nami versus the samurai goons, and Sanji versus X Drake. The battle kicks off literally and figuratively with a great deal of chaos breaking out, but by and large the Straw Hats are holding their own.
Back at the prison, Luffy is watching the battle via transponder snail and cheering on his crew. Queen is surprised that Luffy knows Zoro the magistrate killer. Before much more can be said, a pair of new prisoners arrive. The first in Kamazo - the scythe-armed warrior Zoro fought in the snow - and the second is Captain Eustass Kid, who has been recaptured. Everyone gets in a laugh at Kid's expense for “returning” so soon. Kid is distraught, falling to the ground and crying out in anguish. He wonders what they have done to Kamazo to make him this way, because it turns out that Kamazo is in fact Killer, his friend and long-time crewmember. He wonders what Orochi or Kaido did to Kamazo to make him a cold and distant laughing monster as he is now. After a flashback to their meeting at the Red Line, Luffy puts on his determined grimace and tells Queen to start the sumo competition because it's on.
A solid episode here. After the incredibly high emotional drama of the past few episodes it is hard to maintain that level of impact, so this is understandably a bit lower of an ebb. There is a fair amount of action too but nothing quite on the level of visual or thematic importance of other combats in the Wano arc thus far.
We do get a ton of wonderful smaller moments though. Seeing Sanji and Zoro back together again and arguing like old times feels great, and it's a reminder of how much these times of separation for the crew really impact the viewer. Robin, Nami, Usopp, and Franky all getting moments to shine and make big attacks is a treat - particularly Franky's terminator-like moments of deflecting hundreds of rounds and his cool single red eye.
Luffy has a couple of nice characterization moments as well. The bit with him cheering on his crew from prison is such a tiny moment but it is greatly appreciated, he really does love and believe in his crew. His shared anguish with Kid over the pain suffered by a crewmember is equally touching, as Luffy just can't help but be the best captain even for other people's crew.
There were a few nice visual flourishes in this episode too. The moments where Kid is in anguish and we get the reveal that Kamazo is Killer, the entire backdrop gets a blue filter with a single spotlight and spindly beams of light all around. Then when Luffy goes intense his face is half-drawn/half-open to reveal the swooshing blue background behind him. I loved the backsplashes behind the Straw Hats when they were calling out their attacks, each one a unique backdrop evoking era-appropriate paintings.
Again, an all in all solid outing that is somewhat dampened through no fault of its own but rather its proximity to the incredible episodes before it.
The ANN After Show is at episode 100! Let's reflect on some of our favorite moments, catch up on Kaiju No. 8, Yatagarasu, and more this week!― 100 Episodes of the ANN Aftershow!? The ANN After Show is at episode 100! Let's catch up on Kaiju No. 8, Yatagarasu, and more this week! The ANN After Show streams live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter Spaces on Tuesdays at 6pm PT/9pm ET. You can listen to ...
Nobunaga Shimazaki, Yūsuke Kobayashi, Haruka Shiraishi join cast as members of Freya Familia― Update: HIDIVE confirmed on Thursday it will stream the series as it airs under the title s It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? V as part of its simulcast season this fall. The series will stream on HIDIVE in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. HIDIVE also revealed an...
Nick and Steve look back on director Tsutomu Mizushima's work so far, from his latest Train to the End of the World to Shirobako, Girls und Panzer, and more.― Nick and Steve look back on director Tsutomu Mizushima's work so far, from his latest Train to the End of the World to Shirobako, Girls und Panzer, and more. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are...
i☆Ris the Movie -Full Energy!!- is a movie best described as having big Saturday morning cartoon energy when it comes to its catchy high notes and off-key attempt at deeper storytelling.― Admittedly, when I walked into Anime Central to review i☆Ris the Movie -Full Energy!!-, I envisioned the film as the typical fare of idol dancing via 3D models in dizzyingly pastel-rich environments with little to ...
Come celebrate the 25th anniversary of One Piece with this special orchestra concert!― Come celebrate the 25th anniversary of One Piece with this special orchestra concert! The most memorable moments of the beloved TV series will be projected on a giant screen to the sound of a 50-musician orchestra! In only a few weeks, the ONE PIECE Music Symphony 25 th Anniversary Tour will premiere in the US on...
Manga's final chapter scheduled for June 26― This year's 25th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced on Wednesday that Hiro Mashima's Edens Zero manga will end five chapters. The magazine's 30th issue will publish the manga's final chapter on June 26. The manga entered its final arc in December 2022. Mashima (Fairy Tail, Rave Master) launched the manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in June...
Narrative dissonance aside, the heart of My Oni Girl still shines through its jumbled ending: that folks should speak their minds even when it hurts.― Upon first glance, My Oni Girl has all the hallmarks of a Studio Ghibli-inspired romp. You've got a globe-trodding adventure with odd-couple protagonists, a myriad of wonderfully drawn vistas, titular mouthwatering glamour shots of Japanese delicacies...
Ahead of the Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction TV anime premiere, Rebecca Silverman looks at its creator's stark, and sometimes depressing, manga work.― Inio Asano may be one of the creators whose works don't allow for middle-ground opinions. There's something in the reactions to his work that smacks of “love it or hate it,” with readers either fully embracing his dark, psychological style of s...
Furuya acknowledged threatening to hurt fan in argument, causing her to have abortion― On his X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday, voice actor Tōru Furuya acknowledged a recent report by the Weekly Bunshun magazine regarding an affair he had with a fan. Weekly Bunshun interviewed him for the article. Furuya admitted that he had been in a relationship with a female fan for four and a half years...
Manga about half human, half chimpanzee boy launched in 2020― TOHO Animation announced on Wednesday that Shun Umezawa's The Darwin Incident (Darwin Jihen manga will get a television anime adaptation. A new official Twitter account opened and unveiled a teaser visual: Original creator Umezawa shared an illustration to commemorate the announcement: TOHO Animation had teased on its X (formerly Twitter)...
The book feels like a deliberate combo of SAO, Log Horizon, and Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, and that works better than you might expect.― If this story feels familiar, that's on purpose. In their afterword, author Nagawasabi64 says that they've noticed that the "trapped in a VRMMORPG" genre made popular by SAO has fallen out of favor, which made them want to ...
There's no question that Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a dark deconstruction of Super Sentai/Power Rangers in anime form—but is that all it is? Chris and Lucas dive in to find out.― There's no question that Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a dark deconstruction of Super Sentai/Power Rangers in anime form—but is that all it is? Chris and Lucas dive in to find out. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by ...
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...