Last week's episode ended just shy of revealing the next most interesting thing about Pudding: her Devil Fruit powers. Pudding is the wielder of the Memo-Memo Fruit, which ends up being the reason why she can afford to do the classic villain monologue where she reveals her family's evil plan to destroy the Vinsmokes. She's able to put her hand right into Reiju's head and pull out a magical film roll that contains all her memories, which Pudding's free to manipulate. Not only is this fitting of an actress character who can give as many big speeches as her heart desires, but it introduces a new mystery. At what point might this power come back into play? Are there assumptions we've made about the narrative that could turn out to have been a product of her manipulation?
Anime pacing aside, the lead up to this point of the arc has been a straightforward and effective rollercoaster. The heroes win, and then they lose, and then they get a chance to win again. Luffy and Sanji have been going through their respective tough times, but they've still got Brook and Pedro upholding their end of the plan, as well as another surprise ally who finally makes his reappearance by the end of the episode. The majority of our time this week focuses on Brook's continued scuffle with Big Mom, so he's got the toughest challenge of them all.
Since Big Mom is supposed to be so strong, the show spending this much time on her fight with Brook doesn't help sell that monstrous power of hers. Then again, she's also looking to add him to her collection of rare creatures, so she's upfront about holding back. The Charlotte family's treasure room is set ablaze as Brook narrowly avoids getting squashed like a bug, and he gets to condescendingly call her "young lady" because he's technically 22 years her senior. Brook's uncompromised dedication to securing the Poneglyph—he's dead set on accomplishing his mission so that even if Sanji decides never to return to the crew, the Straw Hats' trip to Whole Cake Island will not have been in vain—is one of the coolest character moments we've gotten from him. Mami Koyama's performance as Big Mom also continues to be stellar.
It seems like every time there's an excruciatingly slow episode, the show follows up with something more dense. You've got the aforementioned Pudding and Reiju scene, which looks much better than it did last week, you've got Brook being shockingly suave for a dusty old skeleton, and you've got the final scene where, just seconds before Luffy's arms are finally about to tear right off (it looks so gross), Jimbei arrives to bust his friends out of prison. Luffy didn't even know Jimbei was on Whole Cake Island, so seeing his face light up with excitement melted my heart. Is this it? Are we finally on track to Jimbei joining the crew?!
Our characters came to this island with only two concrete goals: get Sanji and a copy of Big Mom's Poneglyph. If they can accomplish either of those things, there's little reason for them not to just say "toodles" and escape the moment they're in the clear. Our path to those goals is becoming streamlined, since Luffy and Nami are as good as free, Sanji is sure to regret his fight with Luffy after learning about Pudding's true nature, and Brook is mere inches away from that Poneglyph. It's the knowledge that these stories are never quite that simple that gets the imagination flowing. That wedding still has to happen to some degree, and Luffy is going to fight Big Mom face-to-face, right? There's still so much to accomplish, and I can't wait to see some of the upcoming stuff in motion.
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Chris and Nick put on their headphones and dust off their vinyl records for a look at this season's guitar-strumming, mic-swinging girl groups.― Chris and Nick put on their headphones and dust off their vinyl records for a look at this season's guitar-strumming, mic-swinging girl groups. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News...
I cannot imagine how Square Enix could top themselves after this.― Final Fantasy VII Rebirth initially launched on the last day of February, and if you look at the date of this review's publication, you will immediately be able to discern one thing about this second entry of the FF7 Remake series: It is gargantuan. The first game got plenty of praise (and plenty of flak) for taking the relatively sh...
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The Manga Guide library expands with six more series, including Trinity Seven -Revision-, Watch Dogs Tokyo, Fed Up With Being the Spoiled Queen's Genius Butler,, and more!― Welcome to Anime News Network's Spring 2024 Manga Guide! You may have seen one of our seasonal Anime Preview Guides, where a team of critics writes up each new anime television premiere as it airs at the beginning of a season. N...
With a new Nintendo Switch port available, even more gamers can experience Enoch's transcendental adventure across the world. How does it fare on Nintendo's portable device?― El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron was a curious game when it released in 2011. The world wasn't quite ready for it then, but time (and a PC port) helped people accept it. With a new Nintendo Switch port available, even more...
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Ultimately, my biggest problem with Shaman King Flowers is that it mostly just feels like a set-up to a much larger story that has yet to actually happen.― [Warning, this review will contain major spoilers for the ending of Shaman King (2021)] If there's one thing that can be counted on with battle shonen properties, it's that any of them that go on long enough will inevitably get some sequel series...