If there's one thing that I often sorely miss as a result of less-than-stellar production values in One Piece, it's the atmosphere. I think of Toei's output as going through cycles rather than an overall declination, but something that we used to see the anime show a softer, more tender side more often. That goes beyond how sad or happy the plot is, because some of my favorite memories from the early days were those times where you could sit in silence without dialogue, listen to the pretty piano music, and admire the texture of this pirate world. Episodes that remind us of that still come around from time to time, but it's not often enough for my taste.
The Whole Cake Island arc has not been especially tidy so far. It had a major highlight with Big Mom's musical number, and I've gotten into the spirit of things despite whatever pacing or visual issues it's been facing, but this is the first episode of the arc so far that really feels great in the way that we wish the anime could be all the time. The heartfelt "I love these characters so much I want to cry" quality that's always been a highlight of this series is captured perfectly here, simply through well-drawn art and simple but nostalgic music choices. For once, the shine of the anime's modern look is not at all in conflict with the earthier tone of the story.
The anchor of the story this week comes in the form of a flashback, just a few hours before Jimbei's arrival onto the scene. Last week, he smashed his way into the arc's already meaty cast, and now we're reeling back to get a little more context for what's going on. As if there were any doubts about Jimbei's intention to join the Straw Hat pirates (he and Luffy's group will be operating on different sides of the island for a little while yet), we get a scene where Jimbei gushes about Luffy and his stern belief that the little rubber guy's going to be the Pirate King one day. His crew is more than happy to let him leave and follow his dreams of sailing with Luffy, telling him that he's done more than enough on other people's behalf for one lifetime. It's genuinely a beautiful moment, and Jimbei's surprise at how willing his crew is to support this big life change is adorable. His reasons not to join Luffy's crew are dwindling fast.
There's also a sequence with the Straw Hats and Pedro having an equally pleasant campfire, where we learn of Pedro's past life as a pirate and his prior relationship to Whole Cake Island. This is followed up with an animation-intensive fight scene where they all fend off an attacking army of cartoon ants. This sequence looks fantastic, and I love how much the characters are given distinctive body language as they fight.
This is the kind of episode that makes me wonder if I've been too easy on the others. Obviously, I've still been having a good time with the arc up until now, and adaptation quality is not the only thing on offer if you haven't read the manga before, but there's something that just feels so right here. This feels much more One Piece to me, exactly what I'd hope the anime could be even half the time. It's not good "for One Piece," it's just regular ole good.
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...
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 ...
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...
60th, final episode of previous anime streamed on YouTube on Friday― The official Twitter account for the anime of Penguin Box's Odekake Kozame (Little Shark's Outings) manga announced on Friday that the manga will get a new anime series. Update: The staff revealed a visual for the new series in a press release on Saturday. The previous anime series debuted on YouTube last August, and its 60th and f...
As Slam Dunk reached its final stretch, I can see why this series is considered the sports classic that it is today.― This is the largest batch of Slam Dunk episodes that I've reviewed thus far. Originally, I wanted to review the show in more even seasons, but given its overall pacing and release, it wasn't easy to find a moment where it felt right to stop and start again. However, as we approached ...