We're at the point in the Dressrosa arc where you pretty much have to be resigned to One Piece's excruciating pace and low production values in order to muster through. We continue with the one-on-one battle of Trafalgar Law and Donquixote Doflamingo, which has reached a phase of repetition that's really starting to challenge my patience watching it week to week. We get the usual shonen smack talk, an exchange of String-String and Op-Op powers, Law gets desperate and cocky, Doflamingo gets angry and then maniacally gleeful, etc. Thankfully, we seem to have reached the end of it due to an interesting development that I'll get to in a bit.
Continuing on from last week, it seems One Piece has temporarily bottomed out in its animation. Toei held on long enough to keep the Corazón flashback looking pretty nice, but now the toll has been taken. Throughout the episode we see the camera cutting away from the action just as the most interesting motions are in play, letting the sound effects tell the story more than anything. This has been used effectively in the past, but it feels so stiff and unnatural here, like the various shots are uncomfortably crammed together and desperate to make you look the other way just as things get to their ugliest.
Thankfully, this episode does have a bit more meat on it than the last. The way the modern One Piece anime normally operates is that each episode is a direct adaptation of a corresponding manga chapter, but every once in a while they do mix and match some of the scenes from nearby chapters. This week we're spared from the run-time being focused almost entirely on Law and Doflamingo and in addition we get a really entertaining scene from Zoro and pica's fight.
This is the portion of the episode that holds up the best, animation-wise, but the actual content is also really amusing. pica's comically high pitched voice is funny on its own, but it reaches it's peak mixture of disturbing and hysterical when he laughs. Their fight in general is one of the most interesting of the bunch as well, since you've got a regular sized Zoro smashing a mountain sized enemy who can move throughout the island with ease thanks to his stone-assimilation powers. There's a lot of room for big spectacle that carries the fight to a lot of different locations.
The most important event to happen in this episode, however, does occur back during Law's fight. Doflamingo has him pretty much beat and lands a nasty blow using something called a “string-saw” attached to his leg to cut Law's arm off. This is a crazy dramatic development for a series like One Piece. There are no expectations that Law might die by the end of the arc, but it's cool to think that permanent damages are still on Oda's mind. This is exactly the kind of edge that feels right for a series like this, which often aims itself at kids and teenagers, but also trusts them to handle violent and scary things. I just like knowing that things can be permanently lost or changed in this show (and to the people current with the manga, I know.)
This episode makes it pretty clear that Law is more-or-less out of the fight now, meaning the focus can change as we build back up to the real, no-holds-barred Luffy vs. Doflamingo fight. We've got a lot of other battles going on in Dressrosa, and we're really, really at the show's mercy right now in terms of how rewarding or exhausting each one can be. Fingers crossed we get more hits than misses with the next upcoming batch of fights.
If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.”― If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.” Shiki and Fuyuki's interactions are a mixture of playful (and sometimes sexual) teasing and heartfelt feelings as the two come to value each other. They have real chemistry—and that drives the anime stra...
Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it.― Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed...
Series previously inspired 52-episode anime in 1993― This year's 24th issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine revealed on Wednesday that Gosho Aoyama's Yaiba manga will be getting a new anime adaptation. Aoyama is supervising. The series follows the titular Yaiba Kurogane, a young samurai boy inspired by Miyamoto Musashi, the real-life swordsman who pioneered the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū sty...
Based on the novel by former Nogizaka46 member Kazumi Takayama, trapezium asks its audience to follow one girl who will use anything, and anyone, to achieve her dream.― Trapezium is a strange movie, to say the least. On the surface, it's a rather simple movie that explores youth, their dreams, and the lengths they'll go to achieve those dreams. It's a coming-of-age story wrapped in the veneer of the...
ZeroReq011 remembers what made Spice and Wolf a story for the ages, from its fully realized world and economics to Holo and Lawrence's romantic chemistry.― Back when Funimation was still its own company and not owned by Sony, long before its in-house streaming service was terminated in favor of Crunchyroll's streaming platform, it owned a TV channel. Legal streaming had yet to dominate the Western a...
Anime will star Hiroshi Kamiya, Kotaro Nishiyama, Kotaro Nishiyama― Distribution company Remow announced on Tuesday that Yura Urushibara's Tougen Anki: Dark Demon of Paradise manga will get a television anime in 2025. The company revealed the trailer, key visual, and main cast for the anime. The anime's cast includes:
Kazuki Ura as Shiki Ichinose, the protagonist who inherits the blood of an Oni. Sh...
Nick and Chris recount some of the most frustrating anime cancellations, from the Yuri on Ice movie to the second half of Stars Align.― Nick and Chris recount some of the most frustrating anime cancellations from the second half of Stars Align to the 2007 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood movie. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views...
Welcome to the rankings for the Spring 2024 season! The perfect place to check out which hidden gems might have flown under your radar.― 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 are based on how people rated ...
Producer Masakazu Kubo shares the animation team's dedication to realism, including bringing in a pro golfer to produce the anime's sound effects.― 64-year-old Masakazu Kubo has been planning and producing anime for decades. He's had a major hand in everything from Pokémon and Detective Conan to Teasing Master Takagi-san and Dorohedoro. Recently, he sat down with us to talk about Tonbo!, his attemp...