For a series about fun adventure, the actual fun adventures seem to be where fans tense up. This upcoming stretch of episodes with the Straw Hats exploring the candy woods of Whole Cake Island has been dreaded in the anime by friends of mine because so much of the exciting big picture plot stuff gets put on hold for it. If you want to know what happens next in the story, the best stuff will have to wait. If you're down to watch Luffy and crew wild out in a Willy Wonka style environment, then you'll probably be A-OK for the next couple episodes.
Maybe that description isn't entirely fair, because what happens here is important to the main plot, but it's dressed up as a series of inconsequential children's adventures. The crew finally lands on Whole Cake itself, instead of sailing around the waters of Totto Land, so it's time for them to split up with Pedro and Brook taking off to infiltrate elsewhere, and Luffy taking the rest of the team into the woods where he's convinced he saw Sanji waiting for him. Of course, that part may have been an illusion. The rest of the episode contains a lot of of repetitive sequences where the more excitable members of the crew eat all the different kinds of novelty candy that the forest has to offer.
One of the best moments in the episode comes when Nami is freaking out about a walking, talking, clothes-wearing crocodile that nearly eats them by accident, and then Luffy has to remind her that abnormal, sentient creatures are pretty familiar in their daily lives, with Chopper and Carrot standing blank-faced right next to them. This would have been extra fun if the crew had their resident cyborg and skeleton with them at the time just to drive the point home further.
For the most part, this is a pretty good-looking slice of the anime, delivering its best at the end when Luffy comes across a mirror image copy of himself that he has to fight to no avail. I say "for the most part" because this episode also features the return of the show's extra-weird boobs. Not only do they look bigger than normal, but it feels like there's a director on set constantly asking Nami to pull her cleavage down further between shots, and the camera always makes sure her chest is in frame at every possible moment.
Other than that, every arc centered around a larger-than-life fantasy location is going to reach this particular point of the story, where it feels like the main goals get sidelined so that the cast can take in all the weird ideas that the author has conjured up for the given location. This happened in Little Garden, Skypiea, Thriller Bark, and most other arcs depending on how picky you are about defining these kinds of scenes. This is the traditional "act two" of however many acts you want to say a One Piece arc has. It usually works pretty well in the grand scheme of the story, giving us little loops to get lost in before we learn what's truly going on, but these are definitely the more challenging parts of an arc to get through on a weekly schedule.
I can't recommend the series, nor think that any hypothetical viewer would enjoy it, but it is the kind of trash TV that's rewarding to dissect.― Have you ever wondered what Baki would be like if it had a conservative bent instead of queer undertones? Well, look no further because the answer is Kengan Ashura! While Kengan is trying to convey the same spectacle and white-knuckle action of the long-ru...
Film also available to rent, purchase digitally on several major outlets in N. America― The official X/Twitter account for TOHO's Godzilla franchise announced on Saturday that Takashi Yamazaki's Godzilla Minus One film is streaming worldwide on Netflix. The film is available worldwide, but is currently not available in Japan. Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color, the black-and-white version of the film, w...
One Piece: Heroines novel also licensed― Viz Media revealed its new licenses and new print releases planned for spring 2025 on Friday. Kazuyoshi Seto's Minecraft: The Manga: Announcement: Add this book to your enchantment room! Join Nico on his chance to escape the blocky confines of his home and prove how strong he's become when zombies attack! Minecraft: The Manga, by Kazuyoshi Seto, releases Spri...
Series starring Miku Martineau, Ayo Solanke, more starts production in Toronto― The Hollywood Reporter entertainment news site reported on Thursday that showrunner Simon Barry (Warrior Nun creator) and Boat Rocker Media are producing a live-action series for Netflix titled BET that "is based in part" on writer Homura Kawamoto and artist Tōru Naomura's Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler manga. The show h...
Jean-Karlo attempts to condense two big video game showcases into a coherent column, from the revamped Silent Hill 2 to the grazing pastures of Story of Seasons.― Welcome back, folks. This is related to a big story for this week, but this past weekend, I listened to Utada Hikaru's re-recording of "Simple And Clean". It's very emotional. Utada Hikaru is a good twenty-plus years older than when she or...
In the Eisner-nominated work, Maki Fujiwara chronicles her daily life with her husband, lionized mangaka Yoshiharu Tsuge. Though deceptively simple at first glance, a foundation of abuse is slowly revealed.― At first blush, Maki Fujiwara's My Picture Diary does what it says on the tin. It tells the story of her daily life as a housewife and mother, spending time with her daily activities, noting the...
Now streaming on Netflix, Tomotaka Shibayama's first feature animation mixes the magical with reality to share a simple but important message.―
Director Tomotaka Shibayama's latest film, My Oni Girl, is an action-adventure drama with elements of a buddy comedy and a relatable coming-of-age story. The film, produced by Studio Colorido, was released in theaters in Japan and on Netflix on May 24, foll...
Miyano, Nukumi play original characters for August 2 film― The official website for My Hero Academia the Movie: You're Next (My Hero Academia: You're Next), the fourth anime film in the My Hero Academia franchise, announced on Friday that the film has cast Mamoru Miyano and Meru Nukumi as original characters. Mamori Miyano as Giulio Gandini, a butler who serves the Scervino family Meru Nukumi as Ann...
Kaiju No. 8 takes the top spot this week while Tonari no Yōkai-san pushes to #3 in the cmulative! Check out 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 are based on how people rated in...
Mospeada is a work very much of its time, riffing on ideas and tropes that were all the rage when it was made, and doesn't do anything exceptional with them.― It can be easy for even longtime fans to forget that alongside Macross, there were two other 80's sci-fi anime that got Frankenstein-ed into what we'd eventually call Robotech. While this isn't the first time one of those series has made it to...
Following the upcoming retro programming block Toonami Rewind, Chris and Lucas look back fondly on the afternoons spent watching Naruto and Sailor Moon.― Following the upcoming retro programming block Toonami Rewind, Chris and Lucas look back fondly on the afternoons spent watching Naruto and Sailor Moon. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the v...
Yeah, yeah, Kaiju No. 8 has all the great action scenes, but Yatagarasu is chewing up the scenery as the royal ladies absolutely lose their minds!?― Why Aren't You Watching This Anime Yet? Yeah, yeah, Kaiju No. 8 has all the great action scenes, but Yatagarasu is chewing up the scenery as the royal ladies absolutely lose their minds!? The ANN After Show streams live on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitte...
Here we have a from-the-ground-up remake, but does this beloved classic still hold up in a modern sense, or is that praise just nostalgia talking?― It's nice when Nintendo surprises us with a remaster or re-release of one of their more difficult-to-obtain games. The original Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo GameCube is a classic for many. However, since the game was never re-rele...
Miles Atherton crunched Netflix's latest numbers for some surprising anime discoveries, from the popularity of My Happy Marriage to the One Piece juggernaut.― Since the advent of streaming, it's been notoriously difficult to gauge how popular a specific anime is with international audiences, both for publishers looking to make informed decisions for a market that generates most of its revenue outsi...