When a flashback goes on for as long as One Piece's are prone to (this most recent one was seven episodes long), you'd think we'd reach a sense of fatigue over them, feeling hungry to get back into the present story. That tends to not be true as the back-ends of these backstories are often incredibly strong and compelling, and returning to the present, especially in this case, means returning to the uphill crawl of the final battle.
In an ideal world, this episode would have been mostly cut from the story, or at least truncated significantly. Nothing happens that we hadn't already seen in the episodes leading up to flashback. Law is fighting Doflamingo, Luffy is fighting Bellamy and the various one-on-one match-ups between the rest of Colosseum fighters and Doflamingo's crew are slowly falling into place.
The goal of this episode was not to develop, but to refresh. Viola stands at a distance, using her clairvoyance powers to spectate and narrate the battle to the others down below. We spend a good amount of the episode highlighting each major player still involved in the fight. You get their name, on what portion of the island their fighting at, what kind of Devil Fruit they have, etc. Since there are a lot of fighters, it makes sense to give the audience an update, especially if they are more casual viewers of the series, but boy does it get old pretty fast.
Out of all the fights, Law and Doflamingo's remains the most important one at this time. There are a few tiny developments here and there as both show off their powers (something about Doflamingo's rainbow colored-strings really pops out at me) and Law starts to get the upper hand and even lands a solid blow with his “Injection Shot” attack. Really, that's about the most significant thing that happens throughout the entire 20 minute episode.
I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky that Toei decided the inconsequential refresher episode would also be the one to get the short end of the production stick. The last handful of episodes were looking pretty good, but that's just all the more telling that we'd be getting an episode that looks like this sooner or later. Stiff, low frame-rate animation repeated ad-nauseam and really goofy looking worm's eye views throughout the episode that clearly show somebody is having a tough time drawing perspective shots.
Parts of the episode still hold together, like the tiny bit we see of Luffy's fight, but the difference is very noticeable compared to the last few episodes. There are moments this week where they briefly cut back to what we saw in the last episode and the dissonance between how on-model and nicely colored everything was compared to now just hits you like a ton of bricks.
Due to the nature of Eiichiro Oda's pace with the manga and Toei's need to stay on a certain schedule, episodes like this are inevitable. However, they still contribute to making the show a little worse than it would be without them. I almost wonder if a clipshow alternative would have been more productive in the long run, but hey, all this stuff happened in the manga too, so cutting it wouldn't have gone over too well with fans. Not a good episode, not a necessary episode, but we've all come to expect that once in a while.
The benefit of being committed to such a simple setup is that the story knows exactly what it needs to do to invoke the maximum emotional response for this type of story.― I Want You To Make Me Beautiful is a simple story that does everything it sets out to do. At its heart, it's a straightforward story about moving on from the pain of a bad breakup and reinventing yourself into something better. Th...
Laid-Back Camp narrowly claims the top spot this week, but Delicious in Dungeon is having none of that and bumps it down in the cumulative. Find out where your favorites rank this week!― 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 ...
Goodbye, Lara follows reborn mermaid, Ninja Skooler features ninja school― Kinema Citrus announced at its panel during this year's Anime Central event on Saturday that it is producing two new anime titled Goodbye, Lara (Sayonara Lara) and Ninja Skooler. Takushi Koide is directing the Goodbye, Lara anime with character designs by Shiori Tani. The anime is based on a concept by Kinema Citrus, and it t...
2019-20 anime was itself a follow-up to first 2013-16 Ace of Diamond anime― Production on a sequel to the 2019-2020 television anime of Yūji Terajima's Ace of Diamond Act II (Daiya no A Act II) manga has been green-lit. Terajima drew an illustration to commemorate the news: Terajima's original Ace of Diamond baseball manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2013, and Crunchyroll streamed ...
Honestly, you're getting a solid collection of character art with some disposable comic stories where you might get to enjoy some out-of-context obscure CAPCOM cameos.― As a lifelong fan of Street Fighter, it's easy to get excited about the potential of seeing my favorite fighters doing stuff in different mediums. The flip side is that Udon Entertainment's hold on the comic treatment of the characte...
The cast of the Demon Slayer stage play gave a memorable performance during the Japan Day Parade.― The Demon Slayer franchise continues to prove itself as an absolute powerhouse for fans worldwide. The hit manga by Koyoharu Gotouge has been adapted into multiple mediums, including anime, light novels, video games, and a stage play that has been running since 2020. Cast members of the stage play app...
Natalie Van Sistine plays Star and Stripe in dub on Saturday― Crunchyroll announced on Friday that it will premiere the English dub for the seventh season of the My Hero Academia anime on May 18. New cast members include: Natalie Van Sistine as Star and Stripe Kyle Hebert as Agpar William Ofoegbu as Ethan Aiden Call as Biggs Sean Letourneau as Wedge Additional voices include Tyson Rinehart and Wyat...
2-hour programming block airs on Fridays starting on May 31― Adult Swim's Toonami programming block announced on Friday that it is creating a new block called Toonami Rewind that is dedicated to running anime, or versions of the series, that aired on the original Toonami prior to its 2012 revival. Toonami Rewind will air on Fridays starting on May 31 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, and it will feature Sailor Moo...
Pokémon Horizons continues to display some of the best the franchise offers with great character work, creative setpieces, surprisingly strong direction, and a focus on a plot that continues to feel engaging.― Pokémon Horizons felt like a breath of fresh air as a new mainline Pokémon series. With a more timid and empathic main character and a stronger emphasis on the adventuring aspect of being a Po...
Sony and Square-Enix are both reorganizing, from new CEOs to staff cutbacks. Also, sad news about Penny Blood, more Cotton, and the latest video game news!― Welcome back, folks! You know, it's always nice to discover old stuff from a franchise you love that you didn't know existed. For example, I didn't know that the old Captain N: The Game Master cartoon had an episode that featured the world of Dr...
Ahead of the romance anime's second season, director Takehiro Kubota discusses the choices, the challenges, and balancing the story between the everyday and the supernatural.― My Happy Marriage began its life as a series of novels written by Akumi Agitogi, and it has since been adapted both as manga and, as of July 2023, an anime series simulcast by Netflix. Agitogi's tale, set in a nebulous time t...
Steve and Chris compare some of the highs and lows of an anime studio change-up, from Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man to Spice and Wolf.― Steve and Chris compare some of the highs and lows of an anime studio change-up, from Attack on Titan and One-Punch Man to Spice and Wolf. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.S...
You've probably read some version of this story before, but I doubt that you've ever seen it be this adorable.― You've probably read some version of this story before, but I doubt that you've ever seen it be this adorable. You and I Are Polar Opposites is based on the tried-and-true formula of a thousand romantic comedies: Suzuki is a popular girl, and Tani is the class nerd. She's bright and perky,...
James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film!― Could There Be More Evangelion on the Horizon? James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film! Plus, we catch up with Kafka and the Ka...