To my dismay, Luffy denies the colosseum crew a place underneath his wing. It was naive for Bartolomeo, Cavendish, and the others to assume that he'd be totally cool with being responsible for thousands of men, and they had even broken out the alcohol already. It was a tease that got my hopes up, thinking that we'd see the Straw Hat pirates significantly grow in some official capacity. There's an exchange between the two sides about “doing what you want” and “freedom” and such, but long story short, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet is real, just not exactly with Luffy's blessing. He's being forced to have his cake and eat it too, I guess.
“I just want to become King of the Pirates! I don't wanna become someone important!” is something that Luffy says within the argument. The word “oxymoron” come to mind, but considering what we know about Luffy's attitude towards the Pirate King role, it's not exactly wrong. Luffy just likes his freedom.
A celebration commences regardless, as Luffy still thinks of the fleet as a group of friends and allies. The newfound commanders decide to partake in the exchange of sake, with or without Luffy's inclusion, and they swear their loyalty. Bartolomeo has to fight just to keep himself from happy-crying throughout the entire episode. It's here on Orlumbus's ship, anchored just a couple miles off of Dressrosa's shore, where we get the big celebration party that every One Piece arc needs to end on. Luffy's still a little peeved about the whole Grand Fleet thing, but a banquet featuring tons of meat gets him back in the party mood.
It's another episode without a whole lot of plot content to fill the runtime, though I really enjoyed the little montage at the end. I'm generally ambivalent toward the current opening ‘Hard Knock Days’, but I was happy to hear it as an insert in this episode, as we skim through the highlights of the Dressrosa arc. A little clip show from time to time doesn't hurt, especially in a series so desperately clamoring for a chance to include filler. It's a nice little look back through the longest arc in the series, and there's something that feels fittingly celebratory about it. It also reminds me of the ‘We Are’ and ‘We Go’ sequences that capped the Paramount War and Fishman Island arcs.
Lastly, the episode ends with a stinger from the narration: “These commanders will develop themselves individually and will eventually cause a major incident that will go down in history, but that's a story that no one could have known at this time.” Basically this 100+ episode arc just ended with the narrator telling us “but this was just the beginning."
So that's Dressrosa. I don't really feel comfortable declaring it as a good or a bad arc just yet (then again I'm biased and think all One Piece arcs are good), but I think it's one of the most clearly flawed in the series so far. It's insanely long and bloated, jam packed with a million characters and subplots that keep changing direction, all while rarely finding that big emotional catharsis One Piece is generally so good at. I'm curious as to what its biggest contributions will be in the grand scheme. Was it really just there to bring the fleet together and put Luffy and Law under Kadio's wrath? Feels like an awfully long-winded journey to get there. Then again, that's One Piece for ya.
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...
With seven full routes and one mini-route with a character from the previous game, if you enjoyed Cupid Paradise, Sweet & Spicy Darling is worth playing.― The first order of business is this: if you haven't played the original Cupid Parasite otome game, there isn't much point in picking up Sweet & Spicy Darling. There is one new route for this sequel, but even that relies on you knowing the backgrou...
With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case.― With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case. Disclaimer: The views and...
LiSA performs 'Black Box' opening theme― The official website for NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a, the television anime of Square Enix and Platinum Games' NieR:Automata action role-playing game, started streaming its "promotion file 11" on Tuesday. The video previews the opening theme song "Black Box" by LiSA, and reveals the premiere of the anime's second cours (quarter of year) in July. (The video below re...
When even the author says this story will hurt, you know it will be bad.― When even the author says this story will hurt, you know it will be bad. That's assuming, of course, that you weren't prepared for it going in. The fate of Astrea Familia is well-known to readers and viewers (and players) of the various Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon iterations, and the most recent season of ...
The documentary was full of cool tidbits about the 82-year-old producer and the anime he's worked on—including Ninja Scroll, Pluto, and In This Corner of the World.― Late last month, Japanese television network NHK put out a documentary on anime producer Masao Maruyama as part of their Anime Manga Explosion series. In it, the show delves into the now 82-year-old producer's life, philosophies, and so...
Masaki Watanabe directs anime at TMS Entertainment― Shueisha announced on Monday in its first "Jump Press" video that Yuuto Suzuki's Sakamoto Days manga will get a television anime series in January 2025 starring Tomokazu Sugita as Taro Sakamoto. The video also revealed the main staff. Masaki Watanabe (KADO - The Right Answer, Bartender, several Battle Spirits anime) is directing the anime at TMS En...
This is where the series earns its place in anime history, setting a precedent that other magical girl shows will follow.― It's a moment of magical girl history, right there on the screen: in episode forty-six of Fairy Princess Minky Momo's original 1982-83 television series, Momo is hit by a truck and dies. Even putting aside the question of whether or not this is Truck-kun's first victim, this is ...
Teaser video streamed― Bandai Namco Filmworks announced on Saturday that the Ghost in the Shell franchise is getting a new television anime series in 2026. Science Saru will produce the anime, which is tentatively titled Kōkaku Kidōtai (The Ghost in the Shell). Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kodansha, Science Saru, and Production I.G are on the production committee for the series. Bandai Namco Filmworks al...