This is the One Piece I love the most. There's something so calm and tender about this episode as things continue to go from bad to worse. We jump into the scene with Barrels' men searching for a wounded Corazón, who managed to slip away off screen. We see the blood stained in the snow and later we find his footprints as he stumbles his way back to our shivering Law. Through it all, Corazón has succeeded in holding on to the Op-Op Fruit, but at what cost? He shoves it down Law's throat and collapses from blood loss, still trying to pacify the poor kid who is frantically attempting to figure his new powers out to save his friend. “Just a flesh wound” and all that.
This is a really beautiful episode and it has almost nothing to do with flashy animation of any kind. This is an episode that really revels in both the size of the situation, and also the calmness at the heart of it. The soundtrack is all soft and sad, even when people are escaping from Barrels' burning castle and the camera is admiring the the gigantic naval fleet approaching the island. It's rare that saying an episode stays on-model feels like a compliment, but it's true here. I really like seeing these characters drawn in a way that feels “right,” and I'm sad that it so infrequently hits me as being noticeably on-point. Well, it definitely feels right this week, allowing the star of the show to be the pace and the framing of each situation as we learn piece by piece just how sad and hopeless everything is.
There's a point where everything looks like it's going to be okay, because of course there is. The Navy has arrived and little Law ventures out into the cold, hoping that there's somebody who can help Corazón (his Op-Op powers don't seem to have kicked in yet). We know Tsuru and her gang of tough-looking naval women have arrived for Doflamingo's head, and they seem like nice enough people. We also know that Corazón is secretly a marine, so this is a problem that should get smoothed out easy enough. But of course, this is a One Piece flashback.
The marine that Law receives help from, it turns out, is Doflamingo's own double agent, Vergo. Everything becomes unraveled at this moment as Vergo, and by extension the approaching Doflamingo, now knows the extent at which Corazón is a traitor of the crew. He wails on both of them, showing us the seed of the tense relationship we saw between Law and Vergo back on Punk Hazard.
But the real threat is Doflamingo himself, now harboring a deep anger and resentment for Cora and Law breaking his sacred sense of family. We've known from the get-go of this flashback that certain things were going to happen. We knew Law and Corazón would bond and knew Corazón would die by his brother's hand. In many cases it would be considered a story-telling no-no to make those things so obvious from the start, but it's brought the audience on a very unique emotional journey instead.
Corazón has been by far one of the most likable flashback characters in the series (which says a lot) and the thing that really drives this home is how he deals with the realization of his own demise. Even in this dark hour, he knows the most important things are to get Law to safety and do whatever he can to face the reality of his brother's villainy. “If you think of me someday,” he says to an unconscious Law, “I'd rather you remember my smile.” The fact that his big, toothy grin that punctuates the episode looks really dumb and goofy just makes the scene all the more poignant. There's a gross mixture of sadness and love and humility in the air.
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...