Current state of the fight: both fighters can see the future, both have Devil Fruits that allow them to stretch and contort in unpredictable ways, and both are nursing life-threatening injuries in their abdomens. There's less than an hour left before Luffy's supposed to exit the mirror world and reunite with his friends, so it's time for him to pull out all the stops and finish this stupidly long fight once and for all.
Luffy's new Snakeman form isn't a significant departure from the usual Fourth Gear transformation. It's a bit leaner and meaner, and it emphasizes speed over raw power. His most important trick is his enhanced Gum-Gum Culverin, where he can redirect a punch in mid-air while maintaining its acceleration. If he moves fast and erratically enough, he can circumvent Katakuri's Observation Haki, so now this fight is both a high-speed anarchic brawl and a mind-bending game of 3D chess where the chess pieces happen to be fists. There's at least one corner of my brain that has reservations about the over-stylized nature of One Piece's flashier animators, but that issue is on hold this week because an episode like this is exactly where those guys belong. It looks jaw-dropping from beginning to end. This climactic fight episode is hectic, silly, and absolutely massive in impact and scope.
This is an adaptation of a pretty famous manga chapter that was all zany fight choreography with minimal dialogue. This episode does a good job spreading the action out over the course of twenty minutes without losing steam, but it's not without its crutches. Mainly, the anime is still pushing the Rayleigh flashbacks in order to pad the runtime. I didn't need a filler scene where Rayleigh demonstrates Fourth Gear's speed weakness, but I really dug the cutaway to Rayleigh and Shakky pouring one out for Luffy just as he and Katakuri are delivering their final blows. "Only those who are living in the present can make a new epoch." (But maybe let this show live in the present for a bit instead of flashing back every five minutes.)
The Katakuri fight is an important fixture of Whole Cake Island because it's the arc's last opportunity to portray self-indulgence as heroic and positive. This fight has nothing to do with what's going on in the rest of Totto Land anymore, it's just two dudes beating on each other to feel alive. The violence, the chest-thumping machismo, the aimless self-destruction—for a moment, these things are good, but they do exist in a context that will unfold in the story's final moments. As of this episode, the true outcome of the fight is left up in the air. Surely it'll be Luffy who walks away when all is said and done, but the question of who really beat who is of little consequence. This fight was for them, not us.
In the grand scheme, the Katakuri fight is a mess in execution, but it's the kind of mess where the soul of the work is able to spin that imperfection into strong self-expression. The emotional weight of the experience is incredibly back-heavy, with most of the leadup meandering without enough propulsion to keep things interesting until the spontaneous bouts of extreme enthusiasm happen. But when it's good it's transcendent, and even at its most blunt, it always preserves that One Piece-y sense of humor. How can you not love a 'roided out goth boy screaming about how tough he is while transforming into a donut for no other reason than because he just really loves donuts?
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...