An action-packed episode that still manages to be mostly setup. The image of Queen unleashing the Plague Rounds on the samurai is one of the more distinctive images in the raid on Onigashima. The giant golden chaingun, the chaos unfolding on the floor below, the monstrous transformations mid-battle - it has echoes of Punk Hazard crossed with a bit of American Gladiators in a way that I find pretty engaging.
Most of the episode focuses on the settling of old scores. Wano is just as much about prior arcs as it is about the drama surrounding the island itself. In many ways Wano is such a huge arc because it is the culmination of basically every post-timeskip arc. From Kinemon and Momonosuke's introduction in Punk Hazard to the conflict between Jack, Dogstorm, and Catviper in Zou and the ongoing fallout from Whole Cake Island - the entirety of the post-timeskip era is coming to a head here.
This is a blessing and a curse. It can be too much at times and leave the narrative feeling increasingly overwhelmed and disjointed, much like last episode. Simply laying out the connective tissue between point A and point B for the huge cast can be a massive time sink. At times it is still entertaining or refreshing, but as of late the fatigue has been getting to me more often than not. 1003 has a lot of high moments of drama, particularly for the various Mink characters. But I still can't help but feel that these moments would have hit harder if they weren't all coming one after another in rapid succession.I wish the Dogstom/Catviper/Jack drama was its own episode AND the Carrot/Pedro/Charlotte drama was its own episode. Instead, due to time constraints, these hit within minutes of each other and then we're off to the races again with the Akazaya Nine.
I suppose complaining about “too much cool stuff happening at once” is a bit ridiculous, but I wish these moments had more space to breathe. Alas, we have a lot to cover…
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...
Grant Jones dives into the wild world of giant monsters and how Kaiju No. 8 builds on their legacy.― Kaiju No. 8 is a series that wears its influences on its sleeves. As the first word in its title suggests, it comes from a long line of works in the kaiju genre, using giant monsters and burning skylines as a backdrop to tell stories. While many likely know kaiju in a passing sense, it may help to h...
This steamy manga's appeal is going to depend on how much you can stomach a female protagonist who kicks off the romance by assaulting her former fiance.― This is a tricky one. Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way with You is, to all appearances, a story that opens with a sexual assault. Agnès has been betrothed to Crown Prince Lucilleur since childhood, and she's been in love with him just as...
Healer Nanna's powers have one very unique caveat: she has to have sex with the person to heal them. See why Rebecca Silverman calls it "a cute story, decently racy, and generally good, fluffy fun."― One of the fun things about Seven Seas' Steamship line of racy manga aimed at a female audience is finding which romance tropes are prevalent in any given release. While every genre has its tropes and s...
What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf.― What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the s...
Train to the End of the World and Voice Actor Radio are getting a lot of love these last few weeks! Discover which other series stand out in 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...
Crystal Kay previously sang themes for 2004's Fullmetal Alchemist and Nodame Cantabile― Recently, Anime News Network was able to sit down with singer-songwriter Crystal Kay and talk about not only her involvement with anime over the years but also what it was like to grow up in Japan as the child of a Korean-Japanese mother and an African-American father. Anime fans likely know of Crystal Kay throug...
The plot is excellent in the romance camp. Everything that happens is to get Eui-joon and Gunwoo together, and it works pretty well.― You can read The Dangerous Convenience Store in English two ways. The first is to read it on the manhwa site/app Manta, which has all seventy-five chapters and four bonus stories available. The second is to read Seven Seas' print (or ebook) edition, which, as of this ...
Some older mysteries inch closer to resolution as the true nature of the Abyss slowly comes into view, and long-posed questions start to be answered.― Sometimes, being a fan of Akihito Tsukushi's acclaimed Made in Abyss series means acclimating to suffering. Like many Western devotees, I was introduced to this bizarre, squishy, disturbing world via the 2017 first season of Kinema Citrus' fantastic a...
Recently ended manga follows middle school student living with mysterious bird-looking creature― Shogakukan announced on Friday that Akira Konno's Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo manga is inspiring an anime. The "bird(?) home comedy" manga's story starts when first-year middle school student Arata Kōda meets a mysterious bird-looking creature named Kujima in autumn. Hungry and craving Japanese food, Kujima ...