Let's take a break from last week's flashback within a flashback in favor of a different flashback within a flashback! Yeah, the lives of troubled children is just kind of what this show does.
In this episode we jump back another few decades to explore the lives of the Donquixote family, fresh off of their departure from the Celestial Dragons' holy land. Doflamingo's father, Homing, has elected to remove his family from the lavish lifestyle of the world nobles in favor of a more “humble” living among the hard working regular folk. I really like Homing. You can tell how well he means and how much he just wants to see his family happy and healthy and full of character. He does not deserve all the awful stuff about to happen to him.
Unfortunately, living as a former noble is a lose-lose situation. It turns out the regular folk have nothing but grudges against the Celestial Dragons, who have historically hurt and killed a lot of people over petty, selfish reasons. No one wants to listen to Homing or believe that he's one of the good guys, and the Donquixote family of four find themselves the victims of lynching and their home destroyed. In a fit of desperation, Homing makes a call trying to get his family back into the holy lands, but is rejected under the condition of his family now being seen as traitors of the royal bloodline. Things really backfired for the man just trying to do the right thing, and it's really tough to watch as the situation gets worse and worse.
This is an episode that's just interesting, wall-to-wall. We see Doflamingo and Corazón (whose real name we learn is Rocinante, continuing the Don Quixote references) as children and, more importantly, we get to see a bit of an arc between who they were as kids and who we know they grow up to be. Considering the noble lifestyle he led, Doflamingo being a precocious, spoiled child makes sense. He's never once been given a reason to believe he should accept anything less than the most lavish. There's a scene in this episode where he's confused as to why his family is no longer living with slaves, which is pretty spooky coming from the mouth of a little kid. We know that Doflamingo as an adult is a pretty smart guy, which only furthers how dangerous he is as a man who grew up to have his hatred and resentment of the world go unchallenged.
But Corazón, on the flip-side, appears to have been a pretty shy and cautious child. He's young enough for new things to make an impression on him. Between Corazón and Homing (the mother of the family isn't given much presence), Doflamingo and his sociopathy definitely make him seem like the odd one out.
Back in the present day (not the present-present, the past-present) our little Law is being fully embraced as a member of Doflamingo's pirate crew. We montage our way through two years as his disease consumes him more and more. This episode would have been interesting enough as is, but it eventually leads to a pretty gnarly twist: Law's real full name is “Trafalgar D. Water Law.” What “Water” means is still a mystery, but any One Piece fan knows that the middle initial “D” is no small detail.
This is gargantuan. Law is officially in the company of people like Luffy and Gold Roger, a type of end-game chosen one. This is a pretty intense reveal because it changes everything and rewrites the rules for what we know is possible. This definitely feels like the kind of storytelling decision that was figured out by Eiichiro Odaafter Law became an absurdly popular character, but that doesn't take away from how dramatic of a surprise this is.
This revelation also stirs the pot in Law and Corazón's relationship, as upon hearing about this Corazón nabs Law off to the side and speaks for the first time, breaking the mute illusion. “If this is true, you need to get out of here!” he says. It turns out Corazón might be hiding a few secrets of his own...
Manga's final chapter scheduled for June 26― This year's 25th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced on Wednesday that Hiro Mashima's Edens Zero manga will end five chapters. The magazine's 30th issue will publish the manga's final chapter on June 26. The manga entered its final arc in December 2022. Mashima (Fairy Tail, Rave Master) launched the manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in June...
Narrative dissonance aside, the heart of My Oni Girl still shines through its jumbled ending: that folks should speak their minds even when it hurts.― Upon first glance, My Oni Girl has all the hallmarks of a Studio Ghibli-inspired romp. You've got a globe-trodding adventure with odd-couple protagonists, a myriad of wonderfully drawn vistas, titular mouthwatering glamour shots of Japanese delicacies...
Ahead of the Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction TV anime premiere, Rebecca Silverman looks at its creator's stark, and sometimes depressing, manga work.― Inio Asano may be one of the creators whose works don't allow for middle-ground opinions. There's something in the reactions to his work that smacks of “love it or hate it,” with readers either fully embracing his dark, psychological style of s...
Furuya acknowledged threatening to hurt fan in argument, causing her to have abortion― On his X (formerly Twitter) account on Wednesday, voice actor Tōru Furuya acknowledged a recent report by the Weekly Bunshun magazine regarding an affair he had with a fan. Weekly Bunshun interviewed him for the article. Furuya admitted that he had been in a relationship with a female fan for four and a half years...
Manga about half human, half chimpanzee boy launched in 2020― TOHO Animation announced on Wednesday that Shun Umezawa's The Darwin Incident (Darwin Jihen manga will get a television anime adaptation. A new official Twitter account opened and unveiled a teaser visual: Original creator Umezawa shared an illustration to commemorate the announcement: TOHO Animation had teased on its X (formerly Twitter)...
The book feels like a deliberate combo of SAO, Log Horizon, and Suppose a Kid From the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, and that works better than you might expect.― If this story feels familiar, that's on purpose. In their afterword, author Nagawasabi64 says that they've noticed that the "trapped in a VRMMORPG" genre made popular by SAO has fallen out of favor, which made them want to ...
There's no question that Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a dark deconstruction of Super Sentai/Power Rangers in anime form—but is that all it is? Chris and Lucas dive in to find out.― There's no question that Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is a dark deconstruction of Super Sentai/Power Rangers in anime form—but is that all it is? Chris and Lucas dive in to find out. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by ...
Umezu voiced Diamante in One Piece, Ian Vashti in Gundam 00 2nd Season― Voice talent company 81 Produce announced on Tuesday that voice actor Hideyuki Umezu died on May 17 due to interstitial pneumonia. He was 68. A funeral ceremony was held by relatives. Umezu was born on July 24, 1955 in Aichi Prefecture. Umezu voiced the characters of Diamante in One Piece, Ian Vashti in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Sec...
This is a good series to check out if you like more bite with your vampire romances.― Going into Bloody Sweet, I expected to find a fluffy rom-com about a girl and the vampire she accidentally gets attached to. Instead, I found a story about a bullied high school girl whose bullies are smart enough to evade all of the checks and balances the school has put in place. When Naerim accidentally awakens ...
In our brand-new column, Lynzee Loveridge comes clean about her backlog, starting with one of the most popular anime ever. Use this space here for critical finger-wagging and exclamations of disbelief.― I have a secret. A no-good, embarrassing, shame-inducing secret. I'm the executive editor at Anime News Network but there are, in fact, anime I have not watched. Not just forgettable mid-tier season...
Chiu shares how she brought the SEA simulcast service to the forefront after founding it at 17 years old.― Over the past six years, many streaming and simulcast services have catered to otaku in Asia, offering simulcasts of seasonal anime and theatrical anime screenings. One such service is Ani-One Asia, a Hong Kong-based Medialink Group brand that offers a competitive lineup of simulcasts every se...
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...