The Seducing Woods have been the backdrop of the Whole Cake Island for the past handful of episodes, easily standing as some of the most tedious content in the arc, but the worst of it thankfully seems to be in the past as we exit the really strong Vinsmoke stuff and get into the much more interesting set pieces moving throughout the story. The Seducing Woods stuff is there, but this time around it looks a lot nicer and manages to get a handful of genuine laughs instead of tired chuckles, as Luffy hunts down the animals cloned to look like his missing friends.
But beyond that, this episode is packed with intrigue. First, there's Brook and Pedro's discovery that Pudding may not be up to what she says she is, causing us to scratch our heads while Pedro narrowly avoids confrontation with Baron Tamago, a Big Mom pirate he knows all too well. Then there's there's the mafia-style confrontation between Capone Bege and Pekoms on a cliff. These two should be on the same team, with Capone's crew being an arm of Big Mom's, but Capone has no problem executing an ally over a thinly perceived betrayal. There's also the introduction of PEZ, the baby of Capone and Charlotte Chiffon. This character mostly serves as a gesture of how the Big Mom family operates, with major players of the One Piece world getting to join her through marital ties, but more importantly this moment's an extension of Whole Cake Island being the "tee hee, we know which characters have canonically banged" arc, a novelty in an otherwise aromantic show.
The best stuff, however, is between Caesar Clown and Big Mom, two characters who have such an astonishing amount of presence in sound and animation that you almost have to shield your eyes from the beauty of them being in the same room. It's too bad that this sequence was also forced to get so repetitive, but otherwise it was a treat. Poor Caesar just wants a break from the mayhem, but he's wasted so much funding from some of the world's most notorious criminals that he's eternally reaping what he's sown. Even Luffy and Law destroying the S.A.D. factories that Doflamingo provided him doesn't get him an excuse for not working, since Big Mom has made an identical one on Whole Cake based on the same blueprints.
I hope that Caesar never leaves the show and that something will always force him to stick around. That seems reasonable to expect, considering how much both Kaido and Big Mom find him useful and how much mad science stuff has been threading into the main narrative lately. His job this time is to use his nonspecific science smarts to create a gigantism drug so that Big Mom can fulfill her dream of her family meeting her at eye level. This is roughly what Caesar was working on with the children back on Punk Hazard, but now he's been given a hard deadline of two weeks to do the impossible, and Caesar has never seemed like a deadlines kind of guy to begin with.
So here are the story threads at play so far:
Pudding may or may not be working with her mother
Sanji's dealing with his family, but may have to end up marrying Pudding anyway
Luffy and crew are lost in the woods
Capone's got something up his sleeve
Jimbei's got something up his sleeve
Caesar's got to get out of a promise he can't keep
There's some noticeable padding here with repetitive humor and flashbacks to old arcs in an attempt to explain some of the backstory to an audience who might not know everything, but I had a lot of fun with this episode as a great example of what makes a One Piece arc exciting. There's clearly a plan here that will no doubt erupt in some kind of glorious fashion. The more emotional stuff isn't present this time, but for an episode that's full of details and interesting promises, this is a pretty good one.
If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.”― If I were to sum up Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! in a single word, that word would be “cute.” Shiki and Fuyuki's interactions are a mixture of playful (and sometimes sexual) teasing and heartfelt feelings as the two come to value each other. They have real chemistry—and that drives the anime stra...
Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it.― Lucas and Steve catch up on the Hunter × Hunter manga in time for the long-awaited new chapter and gush about why, even with years between releases, Hunter × Hunter is worth it. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed...
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Kazuki Ura as Shiki Ichinose, the protagonist who inherits the blood of an Oni. Sh...
Nick and Chris recount some of the most frustrating anime cancellations, from the Yuri on Ice movie to the second half of Stars Align.― Nick and Chris recount some of the most frustrating anime cancellations from the second half of Stars Align to the 2007 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood movie. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views...
Welcome to the rankings for the Spring 2024 season! The perfect place to check out which hidden gems might have flown under your radar.― 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 ...
The final Spring 2024 Manga Guide update includes not-yet-released series from this month, including Sword Art Online Re:Aincrad,Bungo Stray Dogs: The Official Comic Anthology, A Sign of Affection and more.― Welcome to Anime News Network's Spring 2024 Manga Guide! You may have seen one of our seasonal Anime Preview Guides, where a team of critics writes up each new anime television premiere as it a...
Producer Masakazu Kubo shares the animation team's dedication to realism, including bringing in a pro golfer to produce the anime's sound effects.― 64-year-old Masakazu Kubo has been planning and producing anime for decades. He's had a major hand in everything from Pokémon and Detective Conan to Teasing Master Takagi-san and Dorohedoro. Recently, he sat down with us to talk about Tonbo!, his attemp...