One Piece 1091 is a steady rolling mystery and exploration of a new island's wonders that mostly does its job in enticing the audience to want to know more.
This is a pretty common phase of the crew arriving at a new island. There are some strange beasties at sea and odd weather events, the crew meets new people, then they get to the island and discover whatever unique rules govern life there. In this particular instance, the theme is the wondrous potential of technology and the ability to create things that should not be. There are holograms of food, strange cityscapes with futuristic architecture, and air conditioning that makes the climate tropical while the surrounding ocean is completely frozen.
It isn't a novel concept in and of itself. As far as futuristic settings go, this is a classic retro-future ideal. Tall towers with big domes, holograms, and food-creation machines. It's bright and colorful and noisy and nonsensical but it works, especially within the context of One Piece. It fits in the broader oeuvre of One Piece as a place full of cartoonish islands and over-the-top climatological events.
The Vegapunk reveals are a big deal although the impact is lessened here somewhat. After discovering that Lilith is just one of many Vegapunks, the final reveal that Atlas is also a Vegapunk is… somewhat less shocking.
Much of the antics of the episode are fun initially but get a bit overused. The bit with Luffy, Bonney, and Chopper diving into food is charming enough once, but having the sequence play again is a touch tiresome. The crew flailing about Lilith is moderately funny - Franky's focus on the robot is the best bit - but it does allow for Robin and Zoro to show off their deadliness and focus even in these silly moments, so that's nice. Animation is also fine, though the shots of Lilith backlit by the robot cockpit are vibrant and fun. Jarring to have that quality juxtaposed with the Straw Hats opposite in less detail.
Rating:
"What other five-star anime are you watching? Vote on the latest episodes here: Your Score"
Main staff, cast reunite for new film― Warner Bros. Japan revealed on Thursday that it is producing a sequel film to its Batman Ninja CG anime film titled Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League. Junpei Mizusaki, the producer of the opening animation sequences for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders and Kamikaze Douga CEO/founder, is returning from Batman Ninja to direct...
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...
Staff, most cast return to perform original 2023 musical on October 11-13― The musical based on Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan manga will have its first international performance at the New York City Center in New York on October 11-13. Attack on Titan: The Musical will be performed in Japanese with English subtitles with a returning cast and staff from the 2023 show. Presale tickets are available...
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...
Haruka Shiraishi, Jun Fukuyama star in EMT Squared anime― The official website for the television anime of Izumi Sawano's I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons (Kisaki Kyōiku kara Nigetai Watashi) light novel series opened on Wednesday and revealed the anime's teaser visuals, main cast, main staff, and 2025 premiere. The anime stars: Haruka Shiraishi as Leticia Jun Fukuyama as Clarke Uri Sugata, th...
Game also inspires 2nd symphonic concert 'with animation'― The official website for Palette's 9-nine- game announced on Wednesday that the anime is inspiring a television anime. To commemorate the anime announcement, the franchise will hold its "9-nine- Symphonic Concert 2 with Animation" on September 8. (The franchise held an earlier symphonic concert, without the "animation" tag, on October 17, 20...
With seven full routes and one mini-route with a character from the previous game, if you enjoyed Cupid Paradise, Sweet & Spicy Darling is worth playing.― The first order of business is this: if you haven't played the original Cupid Parasite otome game, there isn't much point in picking up Sweet & Spicy Darling. There is one new route for this sequel, but even that relies on you knowing the backgrou...
With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case.― With the release of Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction, Nick and Steve take a look at it and some other manga that were thought to be "unadaptable"—and see if that was truly the case. Disclaimer: The views and...
LiSA performs 'Black Box' opening theme― The official website for NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a, the television anime of Square Enix and Platinum Games' NieR:Automata action role-playing game, started streaming its "promotion file 11" on Tuesday. The video previews the opening theme song "Black Box" by LiSA, and reveals the premiere of the anime's second cours (quarter of year) in July. (The video below re...
When even the author says this story will hurt, you know it will be bad.― When even the author says this story will hurt, you know it will be bad. That's assuming, of course, that you weren't prepared for it going in. The fate of Astrea Familia is well-known to readers and viewers (and players) of the various Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon iterations, and the most recent season of ...
The documentary was full of cool tidbits about the 82-year-old producer and the anime he's worked on—including Ninja Scroll, Pluto, and In This Corner of the World.― Late last month, Japanese television network NHK put out a documentary on anime producer Masao Maruyama as part of their Anime Manga Explosion series. In it, the show delves into the now 82-year-old producer's life, philosophies, and so...
This is where the series earns its place in anime history, setting a precedent that other magical girl shows will follow.― It's a moment of magical girl history, right there on the screen: in episode forty-six of Fairy Princess Minky Momo's original 1982-83 television series, Momo is hit by a truck and dies. Even putting aside the question of whether or not this is Truck-kun's first victim, this is ...