I won't lie folks, this episode was probably a low point for the anime adaptation of the Wano arc. I feel like in spite of Wano's length, there has consistently been something engaging to the material in both the manga and the anime. There has certainly been fatigue in the past – hard not to experience it at least on occasion, given that we are years into it at this point – but this week's episode was one of the first times I truly felt like there was nothing added.
I suppose that's not entirely true. We do get introduced to Bao Huang, a character who boasts a wonderfully distinctive character design without being quite as ridiculously over the top as some of the beast pirates have been. She plays a critical role in Wano due to her powers, but other than showing up and looking neat, she does not do all that much in this episode.
Not much happening is the theme for episode 985 in general. Kaido and the Tobi Roppo talk for a little while, but there's really no tension or comedy to the scene. Luffy and Zoro both wandering the floor and talking to beast pirates goons while getting upset about the plight of Wano's people is good, but feels very repetitive. It honestly struck me as a bit of a start/stop with the emotional build-up; I felt like their righteous anger at the situation was already boiling at the end of 984. Did we really need another episode dedicated to spilled red bean soup and Tama flashbacks so soon? I can't recall how long this sequence played out in the manga, but this episode sure made it feel longer.
I truly feel bad for not enjoying an episode like this. Wano has been such a consistent delight up until now, and every week it has met or exceeded my expectations. Perhaps the team needed to draw out this week's events to be able to prep for upcoming events, and given the incredible quality of other recent episodes I can see that being a real possibility. That said, what's here is not much and I'm not sure what it adds to Wano outside of more runtime.
Japanese studio to handle production slated for broadcast, streaming globally― Kadokawa and Singaporean game developer and publisher Garena announced on Monday that they are co-producing an anime adaptation of Garena's Garena Free Fire battle royale shooting game, with a Japanese studio handling the animation. Kadokawa's Kadokawa Qingyu subsidiary is the production manager. The anime is planned to b...
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...
60th, final episode of previous anime streamed on YouTube on Friday― The official Twitter account for the anime of Penguin Box's Odekake Kozame (Little Shark's Outings) manga announced on Friday that the manga will get a new anime series. Update: The staff revealed a visual for the new series in a press release on Saturday. The previous anime series debuted on YouTube last August, and its 60th and f...
As Slam Dunk reached its final stretch, I can see why this series is considered the sports classic that it is today.― This is the largest batch of Slam Dunk episodes that I've reviewed thus far. Originally, I wanted to review the show in more even seasons, but given its overall pacing and release, it wasn't easy to find a moment where it felt right to stop and start again. However, as we approached ...