Every time I think I'm in the Wano doldrums, I'm pulled right back in. While the episode has a brief recap of Sanji's literal thirst trap scenario and Jinbei's soon-to-be-epic showdown, the real meat is in the Yamato and Ace interactions. This was a segment in the manga that I had mixed feelings about initially, but seeing it play out for the second time helped reinforce that it was a good decision overall and provided a good connection for Yamato and Luffy.
I guess the biggest hangup I have is the fact that Ace just kind of… appears? It's not completely out of bounds – he is a wandering pirate and all, so him showing on an island is definitely A Thing he can do and has done, and it was already established that he spent time on Wano with Tama and such. But then again, something about his appearance just feels out of left field. Perhaps it's the placing of this sequence in the middle of the already long Raid on Onigashima? I'm not entirely sure.
Odd placement aside, I think it's a really effective sequence. Yamato is already a compelling character, but Ace adds another layer of texture to the present-tense scenes with Luffy. There's a lot of great overlapping themes at play: the fires of revolution, the drive for discovery, the legacy of Oden, generational conflict, and the link between brothers. None of them is individually all that complex, but when taken together they add a lot of depth to the scene and by extension the rest of Wano. It also adds to the parallels between Yamato and Momonosuke – both of them are struggling against Kaido and inspired by Oden, but in different expressions and at times crossing imagery. This is really Wano at its best, and the gorgeous animation helps reinforce all the terrific textual work at play.
This sports anime changes up the usual shōnen formula by casting a bunch of self-centered players to see who can rise to the top as the ultimate striker. Is there anyone left to root for when all your characters are egoists?― This sports anime changes up the usual shōnen formula by casting a bunch of self-centered players to see who can rise to the top as the ultimate striker. Is there anyone left ...
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Viz Media announced on Tuesday that the monthly subscription price for its English Shonen Jump service will increase from US$1.99 to US$2.99 beginning in January 2023. The service will also no longer support website subscription payments through Paypal beginning on January 17. Viz launched its Shonen Jump service in December 2018, which offers simultaneous publishing of serialized manga from Shuei...
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Dabi finally revealed his long-orchestrated plan to take down the hero-worshipping society in My Hero Academia! How will the #1 Hero bounce back when his past is on full display?― Dabi's Long-Awaited Reveal is Here Dabi finally revealed his long-orchestrated plan to take down the hero-worshipping society in My Hero Academia! How will the #1 Hero bounce back when his past is on full display? Plus, t...
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AJ revisits this romantic comedy classic to see if it still wrings the tears from his eyes years later.― Every anime fan remembers the first time a show spoke to them on a deeply emotional level. For me, that was the 2008 romantic comedy anime Toradora, which I discovered through an AMV I randomly came across all the way back in high school. It was the first anime to make me cry more than once, and ...
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The horrors of war and its generational effects take center stage in the third omnibus from horror mangaka Kazuo Umezz.― If there is a theme to this third omnibus volume of Kazuo Umezz's horror manga Orochi, it is that we can't always know everything about someone from the face they present to the world. While both stories in this volume, “Stage” and “Combat,” also deal with sons' relationships with...
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