Orochi continues to cackle at his own devious work at stopping the revolution. We are shown scenes of his henchman blowing up the bridges of Wano one by one, as well as the Thousand Sunny cutting off any access route the revolutionary forces can use to link up with the Akazaya Nine. Meanwhile, on the rainswept shores, Kinemon and the others decide that – army or no army – they are setting off to battle Kaido. Momnosuke pleads with them to stay but they insist that they must honor Oden by remaining his samurai to the very end.
That is when we enter One Piece Flashback Time™
*cue wailing sirens*
We (quantum) leap decades into the past to see Kozuki Oden in his prime. He is eighteen years old, fit and strong and a beast of a man. Wano is different too, a pristine verdant beauty free of industrial smokestacks and ash-choked wastelands. We learn of Oden's (in)famous deeds, from wrestling his nanny to visiting pleasure houses to starting harem wars (as one does, naturally). Oden is a man of great excess, womanizing and cooking food over the bones of the dead; yet he is also capable of great kindness, shaping the land of Wano to help its people or solemnly honoring the very dead he has his meal over. We also see young Kinemon and Denjiro as wayward criminals, the former almost being on the receiving end of Tsuru's (his future wife) blade for stealing. Eventually he takes a small white boar and, wouldn't you know it, that summons a terrasque enormous boar.
Oden shows up with an eager gleam in his eyes and, clearly getting ready to face down the giant boar, tells Kinemon to hand him the small boar just as the To Be Continued card flashes.
Another excellent, excellent episode for this season.
Wano has been strong material in the manga, but the anime has done such a tremendous job realizing the material that it's a delight. The direction was once again on point. I loved the use of stark foreground and background contrasts such as in scenes with the lit bomb fuses on the Sunny's deck, or how Orochi is literally painting inky X's onto the camera as he crosses off targets on his map of Wano. Another excellent sequence was him tearing up the map and throwing the pieces into the air only for that to be a match cut to the falling cherry blossom of Wano. Perhaps most evocative was the scene where the Akazaya Nine set out and are entirely cast in black and white, but Momo's tears and the rain are realized in a haunting cold blue. It's all yet more excellent work for a weekly television production that has continued for so long.
Oden's flashback is going to be a real treat to see in motion too. It's certainly full of big moments that leap right off the page of the manga, and already these early bits make them that much larger feeling. Oden's status as less a character and more a folk hero is an important one to keep in mind I think; whether by his actual feats or the aggrandizement of his followers, he has become a legend more than a man. He reroutes the mighty river and challenges beasts the size of entire cities! Even in the world of One Piece these are considerable feats that seem to stretch the bounds of what is possible. Keeping that folk hero identity in mind is a key component to understanding the flashback overall, in my opinion. I can't wait to see more.
Series previously inspired 52-episode anime in 1993― This year's 24th issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine revealed on Wednesday that Gosho Aoyama's Yaiba manga will be getting a new anime adaptation. Aoyama is supervising. The series follows the titular Yaiba Kurogane, a young samurai boy inspired by Miyamoto Musashi, the real-life swordsman who pioneered the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū sty...
Based on the novel by former Nogizaka46 member Kazumi Takayama, trapezium asks its audience to follow one girl who will use anything, and anyone, to achieve her dream.― Trapezium is a strange movie, to say the least. On the surface, it's a rather simple movie that explores youth, their dreams, and the lengths they'll go to achieve those dreams. It's a coming-of-age story wrapped in the veneer of the...
ZeroReq011 remembers what made Spice and Wolf a story for the ages, from its fully realized world and economics to Holo and Lawrence's romantic chemistry.― Back when Funimation was still its own company and not owned by Sony, long before its in-house streaming service was terminated in favor of Crunchyroll's streaming platform, it owned a TV channel. Legal streaming had yet to dominate the Western a...
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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...