They're off the island! They've finally left Dressrosa! By my count this arc is now 115 episodes long, which is pretty impressive even by One Piece standards. We can't say we've officially ended the arc and begun the next, since there's one last story beat to take care of, but Dressrosa as a location is now completely behind us.
The episode opens with Luffy and Fujitora's battle being interrupted. The colosseum allies who have been escorting the Straw Hats off the island have taken it upon themselves to put a halt to this while they can, and the giant Hajrudin grabs Luffy out of midair before making a run for the port. It's hinted that these guys have their own agenda with Luffy and friends and don't want a pesky admiral slowing them down.
If I recall correctly, this episode and last made up a single chapter in the manga, hence the extra slowdown in the pacing. Not wanting to let Straw Hat get away, Fujitora moves his enormous cloud of rubble out to the sea, ready to drop it on all the pirates' ships. This sequence is total molasses, taking up at least a third of the episode as we watch repetitive shots of the rubble slooooowly moving away from the island. Though Fujitora seems like one of the good guys among the navy, he's not letting prey escape him that easily.
He does give in, obviously. It's made pretty clear that Fujitora could kill all the pirates on the island if he wanted to, but we've still got at least a few hundred episodes of Luffy's adventure left to follow. He concedes defeat when thousands of citizens of Dressrosa come running to the port, shouting angry threats and trying to get Luffy to return Rebecca (whom he had recently “kidnapped”). Fujitora quickly deduces that they have no genuine malice in their voices, and the charge was a ruse intended to keep the rubble from falling, lest the navy admiral hurt any innocent civilians. He also overhears some chit chat about the adults knowing of Rebecca and Kyros' relationship all along and that they're happy for them, which is just a little bit too cute for my tastes.
The centerpiece of this episode comes at the end: Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats set foot on Orlumbus's ship and become bombarded with claims of “joining up” and “our army is yours” and so on from the various pirates and military leaders that make up the colosseum allies. Apparently, the various fighters who have been serving as our makeshift crew for the last few dozen episodes have hit it off and joined forces with the intention of serving the Straw Hat crew. The cliffhanger ends with Bartolomeo asking Luffy to drink "the cup of father and sons" with them.
This is a pretty crazy development. One of my favorite aspects of One Piece is seeing the Straw Hat family grow over time. For the most part, it remained about the nine established crew members, but there have always been exceptions with characters like Vivi and Law. What exactly does it mean to be part of the crew? How large can this family get? As of right now, it looks like our favorite pirate crew is about to become 5,600 men strong. I love the crap out of that.
No definitive answer from Luffy is given right now, so nothing is official yet. Otherwise, I can nitpick the slower-than-usual pace we've been getting, as well as the mediocre production values in general. There's a lot of natively low-detail drawings coupled with running scenes involving a lot of choppy animation. This is an important episode, so I was hoping the presentation would be a lot nicer. It's a classic example of an episode with good story content, but nothing to write home about in the execution.
Creator Negi Haruba drafts story for new anime, light novel― "The Quintessential Quintuplets 5th Anniversary Event in Yokohama Arena" announced on Sunday that Negi Haruba's The Quintessential Quintuplets (Gotōbun no Hanayome) romantic comedy manga is inspiring a new anime, Gotōbun no Hanayome*. Haruba personally drafted the original story concept and is supervising all aspects of the anime, which re...
Yostar reveals teaser, key visual, official website― The staff for the Arknights mobile game and its tie-in franchise announced on Saturday in a new teaser trailer that the Arknights: Rise from Ember anime is now in production. The staff also launched an official website for the anime and released a key visual. The game is set in a fantasy world called Terra with modern science-fiction motifs. Terra...
Makes Nagi an even more interesting and nuanced character, but the last 10 minutes almost upends the film's otherwise interesting plot.― BLUELOCK THE MOVIE -EPISODE NAGI- is a retelling of the early events of BLUELOCK through the eyes of Nagi and Mikage. However, that's not to say this is a recap or compilation film. Rather, a good 70% of the film is newly animated footage as the story follows their...
Following Poupelle of Chimney Town, Nishino tackles addiction in his new stop-motion anime short film.― In advance of the U.S. premiere of the new stop-motion animated short film Bottle George, Anime News Network sat down with writer Akihiro Nishino and chatted not only about the film and its creation but also its deeper message and how it connects to Nishino's past. While now well-known as a childr...
From Classroom for Heroes to Management of a Novice Alchemist, we have reviews of the newest light novels in our guide!― Welcome to Anime News Network's Spring 2024 Light Novel Guide, the companion to our ongoing manga guide! This season, we have 20 novels with reviews in the guide for you to browse. Every included novel was published in March or April or will be released in May. This guide focuses...
SAND LAND is a curious game that combines an eclectic set of gameplay features into a well-realized package that, despite its flaws, is perfectly solid and more than the sum of its parts.― SAND LAND is a curious game that combines an eclectic set of gameplay features into a well-realized package that, despite its flaws, is perfectly solid and more than the sum of its parts. Going into this one, all ...
Atlus reveals its big new game, Metaphor: ReFantazio, amid the recent exit of Shin Megami Tensei artist Kazuma Kaneko. PLUS: A Golden Axe comedy series and Pokémon Go models get a makeover.― Welcome back, folks! As you probably noticed, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes came out earlier this week. It's a fun time, as you could see in my review of it. It's come to my attention that there are some per...
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes promises to revive the Suikoden series in everything but name, but what's so great about Suikoden that it's worth reviving? Well, read on…― It's 1996, and the PlayStation is just starting to take over the game industry. It has many genres covered: racing, fighting, action, sports, puzzles, train-conducting, deep-sea diving, fire-fighting, and so forth. But what abou...
Some of Shonen Jump's biggest manga hits are approaching their end. Does the magazine have new heavy-hitters lined up to take up the mantle?― Some of Shonen Jump's biggest manga hits are approaching their end. Does the magazine have new heavy-hitters lined up to take up the mantle? Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Netwo...
James and Lynzee reflect on the end of Solo Leveling and whether its worldbuilding is worth its edgy turn. PLUS: The big monsters of Kaiju No. 8, & court intrigue in Yatagarasu!― Will You Watch Solo Leveling Season 2? James and Lynzee reflect on the end of Solo Leveling and whether its worldbuilding is worth its edgy turn. PLUS: The big monsters of Kaiju No 8, court intrigue in Yatagarasu, and a li...