As the dust settles on Big Mom wrecking Queen, she… continues to wreck Queen. He doesn't let up though, and does a mighty leap into the sky to drop down on top of her. Barely managing to hold up his huge brachiosaurus frame, Big Mom is forced to listen to him chuckle about how she'll never touch that red bean soup.
The laughter does not last long.
She soon grabs him and begins spinning him around full Yonkou Wrestlemania-style. Big Mom proceeds to chuck this jurassic into the prison wall so hard that the entire complex starts crumbling. Towers fall, cells break, and Kid and Killer end up freed from the water.
Across the compound, Raizo and Caribou are playing Metal Gear Solid by taking out guards and breaking communication lines. Raizo is quite impressed with how useful Caribou is turning out to be. The squishy creeper mentions that by taking out the boss snail they can cut off communications to Udon.
Back in the prison yard, Big Mom finds that the red bean soup container is empty. Luffy tries to “subtly” say that he did that, but Big Mom hears him because Luffy's dump stat is whispering. It turns out she was not in a soup rage for her own hunger – rather, she wanted to support the people of Ebisu who were so kind to her. She begins attacking Luffy and Hyogoro, sending them flying. Before their collars explode, Luffy manages to rip them off in a heightened state – tapping into the Ryou/Haki that Hyogoro was trying to get him to access. Hyogoro decides not to run and instead stay in the path of Big Mom to increase Luffy's need to succeed. Luffy rises to the challenge, blossoming with newfound power, and preparing to take on an Emperor of the Sea head-on.
What a phenomenal episode with excellent animation, direction, and character moments. Big Mom is one of the story's most fascinating villains and any time she appears it's a treat. Finding out that her hunger rage was for the people of Ebisu rather than herself was a big o-o-f in the heart and the anime did a terrific job rendering the impact of that scene. Luffy's hilarious inability to have an internal monologue and the bit where he thought Big Mom didn't recognize him because of his “disguise” had me rolling.
Speaking of impact and rolling, wow the fights this week. The titanic, screen-shaking battering Queen took at Big Mom's hands was glorious to watch. All the shaky cam POV shots from low angles really made Big Mom feel appropriately terrifying. It's hard as a viewer not to get the sense that you are right there in her shadow as she begins her rampage, and the pressure is on. The absolutely absurdity of the events – kaiju matriarch versus punk-rock dinosaur wrestling match – does not feel out of place at all, because the execution is flawless.
Luffy's Ryou awakening was the cherry on top. The black screen with the burning hot pink blossoms coming up from the depths, then the way they rippled across Luffy's body as his armament activated… just wow. Again, hats off to the Toei team for elevating the (already excellent) source material. Even as someone who has already read these chapters in the manga, it was something special to see it fully realized on the screen.
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...