Sometimes I enjoy One Piece for its expansive lore.
Sometimes I enjoy One Piece for its vast interconnected web of characters.
And sometimes I enjoy One Piece for its big dudes doing big hits.
It's honestly incredible that after all these years, some of One Piece's best moments are comprised of its most basic elements. We're approaching the three-decade mark for the series, and seeing Zoro do a big sword slash while Sanji does a big fire kick remains a consistently engaging event.
Episode 1046 gives us fire kicks and slashy swords in spades, with plenty of fan service slathered across every cell. Other than a few shots of Hyogoro and the other samurai talking which are your pretty standard fare, nearly every single sequence in 1046 is dynamite. Fluid motion, blazing fires, and ground-shaking impacts make it feel like Onigashima is coming to life right before your eyes only to be destroyed by the bombastic Straw Hats.
And it's the centering of Sanji and Zoro here that really sell this whole episode. I could be reductive and just summarize the events as “Sanji and Zoro fight Queen and King” and while that's technically true, I think the episode is doing what it should, which is slowing down and putting the spotlight on the Straw Hats in this critical moment. Despite all the new Wano characters who I dearly love, this is ultimately what I'm here for: the journey of Luffy and the Straw Hat pirates. I love how Onigashima has taken time to give the core crew members their moments to shine, and this episode is no exception.
To my mind, seeing Zoro and Sanji do a giant team attack while bickering is akin to hearing Luffy say “I'm going to be the king of the pirates!” No matter how many times it happens, I jump out of my seat and get hyped every time – and I will for years to come.
Crunchyroll to stream upcoming anime― Aniplex and Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that the late manga creator Hisaya Nakajo's Hana-Kimi manga is inspiring an anime. In addition, Crunchyroll announced that it will stream the anime when it premieres in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, the CIS, and India. The announcement did not reveal the deb...
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Grant Jones dives into the wild world of giant monsters and how Kaiju No. 8 builds on their legacy.― Kaiju No. 8 is a series that wears its influences on its sleeves. As the first word in its title suggests, it comes from a long line of works in the kaiju genre, using giant monsters and burning skylines as a backdrop to tell stories. While many likely know kaiju in a passing sense, it may help to h...
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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...
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Director adds that there are no definite plans, but it would be helmed by "someone other than himself"― In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun newspaper, director Hideaki Anno acknowledged that "there may be plans" for more in the Evangelion anime franchise, but possibly with "someone other than [himself]" at the helm, who would receive a high degree of freedom. He added that there are no defi...
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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...
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