As soon as I think Wano fatigue has finally set in, they pull me right back from the brink.
The big rumble with Queen is one of the things in Wano that I struggle to get invested in. I understand the function of it, mind you. It's important to remind the audience that Onigashima is not simply just a few skirmishes between big personalities, but a sprawling battle waged by thousands of warriors for the fate of the new era. It just feels like we cut back to Queen laughing and people turning into ice oni one too many times at this point, and it is starting to wear on me.
That said, boy did we get a big mixup this week.
The battle with Kaido on the roof is expectedly great. I think what really sticks out to me is that even in the face of Kaido's wrath, the source of the Akazaya Nine's fear is not Kaido as much as it is seeing Oden in the afterlife with their duty unfulfilled. They are truly his retainers eternal, and it's heart-wrenching to see them give it all they've got and still come up short. Having no music during the fade to the eye-catch – and making Kaido's booming approaching footsteps the last thing viewers hear before the commercial break – was a brilliant touch.
Then of course it's Zoro time baby. Our favorite green-haired swordsman always gets the jaw-dropping visuals, and Wano has been particularly kind to him. What can I even say about the sequence where he takes down Apoo? How many times can I compliment the team at Toei for their incredible work? We're like three years into Wano at this point, and it's basically been an unbroken run of gorgeous episodes. They pulled out all the stops so many times that they had to have new stops installed just to pull them out again. The cracked shade POV shot from Apoo is somewhat reminiscent of the sequence with Trunks and Frieza, and the glass effect is another nice touch that gave it new texture.
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...
James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film!― Could There Be More Evangelion on the Horizon? James and Lynzee look into Hideaki Anno's latest hint that there might be more Evangelion after the last movie and news on the Lord of the Rings anime film! Plus, we catch up with Kafka and the Ka...
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...
This steamy manga's appeal is going to depend on how much you can stomach a female protagonist who kicks off the romance by assaulting her former fiance.― This is a tricky one. Before You Discard Me, I Shall Have My Way with You is, to all appearances, a story that opens with a sexual assault. Agnès has been betrothed to Crown Prince Lucilleur since childhood, and she's been in love with him just as...
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...
Healer Nanna's powers have one very unique caveat: she has to have sex with the person to heal them. See why Rebecca Silverman calls it "a cute story, decently racy, and generally good, fluffy fun."― One of the fun things about Seven Seas' Steamship line of racy manga aimed at a female audience is finding which romance tropes are prevalent in any given release. While every genre has its tropes and s...
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...
What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf.― What's the perfect recipe for waifu supremacy? Lucas and Nick look at fan-favorites from Yu Yu Hakusho to Spice & Wolf. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.Spoiler Warning for discussion of the s...
Campaign to fund home care nurse as Lillis fights cancer― A GoFundMe campaign launched on Monday for voice actress Rachael Lillis to help fund a home care nurse. The campaign revealed that Lillis has been diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread to her spine, thus leaving her barely able to walk. The campaign noted that Lillis has been in a nursing home in Los Angeles since late January to recei...
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...
The plot is excellent in the romance camp. Everything that happens is to get Eui-joon and Gunwoo together, and it works pretty well.― You can read The Dangerous Convenience Store in English two ways. The first is to read it on the manhwa site/app Manta, which has all seventy-five chapters and four bonus stories available. The second is to read Seven Seas' print (or ebook) edition, which, as of this ...
Kenichi Suzumura, Ayako Kawasumi, Hiro Shimono, Nao Toyama, Takumi Yamazaki, Takaya Hashi join cast― The official website for The Magical Girl and The Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies, the television anime of late creator Cocoa Fujiwara's Katsute Mahō Shōjo to Aku wa Tekitai Shiteita. manga, revealed six new cast members and a third promotional video for the anime on Monday. The video reveals ...
Some older mysteries inch closer to resolution as the true nature of the Abyss slowly comes into view, and long-posed questions start to be answered.― Sometimes, being a fan of Akihito Tsukushi's acclaimed Made in Abyss series means acclimating to suffering. Like many Western devotees, I was introduced to this bizarre, squishy, disturbing world via the 2017 first season of Kinema Citrus' fantastic a...