The Thousand Sunny crew is being swarmed on all sides. Big Mom is right on their tail, and big shots like Daifuku and Smoothie are bringing in massive fleets to surround the Straw Hats. What once began as a wedding assassination gone wrong in the early morning has turned into a giant naval battle that's persisted into the night, long enough for the clear full moon to show itself and for Carrot to demonstrate the long-teased true power of the Minks. It's kind of odd, because the revelation that this particular night happened to be a full moon means there must have been an entire month since our adventures on Zou, which doesn't sound quite right, but whatever.
Before we get further into the Carrot stuff, I feel like it's worth noting that we're also seeing a pretty noteworthy change in Big Mom herself. She's been rampaging for so long that she's actually losing weight from all the calories burned. (Luffy's already done something like this a few times this arc alone, so it's not abnormal for One Piece.) But her demeanor is changing too—she's growing tired and sunken-eyed, much more demonic and witch-like. She's like an extreme version of what we see in our heroes, where she's so headstrong and determined to get what she wants that she's willing to rampage until her body just withers away and dies. If the Straw Hats were willing to survive long enough for that to happen, that could possibly be the way to beat her.
And on that note, we have yet another example of such a character in Carrot's new "Sulong" form. If untrained, a Sulong (aka "Moon Lion") will fight until they run out of stamina and get themselves killed. Carrot's been trained by Pedro, but even if that's the case, we don't want her staying in this new form for very long. The transformation sequence is much more Super Saiyan than Sailor Moon. The latter seemed likely to me since her new form is so beautiful and elegant, and we all know how much Carrot loves drawing her sparkly shojo fanart, but the former makes sense with the intended animalistic nature of the transition.
As Carrot Fanboy Numero Uno, this was a highly anticipated episode for me. I assumed it was the kind of episode that would get top priority production values, but the adaptation honestly leaves a lot to be desired. I appreciate the emphasis on atmosphere, but the accompanying action scene's animation quality can't keep up with the choreography at all. Not only is Sulong Carrot incredibly fast and powerful, but she can straight-up fly and take on fleets of pirates on her own. She's on a time limit because of that whole possibly-dying thing, so she uses her brief window to kick a bunch of goons' asses and pick off the steering wheels from their ships. The Straw Hats can't overpower the Big Mom pirates, so this chase is all about doing what they can to stay several inches ahead. That's what Carrot's movement emphasizes, but too much of the fluid motion is implied instead of demonstrated.
This is a huge moment for Carrot. It's her biggest showstopper of the arc and our formal introduction to what the Minks might be capable of in the future. Now we get to sit and wonder what the other Minks might look like under the full moon, so get your Moon Lion Dogstorm and Cat Viper fanart ready!
Personally, I wish I walked away from this episode with a lot more excitement. It's similar to the sake cup scene with Jimbei earlier, where the elation I felt while reading the manga could never be taken away, but this episode doesn't have the oomph I need in order to go all in with these reviews. The material being covered is really neat, I just wish I could say the execution went the extra mile.
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 ...
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...
60th, final episode of previous anime streamed on YouTube on Friday― The official Twitter account for the anime of Penguin Box's Odekake Kozame (Little Shark's Outings) manga announced on Friday that the manga will get a new anime series. Update: The staff revealed a visual for the new series in a press release on Saturday. The previous anime series debuted on YouTube last August, and its 60th and f...
Recently ended manga follows middle school student living with mysterious bird-looking creature― Shogakukan announced on Friday that Akira Konno's Kujima Utaeba Ie Hororo manga is inspiring an anime. The "bird(?) home comedy" manga's story starts when first-year middle school student Arata Kōda meets a mysterious bird-looking creature named Kujima in autumn. Hungry and craving Japanese food, Kujima ...
As Slam Dunk reached its final stretch, I can see why this series is considered the sports classic that it is today.― This is the largest batch of Slam Dunk episodes that I've reviewed thus far. Originally, I wanted to review the show in more even seasons, but given its overall pacing and release, it wasn't easy to find a moment where it felt right to stop and start again. However, as we approached ...
James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY.― Yatagarasu Gets Violent! James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu, in which Wakamiya plays his hand to find out the truth behind his older brother's scheming to obtain the throne. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY; Hunter x Hunter manga is on its ...
Making a sequel to Code Geass is a daunting task. But with its fantastic main character and a story that doesn't undercut what came before, Rozé of the Recapture is on the right track.― Making a sequel to Code Geass—especially one set close to the end of the series—is a daunting task. Any story that involves an ongoing war massively undercuts both the finale of the original anime and the sacrifices ...
The Switch sequel console is finally happening! The details are scarce, but you can find out more in this week's column. Also: an interview with El Shaddai's Sawaki Takeyasu, Microsoft layoffs, and more.― Welcome back, folks! What a wild week this has been for the gaming industry. We'll go further into it, but jeez. This past week also saw the disappearance of Capcom's Dark Void and Dark Void Zero. ...
The Code Geass creator discusses his new project with Web3 company Azuki, Enter the Garden, and his hope that this new path could help the medium evolve.― Los Angeles-based Web3 anime-styled brand Azuki and advertising conglomerate Dentsu debuted the first nine-minute episode of their joint anime endeavor, Enter the Garden, on April 30. The episode, which has already racked up a quarter of a million...