When we left off last week, Robin had succeeded in using her powers to nab Hakuba, who was speeding towards her with an intent to kill, right out of the air. It was a pretty cool moment (albeit, missing the swiftness of the manga), especially with Robin's confident smirk as she casually halted a character known for his superhuman speed. It turns out that Cavedish's Hakuba state really is a full-blown personality of it's own, and is able to talk and taunt as Cavendish fights to retain control of his body.
I half-expected Hakuba to be given his own voice actor, as I'm getting much more of a supernatural vibe from him than psychological one, but for now that mystery remains unclear. The exchange that Cavendish and Hakuba has, as they dip in and out of each other's control, raises a lot of questions about what their whole situation is. Bartolomeo made a comment last week about how Cavendish's face changed, so characters within the world can interpret that difference as well. It's also been made pretty clear that Hakuba is somehow faster than Cavendish is able to be on his own, as Cavendish has to take advantage of that fact in order to get himself and Robin out of a pinch later in the episode.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HYDE antics aside, this is Bartolomeo's episode. While Cavendish and Robin are up top on the plateau trying to figure out how to deal with Hakuba, Bartolomeo is on the ground using his Barrier-Barrier Fruit to hold off Gladius, the last of Doflamingo's officers to be dealt with in this group. This is where the endless match-ups of fighters gets a little too exhausting for me. Gladius is definitely one of the more boring officers, and while I love Bartolomeo and find him to be a super entertaining character with a great design, it starts to bug me that everything ultimately amounts to his Luffy fanboy-ism.
Bartolomeo's cool because, despite being such a weirdo who's rough around the edges, he is genuinely strong as demonstrated back in the Colosseum. When it was revealed that he was a die hard fan of Luffy's and that was his entire motivation for being in Dressrosa, that was just icing on the cake. Now that he's being given a proper one-on-one fight of his own, I'm a little sad that the big finishing blow still remains all about Luffy (he uses an attack called “Barrier-Barrier Pistol,” a very deliberate homage to Luffy's “Gum-Gum Pistol”). I get that his fanboy nature is what really lights a fire in a lot of audience members, but the fact that that's all he's about now is a little disappointing.
Anyway, this ends up being a pretty slow episode, too. Things got shifted around from the order that they played in the manga, and the result is that some episodes get to be nice and packed while others have to do the usual padding. Lots of air in the scenes, lots of characters repeating themselves, etc.
The final note that the episode ends on is that Robin has now succeeded in entering the Diamante fight on top of the flower field. She swoops in just in the knick of time to save Rebecca from Diamante's slice as Kyros tries to get the upper hand. Everything surrounding the Diamante fight is a minefield in discussions since it raises a lot of questions about One Piece and sexism. Future episodes will be a better time to really dig in and ask those questions but, for now, giving Robin some agency in the fight feels like a good save.
Like I said, this is a better conversation for another time, when Rebecca and Kyros' character arcs play out a little further. I know this topic is not black and white, and no single story decisions are going to break or amend the issue. At the very least, for the time being, the Diamante fight gets to feel a little less like it's about women being protected by men.
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...