One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 991-995

Yet another shorter batch of episodes. I'm running out of things to say on this opening paragraph. Consider that I write a typical "this isn't a review, just my reaction" disclaimer. Yamato shows up here! 

Episode 991:

• Perospero's giant candy slug is orange. I'm not sure what I expected, but orange is sure a pretty gross colour to give him. 
• Usopp and Chopper very nearly got 'Life or Treat'ed until Prometheus calls Big Mom away and distracts her with Nami and Zeus's presence. I actually don't remember this big from the manga, but it does add a fair bit of tension to the scene. 
• We also get a far more explicit showcase of Usopp and Chopper reacting to the Brachio-tank transforming to the Franky Shogun's bottom half. Remember how everyone was like 'Big Mom turned it into a Homie!' back when this chapter is released?
  
• I do really like that scene with Big Mom making yokai homies a lot. 
• Robin totally breaks the neck of that one random goon that tries to flirt with her. 
• They're most definitely in the manga, but the anime gives the giant stag beetle Gifter and his buddies actual lines and a bit more screentime. I appreciate it. The mantis lady actually tried to get Zoro to join them!
• The anime is also a bit more explicit with Yamato having a flashback to her fight against Ace when she tanks Luffy's Red Hawk. 

Episode 992:

• Robin and Jinbe pretending to be Beasts Pirates and going 'yo, yo' while affecting a bad accent is actually much funnier with voice-acting. 
• I didn't really notice it disrupting the flow of the story, but over the past couple of episodes they did use the Polar Tang transporting the samurai while dodging underwater whirlpools as convenient padding. A bit more noticeable is Nekomamushi and Izo's arrival, which felt a bit too long. 
• Bao Huang is adorable. 
• God dang, that shot with Kaidou and his three lieutenants overshadowing Orochi looks great all shadowed with Queen's club lights and shit. 
• I'm actually surprised they didn't add a shot of Yamato in the Oden flashback scenes, honestly. 

Episode 993:

• As expected, the poorly-paced (i.e. barely-there) Akazaya Nine fight with Kanjurou is extended in the anime, and while I don't expect this to take up gigantic chunks of time, I do appreciate that we get the samurai fighting some headless ink horsemen or Kawamatsu doing a kappa-style attack and stuff.
• No one recapped the fact that Kanjurou is a traitor to Izo and Nekomamushi, but I guess Kanjurou's evil monologue allows them to jump to the right conclusion almost immediately. 
• Kanjurou doing an evil monologue and mocking Kiku's little attempt at reconciliation happens basically how you'd expect it to -- with a pretty generic set of dialogue -- but, again, it's really nice to see it happen as opposed to having it mostly offscreened. 
• That's a pretty cool entrance by Big Mom, with the lightning and the homie army just as Kaidou is giving his big speech. The next episode's opening extends even more on this, shooting Big Mom and giving her this glowing yellow filter. 

Episode 994:

• Yeah, Orochi being decapitated mid-rant is even more cathartic with voice-acting and pretty great animation. Again, another great way of wink-winking towards the censors since there's barely any blood, just a huge slash. 
• Yeah, Kiku-vs-Kanjurou, while it's just the two of them rehashing tricks we've seen them do before, is also really so much more impactful when it's given the time to breathe. It also overall makes them feel a bit more fleshed out since they're doing their signature moves a couple more times more often. 
• Kanjurou also goes back and forth between mocking Kiku for believing in his acting and actually doing the 'oh wait forgive me I actually do like you guys' act a couple of times. We even get to see pompadour Kanjurou from the flashbacks! Again, it's nothing that means all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it gives the Kiku moment later on in the arc a lot more impact since we actually see her struggle a fair bit with accepting Kanjurou as a true villain. 
• A pretty cool final slash, too, with Kiku 'cutting down her heart' represented by a younger version of her chasing after Kanjurou. 
• That's actually a cool shot of Kanjurou falling down on an imagined stage, as well as the other Scabbards gathering around Kanjurou's 'corpse'. It's always been one of the weaker storytelling beats in the manga version how this fight is glossed over so quickly. 
• Yamato's eyes going from the cool opening-glowing yellow to a face-fault is funny. 

Episode 995:

• Always liked the little moment of Old Man Hyo getting pissed off that Orochi's subordinates so casually discard their loyalty to their master and almost immediately join up with Kaidou.
• This episode, unlike the previous episode, just faithfully adapts the Momonosuke-being-defiant scene and the Sunacchi scenes very faithfully... but those two are two of the stronger moments in the Wano arc, so having those adapted well most certainly is a pleasant treat. 
• "We're not the ones who'll start the great battle." Even Luffy understands the rule of drama!
• Holy fucking shit, though, that black-and-white scene of the Scabbards rushing towards Kaido with only red as the highlights of the sparks left by their swords or the fury in their eyes... it's also the most explicit we've seen blood in this arc, with the remnants of Denjirou and Kin'emon's sword slashes and Izo's bullets being unmistakably the blood of his victims.... and, of course, for the huge 'Scabbards make Kaidou bleed' moment. 
• Jack literally just got himself bitch-slapped to the ground by Nekomamushi. This arc isn't kind on the poor dude. 
• All this talk about Ace in this arc and I've never quite realized the parallels of both Ace and Momonosuke doing something monumentally stupid just to defend the pride of someone precious to them. 
• The animation studio really likes Yamato, huh? Or maybe it's just her colour scheme. But I do feel like they put in a bit more effort into her facial closeups. 
• We get an extra scene of Usopp and Chopper just trying to tip-toe around the sleeping Numbers in the half-Franky-Shogun. 
• Also pretty important for pacing reasons is Marco actually meeting and clashing with Perospero in the ocean. For something that's otherwise pretty meaningless, they gave the huge phoenix-brand explosion some pretty great animation. Perospero's distaste for the alliance with Kaido is also more explicitly stated in a motive rant on his part.