Episode 1005
- New opening! This one's called PAINT. I think I like 'Over the Top' more, but I really do like the animation for this one.
- I know we still have the entirety of Roof Piece and the 1v1 after this, but man, it's so satisfying to see Kaido's eyes twitch as his wound splurts with blood. I also feel like his dragon form's animation was super smooth in this episode, or is that just me?
- Not a whole ton to say about this one, honestly -- it's just a pretty decent adaptation of the Ice Oni sequence, albeit with a couple expected extended scenes -- like Zoro recognizing one of the nameless samurai he met before as one of the Ice Oni, or the other Straw Hats giving more exposition on why the plague is so evil. There's nothing particularly wrong with the Ice Oni sub-plot, I just really don't have much to say about it.
- Luffy and Sanji fighting Briscola is extended a bit to make the 'why did the gorilla grow like that' joke a bit funnier.
- Okay, I'm guessing a lot of the Flower Capital celebration scenes will be used over and over again in the many times we cut back there, but those are some pretty shots for sure. The anime also makes it a point to give short lines to the secondary characters like the carpenter that employed Franky or that one grandma from Okobore town and stuff, making it feel a bit less abstract.
- ...clearly, Ashura Doji's the only one of the Scabbards with a brain. Everyone was straight-up celebrating that Kaido's fallen! I get it, it's for dramatic effect for when Kaido actually wakes up and starts breathing out wind sickles, but come on.
- Kaido chomping at the moon and devouring the image of Oden is a very cool one.
Episode 1006
- I've been reading the Wano arc for years now and I've only realized when watching this episode that it's called the 'right brain tower'. Because the island is a giant skull.
- Yeah, okay, Yamato/Momo/Shinobu scenes are starting to kinda grate -- Shinobu's fake ninja walls are kinda neat, I guess, but otherwise...
- "THIS IS FOR KILLING PAY-TAN!!!" God, I love Ulti. What a goober.
- I remember the rhino-centaur, the four-armed stag beetle guy, crab-lady and hedgehog guy from Sasaki's armoured squadron. I think turtle-centaur guy was in the manga, too. But... but was that fucking guy whose had is attached to a... a train? With tank treads? What the fuck is that guy?
- The fight with the turtle-centaur-Viking is a bit more extended here for sure. Man, poor Shinobu. I really feel bad for her.
- Yamato taking down the turtle centaur is given way more animation budget than it deserves. Not that I'm complaining, holy shit.
- Jigoku Biwa just straight-up capping people in the heads. The headshots actually explode in blood! Honestly, I am kind of surprised.
- "Why didn't you mention Black Leg?!" is still kind of an understated joke here, though I guess it works better like that?
- Yes. Hamlet and Fourtricks' debut is actually set up like a badass monologue before we get to see how ridiculous they are. I approve. I don't know what my mind expected them to sound like, but... but this is most certainly not it.
- So Kaido just... just watches while Kin'emon and Izo cauterize Kiku's wound? It's a scene that happens in the manga, too, but it's different to see the aftermath of it in one panel and to actually see the whole scene with a giant dragon coiling in the background.
Episode 1007
- Make some noise. Queen's spontaneous rapping is pretty entertaining, if I say so myself.
- They're not like, suddenly as memorable as the Scabbards or Tobi Roppo or anything, but I do like that the yakuza bosses actually have a bit of a presence in the anime so when Ohmasa gets infected I'm like 'oh yeah, that guy with the whiskers' instead of going 'who?'
- QUEEEEEEEN PRESENTS! GAME TIME!
- I absolutely love that Apoo's moment of realization that Queen fucked him up is accompanied with a reprise of Queen's Zoom Zoom Zoom Zoom song.
- Yeah, Sulong Nekomamushi and Inuarashi look so much cooler with their glowing Super Saiyan attacks in the anime.
- That poor porcupine gifter! I actually feel bad for him.
Episode 1008
- We actually see Marco vs. Big Mom! It's just Marco blocking a Prometheus attack and stuff, but... but yeah, I didn't know I needed that. Marco's blue flame actually managed to overwhelm Prometheus! Poor Prometheus got knocked down with X's on his eyes.
- Big Mom has Zeus around her other arm as a knuckleduster. I don't understand why she doesn't just beat the shit out of Marco instead of telling Perospero to shoot Marco with a candy arrow.
- Okay, I don't like Apoo, but respect to him -- he actually managed to block Drake and Zoro with his tonfas for quite a bit.
- "Pay-tan, I'm sorry, I apologize!" "Don't call me Pay-tan!'
- The anime makes it a bit more clear that the thing that causes Usopp and Nami to stand back and stop running is Page One and Ulti talking about how the King of Pirates is going to be Kaido. It's a stupid move on their part, but respect on them standing their ground for Luffy.
- They play out Brook being infected (harmlessly) by the ice oni virus with some glorious overacting from Brook's voice-actor. I love it. We have the most hilarious remix of Bink's Sake winding down after Brook does his monologue.
- The Ulti "vs" Usopp and Nami fight is extended a bit more, and I do really like it. There are some really cool sequences like Ulti busting up that hot spring rock formation, or Nami and Usopp at least unleashing some attacks on Ulti, and the anime prolonging Ulti's beatdown on the two Straw Hats... I've always thought Nami refusing to sell out Luffy even with a lie is one of the low-key strongest moments of the Onigashima Raid, and I appreciate that it's actually given almost half an episode to play out.
- The flashback to Luffy's first meeting with Nami during the fucking Buggy arc -- 'the resolve to put your life on the line'... whichever member of the anime staff realized that it's the perfect line to put in here, you deserve a raise.
- Amazing voice-acting from Nami's voice actor, too, really selling someone who's scared as shit but refusing to sell out Lluffy.
- Okay, the comedy bit with Ulti hugging Page One's spinosaur snout while dripping corrosive acid is actually kinda funny.
- Oh yeah, the X-ray to Usopp's skull will never not make me recoil a bit inside.
Episode 1009
- It really is a moment that's followed up with poor Carrot's off-screen defeat, but I very much appreciate the anime extending this moment for Carrot and Wanda taking out Perospero temporarily with their Sulong forms. Focusing on Carrot's grief, as well as a bit of a conflict that lampshades that they were supposed to join the rooftop raid against Kaido...
- It's still kind of a weird transition, though, with Big Mom going 'shoot him, Perospero!' to 'well lol this seems to be your problem, have fun fighting these angry women'. Like, she doesn't even do the simple thing of snapping Marco's neck and just kind of... buggers off into the castle.
- Carrot's transformation into Sulong under the Wano animation team is clean.
- "A dog shouldn't eat a dragon! It goes against the natural order of things!"
- I love that Nami gets to turn the tables on Usopp's running gag of throwing his voice to get her into trouble.
- "It's a good thing that I'm okay!" God bless you, Nami.
- Wait, do real riot shields have those holes for gun rifles to poke out through?
- Yamato showing off her fangs is given a lot more emphasis and an actual foreshadowing to the specific nature of her powers. That's cool!
- Narikabura!
Episode 1010
- Okay, the heartbeats or whatever forming words in the prologue for Law to represent Rocinante's words is something I didn't expect... but is an absolutely cool visual effect.
- I'm also a huge fan of the static distortion effect on the entire screen whenever Kid uses his magnet powers. That's very cool.
- Poker's apparently in the manga. I don't remember him at all! Kid really didn't have the time or power to one-shot him? Really?
- This is like the third time we see Nekomamushi and Inuarashi lose their Sulong forms after Kaido blocks their attack. I know some amount of animation reuse is to be expected, but jeez.
- Kin'emon remembering their escape, leaving Oden in that pot to die, adds extra weight to what's otherwise just him being bashed in the face.
- It's also still mostly offscreen, just like how it was in the manga, but at least the animation team didn't skimp on showing Kaido himself, exuding purple energy blasts as he beats the shit out of the other Scabbards to the ground off-screen.
- ...is this sequence the first time Zoro even met Big Mom? The anime actually has an extra shot of the two of them locking eyes for a bit.
- Zoro getting sick of all the 'games' gets an extra oomph due to the sheer difference in the vibes of the rooftop scene and the intensity of the voice-acting and background music... as opposed to Queen and his rambunctious background music and wacky rapping and stuff. Giving us a scene of Zoro reacting and realizing all of this as the world becomes grayscale all around him is also extremely powerful.
- Zoro cutting down Apoo is... holy fuck, the glint in his eyes, the music building up, slowly cutting down random ice oni, and the simple one-shot... still badass as all hell. I absolutely love how Apoo completely misreads Zoro's absolute I'm-done-with-this-shit phase as some 'hey, he's a honour-over-reason type!'
- That brief aura of random green angry lions before Zoro strikes is beautiful. So is the... however the hell that motion-lines zoom-in to Zoro's face and sword, the smoke exploding from impact, before he one-shots Apoo. Oh, and also the scene going to Apoo's POV for a moment before his glasses -- and our screen -- cracks.
- I love that Sanji being fooled by the 'woman in distress' trick is given some Observation Haki effects.
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