One Piece Anime, Wano Arc: Episodes 1072-1073

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This is another pair of episodes centering around Gear Fifth. We're in the home stretch as we wrap up the Wano arc!

Episode 1072:

• Yeah, I wasn't the most impressed with the first outing of Gear Fifth, despite all of the promotion leading up to it, but 1072 is basically where all the best parts are. Admittedly, it's also still a bit too wildly-moving for me that I have to sometimes rewind scenes to see what the fuck is going on. And... it really did hurt my head a bit sometimes to see how wildly things move around in these episodes. It is definitely a unique effect, but part of me really wished they had just gone all-in with the rubber-hose animation and that's it. 
• 
  Anyway, we start off with Kaido muttering about Paramecia awakenings, specifically giving the readers brief flashes of Doflamingo and Katakuri and how their respective awakenings unraveled their surroundings into their Paramecia elements. And the subsequent comparison with Zoans with Kaido's own crew is pretty damn cool!
• We get another mukimukiiii scene as Luffy tries to strongman his way out of Kaido's jaw. 
• The true ridiculousness of Gear Fifth is exemplified a bit more now, with the sequence of Luffy being swallowed extended a fair bit as Luffy bounces around Kaido's gullet and we get to see Luffy just punching and making indentations of his fists, feet and even face poking out of Kaido's belly. 
• Kaido being disrespected as Luffy expands into a balloon inside of his own body, causing him to struggle and bounce all over the place, is also extended a fair bit with all the comical sound effects and the hilarious visual image of Kaido wiggling his tiny dragon arms. 
• It's understated considering how much epicness and silliness is going on, but Kaido getting pissed off and yelling at Luffy -- almost desperately -- to "take this fight seriously!" echoes what Kaido really wants, and to that end Luffy's Gear Fifth that turns everything into a cartoon joke is probably a pretty huge insult to Kaido's barbaric might-makes-right nature. Kinda wished that we highlighted that a bit more.
• 
  Heh, Yamato. "...did he ever have a form like that?"
  
• There's then the sequence with Luffy seeing two bright lights that are Kaido's eyeballs, then stretching his hands through the eyeballs and extending them to open Kaido's mouth to facilitate his Gomu Gomu Escape Rocket. God, the absolute disrespect of this, and it looks even more uncomfortable and wacky in the anime, particularly with the visuals of Kaido's serpentine body expanding and coiling as the gigantic balloon moves up out of his mouth. 
• ...and then the fluid animation comes back, with Momonosuke and Yamato arriving to see the skies with Kaido coiling around... and then the thunderbolts start to illuminate the silhouette of Luffy in the background. Luffy's transformation into Gomu Gomu no Gigant is particularly smooth-looking, and I really do love the shot of him bursting out of the clouds.
  
• And the Gigant fight between giant Luffy against Kaido is extended a fair bit more, and I think Kaido's pretty happy that he gets at least a serious fight out of this as he coils up to fight a giant rubber-man the size of himself. We get a bit more struggling and biting before Luffy, of course, goes all jump-rope with him. 
  
• 
  I'm actually not the biggest fan of the jump-rope animation because it's a bit too... speedy? It looks more like Luffy's just spinning Kaido around without actually jump-roping mid-air, which I thought was kind of important for this scene. 
• Jump-rope Kaido and Luffy falling down back towards Onigashima is animated like a goddamn meteor crashing down onto the planet, though, which is cool. 
• And, of course, Kaido shoots off a Blast Breath mid-fall, consuming Luffy and sending him rocketing across the sky and we get a great tracking shot from Yamato's POV on the ground as a gigantic fire-blast shoots and paints the sky red.
• 
  And Luffy, of course, just gets turned black by the Blast Breath, shakes off the charcoal, spins his legs mid-air and runs on the air all the way back to Onigashima. 
• We then cut to a slightly more extended scene between Kid and Law, who are still fighting and noting that all of their survival does hinge on Straw Hat winning the battle, with Kid being pissed at Law for actually still having enough energy to fight. The two of them actually fight back-to-back, with Kid doing one of those "I look like I'm about to attack you, but I'm attacking the bad guys behind you" sequence.
• Hyogoro, and later Nami and Tama, also get a brief 'we root for Luffy' scene.
• And then time for another clash as the animation goes wacky, Luffy spins around and charges some kind of Red Roc or something... and Kaido gets a great shot as he leaps into the air, surrounded by purple lightning, as he unleashes Conqueror of Three Worlds: Ragnaraku. There's a particularly great shot of him surrounded by lightning, and later on blitzing straight to slam right onto Gigant Luffy's face. 
• And then we get Gigant Luffy's face bursting through the ceiling with his eyes popping out, causing shocked reactions from everyone... and I really did wish that the sound effect for this sequence was a bit more exaggerated? Particularly when Kid and Law joins in with the Looney Tunes eyes-popping. 
  
• Kaido knows what a comic strip is? I guess he's aware of the world outside of Wano. 
• 
  Luffy briefly depowering out of Gear Fifth is given a unique twist in the anime where he reverts back to his regular colours, but they're washed out -- is this a sign that he's not fully out of Gear Fifth, and why he could go back to it easily afterwards?
  
• Another great exchange that's lost in all the madness. Kaido thinks he's doing Luffy a favour, by immortalizing him in legends and myths of this amazing tale of a mythical battle... but Luffy doesn't want any of that.
• And Luffy remembers Momo, Tama, Kin'emon and Pedro... and Luffy charges up like a goddamn Super Saiyan. 
• 
  Kaido notes that Luffy's going to die doing this, and Luffy's response is the very Will of D-esque "do you think I'm afraid of that?" 
  
• This is a very over-the-top transformation sequence, but it's a bit more conventionally badass, and I absolutely love the shot of the ground and rubble around Luffy's fist rumbling as he activates Gear Fifth once more.
• There's a very well-animated sequence using colours and sound effect and I do think the aura and lines around Luffy rippling as he yells "beat, heartbeat!" and does that gigantic clap that sends a wave of rubberization across the battlefield... okay, that is a great usage of this over-the-top animation style. 
  
• And we get even more Gear Fifth stuff as Luffy runs around and churns the ground behind him, and then takes a hit from Kaido's kanabo so hard that his face is left as an impression on the spikes of the club. This is where the animation kind of lost me as everything kind of flows into action blurs while Luffy runs around and Kaido chases him and clubs him into the ground with the black lightning Haki, 
• 
  There is a cool sequence where Luffy grabs a literal chunk of the rubberized ground and slams it down on Kaido, but there's a lot of things going on with the moving effects and whatnot that this is another part of the episode that I felt could've done better either slowed down or with a tighter focus. And I don't really like talking poorly of the animation because I did enjoy the episode, but I did feel like this part of the episode was a bit too much. The action doesn't really quite get clear until Luffy starts ping-ponging around the earth pillars like Mario or something. 
• And then Luffy punches through Kaido's head, rubberifying Kaido's head and sending his fist pushing through Kaido's head like a glove. With the animation, this was a bit more clear that it's a comedic moment instead of a brutal moment. 
• I also really like that this nonsense is what Luffy finds fun, when previously both Luffy and Kaido are enjoying the fight but it's now very one-sidedly Luffy. 
• And, of course, without any kind of possession plot or whatever, Kaido demands to know who Luffy is, Zunesha thinks about how this is 'just like Joyboy'... but Monkey D. Luffy refuses to bow to any of those labels and says that he's Monkey D. Luffy, the man who'll become the goddamned King of the Pirates, all the while he's wreathed by light. Cool shot! 

Episode 1073:

• After all the Gear Fifth madness, we get a bit of a breather with this one, which... is basically the same thing that happened in the manga. 
• Luffy bouncing up and down is getting a bit annoying, though it could just be the reused sound effects.
• Yeaaaaah, actually flashing back to events from two episodes ago in a montage when Kaido goes 'how ridiculous is your power' is really not a good look. Flashing back immediately afterwards to Jack, Queen and King's defeats is also kind of a bit too much, especially since the Queen/King takedowns have some dialogue replayed instead of just showing the moments of their defeat. 
• 
  We get Kaido unleashing the first Kundali Ryuseigun, which... isn't the most impressive animation. Luffy spinning around and going full Tazmanian Devil launching fists out at Kaido is a lot more fun and it's way more appropriate for this chaotic animation -- mostly because despite its hecticness, I can still follow this action sequence. 
• I do really like that Luffy's just entirely so cocksure that his crewmates would be able to handle the entire island/castle catching fire. It really doesn't quite come up as much as it should, but I really do love it when Luffy just leaves things for his friends to handle, trusting that they'll find a way just as he's going to find a way to beat the big bad guy.
• ...it does kind of is a funny sequence, going from Luffy's badass eyeball glaring at Kaido to him spinning his legs Looney-Tunes style. 
• Kaido's getting annoyed at Luffy's laughter, and we get the hilarious sequence where Luffy pulls his body up by the crotch to avoid a Demolition Gust. "It almost hit my crotch!"
• At around the 9 minute mark, Luffy jumps into the skies, having an idea with the thunderbolts, and we cut back to basically just seeing everyone panic at the burning Onigashima. 
• I do like the little detail of Chopper asking Zeus to try and put out the fire, which he's not strong enough to do. 
• I also really like the little deadpan joke of Robin telling Brook "yes, I don't want to end up like you" when they are discussing being burnt alive. 
• We do really just check in with everyone, even Apoo and Inbi. I do like that Usopp and Hamlet's little comedy routine with Usopp summoning a little 'Sprinkler' flower that immediately catches on fire is extended a bit. 
• Hamlet goes "please include me in the list of people you want to save!"
• 
  And, yeah, this is Raizo's big moment, as he and Jinbei find each other and find a way to put out the flames. 
• While the Fukurokuju fight isn't quite as extended the way I wanted it to, I do appreciate them giving Raizo a longer monologue as he thinks about how helpless he was when Oden's castle burnt down and he wasn't able to save anyone, which is why he developed a countermeasure towards fire in general. 
• With his fight against Fukurokuju also revolving around withstanding being set on fire, you really get the impression that Raizo is truly trying to resolve his trauma against flames and basically find all kinds of countermeasures against flame. 
  
  
• Ninpo! Maki Maki no Jutsu! Zou no Mizuobi! NIN NIN NIN! HOKAN!
• Okay, yeah, you just know some of the SMILE users probably drowned in that flood. 
• And with the whole water flooding sequence done, the episode ends with the epic cliffhanger of the chapter this episode is based on, with the badass and amazingly animated sequence of Luffy grabbing lightning like a javelin and about to lob it at Kaido!
  
  

Let's Play Pokemon Violet - The Indigo Disk, Part 5: London Bridge Falls YOU Down

Yeah, this was a bit... longer for me to write. A lot of the Indigo Disk playthrough in the 

So after capturing the Duraludon in the previous part, I ended up running around farming the 300 BP's I need to buy the Metal Alloy. It does give a fair amount of things to do over time as I explore the Terarium, since items like this cost 300 BP or so, the Elite Four fights cost 50 BP each, and eventually when I upgrade the Terarium to spawn the starters, it'll all cost 3000 BP a pop. Not to mention the whole customization of the club rooms and such that I haven't really mucked around with. 

I did get the Metal Alloy and evolve London the Duraludon into an Archaludon, and shiny Archaludon is much more different. The, uh... ridges of the bridge (I am terrible at bridge anatomy) are blue instead of an almost-black, and the red highlights being changed to silvery-white to blend with the rest of Archaludon's primary colours works a lot better compared to the original shiny Duraludon. 

I don't really plan to be super-competitive with my EV's and IV's, but I did feed a bunch of Calcium and Smart Feathers to raise Archaludon's Special Attack. He's got Electro Shot (an electric-type Solarbeam, basically), which I think is his signature move, as well as STAB moves Dragon Pulse and Flash Cannon. It's actually surprising for me to learn that both Duraludon and Archaludon are special attack oriented, though I suppose considering the 'bridge mode' is a railgun cannon, it shouldn't be that surprising for the evolution. 

I do find the 'bridge mode' both goofy and silly, with the 'support wires' manifesting out of energy as Archaludon charges up for his robotic murder-beams. I find the regular Archaludon to look insanely goofy,  particularly since I also see him as a staples-remover thanks to the body layout, but... I think running around with this shiny does manage to make me develop an inordinate amount of love for this thing. I'll definitely be using him non-stop until the end of the Blueberry Academy championship, if nothing else. 

I do want to clear the story as fast as I can with the limited amount of time I have to play the game, so I go straight into Amarys's trial. She brings me to some random field away from her battlegrounds for her trial. I do like that she mistakes Miraidon's vocalizations ("Agias") as its name. There's some excuse handwave where apparently by consuming the candy that Amarys gave him, Miraidon's now just able to fly? It's a Terarium plant, and I guess it's just building up on the running gag of Miraidon getting power-ups from magic food. 

The actual trial isn't anything super-impressive, honestly, just flying and moving Miraidon through hoops in the air. It's a bit similar to Grusha's trial, except that this, I think, is going to be a mechanic Miraidon learns in the game itself. I don't hate it, but I think it's so slow compared to other games I played recently with this sort of flying mechanic that it's kind of disappointing. 

Before the fight, Amarys asks me what Kieran is to me, giving me the option of 'pal', 'rival' or 'I don't know'. I answer rival, and Amarys surmises that I see Kieran as a worthy adversary. She gives a bit of a monologue about how she's a very close friend to Carmine, and for her sake if nothing else, she wants to help Kieran. Which... is nice, but it also kind of translates to her wanting to beat me and keep her... position... in the Elite Four? Okay, yeah, now you lost me, lady.

Amarys is a Steel-type trainer, if her nut-bolt hairdo and pocketwatch hasn't clued you in. She sends out Skarmory and Alolan Dugtrio, against my Darkrai and my shiny Archaludon... which I realize is around 20 levels underleveled. Welp. This Dugtrio/Skarmory team, of course, instantly unleashes an Earthquake that knocks poor London the Archaludon out. But then Darkrai instantly Dark Voids both of them, and both Darkrai and Ogerpon begin to chisel away and take out these two. A Scizor gets sent in that takes poor Darkrai out with Pounce, which I felt was hilariously disrespectful. 

I send out Garganacl, and Amarys sends out Reuniclus. I love that each Elite Four member in Blueberry has a single Pokemon that they just like and isn't part of their signature typing. Garganacl spams Rock Slide, though it really isn't dealing the most damage to them, while the Reuniclus sets up a Trick Room. The Scizor manages to survive on a sliver of HP and murder Ogerpon. 

Garganacl's Rock Slide might not do as much damage as I want to, but the big salt boy absorbs Energy Balls like there's no tomorrow. Clodsire zips in, taking advantage of the Trick Room to unleash his moves a bit early. An Earthquake murders everyone -- including my own Garganacl, which probably isn't the smartest thing to do. 

And then Amarys sends out her aces -- a pseudo legendary and a starter. Metagross and Empoleon! Metagross gets Terastralized and looks... rather ridiculous but sort of appropriate with a spiky battleaxe sticking out of his spider head? Empoleon unleashes a Grass Knot that takes out Clodsire and Metagross just unleashes Hammer Arms here and there. Together, the two of them... actually wipe my entire team out. Clodsire wasn't able to one-shot the two of them with an Earthquake, while my sixth, an Iron Leaves, gets one-shot by a critical Ice Beam. 

And... yeah, I actually get taken out by an Elite Four member. Granted, I wasn't trying too hard, but it's pretty fun to see them do a better job at fighting me!

Anyway, round two and I swap my team around. Not to specifically counter Amarys because that wouldn't be too much fun, but so that the team actually can work together a bit better. Dugtrio and Skarmory face off against Garganacl and Iron-Jugulis, the latter being able to avoid Earthquake. The Skarmory gets taken down by a combination of Rock Slide and Dark Pulse, and this time around Amarys sends out Empoleon a bit early. 

And... you'd think the Empoleon is here to take care of Garganacl with a Hydro Pump, but no. It's the Dugtrio that kills my Garganacl with an Iron Head. Jugulis finishes off Dugtrio, and Empoleon... Grass Knots Iron Jugulis? Okay, you do you. We get a rematch as Darkrai comes out against Scizor, and immediately gets Pounced to death. This just isn't your day, Darkrai. Sorry. 

We get a starter fight as I send out Skeledirge out. And despite having a squishy Fire starter up against a Water starter... the Empoleon ignores Skeledirge and uses Grass Knot on Iron Jugulis again. Okay? Skeledirge is free to Flamethrower Scizor to death, Iron Jugulis takes out the Empoleon, and Skeledirge gets a free Shadow Ball to murder Reuniclus. Jugulis did fall to one final Pounce from Scizor, though.

I send out Koraidon, and together with Skeledirge they double-team the Terastralized Metagross. In his last act of defiance, Metagross uses... Zen Headbutt. Which doesn't get STAB, and doesn't even manage to take away more than half of Koraidon's health. Amarys just wasn't on the ball in this rematch. She gives some generic dialogue about strength reflecting beliefs, and apparently this battle proves that... my desire to help Kieran is greater than hers? No, lady, you beat me. And also, I'm here to get the money and status, not necessarily just to help Kieran. 

Drayton shows up and talks to the 'champ in the making', and notes that it's unexpected but nice that Amarys and Carmine are super-close friends despite having polar opposite personalities. Apparently Amarys is super-sensitive, despite being rather rigid. The game doesn't force me to do this, but I did save Drayton for last and he's rather pumped that I saved him as the last Elite Four member. 

I fly to the upper-left Polar Biome, and was about to fork out the 50 BP to challenge Drayton when he shows up, waives the fee and tells the receptionist to charge it on his account. Cool, cool. Drayton notes that as a cold-weather guy in the icy tundra, it does make him rather unusual among Dragon-type experts. Drayton gives me his challenge, and I'm surprised that he even bothered thinking up of one. It's nowhere as elaborate as the other three's, however, and it's a fighting challenge. With a twist! I need to catch Pokemon that are caught wild in the Terarium. 

I love this. To quote Drayton himself, he refuses to let me use my "vault of beefy Pokemon" to "cheese through" the battle. It really does help to enforce some interaction with the Terarium area. Of course, I already have a couple of boxes' worth of evolved Terarium Pokemon to pick from, chief among them London the Shiny Archaludon. 

I pick out a team of former party members from previous games to hang out with the shiny Archaludon -- a Metagross, a Galvantula, a Flygon, an Araquanid, and... an Alolan Exeggutor for the memes. 

Three trainers face off against me, and I resolve to use Archaludon in each and every battle. The first guy uses a Rampardos and a Bastiodon against my Archaludon and Metagross. Archaludon one-shots the Rampardos with a Flash Cannon, while Metagross Hammer Arms the Bastiodon. The second lady uses Dewgong and Alolan Sandslash against Archaludon and Galvantula. One Flash Cannon and one Thunder later, we're off to the next battle, which is against an Iono fanboy with Zebstrika and Magnezone, that gets taken down by Flygon and Exeggutor. 

I actually wished the enemies had more robust parties, but I guess they really didn't want to make this too irritating for people that aren't wacky capture-freaks like me. Anyway, the actual fight against Drayton allows me to bring a regular party. At this point in time I'm kind of tired, though, and I just stack my roster with legendaries to fight against Drayton's dragons. 

So Drayton sends out Dragonite and Flygon against my Koraidon and Archaludon. My strategy is simple -- Koraidon will Outrage. That is it. Koraidon's Outrage almost one-shots the Dragonite. Archaludon doesn't manage to take out either dragons, but a combination of Flygon's Earthquake and a new move I don't think I've ever seen before from Dragonite called "Ice Spinner" takes out Archaludon. It's kinda cute, I think it's meant to be based on someone spinning around in ice-skating. 

I send out my Chien-Pao, who uses his priority Ice Shard to murder the Flygon. Koraidon tanks an Ice Spinner, from the Dragonite, who proceeds to get Ice Sharded to death as well. Drayton sends out a Haxorus... which almost dies to another Outrage hit that lands... but Focus Sash! The bastard! The Haxorus lived long enough to Iron Head Chien-Pao to death. 

I send out Roaring Moon, and Drayton sends out Kingdra. Completely by coincidence, this means that Roaring Moon benefits with Protosynthesis from Koraidon's ability. Nice! I totally planned that! Roaring Moon spams Breaking Swipe, and Koraidon kills Haxorus with another Outrage hit. Kingdra, however, unleashes Rain Dance, which ruins my Protosynthesis.

And Drayton sends out... Sceptile? That's his token starter and his token non-type, though it is hilarious to note that Mega Sceptile, a form that isn't in this game, is actually a Dragon-type. 

Kingdra's Hurricane finally takes down Koraidon, before the Kingdra itself falls to Breaking Swipe. Sceptile unleashes an X-Scissor that critical hits and takes down my Roaring Moon. And... it's rather obvious that Drayton's signature Pokemon was going to be an Archaludon from the trailers, so he sends it out. A regular, normal, non-shiny, peasant of an Archaludon. My two final Pokemon are Miraidon and Iron Valiant (which has an Electric Terrain synergy, again, unintended but a nice little serendipity). 

Drayton waxes some lyrical about watching 'this dragon's blood boil'. Does Archaludon even have blood? Archaludon Terastralizes, and... you know what? The end result looks like some modern art piece. It stacks a messy dragon totem design on an already messy design in Archaludon. There's so much going on in this terastral form that I'm not even mad, it's kinda neat. 

Miraidon one-shots the Archaludon with a Dragon Pulse or something, while Iron Valiant takes out the Sceptile with a Close Combat. Not... not the most climactic finish after a rather exciting battle, but there you go! I beat all the Elite Four members. 

Drayton is ready to make me the 'real deal', part of the BB League, since I beat all four Elite Four members. There are a lot of 'Elite Four' and 'Elite One' awful puns from Drayton, though I really do like the little detail that he completely forgot to prepare the TM that he's supposed to give me. It's Dragon Cheer, which is a new buffing move for double battles that works better on dragons. 

And now I can challenge Kieran! Kieran shows up with his background music, comments on my slow progress, and notes that he knows Drayton is planning some vague schoolyard politics scheme. I really am not at all invested in whatever's going on in this school, which I think does contribute to my slow burn through the Indigo Disk DLC. But Kieran struts off, wanting to fight me and settle who is the strongest. 

I'm going to bring Ogerpon to bash his Pokemon's face in, but that's going to be next time!

Random Notes:

• Google tells me that there's a free Metal Alloy for me to pick up at the highest point of Chargestone Cavern, and as I walk around unlocking all the fly points, I pick that up too. I guess I'll use it for a regular peasant Archaludon, just to have that form in my Pokedex.
• The game really likes to have Amarys do her 'pocketwatch check' animation. It's cute the first couple of times, but when she does it like 2 times back-to-back right before the battle it just feels a bit too much. 
  
• Apparently Amarys's team is infamous for being assholish because the Skarmory would Whirlwind your team out and impale the newcomers on Stealth Rock. I never, ever saw either of these moves despite repeating the fight against Amarys. 
• The photo with Amarys is kinda funny, with her emotionlessly making the 'heart' symbol with your fingers, while my character seems surprised that she's doing a rather cutesy pose with a super-serious deadpan expression. 
• Drayton goes all about the 'majesty of the Polar Biome Court' before waving it off as 'nah, it's the same as all the other battle courts, but colder'. I like his snark, but damn, the Tetris Block battle courts do look ugly as hell. 
• Holy hell the Paradox Pokemon are starting to get TCG artwork and they look badass. 

One Piece 1105 Review: Bombardment

One Piece, Chapter 1105: The Height of Folly

Not actually super excited about this one, but I don't think it's easy to top the previous chapter of Kuma bashing Saturn's face in. It's mostly just moving characters around, as everyone reacts to the Buster Call. Again, I'm... not the most excited about the Buster Call since it hasn't really done anything but destroy some property, though this chapter does a pretty great job at showcasing and highlighting the amount of resources that's going to be lost. Egghead Island itself is Vegapunk's crown jewel, and it also represents a whole ton of resources that could benefit humanity. 

Vegapunk still thinks he can debate with Saturn about the 'good of humanity', but, of course, what Saturn thinks Vegapunk is doing is 'hiding something that could hinder the world government'. Considering just how much crap Vegapunk has pulled, though, I can't really blame Saturn? I'm just surprised he doesn't at least try and steal Punk Records for himself or something. 

A nice bit of cruelty -- even if I really felt like it should've involved a couple of named characters -- is that Vegapunk's forces pulled a bit of an Akainu and sunk a ship full of civilians. The random nameless scientists that Vegapunk evacuated several dozen chapters ago. Of course, Saturn handwaves this as an acceptable cost for limiting any spread of Void Century knowledge, but he definitely loved rubbing it in Vegapunk's face. 

Sanji goes off to apparently fight Vegapunk while Franky, Atlas, Kuma and Bonney evacuate, though we don't really see him for the rest of the chapter. We do see the MIA Straw Hats, with Usopp, Nami and Chopper... evacuating Robin! Apparently Robin was injured in the pre-mini-timeskip events. It's... it's really weird just how long Robin's been out of the spotlight and I don't really think this payoff is particularly satisfying? I'm not sure if "she's actually doing something" would've been particularly satisfying either, though I really am not a big fan of flashing back to the time between the revelation of York as as a traitor and the resolution of that subplot. Oh well. 

We get a fun sequence of Lilith and Brook recovering the Thousand Sunny, with Brook turning the clouds into ice and them sliding the Thousand Sunny on them. There's some slapstick comedy about Brook not thinking about the logistics of how the ship will stop, but otherwise it's another nice check-in with some characters we haven't seen in a while. 

And then the bombardment happens, with Marine ships and Pacifistas opening fire. There's a nice, sad shot of Vegapunk watching his city of the future being demolished. Meanwhile, the capsule ship that Team Franky is in gets attacked by Kizaru, who summons his lightsaber and slices the shuttle -- but no one inside -- in half. All the people inside fall down and Saturn commands all Pacifista to fire on Bonney and Kuma, focusing on them alone. This sequence ends with an ominous bit where there are the lights of cannons firing up from the surface, while Kuma wraps himself around Bonney. We get some monologues from Saturn (talking about this struggle being the titular height of folly) and Vegapunk (who's horrified at the idea that Kuma-looking clones are going to kill Bonney).

...and then we get two random final scenes. Luffy's... not been kidnapped by Kizaru, Caribou, Catarina Devon, the giant robot, Stussy or any of that stuff. He just... ate too much and fell. Extremely anticlimactic, even moreso than the 'where's Robin' one, and this, I feel, is a black mark in an otherwise rather excellent arc. 

Oh, and we get to see a bunch of Marine ships sank by an unknown party, and they're trying to report to Kizaru that a mysterious THEY are heading to Egghead. Eh. 

I dunno. I just didn't feel like this was super-epic enough? I think it's mostly because Saturn and Kizaru really barely do anything and I just didn't feel like the Buster Call or the generic Pacifistas are much of  a threat. It's not a bad chapter, just one that I felt didn't push the pedal on the tension as well as previous chapters did. 

Random Notes:

• Again, Kizaru's expressions remain super opaque and oblique. We get a zoom-in to him telling Doll and the other Vice Admirals to leave, but who knows what he really means with that order. Desperation? Getting the other Marines out of the line of fire? Resolution? 
• Zoro is still fighting Lucci online, and Jinbe has separated from the group to get them. I really can't stress just how... non-epic the Lucci/Zoro fight has became thanks to it being completely offscreen. Even if it's some epic fight, Jinbe showing up is going to really knock Lucci down a couple of pegs. 
• Doll gets a brief cameo talking to Saturn and Kizaru, but getting told to evacuate with the others with Kizaru. Still no name for the otter-Zoan Vice Admiral. 
• So who hurt Robin? York, I guess? Or is it S-Snake? I really don't remember what happened before the mini timeskip.
• Any guesses on the unknown arrivals? It could be the Blackbeard Pirates, I guess, but it could as easily be the Grand Fleet or Shanks or Cross Guild or Rayleigh or the Revolutionaries, heck, honestly anyone else at this point.
• I personally want it to be the Revolutionaries just so they do something in the story. Dragon's really been offscreen for so long that when he does something it's going to be a 'finally, god' moment instead of a 'oh god this is so epic' moment.

What If S02E02 Review: Annihilation

What If, Season 2, Episode 2: What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

So I do kind of like this episode a bit better than the previous one... and I really do think that What If? episode can get polarizing because people expected and wanted rather different things from each episode. The previous episode, the season premiere, basically was genre fiction that masqueraded as a What If episode, and we've had several of these over the first season as well (Marvel Zombies; Party Thor). Some people want more 'serious' What If's, and personally, I'm far more invested in What Ifs that allowed lesser-utilized characters to shine. 

Ergo, I really did enjoy "What If... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?" The actual premise and resolution of the episode is utterly simple, and I honestly didn't think that the story itself deserved the 30-minute length that it received. The change in time is that in this reality, Yondu did hand over Peter Quill to Ego, making us two-for-two in less-effective alternate-universe Yondus in this season. And Peter Quill is now empowered with super-glowy Celestial energy, and arrived on Earth in the 80's. This allows the show directors to take a look at the characters that would make sense to be active in the 80's, allowing several characters that are way too old to do stunts in the present day to, well, do stuff. I personally am the most excited about Michael Douglas's Hank Pym -- I'm not even the biggest Hank Pym fan from the comics, but I always thought that Hank Pym was severely underutilized in the MCU. And with the first What If season giving him some love as an evil Yellowjacket, I thought this take on him was pretty great as well, showing him in his 'prime' as a superhero. 

But perhaps even more than that is the presence of Hank Pym's rival, Bill Foster -- otherwise known to superhero comic-book readers as Goliath. Hank and Bill get a nice little argument back and forth as they get called in to serve with SHIELD (helmed by an older Peggy Carter and Howard Stark) with their rivalry. The rest of the team is comprised of T'Chaka's version of Black Panther -- very cool to see! Mar-Vell from Captain Marvel also gets to do stuff instead of getting hit with the Dead Mentor Syndrome. I can't really muster too much enthusiasm about Mar-Vell, if we're being honest, but I still find it really fun to see more obscure characters get the spotlight. And rounding up the initial team is Winter Soldier -- like, still-brainwashed Winter Soldier. Love that we're getting more of the cold, brainwashed version of Bucky, and I really do like the brief moments where Peggy and Howard realize who they're looking at and get utterly shocked. 

Winter Soldier spends around a movie as Winter Soldier before he just gets turned into 'Bucky Barnes, conflicted hero', which is a period of time that I thought was rather under-utilized in the movies due to the necessities of adapting his entire story into just a single movie. Winter Soldier also serves as the nominal 'evil teammate', even if his redemption arc is a bit obvious and I kind of wished that since we're in non-canon land that we kept him evil?

Anyway, this 80's Avengers, well, assembled to face an extraterrestrial threat, which is the glowing-eyed Peter Quill who goes around blowing up amusement parks and random streets. Uatu gives us some helpful exposition how Ego basically got to Peter when he was young, crushes his Walkman, and almost brainwashes him -- before Peter somehow escapes and manages to return to Earth. The Avengers are put together to stop this threat, with SHIELD noting that every single planet that Peter has passed through seems to have blown up... but Peter himself is a very human kid, making all of our heroic characters a bit more conflicted. Yes, even the jerk that is Hank Pym! The only one that doesn't care about little Peter's survival is Winter Soldier, and he's brainwashed and under orders from the Russian government to end this by any means necessary.

We do get some nice lines from all characters present, and there's always the glorious fan-geekery of finally seeing Mar-Vell and Goliath in their full superhero glory. Goliath is a bit more impressive, basically acting as this timeline's Giant-Man, while Mar-Vell... flies around a bit with a jetpack? Can't have it all, I guess. 

While we do have a smattering of characters, the main heart of the team is the relationship between Hank Pym and his teenage daughter Hope. And their relationship apparently hasn't became anywhere as frosty as it was when we see them in the present day in Ant-Man. Hank makes a lot of bad dad jokes, but in a refreshing change from most portrayals of Hank Pym, we get to see a side of him that's trying his best. He just hasn't fucked up enough for Hope to hate him yet. Hope himself will prove instrumental in befriending Peter Quill, since she's about the same age as him... though I'm getting ahead of myself. 

The mid-episode fight takes place in Coney Island, where the 80's Avengers show off their abilities in trying to subdue insane-Peter. Or, well, it's mostly Ant-Man's ants, Goliath going giant and Black Panther bouncing around that does most of the legwork. There's a rather unsettling sequence where Hank Pym is traumatizing scared little Peter with his ants and the house of mirrors. The panicking Peter goes berserk, and seems to have the upper hand until Thor arrives. 

And I love the treatment of Thor here. I don't deny that Thor: Ragnarok is the best Thor movie, but man, the character has diverged so much from his original source material that seeing him here, just a heroic badass and easily the most powerful Avenger in the group? We get so many great action scenes of Thor destroying Ego's rock-avatars with his hammer and his storms, and his role here as someone who recontextualizes the sheer scope and scale of the threat brings him in line more to the more serious and dramatic version we saw in Thor and The Avengers. Again, while Ragnarok did revitalize the character, I do wonder how different things would be if Marvel decided to double down on a more serious Thor. 

While Peter is imprisoned in a SHIELD base, Thor gives us a bunch of explanations -- with Peter apparently having destroyed most of the other planets in Asgard's dominion off-screen, and Midgard/Earth being the only one left standing. Thor notes that Peter is going around triggering Ego's Celestial Seeds, including one that Ego left in Missouri. While all of this is going on, however, apparently SHIELD's security is so shit that Hope can just waltz up to Peter with her dad's access badge, bond with the scared Peter over dead moms, before using Hank's shrinking tech to bust Peter out. Now I don't doubt that little Hope is smart enough to outwit her old man, but it is kind of stretching the suspension of disbelief of this setting. The friendship speech could've been done well, but it really did feel kind of forced. 

I do like that the Avengers kind of get a bit of an argument over whether Peter is a threat, and whether to eliminate him now or to try and help him fight Ego. What follows is honestly a rather truncated but well-done sequence as Winter Soldier follows Hank and Hope to eliminate Peter Quill as ordered by the Russian government, but Howard and Peggy on the phone manages to talk Winter Soldier down, breaking him free from his brainwashing. Again... both of these 'friendship speeches' do really kind of feel rushed, but stretching them even further would bloat the episode even further.

While all of this is going on, Hank also gets a rapid-fire character development going from a jerk into someone who realizes he's talking to a kid and decides to use a much more sympathetic and softer tone with Peter. It's far more believable for Hank, though, who always felt that he's bitter for being tossed away by the government and never really getting over her grief. With him being needed and being useful both as Ant-Man and as a father, I believe this allows Hank to channel his grief over Janet's apparent death into something far more productive. And he's still a dad, not a good one but a dad regardless, and I do find it believable that he could get through to Peter. 

Ego arrives in a young-Kurt-Russell avatar on Earth, and starts attacking the Avengers in an attempt to activate the seedling himself. The animation here is genuinely fun and impressive, and a huge step up from the first season. Admittedly most of it is just Ego manipulating rocks to create clones of himself, but it really is a treat to see Thor and Goliath let loose with their powers. Some really great shots of Thor being epic, too, which, again, is very much appreciated. A lot of this fight is just there for the audience's benefit, to buy time while Hank and Hope friendship-talk Peter while Howard friendship-talks Bucky. 

Eventually, they manage to transport Peter to the site of the battle, destroying the seedling and having Peter and Ego confront each other in the same vein as Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2. Minus a giant Pac-Man form. We really shrink down a lot of the exposition of Ego's plan in GOTG 2 into a ranting monologue, but it really isn't super important -- Peter gets pissed when Ego lets slip that he's responsible for Peter's mom's death, and Peter absorbs the seedling into himself and unleashes a celestial beam that takes Ego out. The episode ends with some epilogue, with these 80's heroes kind of forming a family that bond over beer and cats, while the Winter Soldier goes off on his own journey of angsty anti-hero self-discovery. 

And... again, I do like this episode. Not a lot of it makes sense, and having another repeat of Ego's GOTG2 plan isn't the most creative story to put these characters in. I think I also made it clear about how eye-rolling I find the multiple 'friendship no jutsu' speeches are in this episode. But I really do like how this episode does kind of work as an 'alternate history' series of events. And... okay, I'm just really happy to see badass Thor, as well as characters like Goliath, T'Chaka and (kind of) Mar-Vell do stuff. Not a bad one, even if this one does feel very stand-alone-ish. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Even in the earliest What If? limited comics from Marvel, there were several different variations of "What if the Avengers assembled differently" -- such as the original What If #9 here. This one takes a different spin of it, taking MCU characters that should be active as superheroes in the 80's. Which also means that the episode doesn't exactly adapt any specific movie's storyline, though it does transplants the major plotlines of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 to taking place in 1988. 
  
• If we're being pedantic, Black Panther established T'Chaka as being active as Black Panther when he was younger; Hank Pym and Bill Foster were established to have their Ant-Man suits in Ant-Man and the Wasp (we never see Bill Foster become Goliath on-screen, however); Mar-Vell/Wendy wouldn't be killed until the 90's in Captain Marvel; and both Thor and the Winter Soldier are respectively alive, just off-planet and in cryo-sleep respectively. 
• The young Peter Quill takes a stuffed raccoon toy in Coney Island, referencing his main timeline counterpart's friendship with Rocket Raccoon. Later on, he mentions that he's a 'dog person', which is likely an allusion to how the Guardians of the Galaxy would become associated with Cosmo the Space Dog. 
• While it does raise some continuity questions, Peter is imprisoned in the same type of cell that is intended for the Hulk in The Avengers (and later used to imprison Loki). 
• Howard Stark notes that they should toss the cosmic seed 'down the garbage disposal', which is what Tony Stark suggested they do with the Time Stone in Avengers: Infinity War. 
• Just like their mainline counterparts, Ego and Peter's arguments involve phrases such as 'the mortal in you'. 
• The credits confirm that Winter Soldier's handler is Vasily Karpov -- which is the Hydra agent that Baron Zemo drowns in Captain America: Civil War when he was hunting for clues about Winter Soldier.
• Thor fighting Ego is likely a stealth nod that Ego started off life in the comics as a Thor antagonist.
• Returning Live-Action Actors Are...: Michael Douglas (Ant-Man/Hank Pym), Laurence Fishburne (Goliath/Bill Foster), Kurt Russell (Ego), Atandwa Kani (young T'Chaka), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), John Slattery (older Howard Stark), Madeleine McGraw (young Hope van Dyne) and, hilariously, Gene Farber (Vasily Karpov)
• Notable non-reprises are Mar-Vell (voiced by Keri Tombazian) and Peter Quill (Mace Miskel)... though for Peter, it's very much understandable considering this is a much younger version of him. 

One Piece 1104 Review: One Punch

One Piece, Chapter 1104: Thank You, Daddy

Bit of a shorter chapter, thanks to the two-page spreads, but it's very effective. Mostly due to the sheer catharsis of seeing that punk Saturn get punched in the face. The first page is kind of filled with a recap and that's a bit unfortunate, I think, but in real life there has been a multi-week break between 1103 and 1104. Not sure if the flashback panels would just look egregious in tankobon format, though. 

There is a rather bizarre bit where time seems to be frozen in the moment that Kuma is jumping up and punching Saturn in the face, with Saturn managing to rattle off three whole sentences about how he's activated the contingency plan. But we get a badass zoom-in to Kuma's ungodly pissed-off face, before his Haki-covered fits slams down onto Saturn in a glorious quasi-two-page spread. 

I mean, in lieu of my usual video game art to make my reviews not a block of text, have this:

Look at that. Glorious.

I'm not sure which panel I like more. Sataurn's face caving in, the badass punch itself, or Kuma's angry gritted-teeth face a page ago. It's all badass. 

And Saturn gets sent flying all the way through some buildings. People panic, and i think this is meant to be a parallel to arguably one of Kuma's biggest roles pre-timeskip, which is the Sabaody archipelago arc... which features an epic punch between Luffy and a Celestial Dragon. 

The pirates there can all move again, and the Straw Hats move to help Bonney. And... I really feel like if there's one thing I wished was done a bit better in these chapters, is the handling of Vegapunk's explanations. Apparently Vegapunk didn't install a bomb, but he did install a self-destruct mechanism, before thinking about it could be "it", a certain quality of the Buccaneer race that Vegapunk doesn't deign to tell the audience. At this point I really don't care if they just went and called it the 'power of love' and Vegapunk sarcastically actually does do that, but... I'm honestly kind of uninvested in this self-destruct bomb thing that I kind of wished it was already handwaved away. 

Far more invested is the shot of Bonney shrinking back to her true age, hugging the pupil-less, mindless but certainly not soulless Bartholomew Kuma, who robotically reaches down to hug him. It's not quite the happy ending goodbye that would be ideal in this scenario, but it's still rather emotional, I think -- she gets to say to the silent, statue-like Kuma about how good of a dad he is, how she saw all the letters, and everything. 

There's an interesting moment where Kizaru mumbles "it's over, isn't it?" which isn't super notable if not for the fact that throughout this whole chapter, his allegiances remain gloriously and frustratingly opaque, fitting with his whole moniker of 'unclear justice'. 

Oh, and Luffy somehow disappeared, in the middle of Saturn yelling "oi, put some cuffs on him" and this megaton punch. Again... IMO not the best way to handle this. 

Saturn stomps back up, missing his right hand and his left horn, and goes full-on Wolverine or something as smoke or miasma or ether of some sort just glorps and swirls around and regenerates his wound. And it's... it's interesting. I think I this kind of Wolverine-style rapid regeneration could be irritating if the story relies on it a bit too much for bullshittery purposes, but if it's limited to just the Gorosei, I wouldn't mind? 

Saturn goes in to pierce Kuma with one of his spider legs, and Sanji zips in and kicks the shit out of that leg away. Franky then zooms in, and unleashes a Franky Radical Beam through Kuma's chest. Gotta love Franky. Saturn just regenerates right after this, and Kizaru finally gets moving and lightspeed-kicks Franky into a building, but it's a pretty cool moment of resistance while it lasts. 

And I suppose Kizaru finally deciding to (maybe) take a stand (perhaps) is the big cliffhanger of this episode. I really find it interesting just how much Kizaru spotlight we got in this arc, and he seems to have picked the side of the government, telling Vegapunk something along the lines of "I should've worn darker sunglasses" when Vegapunk calls him out on his loyalty to the government. It's far, far cooler and more interesting to see where Kizaru's allegiances truly lie, since there's enough hints that he's either losing faith in the government, or at least willing to help his friends (Vegapunk, Bonney and Sentomaru) escape. 

In contrast, the final page is Saturn demanding a Buster Call to completely annihilate the island. And... it's a super Buster Call, and I'm not saying it's not badass, but at the moment it's Saturn and Kizaru that I really do want to see do something, not a rain of cannonballs. 

Random Notes:

• My schedule's still very messy, so other reviews are going to be pretty... slow. I do promise to try and get the Pokemon DLC done before the end of February. I will probably get some 'Review Em All' Pokemon articles up. It mostly is just watching TV and playing games that is a huge time sink that I am not able to really do at the moment. 
• A huge question that I probably would've spent a couple of paragraphs talking about in the main body of the review: Where is the Giant Robot? What about Blackbeard's crew? What about Caribou? What about Robin, who's still MIA? Any or none of these could've accounted for Luffy's random disappearance.
• For how so many people expected Franky to get the spotlight in this arc and got disappointed... at least he got to laser-beam a Gorosei in the face. 
• There is something to be said about how Saturn's influence to keep Sanji and Franky down seems to have disappeared after Kuma hit him. Is it not a Haki power, but maybe something more akin to Doflamingo's strings? 

One Piece Anime, Wano Arc: Episodes 1069-1071 [Gear Fifth]

GEAR FIFTH! Yeah, I watched 1071 and the subsequent episodes all the way back in August when it premiered, but it just took time to actually catch up with the other episodes and find the energy to write the commentary. 

Episode 1069:

• 
  I absolutely forgot that X-Drake had one final confrontation with Guernica. And... I dunno. While Izo got one hell of an extended scene and a sendoff, I still feel rather disappointed with X-Drake. For a character that felt so interesting with so much potential, he's kind of just there, isn't he? He stabs Guernica once, then Guernica uses Shigan and draws much more blood epically. I know Drake gets a short scene with Hawkins later on post-Gear-Fifth, but it really is frustrating sometimes that it's hard to say when someone's dead or not in this series. 
• We get a repeat of a lot of scenes from 1068, huh? Luffy going Snakeman and unleashing Hydra; Fukurokuju's collapse... I do appreciate Raizou's speech to Fukurokuju and mocking how he's became weak.
• Absolutely appreciate the brief flash to Oden holding up his Scabbards when Raizou rolls the flames out. It's played a bit for comedy, of course, but I always liked this moment for Raizou. Shame that it's not called out that Raizou's the only one that complained about the heat back in the day.
• Considering they incorporated Kid's SBS-exclusive backstory, it's a mild shame that Raizou's wasn't. 
• Also, I just assume Fukurokuju's dead at this point. 
• "He's bending the trajectory of his attacks? That's impossible for rubber!"
• We're all waiting for Gear Fifth, but honestly there's a lot of good animation in this episode as compared to the previous Luffy/Kaido clashes after the initial Roof Piece. There's the obvious fatigue that we've seen so many moves tossed around between the two, but I did really like Luffy's KING COBRA, as well as Kaidou briefly activating his own ability to use Future Sight.
• Yeah, Kaidou's 'Drunken Beggar' expression is... uh... it sure is something. 
• Oh, god damn, Kaidou coiling up with Luffy in his mouth, and then unleashing a point-blank Boro Breath down like a sci-fi satellite missile down towards Onigashima... honestly, with all of the abuse that the poor island had suffered throughout this arc I'm surprised it's still in one piece!
• Is Boundman the only form that can actually go and do the little 'compress and extend' rocket jet thing? Is that why Luffy switches from Snakeman to Boundman to catch back up to Onigashima?
• 
  I don't think Kaidou'll receive his flashback here, but the arguments between him and Luffy for this fake final fight, with Luffy ranting about the starving people of Wano against Kaidou who gets pissed off for the 'fake strength' and 'excuses for weakness' that the defeated samurai have, is pretty okay. Again, I would really like some context, but I do think that the framing of this particular monologue does really help to crystalize Kaidou's viewpoint on the world -- he's okay if someone wins due to strength, and that respect for strength is why he's willing to take in random former adversaries into his crew. But he's particularly pissed off at Wano for having so much of what he views as 'excuses' of the defeated samurai using their code of nobility to justify what, in Kaidou's eyes, is weakness. 
  
• GOMU GOMU NO... OVER KONG GUN!
• HORAI HAKKE!
• In the anime, as Kaidou activates his final 'bloodthirsty drunk' personality and unleashes Horai Hakke, he goes from light blue to purple. A nice little visual flair, even if it's not one that I think is particularly necessary. The glowing eyes are also pretty cool.
• And we get the wonderful tracking shot as Kaidou and Luffy face off against each other, spinning around the battlefield with some well-animated mouthing of words. Lots of epic over-the-top colours, spinning angles, and especially that aura of Kaidou's dragon form forming around Kaidou himself. 
• What a lunatic expression Kaidou has as he's about to clash this one last time, too! That spin-around as the two titans are about to clash in the eye of a gigantic storm is so, so damn cool. 
• And all of this actually ends up doing the desired outcome of... making me completely forget about Guernica and how he's about to interrupt this fight, zip in, Tekkai and latch on to Luffy's giant arm, causing Kaidou to bash Luffy in a seemingly fatal blow. 
• What a face of despair in Kaidou's face when he realizes what he's done, too, how his big epic battle was interrupted. 

Episode 1070:

• And this whole episode is just a rather simple adaptation of Kaidou rampaging as the rest of the cast (except Nami) thinks Luffy's dead, and it seems like it's the end of hope while Luffy's heart is starting to beat again with the drums of liberation. 
• Okay, Luffy deflating was hilarious with the sound effects he makes. The zoom-in to his completely hollowed-out eyes immediately makes it creepier, though. 
• And then Kaidou unleashes one hell of a Haki-infused attack on Guernica... and just like the source material, we never get a confirmation of Guernica's death. I really want this, moreso than any other death in this arc, because it really strains credulity that he would somehow survive a strike from an utterly enraged Kaidou.
• Joseph gives a cute little hat-tip before leaving Onigashima.
• Oh man, those random samurai  behind Kawamatsu that survived everything only to be annihilated with Kaidou's Boro Breath... sucks to be them. 
• We get a much extended scene of Nami's short line, but honestly, especially with her very powerful moment with Ulti earlier in the arc, I absolutely believe that Nami would be the biggest Straw Hat Pirate crewmate that's going to take a stand and defend Luffy's dream at the cost of her own life. Honestly, this undying loyalty is genuinely truly impressive. She's got some well-animated, terrified, crying expressions and some great voice-acting as well! 
• And Marco, weakened Marco, is able to create a blue fire shield that tanks a Boro Breath from Kaidou! 
• We've got a nice small moment of Jean Bart and one random Kid Pirate (he probably has a name) protecting Kid and Law from the generic Beast Pirates. Kid and Law also get several more extra scenes reacting to the situation and getting ready to continue to fight to the bitter end. 
• Yamato and Momonosuke have a whole conversation about fighting to the bitter end, of course, until Zunesha hears the drums of liberation... of Joy Boy.
• Do really love the visual imagery of the heartbeat or the soundwaves making out the katakana for 'Joy Boy'. 
• The drums of liberation could honestly go two ways -- a simple, ominous beating drum... but they went for the epic, chaotic tribal drum orchestra which I feel really does fit Luffy a lot better. 
• Yep, it's a bit more clear that the weird goopy tendrils rising up is Luffy's hair and face turning rubbery. Gear Fifth is coming!

Episode 1071:

• I don't actually find this episode as hype as the internet wants it to be, especially when I was watching it. I actually do think that the Zoro and Sanji episode, and Roof Piece, are all much more exciting in terms of hype for me personally. I do think part of it is that 1071 really does reuse a lot of animation, which in my opinion does hurt the episode a fair bit. 
• I do like some of the extended scenes of Luffy awakening, like him stumbling along with just his hair and the ribbon turning white with Gear Fifth, while the rest of him is still coloured correctly. 
• Love the ground below Luffy constantly wibbly-wobbling, fitting with his whole 'turn everything around him into rubber' thing, although at around halfway through the episode I did think that they overused the 'boingy-boing' rubber-hose cartoon sound effect a bit too much. 
• And then Luffy, crackling Conqueror's Haki and sparking everywhere, unleashes a gigantic white blast of energy that is, to him, 'so fun' as he creates a crater and cubes up some rocks. Sanji also wakes up at this point, and we get to first see Luffy's face in Gear Fifth. 
• After some reaction shots, we get an often-screenshotted sequence as Luffy fully transforms into Gear Fifth, with his body shrouded in black and yellow while his eyes and face get reduced to a glowing smile. I actually get why this still works -- it's focusing on the 'smiling' aspect of Gear Fifth and Joy Boy and the Drums of Liberation. 
• The sheer force of Luffy's transformation split the clouds in the sky again, which I think is in the source material but I never quite realized it? A bit too tired to go check the manga volumes, but he has to, right? To do the Nika pose on the moon?
• We get the Gorosei monologuing about the true nature of the Gomu Gomu no Mi.... Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Sun God Nika. Honestly, rather than reusing animation at another part of the episode, I really would've wished they combined some of the previous Gorosei discussions into this one? It is an epic scene, though, culminating in Luffy in front of the moon. 
  
• Man it's so weird to be able to think about the five Gorosei members as actual characters with names now. Notable that it's Saturn that's so willing to immediately eliminate a threat, and he's the first Gorosei to move out of Marie Geoise. 
• It's also rather clear, combined with previous Gorosei scenes, that Ju Peter is the one that's the least informed about the true nature of the Nika fruit, whereas Warcury, Mars and Nusjuro all take turns talking about their efforts to hide the fruit's existence from the world. 
• And it's really hard to take screenshots of it, but this is the first time where the animation starts to go wild, with rapid angle changes and Luffy's body wibbly-wobbly-ing. And... I have opinions about this?
• There are definitely parts where the animation was a bit too much. They were doing a bit too much in particularly that scene where Luffy flips the ground to block Kaido's Boro Breath and that really could've been slowed down a tad! It really is a bit too hectic for its own good that honestly necessitates a rewatch of some scenes but not in the good way. 
• I am actually simultaneously disappointed and relieved that the animation isn't trying to fully mimic the old-school Looney Tunes/Tom and Jerry style? It's more of a 'anime with rubber hose qualities' tossed in, but I'm not gonna lie, I did expect a bit more Cuphead-y, y'know what I mean? 
• But what I do love is Luffy's manic giggling throughout all this. He just sounds so... jubilant! Hell, I'd even call him high! The visuals are a bit hit-and-miss for me, but the audio is definitely on-point!
  
• There is some more scenes about Orochi and Hiyori which people complained about. And... these were in the original manga, and I do really think that there's some merit to be made to shuffling all the Hiyori/Orochi scenes to the next or previous episode, and to focus most of the Gear Fifth reveal for an entire episode? 
• I completely forgot the remnants of the Kanjurou Kazenbo still survived long enough to glorp up and burn Orochi. 
• And... we get a lot of scenes of Luffy just bouncing around on the rooftop which really does feel somewhat repetitive.
  
• The shots of him unleashing gigantic blasts of Conqueror's Haki lightning down onto the stage floor is fun, though, and we start getting into this mixture of different animation styles as Luffy blows into his hand, as the somewhat-CGI dragon Kaido is confused, and I love just how the 'skin' of Luffy's quasi-Gear-Third hand is rippling and wobbling. 
  
  
• And we get Luffy dragging Kaido's body out of the hall, which is cool and all, but we start to see how Gear Fifth is affecting the things around it, with Kaido's eyes bugging out and being temporarily left behind as Luffy drags the giant wyrm out. 
• And man, Luffy just sounds so ecstatic as he yells and goes all 'muscle! MUSCLEMUSCLEMUSCLE!' and bulks up like a cartoon character before starting to punch Kaido and cause cuckoo birds to appear. This is where I think the change in art style feels the most different, and... you really need to sometimes slow down and rewind a bit to appreciate brief frames of Luffy or Kaido's eyes bugging out and being left behind. Love the smoothness of the animation, the fluidity of the movement and the detailing when Luffy grabs Kaido's snake-like belly. Don't love so much the sheer hectic speed that everything's going on at.
  
  
• That shot of Luffy grabbing Kaido and spinning him around and around and around before bodyslamming him to the ground is pretty damn good -- I do think this is the perfect balance between the scattered nonsense of Gear Fifth and coherence in knowing what's going on in terms of an action scene. 
• Really did feel that the art style changes rather rapidly back and forth between something more similar to the traditional One Piece anime but with cartoon parts, and a much more simpler, cruder drawing? 
• We then get Luffy giggling at the giant cartoonish wound on Kaido's head, just giggling on the ground and clapping his feet and whatnot. Man, Luffy's having fun. 
  
• I really do wish the animation... 'snaps' back to 'serious anime' a bit more when Kaido charges up his Boro Breath, while Luffy's continue to be nonsensical? There's definitely a fair bit of The Mask/Tasmanian Devil going on when Luffy spins around in the air and his eyes bug out a lot to the front.
• ...And this eye-bugging-out sequence is another one that I felt I needed to rewatch because we jump so much from Luffy spinning around, his eyes popping out, Kaido charging his attack, Luffy, pushing the eyes back into his skull so hard they poke out of the other end... it's a great sequence if I watched it at like around three-quarters speed, because the colours and movements flash so quickly that it was actually hard for me to follow. 
  
• And it was just really hard to follow Luffy's movements -- though that might actually be the point -- as he just glorps and bounces back and forth mid-air to go down and grab the ground and table-flip it to block the Boro Breath. The spinning angles and Luffy's eyes, eyebrows and mouth just being left behind all the time as he moves around doesn't help, either. I appreciate what they're doing here, but it is a bit too hectic for me. 
  
• I think the most confusing thing is that the shot of Luffy trying to pull the ground up is extended, the shot of the Boro Breath being reflected back at Kaido is rather long, but the shot of the Boro Breath being deflected by the flipped stone barely registered for a second? Something like that, anyway. 
  
• GOD that Kaido face is going to be a meme forevermore. Going from a serious face to his eyes bugging out drawn in a sketch art? Beautiful. 
• We also get a very beautiful turnaround shot of Luffy before Kaido gets consumed by the Blast Breath and we get to see him get reduced to a traditional Japanese ink painting sketch art or something. That was really cool!
  
• And after all that hecticness, we get a fun shot of Kaido with his eyes bugging out, all charred black like Wile E. Coyote or Tom the cat as he just wiggles in place, before coughing out some ashes... then he shakes off the literal blast explosion and ashes and he's fine. That was the most 'old-school cartoon' that the episode went, and I appreciate it. 
  
• And then we get an interesting montage of Luffy's previous forms and victories as G-E-A-R-5 spells out on-screen. I didn't mind this! This was neat enough, and I actually really like the briefly nightmarish shot of Luffy's face drawn with anti-spiral squiggly lines that flash across the screen for a couple of seconds before we cut back to the typical Luffy. 
  
• We didn't really need the flashback to two episodes ago when Guernica blocked the attack, though. I'd rather have Luffy jumping in place more instead of that, thanks. I didn't mind the brief montage of all the attacks that Luffy and Kaido launched at each other, if only to see Red Roc's beautiful animation again, but it ran on for a bit too long. 
• And the episode closes off with a beautiful shot of Luffy facing off against Kaido, but Kaido's drawn without black lines and looks... interesting, and we zoom into Luffy's Gear Fifth face. 
• We also get an ending! That's so weird for One Piece, and not watching the anime outside of the Wano arc, apparently we haven't had a One Piece ending for quite a while now? Well, they should've done it and taken out a lot of the unnecessary flashbacks!
• Really do think that this episode is... just a draft away from being a great rewatchable episode. As it is, it does dawdle on a lot of reused footage and I really am baffled that they didn't just stay on the Gear Fifth and extend the scenes they've already animated but are flashing across the screen too quickly. 

One Piece Anime, Wano Arc: Episodes 1066-1068

Okay, this got super-delayed because I did the Netflix One Piece show, and... and I was honestly a bit One Piece'd out at the point. But hey, I do want to at least finish up the Wano arc of One Piece.

I'm going to be very busy for the first half of this year. I do think a lot of my present projects (Pokemon playthrough, What If S2) will be delayed more or less into a timeline of "if I have the time to play/watch", but I will still do a bunch of these reviews of things I've watched before. 

Episode 1066

• 
  Interestingly, this episode starts off in medias res, with Kid just breathing hard as he slowly creates his Damned Punk railgun in the background, out of context, while Big Mom and Law are fighting in the background. This alone isn't particularly special, but what's special is flashbacks -- done in pretty cool sketch-art format -- of Kid's entire journey. Including certain stuff about his past of conquering the trash islands with Killer, Heat and Wire that is only mentioned by Oda in the SBS segments!
• This includes Kid and Killer watching the Smiley demonstration during the Punk Hazard arc, something I always forget happened. 
  
• The shot of him in front of the crucified enemies is actually really cool. 
• The animation admittedly does feel a bit more high-quality, but we do get more repetitive stuff of Yamato fighting the Kazenbo and Momonosuke pulling the island. I do understand why we are shown these scenes since we see them reacting to the gigantic Law sword that pierces all the way to the depths of the Earth, but having that and a random flashback to the Scabbards? Yeah, it did kind of make me roll my eyes a bit. 
• 
  In a cute little easter egg, Momonosuke briefly has flashbacks of his family playing, but all the poses are done similarly to the eyecatches of the Dragon Ball anime.
• ...the jokes are a bit twofold because Momonosuke is, y'know, a dragon.
• We get a slightly remixed version of the Punk Corna Dio attack, with a couple extra shots of Kid with glowing eyes and a lot more reactions from the surrounding nobodies. 
• And then we get Law being absolutely pissed off at being reduced to Kid's 'opening act'. I do love this bit about Law, which nicely fits into how he was similarly pissed off at Luffy during Roof Piece for seemingly ordering him around. Oh, Law. 
• Law did also tell Kid to try and attack first, though noticeably Kid didn't rise to that taunt. 
• "What comes next after the bull? A hippo? An elephant?" God, the delivery of this line. 
• Just like what the fandom did during this chapter, Law himself gets an extra line going "see, she likes my technique" with the smuggest look on his face because Big Mom actually did identify Law's technique as hurting him. 
• We see the fragments of Big Mom's bones actually come to life and then proceed to stab each other to rejoin. 
• MASER SABER! I do always find it hilarious how proud Kid sounds as he talks about how cutting up his giant metal bull is pointless because it's all just scrap. 
  
• 
  Kid bouncing around, leaping seemingly to clash with Big Mom's Maser Saber, but actually doing Assign on her and a building behind her is pretty smoothly animated! Kid's constructs has always looked cool, but him jumping around like this is an unexpected action scene!
• And, of course, we've got Big Mom spinning around with the whole damn building attached to her back to counteract the Corna Dio. 
• We then get a much-extended sequence as Law flicks a bunch of rocks around Big Mom, and quickly teleports and changes places with these rocks and does a lot of painful-sounding slashes onto Big Mom's head and body. 
• Kid joins in and there's a hilarious bit where his giant metal arm just jackhammers Big Mom's face. In the Iron-Man-in-the-Hulkbuster way, not that other way. 
• And then big Mom just punches the two of them, unleashing a pretty cool shockwave as she knocks the two smaller Supernovas across the room. 
• MISERY!
  
• 
  God, Misery looks so much cooler in the cartoon. they take the advantage that she can writhe around and we get a lot of disturbing-looking shots that look like they come from a horror show. The ultimate look for Misery is still somewhat comical, but it really does give a much bigger impact than 'Big Mom summons a Stand'. 
  
• The shots of ghoulish faces rising up from the ground, and the cutbacks to Big Mom with her eyes whited out while grinning, really does sell this scene and the character as being a literal monster.
• And Misery just swoops in and pounds the shit out of Kid. Punching and punching with lightning bolts flashing everywhere, and we get to see Kid being tossed around like a ragdoll while his colouration gets played around with like an early-season JoJo episode. 
• Misery casually flailing her hands also casually wipes out a bunch of random nobodies, too, which is a nice little addition that sells the sheer destructive capabilities of this ability. 
• This ties into the earlier prologue scene as Misery is about to unleash a finishing blow. And then... surprise falling building, as Law does a 'Tact'.
• And then we get K-Room: Anesthesia as Law stabs Big Mom through the throat, deep through Onigashima, and we get Yamato and Momonosuke reacting to the gigantic glowing blade stabbing through the entire island all the way down to the mainland. 
• Big Mom then proceeds to beat up Law in a pretty brutal manner, and we just keep cutting back to a black-and-white image of law with only the red blood being coloured in. 
• PUNCTURE WILLE!
• 
  Okay, while a lot of the over-the-top Dragon Ball stuff in the Zoro/King fight is mostly anime addition, this is entirely canon. And seeing the blade create such shockwaves that it shatters away the cloud and even the ground...
• Seeing the faraway shots as Momonosuke reacts, or the people in the Flower Capital didn't react, really does sell just how utterly insane Puncture Wille is. 
• And then we get the big finishing shot as Kid arms up Damned Punk, which glows purple as he rises up, bathing Big Mom's fiery hair with a pretty ominous purple shade. 
• We also get a shot of Big Mom talking and telling Kid to bring it on. "I'm Big Mom!" And people pointed out just how well animated Big Mom's speaking in this scene is. 
• There's a shot of the skull (there are a lot of random metal skulls that Kid can just draw on, apparently) glowing with purple energy, the sci-fi anime sound effects happening, and Law and Kid delivering their respective badass boasts about taking down the era that the old Yonko reigned over.
• Damned Punk fires, slamming onto Big Mom as she desperately holds on to not fall into the hole... and as we zoom into Kid's screaming face, we get a 'to be continued' with the purple magnetic lightning flashing across it. 
  
  

Episode 1067

• Not too much to say about this, honestly. The actual shot of Kid and Law unleashing their respective final blows are pretty cool! The second Damned Punk, as well as Law slicing Misery in half lengthways, are very awesome to see. I do like the deliveries of the lines by Law, Kid and Big Mom as well, but... it really did feel like they extended what should be maybe 5 minutes tacked on to the previous episode to a full episode on its own. 
• There's a lot of scenes of random generic pirates screaming as Big Mom draws their souls into her body, which honestly did really run for a bit too long. It is admittedly a cool moment to see Law and Kid not show any fear, though.
• And then we get the sequence of Big Mom falling, taking out the Kazenbo, and then being engulfed in the Silence R-Room. But she actually falls out of Onigashima at around the halfway mark of the episode. 
• And I do appreciate the addition of Big Mom looking at the Flower Capital and thinking of the time she had in Wano. It does give her a little bit more of a characterization before being taken out of the story. 
• We, however, get a flashback of a montage of Big Mom's scenes in Wano. A bit more excusable, but way too long. 
• Unfortunately we also get a full-on flashback to Roger's speech, which we've heard a dozen times before. 
• And then we get a flashback to Kid and Law beating Big Mom earlier this episode.
• Which really leads the effect to ruin any kind of poignancy as Big Mom falls out into the lava pool at the bottom of the hole. It's kind of a shame, because I really do think there's some neat material in Big Mom's speech to Roger ranting about how it was his fault that the new pirate generation is so prevalent everywhere, but the way the episode extends it really does minimize the impact that it should have had. 
• There's also the scene of Fukurokuju finally succumbing to flame, as well as Momonosuke identifying Zunesha as Joy Boy's companion, which at least does add a fair bit more meat to this episode. 
• Nice touch that Fukurokuju's ninja symbol was the last thing to burn as his convictions faltered.

Episode 1068

• We do get an interesting sequence with Momonosuke's conversation with Yamato. It's oblique about what's contained inside Oden's journal, as usual, but I do really wished that some of this internal turmoil was shown to us during the many, many scenes of Momonosuke pulling the island. We still don't quite get an answer as to what opening the borders of Wano entails, even now, though. 
  
• Franky grabs on to Zoro! There was a shot of the reaper slamming his scythe on the ground when Zoro falls off Onigashima, but that's about it for the enigmatic appearance of the reaper for now. 
• The main focus of this episode's first half, however, is Izo vs. CP-0. It's not extended to a full episode, and a good chunk of it has Izo flashbacking all over his scenes as he joins Kin'emon and the others in the fight, but it sure as hell is a much better showing than what he got in the manga. 
• There's nothing exactly new that we see, but we do see Guernica and Maha both using Soru and Shigan a lot while they attack Izo.
• It really doesn't do much to dispel that these CP-0 guys are supposedly much stronger than pre-timeskip CP-9, sine they're just zipping around and stabbing Izo with Shigan, but ultimately I do think that showing Izo have an actual fight before falling is pretty needed. 
  
• There is a fair amount of blood being splurted out when Maha stabs Izo, and we get the epic slow-motion raising of the gun before Izo straight-up executes Maha by shooting him in the chest.
• And the end result is a vastly-improved takedown. It's still short in the grand scheme of things, but it's definitely much improved!
• And then we get the conversation between Guernica and the flower CP-0 guy, who I find funny is just called 'Joseph'.
• The rest of the episode is Komurasaki/Hiyori creeping the shit out of Orochi. Man, that scene where Hiyori pulls out the seastone nail and stabs Orochi after the rubble falls on top of him is stone-cold! Shame it's not the end of Orochi. 
• The additional shot of Oden's spirit or ghost or whatever appearing behind Hiyori as he gives his speech about the Moon Princess song is pretty cool!
• And we also get more scenes of Luffy fighting Kaido. "This is my last Gear Fourth!" You don't know how true that is, Luffy. 
• This is the debut of Gomu Gomu no Hydra, isn't it? 
• A bunch of scenes are also shown here of people just regrouping. The Minks returning into the island, Marco arriving where Nami and Tama are, Zeus briefly mourning Big Mom before Nami yells at him, Kid and Law reacting to Kaido's fall.