And... I do know that I am being pretty slow in churning out these reviews, but I did want to finish up talking about all the Wano episodes ever since I started this project a couple years back, and it's not long until we leave Wano!
Episode 1074;
- Surprisingly, we get a brand-new opening? It feels like an epilogue opening for Wano, and there can't be more than 10 to 15 episodes until we wrap up all the post-Wano arc? I guess they could stretch out the Reverie-across-the-world scenes? It is a gorgeous opening, though.
- Again, a lot of the 'Yamato yells at Momo to make flame clouds' scenes are just so damned repetitive. It's the same problem as the manga, but compounded several times fold because previous episodes had used Momonosuke-pulling-clouds scenes as padding filler.
- This episode features an extended and newly-animated sequence of little Momonosuke's final conversation with Toki in the burning castle of the Kozuki castle, with Kin'emon giving this gigantic speech about failures of samurais beseeching their lord for dying in a proper manner, and asking Momonosuke to be a man, and he later walks away from his mother to embrace his destiny.
- And I know I sound like a broken record, but good god this scene would actually be dramatic and emotional if Kin'emon actually died before, because as it is, this scene just feels kind of hollow and repetitive.
- GOMU GOMU NOOOOOO! KAMINARIIIIII!
- That Gomu Gomu Lightning sequence flows so quickly in the manga, but here we get a gloriously animated Gear Fifth Luffy animated with all sorts of gorgeous lines. Absolutely a delight to watch.
- Even Kaido comments at how absurd grabbing lightning is, but just like how the animation has returned to a more 'conventional' action anime, it really does look like Kaido's started to enjoy the fight again.
- We then get something absolutely original to the anime, where Luffy shoots down six pillars of lightning and starts bouncing all throughout the lightning pillars like a goddamn lightning bolt -- this really reminds me of Kizaru's Yasaka no Magatama attack, and it really does look insane! It doesn't really fit, in my opinion, the 'rubber hose cartoon' aspects of Gear Fifth, but it certainly fits the 'reality-warping' segment.
- Luffy then bounces around the lightning pillars as he speed-blitzes Kaido, and the lightning pillars expand out like a cage, before bouncing back (like rubber!) and explode on Kaido. It's over-the-top and honestly feels like a finishing move in a Naruto game or something!
- This sequence is really unexpected and looks cool, and my only reservation is really whether it fits Gear Fifth or not.
- Then Luffy bounces around the surrounding rocks, turning all the rocks into trampolines and bouncing around before about to inflate his feet into an attack until Kaido bashes him with his kanabo.
- And then we get a glorious scene of Luffy tarzanning around the island and swinging in front of Onigashima with its eyes glowing red, before we get a dizzying shot of Luffy slamming onto Kaido and the two of them just pummel each other and bounce off each other, leading into this:
- Oh yeah. That deserves its own line break. It's a bit more typical than the zaniness of Gear Fifth, but what a great shot. The anime team really knows that Gear Fifth Luffy can look unsettling, and just like whoever animated the original transformation, this is a great, ominous shot.
- Followed up by Luffy bashing Kaido in the head and knocking him onto the ground, causing the ground to blorp up and down as Luffy blitzes around the rubble, spinning his legs sometimes.
- We get a cool hybrid mode Blast Breath from Kaido, who launches one hell of a fire blast that sends shockwaves expanding everywhere...
- ...and Luffy, cartoonishly blackened, flails around and grabs a strand of lightning like rubber and bounces back. Yeah, this is the cartoony ridiculousness I like, and the fact that I can instantly follow what's going on without rewinding is a huge bonus.
- We get Kaido pushing against the bouncy rubbery ground and launching himself at Luffy just as Luffy himself uses the lightning like a rubberband and they clash mid-air in an explosion of Haki, leading to these two shots:
- Yeah, some really great faces out of Luffy and Kaido.
- Luffy gets tossed into the clouds by Kaido... and he proceeds to grab a fistful of lightning like they're ropes and start lobbing them down at Kaido. Again, the anime team took like a couple of panels of Luffy holding lightning and milked the shit out of it. This is great! And it's a nice little subversion where it's no longer the big scary dragon that's manipulating the weather and the elements, but the crazy little straw-hat boy.
- Of course, as Luffy unleashes the mother of all lightning storms down, we get Kaido zipping around and a wonderful shot of a much-larger-than-normal Kaido blitzing behind Luffy and slamming the hell down with his kanabo, knocking Luffy down that insane lightning storm.
- I felt like the artwork is at best here, where Kaido is the epitome of 'traditional' One Piece art, all rough edges and ominous and sharp, while Luffy is flailing around all comical and wacky and stuff. Particularly the great shot as Kaido looms behind Luffy ranting about how devil fruits alone can't conquer the ocean.
- And again, the animation goes overdrive at this point as Luffy's eyeballs sees the representation of Kaido's dragon form slamming onto him, and he just whoops and hollers and zips around the lightning storm, treating it like a jungle gym or some shit as Kaido follows behind him, and just continues to wham wham wham Luffy as we follow them down the blorpy glorpy rubber ground. Again, unlike the 1071-1072, this one is still over-the-top but I can follow the animation and the motion, which is much appreciated.
- And as Kaido roars about how 'Haki can trump all else', he unleashes a blast of purple Haki aura that completely consumes and wipes out the blue lightning storms and paints the skies in purple. That's a great representation of Kaido's powerful Haki.
- And then we get Daiitoku Raimei Hakke, or Destroyer of Death Thunder Bagua... which makes Kaido look even bigger and more insane. That's some gigantic deltoids!
- Some really great shots of motion, and then it leads to a pretty great shot of Kaido in the sky backlit by purple lightning, before the purple lightning blows away all the thunderclouds in the area.
- Frankly with how epic the animation makes the weather effects look, it's impressive that Momonosuke doesn't get blown away.
- We get a brief sequence with the people in the Flower Capital letting go their wish lanterns into the sky, before we cut to the setup for the Bajrang Gun, with Luffy in the clouds sending his serpentine hand grabbing Kaido.
- Kaido turns into a dragon and starts shooting Kaifu and Boro Breaths up at Luffy up in the skies. It looks amazing!
- And we cut to Hiyori watching Orochi writhe in pain, and we get the frankly rather random sequence of the tremors in the castle causing the seastone nail to fall off. The anime makes it a bit more clear that Orochi's basically already done for and this is his last death-rattle -- to try and take Hiyori to hell with him. The sequence is also ultimately still a bit too oddly-paced and feels secondary next to the Luffy/Kaido fight, but it does really make it more clear that Hiyori the one that deals the deathblow and it just takes a while for Orochi to fall. I still really think that Denjiro coming out of nowhere to deal the ultimate finishing blow is kinda nonsensical, but at least Hiyori's contribution to Orochi's death is ramped up a fair bit here.
- Anyway, we also get the scene of people in the performance floor agreeing that it's okay for them to die if it also means Kaido's dead. This is juxtaposed a bit with Usopp refusing to die and to let Kin'emon or Kiku die as they struggle in the flooding waves.
- And this would've been a much better scene if 1075 didn't give us a literal recap of the entire Wano arc, but Hyogoro and the other samurai have a brief flashback of the 'country that stood still since 20 years ago' and how they want to bring real smiles back to their families and their country.
- And the episode ends with the arrival of the giant, Onigashima-sized Bajrang Gun fist, which dwarves everything beneath it as Luffy yells at Momonosuke to move Onigashima out of the fucking way. Pretty great shot, and it's going to set up the final, final clash between Luffy and Kaido in the next couple of episodes.
Episode 1075:
- We continue with the Bajrang Gun cliffhanger, and rather interestingly the incoming fist is going to take an entire episode to come down. This does help to break up the original chapter that these episodes adapt, and 1075 fits most of the Orochi/Hiyori/Denjiro stuff, as well as Kaido's power up. It helps to stretch out this final clash a fair bit more, which is arguably a good and a bad thing.
- There's a cool shot of representation of Luffy and Kaido facing off against each other before Kaido shakes Luffy off of his body and declares that he's going to take this punch to the proverbial face like a man.
- We get a brief comical sequence of Luffy cartoonishly blowing away his burnt hand, which is appreciated.
- And then we get Kaido's transformation to KAEN DAIKO, setting himself on fire and turning into an even larger and even more monstrous fiery dragon.
- The art is still there, but I'm surprised the anime doesn't call into attention that Kaido's organic body is nestled in the forehead of the Kaen Daiko form.
- The transformation is epic and involves a lot of coiling and glowing, but not a showcase of the organic Kaido becoming a little Kaido on the forehead of the fire form.
- Pretty cool shot of Kaido's tail melting and burning off the other Onigashima horn.
- How did the people below not see or hear that horn slamming onto the ground? I get Big Mom is engulfed by Law's silence sphere, but this? Not to mention all the lightning and flames in the sky?
- There's a nice little callback to Hyogoro teaching Luffy advanced, no-touching Armament Haki or Ryu'o, with how he claims he's going to throw a punch without touching Kaido and preventing himself from melting. That's cool!
- GOMU GOMU NO... BAJRANG GUN!
- SHORYU! KAEN HAKKEI!
- It's a bit more clear what Kaido's doing with Shoryu: Kaen Hakke this time around. He's coiling up and charging up and basically unleashing what I think is a Blast Breath.
- The explosion wipes away a bunch of rocks on Onigashima's top and... this would've been more impressive if we haven't seen the rocks be wiped out like fifteen times over the course of Roof Piece.
- We're around slightly more than 6 minutes into this episode, and we're up into the part of the episode with a lot of random reactions. We've got Usopp, the people in the performance dome, Hyogoro, Kawamatsu with a spotlight for some reason...
- And we get a flashback to basically the entire Wano arc chronologically from Oden's death all the way to now, taking up around easily one-thirds of the episode. It eventually leading to just Orochi mocking the samurai, which I think is supposed to highlight just what a giant jackass Orochi is. Was it well-animated? Definitely. Was it necessary? Not really.
- Admittedly, Orochi being set on fire is pretty great, and the voice actor is acting the hell out alternating between the high-pitched and the deeper Orochi voices.
- I don't remember if this specific scene is in the manga or not, but I definitely appreciate the brief moment of hesitation Orochi has when he saw Oden reflected in Hiyori.
- Out of all the cool new visuals in Orochi's rant, I do really like the shot of hands overlapping on each other representing the Kurozumi grudge against the rest of Wano.
- Again... I really do feel like if the grudge remembrance was a bit shorter, or if 1074 didn't have a brief recap, that things would've been a bit more impactful in this one.
- And then, of course, Denjirou zips in and cuts Orochi's head off. I... I think I've said enough about how much I feel like this moment really should've been Hiyori's, but honestly this is executed pretty well. I just never particularly cared about this moment, is all. Now that it's over, I also really did feel like having a couple extra shots showing Denjiro moving and/or realizing that Orochi is still alive should've been something they could've done in the anime.
- I do like the effect of Denjiro's final slash having silhouettes of the Akazaya Nine, as well as later on the katakana of the lantern wishes -- mostly surrounding Orochi being gone -- rising up all around Denjiro and Hiyori.
- The episode ends with the umpteenth time that Momonosuke grouses about not being able to move Onigashima, causing Toki and Oden's spirits to speak to him.
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