Boss Kyoshiro has arrived and attacked the Beast Pirates vessel. The reason is that he is secretly none other than Denjiro in disguise, and he reveals his true identity to Kinemon and the others. In a continued string of good fortune, even more reinforcements arrive for our heroes in the form of 1200 additional samurai and their craft. Everyone is shocked by this turn of events, given that no one had arrived thus far and Orochi had used his many resources to attack the ships at port and destroy bridges. The arriving samurai explain that they actually understood Kinemon's secret message hidden in the writing of the coded note - they were to go to another port entirely! Kinemon is roundly congratulated by everyone for his brilliant foresight and planning.
...which he clearly did not do. Kinemon is reluctant to say anything, but the other Red Scabbards know he made a mistake and that it was a stroke of luck that things turned out this way. Still, better to be lucky than good, and now the assault on Onigashima and the Fire Festival has a fighting chance. Sadly, there is still great danger in this moment as Kanjuro is attempting to escape with Momonosuke as his hostage. Kawamatsu tries to stop him, but Kanjuro manages to break away using a meticulously drawn bird. It turns out that the “drawings dissolving in water” aspect was yet another layer to his ruse, and much to everyone's amazement he flies away as the to be continued card flashes.
Another perfectly solid episode for the Wano arc. After the visual tour de force of last week's entry with Luffy, Law, and Kid attacking the Beast Pirates ship, I expected we'd have something of a “breather” episode this week. By and large this was nowhere near that energy but I can't hold that against the Toei team, I'd rest on my laurels a bit too after all that. Still, the episode was more than appealing visually and had a few brilliant touches I thought. A particularly nice bit of framing was when Ashura was about to cry and he leaned his head down, allowing for a single raindrop to fall off the edge of his hat right where his eye/tear would normally be.
In terms of the content, this is one of the more hilarious and memey moments in Wano. Kinemon's “excellent plan” being a giant goof-up is a hilarious character beat, and his glum face replete with runny nose has to be one of the more enduring images of this arc (and that is saying something). I loved the build up to it as well, with all the visual explainers for the linguistic fun at play and thought the anime did a great job selling the scene. The Akazya Nine ribbing him over it was great too. Even after all the Wano we've seen and all these great moments, it's amazing to think that there is still more to come.
Crystal Kay previously sang themes for 2004's Fullmetal Alchemist and Nodame Cantabile― Recently, Anime News Network was able to sit down with singer-songwriter Crystal Kay and talk about not only her involvement with anime over the years but also what it was like to grow up in Japan as the child of a Korean-Japanese mother and an African-American father. Anime fans likely know of Crystal Kay throug...
The plot is excellent in the romance camp. Everything that happens is to get Eui-joon and Gunwoo together, and it works pretty well.― You can read The Dangerous Convenience Store in English two ways. The first is to read it on the manhwa site/app Manta, which has all seventy-five chapters and four bonus stories available. The second is to read Seven Seas' print (or ebook) edition, which, as of this ...
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Anime premieres in 2024― Adult Swim's YouTube channel began streaming a first look video for the Rick and Morty: The Anime series on Saturday. The show will premiere on Adult Swim and Max in 2024, and will also run on Adult Swim Canada. The anime will be an original work, with adapted themes and events from the main Rick and Morty animated series. Takashi Sano (Tower of God) is writing and directing...
As Slam Dunk reached its final stretch, I can see why this series is considered the sports classic that it is today.― This is the largest batch of Slam Dunk episodes that I've reviewed thus far. Originally, I wanted to review the show in more even seasons, but given its overall pacing and release, it wasn't easy to find a moment where it felt right to stop and start again. However, as we approached ...
2nd part opens in Japanese theaters on June 7― The staff for the four-part Code Geass: Rozé of the Recapture (originally titled Gode Geass: Z of the Recapture, or Dakkan no Zetto) anime project revealed a trailer and a visual on Saturday for the second part in the project. The below video previews MIYAVI's opening theme song "Running In My Head." The anime's first part premiered in Japan on Friday. ...
James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY.― Yatagarasu Gets Violent! James and Lynzee discuss the latest episode of Yatagarsu, in which Wakamiya plays his hand to find out the truth behind his older brother's scheming to obtain the throne. Plus, GoHands keeps making anime, and we don't know WHY; Hunter x Hunter manga is on its ...
Making a sequel to Code Geass is a daunting task. But with its fantastic main character and a story that doesn't undercut what came before, Rozé of the Recapture is on the right track.― Making a sequel to Code Geass—especially one set close to the end of the series—is a daunting task. Any story that involves an ongoing war massively undercuts both the finale of the original anime and the sacrifices ...
The Switch sequel console is finally happening! The details are scarce, but you can find out more in this week's column. Also: an interview with El Shaddai's Sawaki Takeyasu, Microsoft layoffs, and more.― Welcome back, folks! What a wild week this has been for the gaming industry. We'll go further into it, but jeez. This past week also saw the disappearance of Capcom's Dark Void and Dark Void Zero. ...
The Code Geass creator discusses his new project with Web3 company Azuki, Enter the Garden, and his hope that this new path could help the medium evolve.― Los Angeles-based Web3 anime-styled brand Azuki and advertising conglomerate Dentsu debuted the first nine-minute episode of their joint anime endeavor, Enter the Garden, on April 30. The episode, which has already racked up a quarter of a million...