One Piece Episode 1073 brings us back down to earth, so to speak. While there are some high-flying moments and great action, the majority of the episode leaves the rooftop battle and clues us in on the fallout of the fire.
It's hard to keep up the same kinetic energy of the past two episodes. So, understandably, this week is a downshift into the regular weekly territory. Of course, a regular weekly episode of Wano is still a cut above what most other shows offer - every moment looks anywhere from good to great - but like so many prior entries in this long-running arc, it's hard to follow such a stellar act.
It also takes a more mundane approach for the majority of the episode runtime. We get a sizable chunk of Luffy and Kaido duking it out, though it is far shorter once the replay of last week's animation is factored in. Instead, we are back to the typical raid episode, traveling about through the bowels of Onigashima and checking in on our various heroes as they try to escape. As I've said previously, many of these moments will vary in enjoyment based on your connection to the character(s) in focus in that particular scene. In the past, this has been a struggle for me as the often complex windings and sheer number of characters have left me disconnected from certain individual threads.
I have to say that this section kept me engaged across all the sub-stories, though. I think this is due in part to the fact that there is a common thread across all the different vignettes: fire! Fire is bad, as they say, and each character/group is trying to get around this and escape. This commonality makes it easy to jump from one section to another without having to remember what the particular motivations or the last state of play were in each scene. It's also fun seeing all the hilarious little moments sprinkled in for a bit of levity, from samurai apologizing for Brook's death to Usopp trying a sprinkler flower in vain. Raizo capping everything off with my favorite jutsu he's used is a real treat.
Nonsensical as this twenty-episode fever-dream of a show is, I can’t deny the potency of its mad imagery.― After finishing the second half of LIDEN FILMS utterly inscrutable anime adaptation of Tow Ubukata's Bye Bye, Earth novel series, I had to lie down for an hour so that my poor, confused brain could attempt to parse all that it had experienced. I don't know whether that helped, but the color-dre...
Asha Bardon explores sites off the beaten path and explains why so many anime fans are making their own pilgrimages.― It's the end of a much-loved anime movie: Makoto Shinkai's 2016 hit Your Name. The protagonists, Mitsuha and Taki, have just glimpsed each other on a subway train in Tokyo, only for both to get off at the next station and frantically try to find each other. Then they come to some ste...
Anime gets panel at Anime Expo on July 5― TOHO Animation began streaming a teaser trailer for the eighth and final season of the My Hero Academia anime on Monday: TOHO animation will host a “My Hero Academia Special Event” panel at Anime Expo on July 5 from 10:00-11:20 a.m. PDT at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Daiki Yamashita and Justin Briner, the Japanese and English voice actors for Deku, w...
Anime to have "censored," "original" versions, with original version debuting on AT-X on July 15― The staff for the New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt anime unveiled the main promotional video trailer and a key visual for the anime on Monday. The video confirms the anime's Anime Expo 2025 world premiere event on July 4, its July 9 broadcast premiere date, and its "censored" and "original" versions...
This is, at its heart, a send-up of otoge isekai.― No matter where you trace it back to, the subgenre of isekai where someone is reborn in the world of, specifically, an otome game, has become popular. It's not as well-loved (strictly in terms of popularity) as villainess or OP isekai, but there are enough stories that use it as a setting to make it deserving of its specific subgenre. It's got a bit...
Puniru Is a Kawaii Slime is throwback to the mid-late 2000s, when we had an abundance of slice of life comedies focusing on a tsundere boy and an overly hyperactive girl.― In a lot of ways, you could consider Puniru Is a Cute Slime as a throwback to the mid-late 2000s when we had an abundance of slice of life comedies focusing on a tsundere boy and an overly hyperactive girl. We have a bunch of imma...
Curious whether you missed any of the big announcements from Summer Game Fest? Jean-Karlo's got you covered.― Welcome back, folks! With Summer Games Fest behind us, and we have another little bundle of news to share. How nice. It ought to take my mind off of not having a Switch 2 yet... This is... Splatoon Stays Fresh With New Spin-Off, Other Goodies Inbound Splatoon has done pretty well as the orig...
From the anime "TRIGUN STAMPEDE", Nicholas D. Wolfwood comes to life as a figure in an action pose by Kotobukiya.― The undertaker, wielding the large cross-shaped gun "The Punisher" on his back, has returned! From the anime "TRIGUN STAMPEDE", Nicholas D. Wolfwood comes to life as a figure in an action pose by Kotobukiya. Pre-order the Standard or Deluxe Edition from KOTOBUKIYA US ONLINE! IMG 2-nicol...
With high ratings since episode 2, Apocalypse Hotel grabs the top spot this week and so breaks into the cumulative top 5 at #4! See how your favorite shows stack up this week!― Let's have a look at what ANN readers consider the best (and worst) of the season,
based on the polls you can find in our Daily Streaming Reviews
and on the Your Score page with the latest simulcasts. Keep in mind that these...
This collection still stands tall as a time capsule for an essential era in the history of Japanese anime.― It's always wonderful when classic, out-of-print anime make their way onto legal streaming services. While a full-blown restoration on a nice home-media format would obviously be ideal, the fact that we can sit here in the year 2025 and watch Manie Manie: Neo Tokyo at all is something to be th...