Full disclosure: I liked the beginning of the Egghead Arc. And despite my overall feelings, I liked Wano and Dressrosa’s first chapters too. As far as I can remember, there hasn’t been a new One Piece arc I didn’t enjoy at the beginning (The “beginning” as I define it is the first three to five chapters).
Unfortunately, I’m just not vibing with Elbaph’s story right now. I care little about the current mystery and most of the Straw Hat’s interactions aren’t doing it for me. Right now, I’m just waiting for everything to be explained and for the prominent Elbaph characters to be introduced so we can move on to this arc’s main conflict.
So…are we just gonna pretend the Straw Hats never fought giant characters before? Oars? Who’s that?
It took awhile, but I’ve finally found a new manga series to review!
With My Hero Academia gone I had to be careful to find a series that was both interesting and has long-lasting potential. I’ve never read this series before, but I know it’s popular and think it’d be fun to just jump into it cold. Here we go! My first chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen!
I gotta say, it’s a good chapter, even if I don’t know what’s going on. Not surprising since it’s 271 chapters in so far. I like the comradery between Itadori, Kugisaki, and Fushiguro. They seems like good friends/co-workers. Not to mention, Kugisaki’s a cutie. She’s a girl, right? Hard to tell with the art. Oh, well. Call me!
“And gifted you two Twitch subscriptions!!”
I love the down-to-Earth situation the main characters (they’re the main characters, right?) are getting into. It’s cool seeing them use their…powers(?) to help people. I guess they have powers. Fushiguro summoned that giant wolf. Either that or he’s a Pokémon trainer.
Nintendo made a Legend of Zelda game starring Zelda. In The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, you take the role of Zelda, Princess of Hyrule. Why?
Because Nintendo supports monarchies.
Oh? It’s fun living in a country under a dictatorship when you can just turn it off when your thin-crust pizza arrives, huh? Well, I say if we have to pay taxes, so does Princess Zelda!
Iron Chef was a Japanese cooking competition television show where two cooking experts each have one-hour to make as many delicious meals as possible centered around a “theme ingredient”. The food is then presented to a panel of judges who give comments and then points for each meal. After that, a winner is decided. Simple, right?
But—like the food—the show truly shines through its unique flavor and presentation. Iron Chef is an experience. The host is theatrical. The commentators, sassy. The cooking stadium, grand. The challenger and Iron Chefs’ entrances, bombastic. And, the food, amazing.
…Well, it looks amazing. Enough, I get hungry watching every episode. Warning: Never watch Iron Chef on an empty stomach!
You mess with the red-haired bull, you get the pistol horns.
I know what Bartolomeo was thinking.
He’s on a personal mission on Gartel Island (located in Emperor Shanks’ territory) showing Luffy’s dominance by burning Shanks’ flag. And, I bet he thought his barrier-barrier fruit would protect him from any Red-Haired Pirate attack. Too bad for him, strong haki messes up many seemingly overpowered devil fruits. Not to mention, I doubt old Bart thought that Emperor Shanks himself (along with his senior officers) would pull up to confront little ole him.
That punk, Bartolomeo, actually burned an Emperor’s flag then waited for someone to show up. What the hell was he thinking?!
He’s lucky the only things he got for his transgression was a butt-whooping and his ship destroyed. But, you know? I get the sneaky suspicion Oda had Bart’s ship destroyed by Yasopp only for him to get a new ship that’s a tribute to the Thousand Sunny. And, maybe the Barto Club washes up on Elbaph? Nika fanboys + Luffy fanboys = A good time for all!
Let’s talk about how differently each Emperor is approaching finding the One Piece in this chapter. Yes, I know Chief Shanks wasn’t looking for One Piece here, but he was pretty passive about going to Laugh Tale until recently. I think his desire to find One Piece is less about want and more about keeping it from less savory people.
Before we go there, I’d like to mention how much I loved this episode’s opening sequence. Wakfu turned the Eliatrope Goddess’ backstory into an AMV (Anime Music Video)! The music. The animation. The emotion. It all came together in an very fun way. Although “fun” may not be the correct word given what we saw.
As far as I can tell, The Eliatrope Goddess (E.G. if you’re nasty) hung out with the other gods/goddesses of the World of Twelve, then went traveling in space and met the Great Dragon (I spent two minutes researching before running away scared from all the lore). The two had a one-night stand in space (Giving a whole new meaning to “in space, no one can hear you scream”.), Yugo and his siblings were later born, then the other gods/goddesses—not liking her Baby Daddy (I think)—banished her to Space Nevada where she was trapped by some old pink-eyed dude. Trust me, it all looks cooler in the episode.
The other gods/goddesses found out her babies’ daddy doesn’t recycle.
You know what? I’m starting to think King Imu doesn’t like Joy Boy.
That Joy Boy haki blast sealed Saint Saturn’s fate. Imu didn’t like that one bit. I guess it triggered some serious PTSD from a previous encounter with the original J.B. Notice how Imu blamed Saturn for “Joy Boy’s” escape, not Luffy. Oh, boy! Imu has a button you should never press and Joy Boy is it. Could Imu’s desire to destroy Gear 5 Luffy lead him to making huge mistakes that’ll cost him everything? I’d say yes.
Jaygarcia Saturn is dead. Very dead. Super duper dead. There’s a clear link to the Five Elder’s power and Imu. They serve him well—everything’s good in the Mary Geoise hood. They screw-up? It’s a free trip to the Shadow Realm. A gruesome trip too. I know he’s evil, but I really felt bad for St. Satur— Hahahaha! Oh, man. I just couldn’t hold it. Yeah, that bastard deserved it.
Come with me if you want to watch a Terminator anime.
No spoilers! General thoughts only.
Not really sure if this qualifies as a “hipster” series, seeing as it’s based on a popular movie franchise, but I’ll allow it this one-time because there’s never been a Terminator anime project.
Quick Opinion: I really liked it.
Terminator Zero is an anime set in the Terminator universe, but after watching all eight episodes, I don’t think there’s any required viewing of previous Terminator movies to enjoy it, but doing so will enhance your experience. This is because The Terminator franchise involves time travel and time travel is…messy.
Because of this, Terminator Zero takes place in an alternate timeline. This gives the show room to be as crazy or subtle as it wants to be without having to worry about stepping on previous continuities. And, I think, the creators took full advantage of it. Time travel shenanigans is directly addressed in the show and I think it helps accept this version at face value while posing an interesting question about whether time travel benefits the machines or humans more.
This seems to be what’s happening—for now. The Eliatrope Goddess is using the Cloud Eyes as giant cameras keeping watch over most of the planet, sending her kids to deal with any trouble. Sounds too good to be true? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, I’m loving Yugo’s interactions with his family. His tender moments with his Goddess mother; the antagonistic relationship between him and Qilby; and connecting with his sister, Nora, while out on a mission. It’s all a treat to see. A shame the only time I’m interested in Mr. Bland Yugo is when he’s fighting or interacting with more compelling characters.
Get those hairy balls out of my face!
Poor Qilby. I know. I know. The guy almost destroyed the world. But, being trapped in a white void for centuries would screw anyone up. I’m surprised he’s got any wits left about him at all. And, hey. Points for Qilby for trying to bury the hatchet between him and Yugo. Sweet, but futile as our dear Yugo is too sanctimonious to give his own brother a second chance. Geez, dude! He only tried to destroy the world. Stop making such a big deal about it!
Adamai’s suspicious of the Eliatropes and decides to leave. Good. Go find a cliff to jump off.
I’m no psychic, but I bet Oda wrote this chapter thinking how smart Dr. Vegapunk making plans to air the World Government’s dirty laundry if killed. The problem: It doesn’t fully make sense—at least to me.
1.) Why not directly state in your death message that you’re likely been killed by the World Government? That the reason this message exists is because you fear the wrath of the World Government. Now, the WG can spin the message by lying Warlord Luffy killed everyone’s beloved genius scientist.
2.) Dr. Vegapunk’s refusal to speculate on his personal theories and thoughts in his message. You don’t have to say you KNOW the WG has an Ancient Weapon. Just say that’s what you think. It’s okay to have opinions, Stella. You’re leaving a final message, not posting your dissertation. Say what have to say, promote your Pateron, then go away.
3.) Not capturing York is complete horsesh*t.. She’s a Vegapunk! You don’t know the extent of her plans. Capture her and keep her from causing anymore unforeseen damage!
4.) What the hell is brain stealth mode? That came out of nowhere. And if that’s a thing, why didn’t York account for that in her plans? Did she not know about it? You’d think she’d be constantly checking Punk Records for any indication someone discovered her shenanigans. Nope! Vegapunk Stella is a “bad liar” so that’s all she needed to look for. Really?!
You’re just now realizing that creating genius personifications of greed, violence, and evil is bad? This is what happens when you remove your brain, Y’all.
Mammoth Base Opera Castle 