Review

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Dororo - Episode 13 [Review]

Dororo took a week off between cours, and it was sorely missed. Between its expressive visuals, minimalist color palette, and evocative musical score, this was one of the best shows of Winter 2019, so it's great that it's sticking around another season. The show wastes no time returning viewers to the story at its most affecting, giving us moments of true elation and tragedy all in one short episode. In “The story of the Blank-faced Buddha,” the show returns from a focus on Hyakkimaru back to Dororo for a real emotional gut punch.

Now that we're in the second cour of the show, there are new opening and ending sequences to match. I'm wistful that the “party is over,” but these new sequences are just as promising, and the ending sequence, which features blurred visuals evocative of Hyakkimaru's view of the world, gives me hope that we'll see him regain his sight as the anime progresses. But that's not happening yet: as Dororo points out early on, Hyakkimaru didn't regain anything after fighting the fox spirit last time. Instead, he got insomnia as he struggled to deal with his sudden family drama (and it's good that Mom survived her suicide attempt). Dororo wants Hyakkimaru to chill out, so he even lies about the presence of a demon near a relaxing hot spring in order to coax his stubborn big brother into visiting.

Instead, the pair run into Okaka, whose name's similarity to “mama” (Okaa-san) is no coincidence. Okaka takes on the appearance and voice of Dororo's mother, revealing a more vulnerable side to this normally tough and proud child. Dororo has been on his own for so long in a world that's dead set on dealing him a bad hand. His bond with Hyakkimaru is linked to an obvious anxiety that his “bro” will leave him behind. Dororo was intent on helping Hyakkimaru unwind, but he finds his own solace, however temporary, in Okaka. Never mind that Okaka is actually a sculptor twisted by an obsession with carving and re-carving (and slicing off innocent travelers' faces in the process) the face of a giant possessed Buddha statue. The face-stealer is loosely based on Tezuka's original Dororo manga, as an interpretation of a Buddhist myth that many Westerners may have seen before in Avatar: The Last Airbender, when Aang battles a version of this monster. But Hyakkimaru's lack of vision provokes an interesting weakness in the monster—you can't mimic the face of a mother that a child has never seen. It's another example of how Hyakkimaru's disabilities can prove to be strengths in this show. It makes me hope that Dororo gets an English dub so blind Western fans can watch it.

Okaka is far beyond redemption, but through Dororo's smile, she experiences a final moment of solace. I love the nuance of the animation, which shows Dororo's pained smile performed out of kindness at the same time that he's essentially losing his mother for the second time. Dororo finally receives some kindness from an increasingly talkative Hyakkimaru just when he needs it most, and the pair does visit the hot spring after all. The episode ends on a note of surprise rather than resolution when it becomes apparent that there's a burn on Dororo's back that seems to be in the shape of a map. Hyakkimaru's plotline is fully taking a backseat to Dororo's this week, but this show needs both of its protagonists to shine. Maybe this new discovery will bring the duo some good fortune for a change.

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind - Episode 25 [Review]

It was only ever a matter of time before Trish's Stand revealed itself, and this week we finally meet the legendary Spice Girl! We generally don't spend time thinking of Stands as gendered beings, but this one talks and inexplicably has boobs, so she kind of embodies a whole new character on her own.

Spice Girl's ability is to make objects soft and malleable, which turns out to be useful in the Notorious B.I.G. fight because the enemy can't aimlessly destroy everything that moves anymore. I presume that Trish's powers are naturally born like the Joestars, but she hasn't had them for long so her current journey is about getting into the spirit of proper Stand battles. That's my favorite aspect of this episode; watching Trish steadily put the pieces together and go from frightened teen girl to wisecracking badass who's too cool to look back at her own explosions. Okay, maybe it's not that extreme of a transformation, but this is definitely a turning point for her. What sets Trish apart from other unsuspecting heroes who have to toughen up in the heat of battle is that she's been around Stands for a while. She's seen danger and has had to watch Team Bucciarati fight on her behalf before, but she never expected herself to participate in the action. It does seem like she should have been more ready for a day like this to come, but it's too late to cry about it now. The gang's sense of resolve is starting to rub off on her.

As far as the Stand battle itself goes, I don't think the finale of the Notorious B.I.G. fight is nearly as compelling as its beginning. This two-parter was front-loaded with so many great creepy ideas, but now that the abject horror has mostly evaporated, we never got around to understanding how the majority of the enemy's powers worked, let alone what was happening during the climactic resolution this week. Everybody's getting their hands cut off now, and I can't tell whose abilities are responsible for what. Notorious B.I.G.'s movement-seeking powers were the only aspect to get fleshed (heh) out, and most of the other trippy stuff was just for spooky flavor. I do like the detail that it can't ever be killed, so the solution is to dump it in the ocean and let it fight the waves forever. The waters of Sardinia are about to become the next Bermuda Triangle.

Obviously this is a big episode for Trish, even if I found the fight itself underwhelming, as she's starting to feel like a proper member of the team and not just a macguffin to keep the plot moving. The gang felt uncomfortably trimmed down when Fugo left, but now it's clear that a new person might be able to fill his shoes. I hope the show can hold on to the emotionally raw side of her character, since her relationship with her dad is such an important aspect of this arc. It's hard to tell right now if this is a full-on transformation for her character where she's just cool and confident all the time now, or if we're still in the midst of a balancing act. Where the story goes from here could make an episode like this come across a little ham-fisted in retrospect, but it's hard to deny character development when it comes delivered in such a neat package.

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Fairy Tail: Final Season - Episode 303 [Review]

So that's twice now that a member of Fairy Tail has prevented someone from ending this war. First was Happy when he stopped Natsu from killing Zeref, which was a dumb thing to do, but understandable to a degree – he didn't want Natsu to die as well. While that hardly showed much thinking things through, it was in line with Happy's character. This week, though, this week, Mest pulls something that's far less understandable or acceptable. Happy's actions may have been selfish, but Mest flat-out sabotages Brandish's Makarov-sanctioned negotiations with August. Fairy Tail as a guild may not put a lot of stock in power structures, but that's mutiny by anyone's reckoning, and Makarov's no Captain Bligh. It was also an awful thing to do to Brandish – she'd decided to help Fairy Tail, turning her back on her own country in order to end Zeref's war, and not only did Mest make light of that sacrifice, he also demonstrated his lack of respect for someone willing to help his guild by making hers the hands that held the knife. It's just a low blow all around.

It also may be one that gets Natsu and Lucy hurt, because the consequences of his actions aren't only that he screwed over Brandish's negotiations, but that he triggered August into using his powers. Granted, those may be cancelled out by Irene's use of Universe One at the end of the episode, because her spell rearranges the very land and she cast it on all of Fiore, but someone's still going to get a taste of whatever it is August did. The chances that it's Mest feel quite slim.

August's spell may have a slightly better effect on the other major moment of emotional frustration this week, the apparent death of Gajeel. I freely admit that Gajevy is my favorite couple in the show, despite how they started (followed closely by Jerza; aren't portmanteaux fun?), but even if they aren't yours, this week does a really good job of making their parting heartbreaking. It goes back to the idea I discussed last time, about how in fiction partners often make a big deal out of sacrificing themselves for the other to go on living. Levy and Gajeel have both made it clear that that's not acceptable to them, but it doesn't stop either of them from trying. Of course, Gajeel wasn't planning to die – he perhaps was banking on shortening his lifespan in a similar way to Levy's via massive Bane Particle ingestion, but he certainly didn't expect Bloodman to just drag him to hell like that. When he then stops Levy from following him (and Lily ensures that she can't), though, he's just doing the same thing he was upset that she did – sacrifices himself and leaves her behind. The hope I'm selling here is that Irene cast her spell while Gajeel and Bloodman were in transit between Fiore and the underworld, meaning that they'll pop out somewhere very much alive. Even if that happens, though, Gajeel and Levy's parting is very effective, making use of flashbacks to show how they grew to love each other and one heart-rending image of the family Gajeel hoped to have with her. It's all enhanced by some truly great scream-crying from Levy's VA, Mariya Ise, who strikes just the right note of heartbroken desperation.

All in all, things really look bad for our heroes right now. But there's one potential game changer in the wings for the next episode: Cana has finally brought herself to eliminate the lacrima holding Mavis' physical body. That means that the First Master is back on the scene, and while her being in her real body could reactivate the curse she carries, it also gives Fairy Tail an edge against Zeref. He's never had a chance to really deal with his feelings for Mavis, and those are in large part what's driving him, brother be damned. How will he react coming face-to-face with her again? How will she? The name Mavis is one that she shares with the heroine of Marie Corelli's (totally bizarre) 1895 novel The Sorrows of Satan - perhaps she can bring those same sorrows to the man trying to destroy her people.

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One Piece - Episode 879 [Review]

Okay, so in the manga we got the news that Luffy was the unofficial Fifth Emperor shortly before the full reveal of his new bounty. The whole chapter was loosely structured around a gag where Luffy gets depressed because the number on his wanted poster dropped to 150 million berries for some unknown reason, only to realize at the end of the chapter that he misread a decimal point and was now worth 1.5 billion. It already barely worked in the manga, where the punchline was pretty obvious if you took five seconds to think it over, but it's even more awkward in the anime because that chapter is being split into two episodes, and they've had to shift some scenes around. Now the setup for the joke is coming after the Emperor business, and we're given a full twenty minute episode to scratch our heads and ask "Wait, why would a new Emperor's bounty go down?! That doesn't make sens--OH!"

But it's an exciting time to be alive nonetheless! 1.5 billion is just over Katakuri's bounty, so it makes sense that Luffy would get this kind of bump, and if we take the Emperor title seriously (which I do, haters to the left), then I assume he's still the runt of the big-hitters. The audience hasn't been told Big Mom or Kaido's bounties yet, because they represent the ceiling of the pirate world and the story doesn't want to put a price on that just yet, but I've always adored bounties as One Piece's alternative to classic shonen power levels. It's got the same smashing-your-action-figures-together excitement of "This guy's a big deal! But this guy's the biggest deal! And this guy's the biggerest deal!", but instead of feeding into the fanboy compulsion to objectively measure strength, it's all about status and infamy. Your bounty informs your place in the world, and there's great character writing to be found in how characters choose to live up to their reputations.

Elsewhere, the world is still gearing up for the Reverie, and some surprising characters are crossing paths. Koby, Luffy's bespectacled pink-haired friend from the earliest episodes of the series, is now a captain in the Navy and protecting Dressrosa's royal family from pirates. Even if everyone present is technically on the side of the World Government, they can't help but form an impromptu Luffy fan club over his most recent accomplishments. Rebecca and Koby's interactions in particular are super-cute, and it's fun learning that even the new and improved Koby still needs his glasses to read the paper (assuming he can read through his tears of happiness). This transitions us into another lengthy disposable flashback, this time recapping Luffy and Koby's relationship.

These past two episodes don't flow particularly well with the protracted padding, but the new material they offer is great. It's nice to get back to the usual camaraderie of the crew hanging out on the ship, and the Reverie promises the secondary characters who don't travel with the Straw Hats a chance in the spotlight. We've made so many friends on our adventures whose stories can still be important way after the fact, and there are nearly infinite ways for them to interact with one another. I was disappointed that the anime adapted the montage of the other Emperors reacting to Luffy's new profile completely straight, since I thought that would have been an ideal time to embellish—especially with Big Mom's scene, where we're bound to be curious what a post-Luffy Totto Land looks like. I'm hoping the anime can find more opportunities to flesh out the story beyond just recapping old episodes, because there's so much great stuff to mine from these characters and scenarios now that the focus doesn't have to be on suspense so much.

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Boruto: Naruto Next Generations - Episode 101 [Review]

The latest arc kicks off its endgame in this week's Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. In search of Jugo, Karin and Suigetsu encounter an injured Sumire, whose distrust of the duo leads Suigetsu to knock her out just before Team 7 appears on the scene. Following a heated argument between Boruto and Suigetsu about what's best for Jugo, the group decides to wait until Sumire wakes up to launch their rescue operation. Later, under cover of night, Boruto, Mitsuki, Sumire, and Suigetsu are able to infiltrate the Land of Rivers' research compound as Sarada (in the guise of Sumire) and Karin act as decoys and lure the Curse Mark twins into the woods. Although Sumire is able to free her teammates and inject them with a Curse Mark serum, the twins eventually catch wind of the gang's plan, and the as-yet-unnamed brother intercepts the girls shortly after their escape. Meanwhile, the head researcher attempts to murder Konohamaru in his sleep, only to discover that he's already escaped from the facility. Boruto and Suigetsu eventually find Tosaka, who leads them to Jugo, but before they're able to free him and make a break for it, Tosaka plunges syringes into their backs, grins maniacally, and welcomes them to his research lab.

Since Taka's occasional turns in the spotlight made for some of the parent series' most compelling episodes, it should come as no surprise that Karin and Suigetsu—and their various dynamics with the members of Team 7—serve as the latest installment's highlights. As the most talkative and forthright members of Sasuke's old team, Karin and Suigetsu tend to be the most fun to watch. Given how headstrong and determined Boruto and Suigetsu are, it makes sense that they'd clash on the subject of Jugo's best interests, and their arguments feel genuine and believable. Whereas Suigetsu has arguably changed the least of any Taka member, Karin has probably undergone the biggest change in personality. While the Karin of old cared about nothing but winning Sasuke's affection, the character has become far more levelheaded and collected in her adults years. Her Sakura-esque fits of rage are nowhere to be seen, and she now claims to view Jugo and Suigetsu (whom she was endlessly annoyed by in her younger years) as the closest thing she has to family.

Despite the rescue mission being underway, there isn't much in the way of action this week. Still, watching the remnants of Taka and Team 7 formulate and carry out a stealth mission is fairly exciting. While there aren't any large-scale clashes, the episode is able to convey a genuine sense of peril when the gang infiltrates the research facility—as if things could go horribly south at any second. Personality-wise, the Curse Mark twins continue to function as stock-grade anime-original villains, but there's never any doubt as to whether their abilities pose a significant threat. Tosaka's big reveal isn't terribly surprising, since guest characters are often reluctant friends or enemies in disguise, but learning more about his grand plan in the coming weeks should prove interesting. Whether he's a shades-of-gray antagonist or full-on evil is still up in the air, but based on how much fun he's been, the answer will hopefully be the former.

Although the fisticuffs don't begin in earnest until next week, episode 101 serves as a nice breather before the final battles commence. It's nice to see Taka (almost) fully reunited, and its members' interactions with the kids are both fun and fascinating. With almost all of the big surprises out of the way, Boruto's latest adventure now heads into its climax without overstaying its welcome.

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