957: "Big News! An Incident Concerning the Seven Warlords of the Sea"

Crossword

…and when he's not on screen everyone should be asking "Where's Sabo?"

Title: "Big News! An Incident Concerning the Seven Warlords of the Sea"
Chapters Covered: 956
Episode Director: Megumi Ishitani (*****)
Animation Director: Eisaku Inoue (***1/2) + Hirotaka Ito (***1/2)
Time: 7:30PM EST
Watch It: www.crunchyroll.com/one-piece

Ishitani is one of Toei's rising stars. I've already mentioned her role in directing Dragon Ball Super's finale, but you should also check out her short film Jurassic. It's good stuff.

Johnny B. Decent

Oh shit, next week is the big one, isn't it?

Oshawott

This episode and the next one are gonna be amazing. First time in over a year that I look forward to the anime.

thaihoa91

An Incident That Will Affect the Seven Warlords

One Piece Episode 958 Preview

RevolutionaryOfThe6Paths

Im at a loss for words right now. Incredible episode. It surprased my expectations and they were pretty much impossibly high. And we're gonna get more Ishitani in the future? Bruh

Shirley

Amazing episode it felt like a movie. Well done

Sano

This was a great episode. The animation for the entire episode was amazing. I like that the anime expanded the stuff about each of the current Warlords finding out about the disbanding of the Warlord system. Also I like the animation that was used during the part when recap everything about the Warlords did in the series so far.

Captain Krupp

Mika Doi has grown so old… but it helps Koby sound way manlier so its fine

All Fiction

Is this the first time ever the English words "Seven Warlords of The Sea" actually being used in the anime?

G1Ravage

God, I was so sad when this episode ended.

Did Morgans knock out the government agent in the manga, too? I could've sworn Morgans shot him originally.

Blissed

No he punched him.

But yea, I've been quietly enjoying the anime, but I had to come in and post about how incredible this particular one was lol, masterclass stuff

uniaka ikuzakas

So it looks to me like wg tried to cover up the death of cobra and ancient weapon info, and bb found out from the papers and the ancient weapon is what he doesn't want to fall in marines hand. Sabo is captured and wg announced his execution, like ace. Ace clone all the way?

RoboBlue

That was the best episode in a very long time.

The pacing was perfect, the animation was among the best in the series, and even the little bits of recap filler were cool because we got to see new animation of the former Shichibukai.

FelRes

Shout out to the opening. That was the best "in this episode" clip sequence so far for Dreamin' On.

Nouryoku

@RoboBlue:

That was the best episode in a very long time.

The pacing was perfect, the animation was among the best in the series, and even the little bits of recap filler were cool because we got to see new animation of the former Shichibukai.

Yeah it was fine as only shichibukai that already lost their title were the focus and the art looked gorgeous.

@RevolutionaryOfThe6Paths:

Im at a loss for words right now. Incredible episode. It surprased my expectations and they were pretty much impossibly high. And we're gonna get more Ishitani in the future? Bruh

Wait, is this confirmed?

kevo_koma

That was a fantastically well made episode of One Piece.

Wow.

HERO

this brought a big smile to my face, what an outstanding episode that was

Darkestsith6

That felt movie quality. Amazing episode. One of those I archive and come back to. Sooooo amazing.

rayleigh92

Such an awesome episode! It's a bit of shame we gets this top quality only for interlude episodes (but yeah, I can say the Wano arc so far didn't need more than the already hq it got), but I hope we'll get more and more while we get into the massive part of the saga. I loved the Warlords showdown, we need more recap episodes just for sake of see updated scenes.

Galleon Panthera

This Episode was pretty great. Great animation as well. Easily movie quality!

Skippy

This post is deleted!

Skippy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbl–8XKN40

goty

@uniaka:

So it looks to me like wg tried to cover up the death of cobra and ancient weapon info, and bb found out from the papers and the ancient weapon is what he doesn't want to fall in marines hand. Sabo is captured and wg announced his execution, like ace. Ace clone all the way?

I'm sticking with the theory that Sabo "kidnapped" Vivi, and that a future Straw Hat reunion is in order. I don't think Oda would repeat the exact same plot beats with Sabo, and the Revolutionaries saying they lost contact with them makes more sense if they're all MIA.

Anyway, truly fantastic episode. Toei usually delivers when it comes to this kind of interlude, and the anime has been on a long winning streak, so everything aligned here. Ishitani is an absolutely fantastic director; I've been anxious for more of her work ever since the DBS finale. I think people often underestimate Toei and the amount of young talents working for them,but she's certainly one of their best.

Lord Starfish

That… was utter lunacy in the best way. I mean the preview already indicated that this episode would be good, but damn... I can't even remember the last time I saw an episode of One Piece that was just absolutely excellent from start to finish. Even the goddamn recap segments were superb, like what even is this?!

…I know this is literally impossible because of the amount of time it takes to do an episode but can Ishitani just direct every episode from now on?

zeff redleg

I don't get it, why the sudden increase in quality.

Where did they get the budget from?

puffing.cinema

omg it was movie-like quality for the whole thing!!!

what pop up the most for me was the colour use, and how they expanded the colour palette during most scenes. really made it all feel quite different; the new angles, scene transitions, recap and fillers were really well done. amazing to watch, really. made the Shichibukooks all look cool, before their downfall.

next episode seems to be a cool one too, but has a different feeling already. hope it keeps up and build more momentum…usually the anime hits good on flashbacks, expanding them with great voice acting, OSTs and, well, a fluidity that the manga can't hope to have. let's see what will they bring out of Oden's Pandering and Roja's most expressive exposition to date.

Devil G.

Way to follow what has been the anime's best year so far. Absolutely marvelous board, this was one episode for the ages.

Lord Starfish

@zeff:

I don't get it, why the sudden increase in quality.

Where did they get the budget from?

It's not a budget thing. It's a "Who's working on it" thing and a "How much time did they have to do their job" thing. The actual animation makes up a comparatively tiny portion of the total costs of an episode, and the budget mostly just impacts how much animation there can be, not how good said animation will be. So this episode was as good as it was because Ishitani Megumi is a phenomenal director who hasn't worked on One Piece before, and because she was able to gather up a whole bunch of top-tier animators to work on the episode. And they had the time to make the production really shine.

G1Ravage

I think the most impactful scene for me was the one where the News Coos were dropping newspapers all over this poor-looking village, and the little girl was astonished by the sight, and happily running around. But it was slowly overtaken by the sounds of adults sobbing over whatever horrible news the papers brought, which is still a mystery to us.

The other scene that stood out was during the current Warlord recap. The transitions were amazing. I really liked the part where they showed the Straw Hats, frozen in pose during Dressrosa…then it cuts to a zoomed in shot where it focuses on Law. Everyone else is still frozen, with Luffy in the bottom right corner not moving an inch, while Law comes to life, turns to the camera, and starts to open his Room. It's almost like the scene is saying, "The Straw Hats aren't important here. Focus on me."

EDIT - Wait, I need to add more! More bits that I liked:

-Doflamingo's glowing eyes subtly remaining, long after the scene in his cell faded to black. Very creepy.

-The atmosphere on Coby's ship while he was secretly trying to communicate with Drake. I especially liked that shot from the hallway, where we can somewhat see Coby sneaking a peek through the door window to make sure no one was around. It was quiet, atmospheric, moody and a bit creepy.

I wonder if Crossword will have to create a special 6-star rating just for Megumi Ishitani. lol

LightningAce

@uniaka:

So it looks to me like wg tried to cover up the death of cobra and ancient weapon info, and bb found out from the papers and the ancient weapon is what he doesn't want to fall in marines hand. Sabo is captured and wg announced his execution, like ace. Ace clone all the way?

Total opposite.
They attempted to wipe out the royal family of Alabasta, they succeeded in killing Cobra because he was asking dangerous questions. Don't forget he was seeking an audience with the Gorosei during the Reverie.
He had questions regarding the Poenglyphs, his ancestors and some other stuff. Plus "Im" had Vivi's picture, so its likely she was chosen to be the target to be taken out when the Gorosei asked.

I bet Sabo saved her during the assasination attempt, and has taken her somewhere to keep her safe, but in the process has been framed for the deaths.

G1Ravage

Oh man… I'm so STUPID!! That scene with the girl and the News Coos, and the distraught people...THAT WAS ALABASTA!!!

leaves the fandom

MasterKingJC

Megumi Ishitani is a goddess.

Unarguably one of the best episodes of the entire anime. It might be THE BEST!

God Of Fire

Incredible episode. The best looking episode of One Piece. Ishitani did a phenomenal job. Hoping that she would direct some major episodes of Oden flashback and to stay with One Piece anime for a long time.

andre

@uniaka:

So it looks to me like wg tried to cover up the death of cobra and ancient weapon info, and bb found out from the papers and the ancient weapon is what he doesn't want to fall in marines hand. Sabo is captured and wg announced his execution, like ace. Ace clone all the way?

I think they framed Sabo for it as well. The Sabo kidnapped Vivi theory is a really cool one too.

theackwardstation

Actually a great episode!

Kinomoto

Boy this episode was amazing. That top animation and every moment was done justice.

Kaworu

Man. It is just a f*cking excellent time to be a fan of One Piece, in both forms. I'm fully of the opinion both are in their "second golden age". Both have had their ups and downs, but things have been on the upswing since Zou, and really started going full-swing in Wano.

As far as the episode goes, as others have said the use of lighting is really what made this stand out, really raised the dramatic weight. This is how you know we're in the end times of this series, Toei recognizes how important episodes like this are for the final saga of One Piece and is just going nuts on them.

Kinomoto

@Kaworu:

Man. It is just a f*cking excellent time to be a fan of One Piece, in both forms. I'm fully of the opinion both are in their "second golden age". Both have had their ups and downs, but things have been on the upswing since Zou, and really started going full-swing in Wano.

As far as the episode goes, as others have said the use of lighting is really what made this stand out, really raised the dramatic weight. This is how you know we're in the end times of this series, Toei recognizes how important episodes like this are for the final saga of One Piece and is just going nuts on them.

Yeah both anime and manga were great last year and it´s looking they will keep it up this year. (Or crosses finger, be of even better quality)

God Of Fire

Usually, I don't listen to the One Piece Podcast, but this week they covered this episode and the anime recap section was over 40 minutes long. So I listened to that part only. As expected they praised the episode calling it the best looking One Piece episode. But they confused and mixed up Aya Komaki and Megumi Ishitani. They said that Episode 894 was also directed by Megumi Ishitani. I ask them to atleast watch Skippy's breakdown videos which are great and also invite him to OPP in the future so that he can share his knowledge on One Piece anime staff with them.

MasterKingJC

Forgot to mention that this was the first episode in forever to give me goosebumps. I literally got goosebumps during the lead-up to the big news reveal.

Sano

This is my opinion, I been thinking the anime being getting better since the beginning of Whole Cake Island.

God Of Fire

I would say the improvement began since Zou. The anime had some rough patches like the Seducing Woods, Cracker fight, the Reverie, the Bakura town episodes. But it has been improving and now its quality is like some seasonal anime. But as the anime's quality has improved so much, the rare once in a blue moon episodes with ugly art and animation stick out like a sore thumb. Every time I rewatch WCI and Wano act 1, I skip episodes 842 and 898 as they are so ugly to watch.

Lord Starfish

@God:

I would say the improvement began since Zou. The anime had some rough patches like the Seducing Woods, Cracker fight, the Reverie, the Bakura town episodes. But it has been improving and now its quality is like some seasonal anime. But as the anime's quality has improved so much, the rare once in a blue moon episodes with ugly art and animation stick out like a sore thumb. Every time I rewatch WCI and Wano act 1, I skip episodes 842 and 898 as they are so ugly to watch.

Even stuff like Bakura Town wasn't really all that bad though. I mean it was agonizingly slow, certainly, but compared to the "bad" stretches of arcs past, it was noticeably better-looking. And… idk I have not seen that much of One Pace but I did see their edit of Luffy VS Urashima and I think they managed to salvage it quite nicely, showing that there was something decent hidden amidst all the rather egregious padding.

God Of Fire

@Lord:

Even stuff like Bakura Town wasn't really all that bad though. I mean it was agonizingly slow, certainly, but compared to the "bad" stretches of arcs past, it was noticeably better-looking. And… idk I have not seen that much of One Pace but I did see their edit of Luffy VS Urashima and I think they managed to salvage it quite nicely, showing that there was something decent hidden amidst all the rather egregious padding.

Yeah, when I included Bakura Town episodes as rough I meant pacing wise. Art and animation wise it's great. Bakura Town is the only weak section of Wano anime IMO. Besides Ep 898, Wano doesn't have any ugly looking episode. Right now, Wano anime is great and I hope it continues that way.

Aldia

What a fascinating movie even though it's short, but now where's the damn episode of this week.. I couldn't find anywhere

Sick_Fool

Goodness. That was an amazing episode. Toei has served this amazing chapter justice and I'm very grateful for that.

electricmastro

Gotta say, after all the risks he has taken and knowing how much danger other people he cares about have been through, it really is something to behold how hectic the situation has gotten when even someone like Dragon gets nervous.

Khamolen

This might be old news to people more into the anime but I just realized the lead animator on the Seven Warlords sequence is the same guy who made this:

Jabra

The Warlord sequence, specifically Doflamingo's part, is among the most beautiful things I've ever seen on a screen.

Does anyone know why the quality was so insane this time?

Crossword

@Jabra:

The Warlord sequence, specifically Doflamingo's part, is among the most beautiful things I've ever seen on a screen.

Does anyone know why the quality was so insane this time?

Basically Megumi Ishitani is one of the absolute best directors at Toei right now and is an incredibly strong storyboarder. Vincent Chansard, the animator responsible for that fantastic Warlord sequence, even praised it as the best board he'd ever seen. Couple that with pulling in some truly excellent animators capable of bringing her vision to life, good scheduling (the COVID-induced break back in the spring will help out there), good material, and you've got a stew going.

Speaking of Chansard, he's actually posted his raw animation and layouts if anyone's interested in the "making of".