Gotta run, ousted Nigerian Prince Abuloko is in dire straits and needs ten-thousand dollars immediately.
Title: ''Dazzling Splendor - The Land of Wano's Number One Beauty Komurasaki''
Chapters Covered: 928
Episode Director: Yasunori Koyama (***1/2)
Animation Director: Masahiro Kitazaki (***1/2)
Time: 7:30PM EST
Watch It: www.crunchyroll.com/one-piece
One Piece Episode 922 Preview
That episode was gorgeous from start to finish. I’ll have to make a note of the director’s name; I really love how well-directed this episode was.
Next week looks like it’ll only cover 2-4 pages of content, then be all filler. I don’t think I’ll mind, since the last two episodes almost covered a full chapter each and the manga gives a very soft introduction to Tonyasu. His introduction being lengthened will, I think, he’ll give us more connection to him, which I felt was missing in the manga up until the end.
It was an alright episode.
I say only alright because the part of the story covered in this episode is one of my least favorite chapters of the 2nd act of Wano. I didn't partucularely enjoy it in the manga and the anime is no different.
However, I'll give credit where credit is due. The storyboarding and direction was very strong in this episode. Hiroshi Hara's board was very interesting. Very good angles and had fantastic usage of symbolism with the cicada being eaten by all of the ants as a metaphor for the imminent downfall of the old geezer. Yasunori Koyama beautifully brought Hara's storyboard to life with very clever use of lighting, strong use of color and not forget his heavy emphasis put of digital compositing similar to Aya Komaki. Tu Yong-ce mentionned that Koyama values digital photography a lot.
I loved Kitazaki's corrections all throughout the episode. His usage of heavier multi toned shading makes up for some very striking shots and I love it so much. I'm seriously very impressed with Kitazaki's character art in this episode. The biggest criticism that people have towards him is that his feature placement can be questionable at times, especially on the long shots, however his art was consistently strong all throughout this episode, I don't think I've seen it waver at all.
Despite all of that, it still didn't make me like the story.
Next week looks like we'll get a considerable amount of Zoro anime original content, lovely!
I kinda wish they would've shortened the old man gets fooled by Komurasaki plot, and instead expanded on that way-too-brief glimpse into the Cairbou cover story. I mean, what the hell are anime-only viewers supposed to get out of that??
Something that the Wano arc does well is little single-chapter stories about the residents of Wano. This chapter was an example of that, and we’ll get one in a few months about the fox watching over the grave. Hopefully that one will be cindensed into a single episode, too.
Forgot to mention how I was exceptionally blown away by the use of colors this episode. And the voice actor for Orochi sounds a little older than I imagined, but otherwise I’m excited about the new voices we got this episode and last.
I'm on the same page as far as thinking that that flashback rather overstayed its welcome, both in the manga and here, especially with the outcome being obvious from the word go. Still, Koyama and Kitazaki did what they could with the material, even if there wasn't much to work with here. Still fun hearing new character voices and performances though! (albeit I already knew what to expect from Komurasaki given how I've heard Nana Mizuki in a million things by now at this point)
Usopp and Franky's reaction shot to the heavies kicking those guys' asses got a laugh out of me since it was basically that famous old Survivor meme: 
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
expanded (…) Cairbou cover story.
Never thought I'd ever see those words side-by-side. Though yes, I definitely would've preferred they flesh that bit out instead of spending half the episode on the perverted old man. Next week's expansion looks good though, and needed!
Looks like they censored Bingo selling his family into slavery, and instead he only "abandoned" them. They even added an extra scene where he simply tells his wife to get lost. This makes Bingo seem more innocent and Komurasaki more cruel, when it was very morally gray in the manga.
Confusingly, one of the other simps talks about turning his family into money immediately after the flashback, so whatever.
This makes Bingo seem more innocent and Komurasaki more cruel
I doubt so, since the overwhelming response of the readers after that chapter was to blame her directly for that. At least in the OP boards the majority of people despised her after that chapter mainly because "she used the old guy and made him sell his family".
Yea, the part about the family being sold was the only real issue some people had with her actions.
Looks like they censored Bingo selling his family into slavery, and instead he only "abandoned" them. They even added an extra scene where he simply tells his wife to get lost. This makes Bingo seem more innocent and Komurasaki more cruel, when it was very morally gray in the manga.
Confusingly, one of the other simps talks about turning his family into money immediately after the flashback, so whatever.
I would argue that the anime made it explicitly clear the old guy had it coming to him. They show him actively exploiting people. How his completely driven by money and greed. The anime in this scenario makes it explicitly clear that Bingoh is a bad person who deserved what he had coming for him, while still making it clear that what happened to him was cruel to a degree.
WOW! Even Usopp loves her! I can see Franky and Sanji oogling her but Usopp? LOL.
I would argue that the anime made it explicitly clear the old guy had it coming to him. They show him actively exploiting people. How his completely driven by money and greed. The anime in this scenario makes it explicitly clear that Bingoh is a bad person who deserved what he had coming for him, while still making it clear that what happened to him was cruel to a degree.
Yeah, I agree. I didn't read the manga chapter, but I don't believe the anime is giving off a different message. If anything, it probably makes a bit more morally gray, because I would have questioned the morality of Kumurasaki's actions much less if I saw him selling his family into slavery of thinking she's 100% in the right whereas I kind of felt right in the middle with this.
WOW! Even Usopp loves her! I can see Franky and Sanji oogling her but Usopp? LOL.
Why wouldn't he? :P
