This was the point I became way too bored of Wano in the manga, such a long haul. Too many characters still standing, waiting for Zoro to revive, it would bore you to tears knowing there was going to be one inevitable outcome.

This episode had great consistent design and animation. However that slow pacing/dialogue made it very boring. You could slice the runtime in half with the correct editing. Big Mom's soft side was depicted really well. The new eyecatchers added some variety, hopefully we'll see more before Wano ends.

B -

Considering what's worked in the past:

• Big canon character involvement
• Lots of popular characters for fanservice
• Oda invovement
• Fancy Straw Hat attire
• Summer 2025 release
• Increased production budget

A big emphasis on flair and fanservice to draw in audiences. Since that model works so well for Toei I'm not sure if we'll see something completely original like Film 6 again. It would be shame if we didn't get another story that focused solely on the Straw Hats.

If it's going to lean more towards canon, it would cool to see a story which Oda doesn't have time to create in the manga itself. If Oda were to introduce an opportunity for said canon story to fit within the manga timeline of course. Think of how he's merged concepts and arcs in the past for time efficiency, maybe he could deliver a mini-arc concept as a film.

I hope we see another "Luffy's mother/ Zoro's brother/ Ace's friend" kinda story to draw people in. Shanks having an unknown idol daughter just about scraped past.

The forum is back! Hurray!!

After watching 1029 I'm about to go on a huge rant. The whole episode is very weak. Its focuses on very important characters and had potential to really promote the film.

Uta seems like a really annoying brat, and Shanks and his crew are portrayed like a bunch of quiet smiling creeps... It ruins their canon portrayal. Also, how did Usopp manage to record a full Uta track?

Breakdown of the ugly parts:

• Whole crew acts extremely calm listening to a very upbeat and energetic song, feels wrong
• Jinbei laying on the rope ladder is completely off, animation is laughable
• (Luffy is laying against a mast, then next shot is laying on a guard?)
• So so many off model and inconsistent character designs, nearly all facial shots
• Background art of the ship has some weird digital textures/brushes
• Chopper is sliding on the ship when he should be stepping (sound effects)
• Bag of fruit is drawn completely wrong (no need it to be colored brown if it's just netting)
• Detailed shadows on Luffy's face remain static despite fact he's moving, gives the illusion that is how his face looks
• Shanks and crew generally look creepy and off-model whileUta is singing
• Shanks' crew cheering sounds like an orchestra audience applause

Screens: https://imgur.com/a/SO0XmZe

It's an outsourced mess. Same outsourced Chinese animators involved with episode 986.

Goes to my list of worst episodes during Wano:
#1 - 1029
#2 - 986
#3 - 990

I don't think we saw Queen's robotic neck in chapter 999? Did the anime reveal it early?

• Stop writing the peak of arcs as predictable fight orders, with the crew taking out the subordinates, then Luffy taking out the main villian. Change things up.
• Less tired Straw Hat tropes and more subtle character development. The main cast mainly just get power-up development outside of their backstory.
• More time progression between arcs, perhaps even nods to the crew visiting smaller islands off-screen on the way. Power-ups don't feel earned when only a day passes.
• Scrap the introduction of all the supernovas being on the same island simulatenously. There's no reason for everyone to be there, Oda's editors just wanted to excite readers.
• Make the reader feel like each fight has real stakes by having characters die unlike what happened to Pell.
• Redesign female characters to have more diverse features (not always having the same face and bust) and give them more meaningful roles (unlike Rebecca).

@Crossword:

They've used that song for incidental Kid scenes two or three times in Onigashima and this isn't the first time the anime has repurposed an existing theme for a particular character (Franky's main leitmotif comes from "A Serious Game" which is an Alabasta-era track for example) but usually they don't outright rename an old one and pass it off as new. With the exception of Movie 8's OST's CD which infamously only has like ten original tracks with everything else being pulled from the existing music library.

! When the first disc's track list was announced a month or so ago the fact that there were two tracks called "Luffy ~Awakening~" and "Awakened Luffy's Actions" made me raise my brow a bit. Obviously it brings to mind recent manga events, but I think there's a chance it could be meant for when Luffy achieves greater control of Conqueror's Haki earlier in the fight. Then again, both tracks have a notable percussion element to them and Oda does give Toei some inside scoops…

I admit that I'm a little disappointed that Queen's songs aren't on there or instrumental versions of the other Whole Cake Island musical numbers (though I guess "Go~! My Servant Big Mom~!!" essentially is one of "Bad End Musical") but I can't get greedy; this was a very fun release, I loved how even though he's using traditional Japanese instrumentation Kohei Tanaka still managed to work his big band/swing style into some of the Wano tracks and the rest of the Whole Cake Island stuff was well worth the lengthy wait. I can't wait to hear what he and his arrangers are cooking up for Red.

Would you happen to know who runs http://onepiecetracklist.com? It hasn't been updated in a while. It would be interesting to know what songs what other songs are yet to be released.

Tracks I felt were reminiscent of eachother:
(2-01) Onigashima Dance Floor Music (at 0:46):

Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke:

(2-13) Welcome VIP (at 3:50):

Disney Theme - When you wish upon a star:

The new Dragon Ball Super film has been delayed, quite worried Film Red will get hit too.

@Riddler:

I personally really enjoy the new opening, but I can certainly see where you're coming from. I gotta say though, ever since Hope, the openings have been really on point. After a bunch of imo rather mediocre (not bad, just not really memorable) openings that followed Hands Up, both the visuals in the openings and the songs themselves have been amazing.

Gauging how 'genuine' a lot of these songs are to the anime is difficult. No one really knows the amount of effort each production team uses to curate something fitting, or how much of it is coincidence, or even how they were influenced by stakeholders and contracts (hint hint Kaze wo Sagashite).

Is PAINT a good opening for the anime? The song itself was never intended for the anime in its early production, they just pick tracks they feel will fit best: "At an early stage, the production committee has a meeting with the director of the anime, and presents him with a pile of pop songs that are in production. These songs are at "demo" stage – meaning, they're not done, and usually have a temporary vocal track. The director usually just picks a song from that pile and uses it. They might tweak the lyrics a little bit to fit the show better. The record label will then go back and finish the song with the artist of their choosing"

I agree that PAINT doesn't feel fitting to this stage of the arc, but the animation sure is impressive. It's not a bad song by any means, I just don't think it has surpassed previous Wano intros and sounds a little repetitive.

Nothing can surpass We Are, We Go and Over the Top as true representations of the anime because of Kohei Tanaka's involvement: "If a famous (expensive) composer is doing the music for the show, they will often be asked to contribute the theme songs, as they're likely to be hits no matter who sings them."

How Are Anime Opening And Ending Themes Chosen?

@zeltrax225:

Great song, great visuals.
Terrible combination. This is the arc that has been built up for so long and will have one of the most amount of fight scenes in the series and we get the equivalent of Crazy Rainbow. I don't want to speculate but Toei always love putting their bands front and center (with avex label) to push up the popularity of said band(s). Who sat in the room and ok'd this without feeling uncomfortable is beyond me. But I'm just speculating. Play hunter x hunter depature tv size over it, it slaps.

Couldn't have said it better, Toei's deals with Avex always seems to primarily benefit artist exposure (Kaze wo Sagashite being the prime example). Every Hiroshi Kitadani opening (except for We Can!) is the exception because the original composer and anison vocals.

First One Piece opening with no CD release?