alchemicink

This week: the perils of papers in Zeztz; Akane makes a silly tongue-twister into a heartfelt story; and the Straw Hats get out of a waxy mess and stumble into another snowy one. (Yes, Mom and I are finally continuing to watch OPLA!)

The title quote comes from One Piece.

Spoilers, as always, below:

Kamen Rider Zeztz (episode 38)

Okay, so I thought the previous episode wrapped up the arc, but I guess it was actually this one. Which makes more sense since Nox gets his upgraded suit here. (It's nice)

The emotional crux of this episode is really between Nox and Fujimi, as the detective tries to talk Nox out of sacrificing himself to bring Code down. Fujimi's argument basically comes down to "you can't die while I still owe you drinks" and that seems to work. (Actually, it was the more heartfelt stuff he'd said too.) It's a good episode for their relationship. Fujimi is still so determined even when his memories are scrambled by Code Somnia. Seeing the two of them together feels like a nice payoff to what's been building between them throughout the show.

(On the other hand, Nasuka feels extraneous at this point, and I'm really annoyed by that.)

I've been feeling not as invested in the show for the past few episodes -- the Code Somnia arc just isn't hitting for me personally -- but I have to say that Three's death via exploding into a pile of papers was very cathartic and also extremely funny 😂 This should happen to more villains.

Akane-banashi (episode 10)

Just another stellar episode this week! This show continues to be a delight.

We get the rest of Akane's jugemu performance, and it's excellent. As we learn in a brief flashback, Shiguma wanted Akane to learn about character perspective, which is why he told her to do this story. And you can tell in her performance that it paid off. Akane embodies every character so distinctly, it's a real joy to watch. I really just love that Akane learns something new about storytelling all the time, and incorporates it into her performance. You can see how much she's already grown over the past 10 episodes.

Also, like any good shounen story, the episode does a great job of driving up the suspense. All the previous performers made changes to their story, so I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out if Akane would too. That's the power of good storytelling, isn't it?

One Piece (season 2, episode 5)

The Little Garden mini-arc wraps up with plenty of excitement. Everyone gets a moment to shine, especially when they're still separated into different groups. But the star of this episode is Usopp. It's about time he gets a good moment to shine!

This episode builds on the fears Usopp voiced in the previous episode by leaving him as the only one who can save the others. (Sanji's off doing other important stuff.) Thankfully our giant friend isn't dead yet so Usopp gets another helpful pep talk, and then he finally steps up to the plate to make a difference. The live action version of Usopp is one of my favorite characters, so I really enjoyed everything he got to do in this episode.

Also, the various fights at the end were really fun! I do think this show has some great stunt coordinators.

One Piece (season 2, episode 6)

We arrive at the beginning of the Drum Kingdom arc (one that I just barely remember from back in the day). A lot of this episode is just establishing the new characters and new situation the crew finds themselves in.

I enjoyed the Vivi flashbacks (but I also feel very 🤔 about the designs of several background characters in those scenes). All of Wapol's scenes made me hate him, so they served their purpose well. We get to check in with the Marines briefly who run into more Baroque agents. (My mother, at that point, was like "I think I need to write down a list of all these people" 😂 She's right, there are too many characters to remember. Typical shounen problem!!)

And hey, we finally get to (briefly) meet Kureha and Chopper! He doesn't look as off-putting as I expected.

I'm ready to see how the rest of this arc plays out to wrap up the season.