- "Father, what a big nose you have!" "All the better to smell you with, my son" said the Yamato.
- Black Maria redoing an upgraded version of her song with moody lighting and focus on everyone's intense glares. Way to easily up the scene from last week.
- Blocking lightning with a metal sword is impressive, but now I have to see someone like Zoro cut it in half!
- The white light coming out of Kaido's body is like a video game boss about to self-destruct. I do feel his pain at least.
- Kin'emon rising out of the flames with a flashback power up. Bruh almost had an Oden moment.
- Kiku's attack the only one to nearly fail. It wouldn't be wrong to call this foreshadowing.
- Raizo capturing and reusing a Yonko attack Can he capture a Whitebeard quake, a Maser Cannon, a Hakai?!
- The flashing silhouettes of the Scabbards shifting into the Oden pose and a massive Oden standing behind them is too cool.
- The Scabbards summoned a spirit Oden to do the cutting for them.Nope. Way too broken.
Great stuff this week. Very thematic to choose Wano-centric OST pieces. Art was on point throughout the battle and CG Kaido only had be subbed in for mere seconds. Even the added anime flashback wasn't too disrupting as it tied into the idea of why the Scabbards never directly studied under Oden and became his clones -- because they fought too much, they couldn't even agree over which part of Oden is best as shown arguing over food ingredients. They end up developing their own individual styles while adopting Oden's signature move out of sheer admiration.
The first half of the fight was not as fluid but still featured many interesting sequences like Izo distracting Kaido as Kin kicks a rock in midair to save himself. Kin running up Kaido before we see the entire snake body in the background. An intense Enel-style beam from above hitting a helpless Kin'emon looking at the sky, only to reveal three Scabbards standing and repelling lightning. The second part is just surreal as you can feel the impact behind every blow thanks to the momentum and enhanced imagery. Neko's upper cut, translating his spin into a hit that sends Kaido flying, combined with his monster grin came out the best here. The final sequence felt powerful all around with the pose, the OST and Oden's spirit. I love that Kaido mass bombards the battlefield, forcing the Scabbards to make a challenging run, the extras and Kin to create openings so the four Nitoryu can unleash their inner Oden.
A treat to hear Barto's voice in the preview. Next episode looks like a recap, which I don't mind since there's usually breaks around this time. It's been a very good year for the Wano anime starting with the legendary 957, going through the Oden flashback, Onigashima, Episode 1000, and just fantastic that we could end it on Scabbards Vs Kaido.
Let's hope next year is even better. :cheers: