Image: Toei Animation / Shueisha
One Piece Just Kicked Off the Elbaph Arc, and Spring Anime Is Stacked
The Elbaph arc is finally here. After years of waiting, One Piece Episode 1156 dropped this weekend and brought the Straw Hats to the Land of Giants. If that wasn't enough, the spring anime season launched alongside it with some heavy hitters coming back from the dead. It's a good time to be watching anime.
Elbaph Is Real
I've been waiting for this one. The giants, the mythology, the sheer scale of what Oda has been building toward. Elbaph has been on the horizon since the early arcs, and seeing it finally animated hits different. The premiere looked gorgeous. Toei brought their A-game with the visuals, and the sequences with Shanks and Blackbeard's crews were some of the best the anime has produced since Wano.
Image: Toei Animation / Shueisha
The casting news is the other big story. Yuichi Nakamura is voicing Loki, the giant prince at the center of this arc. If that name doesn't ring a bell, his voice will. He's Satoru Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. He's Reinhard van Astrea from Re:Zero. The guy voices characters who carry entire shows just by talking, and fans are already running with the memes. "The Honored One" is now a giant prince. It fits.
The premiere did have some pacing issues. About five minutes of recap before the new content starts, which stings when people have been asking for seasonal pacing for years. But once it gets moving, it moves. And that cliffhanger with the Thousand Sunny vanishing with half the crew? Yeah, I'm locked in.
What Else Is Popping This Spring
One Piece isn't the only big return. Dorohedoro Season 2 dropped three episodes on April 1st after six years away. MAPPA came back swinging. The animation is even better than Season 1, and the gore is absolutely unhinged. Fair warning though: there's zero recap, so if you haven't watched Season 1 recently, you might want to run it back first.
Image: Witch Hat Atelier: BUG FILMS / Crunchyroll
Witch Hat Atelier premieres today with a double episode on Crunchyroll. This one got delayed from 2025 and it's probably the most anticipated new show of the season. Slime Season 4 and Dr. STONE's series finale also kicked off last week, and Re:Zero Season 4 is right around the corner.
Lot of good stuff competing for screen time right now. If your watchlist was getting thin, spring just fixed that.
Come by the shop and let me know what you're watching. Always looking for the next recommendation.
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