Top Gun

That was a fun start. Our protagonist seems like a good kid. Apropos of nothing, but if you haven't watched or read Erased, add that to your list.

Dude, say what you will about soccer but the one thing it doesn't is go on for hours. Minus a bit of extra time bullshit it's on a fixed clock like no other timed sport is. Also you shut your mouth, curling kicks ass. Anyways, that was...um...a show all right. I don't know what to make of this yet but that was not the most compelling first episode of all time.

Oda was hitting the good shit when he came up with Bege's fruit. Also that dub choice for Bege is amazing and I am here for it.

DON'T NOBODY UNDERSTAND THE WORDS THAT ARE COMING OUT OF HIS FONT!

Jinkies!

"But he's a giant chicken!"

I wish I could like this twice.

Oh my God, I was wroooooong! It was Earth all alooooong!

Yukio is the actual fucking worst. I can't overemphasize how shitty his character arc is. He's turned into the budget Sasuke we have at home. Hell they'd probably have a competition to see who could fit the most dicks in one mouth.

I thought I knew what to expect from "Mayuri fought a giant disembodied hand for three months in the manga." ...no. No I did not. Not in the slightest.

Oh you know why. >_>

This feels like a massive amount of projection to me. Yes, I'm sure Genndy was upset when projects of his don't perform well, as any creative would be. Though from what I heard Unicorn started out strong ratings-wise at least, but maybe it didn't finish that way. Either way with how much of a dumpster fire WBD has been since...well, ever, that has to be a contributing factor too. And more broadly, of course he's angry about the state of action animation in the US, and he should be because I am too. It's been dire for a long time, with only a handful of notable success stories over the past decade or two. Hell, I originally got into anime over 20 years ago because it scratched an itch I didn't even know I had because there wasn't anything remotely comparable being produced in the US. As far as tying all of that into Primal, that's a pretty big reach. I think it's far more likely that Genndy realized he still had some stories to tell with Spear, but obviously the ending of last season precluded that, so he came up with an idea for how to bring him back into the picture. I wasn't sure what to think when I read that he'd changed his mind from the anthology concept (which I thought was interesting but ultimately not very compelling), but after this first episode I'm digging it. Spear's character was always about the balance between humanity and a savage force of nature unleashed, and this new season is pushing that to the extreme.

Well then.

The Navy is actually capable of sailing through the Calm Belt using ships whose hulls were plated in Sea Prism Stone, which (usually) prevents the Sea Kings that live there from noticing them. When Koby meets up with the Straw Hats in Water 7, he reveals that this is how he got into the Grand Line on Garp's ship, though the Navy keeps this ability under wraps for the strategic advantage it provides them. There are a few other people who have been shown crossing through the Calm Belts too: the island of Amazon Lily is located within one of them, but Boa Hancock and the Kuja tribe are able to move through it freely, probably because their ship is pulled by those two giant sea serpents. And Rayleigh was able to swim freely to Amazon Lily because he has balls the size of planets. Given that, there doesn't seem to be any reason why someone couldn't just sail straight to Laugh Tale from the outside if it was simply a matter of geography. The fact that no one has up to this point strongly suggests that there's something else at work, but we don't know what that is yet. ...well, maybe I already know what it is and you don't. Or maybe I'm in the dark too. Suspense!

As someone who's never dated I couldn't even imagine using an app for it, but my brother met his wife that way so obviously it works for some people.