The fight goes big as the three sides duke it out while sizing each other up.
What They Say:
As the battle rages on between Luffy, Zoro, Momonga and Shuzo, Nami tries desperately to think of a way to rescue Lily’s father – Panz Fry – when another drastic change of the weather may provide a chance. Will the Straw Hats be able to take back Panz Fry safely?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Not surprisingly, the return to the surface after all the time on Fish-Man Island led the Straw Hats to a lot of action. Meeting Lily brought them into something that spoke pretty well to Luffy with rescuing her father before he ends up at Impel Down, but it all gets complicated along the way because of the arrival of the Neo Navy and their intent to wipe out all the pirates while coming across a bit as pirates themselves. Add in the Navy itself and it made for a confusing and chaotic series of fights that started that almost leaves you unsure of who to really root for in a way as there are bound to be many reveals yet to be made. Luffy of course just does what needs to be done in the immediate sense, which once again leaves Nami trying to figure out the bigger picture.
Being that as the case, the show spends the bulk of its time on action. Lots and lots of action as we get Shuzo being flung across the battle scene in his whirlwind mode to attack and Luffy doing what he can to slow him down. With three sides in this game at the moment, it has a pretty fun large scale battle with some distance to it that gives it an impressive feeling. But it also has the bigger picture coming into focus a bit as well in terms of the battle as Nami, being the proper strategist here, sees the changes in the weather patterns that are occurring and realizes that there’s something else to this, such as something similar to the Knock Up Stream that could come into play. It makes for an even more exciting visual design to the battle as we get three different ships, three very different crews, fighting across that stage.
While the show focuses heavily in the present, it does give us some flashback material to show us what Shuzo was like early on and some of his struggles before he became the leader of this particular fleet, but it’s just a glimpse at it overall that you know will be fleshed out more. It’s a decent bit of post-battle material to bring in as the three sides end up split for a bit and it allows a chance to recuperate and catch their breath a bit. With a number of new characters introduced, we do get that light touching upon here that will have to be expanded, but I just liked the focus in general on the Straw Hats as they find a bit of temporary shelter and just get along so well while drawing Lily into the fold a bit.
In Summary:
Call it a cheap shot, but I have to admit it’s interesting watching Nami in this form wearing thta dress outfit taking charge since it gives us a very different impression of her. While she’s certainly been feminine throughout the series at time, this visual change brings an interesting look for her in the midst of the fight and I rather like the change-up of costumes in general for the crew, especially Luffy’s shark shirt. That’s admittedly a small part of the show, but I liked looking at that aspect of it as it unfolds. The battle itself is a lot of fun but it’s fairly superficial overall at this point since the characters aren’t all that fleshed out yet nor the larger picture with what this arc will bring, but they give enough to make you want to know more.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
