What They Say:
The giant children fly into a mysterious rage, and Chopper discovers the true reason for their unusual condition! Meanwhile, Zoro, Brook, and Sanji cross paths with a dangerous duo!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With another skip week in effect previously, one that involved a One Piece crossover with Dragon Ball AND Torilko, there’s something underwhelming about getting back on track with the show once more. That said, the series has finally started to feel like it’s moving towards a point with this arc as we’ve had so many things going on, even with all the body swapping going on while at Punk Hazard, and the combination of serious material with Smoker and the silly material of the Straw Hats has managed to work better than expected. With the story now told to the gang about the Master, it’s amusing to see how enthralled quite a few of them are over the tale that was told, though it is admittedly mostly the usual suspects that are overacting.
With this episode, some of the focus is given to the giant kids that we’ve had running around for a few episodes now and the way that they’ve been kind of simple in some respects. But there’s been a darker edge about them and we see that come up as some of them get set off in a pretty random way and there’s an intensity about them and then a severe amount of pain that pushes them into tears, something that any parent with kids will just cringe at watching. This gives Chopper the impetus to really start questioning what’s going on with them and there’s almost some sense of regret over it in that because the kids are with them, they haven’t gotten the treatment that they’ve been getting from the Master, which is in essence a pretty dangerous and addictive drug that has some good properties but is problematic overall. With the reveal that the kids are chronically addicted to the drug, it infuriates Chopper and makes him realize the true situation that the kids themselves are in.
The show spends a lot of time with the nature of the kids and Chopper’s understanding of it, but it also lets the kids rage a bit so that we get to see just how intense the addiction is and what they’re going through. It’s not overblown, though it may seem that way, and there is some real clarity given to just how problematic the addiction is and what the scale of the problem is. Of course, Luffy just wants a quick fix, but thankfully everyone else makes it clear that there likely won’t be one, though they have an obvious path of finding the Master and questioning him. But you can tell that some of them won’t question him lightly as Chopper has taken all of this very, very personally. Which is good since we’ve seen him like this before and having him see kids going through just ramps up his juices in a very big way.
In Summary:
While we get an inkling of things going on towards the end here elsewhere on the island with the larger players that will come into focus soon, the majority of the episode is focused on the body-swapped Straw Hats and the things they’re facing when it comes to the kids and the addiction they’re troubled with. The show has some interesting points to it as it progresses and as Chopper figures out what’s going on, but it’s not something that really warranted an entire episode spent on it. Or at least not paced as slowly as this. Seeing the addiction and how it impacts the kids is worthwhile and the intensity Chopper brings to the show is spot on, but you do find yourself wondering what else is going on out there on the island.
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.
