The dynamics continue to come into focus.
What They Say:
Luffy and Moocy fast approach the showdown with Doflamingo – while the others with a beef against him continue to tag along. Meanwhile, Violet finds the key to Law’s handcuffs, and Rebecca pledges to deliver it to him. Finally, Law’s reason for despising Doflamingo is revealed!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The fight against Doflamingo has taken that expected turn with some big obstacles in the way and it’s been a treat watching how things are going against Pica. With the way the character can cause so much trouble for so many, the scale of it worked well and the way it rallied people on both sides of the equation about doing Doflamingo’s bidding was spot on as some would rebel and others would accede to his demands. But it was also fun just to see Luffy and the bull riding up Pica’s arm to get closer to his head and all the silliness that comes from that visual. But it all does come back to the more personal side of the matchup, which is good, as the guys finally got close enough that the real Pica is out and visible, which is what lets Zoro get his time in the sun, something he hasn’t had in a bit in this arc, which is par for the course for all the characters at one time or another.
As one would expect, we do continue to get the coming together of various subplots at this time, especially with the kind of forces being aligned out there and the obvious endgame of Doflamingo in the palace. There’s a lot of different groups out there with different motivations fighting, and even those “working” for Doflamingo have enough reason to do so in trying to save themselves and their families. The first half of the episode kind of floats between a lot of these moments as there’s a lot of small scale fights going on, touching on Kyros and others, but it also gives us some good time with Zoro and Pica in his large but human form. Zoro just comes across as having a blast with the fight, and getting it with a bit of Luffy narration as he gets Law to realize just what kind of crew they are adds nicely to the situation. The relationship between Luffy and Law has definitely been interesting to watch and there’s a certain kind of respect that works there, enough so that Law continues to fit in well with the Straw Hats overall and understands what kind of person Luffy really is, enough so to trust him with a new plan to deal with Doflamingo and do the right thing.
Spending its time going through these small movements is all well and good, though some of the repetitive aspects are frustrating, but getting to touch upon some characters we haven’t dealt with in a bit like Viola is good as she provides the voice of reason and emotion at the same time in her support of Luffy and what he’s doing with the former king and the reason they really must fight and support him. It helps to nudge things into other areas, and having him with the little fairy people there as well expands his view a bit too. Bringing Usopp into his presence is also something that could be a big positive going forward as well as Usopp often has a way of getting things changed without understanding how he did it. With what he’s done to inspire so far in this arc with these characters, it’s a huge motivator and inspiration overall.
In Summary:
While we get a fair number of movements throughout the episode, it is once again all about the place setting and moving people into the positions they need to be in. There’s not much in the way of action, though there are a lot of loud moments and plenty of running around, which at least gives us the pretense of things happening. But it’s also not a bad episode as it does firm things up and set other aspects into motion, as we know Law is going to align further with Luffy at the moment and former king Riku is now being drawn further into that same kind of alliance based on what Viola and others are telling him. Usopp has a small part here overall but I loved the way it was presented and just the fact that he’s become a symbol again of the weaker class overcoming their oppressors and inspiring others to do the same. A decent episode, though forgettable in the larger context as just another cog in the arc.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
