Five hundred episodes of a continuous storyline continues to make One Piece one of the most impressive series out there.
What They Say:
Luffy, Ace and Sabo continue their free vagabond life, dreaming of one day becoming pirates on the high seas! But the Bluejam Pirates, working for a ghost from Sabo’s past, may have other plans in store for the “brothers.”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
For better or worse, anime series rarely celebrate important episode numbers as they’re more focused on the stories at hand or they may not even realize it in a way, especially as episode numbers aren’t exactly commonly listed with the vast majority of shows that air, just like US TV series in primetime and so forth. You know them by the name more than anything else, but mostly it’s just another episode in the course of a series. Such is true with the five hundredth episode of One Piece as it continues on with the storyline at hand about young Luffy, Ace and Sabo rather than moving forward with the next big story arc, which is something you’d see done if this was a US comic book series or something.
For the trio, their lives continue to be ones that are lead day to day as they deal with whatever situations come up. A massive storm that came through has pretty much decimated their hideout, but they’re just loving life and go off in search of materials for new projects with dreams of getting out on the open seas still large in their minds. What’s continuing to be their main problem though is the Bluejam pirates as even though a good bit of time has passed, they still have a grudge against them and with Sabo in particular since he has a noble family behind his name and that’s something they can try to parlay into actual value when it comes to ransoms and the like. These three kids are rather hard to deal with overall though considering their nature, but in the end they are just that, kids, and they can be dealt with by bringing in some numbers and just going at it.
In a rather nice twist, Sabo’s dad is the one who has hired the pirates to find his son so he can take him home and he gives the other two over to the pirates since he considers them the ones that lead his son into these bad choices. With the grudge that the pirates have, it’s something that works out well since they make some coin and get two of the main troublemakers that have embarrassed them. Sabo’s story takes an interesting turn as it has him going back home now and dealing with an adopted brother who seems to know a whole lot about big plans involving the area while the Bluejam pirates make Luffy and Ace an offer to join them, though you can sense a potential setup there on their part. Considering the ages of the kids, One Piece shifts into a bigger storyline here than you’d expect and it’s hard to say whether it really feels appropriate for it or not.
In Summary:
One Piece moves in interesting ways here as events for this particular region seem like they’re literally about to explode in a large and significant way and the kids are going to be involved to varying degrees. That Sabo’s adopted brother seems to know a whole lot about it is kind of unnerving and takes it a bit out of the realm of believable, but bringing the kids into something bigger at this stage is the way to bond them closer, tie up the loose ends and start moving the show back on track. There’s a sense of impending doom to a lot of this as it gets further on, and Sabo definitely takes the center stage, and it does leave you really curious to see how it will all unfold. It has me hopeful for a properly dramatic and big ending to wrap it all up soon.
Grade: B
Simulcast 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.
