What They Say:
Breed has Luffy, Trafalgar, and Chopper firmly in his grasp with his Peto-Peto power! Breed dreams of a world in which he has enslaved all the humans, but Luffy’s stubborn persistence and unwillingness to cooperate may have landed him in hot water for the last time!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece worked through some fun in the last episode with the way that Caesar got kidnapped and we had the small group heading underwater to retrieve him from Breed. The trio of Luffy, Trafalgar and Chopper is probably the worst group to go into an underwater locale considering their abilities and the downside to them, but it does make for a good group since I rather like the way Trafalgar and Chopper get along as it’s really loosening Trafalgar up. Getting them all into this place and throwing the bonds on them and playing the connection to the Dugong that Luffy had befriended way, way back in Alabasta was a great little callback that helps to reaffirm the connections within the series while not overdoing it constantly.
The first half plays up this material well as we see how Breed has managed to subdue all of them and shows off just how he’s controlling the whole area, as well as more of the range of creatures he has under his control. Getting them into a cell is easy and it’s amusing to see that Breed is even keeping Caesar in chains so that it doesn’t get to be a further problem. But that’s partially because Breed wants to play with his new toy in Chopper, who he dresses up in all sorts of cute and frilly clothes and renames to Chappy. You have to laugh at the situation since Chopper is quite displeased by it but is unable to do anything to resist because of the control collars. But then the laughter that even Luffy had dies as Breed whips Chopper into submission to make it clear that he’s definitely the one in control there.
Amusingly, with Breed having Caesar on a leash atop a big-top style arena, the two of them watch as he sets Trafalgar and Luffy to a fight. The two of them are definitely fun to watch as they go at it while looking for a way to get out of it and causing a good range of destruction along the way. It’s a decent little fight but it’s also intriguing to see the way that Breed is manipulating and controlling Caesar, an event I admit I don’t mind after the whole Punk Island arc in the slightest. But we also get some more emotional moments as it goes on as our favorite Dugong does his best to get Breed to stop beating up on Chopper and we see the seeds of rebellion growing there as well. The Dugong is given it pretty harsh since he wants to do his best to save his friends, including stopping the fight between Trafalgar and Luffy, but it’s going to cost him in the end. It all serves to show just what kind of twisted person Breed is and that while his power has corrupted him, he was corrupt from the start most likely.
In Summary:
One Piece delves into what Breed’s realm is like and how he runs it here in a pretty big way. Rather than drawing it out – even though I expect more – we definitely get the bulk of what we need to know here and truly understand who this person is. There’s back story to fill in of course and connections to be drawn, but all you really need to know about Breed is laid out here. It has its moments of humor along the way and you can’t help but grin, but it plays things far more serious overall and really gets you to empathize with our favorite Dugong, something that a lot of series would be hard pressed to pull off in an authentic way. Definitely proving to be quite a good episode and has me looking at this arc with higher hopes than originally thought.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
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.
