What They Say:
The battle for Block D comes to a shocking end and the winner that emerges from the cloud of dust stuns the audience even more! Meanwhile, Luffy, Zoro, Kin’emon, and Wicka of the Tontatta Tribe are about to reach the lift to the palace only to find a mysterious woman was waiting for them – can she be trusted?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece worked a few different angles the last time around, giving us some good time with a couple of different stories, but it also began to shift its focus back to the arena a bit more towards the end. It was decent enough in its own way, since it wasn’t focusing much on really established characters for the most part, but it was thinning the herd and that’s been getting important so that we get down to the final matches. Especially now that the switch has been put in place when it comes to Sabo and Luffy. We also got some really cute time with the fairies, which makes me really interested in seeing them go all out for a bit in the attack that we know is coming.
Within the arena, the smoke has cleared and the last man standing in the current D-block is no surprise as Rebecca has managed to survive it. It doesn’t exactly go over well with the audience, since they all start giving her the thumbs down. The anger and hatred towards her and her family is palpable, but she’s managed to survive and is going on to the finals. Her tenacity is one that you do have to admire, especially in the face of such vitriol. The first half of the episode works the way she’s received and perceived with the victory, right down to the announcer, while the rest of it is followed up with a bit of flashback to the fight itself amid the smoke to show what really happened as the fighters went at it. It’s comical and brutal at the same time with some of the twists, but it all lead to the result we have.
With the arena time dominating a lot of the episode, the second half delves into other things decently, though without a lot of time really given to it. There’s some touching upon the fight that Franky is involved in, which just makes me cringe with the baby outfit his opponent is in, and we get some decent time with Doflamingo as he torments Riku over his daughter and what she’s doing. With Riku having been brought into his personal custody, there’s some good tension between the two, especially with the way Doflamingo just enjoys gloating. Doflamingo’s gloating is doubly interesting beyond Riku though as he talks about the Straw Hats in a more general sense as well with what they’re going through and facing, including Luffy. It’s a good admittance that he knows everyone that’s here, practically naming them all, and allowing his hubris to really define him as it should.
In Summary:
One Piece does advance a couple of things here, the most important in a sense is the arena itself as the D-block fight is now done and over with. That advancement to the finals will get us past what we’ve seen for quite a few episodes now and is definitely welcome. Beyond that, there are intriguing parts as we touch base with most of the Straw Hats, but not all, and see what’s going on across (and under) the island. Doflamingo’s time is time well spent just to be reminded of how much of an ass he is with his gloating and superiority over things – as well as that devilish grin that just makes me want to pop him on. It’s a solid episode overall that moves things along and sets up more of where we’re going without giving us a huge advancement in the end.
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.
