Plenty of flashy fights and brand new abilities abound!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Eiichiro Oda
Translation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
The battle over the fate of Dressrosa continues as the Straw Hat pirates face off against the Doflamingo family. With the birdcage threatening to kill the citizens of the island, it’ll be up to Luffy to save the day again. But can he take down Doflamingo, one of the fiercest pirates in the world?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As the volume opens, we get a look at the explosive battle between Kyros and Diamante. It’s nothing too insane, but Diamante gets some good use out of his powers, with the flashiest example being him firing off a rain of metal spikes out of nowhere. Of course the big thing here is Kyros pushing on through pure determination despite his injuries, and it’s pulled off wonderfully. There’s a fantastic momentum to the scene, up until the very moment where Kyros lands his oh so cathartic strike, ending with an incredible blow into a certain significant grave.
Next up comes Zolo’s fight with Pica, and it’s incredibly flashy as one might expect. Even though there’s no real emotional depth here like there is in the Kyros fight, it’s pure eye candy and just plain looks cool. We get another shock and awe moment when Luffy is forced to deal with Bellamy, leading to an awesome reprise of their first bout. And with all that out of the way, it’s finally time for Luffy and Doflamingo to truly clash.
Once the climactic fight of the arc kicks off, it seriously keeps on trucking with constant fantastic beats and well-done action. Particularly cool is the fact that both push their limits to an impressive degree, with Doflamingo essentially rewriting the rules of Devil Fruits while Luffy pulls out a new form. And though this new form may look goofy at first, it certainly does prove its worth in an incredibly over the top display. Even though there’s still a good bit of oomph left in this battle, it’s definitely off to a good start here.
In Summary
This volume is an absolutely packed one, containing great battles one after the other. It’s pretty much action from cover to cover, and every fight is well done. Of course Luffy’s big fight steals the show, and Zolo gets some outstanding flash in his battle as well. And yet despite all of that, it’s actually Kyros who gets the true best bit of the book, beautifully blending emotional beats with the action. All in all, this roller coaster ride of a volume is sure to please, so hopefully that moment will continue on till the end of the arc.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: May 3rd, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
