What They Say:
Luffy’s dramatic battle finally draws to a close! But even if he is able to pull out victory in the last moment, can he remember the key to escaping the Mirrorworld?! Meanwhile, the whole host of the Big Mom Pirates watch the lonely mirror to see who will come through! less
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
When even your episode title literally says that it’s finally over, you know a fight has gone on for too long. You almost want to be kind of angry about it but after a strong visual episode the last time around that delivered a great looking fight sequence and then them outright admitting it’s going on too long here, I won’t say I forgive it but it is easier to just accept it and move on to hopefully more interesting things from here. This structure is fairly familiar to longtime fans and I’m sure someone has mapped out whether this has been truly long or not in comparison, but it just lacked something to really make me engage with it and the subplots weren’t given enough to work with to really sustain interest there, which reduced the fight sequence itself. Regardless, I’m looking forward to not talking about it as much for a while.
Because of that, this episode is kind of all over the map early on as it tackles multiple areas and characters with what they’re doing but also delves into some flashback material. Getting a bit of a fun and kind of romantic sequence between Sanji and Pudding was pretty delightful, though Sanji naturally gets all warped with how his face changes, but seeing that and some of the other bits between the two in this and in cooking later on as we saw was just right. A good reinforcement of the situation while also highlighting that he’s starting to get an idea of what she may be feeling – maybe – while we also continue to see how she’s really come to fall for him even after that she did to destroy him. You can understand the complicated feelings she’s having at this point over it but you also kind of want to see not just Sanji happy but both of them after all this time.
With the first half delving into that, the back half takes us back to the fight as the two are really reaching their limits here both physically and mentally. Initially, what we get is both of them just falling over from what went on and we instead get to see what’s going on with the Sunny as they’re being chased and unable to shake their opponents. I like the mad dash they’re on to make the delivery but really wish we’d spend more time with it there. Unfortunately, the shift between this and what Luffy is dealing with doesn’t give either storyline the strength it needs, though a natural focus on Luffy and Katakuri is a given to try and wrap things up here. With Katakuri essentially being fully down and out now, that gives Luffy the win and I love the small moment of him switching hats at the end here and just stumbling away. Perhaps the hat will have some additional meaning in the future but in the here and now it’s probably one of my favorite end-of-fight moments for Luffy.
In Summary:
One Piece has a solid ending when it come to the fight between Luffy and Katakuri but the episode as a whole is structured in a way that just has it all over the map. It is, as always, welcome to touch on these other areas because the fight had gone on for too long and I wanted more than just that. But it gives it a weird feeling in how it jumps as often as it does and doesn’t really say much – even if it has some fun. I really want more of the Sanji and Pudding storyline and I’d really love to see Brook get out there more with his negotiating skills without Nami around. All in all, not a bad episode but it has me hopeful that more interesting material is in our future.
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.
