�Bringing Down the Emperor of the Sea! A Secret Raid Operation Begins!�
What They Say:
Kin�emon and the others crossed through time by the power of Kozuki Toki, Momonosuke�s mother, and arrived at the Land of Wano 20 years later, a totally different country before their eyes. However, discovering that there were still their allies there, they started preparing to take down Kaido and Orochi who ruined the country.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The last episode gave us a good bit of background on things that happened in this area years ago and how the Time-Time Fruit was used in order to send Kin�emon and Momononsuke into the future where they eventually connected with Luffy and the rest. That showed their discovery of their own �deaths� since so much time had passed and their home had changed so much in what to them was the snap of a finger. The heavy flashback look at Oden and what he did there, going from general bad kind of guy to someone who ended up lifting up an entire region is certainly a feel-good story. But seeing it all fall apart and come to such disrepute is certainly not a good thing. It�s the kind of story that made quite an impression on the Straw Hats and reinforced why they align themselves with people like Kin�emon so easily.
What surprises Kin�emon, once he realizes it, is that everyone that they left behind in the time skip, many are still there, just older and worn from all that�s happened. It�s shocking to them to see this group return and though they�re older and likely a bit out of practice, they�re able to bolster whatever it is that Momonosuke will want to do since he is the heir. And his learning of his mother�s final words, which basically cast him in the position of a liberator should he so choose, revenge is the order of the day. With this group marked and spread throughout the land, it certainly makes it clear there�s a potential for a real revolution here that would inspire much of the rest of Wano after all of this time. There�s a good inspirational aspect to all of it, especially as Kin�emon asks them to go throughout the land to find more people, and you understand why these folks have been busy for so long while Luffy and the rest were off elsewhere.
All of this set us up to where we are now and the ability to move forward and really change the land of Wano if they can topple those that are currently abusing it all. There�s an extensive laying out of the different things that are going on and what will have to happen but this stuff doesn�t register quite as much since few things go according to plan in the end. But it�s good to see Kin�emon in this kind of position and everyone willing to help out, outside of Zoro who is somewhere else drinking and sailing down calm waters. Sanji�s all up in his own thoughts with so many pretty ladies in upcoming events but in general they�re all on the same team at this point. It�s good to see so many of the Straw Hats together all at once and for them to finally dress local, which of course is overplayed for the ladies. Nami at least puts up a bit of a fight about it.
In Summary:
One Piece puts a few more things into place here as we expected and there�s enough stuff to work with when it comes to the scale and scope of it all. It still feels like that moment where it all clicks has eluded us but there�s plenty to enjoy on a general level with the storyline, especially now that everyone has gone local. I do feel for Nami as she�s frustrated by Kin�emon�s view of what a ninja should be like is the farthest thing from it and I don�t even think the outfit looks all that great to begin with. But I am loving having almost all of the Straw Hats here being involved at once and dealing with something they can really help with. This is all up Luffy�s alley and he�s going to go all in to be sure.
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.
