“Everyone is Annihilated! Kaido’s Furious Blast Breath!”
What They Say:
The drunken Kaido flies above Okobore Town in his dragon form and threatens Shutenmaru and all the people in the town. Luffy, Law, Kin’emon, and Okiku start running towards the town to rescue them. However, Kaido heads towards the ruins of Oden Castle where they left their crew behind.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Wano arc has been working well overall as it moved into its next stage to give us more background and cement some of the villains of what’s to come based on events of the past. Though it meant some time with Kin’emon of the past, I actually liked what it brought to the table for him and his group – but not enough to go and rewatch when he first arrived for clues or consistency. Then going into Shutenmaru and leading into Jack before bringing Kaido out in full, the episodes moved quickly to bring us the big bad with some really neat visualization and all. But how does it fit into the big picture of events for this series? Kaido does represent something different and I do like that even Luffy is kind of off-balance because of its appearance.
Initially, we do get some background on what’s been going on here, which we knew some of, such as how the weapons were being produced, the supply chain from Doflamingo and others, the events on Punk Hazard that removed the factories and then Dressrosa, which further weakened Kaido’s control. But all of that reinforces why Law and Luffy are being sought as much as they are as they were the face of so much of that destruction. And it’s why they’re both keeping the rest at a distance now because having something like Kaido and the rest of his group after them is not only dangerous but could put the entire plan in peril. The first half does a good job of clearly establishing some of the connections to recent events (recent being several years of stories) and just how difficult it’s become now that they’re here on Wano, mostly for the two mentioned. It’s a good summation of things that puts the scale of it all together just right.
The more immediate problem, however, is for those serving under Kaido and those of Wano as Kaido is drunk and just indiscriminately destroying things. And that makes it harder for Jack and the others to maintain order and control of the place before taking into account Luffy and the rest. It is amusing to see how things are shifting unexpectedly, with Hawkins suggesting Kaido go to Oden Castle, not realizing that the group is actually there. There’s quite a good dread that comes into play as you see him moving slowly across the landscape toward the castle even as Luffy and Law run the other way. It’s a good sequence that builds well and reinforces the size and scale of what Kaido is but also that there’s a level of obliviousness to him as well as he doesn’t see things like a normal person would, for example. But he also just goes for the blunt approach, such as outright destroying the castle.
In Summary:
The show ends on a great note here that just leaves you wanting to see how the gang escaped and if there were any that took any serious damage for a bit. The episode itself is fairly slow and plodding as it moves about as fat as Kaido does, which is not fast. But it works well to establish power and superiority here in a way that connects. I also liked that we got to see some fear out of the gang as they realized what was coming right at them and that on top of the catch-up of just why Kaido is so furious with Law and Luffy bringing it full circle. A solid installment overall and hopefully the start of something much bigger.
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.
