“A Living Hell! Luffy, Humiliated in the Great Mine!”
What They Say:
Luffy gets beaten by Kaido and is sent to a great mine where prisoners are made to work in forced labor. There, he finds an unexpected reunion. Meanwhile, Okiku is rushing to the ruins of Oden Castle in order to confirm the safety of the Straw Hats and the others.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a short break over the new year to allow other events to play out on broadcast in Japan, One Piece returns and puts us back into the fight between Luffy and Kaido. At least briefly since it wraps up the fight and moves us onto the next stage. Delays are normal and sometimes they hit in more awkward areas than they might otherwise but the show is at least moving forward to its next piece within this arc. It’s been a decent ride so far as we’ve gotten to see some new things, brought back some characters we haven’t seen in a while, but at the same time have mostly not managed to really feel like it’s accomplishing anything or has a truly set and clear goal laid out.
With things on the downward side here post-fight, Kaido’s dismissive of most of what’s happened and not paying attention to much of the damage that was wrought by the battle, noting that he’ll likely do better next time when he’s not drunk. It certainly doesn’t say much for him in what little we get to know here. With Law having already booked it out of town after the hit that he took from the sea prism nail, Hawkins is intent on catching him but wraps things up with Luffy first, getting him all locked up and prepped to be sent on his way with other prisoners for a forced labor camp at the mine. The episode also spends some time moving around to a few other places as it often does when not in the midst of an episodes-long fight sequence or running sequence so that we touch on a few other areas, but often with little in the way of real significance.
We do get that grim look at things for Luffy as he’s dragged along toward his final destination for the time being and it’s definitely amusing in a way. With him all bandaged up and dragged by horse, he’s got that grim determination about him and all the blood splatters just adds to the effect and makes an impression on those that he walks by. It’s not hugely impressive but I like the tone that it sets and we get a pretty interesting serious moment toward the end of the episode hinting at a potential ally for him in the darkness. But, mostly this is a transitional episode to get us from point A to point B in the script so that Luffy can be isolated, make new allies, figure out the bigger plan, all while the others are surviving and trying to come together in time to work alongside him. So, standard fare One Piece.
In Summary:
The show tries to be nicely dramatic and different in the last minute or so which is interesting but the series is so long and has established itself in how it operates for so long that it really is just style over substance. It’s not a bad episode but it’s a standard transitional one and it has some fun moments to it but works all the usual drawn out areas, the quick touching upon other characters, and its continued focus on Luffy above all else.
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.
