“Luxurious and Gorgeous! Wano’s Most Beautiful Woman – Komurasaki!”
What They Say:
Wano’s top courtesan Komurasaki is in procession and slowly makes her way to Orochi Palace. There is a crowd of people on the street as well as Sanji and the others. While everyone is fascinated by her, some seeking vengeance get in the Oiran’s way.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The slow progress into the second act of the Wano storyline hasn’t been much of an issue as it’s fairly standard setup. Lots of introductions of new characters, the uncertainty of who will actually be important in it, and showing the Straw Hats integrating into this world from different places. I have hoped for a bit more from Luffy and his time in the prison mine but at the same time I remember the last time he was in prison and how that basically eliminated the rest of the cast for a couple of years. So not quite that! But it has been fun seeing a bit more of Wano while Luffy is off bashing sea prism stones and the like and just have more time with an upbeat and happy Sanji.
Frustratingly, a decent chunk of the first half of the episode feels like it’s just doing the movement across the different areas and not saying much. We get a touch with Komurasaki walking along at first and causing the minor commotion by her presence, which is no surprise considering who she is and where she’s heading. This will all definitely factor in later because someone who is a top courtesan is going to be critical to the power structure here in how it’s set up in their usefulness. We do get a bit of time with Luffy back at the quarry as well and I do find it amusing that he’s essentially killing time for a while in doing the whole bashing rocks things but is now finding it all a bit more frustrating with the way it’s unfolding and some of those that are there with him that are bothering him. He didn’t expect it to be fun and games but it’s leaning in a little more toward pissing him off more than anything else.
The time we get in the second half with Komurasaki doesn’t exactly come together well in some ways, as we basically have her being all pleasant to one of the locals and see him abandon his family for her while also emptying his wealth in order to please her. It’s all in service to acquiring her so he can be happy and she plays it up pretty well in a way that manipulates with ease, but it’s predictable enough that there’s little real hook to it. You just kind of wait it out to get to what you know is coming, especially as the elderly guy falls further and further into despair and poor health while still coming by day after day to win her over. The backstory with all of this makes clear how she’ll be involved to some degree coming up and giving the guys a chance to see her as she makes her way through the city is amusing.
In Summary:
Yes, Komurasaki will be important as time goes on but this is a lackluster introduction for her. There’s not much that separates her from similar characters we’ve seen before though the design is great and brought to life really well through the Wano-style animation. This episode is a slow moving one that makes it clear how she operates but that may not be the same once we get the storyline fully in motion. It’s easy to see how she’ll be problematic for some of the Straw Hats just by her looks but there are enough people to smack them around and to stay on the right path – which the next episode looks like it’s going to get us back on shortly.
Grade: C
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.
