“The King of the Pirates is Born! Arriving at the Last Island!”
What They Say:
Oden and the Roger Pirates head for the Land of Wano to obtain a copy of the Road Ponegliff. Oden sees Kin’emon and the others for the first time in years, but he immediately returns to the sea leaving his wife and children behind. Then, after stopping by at the Mokomo Dukedom and getting a copy of the last Road Ponegliff, the Roger Pirates finally make it to the last island.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a pretty good episode the last time around and with recent material taking us to a few familiar places, it’s been easy to kind of casually enjoy One Piece as it plays a “greatest hits” of the Straw Hats kind of thing with what it revisited. I’m still split on my feelings about spending so much time with Roger and all because I far more preferred him as a man of mystery, and every time we get things like this as we have in the past it’s chipped away at that a good deal. I get the appeal of spending time with him and all, and the crew at this stage, but for me I liked that we went so long originally with any real talk about Roger coming from others with just their memories of their time with him or stories that were related to them.
With the journey continuing, they’ve now found themselves back in Wano as they’re going after the next Ponegliff that they need after the recent discoveries. This isn’t a wonderful reunion or anything upon Oden’s return and it goes in a rather bad way, though not unexpected, as Oden intends to keep on journeying with Roger and the like. This is something that Kin’emon and the rest just can’t understand because they want him to help get things working proper in Wano but he’s just intent on being back in the sea. As he says, he was away for four years but couldn’t stay more than four hours before wanting to get back on his way. It reinforces what this journey has become for him and how intensely he feels about it, which is something that pretty much any member of the crew can understand as well.
As with the last few episodes, I do appreciate the time that we get with some of the crew, notably with Buggy and Shanks and the two definitely have some fun here where buggy gets taken down a bit. It’s amusing just in that but I like the smaller moments where we get Shanks watching over him protectively and then having both Roger and Oden doing the same for both of the boys. It’s a nice cyclical aspect to the kind of “parenting” bond that exists within the pirate families and how we’ve seen similarities from them in later times as well. It’s some welcome little moments in the lives of these characters and the smaller hardships they’ve faced at times, including some of the splitting off from Roger for a bit as well to deal with issues.
In Summary:
With Roger attaining true status by the end of this episode with his accomplishment, it’s a new phase for the pirates of the world and a new order for them as well. That’s not explored at the moment, nor do I expect it to be looked at much, because the reality is that while Roger has gained, this is Oden’s story and that will focus us elsewhere. Seeing the way that Oden fit in with the crew over time has been fun in a not-needed kind of way so it’s been enjoyable on that level. And while I do think the time with Roger is counterproductive in the bigger picture, it’s had its moments as well, though again more with the longtime characters like Buggy and Shanks than anyone else for me.
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.
