I had two really cool thoughts this episode. Overall it was pretty awesome!
First, Zoro's new sword! First he had a very big interest and more knowledge than he should have had about Ryuma. When he won he called him Samurai of Wano Kingdom if I recall proving he knew just who Ryuma once was, probably through legend. And, finally, he knew that sword was something incredibly legendary, said to not break even if a dinosaur crushed it or something, and that's why he set out for it! Cool! I really can't wait to learn more about who Ryuma was. I assume seeing how tight-lipped Zoro is he won't be telling anyone as he did promise not to bring up the duel out of respect to his past self but I'm sure we may get some subtle hints as we go on. ;) It should be cool to see him testing it out! I also did a bad cut and paste job to get the panning shot of him holding it all in one!
Second, Kuma is fascinating. Not only do I adore his chilling voice and his massive body shape but the mixed signals he's giving are the thing I'm most curious about. Kuma, "the Tyrant" is said to be, or to have once been the epitome of cruelty as a pirate. Yet, he hasn't shown excessive cruelty yet. He's only taken on people who challenged him, he let the zombies retreat freely, and he seems to not do it out of anger or anything but rather efficiency. "I can't ask you about Moria's whereabouts when you're being belligerent". Further he seems to be able to teleport and before teleporting Perona he asked where she would go if she could go anywhere for a trip, that hardly feels unrelated, I'm thinking he actually teleported her to her dream vacation spot... On top of these mixed signals of calling him the epitome of cruelty and a "tyrant" yet not having him display any of these signs, we can see Hogback, Arlong, Crocodile, Eneru, and many others as being far more cruel than he is, he also carries a very big and noticeable bible. Clearly the bible does not go with these descriptors of cruelty. Nor do his actions or attitude. So, it makes him a very curious character with some intentional mixed signals going on. For that I'm super curious about him.
He removed his glove and read a bible verse before teleporting Perona and her negative ghosts. I wonder if he can only teleport people by getting close enough to them with his hands. Otherwise the removal of the glove would feel weird and pointless. For the bible verse, I'm unsure right now.
Kuma also asked about Ace. Ace is central to Blackbeard and Whitebeard so I'm curious on why he asked that. Maybe simple curiosity? Maybe something more?
I love how Perona had a sigh of relief when she saw Nami confronted her and not Mr. Negative Nose. I hope those two have a rematch one day. <3 I also love how Nami was so confident to confront an army when treasure and her ship was on the line.
To get to some small praises and criticisms, Franky, Chopper and Usopp are an adorable trio and seeing them trick Oars into punching himself and then having Usopp trick Oars like he would trick Luffy was so funny and sweet. I can't wait for fun moments like that trio is having but including Luffy as well. Oars too is hilarious, I love how he kept Luffy's amazement and fun loving nature.
I'm not a fan of the pervert jokes coming from Sanji recently, the whole I want to peek in the bath was fine but this time the idea of perving on Robin while she joined the robot I was not a fan of. I always loved the depiction of Sanji as a hopeless romantic over a pervert, it's far easier and more common to depict perverts in anime so Sanji was a breath of fresh air. This arc has made him perv out twice in quick succession.
As I've said numerous times, although it's still clear from a meta narrative perspective that Oda is dragging out Luffy's time with filler activities so the climax can be intense and all about him presumably, the fact it's in character and the way we saw him rocket into the sky to spot the shadow from above was great. |