The grand puppet-master of Dressrosa is finally faced with the pirates that have the will and ability to cut his strings, but he's not going to make this easy on Luffy and Trafalgar. On the other hand, Doflamingo might just regret fanning the flames of Luffy's anger. He might wind up getting burned.
The Good
Luffy is very well known for giving the main enemy of an arc an epic gut shot that gets the crowd cheering. It's pretty much a signature for the series. There's just something so cathartic about seeing a person who you've grown to hate just get walloped and suffer. In the case of Hody Jones, he suffered several of those, and I loved each one. After several years and many villainous acts, it's Doflaingo's turn to feel Luffy's righteous fury.
What's really impressive for this chapter is just how well Luffy and Law work together. It's an effective alliance of brawn and brain. That little switch-a-roo with Luffy was epic, and makes total sense. Doflamingo has proven to be an incredibly capable adversary. This battle will need tactics, and that's not Luffy's strong suit.
Where Kishimoto has failed in NARUTO, I feel Oda has once again achieved in redeeming a former villain. I really loved seeing Bellamy get crushed back in the Skypiea Arc. Now I find myself sympathetic to his suffering. Maybe because Oda has just done a better job of showing that Bellamy understands what he did wrong in the past and he's suffering for it. So much more effective than the Obito -- you defeated me so I guess now I'm good -- change.
There is a great little moment in this chapter that I very nearly missed out on during my first read through. It's Doglamingo's line about how the weak don't get to choose how they die. That's the very same thing Law said to Tashigi on Punk Hazard, after her defeat. Whatever life lesson Law suffered in the past, he's taken that to heart and never forgotten it.
The Bad
Okay, this critique isn't really targeted to this chapter, so you're going to have to bear with me a bit. I think you'll agree though. We've been teased repeatedly with the flashback story between Trafalgar and Dogflamingo. I'm a bit disappointed that part of the story hasn't been told yet. I just wish that was over with, so we can get into the real meat of the action without future distractions.
Although, I'm pretty confident that Oda has just the spot for this. He's also been really good about keeping the flashbacks abbreviated. I really feel that's a criticism of early-era ONE PIECE he's taken to heart.
Verdict 5/5
You're going to be getting a little bit of everything you expect in ONE PIECE with this chapter. It's almost the perfect package of story and action. I know full well that Doflamingo isn't out of this battle so easily, but doesn't it feel good to finally see that smirk wiped off his face?This brawl between the arc's main players has only just begun, and from that is the promise in that finale for the arc can't be too far off. Not that I'm getting bored with it. There's still so much more to see. Just think of this chapter as the opening curtain for the final act for this story.
Follow along with the latest ONE PIECE chapters yourself, tune in for the SJ Podcast, and check out the free starter pack sampler at ShonenJump.com here. You can download the free app for both iOS and Android devices.
About the Author
 | Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek. Follow for news updates:@AnimeVicers/@FoxxFireArt / http://kristofferremmell.tumblr.com/ |
No comments:
Post a Comment