Victory can be won or lost at times by the strength and courage of a single person, and the plan of the Riku Army is dependent on just risk. Unfortunately, Usopp is now that man.
The Good
This chapter of ONE PIECE has a little bit of everything you'd want in shonen-action. There's action, a display of powers and some rather laugh worthy comedy. Yet, why do I feel as if everything has just stopped in its place? Look at Luffy's position. He's just outside the room where Doflamingo, Trafalgar, andKing Riku are within. Don't you expect him to be busting in there? If I wasn't already aware just how deadly Doflamingo can be, I'd certainly be confused. I wonder how long Viola and Kyros can keep a leash on him?
Yes, Usopp's behavior is deplorable -- and I'll get to that, but do we really want every shonen hero to be a gung-ho, run into battle type all the time? I'm not going to fault Oda for making such a unique hero. He's always stood tall when he's really needed. The strength of Oda's story is that his cast are entertaining in vastly different ways. Luffy is the main protagonist, and he hasn't appeared in a week or so. However, I haven't really missed him, and the series hasn't lacked. Not many stories can accomplish that easily.
The Bad
Back when I originally heard the series was going to be having a two year time skip, I was apprehensive on a few levels. Classically a hero comes out of time skips with a more mellowed out personality. I was scared that's what Oda had planned, because I wasn't sure that this series would have the same feel with a more matured Luffy. Thankfully, that's not what he did with any of his crew. In most cases, it was a good thing, but there are some areas that could have used a bit more improvement. Namely in the department of Usopp.
I would be profoundly more irritated with Usopp's behavior if as the audience we know that he has completely forgotten Robin existed. This seems a bit risky on Oda's part. What if his younger audience doesn't quite understand the memory effect of Sugar's power? It would be one thing to run out on a bunch of strangers, and a completely different matter if he was running out on one of his crew.
Verdict 3/5
This is a competent edition that I was completely entertained reading. We've just been put into an unexpected holding pattern for Usopp. What makes the "hurry up and wait" mentality of this chapter frustrating is that we all know how this is going to turn out. In fact, it was obvious what was going to happen the moment we heard the plan was to scare Sugar to pass out, and the weapon was something that would be easily launched in a sling shot. Usopp is obviously going to stand up to this fight. It's just a matter of how long it will take.
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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/ |
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