Trust me, I get that Oda doesn’t give two shits about stuffy
rules of logic - - and I’m totally on board with that! However, while I can look
at flintlock rifles firing like semi-automatics and laugh at the whimsy, I have
a harder time seeing past our rubber hero getting stuck behind bars. Dude’s signature gimmick is shape-shifting, and
you’re telling me he can’t squeeze through some bars? Hell, if it was a
chickenwire mesh, I’d be less distracted. There is no way Luffy can’t stretch over
and save Tra-guy from ‘Mingo!
I say all that, and then I get delighted by the bad guys
arriving onto the scene in the S.S. Candyland…
It’s time like these that ONE PIECE feels like some manic,
stone humor Adult Swim show that also
happens to be really sincere about its heroes kicking ass. People say that a lot about the VENTURE
BROTHERS but, I don’t know -- this whole series takes that set-up to a far more
extreme pole. It’s really like you’re just visiting Oda in his playroom for 20
minutes every week, and just listening as he tears through his toy chest in
some breathless, never-ending imaginative tear.
Hell, the toybox analogy is doubly apt, because I remember
the short ‘filler’ arc that introduced Mama and her minions between the end of
the ‘Fishman’ arc and the beginning of ‘Punk Hazard.’ That was over a year ago!
And it seemed totally random. But it was basically just Oda making these toys,
and tossing them aside with the rough idea that he’d get around to picking them up
again later.
(To be honest, though
- - I’m pretty baffled that Caesar Clown’s still around. Dude was defeated over
a year ago! The Strawhats haven’t locked him up? ‘Mingo hasn’t caught up with him
yet? Madness!)
Watch "Two Great Rivals Meet Each Other! Straw Hat and Heavenly Demon!" and decide for yourself, then read my thoughts on the previous episode.
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