One Piece Episode 623
What They Say:
With another adventure behind them, it’s time for the Straw Hats to set sail and leave Punk Hazard behind! But will the G-5 keep the uneasy truce with the Straw Hats, or will they turn on them? Also, Don Flamingo arrives on the scene and hears Law’s demands!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The Punk Hazard arc has certainly had its good moments throughout it and as I’ve said during a lot of it, it’s played true to form with how the property works in general. With the last couple of episodes as things have largely been resolved in the present with who is doing what and what needed to be done when it came to Caesar, it’s been a good bit of partying and fun overall, which it shifted into quickly after the whole thing could have gone south quick if Monet had been able to hit the literal kill switch. But now that we’re in this part of the show, we also get some of the smaller moments coming to light, including a refresher on just what kind of person Luffy is as we see how he won over Trafalgar Law with his clear and honest way of wanting to take down the Four Emperors without anything more than a smile on his face. The arc has certainly made odd bedfellows here, part and parcel of what these arcs are usually like, and seeing the dynamic here as it gets ready to move forward is good.
The fact that Luffy and the others can generally be friendly with the Navy men after all is said and done and to party with them while recovering from the situation says a lot about both sides. That kind of connection and understanding isn’t something that you’d get from either type of group in general, but with what they all faced here and how they worked well together definitely made it work. The banquet alone was fun to watch and the kind of post-event camaraderie that exists is always welcome to see. But there’s also the fact that they are on opposite sides, something that the Navy men can let go only so far as they’re about to go their separate ways and they have to get back to being who they usually are. It’s comical to be sure but it also has a kind of sense about it that works nicely even with the way they’re pushing the Straw Hats away and talking bad about pirates in general to the kids who want to see their saviors before they go.
Because of the nature of episodes like this, there isn’t exactly a lot of meat here with what goes on. But that’s par for the course as the various sides split off into where they intend to go and the journey continues on, albeit with the small problems that one must face, especially in making sure the kids are going to be properly taken care of. But you can sense that Smoker will do things right with this and bring some closure to that terrible event. We also get to have the fun of the Straw Hats simply being all back together after all this time and in a good mood, which adds to the fun nicely since they had been split for a bit. It’s a rather mellow end to things here overall, but we do get a few little nods to where things may go as Joker arrives and we see the things Trafalgar Law has left in place to further his own goals, which could be interesting to see unfold since he’s dealing with quite the opponent in Joker.
In Summary:
One Piece is always kind of awkward at this stage of an arc and this one is no exception as most everything is wrapped up neatly with a little bow on it. We get some fun between Navy and pirates and then the expected standoff of sorts between them as they have to go back to what they’re expected to be, though that’s more the Navy side than anything else. The cast has had a lot of good things going on with this arc and it all comes to a close with everyone sailing off in their own direction to move towards their next goal or mission. But mixed into it all we get something of what Trafalgar Law is up to, first in seeing his original talk with Luffy some time ago in the arc and now the start of his negotiations with Joker, who is decidedly not pleased about the fallout from events here. The show can go in a lot of directions but mostly I’m just glad to be done with Punk Hazard and to get onto something new.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.