One Piece Episode 603
What They Say:
It’s a mad dash for the safety of the laboratory as poison gas fills the island! Law, Luffy, Robin, Franky, Smoker, and Tashigi are trapped in a cage right in the path of the gas – but Law may have a plan! Meanwhile – new alliances start to form behind the scenes…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having the master weapon reveal itself in a bigger way in the previous episode, we got to see a lot of the lower ranks get nailed by it and suffer the consequences just to show what it can do. That also started to spread further, which caused our Straw Hats out on the surface of the island to have to get into a mad dash themselves since it was coming for them in a big way and they’re not exactly wanting to get hit with it. The problem, of course, is that as it progresses, they’re going to find fewer and fewer safe places to be. And the other half of the Straw Hat crew that’s with Trafalgar Law within Caesar’s facility and kept under lock and key are going to get caught up in it as well, which will lead to its own problems.
Of course, while this is all going to be the big part of things, the show wants to detour a little more beforehand by introducing us to another group with the Kid Pirates, the Hawkins Pirates and the On Air Pirates, who have their own issues with Trafalgar and Luffy. It’s the kind of setup that has you knowing that it’s all going to turn into a larger conflagration later on, especially if the other Navy men end up showing up at the island as well with everything else going on. It’s a bunch of (new to me at least) characters with some basic personalities being introduced and setting the stage for what’s to come. But thankfully, it does keep things mostly focused on those on the island itself and what’s going on there, especially with the need to get out of the cage that the Straw Hats and the others are in.
Within that area, there’s some amusing fart gags going on, which is expected, but it also shows what Trafalgar is up to as he frees himself and the others easily and realizes he can use them to achieve his own goals, mostly by having Vergo thrown off by their presence. It’s an unusual alliance to be sure, but that’s part of the charm of One Piece as they all set off to stop Caesar from what he’s trying to accomplish. This gives us a bunch of running around and semi-silly sequences as they get themselves into position and also the start of a real push into the Punk Hazard facility. With the size of the cast that exist at this point here, it has grown pretty big when you figure all the sides and minor variables that are coming into play with it, but it handles it well as it starts to draw them closer together, even as it adds in more new ones.
In Summary:
After a few episodes on the run or in captivity, we’re getting the slow change here to move the main cast into new positions and to start being more proactive on things – though they’ll be plenty reactive as well. The amusing alliances that form work well and it’s just fun to watch how Trafalgar Law has to deal with when it comes to working with Luffy and the others with their kind of slapdash approach to things. We also get a bit more of what’s going on off the island with several pirate groups that are going to figure into things more, but mostly it’s all about the island and getting the couple of sides there refocused and moving forward again in a way that advances the story, or at least sets it on the right path with the first step to do so.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
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.
