One Piece Episode 605
What They Say:
Luffy and the others are on the move in the laboratory, forcing Caesar to take desperate measures to stop their advance — and give his super weapon a chance to make its mark! And as the gas closes in, Tashigi is ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her G-5 crew…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece moves things forward just a bit more here this time around as it continues to work the Punk Hazard storyline, slowly but surely and with a steady hand that one should expect from this franchise at this point in time. With Luffy and the Straw Hats now freed, the majority if not all of the body swapping fixed and returned to normal and a set plan in motion, Trafalgar Law has given them a goal to work towards when it comes to the laboratory and to the kids themselves. With so many of them having been kidnapped as far back as two years ago, giving the majority of those there on the Navy side something to work towards helps, though you have to admit the awkwardness and amusement in that they’re on the same side as the Straw Hats for the moment in wanting to help the kids.
Not surprisingly, we do once again get the cute map aspects early on to show where everyone is and where they’re going, which helps in my mind overall. There’s a fair bit of action as it progresses since there are so many Punk Hazard guys out there and some of it is done with a bit of fun and flair as Luffy and the others make their way through the maze of places and get closer to their goals. But there’s also some serious time given to it, particularly with Trafalgar and his progress since he doesn’t tend to smile much and just carries a more serious attitude throughout. That definitely works to provide some balance to events as it goes on, since sometimes you do need that. But even the Straw Hats provide that at times, such as when it comes to the progress that they’re making with Zoro, Kin and Brook all being very straight-faced about it. Leave it to the others in the group to be the cheering section though.
Like a lot of episodes we’ve seen in One Piece over the years, this one involves a whole heck of a lot of running around. And that can be fun to watch, especially with the outfits the Punk Hazard guys wear and the comical effect of it all. But the show also places a fair bit of danger into things since Caesar is going to play with his weapons a bit and cause some trouble on the inside by exposing the area to the cloud that has covered the island. It certainly makes sense since the building is structured in a way that you can contain it to some degree, and that adds a nice bit of pressure to things for all involved. There’s some good stuff that goes on here as it progresses, especially with what happens to some of the Navy men and the outburst that Tashigi brings into play, as it once more shows the kind of bond so many of these guys have with each other that helps to avoid painting the entirety of the Navy as bad guys.
In Summary:
While there are some dramatic moments to be had here, One Piece once again provides a running episode with just a mild bit of progress overall. I have a hard time giving it a lot of grief because it’s something that it’s done for six hundred episodes now where there are these kinds of pieces in each arc. It’s just what it is and they do generally manage to have some fun with it. We get that here with the way the various groups are working together for the common goal, the fun of Chopper realizing just how dangerous Caesar is and then getting lost and just the way it pulls all these little things together to make for interesting small moments. Tashigi kind of steals the show towards the end with what she goes through as some of the Navy men sacrifice themselves, willingly, but mostly it’s just a pass-through episode.
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.
