Review of One Piece, Collection 13

Episodes 300-324, may contain spoilers.

“There is nothing so desperately monotonous as the sea, and I no longer wonder at the cruelty of pirates.” – James Russell Lowell

There is one thing that needs to be said concerning the most recently release of One Piece in the UK which is this: “About bloody time!” This collection has been delayed and delayed again. The last collection came out in December 2015, and now it looks like Manga Entertainment are trying to hurry things up as the next collection comes out in November – although don’t be surprised if this gets delayed too.

Anyway, onto the review proper, which sees the conclusion of the Water Seven arc, the death of someone held deep to the hearts of the Straw Hat Pirates, but also the welcoming of new faces.

The story resumes with the continuing siege of Enies Lobby by the Straw Hats: Monkey D. Luffy is up against CP9’s top agent Rob Lucci, the controller of a Devil-Fruit that gives him the powers of the leopard. Zoro manages to defeat another agent with the powers of a giraffe, meaning that the crew now have all the available keys to the Sea Prism Stone handcuffs currently being worn by Nico Robin, who is being led away to doom by the vile Spandam. Robin refuses to go easily however, even willing to bite down hard on the stone bridge to stop herself being dragged away. Robin is also helped by Usopp / Sogeking / Sniper King, who manages to shoot at Spandam from a great distance, and eventually buys enough time for cyborg shipwright Franky to deliver the keys and free Robin. As the attacks continue, the Buster Call to destroy the whole area begins to take place. It is therefore perfectly natural that what follows next is an episode of filler. To be exact, a return to the feudal Japan parody, focusing on cherry blossom viewing.

Following this however, we witness the finals battles between the Straw Hats and the forces of the World Government. This includes Lucci’s backstory, Luffy using his special “Third Gear” attack, a rescue from the most unlikely mermaid you are likely to encounter, and an even unlikelier escape thanks to the Going Merry, which manages to somehow find the crew and get them out of Enies Lobby. However, this is also the ship’s last action. The ship, too badly damaged to sail anymore, begins to break in two. Thus there follows what has to be one of One Piece’s most poignant scenes: Luff burns the Going Merry and the rest of the crew watch on, crying. As the ship sinks, the crew somehow hear what sounds like the spirit of the ship saying goodbye, as it finally falls into the ocean. Therefore, we witness what is arguably the first death among the Straw Hat Pirates – only it is not that of a person, but of their vessel.

After this, the crew return to city of Water Seven. Franky gets to work building a new ship for the crew, while Usopp tries to come up with ways of returning to the crew. Luffy, though, gets an even bigger shock: the marines come to visit him, and he recognizes some familiar faces. Some are people he met a long time ago during the start of his voyages who have since grown up, but the head of the group is someone that Luffy knows all too well: Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp – Luffy’s very own and rather violent grandfather. As if this isn’t shocking enough for Luffy’s crewmates, Garp also lets loose that Luffy’s father, Monkey D. Dragon, is the head of a revolutionary army and the most wanted man in the world. Also, although they are family, Garp is not going to let Luffy get out of Water Seven easily.

This collection is certainly better than the last edition of episodes. There is less filler overall, and there are many brilliant scenes, especially the one in which the Going Merry is sunk which is surprisingly moving. We also have major plot developments with this collection finally seeing the Straw Hat Pirates recruiting their eighth member, with Franky finally confirmed as the crew’s shipwright. This in turn leads to one of the funnier moments in the show, namely the method they try to make Franky join – by stealing his swimming trunks, getting him to run across Water Seven wearing just his open shirt, and finally Robin using her powers to sprout arms from Franky’s legs and grabbing Franky’s… well, you never see what she grabs, but what she does causes Franky a lot of pain.

On the downside, while there is less filler, some of it is placed in really annoying places, interrupting the main plot at exciting moments. The start of most of the episodes takes too long explaining the events of the previous episode. When you add on the title sequence, sometimes you have to wait about six minutes before you actually get to new material. The CGI used to animate the ships is also poorly done, and at times the subtitles refer to different spellings of Gold Roger / Gol D. Roger.

Concerning the extras, there are the textless opening sequence, episode commentaries, and interviews with two of the English-dub cast: Brina Palencia (Chopper) and Colleen Clinkenbeard (Luffy).

In conclusion, things are looking up at we progress through the story. This is evident when you look at the cover for the next collection, which depicts a strange looking skeleton with a massive afro.