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One Piece
Episode 823

by Sam Leach,

How would you rate episode 823 of
One Piece (TV 1999) ?
Community score: 3.8

Since it looks like we're going to be taking our time on our way to that coveted Luffy/Sanji reunion, the rest of the Straw Hats might as well take this chance to knock off a few chores from their list, like getting their lost skeleton musician back. The crew still has Brulee and Diesel as hostages, so they can wander the mirror world in search of Luffy, Sanji, and Brook to their hearts' content. However, it's a massive shock when they realize that their search for Brook has brought them to a mirror leading directly into Big Mom's personal bedroom. What entails is an audacious comedy of errors as the crew deals with the giant sleeping woman.

This has got to be one of the funniest and most entertaining turns the show could have taken at this point in the story, since the entire episode is about trying to sneak Brook out of Big Mom's hands without waking her up. It's late and she's got a big day ahead of her, after all. The plan is to sneak in quietly and swap Brook out with a dummy skeleton (literally just some dead guy they found lying around), Indiana Jones-style, but this episode makes it extra clear that even a sleeping Emperor is no small challenge. Even if it's just to swat a fly, Big Mom's strength completely shatters the ground like an earthquake, and her pets Prometheus, Zeus, and Napoleon are all taking a nap with her. You think a rottweiler's a scary guard? Try a pissed-off sun.

One Piece has always been a game of patience and winding paths, so detours like this are bound to happen. This episode almost works standalone, where the vast majority of the runtime is dedicated to this one hook that relies heavily on the stellar comedic timing of the animation and voice acting. This is an episode of over-the-top reactions from the Straw Hats, and every one of them gets a big laugh as they grow increasingly exacerbated. This half of the crew is a healthy mix of thinkers and fighters, but the emphasis is more on Nami, Chopper, and Carrot, who get the funniest material by virtue of being the most emotional of the bunch. Even then, it's still pretty great to see Pedro having to daydream a scenario where he saves the day, because even his cool head doesn't stand much of a chance.

If there's any downside to this episode, it's that the various rescue attempts the Straw Hats make can get repetitive, since it's a loose variation of the same plan repeated four times. That's an example of the manga getting drawn out pretty significantly, but the fluff used to pad the episode still manages to be wild and entertaining. Carrot's attempt, where she has to try and dodge Big Mom's expanding and contracting snore bubble and then pretend to be a stuffed animal just as Zeus starts to wake up, was my favorite. Every one of her unexpected expressions killed me.

Elsewhere it's becoming clearer that Luffy's desperate fight with Big Mom's cronies on the way back to the rendezvous point is the plotline that the show is trying to drag out the most, cutting back to it whenever they need to buy time. Even so, that storyline still manages to be really effective this week, as the episode ends just as Luffy appears to be beaten unconscious. I think the idea is to parallel what happened when Luffy was beaten and taken to prison earlier, and the fact that he's becoming increasingly hungry and tired makes me feel bad for the little guy. It's still a little frustrating that we have to keep waiting for this part of the story to go anywhere, though.

Unabated, we slowly make our way to the next major turning point of the Whole Cake Island arc, and the Straw Hats' success in rescuing Brook continues to help simplify the story. Now getting Sanji back is the only concrete goal left for the crew, and everything relies on improvisation. Focusing on the non-Luffy side of the Straw Hats is refreshing, since they only recently all got back together, and even though Jimbei probably won't officially join the crew until after the battle with the Big Mom pirates is over, it feels great to see him going through the usual problem-solving routine with the gang. Even with Luffy and Sanji still on their way to meet up, the story manages to progress with one of the funniest episodes we've gotten in the arc yet.

Rating: B+

One Piece is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.com.

Sam Leach records about One Piece for The One Piece Podcast and you can find him on Twitter @LuckyChainsaw


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