One Piece
Episode 839
by Sam Leach,
How would you rate episode 839 of
One Piece (TV 1999) ?
Community score: 4.4
Well, now. This is quite the episode, isn't it?
It continues to be massively difficult to come down one way or the other on the Vinsmokes. I think the fandom consensus is that they're the weakest part of the arc overall, but even then there are continuing complications that leave me stuck. Should I be reading deeper into the fact that the story allows the abusive Nazi-esque family to stir in a kind of "badass antihero" purgatory, or are there enough layers of abstraction to pull it away from those implications? The audience is also much more likely to resent the Vinsmokes on a personal level than the Big Mom family, which works for me because an emphasis on dramatic comeuppance would be counter to what I like about this arc, but broadly speaking I still don't know what the takeaway is supposed to be. We're a week off from the much more expected "Screw you, Dad!" showdown between Sanji and Judge, but I'm still left feeling like there's a lot to unpack that the story isn't willing to give us the tools for.
It's important to try and get this stuff cleared up, because this week's episode is a pretty bombastic glorification of the Vinsmokes as they put on their raid suits in one of the most lavishly animated transformation sequences I've ever seen. We're leaning so hard into the super sentai/Sailor Moon transformation style (Toei's wheelhouse if ever there was one) that Germa 66 even gives the commercial break eye-catches a makeover, something I don't think I've seen this show do in isolation before. This episode where the Vinsmokes get to be unabashedly cool has a trust-fall element to it, where we're indulging the bad guys for a moment because as unlikable as they are, at least they're on our side. I like being reminded that Vito from Capone's crew is a huge Germa fanboy in the midst of this, because he grew up on the famous comic strip where they were the villains. The Straw Hats are a group of pirates teaming up with a more evil group of pirates, geeking out over an evil authoritarian nation because they're helping us fight an even more evil group of pirates. I am not emotionally equipped to make sense out of any of this.
But that's far from the only thing to happen this week, as this episode opens with Capone's "Big Father" mode, where he transforms into a giant gangster mech that he pilots with crazy Minority Report hand gestures. Since the alliance's planned mirror escape is a bust, our heroes are now forced to make a mad dash to get back inside of Capone's body, and Capone sees another opening to kill Big Mom since she's still in the middle of her vulnerable scream. We're entering the phase of the arc where the story repeatedly triples down on that shonen onslaught of cliffhangers and false climaxes, and I revel in it as always against my better judgement. Capone tries to shoot her with cannons, but Katakuri's mochi stuff them up. He tries to straight-up run Big Mom over with his tracks, but she's an immovable object. Despite seeing a new opening, the results are the same as last week: another disappointed announcement of failure, and the Big Mom pirates closing in for yet another fight.
This is the rare kind of One Piece episode that manages to be both busy and extremely well-directed, offering some of the most fun spectacle in a long while, but it's hard not to be enthusiastic with a few caveats. That feeling in the back of your head that it's weird to be cheering on the Vinsmokes is significant enough to stick, and their arrival to the battle comes in response to a really contrived sequence where the more vulnerable Straw Hats (in this case, Nami, Chopper, and Carrot) are being captured by the enemy. In terms of the actual plotting, this is a fairly damsel-in-distress free arc, but these random moments peppered in feel really forced. They're ultimately benign, but worthy of an eyeroll all the same.
That said, this is a huge week for the anime. Germa's transformation sequence is the talk of the town among fans right now, and I'd be lying if I said the production team didn't knock it out of the park. Beyond that, I think Capone and his Big Father are wildly entertaining, and I'm excited as ever to be riding the roller coaster of Whole Cake Island's climax. Episodes like this don't come around often. It's really exciting stuff, weird story subtext aside.
Rating: A-
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
discuss this in the forum (721 posts) |
back to One Piece
Episode Review homepage / archives