[Digital] One Piece Episode #429

[Chris Beveridge]

Review by Chris Beveridge

Mania Grade: C-

In Summary:

The second part of the episode focuses on Yoko as we see more of her past and time with her Marine father. All of it is to try and build more of a connection for her with the Giant Beetle which is really hard to care about in the slightest. And that’s really summed up this entire arc. One Piece was a show I was really leery of when I first started it back at episode one, but it grew on me. And in leaping ahead to the new stuff, I was really into the Impel Down storyline. Thankfully, I know that this arc is out of the norm and I’m not viewing it as anything other than what we used to get in comic books prior to a big maxi-series event tie in. But like those stories, this is all fluff and it only served to push me away rather than draw me in and has me ready to shy away even faster the next time around. Next week can’t come soon enough.

[Vegard Aune]

This episode, to me, was slightly less boring than the previous ones. At least this one had some decent action-scenes. Still, it was by no means a good episode either, just one that didn't put me to sleep. (Though the "touching" flashback-sequence wasn't particularly touching.)

All in all, this filler-arc felt like a complete waste of time. I mean, the Amigo Pirates did not manage to steal Boss, and I seriously doubt Little East Blue will play any part in the actual movie seeing how they ended this whole thing with Shiki just going "ah well, we don't need that beetle anyway"... Also, those short scenes with Shiki at the beginning and end of the arc were far more interesting than anything involving Luffy and the gang. Really Toei, if you wanted to hype up the movie, this wasn't exactly a particularly good way to do it. I still have high hopes for the movie, but that's only because the trailers look cool and because Oda wrote it.

[KomoriKiri]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

All in all, this filler-arc felt like a complete waste of time.

Yeah. Bad filler arcs in One Piece are bad filler arcs. They've actually pulled off at least one credible one (G8), but most of them range from bad to really, excruciatingly bad. They do, at least, usually manage to not stick them slap bang in the middle of a major story arc.

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

and because Oda wrote it.

Only reason I have any interest at all in it. He's got a certain touch with the material that's hard to copy.

Wraith
"If you're going on a trip, where would you like to go?"
-- Bartholomew Kuma ("One Piece")

[dragonpiece]

Ok someone who went to the movie said that none of the characters in the filler were even in the movie. But he did see a large beetle that looked like Boss. So all in all the filler was a huge waste of time.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by dragonpiece

Ok someone who went to the movie said that none of the characters in the filler were even in the movie. But he did see a large beetle that looked like Boss. So all in all the filler was a huge waste of time.

Just as I expected. These fillers were all just Toei's bad attempt at hyping up the movie by introducing Shiki in the TV-series.

But anyway, word has it that the movie itself is actually really good, and I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, and that is definitely great, so despite how much these past 4 episodes sucked, I'm still really excited about the movie.

[O-chan]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

Just as I expected. These fillers were all just Toei's bad attempt at hyping up the movie by introducing Shiki in the TV-series.

But anyway, word has it that the movie itself is actually really good, and I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, and that is definitely great, so despite how much these past 4 episodes sucked, I'm still really excited about the movie.

Yeah, on another message board known for its One Piece fandom one of our regulars who lives in Japan gave a nice description of the movie and it seems to definitely be one of the better ones. But being the designated One Piece fan I have yet to see any TRULY bad OP filler (at least not devolving into Naruto and Bleach filler) until these episodes. These episodes were a letdown because they were hyping the movie and with a lot of high expectation for the movie (mainly because it was written by the manga author) it did not help that these episodes were some of the worst OP filler I've seen in awhile.

O-chan