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Reviewed by Park Cooper One Piece is a rather silly series. I kind of liked the anime at first, and the manga too, and then I hit a point with both of “okay, that’s just too silly.” But Viz recently sent me volume 19. I have to admit, it has a certain excitement to it. Okay, recap: Monkey D. Luffy is a guy who wants to be King of the Pirates really, really badly, by travelling to the oceanic area known as the Main Line and finding the legendary treasure One Piece, which has so much hype surrounding it that it’s bound to be disappointing if you ask me. He has a crew of other wacky and/or cool people, half of whom tend to be even sillier than he himself is. Basically, Luffy and Dear Old Gang have been hanging out with Princess Vivi for some time now, and now it’s time to save her country. It’s been taken over by Mr. Zero of the evil organization Baroque Works. Let’s see... --the Akatsuki --the Band of Seven --Chronos --The Gung-Ho Guns --Organization XIII --The Phantom Troupe Nope, my _Guide To Mysterious Evil Organizations Who Move The Plot Along And Are Made Up Of A Lot Of Extremely Unique Fighters_ doesn’t have an entry about Baroque Works, sorry. It must be out of date, I’ll have to go buy a more recently published copy. But suffice to say, they’re hardcore bad. They’re also better at scheming than any of the above groups mentioned in my Guide To Mysterious Evil Organizations (save for the Akatsuki). This volume reveals that the King has been an imposter all this time, and that Mr. Zero enjoys setting traps made of stuff that cancels out the powers people get from eating the Devil’s Fruit (people like Luffy for example). Since everyone in Baroque Works is a badass, and Dear Old Gang are mostly badasses, and for that matter practically everyone else in this manga went to Badass School, the fight for Vivi’s country becomes more a matter of information management and secrecy (example: Mr. Zero knows how to rid himself very effectively of Team Luffy, but he doesn’t yet know how MANY people are on Team Luffy, so members he doesn’t know about yet and therefore has not captured can triumphantly show up and pull our fat out of the fire when needed, etc) than one of pure out-and-out power. But when everyone’s cards are finally laid out on the table, who will reign supreme? My bet’s on Team Luffy, being the heroes of the series and all, though it might be a close thing. But in a series this wacky, will you even care? I am as shocked as you are to inform you that as a matter of fact, there’s a chance you just might care. The fact that the fight for Princess Vivi’s homeland is clearly entering its endgame (are the FIGHTS to decide that endgame nearly over? No, they’re barely getting warmed up! But the actual struggle to get to have those final fights is quickly entering its final endgame) really helps to cancel out creator Eiichiro Oda’s natural insanity— he no longer has as much TIME to hit you with the ridiculously absurd and surreal silliness like he used to. I would actually read volume 20 if it found its way to my door. Heaven help me. I give volume 19 of One Piece an A-. Comment on this review of One Piece v19 on the Manga Life Forums. |
8 October 2008
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