Hordy’s all powered up and flexing his newfound strength in brutal ways. What They Say:
With the help of the Energy Steroid, Hordy makes short work of Neptune’s army before his eyes and reveals a new powerful attack – all while Jimbei and Shirahoshi finally head for the plaza! And the dejected Vander Decken hatches a deadly plan!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece has certainly moved in somewhat traditional routes here to tell its story as it’s examined the back story to great detail, allowed the Straw Hats to shine before taking a back seat and to let the villains of the day stand tall and cause a whole lot of trouble. Seeing how Hordy is now all powered up from the Energy Steroid and really making waves on the island with what he can do helps to further cement him as someone to be careful with. So much so that he wipes out a large chunk of Neptune’s army with ease since his abilities are so far reaching now. And being the smart guy he is, he does all of this from afar, with Neptune at his side, to show just how outclassed everyone is around him.
Neptune’s realization about this does help along the way as he tries to get his soldiers to stop going up against Hordy since he wants to try and save lives, but they’re just too loyal to not try, which leads to some pretty disastrous results for them. Hordy and his men are able to run roughshod over everything, between the men he has and the massive creatures he’s using to get about the island from above. It’s an impressive display of power, one that has Hordy pretty confident. He’s not making huge announcements or a lot of bluster, but rather is pretty mellow and calm in a way that makes you wonder what he’s thinking – and if the Energy Steroid is changing him in other ways as well.
Of course, even with these overpowering odds, there are those that will continue to fight, such as Neptune’s sons who are making another stand in a very public way. Neptune has certainly inspired people over the years, but it also goes back to their Queen as she wanted a very different life for the people of the island and like their hero, Fisher Tiger, she gave her life in pursuit of it. Seeing them all continuing to stand up for what they believed in, and for what their loved ones died for, makes for some compelling moments here as they make a new stand against Hordy, both physically and verbally, to try and stop the madness from spreading further. It’s a good setup that goes on here as the forces are now better aligned and everything is coming to a head in a big way.
In Summary:
With the lack of Luffy and his group here, it’s actually a plus since it’s necessary once again to reinforce that the people of Fish Man Island are more than willing to stand up for themselves. They may be overwhelmed in the end and require help, but what we see here is that they’re not going to back down on what defines them and their principles, nor will they let Hordy just run roughshod over them. It’s not something that goes smoothly and there are problems along the way, but letting them get a bit more time to shine before the Straw Hats get involved is rather necessary and important to the overall storyline here, and how events could effect other things down the line in future episodes.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
No comments:
Post a Comment