And here I am, a couple weeks after I figured I’d have to give up on these write-ups. This isn’t a case of me having to eat my words so much as me continuing the struggle to find word to spit out since I have so much fun with this show.
Anyway…
Since I can remember seeing the swordsman with the rasta hat sometime before, I’ll go ahead and guess that long-time fans would’ve suspected all along that he was behind the headless torsos, bodiless heads and mix-and-match centaurs. Trust me, I’ve been on the other end of this sort of mystery many times before elsewhere.
(Honestly, there ought to be some specific classification for when a fictional universe gets intricate enough that half the enjoyment seems to come from the audience just guessing about what old characters might show up).
Of course, the upside of coming in around episode #584 is that the show’s also reached the point where it’s accrued a bunch of crowd-pleasers into its main cast who don’t necessarily make for a “well-balanced” team dynamic, but are still far more fun to watch. I feel like if Oda ever made a serious attempt at streamlining this roster, he’d have to pick just one “zany wild card” out of Franky, Brook and Chopper to have on the team consistently.
They’re the ones who’re always the most fun to watch in each episode, and they’re the ones who could probably headline their own tiles rather easily. Having them all here is kind of like getting three layers of frosting. Grown-ups are going to tell you that you can only have so much in proportion to the actual cake, and having them all together will probably give you a tummy ache... but that's not the pirate spirit!
Watch this episode, "A Swordplay Showdown! Brook vs. the Mysterious Torso Samurai!” here and decide for yourself, then read my comments about the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk
