One Piece 40

Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 57+ volumes

If I have somehow failed to say it before, I love and adore everything about this series.  The fight is brought to Enies Lobby in this volume, with Luffy singlehandedly taking out thousands of marines while Galley-La holds the gates and the Franky Family blazes the way to the bridge to allow Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats access to the building Franky and Robin are being held in.  It’s a free-for-all, and there’s lots of different things going on at once.  My favorite parts were all Luffy, since again, he seems to be genuinely enjoying his fight.  We also get our first look at his “evolved” fighting technique here.  Of course, he thought of it in response to getting beaten by CP9, but unlike most battles of this nature where it makes things a fair fight, Luffy destroys his opponent and moves on.

I think one of my favorite unexpected surprises were the giant guards at the gates of Enies Lobby.  The Sniper King sorts their sadness out after their defeat and actually recruits them to fight on the pirate side (to be honest, I can’t call them “the good guys” since, in theory, the Marines are the good guys.  Technically, I suppose, only CP9 are really bad in this situation).  I loved the callback to the earlier story.  It’s all connected, in the end.

It also tickled me greatly that Spandam has a pet elephant named “Funkfreed.”  He’s appeared once or twice before, but he gets me every time.  That name.  It’s so perfect.  I want the Straw Hats to take Funkfreed with them.

I’m still anxiously awaiting the Buster Call and Robin’s backstory, which I’m sure will come sometime soon.  Enies Lobby is good stuff.  I’m not sure if I like it more than the Skypiea arc yet or not, but it’s up there.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.

One Piece 39

Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 57+ volumes

I still can’t get over how ridiculously pumped I get after reading nearly every volume of this series.  The end of this volume has the crew pulling into Enies Lobby and Luffy going in solo ahead of everyone else on the Rocketman.  He does well, and completely wipes out all Marines in his way.  By himself.  And he has a really good time doing it.  Not in a psychotic way, just… you know, like he’s playing a game.  That’s why Luffy’s the best.

There was plenty of action, with the entire fight scene on the train between the Marines and Sanji, Franky, and the Sniper King taking up most of the volume.  There were periodic check-ins for the Rocketman, too, although not much action on their end.  I had a brief hope that the really noble Marine that got cut loose last time would get a second chance at a serious fight, but it was not to be.

The fight between Sanji and his cook-like opponent gets quite serious, and Sanji uses fighting styles that he would never, ever consider using under most circumstances.  That was probably the most interesting thing about this volume.  That, and the tidbit revealed about Robin’s past that lets us know why she still doesn’t want to go with the Straw Hats, even knowing that they’ve gone to such trouble to get her back.

The comedy tidbits are still making their way through, meaning the real battle isn’t quite underway.  There was a reader letter about whether or not Nami wore a strapless bra or no bra that made me laugh, for instance, and a great scene where the Rocketman catches up to the Sniper King and absolutely everyone on board knows what’s going on except for Chopper and Luffy, who take Usopp’s carefully crafted story as gospel.  That seems to be best for all three of them, really.

But mostly this volume left me, as per usual, absolutely needing to pick up the next.  Ending on that Luffy note really leaves me wanting more, and I know beyond any doubt that the Buster Call will have to come in at some point.  I cannot wait.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.

One Piece 38

Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 57+ volumes

There’s really only one thing I have to say about this volume: My name is Sniper King. Oh yeah.  Things are getting started now.

But that’s not until the last page.  Plenty happens before then.  We find out the true story behind what happens to Robin from Iceburg, and in a manic city-wide chase for Zoro and Luffy, the Straw Hats wind up missing the last Puffing Tom before the Aqua Laguna high tide, and thus let a train full of government officials leave with Robin and others.  This does not stop them, of couse.  Very little does.

Enies Lobby is introduced in this book, as part of a three-way government… system consisting of Enies Lobby, where a criminal is judged (or not judged, it’s implied a criminal taken there is guilty and doesn’t need to be judged), and from there they pass through the Gates of Justice to go one of two places: Impel Down, a notorious prison, and the Marine Headquarters.  Both… uh, come up later.  Enies Lobby comes up sooner.  We also learn a little bit about the Buster Call, something else that comes up later.

Most of this volume is exposition, honestly, and it seems like more action will get underway once the Straw Hats catch up to the Puffing Tom, the agents on board, and most importantly, the CP9 crew.  There are a few hilarious characters introduced on the train in this volume, including a kind-hearted captain with a really terrifying face.

I am still ridiculously excited to be reading this series.  Seriously, every volume is a joy to read.  I’m so happy to see that the speed-up is getting so many more people to discover how amazing this series is.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.