Anime Reviews: One Piece Episode 520 – Big Guns Assembled! The Danger of the Fake Strawhats!

Introduction
Things start to pick up, as most of the crew find their way together, and the episode ends with a proper sense of progression.

Plot Summary
The pirate captain, Caribou, stabs a marine soldier that was spying on the gathering captains. His design and personality come across as very Joker, which does nothing to make him any less creepy.

The marines break into Brook’s concert, and out Brook as a pirate. The scene shifts to Nami, Usopp and Chopper getting to the ship. Usopp and Chopper fanboy over Franky’s new design and features. To the joy of all.

Brook plays the last piece in his concert, which turns into a full musical segment, before escaping on a flying fish. Luffy is taken to the fakes, while Rayleigh and Shakky tell the rest of the crew about the marines mobilizing. The crew gets ready to set off, ending the episode with a proper feeling of progression.

My Opinion
I know Oda prefers comedic scenes over excessively emotional scenes, and I respect him for that. The problem is, that I have a hard time believing that these are friends reuniting after two years apart. I’ve been getting too much of a “Hey, how you been?” vibe, rather than the “I haven’t seen you in two years, this is so wonderful!” vibe that I would expect. We’ll get into this more when the whole crew gets together, but so far I feel like this isn’t quite the reunion I would have hoped for after all the characters being away for so long.

As readers we have been separated from them for just as long as the characters were, and it just doesn’t feel right that the reunion isn’t more meaningful.

Not that I didn’t love the scenes with Franky. He’s like a little kid showing off his new toys. I can honestly say that Franky is one of the best parts of this series, bar none. Would the story be as good if Franky had never joined? I for one feel confident in saying, No. No it would not.

If you liked my review, Watch the Episode Here!

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