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One Piece
Episode 1004

by Grant Jones,

How would you rate episode 1004 of
One Piece (TV 1999) ?
Community score: 4.7

One Piece, baby. Watch it – that's it.

…

…

…okay I guess I can try and do a proper review.

We get lots of good character bits with Yamato, Shinobu, and Momonosuke in the early portion of the episode. A few comedy beats also gave me a nice chuckle.

But this episode is well and truly the Akazaya Nine show, and WOW what a spectacle it is. I find myself once again running off a laundry list of gorgeous cuts and artful framing. Our first hint of the great stuff to come is Black Maria playing the shamisen. While she plays, we get snapshots of each of the Akazaya Nine through a series of close-ups where their faces are overlaid midnight blue, then a single moon-shaped light frames one eye. Black Maria's intense playing eventually makes one of the shamisen strings snap, and with it, the tension ratchets up.

The battle between Kaido and the Akazaya Nine is the stuff of legend. Each of the team members gets a gratuitous action shot launching powerful and over-the-top attacks at Kaido. Even Kaido's repeated mega-blasts get lavishly done up by the Toei team with colorful screen-rocking explosions that look like a crayola factory got hit with a missile. And the heart, the pathos in it all – it's just so good. Kinemon running and weeping, only to turn into cherry blossoms, then those blossoms are tossed on the wind until they become his sword, which he then reforms and takes in his grasp.

It's *chef's kiss* beautiful stuff, a testament to the power of moving pictures.

I think what this episode really hammered home for me is what at first felt like heresy: I think the anime is the best way to experience Wano. I've been a manga-first guy from the get-go, but this arc is simply so well done so consistently, with such high highs to boot, it's unreal. Never stop reading the manga – I know I won't – but if you're not watching Wano, you're truly missing out.



Rating:


Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

One Piece is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.com. Save on Anime Streaming Subscriptions with Funimation.

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