Wano arc has ended honest to goodness I swear, roughly two dozen or so times at this point but with episode 1080 it's really done this time. Honest. Cross my heart.
Yes, we get our much-needed celebration feast and bounty updates. These sequences are the balm to any weary One Piece soul, especially after a long arc of world-shaking battles. No matter how you feel about what happened in the latest arc or what may lie ahead for our heroes, it's always refreshing to see them break bread, make merry, and spend time with one another.
The Wano celebration arc is a nice mix of solo stories and group tales. Rather than have everyone gathered around the same big bonfire and eating a hearty meal, we get a selection of smaller vignettes with the crew having fun. Jimbei gets a righteous feast all on his own, Zoro and Sanji are off drinking and eating, and the various members of the ninja-mink-pirate-samurai alliance partake in the party.
Within these events, we have the most joyous and the most ominous as well. For the joyful part, Luffy, Chopper, and Yamato run around eating fun festival foods and playing silly carnival games. Yamato's genuine mirth at this new experience and Luffy just rubber-punching the pop gun into the targets both gave me a big silly grin. Robin's scene with the Kozuki elder was scientifically the best scene because Robin full of ominous reveals that keep us on the edge of our seats. We still don't know what these weapons are, but it's clear why Robin is still sought after by the World Government for more than just her association with Luffy.
The return of the Navy and World Government as a serious villain also helps here. They were present in Wano but did not play much of a role compared to the awesome power of Kaido and Big Mom. With the arrival of a new deadly admiral and an update to not only bounty totals but the christening of the four new Emperors - our beloved sunshine lad Luffy among them - it's a recalibration of the gravity of the setting. The powers that be are very aware of the Mugiwara's exploits, and they won't let him run roughshod for much longer.
Rating:
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