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ONE PIECE #598 - - Special Review
So… the joke is supposed to be that this ‘Vergo’ has an actual
mutton chop hanging in front of his ear, right?
I’d ask if this was a character Oda came up with while rushing out of
the office late on a Friday, but we all know that the notion of ‘office hours’ is wholly
irrelevant to this guy. Instead, I might ask if Oda might as well be fail-proof
in the eyes of his audience at this point. He can just pull anything out of his
butt and expect it to be eaten right up on the strength of this staggering body of
work behind him.
I’m sorry, but Vergo looks stupid. Not comical, not silly, not
ridiculous - - stupid. Especially when the opening quarter of this
episode casts him in moody shadows and accompanies him with ominous music to put
him over as this heel that Law’s so terrified of. That barely worked with Buggy and it… just… doesn’t work here at all.
The episode was fun, otherwise. More of an intermediary step as we get
further through this arc - - but that’s fine. Seeing our samurai finally reassemble himself actually managed some catharsis,
and that’s honestly a little surprising given how he hasn’t ever that endearing
this whole time. Hell, even when Sanji/Nami calls him out for being an ass (in
more ways than one - - ay-oh!), you’re still holding out for the guy to get
a little redemption after the countless humiliations he’s been through.
What amuses me the most, though, is how Smiley and his ‘Slimers’ feel
like bad guys that’ve hopped straight out of a Super-Nintendo platformer.
Especially the way that Smiley keeps spitting out these little critters, and
how they keep smooshing together every time the Straw Hats slice into them. I
was half-expecting Brook to hop over and collect a hundred rings for an extra
life.
Watch this episode, "A Samurai Who Can Cut Fire! Foxfire Kin'emon!” here and decide
for yourself, then read my comments about the previous episode here.
About the Author
 | 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 |
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