Gonna just go ahead and finish this now, since interest seems to be lacking. Episode 60 Those Who Soar In The Open Skies! Revival Of The 1000 Year Legend Ryuuji is dying. Everyone is going “oh noes” about it except Zoro and Sanji, whose “oh noes” are because Luffy is on a sinking dragon and can’t swim. I like them.
Nice catch, Luffy.
Oho, Luffy’s mad now. Stupid Nelson. Though his speech is not very good. And I don’t recall him being that big on giving pep-talks. But somebody has to convey what Ryuuji’s thinking, so Luffy gets to be exposition whore.
Someone finally tied up the brat, but poor Usopp…
Ugh, bad animation of Usopp here. I haven’t noticed the animation as good, bad, indifferent for most of this arc, but Usopp just looks so bad here…
Nice job splitting the ship.
Very cool, a once-in-1000-years event, and they’re there to see it.
Bleh, more Apis. She’s all sad and mad. Get over it, kid. The dragon died happy.
Erik’s back, and posing like a runway model.
Overall score: 5 out of 10
High points – Luffy sinks the ship! The dragon flight!
Low points – Apis, what else? And the need for so much talky exposition is a big flaw in the storytelling.
Episode 61 Angry Finale! Cross The Red Line! (Half filler)
Nastybad Erik, gonna kill the dwagons.
Awww, Usopp, you saved her! Why?
Luffy spanks Erik. Very nice, but I’d prefer Zoro to have done it.
Ooo! Ooo! Whatshisname! The carpenter dude!
OMG, Luffy asking Apis to join. No. Just….no.
And FINALLY they leave. Hallelujah.
Blah, blah, blah, Apis, will you shut up and let us get back to the story now?
Gramps has the right idea, falling asleep during her speech.
Bah, one last gasp, Erik threatening the crew. Why are they afraid of this poser? Nami takes care of him, tho!
And yes, bye bye, Apis, Erik, and the rest!
Overall score: 6 out of 10
High points – IT’S OVER! The second half of the episode rocks mightily.
Low points – The agony of waiting for Apis to finish speaking. Luffy asking Apis along.
In Conclusion:
My memory was correct. It wasn’t that bad. But having seen a lot more of the show since then, I can certainly see why Apis is so reviled by fans of the series.
I think anyone watching One Piece for the first time, with no spoilers, will find this to be a creditable, if somewhat dull, arc. It has several great moments, and the ending with the dragon flight is beautiful. Apis is a fairly generic anime child who has been shoehorned into the extraordinary world that Oda created. If you put her in a different show, one more tailored to enthusiastic if crackbrained children, she’d be fine.
However, if you’re familiar with One Piece post East Blue saga, you will find parts of this arc to be almost physically painful, and almost all of those parts involve Apis. The crew is often out of character when interacting with her, and her total insipidness as compared to an Oda-created character is nauseating. You keep expecting the Strawhats to act in a manner consistent with what we’ve picked up over the last few years, and when they don’t, it causes righteous fury with the little girl who is the center of the wrongness.
Overall, I think this could have been a not-too-bad filler if they had tossed out Apis and rewrote it slightly so the Strawhats got involved on their own.