Friday 22 March 2019

One Piece 937 Review: Three Scythe Style

One Piece, Chapter 937: Gyukimaru on Oihagi Bridge


Honestly, not the most exciting chapter. We basically have dual foreshadowings about O-Shikuro, the sort of sweet that Big Mom really, really wants to eat, and by sheer plot contrivance, is also something Queen has in adequate supply in prison as he is binge-eating those. It's honestly just such a flat, flat revelation that isn't even energetic-and-funny the way some similar One Piece comedic twists would be handled. Luffy is continuing to beat the shit out of random mooks, before we cut to the main body of the chapter, which is Zoro fighting against Gyukimaru, the "highway robber warrior monk" with a daruma face.

It's... it's an all right confrontation, even if I'm hard-pressed to really say anything particularly interesting about this. It's mostly just a recap of Ryouma and Shusui's backstory, as well as the whole misunderstanding between Zoro's claim that he met the body/soul of Ryouma waaaay back in Thriller Bark. We get some fun little foreshadowings to Wano being a country of gold, and how Shusui became a black blade after battles with Ryouma, but none of this really end up mattering, because some lady (I legit can't tell if she's someone I'm supposed to recognize) and O-Toko show up, being chased by a bounty-hunter-assassin dude with bandages all over his face called Kamazou.

And Zoro basically has to deal with two enemies at once, first with Kamazou, who's trying to murder the innocent woman and child, and Gyukimaru, who's really intent on exploiting any opening in battle to stab Zoro from behind. The scene is all right, and considering how truncated so many of the battles in Wano-kuni has been (see: Page One; Hawkins; Kaidou), it's actually neat to see the battle being set up and some fun little slashy-slash between Zoro, Kamazou and Gyukimaru. Granted, it's mostly just Zoro fighting Kamazou and Gyukimaru interrupting every now and then, but then Zoro makes use of the scythe that gets stuck on his own shoulder to finally get into a Santoryu position and unleash a Rengoku Onigiri attack to beat down Kamazou, presumably taking out one of the two enemies. 

It's... it's pretty solid and cool, I guess? The Zoro stuff still feels pretty detached from everything that's going on with the prison and the political situation of Wano, but I do definitely enjoy this little spotlight we're shining on Zoro. A solid, if simple, chapter. 

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