One Piece Anime, Wano Arc: Episodes 1072-1073

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This is another pair of episodes centering around Gear Fifth. We're in the home stretch as we wrap up the Wano arc!

Episode 1072:

• Yeah, I wasn't the most impressed with the first outing of Gear Fifth, despite all of the promotion leading up to it, but 1072 is basically where all the best parts are. Admittedly, it's also still a bit too wildly-moving for me that I have to sometimes rewind scenes to see what the fuck is going on. And... it really did hurt my head a bit sometimes to see how wildly things move around in these episodes. It is definitely a unique effect, but part of me really wished they had just gone all-in with the rubber-hose animation and that's it. 
• 
  Anyway, we start off with Kaido muttering about Paramecia awakenings, specifically giving the readers brief flashes of Doflamingo and Katakuri and how their respective awakenings unraveled their surroundings into their Paramecia elements. And the subsequent comparison with Zoans with Kaido's own crew is pretty damn cool!
• We get another mukimukiiii scene as Luffy tries to strongman his way out of Kaido's jaw. 
• The true ridiculousness of Gear Fifth is exemplified a bit more now, with the sequence of Luffy being swallowed extended a fair bit as Luffy bounces around Kaido's gullet and we get to see Luffy just punching and making indentations of his fists, feet and even face poking out of Kaido's belly. 
• Kaido being disrespected as Luffy expands into a balloon inside of his own body, causing him to struggle and bounce all over the place, is also extended a fair bit with all the comical sound effects and the hilarious visual image of Kaido wiggling his tiny dragon arms. 
• It's understated considering how much epicness and silliness is going on, but Kaido getting pissed off and yelling at Luffy -- almost desperately -- to "take this fight seriously!" echoes what Kaido really wants, and to that end Luffy's Gear Fifth that turns everything into a cartoon joke is probably a pretty huge insult to Kaido's barbaric might-makes-right nature. Kinda wished that we highlighted that a bit more.
• 
  Heh, Yamato. "...did he ever have a form like that?"
  
• There's then the sequence with Luffy seeing two bright lights that are Kaido's eyeballs, then stretching his hands through the eyeballs and extending them to open Kaido's mouth to facilitate his Gomu Gomu Escape Rocket. God, the absolute disrespect of this, and it looks even more uncomfortable and wacky in the anime, particularly with the visuals of Kaido's serpentine body expanding and coiling as the gigantic balloon moves up out of his mouth. 
• ...and then the fluid animation comes back, with Momonosuke and Yamato arriving to see the skies with Kaido coiling around... and then the thunderbolts start to illuminate the silhouette of Luffy in the background. Luffy's transformation into Gomu Gomu no Gigant is particularly smooth-looking, and I really do love the shot of him bursting out of the clouds.
  
• And the Gigant fight between giant Luffy against Kaido is extended a fair bit more, and I think Kaido's pretty happy that he gets at least a serious fight out of this as he coils up to fight a giant rubber-man the size of himself. We get a bit more struggling and biting before Luffy, of course, goes all jump-rope with him. 
  
• 
  I'm actually not the biggest fan of the jump-rope animation because it's a bit too... speedy? It looks more like Luffy's just spinning Kaido around without actually jump-roping mid-air, which I thought was kind of important for this scene. 
• Jump-rope Kaido and Luffy falling down back towards Onigashima is animated like a goddamn meteor crashing down onto the planet, though, which is cool. 
• And, of course, Kaido shoots off a Blast Breath mid-fall, consuming Luffy and sending him rocketing across the sky and we get a great tracking shot from Yamato's POV on the ground as a gigantic fire-blast shoots and paints the sky red.
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  And Luffy, of course, just gets turned black by the Blast Breath, shakes off the charcoal, spins his legs mid-air and runs on the air all the way back to Onigashima. 
• We then cut to a slightly more extended scene between Kid and Law, who are still fighting and noting that all of their survival does hinge on Straw Hat winning the battle, with Kid being pissed at Law for actually still having enough energy to fight. The two of them actually fight back-to-back, with Kid doing one of those "I look like I'm about to attack you, but I'm attacking the bad guys behind you" sequence.
• Hyogoro, and later Nami and Tama, also get a brief 'we root for Luffy' scene.
• And then time for another clash as the animation goes wacky, Luffy spins around and charges some kind of Red Roc or something... and Kaido gets a great shot as he leaps into the air, surrounded by purple lightning, as he unleashes Conqueror of Three Worlds: Ragnaraku. There's a particularly great shot of him surrounded by lightning, and later on blitzing straight to slam right onto Gigant Luffy's face. 
• And then we get Gigant Luffy's face bursting through the ceiling with his eyes popping out, causing shocked reactions from everyone... and I really did wish that the sound effect for this sequence was a bit more exaggerated? Particularly when Kid and Law joins in with the Looney Tunes eyes-popping. 
  
• Kaido knows what a comic strip is? I guess he's aware of the world outside of Wano. 
• 
  Luffy briefly depowering out of Gear Fifth is given a unique twist in the anime where he reverts back to his regular colours, but they're washed out -- is this a sign that he's not fully out of Gear Fifth, and why he could go back to it easily afterwards?
  
• Another great exchange that's lost in all the madness. Kaido thinks he's doing Luffy a favour, by immortalizing him in legends and myths of this amazing tale of a mythical battle... but Luffy doesn't want any of that.
• And Luffy remembers Momo, Tama, Kin'emon and Pedro... and Luffy charges up like a goddamn Super Saiyan. 
• 
  Kaido notes that Luffy's going to die doing this, and Luffy's response is the very Will of D-esque "do you think I'm afraid of that?" 
  
• This is a very over-the-top transformation sequence, but it's a bit more conventionally badass, and I absolutely love the shot of the ground and rubble around Luffy's fist rumbling as he activates Gear Fifth once more.
• There's a very well-animated sequence using colours and sound effect and I do think the aura and lines around Luffy rippling as he yells "beat, heartbeat!" and does that gigantic clap that sends a wave of rubberization across the battlefield... okay, that is a great usage of this over-the-top animation style. 
  
• And we get even more Gear Fifth stuff as Luffy runs around and churns the ground behind him, and then takes a hit from Kaido's kanabo so hard that his face is left as an impression on the spikes of the club. This is where the animation kind of lost me as everything kind of flows into action blurs while Luffy runs around and Kaido chases him and clubs him into the ground with the black lightning Haki, 
• 
  There is a cool sequence where Luffy grabs a literal chunk of the rubberized ground and slams it down on Kaido, but there's a lot of things going on with the moving effects and whatnot that this is another part of the episode that I felt could've done better either slowed down or with a tighter focus. And I don't really like talking poorly of the animation because I did enjoy the episode, but I did feel like this part of the episode was a bit too much. The action doesn't really quite get clear until Luffy starts ping-ponging around the earth pillars like Mario or something. 
• And then Luffy punches through Kaido's head, rubberifying Kaido's head and sending his fist pushing through Kaido's head like a glove. With the animation, this was a bit more clear that it's a comedic moment instead of a brutal moment. 
• I also really like that this nonsense is what Luffy finds fun, when previously both Luffy and Kaido are enjoying the fight but it's now very one-sidedly Luffy. 
• And, of course, without any kind of possession plot or whatever, Kaido demands to know who Luffy is, Zunesha thinks about how this is 'just like Joyboy'... but Monkey D. Luffy refuses to bow to any of those labels and says that he's Monkey D. Luffy, the man who'll become the goddamned King of the Pirates, all the while he's wreathed by light. Cool shot! 

Episode 1073:

• After all the Gear Fifth madness, we get a bit of a breather with this one, which... is basically the same thing that happened in the manga. 
• Luffy bouncing up and down is getting a bit annoying, though it could just be the reused sound effects.
• Yeaaaaah, actually flashing back to events from two episodes ago in a montage when Kaido goes 'how ridiculous is your power' is really not a good look. Flashing back immediately afterwards to Jack, Queen and King's defeats is also kind of a bit too much, especially since the Queen/King takedowns have some dialogue replayed instead of just showing the moments of their defeat. 
• 
  We get Kaido unleashing the first Kundali Ryuseigun, which... isn't the most impressive animation. Luffy spinning around and going full Tazmanian Devil launching fists out at Kaido is a lot more fun and it's way more appropriate for this chaotic animation -- mostly because despite its hecticness, I can still follow this action sequence. 
• I do really like that Luffy's just entirely so cocksure that his crewmates would be able to handle the entire island/castle catching fire. It really doesn't quite come up as much as it should, but I really do love it when Luffy just leaves things for his friends to handle, trusting that they'll find a way just as he's going to find a way to beat the big bad guy.
• ...it does kind of is a funny sequence, going from Luffy's badass eyeball glaring at Kaido to him spinning his legs Looney-Tunes style. 
• Kaido's getting annoyed at Luffy's laughter, and we get the hilarious sequence where Luffy pulls his body up by the crotch to avoid a Demolition Gust. "It almost hit my crotch!"
• At around the 9 minute mark, Luffy jumps into the skies, having an idea with the thunderbolts, and we cut back to basically just seeing everyone panic at the burning Onigashima. 
• I do like the little detail of Chopper asking Zeus to try and put out the fire, which he's not strong enough to do. 
• I also really like the little deadpan joke of Robin telling Brook "yes, I don't want to end up like you" when they are discussing being burnt alive. 
• We do really just check in with everyone, even Apoo and Inbi. I do like that Usopp and Hamlet's little comedy routine with Usopp summoning a little 'Sprinkler' flower that immediately catches on fire is extended a bit. 
• Hamlet goes "please include me in the list of people you want to save!"
• 
  And, yeah, this is Raizo's big moment, as he and Jinbei find each other and find a way to put out the flames. 
• While the Fukurokuju fight isn't quite as extended the way I wanted it to, I do appreciate them giving Raizo a longer monologue as he thinks about how helpless he was when Oden's castle burnt down and he wasn't able to save anyone, which is why he developed a countermeasure towards fire in general. 
• With his fight against Fukurokuju also revolving around withstanding being set on fire, you really get the impression that Raizo is truly trying to resolve his trauma against flames and basically find all kinds of countermeasures against flame. 
  
  
• Ninpo! Maki Maki no Jutsu! Zou no Mizuobi! NIN NIN NIN! HOKAN!
• Okay, yeah, you just know some of the SMILE users probably drowned in that flood. 
• And with the whole water flooding sequence done, the episode ends with the epic cliffhanger of the chapter this episode is based on, with the badass and amazingly animated sequence of Luffy grabbing lightning like a javelin and about to lob it at Kaido!