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One Piece
Episode 1059

by Grant Jones,

How would you rate episode 1059 of
One Piece (TV 1999) ?
Community score: 3.9

op1059.png
© Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation

One Piece Episode 1059 maintains the various plots and setups from the previous week with solid energy but not much substance to work with.

Onigashima continues to fall, Yamato keeps running, and Zoro continues to fight King.

While that summary might be a bit reductive, it's not entirely unfair. But there isn't that much more happening this week, which is a shame. In the past, I have defended the "connective tissue" episodes of Wano that help keep us up to speed with all the various happenings in this arc. The problem is that there have been so many at this point that even the expected, necessary pauses to give events the appropriate time to breathe end up compounding on one another until the arc just starts to feel truly endless.

There are many little moments in the episode, but none have a significant impact. Yamato runs, Momonosuke makes clouds appear, C0 agents show up, and Apoo does some jabbering, among other things. There are too many side events to be satisfying individually. It's like a sampler platter of dishes you've already had in previous samplers.

The Zoro versus King fight is the main draw of the episode and stronger overall. There are a few big strikes delivered and excellent effects, particularly on Zoro's attacks. There are some great lighting effects on King as well, though he doesn't shine quite as much as he did in the previous episode with the head attack. However, much of the runtime is dedicated to flashbacks for Zoro, which is where the episode (and the manga) stumbles somewhat. While Zoro is a compelling present-tense and future-tense character, he doesn't have a rich backstory or deep emotional wells to pull from. The flashbacks to his youth didn't do much for me the first time around, and on rewatch, they have the same level of impact. It's nice to see the modern Toei team take on the bit where Zoro purchases the sword, but it's also hard not to compare the modern style to the prior one and feel like something has been lost along the way.

Don't get me wrong, though. While the modern production is terrific, and hits more consistent highs for longer stretches, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the older style could sell certain moments and character expressions in a way the modern style is too clean to express. East Blue Zoro looked like the gremlin who would buy a sword you told him was cursed and throw it in the air while risking his arm. Modern Zoro doesn't have the same chaotic goblin energy, so the modern style ends up looking worse by comparison.

Here's hoping next week will get us moving again.

Rating:


Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

One Piece is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.com.

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