One Piece (Dub) Episode 821
Brook's situation aside, this episode is probably the most positive development our heroes have gotten in a while. Just when things are starting to get hairy in Pedro's fight with Count Niwatori, the jaguar uses his trademark move (excessive amounts of dynamite) as a distraction to make his getaway, allowing Chopper and Carrot to pull him into the safe haven they've created in Brulee's mirror world. So that's three members of Team Straw Hat together, and then later they catch Nami and Jimbei running through the halls, bringing the gang up to five. Making the mirror world the meeting point for our main characters does a lot to pay off the endless padding we've spent on Carrot and Chopper's shenanigans up until now. Also, the sparkly shojo fanart that Carrot draws so that the sentient mirrors can locate their friends just makes me fall for her even harder. What a good bun.
One Piece (Dub) Episode 821
The most mixed aspect of this episode is the amount of time spent on Luffy's dash through the Whole Cake Chateau looking for Sanji. It's probably the most well-animated portion of the episode, as Luffy picks fights with every enemy pirate that steps into his path, but it faces all the same padding challenges that we've come to sigh at. There's a lot that I like in this episode, but the story flow is very stiff as a result of drawn-out action that would have worked best zipping right past you.
After an arc of ups and downs, it feels good to see the moving pieces start falling into place and for the real story to reveal itself. It's important that once Luffy and Sanji meet, there aren't any baggage or excuses for them not to be completely honest with each other, in direct contrast to what was going on in their fight where Sanji had to lie in order to appease his family. We're moving into the next big turning point of the Whole Cake Island arc, where clarity becomes one of the story's biggest strengths, and seeing things tidy up this elegantly goes a long way toward setting up that strong sense of focus. 041b061a72