One Piece Diaries #57: Impel Down Arc #1

One Piece is one of the most beloved anime in history, but at over 1,000 episodes, it’s tough for those who haven’t been watching from the start to jump on board. One Piece Diaries tracks one writer’s experience with this daunting rite of passage. With hype for the highs and critique for the lows, this column will help you decide whether to take your own One Piece journey – or let you relive the one you’re already on. It will update biweekly every other Thursday.

Episodes Watched: 422 – 425, 430 – 431

I’m back! Sorry about the impromptu break. I thought I was going to have time to update before I went on vacation, but in the chaos of wrapping up the summer school classes I was teaching and trying to figure out my packing situation for hiking in Portugal, it just didn’t happen. Now that I’m back in good old NYC, it’s time to focus once again on One Piece – specifically, the Impel Down arc.

One thing I need to get out of the way – Buggy got hot. I was not even remotely expecting that. It’s not that anime clowns can’t be hot – you’ve all seen Hisoka from Hunter x Hunter – but Buggy didn’t seem like he had much potential. But damn, he looks smoking with long hair! He’s still an idiot – that didn’t change – but at least I enjoy looking at him now. Is part of why I’m saying this the fact that every other line in the first few episodes is about how hot Hancock is and I’m tired of it? Maybe. But it’s also true.

Anyway, to the actual story. With help from Hancock, Luffy has infiltrated the notorious Impel Down Prison in order to rescue his brother Ace, who is being held there awaiting execution.

I’ve been looking forward to meeting Magellan because I’m a weirdo who vibes with poison powers. I find it hilarious that despite being made of poison, he’s somehow able to eat so much poison that he gives himself diarrhoea ten hours a day. Yes, that’s juvenile and gross, but it’s also so bizarre that it’s still funny.

Another bit of humor that worked for me was the Sphynx. Hearing this silly lion dude yell out the names of various noodles not only made me desperately wish I were near a hand-pulled noodle shop, but also just made me laugh. Sometimes this sort of joke doesn’t land, but juxtaposed with the absolute grimness of the prison, it worked.

Grim is an understatement. The prison is laid out across multiple floors, calling to mind the layers of Hell. Conditions are barely survivable – on some floors, it’s so hot that most people would die of dehydration or heat stroke within a few days. On one floor they aren’t given food. Some of this is played for laughs, but considering that one of the main themes of the series is the unjust nature of government and law enforcement, it’s also pretty serious.

Just seeing Ace sitting on the prison floor with his arms strung up on top of him in handcuffs was enough to drive home the seriousness of the issue.

I know a little bit about what’s going to happen from here, and there are things that I’m dreading and things that I’m looking forward to. But I don’t know how most of it hangs together. What I know for certain is that the next episode involves Bon Clay, who I think is delightful. So no matter how dark things get, at least there’s that.

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