One Piece Diaries #58: Impel Down Arc #2

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 be updated biweekly every other Thursday.

Episodes Watched: 432 – 438

Hopefully, this won’t be too incoherent – I’m just getting over COVID. But as unpleasant as that was, it wasn’t as bad as what the prisoners at Impel Down are experiencing.

These episodes added more detail to the terrible conditions. In addition to the levels that are basically on fire, there’s also a level that’s so cold that prisoners risk literally freezing to death. This is played for laughs when it comes to Buggy and Mr. 3 – their whole bodies were encased in ice multiple times, something that would normally kill someone who endured it once. But it’s not always a joke – it’s clearly shown that many prisoners have actually died this way.

That was harrowing, but I did find Buggy and Mr. 3’s friendship to be pretty amusing. Both of them present as totally selfish and willing to betray anyone in an instant in order to escape. But they’re still working together and helping each other. It’s funny, even if ultimately it’s probably not going to result in a major change on either of their parts.

The other big thing that happened during this set of episodes was Luffy’s showdown with Magellan. It’s always interesting to see Luffy completely out of his depth. At this point, I think he’s more or less used to being injured as long as it’s not too serious, but the effects of poison aren’t within his realm of experience.

He spent most of the battle barely able to muster any sort of attack because he was too busy sneezing and coughing and choking. This was relatable given that I was watching the series while sick in bed with COVID, but it would have been interesting even if it weren’t because it involves Luffy dealing with something new and frightening that he doesn’t yet know how to handle. It’ll be cool to see how he’ll ultimately defeat Magellan.

But that won’t even be a possibility if not for Bon Clay.

Truly, he’s been the highlight of this set of episodes. I love that even in prison, he still hangs onto his aesthetic and personality as best as he can. How is he getting makeup in Impel Down? I don’t know, but it’s awesome that he is. How does he find the energy to constantly twirl around? I don’t know, but it’s awesome.

But he goes beyond aesthetics here. He has a real crisis of conscience involving Luffy. He desperately wants to help him fight Magellan, but he knows that if he tries, he’ll be killed pretty much instantly. He’s right – if even Luffy, who is much stronger than Bon Clay, can’t handle Magellan, there is no way that Bon Clay could. Running away is the only option he has if he means to survive. If Luffy had been able to pay attention he probably would have wanted Bon Clay to escape.

Still, he feels terrible about not being able to help his friend. He decides to make up for it by getting the severely injured and poisoned Luffy to safety in the only way he knows how – seeking out the legendary queer, Emporio Ivankov. (As an aside, I’m glad that the official subtitles use the word queer. I don’t know if it’s OK for me to use the term ‘okama’ since I’m not Japanese and don’t know all the nuances, but I do know the nuances of the word queer and I personally identify with the term, so I’m happy to use it.)

I love how hard he works to try and help Luffy, even though he’s exhausted and freezing himself. And I love that he manages to find Level 4.5. Since it was just introduced in the last episode I watched, I’ll talk more about that in the next review.

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