Undoubtedly, One Piece is currently the best shonen manga to exist. One Piece is considered a rampage release that took over the Japanese animation and manga industry with its storyline, art, and uniqueness. Almost everyone knows about or has heard about One Piece once from the anime community; it has one of the biggest fanbases to exist.
With bold characters and a colorful but erratic theme, One Piece brings in humor, joy, and action woven together to deliver a great watch or read for the audience. Being one of the longest anime to release and still ongoing, One Piece has vast lore with great progress and very little room for boredom. Here, I shall discuss the pros and cons I found when watching Episode 1054 of One Piece. So, tune in and learn about the amazing plotline and action scenes!
About One Piece Manga and Anime
Written and illustrated by the author Eiichiro Oda, One Piece tells the story of the primary protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, and his journey to becoming the Pirate King. The manga started serializing in Shonen Jump in 1997 and has been released in 105 different volumes. Its adaptation into a festival film by Production I.G and an anime series by Toei Animation, which debuted in 1999, led to the creation of a media franchise. 13 television specials, one original video animation, and 14 animated feature films have all been created by Toei.
Upon release, One Piece received many positive critics for its world-building, character development, story arc, and humor in the shonen genre. The manga holds the Guinness World record for the most copies of manga published for a single story by the same author. Apart from this, the manga is known to have broken several records and volume prints that have exceeded over 3 million copies sold.
One Piece was the best-selling comic book series printed in book volume and the best-selling manga series in history, with over 516.6 million copies in circulation across 61 nations and territories. Also, it is among the most successful media franchises ever, with over 1000 released episodes.
Synopsis of One Piece Anime
Adapted from the original manga, the animated version tells us the story of Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate who ventures out on a journey to find One Piece and become the Pirate King as inspired by his idol, Red-haired Shanks. On his extended journey, he inherits the power of rubber that allows him to stretch his limbs and arms after eating the Devil Fruit.
Along his ventures, he comes across a Pirate hunter, Zoro, who is depicted as a strong man with green hair and wields three swords, and Nami, who is an expert robber who ends up joining the duo only for the treasure and what comes with it. The trio becomes a great team and embarks on the long run of finding the mythical One Piece and comes across various adventures, villains, and other pirates.
They travel the Grand Line in pursuit of the Laugh Tale island, which is where the “One Piece” is hidden. Luffy wants to become a legend and write his legendary saga with the help of his crew. Throughout the entirety, many more characters join them, including Ussop, Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, and many more, which becomes a legendary journey in pursuit of a legendary treasure.
Recap Of Episode 1054
Episode 1054 is based on the 1029th chapter of One Piece named “Two Towers”. The episode unfolds with the brawl between Killer and Hawkins. Although it seems that the fight does not favor Killer, he still does his best to overpower Hawkins, who seems to be dodging every attack due to his Devil fruit abilities. It seemed that every attack that landed on Hawkins ended up hurting Kid.
Although Killer’s captains come to his assistance, Killer chooses not to attack Hawkins. Thus, Hawkins decides to hurt Kid directly by repeatedly banging his skull against a wall. Due to his conflict with Big Mom, Kid is particularly hurt when the injury is aimed at his head. Killer’s declaration that Kid will succeed him as the Pirate King incenses Hawkins, who then brutally beats Killer.
What comes next is Killer swiftly disarming Hawkin’s left arm as he knows well that Kid will not be affected due to the lack of his left arm. This saves Kid while making Hawkins simultaneously lose his left arm that holds the straw dolls which control Kid. Killer takes it out and destroys it, which saves Kid from Hawkins.
The episode continues with Hawkin drawing his final cards, the first being the Death card which summons a humongous straw monster. Killer swiftly takes the monster down using his Zanshu Claw technique that fuels Hawkins to draw his second card, which to his demise, was the Tower card. Killer then ends Hawkin with one strike of his Gin Sonic, and it marks his victory in episode 1054.
Thoughts and Views on One Piece Episode 1054
Episode 1054 did quite a great justice to all the characters involved that mainly focusing on Killer, Big Mom, Kid, and Hawkins. Just like manga, the anime does a great job of mixing both a great character arc the story building. The episode mainly focuses on the fight between Hawkins and Killer and Big Mom and Kid.
There are minor details in this episode that pitch in the relationship of Kid with Hawkins that was possessing to be a threat to Killer that was making him fail to defeat Hawkins. There is no doubt that Killer is one of the most trusted people of Kid as he is the right-hand in charge of the Kid pirate crew. The complementary personality of Kid and Killer reflects well to their closeness as trusty pals where Killer is calm and collected in difficult situations, and Kid is just as moody.
The hesitance in Killer’s demeanor towards being unable to attack Hawkins depicts the care and fear he has towards Kid’s life. He is witty and quick to act though, which makes the episode even more enjoyable and adrenaline-inducing. There is no nitpicking in the animation of the manga chapter. Toei Animation Studios proved over and again that the decade-old anime falls no short in the category of pleasant animations and action scenes.
What stands out about One Piece for me is definitely the crazy character designs and their powers. Since the author took up major inspiration for the manga from Dragon Ball Z, you can actually see the similarities in the colors, patterns, and personalities of characters and setups. Visually, the episode is very appealing, with some parts being a little off due to too many fillers, but it was quickly overcome by the intense fights.
The episode is fast-paced, but some parts may feel too overwhelming, with too many dialogues being put in the middle of the fight scenes. What I liked the most was the epic Gin Sonic slash on Hawkins that transitioned to the monochromatic screen with cards floating around. It was a good watch that gave a nice conclusion to the feud between Killer and Hawkins.
Final Verdict
Episode 1054 was a good watch that gave us a great ending to the arc of Hawkins, Killer, and Kid. It depicts the loyalty of Killer toward Kid and the compassion he has to do everything needed to save his leader from Hawkins. As much as Killer took the spotlight of the episode, Hawkins was no less of a cunning character on its own. The myriad of tactics that Hawkins had up his sleeves was quite an insane trick. Although it backfired on him due to his Tower card, it was a good fight he, as an antagonist, put up against Killer.
What was interesting was how Hawkins did not hesitate to inflict pain on himself, which would mean having Kid in distress and eventually weakening Killer, but his plan was eventually failed by Killer’s smart comeback. Episode 1054 had me left with mixed feelings where I liked the entire battle scene and action but was let down by the filler characters staring behind and being paneled repeatedly.
Regardless, the episode was executed well, and the character arc, along with the storyline, was done good justice. For One Piece fans, it was definitely a worthy episode that did a nice take on the manga adaptation. For newbies like me who are watching One Piece to know what comes next, it is exciting to anticipate what will happen in the coming episode with a new arc and new journey ahead.
Our rating: ⭐(4/5)
You can watch One Piece on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll
Also Read: One Piece Anime Review: What Makes This Anime So Special?
