One Piece ‒ Episode 1119

Episode 1119 of One Piece is gorgeously animated and heavy with implications for the wider world.

Cobra’s death is a huge event in the scope of both the setting itself and the fandom more broadly. King Cobra is representative of the early era of One Piece in many ways, standing in for the Alabasta arc in our minds not unlike how he represents his island in governance. To see him laid low by the World Government after discovering a deep truth about the setting is symbolic of where we are at in the series. Those early days of Luffy and the crew running around getting into shenanigans in the East Blue are long since past. Now we are approaching big discoveries and momentous events, with implications for everything and everyone we have come to know in the series.

The action was fluid this week too. Sabo’s attempted rescue of Cobra was dynamic and exciting, with great fire effects and engaging movement from the cast. The monstrous forms of Imu and the others were presented in an effective manner, terrifying inky slime monsters that were indistinct but had the unique crackling effect around the edges to give them a supernatural flair.

But One Piece is still One Piece, so we got fun comedy bits this week too. Namely in the form of Wapol, a character we haven’t seen in a hot minute. The entire shtick of him just barreling through walls Looney Tunes style was great, and it was funny seeing Vivi rid in his mouth (and upset his queen in the process). Funny reaction faces and cartoonish expressions were out in full force, something I greatly appreciated. But I love that Wapol’s weird proportions were part of this gag, as One Piece‘s characters are often exaggerated in size but seldom do we see those impact character interactions in such a direct way.