Anime: Straw Hat Reunion Arc- Episode 520

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First Thoughts
Brook has really been playing up the rock star personality. I guess that when you are a rock star, dumping a bottle of water on yourself is normal. This must have been portrayed in a different show but I can't remember where. Either way, this was clearly a Brook episode.

This episode had other noteworthy moments but Brook was the focal point. You did see a scene featuring Caribou’s brutality and some awesome moments with Franky but those moments weren’t the first things I remembered about this episode.

Whatever the reason, Brook the Rock Star was the reason why we watched this episode.

Summary
The Marines disrupt Brook's concert and reveal that he is a pirate working for Luffy. Brook is able to escape after announcing that Luffy lives.

Caribou attacks a Marine officer who was scouting at Grove 43.

Fake Luffy does a speech to rally his followers. Luffy is lead to the location of the fakes.

Chopper, Nami and Usopp reunited with Franky and Robin on the Sunny. Rayleigh and Shakky eventually join them.

Thoughts

Rocking Out with Brook
The crowd love Brook and as you saw towards the end of the episode that Brook really knew how to move them. They eat up everything Brook says. He may have been show-boating a bit too much with his 45 Degrees gag, but they loved it. Brook may have not mastered 40 Degrees during the last two years, but you can see that 45 Degrees is good enough for these people. You can feel the energy as Brook parades around the stage before his fans.

Do the Marines have an archive of old wanted posters for the last 60 years?

It seemed that Brook had an advantage over his fellow Straw Hats. Nobody would have believed that a musical walking skeleton would be a pirate who died over fifty years ago. You must remember Luffy has been known to house an assortment of freaks in his crew such as a raccoon-dog/human reindeer or a cyborg. A walking, talking skeleton would have been just another in a long line of freaks.

It will be interesting to see how Brook's fame as the Soul King will influence his piracy. You see his fans continue accepting him. Will the Straw Hats get hurt because of Brook's fame or will it open new doors for them? A rock star being part of a group of wanted criminals is unheard of for me.

 

Brook must have trusted his managers because he told them a lot about himself. He revealed his history with the Rumbar Pirates and his current allegiances. Brook has always been trusting of strangers, which must have lead to a close relationship with his captors. The men may have exploited him but they did treat him with some respect.

The flashback was a nice touch.  It helped to see the relationship between Brook and his captors. It is something you would expect from Brook. He values the memories he has and the people around him. Even though he has changed a lot in the last two years, the Brook that values friendship is still there.

 

The song that Brook sang is about Luffy and his journey. The visuals at the beginning are kind of corny, but fit well with what was being said. It was a nice way to finish the episode. It would have been fine if the episode had ended with Brook finishing his song and flying into the air.

You can expect that this song will be on the Character CD for Brook in the next three months.

Caribou and his Yodeling Kabuki
If Oda and the writers at Toei were going for crazy psychopath with Caribou, then they succeeded. The guy acts as if he is a religious zealot, but he is actually a hypocrite to the very core. Caribou didn't even think twice when he attacked the Marine scout. Then when he does kill, Caribou prays to God to forgive the Marine for thinking such violent thoughts. He has some screws loose.

 

Caribou's crew is just as insane as him based on the appearance of Caribou's brother. Coribou is obedient to his brother and follows orders without question. That can be scary, because you never know what Caribou is plotting. Caribou and Coribou are pirates that shouldn’t be taken lightly given the size of their bounties.

Overall, Caribou seem to have gained fame among pirates during the last two years. Fake Luffy spoke highly of him in a previous episode and the pirates had no problem following Caribou when he was attacking the Marines. I wonder if this is a reflects the new generation of pirates after Whitebeard's death.

Keeping It Real Fake
Fake Luffy is gambling dangerously on his impersonation of Luffy. The man clearly wants to use the strength of the pirates he has gathered to rise to power. This may mean that he is weak, merely human, and that he relies on manipulation to obtain power. He is smart to be able to concoct a plan to grow a large crew with 4 bounty heads in a short time. The question is if he can subdue anybody who may rebel against him. All of his followers are declaring loyalty to him blindly, so they may not notice the imperfections in the Fake Straw Hats, much less how different they look from their wanted posters.

The problem Fake Luffy has is that Luffy is here. How long do you think it will take before he catches on to what is happening? Luffy had already encountered Fake Luffy, but we weren't sure if he knew what was going on. Luffy is pretty dense talking to Fake Sanji and Fake Zoro.

Fake Luffy and Luffy are going to meet again. I wonder how this will turn out because Luffy looks clueless and Fake Luffy is cocky.

The Gang Is Almost All Here
Most of the Straw Hats have finally arrived at the Thousand Sunny and you can feel the chemistry between them come back. Chopper and Usopp are already acting out their brotherly routine. Franky is demonstrating while you have Nami and Robin on the side reacting to what they are seeing.

It is very refreshing to see the crew coming back together. We have been missing this type of interaction for two years and it is great to have it back.

 

Things are different, however. Robin is friendlier with her fellow crewmates; she goes along with Franky's antics and smiles a lot more. The last two years must have made her more expressive. Prior to the time skip, Robin was just beginning to open up to her friends but now she is acting much closer. The distance must have made her heart grow fonder of her friends.

Nami on the other hand acts just the same. I liked her reaction to what Franky was doing. It is as if she doesn't believe that Franky strengthened himself because of how silly he is acting.

Final Thoughts

The episode had many great scenes such as Brook rocking out and making his grand declaration about Luffy. In between all of the humorous moments though was a serious undertone. Caribou could be a powerful foe depending on whether Fake Luffy can control the mass of pirates under his command. Then don't forget that the Marines are coming.