One Piece Episode 1082 may not be flawless, but it is perfect (if that makes sense).
1082 fundamentally delivers in the three major areas I want from an episode of One Piece: cool action, world-building mystery, and silly pirate family hijinks. Let's have a look at them in reverse order.
The opening scenes at the fair give us plenty of wholesome moments with the Straw Hats. Nami and Usopp taking shots at the carnival game was a great moment. Chopper and Tama doing their little cheers and making goofy faces when Nami missed only to have Usopp show up and show off his long-range targeting skills. These vignettes are the Straw Hat crew in their element: goofball antics between found family criminals. One of the greatest tragedies of longer arcs is that these sorts of scenes are further and further away from one another.
The world-building is also quite interesting here. Robin gets to find the third Road Poneglyph which is of course a huge deal and shows just how close we are to the finale (or maybe not at all? Who knows anymore…). There's not a whole lot of actual mystery-solving here, mostly exposition about the glyphs and how Wano was 800 years ago. The revelation of a perfectly preserved Wano hidden beneath the water with an ancient weapon is certainly a curious one and further shows that Oda likes to keep dropping strange clues about the world's past. Law makes for a good buddy in this scene, as his temperament is similar to Robin's and he doesn't disturb the proceedings like some other crew members might.
The big action set piece is the Wano team finishing their fight with Admiral Whispy Woods. The culmination of the fight is Momo digging deep and blasting away with a super fire beam. Realizing that he and his team have the strength to defend Wano on their own. This not only looks great but also gives the Straw Hats the license to leave the island with their consciences at ease as it were. They won't have to fret that Wano is going to get defeated again when they set out to sea – there's a new group they've helped nurture who will see Wano safely into its next era.
Rating:
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