Live Review - One Piece 723: Change of Plans

This is what you're doing now? Live reviews of manga?

Yeah! Why not? I love doing live reviews.


Seems excessive... and somehow perverse?

Probably... I dunno, I figure it'll be fun... maybe I'll explain myself at length in another blog post. For now:


One Piece 723: Change of Plans
Scans by mangastream

The Dressrosa arc is really heating up! We've got several forces all converging in a war against the Doflamingo family, plus tournament block D. In this arc more than any I've been unable to predict what will happen, to the extent of like, I don't even have any idea what this chapter will focus on. I'm half expecting to get launched into an extensive flashback at any second...


Cover

Caribou's story seems like it's coming to a close, which is fine, 'cause at 40+ volumes it's closing in on the longest cover arc (it tied Hatchan's Sea-Floor Stroll this issue, only Operation: Meet Baroque Works is longer, at 42 volumes). Anyways it looks like Caribou took down a pretty major Kaidou operation, which is sort of surprising. He's celebrating on a big box in traditional One Piece fashion, but doesn't seem to be looking too healthy. There will be repercussions to this...


I like this cover story, I like Caribou as a character too. I know some people have been complaining that it's been dragging but I'm just getting more and more excited for what I'm hoping will be a big finale.

1
Pretty efficient summary of what plans were made between the chapters, albeit confusing at first glance. So everyone's split up again: Sanji's going to the Sunny, which is off to Green Bit I think; Zoro's seeing what's up with Luffy; Kinemon's going to try to save his comrade in some toy house. Okay.


2

I love the banter between Kinemon and Zoro here. Wait, I thought Kinemon was going to save his comrade? Or are they getting Luffy first? Bart is hilarious, too. I'm sure his line about Zoro being Luffy's "right hand man" is going to be welcome fuel in the endless "who is the first mate" debate.

3
Ooh, didn't expect this. This is the first time we've seen the palace and these guys since Punk Hazard, I think. What the heck is up with Gladius? Doffy's crew has some seriously weird guys. Who is that giant teacup for? Also I'm not sure if I see why Sanji's memories are so vital, like, it seems like Doflamingo understood what they were up to from step one... unless she was also getting parts of Law's plan against Kaidou that haven't been unveiled to the reader yet. Seriously though what is up with Gladius?


4

Haha I didn't expect this either! I really like that design. This guy will be interesting. Did he just go super saiyan and blow his hat off? Super saiyan 3? I'm guessing Sanji will end up fighting this guy over Violet.


5
I love that toy horse. So did it used to be a human too or did it used to be a horse? Whatever. Now Sanji's aware that the marines are closing in on them too. It's hard to keep track of who knows what in this arc versus something like Eines Lobby where the good guys were basically on the same page the whole time.


6
Woah that's pretty cool, eyejacking lol. Good for Gladius to sort of give us a bit of refresher on her powers 'cause she hadn't been around in a few months, and now her powers are relevant again. But wait what the Sunny was struck by lightning? It seems like she's seeing the pre-transformed Sunny, though? Or did Jola change it back after Brook slashed her? Is the arc aboard Sunny further ahead in time than this arc? Man I'm confused lol. I love the scenery in the bottom two panels, I love the designs in Dressrosa a whole lot. I wish there was more just pure exploration/having fun chapters...


7
Oh okay, they just beat her senseless and everything changed back. I hope that isn't it for Jola in this arc, though, her ability is really fun and interesting. I really like Momotaro's outfit (and Nami's). Jola's joke about mishearing people in flattering ways isn't the most original or funny thing but it's okay. Makes a good dynamic with Brook always being lewd. Oh wait lol Violet was just seeing Nami call down a bolt of lightning that's funny that's like, ironic.


8
Augh, more confusion of information. Now these guys know about Doffy not stepping down, but a lot of people already did... Law did, at least... I think everyone who was hanging out with the dwarfs do... So hard to keep track of and I'm thinking it probably won't matter in the end. Oda doesn't like to do much serious conflict over misunderstandings that just arise from unintentional information disconnects. And Jola has wrong information too, so everyone's on a different page. This is kinda cool in that it reflects the sort of war of information that makes sense with Doffy but it also detracts from the fairly straightforward story that I like in One Piece.


9
Ahh yes more of these guys. Law is just totally screwed lol. So Doffy is a former World Noble, but he threw it away. This makes his big speech during the war even more interesting. I, too, would love for Doffy to sit down with us and explain his past... maybe that will come soon. I love love love his line about not underestimating the Straw Hats like others have in the past. Really shows how far the crew has come from Crocodile's arrogance.


10
Damn Fujitora is a badass. And Law is clever too. This whole lightning bolt thing is very cool, very well done. Is Fujitora holding down Law through his gravity ability? Also oh man more heart swapping shenanigans... who's heart is it? Monet? Virgo? No idea lol.

11

Lol it was some random marine's. OK. I like how concerned Fujitora is. What an awesome guy. And Ceaser is hilarious here too, I love his confused/shocked expressions. And speaking of badass oh man what is Law gonna do next?? That's one huge operating room!


12
Ah yeah Fujitora was trapping him with gravity. Law makes his escape! I guess he's gonna try to get to the Sunny. For a second I thought it was Law's disembodied hand that was grabbing Ceaser but I think it's all of him. I love the trail of cut up things he leaves behind him. I'm not sure if I understand who Fujitora's speaking about here, Ceaser? I'll look at some other translations I guess. Also another increasingly-less-rare-but-still-rare shot of Doffy frowning.

13

Intense chase, weird forest, sure... pretty badass shots but I don't know if I like seeing Doffy relying on sheer physical things like running as much as I like seeing him doing string shenanigans and psychological stuff.


14
I was just thinking "wait why couldn't they just sail to Green Bit with Ceaser at the start?" and then I saw the fighting fish lol. I always cringe whenever I see Sunny get hurt even though it obviously has crazy strong Adam wood hulls (plus hella plot armor). I guess I'm still traumatized from the Merry ;_;


15
Hmmm okay I think I get it. I like the diagram, I always love Oda's cute little icons for the characters. I think the translation should be "if I fight with Doflamingo", right? Otherwise I'm really confused. Also confused by what he means by "blast Ceaser off from there", like, throw him/warp him onto the ship? Alright whatever.

 16
Oh but whoops Doffy saw the ship. Uhhh ohhhh. No way these guys can take on him. Hmmm Momotaro changed into dragon form... I wonder what's up with that? Before he had a vision of Doffy when he changed and flew, maybe he'll fly again? And save the rest? And oh man Doffy is pretty terrifying... it's time for a massacre!


17
OHHH SHIT YES. YESSSSSSSSS. Go Sanji!! That was awesome!!! Now, I'm one of those who thinks Oda's been giving Sanji a pretty rough time since the time skip, like, he's had some good scenes but he hasn't won a fight in awhile, and has gotten some pretty brutal punishment. Aaaaand... this will be no different. Lol. There's no way he's beating Doffy here. But also no way he's just gonna get rolled in one panel or something. Should be a really cool midair fight, I'm hyped.

Overall

That was a pretty sweet chapter. Like the last few, we're getting lots of little glimpses of everything. I kind of miss the intensity that can only come when you don't focus on any one story for more than one, or even one entire, chapter. But the Law/Doffy/Fujitora story is probably the most exciting, so I was happy to see a lot of that. I still have a really poor sense of where this arc is going but I'm very excited for it. Sometimes it seems too complicated but Oda is bringing his A-game and I'm sure he has a great reason for having so many threads going at once.

A+