Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Viz’s various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.
This week, Rowan checks in with “One Piece.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
One Piece Chapter 1081
Written and Illustrated by Eiichiro Oda
Reviewed by Rowan Grover
Spoilers for the latest chapters, of course!
Oda set a terrifying precedent last issue by revealing a hint of just how powerful Monkey D. Garp can really be by having him unleash a “Galaxy Impact”. To convey the scope of this power, Oda uses it as a sly visual homage to “Akira” as Garp’s punch emits a nuke-level blast that envelops cities and turns buildings into debris. How can Oda match that momentum in the wake of such a cliffhanger? Bring another god-level player back to the board, with Aokiji arriving, opposing Garp’s rescue of Koby. Oda gives these moments a suitable chance for the readers to revel in how big they are, as pirates and crewmembers constantly cheer on either side in panels between the big character reveals. It’s a well-worn device but amidst the splash pages and monolithic dialogue, it works just like fan-reaction shots that feel at home in the “One Piece” universe.
Aokiji’s arrival on the scene is exciting, but Oda is smart in implementing him. In the late-stage format the whole narrative is in, balancing and re-introducing characters can be like spinning dinner plates. If you spend too much time on one character (or push the plate too hard) you can overwhelm the reader who’s trying to keep up with so many other plot threads.
To circle back, Oda’s handling of catching readers up with how Aokiji became associated with Blackbeard is snappy and perfect. Oda is perhaps leaning the hardest into the Western pirate trope as he flashes back briefly to Blackbeard and Aokiji discussing the latter’s Punk Hazard war stories over a drink. There’s a varied array of characters accompanying them, all kicking back over a few barrels and knocking down brewskies, all interrupting conversation with laughter and backhanded compliments. The best part, though? Aokiji doesn’t have a tragic turn of events that leads to joining Blackbeard’s crew, he simply does because he’d rather not live an aimless life on the run from the government. Even though I like the high drama of “One Piece”, this sequence has a honky-tonk charm that feels refreshing and gets straight to the point.
As with most of the latest chapters, we feel every ounce of effort Oda is channeling into this work on page after page. I love that both Garp and Aokiji get sequential beats that feel very true to their character. Garp, having just laid waste to a large portion of Pirate Island, stands tall over these large half-page panels strewn with broken bodies and debris. On the opposite end, when Aokiji is introduced, it is done so in an intimate closeup of his face, with the panel borders inching closer and closer like his power is causing them to freeze up. Little touches like these are a dime a dozen in the series, but they go a long way to making it feel as unique in the SJ magazine as it does.
The battle between Blackbeard and Bepo in the latter half of the chapter is also expertly rendered, giving an appropriate sense of scale to (REAL BIG SPOILER HERE!!!) the end of Trafalgar Law and the Heart Pirates…?! That’s right, the captain and crew that came closest to the Straw Hats in terms of popularity have been brutally taken out, half of which happened off-screen. It feels like a bit of an injustice, but I’m sure Oda has plans for Law and friends in the future, so let’s focus on the key aspect we have here.
Blackbeard gets to lavish in looking huge and intimidating as he lords over the defeated Law in panels where the camera is situated just below him. It’s clever, but what’s even smarter is that then when Sulong Bepo attacks him, he does it from an even higher angle in the panels that give the impact a satisfying crunch. It’s baffling that Oda was able to even fit such an important sequence in an already stuffed issue, but the battle is lean and decisive, which makes it fit neatly whilst also giving it real brutality.
Final Score: 9.0 – I don’t know how much more the kettle can keep boiling higher and higher at this point in the series! Somebody help me!
