One Piece
Episode 1037

by Grant Jones,

How would you rate episode 1037 of
One Piece (TV 1999) ?
Community score: 4.0

One Piece episode 1037 acts as a solid preliminary to the Yamato versus Kaido fight.

Nami and Usopp take up most of the episode's runtime. Generally speaking, I don't mind this at all. I love both characters dearly and think they have a great brother/sister dynamic that makes them fun to watch, particularly when they are in mortal danger and act like big scaredy cats. Their fight sequence in Onigashima can feel drawn out at times, but here I think it mostly works. There is some fun banter between the two of them and they are understandably shaken by the battle they've just been through. Their efforts to comfort Tama add an extra layer of wholesomeness too.

The big surprise in this bit is Zeus residing in the climate baton. I've said before I don't have much interest in Zeus – he barely moves the needle for me, despite my general feeling that Big Mom's power for conjuring spirits is cool – and this does not do much to change that. It's funny that Nami is still mad at him, but other than that I could take him or leave him. Still, the climate baton having a little face and emoting is a fun image, and I enjoyed her reaction to him appearing.

Ulti really shows her chops as a menace for the first time here, at least in my estimation. The “not my pay pay!” shtick has not done much for me, though I really enjoy her overall design and cool dinosaur transformation powers. Her relentless pursuit plus general battle-damaged look does work really well here though, and in this moment it makes their fight feel less like another also-ran in Onigashima's long line of running battles and more like a main event with top billing.

The real draw of this episode is the final square-up between Yamato and Kaido. This was a battle that really hit hard in the manga and I'm beyond hyped to see what the Toei team does with these sequences. I have scooted my butt all the way to the edge of my seat and I'm ready for next week.

Rating:


Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

One Piece is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of Anime News Network, its employees, owners, or sponsors.
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