After spending years of being subjected to heavy criticism over a perceived lack of quality, the One Piece anime has entered a renaissance of sorts. Not only was the art style changed to a much sleeker version reminiscent of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but the animation has had much more consistency and moments of high quality than it’s had in years. All in all, thanks to the Wano arc, the general opinion on the anime has turned around to the point that it can be seen as just as essential to the One Piece experience as the manga.

The Wano arc revitalized the One Piece anime with its high-quality art and animation, and for many people, all of that reached its peak in episode 1015. The animation for the episode was incredibly fluid from start to finish, and it was coupled with visuals that were not only great to look at, but were used in an artistic way that isn’t usually associated with the One Piece anime. Not only that, but as previously discussed, the actual story of the episode serves as a culmination of multiple plot points, and it was thanks to the stellar direction of the episode that it was able to work so effectively.

Much of the best material in the episode started with the flashback to Yamato’s relationship with Ace. Not only was more time given to showcasing their friendship compared to the manga, but the anime even created an original scene of Yamato tearfully reacting to Ace’s death. Yamato laments how she’s trapped in Wano by Kaido like she did when Ace first met her, but after remembering everything Ace said about Luffy, she regains her resolve and vows to leave with Luffy one day, even picking a fight with Kaido in the process. It’s a great sequence that exemplifies how important Ace and One Piece‘s Luffy are to Yamato, and the fact that it was completely original to the anime makes it even better.

The focus on Luffy in Yamato’s flashback leads into the climactic moment of the episode where Luffy knocks Kaido to the ground with his Gum-Gum Red Roc. Besides being a beautifully animated sequence, one that’s further sold by being scored to an instrumental version of “We Are!”, it also serves as a perfect way of showcasing Luffy’s growth. Luffy started as just a boy with nothing but a straw hat, and now, he’s become strong enough to go head-to-head with one of the Four Emperors. Luffy is now one of the strongest characters in the story, and that growth is highlighted both by Yamato’s flashback including an incredibly artistic sequence of Luffy being directly compared to Gold Roger and how the title of both this episode and the very first episode of the anime are simple statements of who Luffy is and what he wants to do.

One Piece episode 1015 was directed by Megumi Ishitani, who was also responsible for both episodes 957 and 982, which were also met with high praise for their stellar visuals and unique direction. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise that episode 1015 was able to have a similar flare thanks to her being the one in charge, and based on reactions to the episode, it went even further than her previous work. Thanks to people like Ishitani being involved in the Wano arc, the One Piece anime once again has the level of quality needed to support a story of its scale, and with any luck, this will be the status quo of the series for the foreseeable future.