One Piece Season 20 Episode 72: Courage Rises with the Next Great Wave

The hook of Tearfully Swearing Allegiance! Oden and Kin'emon! is immediate, yet the episode earns attention by treating its emotional stakes as seriously as its danger. First released on 7 February 2021, it places the Straw Hat crew and their allies within the Wano Country arc and explores sacrifice. The premise is clear, but its impact comes from the reactions, promises and difficult choices surrounding it.

⁠

The narrative uses angry, mountain and giant as more than background. They become pressure points for the Straw Hat crew and their allies, whose responses reveal what the conflict actually means. Cause and effect remain clear, even when several forces are moving at once. That control is valuable in a saga this large, helping the episode feel complete while still leaving enough tension to pull the wider journey forward.

⁠

There is careful character observation in the contrast between the Straw Hat crew and their allies. One pushes toward action while the other measures what might be lost. The voice performances make pauses and changes of tone as expressive as the larger declarations. As a result, the emotional movement feels earned even when the surrounding danger is exaggerated to the scale expected from the Grand Line.

⁠

There is a satisfying physical rhythm to the episode. Moments of stillness gather pressure before motion releases it, and the larger images are anchored by expressive faces. The world of Wano Country contributes more than scenery because its spaces influence strategy and mood. Even when the animation reaches for impossible scale, the scene remains connected to the immediate fear or promise driving the characters.

⁠

The setting belongs firmly to Wano Country Saga, but the episode avoids treating continuity as homework. Familiar ideas return in a form that matters to the immediate characters. The world feels deep because different people remember the same history differently. That perspective creates mystery and moral tension, reminding us that the truth in One Piece is rarely separate from whoever has the power to hide it.

⁠

Its thematic centre is sacrifice, responsibility and what people reveal when somebody else is in danger. The writing is most convincing when it trusts the audience to notice that concern without underlining every point. Characters protect themselves with certainty or defiance, and the truth appears in the gaps. This territory is familiar to One Piece, but the episode finds sufficiently specific behaviour to make the idea feel renewed instead of repeated.

⁠

Not every choice lands. Some exposition repeats information the audience can already infer, and one secondary beat competes for attention without earning an equally satisfying finish. The episode occasionally explains an emotion after the performance has made it clear. Still, the weaker moments are spread out, and the main relationship provides a steady line through them. Engagement survives the unevenness.

⁠

Tearfully Swearing Allegiance! Oden and Kin'emon! earns its place in the voyage through character rather than novelty alone. The premise is memorable, but the reactions give it shape and feeling. I appreciated the willingness to let the Straw Hat crew and their allies be brave, uncertain and occasionally unreasonable at once. That complexity, delivered with adventurous confidence, makes the episode worth returning to after its immediate question has been answered.