So I am going to alter how I do these One Piece Arc reviews. The big thing is, as reviews, whether or not I am likely to have convinced you One Piece is worth watching by now is pretty much set. At this stage, a normal review isn't going to do anybody any good, and the next time I will do a proper 'Review' is the day I finally catch up on this show, which is a long way off. This will basically be me reacting to the show for people who are interesting in seeing someone sit down and experience One Piece for the first time, so from here on out there will be spoilers, and only a brief moment explanation of the story as a reminder for people reading this.
Alabasta is an arc that frustrates the hell out of me. There is no getting around the one thing about the show that has been it's biggest Anchor, and that is how often the plot moves forward because Luffy stumbles around like an idiot. It's almost not even worth being mentioned anymore, it's a fundamental aspect of the show. People being stupid causes the plot to move. It's not as bad here as it has been, but then again I may just be starting to become numb to it.
I also hate the inclusion of Dance Powder, because honestly it barely plays a role at all in the entire story. All the talk and reference to it is just as an excuse to set the king of Alabasta up, but in the end, I don't think they even needed to go that far for Crocodile to try to paint the king as a villain. It felt like a lot of wasted time dragging out an already long show.
Then comes the biggest problem with the Arc, and that is Crocodile is powerful enough and has an ability so perfectly made for this situation, that the idea he had to go on this four-year plan of deception to find the location of a Nuclear Bomb (They don't call it that, but that's what it is) is absurd. He was just going to end by killing everyone anyway. I came up with multiple ways he could have gotten this all done in weeks, but he takes this multi-year plot to do so. He can call down sandstorms at will. Here is his Plan: 1.) Establish Baroque Works, a worldwide Criminal Organization, 2) Start a Civil War by using his powers to cause droughts, turn people against the King, 3) Have a guy who can transform into other people impersonate the king and admit to using Dance Powder at the expense of others, 4) Kidnap the King and threaten him into showing the location of a tablet that tells the location of the Bomb, 5) Kill the majority of both Imperial and Rebel Forces in an explosion, 6) Create a Military Power that can stand up to the World Government because of the Bomb.
No one in the entire country is capable of hurting him, he can stop the rain, and cause sandstorms at will. Here is the new plan: “Hey, I'm going to cause everything to be fucked for a while King. Tell me where the Tablet is or everyone's dead.” and follow up on it if he says no. When he says yes, just kill everyone anyway because there is absolutely nothing stopping him from doing it. Set up Baroque Works, then do that. He wins, and he doesn't give people four years to try to stop him.
The saving grace that makes this Arc good is the same thing that helps carry this show, and that is the characters are fantastic. They do such a good job of adding more and more to all of these characters, and most of the new characters are fantastic. Despite being given way to much power as described above, Crocodile is a great villain, Vivi is great for this arc, and has been since her introduction as Ms. Wednesday, who was infiltrating Baroque works to discover their plan. Sanji get's a lot of great moments, and is finally seen to be a bit on the devious side when he has to be. He gets a lot of use out of being the only member of the Straw Hats who has yet to be seen by anyone in Baroque Works.
And as always the fights are great. Despite the comedy bit that is thrown right into the middle of Sanji versus Bon Clay (Seriously, this show usually does a good job at balancing comedy and tension, but they almost killed this entire fight with that unfunny routine), there is a series of good fights here. The logic behind the final fight with Crocodile is, admittedly, a little on the fuzzy side (Okay, it borderline makes no sense), but it manages to overcome in in part due to sheer spectacle, and in part, because the clashing of Crocodile and Luffy's ideals is so well done and compelling.
Really what it comes down to is this arc has a lot of problems, but it overcomes them because One Piece does have a lot of heart behind it. It's easy to forgive a lot of problems when there is so much passion behind what you are watching. Throw in the great characters and action, and despite the frustrations, I still really enjoyed the Arc.