By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

I’ll admit, I might not have as much to say about these next few volumes as I did about the previous 12. Don’t get me wrong, Thriller Bark is pretty good… but it’s pretty good in a ‘this is a light-hearted change of pace’ way, rather than the epic awesomeness we had come to expect from our One Piece.

First off, however, is the end of the Ace/Blackbeard fight. As one might expect, ‘darkness’ is a lot more than just making things dark, it’s more of a black hole. Also notable is that Blackbeard’s actually fairly vulnerable to damage from other fruit user attacks, getting burned by Ace’s fire powers a couple of times. The outcome of the fight is supposedly a cliffhanger, but seeing Ace’s hat lying upside down on the ground suggests that he’s not coming out on the winning side.

However, the main thrust of the volume is the introduction of Brook and the arrival at Thriller Bark. Yep, still no Fishman Island for you. One would think Oda was deliberately teasing us… instead, we meet Brook, the gentleman skeleton. Gentleman is arguable, especially after asking for Nami and Robin’s panties, but he’s definitely a skeleton. He’s a giant goofball, so naturally Luffy IMMEDIATELY asks him to join his crew. Brook, however, has other fish to fry… he’s lost his shadow, and rushes off to Thriller Bark to get it back.

What follows is a bunch of setup, mostly revolving around horror movie tropes. Oda apparently got the idea for this arc after seeing the video Thriller by Michael Jackson, and that comes across pretty well, especially when we meet the zombies. He also knows how to balance out his crew to fight the horrors. They’re divided up in a way that will show maximum comedy. This means we get Nami, Usopp and Chopper screaming and running their way through things; and we also get the rest of the crew being far less scared.

Favorite gags include the ‘600 Million Berry Jackpot’; Thriller Bark’s animate scenery trying to avoid being seen by our heroes; everyone’s reaction to Cerberus (well, the 2nd time); and 3 of the goofiest henchmen we’ve seen this side of Alabasta, featuring a mad doctor and his grumpy Frankenstein girl, a perverted invisible tiger man, and my personal favorite, Perona, a Goth With Attitude (GWA). We only just get introduced to them here, though.

Oh yes, when Robin says “I love… a good thrill”, I’m sure many other reader’s minds went right where mine did.

This volume is mostly setup, like many arc beginners. It shows what we’re in for; a lighter, more playful arc than the angst and trauma of Enies Lobby. In that, I think it succeeds pretty well.