455: The Crew's Whereabouts - The Revolutionary Army and the Forest of Gluttony's Trap
Within the prison tower on the frozen labor camp Tequila Wolf Robin, now in a prison jumpsuit and cuffed, is being interrogated by the guard whose nose she previously broke, who demands to know where the other Straw Hats are. She takes this in stride, commenting that this is a horrible setting for romance, which only serves to infuriate the guard even further.
As the camp warden eats his dinner within his office, he mutters that it’s going to be hard to deal with Robin. It would be disastrous if she were to attempt to escape, so he decides to hide her real identity from the rest of populace. Another guard comes in to give a report about delays in the construction of the bridge, and that there have been some encounters with rebels. The warden dismisses both of these reports. All they need to do, he says, is make sure that the slaves work harder.
As the slaves toil away, the girl Soran witnesses one unfortunate soul collapse and runs over to him, and a tipsy guard tells her to get back to work, as he’s done for. He then realizes that he’s surrounded by resentful slaves, but another group of guards scare them off by firing in the air and threatening to send them to the prison tower. Inside the tower the guards continue to rough-up Robin and laugh about it, and she still remains blasé over the whole affair.
Later on in the women’s barracks a guard gives the old woman who tipped them off about Robin a chocolate bar as a reward. The other women grumble and she declares that she’s not giving any of it away and flees the barrack. Soran, though, believes that Robin would forgive her, and finds the old woman sitting on the ground nearby. Seeing her, the old woman surrenders her chocolate bar. Soran says that she’s really a kind person, causing the old woman to tear up, saying that she just wants to be free from this place. Soran decides to give the chocolate to Robin as thanks for saving everyone earlier.
As another work shift begins, the guard with the broken nose locks Robin in a cell before leaving, saying that he’ll be back to question her some more. Robin comments that she’ll look forward to it, but as soon as he’s out of sight she collapses from exhaustion. She hears someone laughing nearby and discovers that there’s a spry old man in the neighboring cell. He says that he just arrived that day, but since there’s no use for old people, he was locked up instead. Robin then has a flashback of Kuma vanishing the Straw Hats, takes out her Vivre Card, and says that she has to escape as soon as possible, even if she has to cut off her hands. The old man chuckles and tells her not to be so hasty.
After finishing her job of dumping culm into the sea, Soran manages to sneak by the guards and gets to the prison tower. There are some more guards posted outside, but the sound of an explosion in the distance sends them running in that direction, away from their posts, as it’s reported that rebels are engaged in a firefight in the residential district. With them gone, Soran manages to find the window of Robin’s cell, but another guard finds her…
Meanwhile the guard with the broken nose wakes the warden from his slumber to inform him that, as ordered, all guards have been sent to fight the rebels. The warden shouts back that he never issued such an order. It turns out that the guard who found Soran was actually one of the rebels all along. He introduces himself as a member of the Revolutionary Army and unlocks the old man’s cell, saying that his leadership will help them win this fight. The old man requests that he free Robin too and they begin to head out, only to find a whole battalion of guards waiting for them. Just as they’re about to fire, however, hands sprout from their bodies and Robin uses her Devil Fruit power to snap all of their necks, felling the whole group. Upon hearing this, the warden hides under his desk, wailing in terror that Robin is coming this way.
Back outside, Robin bids farewell to Soran, for she plans to help the revolutionaries for saving her. Upon hearing the name Nico Robin for the first time, Soran thinks that it is a wonderful name.
Eyecatches: Robin and Usopp
On the Bowin Islands Usopp is being chased by a giant, carnivorous sunflower while his companion Heracles poses. Usopp finally gets him to help him through flattery, and Heracles declares that he is the champion of the forest and springs into action! …and accidentally punches Usopp in the face…which sends him flying into the sunflower, knocking it out…which also takes out Heracles in the process. After recovering, Usopp wonders why all the island’s flora and fauna keep coming after him, and Heracles explains that it’s because he is the weakest creature on the island. Even the ants and earthworms are stronger (especially since they’re gigantic)! He’ll have to eat and bulk up to grow stronger. Usopp points out that there’s nothing edible, so Heracles decides to take him elsewhere.
They arrive in a new part of the forest, one where the woods are made up of food. There are waterfalls of ramen, spaghetti grass, meat fruits, and even chocolate rocks. As Heracles explains to the agog Usopp, if he eats lots of food and trains, he’ll become a powerful champion of the forest as well. While Heracles is fantasizing over the both of them being champions of the forest, Usopp wanders off.
When Heracles finds him again he’s too late, for Usopp is now grossly overweight from eating so much. As Heracles yells that he needs to lose the weight fast, the island starts shaking, and the “branches” of the island rise into the air, sending other overweight animals plunging towards a gaping maw. Heracles manages to grab a vine and Usopp’s hand, but he’s too heavy and drops him anyway. Luckily though, Usopp is able to eat his way up a ramenfall past Heracles to safety. The island lets out a satisfied belch, and everything goes back to normal.
Except now that Usopp’s basically a sentient, immobile blob. Heracles sighs deeply and, much to Usopp’s alarm, mentions how fat creatures are the first to go in the jungle. He also says that they are on the inescapable Bowin Islands, and that he is the champion of the forest, Hera-
Well, Robin's story didn't completely dominate the episode like last time, but it still had the majority of it. Like before, it had a very grim, somber atmosphere to it, helped along by the music, lighting, and camera angles. As before, the directing and storyboarding were top-notch. I'm very glad that they got Tate to work on the second part of Robin's story, since I don't think anyone else could've replicated the same mood he set in the first one.
Story-wise, seeing Robin going with the revolutionaries is yet another unexpected development. From there, we can learn quite a bit about the state of the One Piece world, and also provides her with an easy method to get back to the other Straw Hats. I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't get any sort of answer as to what the true purpose of that gigantic bridge is, or why it's taken six-hundred years to build it, but this episode was quite an improvement over the disjointed nature of Robin's coverstory, and a feather in the cap of the directors. I'm never really going to understand what the point of having Robin's cleavage on full display was though (aside from obvious Fanservice). Thats' just asking for, as one of my old teachers would put it, a chest cold.
And Usopp's half was full-on Mood Whiplash, with colorful visuals, energetic music, and lots of humor. Heracles was pretty hilarious in this episode, from accidentally punching Usopp in the face after much fanfare and buildup to having his name be cut off by the To Be Continued screen again. Bit creepy to see that the entire island is really one huge Sarlacc, basically.
Next episode will be the last of these Where are They Now episodes, covering Zoro and Brook.
Oh, and there was another scene with Luffy and Jimbei on the boat, but since it just consisted of both of them being broken records, it wasn't worth mentioning.
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456: The Crew's Whereabouts - The Giant Tombstone and repayment for Underwear
Zoro runs through the forests of the gloomy Kuraigana Island, telling himself that he has to hurry. Elsewhere, the ghost girl Perona is busy searching for him.
We then flashback to several hours previously to find Zoro running through the castle like a madman, searching for the room where he had left his swords. Perona’s goal was to have him find them and then use her Negative Hollow attack on him for fun, but now she’s simply bored from watching Zoro run around aimlessly. Fed up, she gives him the directions again, and this time, through some miracle, Zoro finds the room, gets his swords, and puts a shirt on. Zoro’s a bit suspicious that she’s letting him get his weapons back, but she replies that that since she’s a ghost, a swordsman is no threat to her at all. Her true aim is to use him to get back to Thriller Bark somehow. But while she’s busy plotting, Zoro simply cuts a huge hole in the wall and jumps outside.
Back in the present, Zoro’s still running through the forest while saying to himself that he needs to get back to Sabaody and wondering if the others are all right after their fights with the Pacifista, Sentomaru, and Admiral Kizaru. Perona eventually finds him and offers to lead him to the coast. She wonders why she’s even doing this, but decides to just crush Zoro’s spirit as soon as they reach the shore.
After a little more walking, the two hear a large crash in the distance. Zoro wonders what it is, while Perona thinks it means that Kuma sent someone else flying out here, so she ditches Zoro to go check it out. And she finds out that Zoro’s misdirection is so bad that he somehow ends up at the site before she does.
They find that the source of the great crash was a falling tree, cut down by a giant axe. Nearby are the stone ruins of a village of some kind. They eventually come across a giant cross carved from a tree marking a giant tombstone. While Zoro and Perona are studying it a figure leaps out of the bushes and attacks Zoro with a sword that was lying on the ground. More leap at him, but he manages to barely hold them off, his assailants being feral creatures armed with a multitude of bladed weapons…
Eyecatches: Zoro and Brook
Brook awakens to a fine morning on the island of Namakura. He wonders how the other Straw Hats are doing and resolves to meet up with them again. Walking around, he notices how all of the buildings are rundown and decrepit. He also thinks back to the macabre items inside the house he was just in and wonders what they were for. He’s soon greeted by the island’s cultists who mistook him for Satan and their leader introduces himself as Pekkori and they offer him breakfast. So in his thanks, Brook asks the woman offering it to him to show him her underwear, which leads to the entire (male) village showing him their drawers, which was not exactly what Brook had in mind.
After enjoying his meal and getting another unwanted eyeful of boxers, Brook tries to go on his way, but the villagers try to stop him. Pekkori explains that their land is often pillaged by the Longhand Tribe, and that in their desperation they resorted to black magic and “summoned” Brook, believing him to be Satan come to curse their enemies. Brook tries to protest, but there’s a scream from outside and the group finds members of the Longhand Tribe (people with double elbows) kidnapping the woman from before and escaping into the forest. Seeing that the villagers are counting on him to do something about it, Brook decides to repay them for their hospitality by obliging. Back inside he begins to furiously write out a music composition score, while in his head promising to rejoin the Straw Hats after he finishes this task.
Back on the hijacked Navy battleship, Jimbei takes note of the wind and expects them to reach Marineford very soon. Crocodile tells him that they better not miss the battle since he still wants to kill Whitebeard. He and Jimbei comes this close to blows, but seeing Luffy standing up impatiently, ready to fight himself, has them lower their fists.
A guard outside of Ace’s holding cell in Marineford checks his watch: it is almost time.
I personally found this episode to be the dullest of this batch of "Where are they now?" installments. Zoro's half was almost entirely built around the gag of him getting lost, but that's a gag that needs to be used in moderation to be effective. I did get a little chuckle out of the return of Perona's rendition of the Enel-face, and Zoro's misdirection warping time and space (though G8 did it funnier). The important thing we did learn here, I guess is that the island is populated by ferals. I don't really know what's going to come of that though. Maybe they'll be the "cute servants" that Perona longs for.
Brook's half was...well, it didn't deviate from the cover story at all, and I just wasn't really feeling it. It felt like the anime team had already used up their creative juices on the previous episodes.
The scene with Luffy on the boat was kinda dumb too. Yeah, it's an old shonen cliche to had two combatants stop fighting when a third party makes a move, but it would've been much more effective had Luffy said something actually relevant like "Do what you want, but wait until after we save Ace!" instead of just spouting out Ace's name like a broken record. It just looked silly otherwise.
Now the next episode, we originally thought that it was going to just be a straight up Recap Episode, but if the preview is anything to go by, it seems like the episode will focus on the end of chapter 549 as well as taking some stuff from the flashback that just finished in the manga. Heck, the episode's summary on Fuji's website apparently even alludes to Sabo. It should turn out to be a much more interesting episode than was originally thought.
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457: Pre-Marineford Special Retrospective - The Brothers' Oath
I'm not going to bother doing a summary for this episode, as it was a recap after all. The bulk of the episode consisted of flashbacks to Luffy meeting Ace in Alabasta, meeting Blackbeard in Jaya, Ace's fight with Blackbeard, and Luffy learning of his fate, all tied together by scenes of Luffy and Jimbei talking about them in the present. Jimbei's line asking Luffy if he'd seen Ace since he first set off contradicted the brief flashback in the latest manga chapter where Ace told Jimbei of his meeting with Luffy in Alabasta, but I guess there was no way of Toei knowing.
While I had seen these scenes before, it was kind of interesting to see how much the art style has changed over the years. Back then, proportions were much more loose and the coloring wasn't quite as sharp as it is now. Also, Ace looked kinda sleazy back then too. There was one brief original flashback showing Luffy and Ace fighting as kids, in a scene inspired from the recent flashback. Young Ace is voiced by Daisuke Sakaguchi, who some may recognize as Shinpachi from Gintama.
No episode next week, which is just as well since I'll be out of town, and the one after that looks to be another recap, though the preview shows nothing but the Warlords and Admirals sitting around in Marineford. There's also a scene of Akainu talking to Sengoku which could be neat. And Hancock's dress has somehow gone from yellow and red to two shades of purple, which makes no sense and doesn't look very good.
And oh yes, on July 18th (the 17th for us), episode 459, the beginning of Marineford proper, will have the premire of a new opening, One Day, by a band called The Rootless. I'm looking forward to it, since the recent openings have been getting better and better footage-wise, and I hope it doesn't cause nearly as much Internet Backdraft as the current one did on both sides of the Pacific.Something fun to look forward to.
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458: Pre-Marineford Special Retrospective - The Three Admirals Gather
Another Recap Episode, this one showcasing the encounters and battles the Straw Hats have had with the Warlords and the Admirals (the title really should have referred to the Warlords instead, since they took up most of the episode), which were set up by Buggy trash-talking the Warlords and them being called out to the battlefield. Doflamingo, being the only Warlord the Straw Hats haven't met yet, instead had a flashback to when he had Sarquiss kill Bellamy. The Narrator even made sure to mention that nothing was known about him yet. I do like the performance of his seiyuu, Hideyuki Tanaka, and I'm looking forward to when he shows up as a major antagonist down the line, since he has his fingers in so many different pies. One thought that I have to put out is that coming right after Kuma, Mihawk, and Moria's clips, Hancock's does a great job of underlining why numerous fans don't really care for her. And there was absolutely no explanation as to why her dress suddenly had to change colors, either.
Akainu, having only appeared briefly in the Ohara flashback thus far, simply got a rather foreboding shot of him leaving Sengoku's office. He didn't say anything and we only saw the back of his head, but it was like a little note that this was a guy that we need to keep our eyes on.
Now that the recaps are over, the Marineford arc begins proper tomorrow evening. We'll be seeing some big stuff go down, surprising revelations, and a new opening, so here's to a good one.
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459: The Decisive Battle Draws Near! The Navy's Strongest Formation Set!
Within the Marineford holding cell, a guard undoes the chain binding Ace to his chair, and commands him to stand. He is then led out of the cell and escorted down a hallway lined by more guards, until they reach a tall staircase leading up to the surface, and he is ordered to ascend that.
Around the world, people have already begun to hold their breath over the impending battle. On a rainy island in South Blue several men at a market wonder whether Whitebeard will even show, as he’s pretty old by now and hasn’t been very active in recent years. A group of East Blue shepherds doubt that Navy HQ can be beaten, but an older man reminds them that Gold Lion Shiki managed to destroy half of the city all by himself twenty years ago, and says that this time will surely be worse, and that it’ll be better for everyone if the execution goes off without a hitch. In a winter-locked town in North Blue a young man argues with a bar owner who refuses to sell anything due to the coming crisis. At a bar in West Blue a man with a peg-leg warns the patrons to not underestimate Whitebeard, since he met him only a year ago and felt that he was going to die simply by being in his presence. On an island in the Grand Line some children sing a song while playing likening the pirate to the Devil.
Meanwhile, all of the civilians on Marineford have been evacuated to the Sabaody Achipelago, where a large crowd has gathered to watch several giant display monitors showing live feed from the battlefield. There are less than three hours left until the execution. In Sengoku’s office Garp pounds the desk in anger before asking if what he plans to do is really necessary. Sengoku replies that the world must know how large the true significance of this execution is, and as Garp leaves, adds that he bears some responsibility too. Outside in the plaza, one hundred thousand marines and dozens of warships have assembled, ready for battle. In addition are the five remaining Warlords of the Sea, Kuma, Moria, Doflamingo, Mihawk, and Hancock, on the front lines, and the three admirals Aokiji, Kizaru, and Akainu, a man with a grim face wearing a red suit and the standard Navy baseball cap, seated directly in front of the execution scaffold. All of this prepared to battle the world’s strongest pirate crew.
Meanwhile, still within the fortress, Ace continues his march up the stairs. As he does he has a flashback to his and Luffy’s youth, of the two if them gazing out to sea, with Ace making the both of them promise that one day, they’ll both go out to sea, and live how they want to live, having more freedom than anyone else. Of course he has this flashback while bound by chains and being led by others into the light…
Eyecatches: Luffy (twice)
Meanwhile, the jailbreak team’s battleship has finally reached Marineford’s Gates of Justice. While Luffy remarks on how the voyage from Impel Down was shorter than he thought it would be and Buggy rallies the prisoners and trash-talks the Naval forces and Whitebeard, Jimbei recalls the earlier conversation with the Navy officer over the telesnail and wonders how they should get inside.
On the other side, Ace is chained to the execution scaffold while the soldiers hold their collective breath. Sengoku tells Garp that he’s ready to disclose everything, and Garp mutters to do whatever he wants before going off to the scaffold’s base. Once he gets on top and receives a telesnail, Sengoku announces to the assembly that he has an announcement to make regarding the significance of the execution. Below, Vice-Admiral Tsuru tells Garp that this isn’t his fault, which causes him to chuckle and comment on how women tend to be sympathetic during times like this.
Sengoku now addresses Ace directly and asks him to say the name of his father. Ace replies that it’s Whitebeard, but Sengoku claims that this is false. Ace starts to deny him, but Sengoku continues on. Years ago, he says, the government put a great deal of effort into locating a certain man because they thought that he had had a child. But no matter how hard they searched, they could never find this child nor its mother. However, this is because the woman deceived them. Through sheer willpower, she managed to keep her child inside her womb for twenty months. The mother’s name was Portgas D. Rouge, and she lived on the South Blue island of Vateria. As soon as she gave birth, she died. She gave birth to a child with the blood of the evilest man in the world within him. That child was Ace, and the father was none other than Gold Roger!
The Naval army falls dead silent, while the people watching at Sabaody gape in shock. The Pirate King’s bloodline lives on!
So now the Marineford arc begins proper. There are a number of things to talk about in this episode, so let's dive in.
First off, there's the new opening, "One Day." While all the other openings for this show have been upbeat sounds about adventuring, this one is much slower and more somber, with lyrics about chasing after someone who was a source of inspiration and wondering whether they are strong or not, which were clearly composed with this arc in mind. Footage-wise, it's centerpiece are action shots of most of the main players in the coming battle, Whitebeard, Marco, Jozu, Vista, the Jailbreak Team, the Warlords, and the Admirals. Aside from that there are some rather melancholy shots of the Straw Hats doing their thing on board the Sunny, and an extended sequence that ends with Luffy reuniting with Ace amidst what I take to be the ruins of Marineford. There are also a few shots from Ace and Luffy's past, which is some needed character-building that was absent in the manga at this point. I wouldn't necessarily call it the most creative or innovative opening animation, but the song fits and from a technical standpoint it looks great (one of the key animators and even animation director from Movie 10 did some work on it).
I could go on and on about the new opening, but there's still the episode to get through. This is the one with the revelation. The big reveal that Ace is Gold Roger's son. This completely blindsided a number of people when it was first revealed, thanks to some Red Herring work earlier on, but now in retrospect you can kind of see the resemblance. We also get to see his mother Rouge (who is apparently not a rehead, despite what her name would lead some to think), and the matter of the twenty-month pregnancy... Well, I wouldn't call it shark-jumpingly bad, as I've seen a few others do, but that is still requires quite a bit of Willing Suspension of Disbelief (especially since the only explaination is "just go with it"), since unless something goes horribly wrong, it's usually always nine months all across fiction. Ah well.
Anyway, the directing in this episode, as well as the art, was pretty good. I noticed that they finally used some music track from Movie 10 (during the sequence showing people all around the world and during Ace's brief flashback), and the reference to Shiki surpised me, since that wasn't in the original. It was a nice little Continuity Nod and helps tie chapter 0, and Movie 10 itself, more closely to the main story.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing how this arc will be handled in animation. There are a number of hurdles and difficulties to overcome, and I'm sure there will be some not-so-great moments along the way, but if the quality manages to remain at the bar that this episode set, it will certainly be a fun ride.
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460: An Enormous Fleet Appears! The Whitebeard Pirates Invade
In the wake of Sengoku’s announcement, the audience at Sabaody are left with even more apprehensiveness at the new significance of this execution. The soldiers at Marineford mutter amongst themselves, while Moria states that the existence of Roger’s son is a miracle, given that anyone with connections to Roger was hunted down. Coby and Helmeppo wonder to themselves if Ace and Luffy aren’t really brothers at all, since they had simply assumed that they were both Dragon’s children. Garp flashes back to a visit he made to Roger while he was imprisoned.
There, in a dark dungeon, Roger revealed to him that he will be having a child, but that it won’t be born until after he’s already executed. Garp asks why he’s being told this, and Roger explains that the government will undoubtedly try to hunt the mother down and kill her. He and Garp had fought and nearly killed each other countless times, to the point where he’d trust Garp as much as he’d trust any of his own crew members, and so he is entrusting him with his child’s safety. Garp yells at him to cut it out, but Roger simply replies that he knows that Garp will carry out his wishes.
And so a force of Navy marines and World Government agents descend upon the island of Vateria. As a marine explains to his commanding officer, Roger was spotted here behaving much unlike his usual self, acting more like a father would. The officer says that Roger’s bloodline must come to an end, and orders his men to search the island and investigate every child born during the ten-month period after Roger’s arrest, as well as the mothers and kill anyone who’s suspicious. Of course, this is all for naught, as the woman that they are looking for, Portgas D. Rouge, a woman with a tropical flower in her strawberry-blond hair, manages to keep her child inside her womb for much longer than the normal gestation period through sheer willpower. Eventually they give up, but one night Garp pays a visit to the island’s clinic to witness the child’s much-delayed birth. Holding her newborn baby in her arms, Rouge names him Gol D. Ace, as Ace was the name Roger had chosen for their child if it was a boy. And then, she dies.
Garp did fulfill his promise to Roger in the end but shielding Ace from harm, and eventually takes him to a person named Dadan to raise. Dadan’s reaction to this is to fall off of a stepladder in disbelief. Later on, Garp brings the young Luffy to Dadan’s place to live too, where the ten-year old Ace is still there, glowering at Luffy from a tree branch.
Eyecatches: Zoro and Luffy
Back in the present, Sengoku continues his story by saying that Ace had been on the government’s radar ever since he formed his own crew – the Spade Pirates – and very quickly gained great fame and power. The government realized the truth, but so did Whitebeard, who took him in to his own crew with the intention of making Ace the Pirate King. Ace shouts back that that wasn’t the truth, that the real reason he’s a part of the crew is to make Whitebeard the Pirate King, but Sengoku rebukes him by saying that he’s the only one who thought that, and finishes by saying that the true intent, aside from extinguishing the Roger bloodline, of this execution is to ensure that Ace does not inspire a new generation of pirates much like his father had.
As his speech comes to an end, a Navy officer runs up to the execution scaffold’s base and reports to Sengoku that the Gates of Justice have begun to open on their own and that they can’t get in contact with the control room. Outside, the battleship is still stuck in front of them, unable to progress. Luffy suggests punching the colossal gate open, an idea which Mr. 3 quickly strikes down, and while Jimbei wonders what to do the Gates of Justice starts to open on their own! Everyone on board is shocked at this, since the officer that they talked to before claimed that they would never open, until Buggy takes advantage of the situation by claiming that he is the one willing them open, winning even more praise and admiration from the collected prisoners, which Mr. 3, again, finds ludicrous. Buggy secretly agrees, but then decides that this is a sign that the heavens are smiling on him and wish for him to become the Pirate King himself. And then the ship is knocked off balance by the disrupted current.
Meanwhile, a fog starts to roll in on Marineford, and a lookout hastily reports that a fleet of forty-three ships has emerged from the mists, captained by famous New World captains such as Doma the Bohemian Knight, Thunder Lord Mc Guy, the Decalvian Brothers, Maelstrom Spider Squardo, and many more. While the soldiers prepare for combat, Doflamingo laughs and tells Whitebeard to hurry up and appear himself. While everyone wonders where Whitebeard could be, a shadow appears in the center of the harbor, and with a great torrent of water Whitebeard’s flagship, the Moby Dick, breaches the surface.
So now we get to hear the previously untold story of Ace's birth. Compared to the corresponding manga chapter the flashback was expanded immensely. We got much clearer images of Rouge, who ended up looking somewhat grim (though I suppose that's entirely justified), and I guess sort of is a redhead after all. The investigation force was also shown in a bit more detail as it showed the soldiers investigating doctors and clinics in addition to people. The implied baby-killing was a bit much, but there's also the implication that they never went through with it, having never found anyone suspicious enough. Still, it's unsettling to think that the government would be willing to go that far. Makes me miss the days before the CP9 saga when the Navy weren't portrayed as being mostly dominated by [[Knight Templar Knight Templars].
There are some little nitpicks I have with this flashback, aside from the whole twenty months thing. Like how Rouge somehow managed to not show at all (whereas in the manga she did, and wore a more concealing dress), and what "acting like a father" entails, especially when you still have yet to be one. When the officer said that I got the humorous image in my head of Roger being one of those dads-to-be who are sort of overwhelmed at the prospect, running around handing out cigars and bragging to everyone about it. "Lover" probably would have been a better word choice, methinks.
Moving back to the present, we have Buggy pulling a Moses on the Gates of Justice, complete with Ode to Joy and what I assume to be an ad-lib on the part of Shigeru Chiba (the lambada is a Brazilian dance, by the way). We also get a look at some of the stars of the New World, who are certainly an...interesting looking bunch. I'm not really expecting many of them to have that big a role in the story, however.
My one real complaint for this episode was the entrance of the Moby Dick at the end. Very weak, silly-looking animation. I know it's supposed to be evocative of a whale breaching the surface, given the ship's bow, but whales do not awkwardly soar through the air (complete with jet engine noises!) like that. Ending with an extreme zooming close up on Ace while he makes a guttural noise in shock was not what I'd call a strong finisher either. Well, it's still early in the arc, so I hope that once the action finally starts things will pick up.
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461: The Curtain Rises on the Battle! Ace and Whitebeard's Past
The Moby Dick has surfaced in the center of the Marineford bay, but the navy forces are given no time to ready themselves before three other identical ships surface alongside it. On board are the fourteen commanders of Whitebeard’s fleet, and the man himself walks up onto the bow of his ship, massive halberd in hand. Upon taking in the force there to oppose him, Whitebeard addresses Sengoku, pondering how many years it’s been since they last met and if Ace is still all right. For his part, Sengoku wonders how easier Whitebeard managed to get in.
Meanwhile, the jailbreak gang’s battleship has made it through the now-open Gates of Justice. As they go through, Ivankov wonders aloud it Luffy and Ace’s father will show up, and explains to Luffy that he doesn’t expect Dragon to simply sit around if his son is going to be killed. Luffy non-chalantly reveals that they don’t have the same father, and while Ivankov blinks in surprise, Luffy adds that while his father is Dragon, Ace’s is Gold Roger, but Ace hates talking about it. Oh, and that it’s supposed to be a secret. The entire ship jumps out of the water in shock.
Back inside the bay, Whitebeard tells Ace to wait just a little longer before assuming a stance and punching the air with his bare fists. Doing so causes the air to literally crack and distort around them as shockwaves are generated, massive shockwaves that cause the sea to rise up and throw the Navy into a panic. Sengoku declares this a seaquake. While this display of power is ongoing, Ace flashes back to the past, when he first set off as a pirate…
Unlike Luffy, who had a rowboat, Ace set out in a small fishing vessel. The 14-year-old Luffy and a small group of onlookers were there to see him off. Luffy promises that he’ll get even stronger before he sets off in three years himself, and the two wave to each other as Ace’s boat pulls away. From there, Ace eventually formed his own pirate crew, the Spade Pirates, ate the Flare Flare Logia Devil Fruit, and grew in fame, bringing himself to Sengoku’s attention, who is particularly concerned about his middle initial D. In the New World Whitebeard reads of Ace’s exploits in the newspaper and wonders why the young pirates are always so lively, while the division commander Thatch notes that Ace was even offered a spot amongst the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but turned it down.
Ace eventually meets up with “Red-Haired” Shanks in a cave on a winter-locked island, having wanted to meet him since Luffy always talked about him. Shanks is thrilled to meet Ace and hear that Luffy’s doing well and still aims to be the Pirate King. Ace though reveals that he aims to become Pirate King as well, and plans to do that by defeating Whitebeard in order to prove his strength. This path leads him to Jimbei, who of course refuses to permit that and the two get into a massive brawl that ends five days later in a draw. This draws Whitebeard himself out, wanting to fight the rookie who’s after his own head. His very presence literally blows the Spade Pirates away, and Ace puts up a flame barrier, trapping them on the other side so that they can get away. Whitebeard remarks on Ace’s cheekiness and Ace throws himself at him, and is quickly mowed down. Whitebeard says that Ace dying here would be a shame, and offers him a chance to join the Whitebeard Pirates. Ace’s response is a hearty “Screw you!!”
Eyecatches: Nami and Chopper
Ace awakens in a bed on board the Moby Dick. He steps out into the morning sunlight, takes one look at the sea, and then plops himself down on the deck in misery. Thatch comes up to him and introduces himself, saying that since Ace will be joining their crew, they should get along. After Ace tells him to shut up Thatch goes on to tell him that his crew tried to rescue him, but got beat up and brought on board as well. Ace asks if it’s a good idea to let him wander around the ship freely, and Thatch chuckles and claims that they don’t need any chains, cuffs, or anything of the sort.
Once night falls the first thing Ace tries to do is stab Whitebeard in his sleep. The only thing he accomplishes is getting backhanded through the cabin wall and out onto the deck, where two men complain about the racket. Later during the day Ace tries attacking with an axe, and gets sent flying overboard for his troubles, prompting one of the crew members to call for someone to save him in a rather bored manner. After the hundredth failure, Ace finally gives up on killing Whitebeard and goes off to sulk. The division commander Marco leaves some food for him ,and as he leaves Ace asks him why the crew refers to Whitebeard as “Pops” and Marco replies that it’s simply because he calls them his sons. He then tells Ace that he’ll never be able to kill Whitebeard, and that he should accept his offer to join the crew.
And so Ace does officially join and gains his famous tattoo. His fame as a Whitebeard grows when he manages to bring the crew of Doma to surrender all on his own, and some of the crew members suggest that he become the leader of the 2nd Division, as it’s been leaderless for quite some time. Ace later goes to Whitebeard himself and reveals that he’s the son of Gold Roger, but Whitebeard says that it doesn’t matter who one’s parents are, since they are all children of the sea. So with a big celebratory banquet, Ace becomes the 2nd Division’s commander, and all is well…until his friend Thatch finds a Devil Fruit one evening…
In the aftermath of Thatch’s murder and Teach’s escape, the crew members try to stop Ace from going after him in anger. Ace angrily declares that he’s responsible since Teach was a member of his division and that he tarnished Whitebeard’s name. Even Whitebeard telling him not to go because of a bad feeling won’t stop him. He jumps overboard on to the Striker and sails off…and we know the rest.
Back in the present, things have settled down since the seaquake. Ace looks at his assembled crew and asks why didn’t they leave him to his fate after he ignored his orders and ran off on his own. Whitebeard shakes his head and says that that wasn’t the case at all. He told him to go himself.
So after learning of Ace's birth, we now learn how he became a Whitebeard. Well, I have a number of issues with this episode, so let me break them down.
First, the technical aspects. This animation director's art is usually pretty good, but was rather uneven in this episode, and it didn't really pick up until the final four minutes or so. The more complex animation was rather sloppy looking, especially whenever Ace used his Devil Fruit. I guess they're saving the big guns and budget for the upcoming action scenes, and Toei isn't a company known for splurging, exactly, but the outsourcing was pretty obvious and I just couldn't really enjoy it. I will say though, that I liked how the cracks in the air refracted the background. A neat little touch of detail.
This episode is also the first time Whitebeard has laughed his "Gu ra ra ra" laugh in the anime, and I didn't sound very good. It made him sound like he was a drooling geriatric, unfortunately, like mumbling. The unique laughs are one of One Piece's quirky little qualities, but not all of them can actually make the transition without sounding incredibly stupid in actuality. It's part of the reason I liked how in the English manga Viz reworked a few of the more outlandish ones to something more realistic, like "Foh hoh hoh1" for Hogback and "Gra ha ha ha!" for Whitebeard.
And speaking of voices, this episode marked the debut of Ivankov's second seiyuu, Mitsuo Iwata. The story behind this is, Ivankov was originally voiced by Norio Imamura, who turned out to be the original inspiration behind the character, but he was arrested about a month ago for posting (censored) pictures on his blog showing off some body art, which I guess counts as indecent exposure in Japan. And so in the spirit of sweeping things under the rug, the role had to be recast. It's really a shame, since the role was literally made for Imamura, and, appropriately enough, he sounded very natural in it. And the fact that Ivankov was virtually playing himself was just the icing on the cake of audacity that is the character. Iwata sounds a lot airier and a bit raspier, and he's clearly trying to mimic Imamura's performance. To be honest, I don't find the sound to be very natural. The replacement for Jimbei was less jarring to he since Gouri had only been around for half an episode, and Hoki's take on the character is actually closer to my imagining. Still, it was only two or three lines. Hopefully he'll grow into the role.
All right, now onto the content of the flashback. I know that this was supposed to be a heartwarming tale of acceptance and whatnot, but I actually find the whole situation of his joining rather disquieting. Firt off, after he's Shanghai'd/taken aboard the Moby Dick his original crew completely vanishes off the face of the earth. Yeah, there's a throwaway line about how they're on board too, but since we never see them, it doesn't matter in the least, and Ace seems to get over them pretty quickly. Part of this feeling is caused by the rapid-fire montage style of the flashback in order to get all the facts down, which leaves for little characterization room, but there still could've been a quick scene or two of Ace leading his old crew under Whitebeard's banner as members of the 2nd Division. Personally, I think this flashback should have been a little longer to do justice, especially with a character as important as Ace. Marco's attitude of "You look miserable and like you don't want to be here, but you're still gonna join" didn't really sit well with me either. Also, didn't this sort of crush Ace's original dream? Yeah, he soon found a new one, but that's still a big no-no for One Piece. Everything regarding this just doesn't sit well with me. We are the Whitebeard Pirates. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Next, and this is probably my biggest gripe with the character, is the sheer amount of Informed Ability Ace has. Literally almost everyone in the story that has had any sort of interaction with him has made a point to bring up how awesome he is, yet all these "awesome feats" are entirely all off-screen. His on-screen accomplishments? Wiping out a bunch of mooks in Alabasta (which pretty much every semi-important character can do by this point in the story), and jobbing to Blackbeard. Real impressive. I just find it hard to connect with this incredibly hyped up character who's barely been in the story, regardless of importance, and has barely anything to show for it.
Oh yes, I find the whole "Luffy knew that Ace was Godl Roger's son the whole time yet never said anything 'cause no one asked" scene to be a huge anticlimax. Would have loved to see some of his teammates' reactions to that piece of info. Especially Buggy, since we actually sailed on Roger's crew and partied with Ace during Jaya. I think I heard him during the big "WHHHHHAAAAAAA????!!", but that doesn't really cut it.
One last negative observation before I move on to something good to say. I don't remember Marco sounding so young in is last appearance. His seiyuu has been voicing Ichigo for too long.
Okay, positive stuff now. I liked how they gave Thatch a few more scenes, and I do like how they showed his death at Blackbeard's hand. The dagger and all the blood really gives the murder more impact, since in the manga this all happened entirely off-screen.
And that's it. The action starts next week in ernest, and I'm a bit apprehensive, since Toei is apparently still sticking with its "one-chapter-per-episode" pacing. Most of the upcoming chapters are shorter than usual, contain multiple pagespreads, and consist of non-stop action. It'll be a real challenge to produce something watchable and not an unmitigated disaster. Well, hopefully I'm have more good things to say next time. Until then.
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
462: The Power to Destroy the World! The Power of the Quake Quake Fruit
Ace yells back to Whitebeard that his words are a lie, since he ignored his orders to stand down and got himself into this mess on his own. Whitebeard repeats his statement about ordering Ace to pursue Blackbeard, and Marco backs him up on it, and says that everyone in the world knows the consequences of harming one of their crew, and the other crew members roar in support. On the Navy’s side, Moria and Doflamingo are all fired up and ready for the action to start. Doflamingo asks Mihawk if he’s going to simply sit this out and kill time like he usually does, and of course is met with silence. Down below them, several marines notice that the bay’s water level appears to be receding.
Outside Marineford the battleship carrying Luffy and his allies is being blown backwards by an unseen force. While the passengers are being blown about, Luffy asks to know what’s going on, while Jimbei has figured out the reason himself. Once the ship comes to a stop and everyone recovers their bearings, Luffy urges Jimbei to hurry the ship back up so that they can get to Marineford in time, and Jimbei tells him not to worry, for they will definitely make it. Buggy clambers up onto the deck and sarcastically asks how Jimbei’s going to ensure that. Use Fishman Karate? Summon more whale-sharks? Getting tired of Jimbei’s vague responses and Luffy’s stubbornness, he announces that he’s going to take a nap. Before long though, the ship begins to move forward on its own again. Buggy quickly resumes his stance at the ship’s bow, declaring this to be a sign that the world is calling for him to conquer it. And then a giant shadow falls over them…
After falling silent, Marineford begins to tremble and shake once again. Garp says that the seaquake Whitebeard created earlier has now come back in the form to two giant tidal waves, each bearing down on Marineford from opposite ends. Whitebeard has eaten the Quake Quake Fruit, giving him the power to unleash seismic waves. Sengoku says that even though Whitebeard’s outnumbered, it doesn’t guarantee victory, since Whitebeard has the power to destroy the very world.
Eyecatches: Luffy (twice)
Admiral Aokiji leaps out of his seat in front of the scaffold and up into the air, where he uses Ice Age to freeze the two massive tidal waves solid, sparing the battlefield. He then shoots several ice lances at Whitebeard, who punches out a shockwave that destroys the lances and shatters Aokiji himself. He falls to the sea where he reforms and promptly freezes the entire bay, locking all of the ships in and preventing escape. The marines begin firing their cannons at the enemy fleet as Whitebeard’s division commanders and crew members drop down onto the ice and rush forward to engage the Navy soldiers in close-quarters combat. Ensign Tashigi identifies a mustachioed, top hat-wearing division commander and “Flower Blade” Vista, but while she’s focused on him her superior Smoker takes out a pirate who was about to attack her from behind, and admonishes her for leaving her guard open.
Just outside of the ice, the New World fleet and Navy battleships trade cannon fire, and find themselves facing a number of the Navy’s Vice-Admirals. Vice-Admirals Comille and Yamakaji try to talk Tsuru out of joining the fight, which she says is a ridiculous notion, and that it wouldn’t matter anyway, since now no place is safe.
Where the Seven Warlords of the Sea are stationed, Mihawk steps forward, a rare occurrence according to Kizaru and Akainu. Doflamingo now asks if he’s really going to fight, and Mihawk replies that he wants to see for himself just how great the gap in power between Whitebeard and them is. He swings his sword, Black-Bladed Night, sending a massive air-slash straight for Whitebeard.
So the great battle of Marineford finally kicks off! ...but first we have to sit through fifteen minutes of padding to get to the action! Yep, it took fifteen minutes to get through the last four or so pages of chapter 552, and we only got about maybe two-thirds of the way through 553. Considering that these pages were almost entirely action panels and page spreads, that's pretty bad, and the fact that the whole thing with the tidal waves was resolved in less than two minutes didn't help either. The filler with Buggy and the ship wasn't that great either. I would have liked it if it were smarter, like showing the group suiting up and arming themselves for battle. Maybe that's still to come.
We did get to see some new stuff though. First, Whitebeard's powers. He ate a Devil Fruit that allows him to generate earthquakes. In a world that's mostly covered in water, that's a pretty big deal, as he could easily destroy small islands by swamping them with massive waves. He may not be able to destroy the world outright, but the state of the world combined with Whitebeard's monstrous strength, and you've got one absurdly powerful Devil Fruit there.
Next, the other division commanders finally spring into action. Probably the most notable aspect of Oda's art style is his ability to differentiate his cast, probably moreso that any other manga artist currently out there. Well, granted, the women often come from a more limited palette when not outright inhuman, but he's been getting a bit better in that regard in recent arcs, as the leading ladies in them, Nami, Robin, Camie, Marguerite, Hancock, and Sadie all have distinctive features beyond just a different hairstyle. Anyway, getting back to my point, even bit characters often have detailed unique designs, and it really shows in this arc with all of the dozens and dozens of pirates running around, each with different outfits, weapons, and looks. By comparison, the marines look pretty bland with their matching uniforms and dinky rifles and swords. The division commanders are just as diverse, and since many of them are unnamed in-story and pop in and out of the spotlight, here's a brief rundown of who's who for the less prominent ones for future reference:
- Blamenco - the fat guy with the overalls and missing teeth
- Rakuyo - the Jack Sparrow Expy with the chain-chomp mace (how cool is that?)
- Namur - the Fishman
- Blenheim - the giant man with a long braid
- Curiel - the guy with headphones who's lugging around two BFGs
- Kingudu - the He-Man looking-fellow
- Haruta - the guy wearing the Shakesperian stage outfit
- Atomos - big guy with a horned helmet
- Speed Jiru - guy wearing a fez and is armed with a lance
- Fossa - guy with a cleft chin who's smoking a cigar
- Izo - the pistol-wielding man (yes, that is a guy) who's dressed like a geisha
Anyway, once the action finally started in the last seven minutes things got really exciting. The animation was simple, yep fluid and coherent. If that's how most of the incidental action is going to look, I'm perfectly satisfied with it. It's a big step up from the battle during Alabasta's climax, which was full of still panning shots (not that I don't expect some of those here too). The battlefield was admittedly a bit sparse compared to the manga, but it's forgiveable because it would be very expensive and unpractical to animate all of that, and like I alluded to in my last post, Toei's no BONES or Production IG or anything like that. I'll take what I can get. Speaking of Alabasta, Tashigi looks so different now than back then. She looks much grimmer in Oda's new style, which smaller eyes and mouth, and longer hair. At the end of that arc she promised to get much stronger, so it would be nice if she got some extra scenes here to prove it. Nice of her to identify Mihawk's sword, at any rate, since so far its only been named in a databook.
One last bit; there were two new voices in this episode. First is Akainu. During Robin's flashback he was voiced by Michio Nakao, but now he has a much more recognized seiyuu, Fumihiko Tachiki, who's played Don Krieg in One Piece before, but is more well known for the roles of Zaraki Kenpachi and Gendo Ikari, so I'm looking forward to when he gets more dialogue. Next, Hirohiko Kakegawa, someone I've never heard of before now mind, replaced Takeshi Aono as Mihawk, due to the latter's hospitalization for a stroke. I was expecting Bin Shimada to be the replacement, given that he replaced Aono for two other roles, one of which being Kami in Dragon Ball Kai, myself, so this was a bit of a surprise. He only had one line of dialogue, but he was noticeably younger-sounding.
And on that, I will end this post by saying that Doflamingo trying and failing to make small talk with the other Warlords is funny, and next episode looks to have some good payoff. Until then.
edited 20th Aug '10 10:56:49 AM by ComicX6
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
463: Incinerate Everything! Admiral Akainu's Power
Mihawk’s gigantic air-slash heads straight for Whitebeard, forcing those in its path to leap out of the way. But Jozu dashes in front of the Moby Dick and manages to intercept the attack and deflect it off into the sky. The marines marvel at this, and the dust clears revealing that Jozu’s body has turned to crystal. He’s “Diamond” Jozu! Without a word, Mohawk resheathes his sword.
As the fighting continues, Kizaru comments that in order for the battle to end with the least number of loses, they should strike at the enemy’s head. He dissolves in a flash of light and reappears in mid air over the battlefield, where he unleashes his Yasakani no Magatama (Sacred Jewel String) attack towards Whitebeard, but a figure gets between them and physically blocks the laser barrage. After the attack dissipates, it’s revealed to be Marco, swathed in wings of blue flame, who says that going after the king like that isn’t allowed. Kizaru remarks that he has the power of a mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, more rare than a Logia. The flames on Marco’s body vanish, and he claims that that attack still hurt, which Kizaru responds to by calling him a liar. Marco then turns into his animal form, and flaming bird, and the marines identify him as Marco the Phoenix. Kizaru launches another stream of lasers at Marco, but they prove to be ineffective against his regenerating blue flame. He switches back to human and manages to land a kick on Kizaru, and their earlier exchange is repeated, only with Marco being the one to call Kizaru a liar.
After being deflected and destroying part of the battlements, Kizaru reforms and warns the Navy’s squadron of Giants to be on the lookout for aerial attacks. The pirates prepare to take them on, but Jozu yells for everyone to stand back. He punches the ground and rips out a gigantic iceberg, and with great effort heaves it backwards over his head, straight for the execution scaffold.
Eyecatches: Brook and Robin
Akainu gets up from his chair, grumbling about Aokiji and Kizaru going off and leaving the scaffold unguarded. His arm heats up and turns into molten rock, before lava bursts through into the shape of a giant fist. Akainu uses his Dai Fuunka (Grand Eruption) technique and hurls the lava fist forward into the air, where it hits the iceberg head-on and punches through, instantly destroying it. The fist then explodes and rains volcanic debris upon the battlefield, destroying one of Whitebeard’s battleships. Whitebeard catches one of the rocks on his bisento and blows it out, saying that Akainu would be better off lighting birthday cakes. Akainu responds by saying that he should enjoy a well-lit funeral.
The fighting rages on, and as it does Coby begins to lose his nerve. Behind him, Helmeppo is in a similar position, and feels that they don’t stand a chance on this battlefield. Remembering his promise to Luffy to become an Admiral, Coby becomes paralyzed with indecision, but soon the two have much…bigger things to worry about.
Out from beyond the New World fleet a massive horned figure, towering over the battleships assembled, clomps towards the battlefield. The pirates cheer on this new arrival as he cleaves a battleship in two with a massive machete and call him ‘’Little’’ Oars Jr., as Tsuru identifies him as the descendant of the great demon Oars. Moria is beside himself, and declares his desire for the uber-Giant’s corpse. Oars Jr. declares Ace to be a nice guy, and because Ace is a nice guy, he won’t let him be killed.
A busy episode. It was primarily a montage of scenes dedicated to showing off new abilities. As such, it's kind of hard to make a natural-flowing summary from it, but I'll see what I can do. The storytelling is going to be like this for quite a while; constantly jumping between fifteen-odd characters. This episode covered to the end of chapter 554, and for the most part I thought the art and such was handled well. There were a number of incidental still shots, but I'm willing to forgive them for that.
Anyway, lots of new powers brought out in this episode. We learn that Jozu has some kind of diamond Paramecia, and is also colossally strong, given that he was able to throw that iceberg like that. I wonder if Mihawk really can't cut diamond, or just chose not to (much like how Zoro cuts steel only if he wills it). That scene also answered the question of how Mihawk's sword stays on his back: there are several straps on the back of his coat to hold it in.
The scene with Marco and Kizaru clashing was easily this episode's crown jewel. The animation for the movement and flames was amazing and very realistic. Marco got a good deal out of the Super Power Lottery. His power gives him flight, fire powers, and healing. Winning combination there. And he must have Ambition too, being able to strike Kizaru's arm.
Akainu. We finally get to see what his powers are, and his face. The three Admirals' appearances are all based off of Japanese actors famous for starring in '70s mobster films, I think. Aokiji is modeled after Yusaku Matsuda, though he still fits right in with the series's design aesthetic. Kizaru is modeled after Kunie Tanaka, and while his design is more detailed, he still looks very much like a caricature. Akainu, on the other hand, is modeled after Bunta Sugawara, and unlike the others, is drawn in a much more detailed and realistic style, to the point where he looks almost exactly like the actor and clashes with everyone else. It's a bit more jarring in the manga, though, since manga art is almost always more detailed than anime art. The standard Navy-issue baseball cap kinda clashes with the rest of his outfit too.
Anyway, the reveal that he has a lava Logia wasn't terribly unexpected, since once Kizaru revealed his Devil Fruit it was pretty obvious that Akainu would have a red-themed Logia, and lava was the most plausible element. The scene wasn'r as flashy as Marco's, but I did like how the animated his arm heating up and the lava fist bursting through. Very powerful and destructive power, and it's put to some grisly use later on, so I have to wonder how the anime's going to handle it. Will they censor it, or not? Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Capping off the episode is the arrival of the pirates' newest ally, Oars Jr., ironically dubbed "little". Hell, he looks even bigger than the original Oars did on Thriller Bark. He's voiced by Keiji Hirai, and he sounds just like how I expected Oars to sound like, big, slow, and simple, not like the stuffy-nosed Luffy we did get. His whole situation felt like a BLAM Episode to me in the manga, as well as kind of forced, but it still showed us some new stuff. Let's see how it turns out.
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
464: The Demon's Descendant! Little Oars Jr. Dashes Forth!
As Oars Jr. looms over the battlefield, Moria declares his desire to obtain his copse, once again giving him the ultimate zombie. The only ones who can stand against this uber-Giant are the Navy's own Giant squadron, who move into action against him. Despite being shot at by cannons and firearms, Oars Jr. shrugs them off and approaches one of the Navy warships. Ace yells for Oars to back off, since his size means that he's simply target practice for the marines. Oars Jr. declares that he's coming from Ace, and rips the ship out of the ice and smashes it into the approaching Giants. This act destroys a portion of the Marineford battlements, allowing the pirates to finally make a dash for the plaza beyond.
Coby is paralyzed by all the violence erupting all around him, and has to be saved from a pirate by a Rear-Admiral named Yukimura, who admonishes him for his cowardice before leaping back into the fray. Witnessing this, Coby falls to his knees and exclaims that he's useless.
The Giants, meanwhile, regroup, commenting that this is the first time that they've had to actually look up at someone. The leader of the group, Vice-Admiral Lacroix, engages Oars Jr., but his opponent has the size advantage and shatters his sword and cuts him down. Whitebeard shouts that Oars Jr. is being too reckless, but when Oars Jr. shouts back that he just wants to save Ace and not to stop him, Whitebeard orders his men to provide cover, though the uber-Giant is still doing fine on his own, as he handles the rest of the Giant squadron fairly easily.
While this is going on, one of the pirates yells at the Warlords to pay attention and attacks Hancock. Hancock uses an attack called Slave Arrow to fire projectiles that turn anything they hit to stone, people and bullets alike. She then jumps into the fray herself and attacks the mob with a volley of kicks, each blow petrifying parts to the opponent's body and shattering them. Some of the marines start complaining about being caught up in the crossfire (entirely justified, since one of 'em's missing part of his head), and she says that she does not care who she fights; she's still upholding her agreement to participate in the war, after all. The others are not amused.
Anyway, it doesn't look like anyone can stop Oars Jr....until Kuma steps forward.
Eyecatches: Franky and Luffy
Kuma creates a giant air-bubble and the compresses it as Oars Jr. advances. Once small enough, he unleashes his Ursus Shock and detonates the pressure bomb directly into Oars Jr.'s stomach. The massive explosion devastates both the uber-Giant and the battlefield, sending marines and pirates alike flying. When the dust and debris settle, the bloodied uber-Giant falls to his knees, his straw-woven hat settling on the ice nearby.
The hat turns out to be a special one for Oars Jr. Ace made it for him since he thought being in the sun was uncomfortable for someone so large. Oars Jr. really took a liking to Ace and the hat, and this friendship is what is driving him now. Even if he's going to go down here, he decides that he'll at least take down one of the Warlords. Doflamingo looks up to see a massive fist heading his way, but he avoids Oars Jr.'s blow by leaping high into the air, immobilizing him before severing his right leg through an unknown means.
Oars Jr. falls to his knees, but despite his grievous injuries, still tries to reach out to his friend Ace, chained on the scaffold...until he's pierced by a shadow lance from Moria.
Well, this was certainly a violent episode, with mooks bleeding all over the place, Hancock's rather grisly display, and Oars Jr. losing a leg.
New powers, well, first off, we learn that Doflamingo can use some kind of Razor Floss for offensive strength. Makes him a very dangerous opponent, coupled with his puppetteering and his sadistic personality. I wonder how Luffy's going to eventually fight and beat him, since both of Doflamingo's shown abilities are things he's been established as weak against. It will certainly be interesting to see.
Elsewhere, Hancock shows that she has more in her arsenal than just looking pretty and insta-stoning everyone. That's welcome, but her newly showcased powers here make her "lust beam" completely unnecessary, since she clearly wasn't going through the additional hoop of entrancing her audience. I did like how her part was animated, and I was amused that the music played during that scene was one of Sanji's pieces, seeing as they both kick and all. Pretty gory scene though, if you think about it.
Anyway, bulk of the episode focused on Oars Jr. Like I mentioned before, I didn't really care much for this, since the emotion seemed so forced to me (not helped by being accompanied by another dose of "look how awesome Ace is!"). It didn't feel natural to me. Instead of growing and warming up to a character, it felt like Oda was going "Like this guy and feel bad for him, or else you're a horrible monster!" and trying to beat it into my head. I guess it's the whole self-contained nature of this sequence. There's not enough natural flow to this arc. Things are jumping around too fast, getting lost in the shuffle than reappearing later on out of the blue. There's not enough time to bond with the material before we're whisked away. I know this is supposed to be a chaotic battlefield, but it comes at the cost of the straightforward storytelling I like about this series.
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
465: Victory is Justice - Sengoku's Plan Goes into Action!
Despite using the last of his strength to reach out towards Ace, Oars Jr. collapses to the ground, as Moria proclaims that this is how one really kills a person. As Whitebeard watches the tragic scene one of the Giants tries to attack him, but Whitebeard shatters his weapon with a seismic wave, and then sends another one into the man's head and tosses his limp body away like a rag doll. While the battlefield marvels over him manhandling a Giant like that, Whitebeard orders his men to charge across Oars Jr's. body in order to reach the inner plaza.
Meanwhile, division commander Atomos approaches Doflamingo, eager to avenge the fallen Oars Jr. Doflamingo laughs at his challenge, and declares that being at the center of a turning point in history is greatly exciting. Atomos has none of this and attacks, but Doflamingo paralyzes him with only a gesture.
After taking in the growing carnage, Coby and Helmeppo make a break from the battlefield and to the Marineford city, but they're not the only ones with that idea, since they overhear voices and hide behind a building from a marine soldier and Admiral Akainu. The marine pleads to be left alone and escape the battlefield, since thinking about dying on his family terrifies him. Akainu orders him to return to the fighting, and says that the marines carry the world's justice on their backs and anyone who shames themselves has no right to call themselves a marine. If he really cared for his family, he wouldn't go around disgracing them like he has. The marine still objects, so Akainu activates his lava and apparently melts the guy as punishment. Witnessing this, Coby wonders how on earth anyone can do that to an ally, but then he overhears another marine reporting that preparations for a new operation are complete.
Meanwhile the fighting's growing more intense as the pirates have managed to make a second breach in the bay walls. Atomos is still helpless against Doflamingo's power, and despite yelling for them to get away, he is forced to cut down his own men. Doflamingo laughs away at the spectacle, and makes a little speech about how the sets of values change depending on who is on top. Whoever wins here will be "justice".
Eyecatches: Brook and Luffy
Sengoku receives a new battle report but dismisses it. He contacts Tsuru by telesnail who, after using her powers of the Wash Wash Fruit to literally hang some pirates out to dry, proceeds to spread the word to the Navy that their new plan is going into action. After he receives the news, Garp ascends the execution scaffold steps, much to Ace's surprise. Sengoku asks if he's come to protest his plan, but Garp denies that, as they can't afford to show mercy to pirates. He says all he's going to do is sit down, which he does.
This invites a flashback, to a time where Garp had gotten into an argument with young Ace and Luffy, as he of course wanted them to become marines while they insisted otherwise, though they do end up agreeing on the dangers of Luffy devouring the entire food stores of a Navy ship in a single day. Present Garp proclaims that he has no sympathy for criminals, but that doesn't go for his family. Tearing up, he curses that Ace didn't lead the life that he should've led. Sengoku says that he won't show any mercy if Garp tries to interfere in things, and Garp retorts that if he were going to do anything, he would have done it already.
Meanwhile Coby learns via his telesnail that the plan is to execute Ace ahead of schedule, but before he can really discuss it with Helmeppo, the two are distracted by a voice...
...which turns out to be from none other than Luffy and his team screaming in terror as fall out of the sky. Ivankov wails that he does not want to die like this, and Crocodile blames this predicament on his wink attacks, while Buggy moans that he never should have listened to Luffy's plan. Luffy's just as worried that he's going to die from the fall until he remembers that his rubbery body will survive, angering the others even more. Most everyone on the battlefield has to marvel; leave it to Luffy to make an entrance like this!
This episode, for the most part, wasn't really all that. Save for Whitebeard defeating the Giant and some of the flashback bits, the art and animation weren't anything special. The beginning with Oars Jr. just made me angry because of how drawn out it was. I mean, if he were actually dead that would justify the amount of time spent on that scene, and to be honest that's how it should be, but Oda always cops out on this kind of stuff, which completely ruins the intended emotion, so as a result the audience doesn't bother to emotionally invest themselves to begin with.
I did like the flashbacks, however. I really like how Garp's inner conflict is being portrayed here. He's a true blue marine, but he still loves his (adopted) family, and is thus torn between his family and his profession. Quite a tough situation to be in.
Coby's situation, eh, I don't quite care for. While I do appreciate the added filler with Yukimura being taken down to add depth to his situation, it kinda betrays your expectations for him after his meeting with Luffy in Water 7. I know Zoro mentioned that he's still a bit of a crybaby, but you'd think that he'd have grown out of it a bit more than he has.
Well, Luffy's now finally here, and the action should start getting more intense from here on out.
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466: Team Straw Hat Arrives - The Battlefield Falls into Chaos
The Jailbreak Gang has finally made their dramatic entrance at Marineford by falling out of the air. Naturally, the episode begins with a flashback to explain how this came to be.
After getting blown away from the Gates of Justice by Whitebeard's seismic wave, they group soon found one of the giant tidal waves baring down on them. Jimbei orders everyone to haul in the sails as he plans to have the ship ride its way into Marineford on the wave. Buggy and the prisoners of course panic, but Crocodile shuts them up by pointing out that anything else would capsize their ship, and scolds them for panicking despite being pirates. So everyone hunkers down and grabs on to something, as the ship is pulled up into the wave until it pops out atop its crest. the wave is then completely frozen thanks to Aokiji, locking the ship within the ice.
While everyone recovers their bearings, Crocodile, Jimbei, and Ivankov go over to the edge of the ice to see the battle taking place below. Luffy proposes that they break the ship out of the ice and slide down the back of the wave, which Mr. 3 calls impossible. Luffy says that if they call work together, it'll work, which manages to get the others fired up. Right then the telesnail stored within the ship's mast starts to ring again as a new transmission comes through: the Navy is to proceed with a plan code-named TOTTZ, after which they will immediately execute Ace. After hearing this Luffy gets desperate, and he, Buggy, Crocodile, Jimbei, and Ivankov attack the ice, freeing the ship...and causing it to fall off the wrong side.
The ship luckily crashes down onto the one patch of sea left on the field from Jozu's iceberg throw. The prisoners scurry to higher ground as the ship breaks into two while Jimbei saves the Devil Fruit users. Luffy regains consciousness and after recollecting himself, starts scurrying around the ship's wreckage, looking for any sign of Ace amidst the fighting going on all around him. After punching out a few marines who had climbed aboard, he makes his way over to the ship's bow, in sight of the execution scaffold. Overjoyed to have finally found his brother, he bellows out his name loud enough for all to hear.
Eyecatches: Luffy (twice)
Luffy tells Ace to wait for him as his other allies come up behind him. The marines are justifiably shocked to see Luffy allied with the Warlords Jimbei and Crocodile, as well as the revolutionary Ivankov and hordes of notorious Impel Down prisoners. Akainu remarks that Dragon's son will have to be elimated as well.
Trying to gather himself, Sengoku shouts to Jimbei is this really his answer to the government, and Jimbei retorts that he's quiting the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Garp doubts that the entire group has one goal in mind, especially with revolutionaries and Crocodile included.
And he would be right, for Crocodile flies over towards Whitebeard while everyone is distracted. Coming up behind him, he remarks that it's been quite a while, and that Whitebeard never learns. Fortunately for the old man though, Luffy quickly zips over using Gear Second and deflects Crocodile's hook away. Seeing that Luffy is still dripping wet from his earlier dip, instead of picking a fight, Crocodile demands to know why Luffy's opposing him now, especially after he held up his end of the bargain they made in Impel Down. Luffy remarks simply that he knows Ace respects Whitebeard, and so he won't let him harm him.
While some of his crew try to block off Crocodile, Whitebeard takes a look at Luffy, recognizes him as the brother that Ace often bragged about, and recognizes his hat as Shanks's. He asks if Luffy's come to save Ace, and when Luffy states that he is, Whitebeard slams his bisento for emphasis and shouts that he has no idea what he's getting into, and that he stands no chance on the battleship. Luffy tells him to shut up and insists that he's going to be the Pirate King, not Whitebeard. Despite everyone within earshot crapping their pants at this declaration and Luffy's suicidal attitude, Whitebeard becomes amused by Luffy's stubborn spirit, and says not to get in his way.
Kizaru asks if he can kill every one of the intruders, and Sengoku replies that he can. "Here I come!!" Luffy declares.
The chapter this episode covered didn't exactly have a whole lot of content, so in light of that, I think the episode did a fairly good job of adapting it. I honestly don't really have a whole lot to say because of that. I guess I would have appreciated that anime showing some filler depicting everyone arming themselves and suiting up for battle (instead of it happening instantly and off screen), but eh, you can't get everything you hope for. There were some minor bits I thought were pretty funny, like the prisoner wearing the inner tube during the wave riding scene, that one marine clubbing a bunch of guys and uttering a cartoonishly cheesy evil laugh, and Kizaru at the end just sort of leaning into a dramatic distance shot with that dopishly happy expression on his face.
I have to wonder what Crocodile's connection with Whitebeard is. Was he simply a pirate who was defeated by him, an Ace-style conversion gone horribly wrong, or something else entirely? Luffy's scene with ol' Whitebeard wasn't really anything special, but it just goes to show that you can get a lot of mileage out of pigheadedness in shonen. Shame it doesn't work that way in reality.
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467: I'll Save You Even if I Die - The Battle of Luffy vs. the Navy Begins
As the various characters on the battlefield continue to stare dumbstruck, Luffy tells Whitebeard about what he heard on the telesnail about the Navy planning to execute Ace ahead of schedule and that they were going to start up a new strategy. Whitebeard thanks him for this and apologizes for being harsh with him earlier, and once again Buggy, Mr. 3, and Ivankov are beside themselves at how casual they're being.
Luffy again proclaims that he's going to save Ace and launches himself off of the Moby Dick's bow and onto the frozen bay, with Jimbei, Ivankov, and the New Kamas following suit. Sengoku comments that even this won't stop the plan, and barks out orders to his forces via telesnail to proceed with the new strategy. Marco flies over to Whitebeard and reports that he's learned of the new execution schedule. Whitebeard says that the leaked information was probably deliberate, so they shouldn't worry about it just yet.
Meanwhile, the first obstacle in Luffy's path is Kizaru, who says that the Celestial Dragons are still after him as he charges up his laser. Luckily for Luffy, Ivankov's there to blow him out of the laser's path with Death Wink as he yells that it's his job to protect Luffy from harm. Ivankov himself ends up being the target of several more laser attacks, but this time from Kuma. The drag-green executes a series of flips to dodge them, thinking how horrible Kuma is for attacking an old friend, even if he is a Warlord. He shouts to Luffy to keep on moving, while he resolves to fight Kuma himself.
Luffy next encounters Jango and Fullbody, whom he barely recognizes from his adventures in East Blue. Jango tries to hypnotize him (twice as effective with two chakrams), but only succeeds in putting himself and Fullbody to sleep. Their commanding officer Hina unceremoniously kicks them out of the way and uses her Devil Fruit, the Cage Cage Fruit, to try to ensnare Luffy, but he easily avoids it was a burst of Gear Second speed and continues to press onward.
Meanwhile outside the bay, the New World caption Squardo makes to climb the wall that Oars Jr. crushed, but is stopped by a certain someone's approach...
Eyecatches: Sanji and Luffy
As Luffy continues to fight his way through the marines, Moria gets the idea of stealing his shadow again, and summons a force of zombies up out of the earth for him to tangle with. Watching Luffy starting to get overwhelmed by both the marine soldiers and the zombies, Ace finally speaks up, yelling out for Luffy to keep away, stopping him dead in his tracks. Ace continues on, shouting that he has his own crew, life and adventure to lead, something that Luffy has no place in. To be saved by him is an embarrassment. Of course, he really doesn't want to bring Luffy and everyone else down with him.
Luffy retorts by shouting that he's his brother, leading to a brief flashback depicting the two as children drinking sake from the same bottle, something that Ace claimed would make them brothers. The bystanders take this declaration literally, only to realize that there's no way the two could be blood-related. Jimbei, meanwhile, douses Moria's zombies with seawater, purifying them, and like Ivankov before him, tells Luffy to keep moving forward.
Sengoku reprimands the marines for letting Luffy steal the focus for so long, and reveals that he is the son of the revolutionary leader Dragon. While everyone reels at this new information, Garp simply says that he doesn't care any more. Raising Luffy and Ace together was a foolish mistake.
One of the Giants tries to crush Luffy in the meantime, only to be on the receiving end of a Gigant Rifle. Luffy shouts that he doesn't care about anything Ace says, he's still going to save him, even if he dies!
This episode had a lot of recap in the beginning, but the trade-off for that was a really fun, intense episode. The fighting coreography was well-constructed and animated, and the extra bits, like Jango and Fullbody getting their five minutes of fame as opposed to the manga, are always welcome. Luffy's attack at the end was done in the classic sketchy method of Art Shift, which was pretty cool. No complaints here in the technical department.
Ace's attempt to Shoo the Dog towards the end goes back to the end of Thriller Bark where Luffy tells Nami that Ace would be really angry if they went and saved him from whatever trouble he was in given the conditions Ace himself outlined in his little speech. Of course, Luffy's tune on this has changed since then. While I'm sure the crew would understand his reasonings, I'm sure they can't be too pleased with how suicidally reckless Luffy's being right now.
If there's one thing that's always mystified me about this material, it's where exactly Moria's zombies came from. Moria's dialogue suggests that he's reanimating soldiers who have died during the battle, but the Navy certainly doesn't have any bears or centaurs in their ranks. Eh, Rule of Cool I guess. I wonder how exactly Jimbei knew of their weakness to salt too. That was something that took a while for the Straw Hats to find out, yet Jimbei just magically knows already. Moria's certainly not going to blab about it. I guess it's an oversight. On a different note, I started watching High School Of The Dead the other day, so it's pretty amusing to contrast the cartoonish Oda zombies with the more typical George Romero-style ones in that work. Mood Whiplash indeed.
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468: Battle After Battle! Devil Fruit Users vs. Devil Fruit Users
As the fighting rages on, Ace is still stuck watching everything while he thinks that they're all fools for trying to save him. After some more angst and flashbacks, he reaches an epithany and finally calms down. He tells Garp that he'll accept whatever is in store for him, be it life or death, and apologizes to all of his friends and family.
Meanwhile, the Impel Down prisoners have been left behind, and one of them tells Buggy that they can't afford to let Luffy hog all the glory. Buggy heartily agrees, but is really thinking that he should lay low on the battlefield. Someone then calls him "Red-nose", but Buggy's anger turns to fright when he realizes that it was Whitebeard himself. Of course, the prisoners take this as him being recognized as a legend. Whitebeard recognizes Buggy as a member of Gold Roger's crew and asks if he's come to take his head. Buggy's forced to say yes lest he loose face in front of his admirers, but Whitebeard says that he has no problem with that. He does point out that there are too many Naval marines though, so he suggests they team up to fight the Navy, and then afterwards Buggy can his head. Of course, Buggy lets this go to his head, and proclaims that he'll back Whitebeard up.
Marco comments on Buggy's simple-mindedness, and Whitebeard says that this way, he doesn't have to deal with his forces messing up his own strategies. At this point more Navy ships appear to out-flank the New World fleet, so Whitebeard tries to contact Squardo via telesnail, but since he's nowhere to be found apparently, he calls up the De Calvan brothers and tells them to focus on fighting the battleships instead of rushing into the bay and to spread the word to the other New World captains. Sengoku notices the change in formation, and states that that still will not be enough to change the pirates' fates.
Eyecatches: Zoro and Luffy
The New Kama's are trapped by the marines, but Luffy, Jimbei, and Ivankov manage to break through them to find Moria waiting past them. Jimbei challenges him and orders Luffy to keep moving. The soldiers lament the fact that the Warlords are fighting each other, but Moria strips them of their shadows and absorbs them in order to bulk up. Jimbei's unfazed, saying that Moria will never become stronger by relying on others' skills. Moria angrily retorts that it doesn't matter as long as he wins, and he separates his giant pair of scissors into two blades to use as swords. Jimbei easily deflects the blades and finishes Moria with a single punch to the gut, bringing him to his knees and coughing up the shadows.
The next opponent Luffy catches the attention of is Smoker, who shoots forward and smacks Luffy away with his jutte club. Luffy remembers that it has Sea Stone in it, and thus can negate his powers. He activates Gear Second and attacks with Jet Gatling, but naturally he cannot touch Smoker's intangible smoke body. Smoker comments that they've both gotten stronger since their last meeting, grabs Luffy, and slams him to the ground, pinning his down with his jutte. Now that he knows why Dragon saved him in Loguetown, Smoker says, he's not going to let Luffy go this time.
But luckily, Luffy has friends in high places. Hancock, openly infuriated at Smoker's treatment of her beloved, kicks Smoker away, proclaiming that she'll feed him to wild animals. And of course, one word from Luffy is enough to turn her into goo.
Meanwhile Ivankov desperately tries to reason with Kuma to no avail. Doflamingo steps off of a pile of bodies he had been sitting on and tells him that it's no use, for the man that he once knew is now dead.
Less recap this time. So Ace finally accepts his lot and settles down. I hope that this means we'll be hearing less gutteral noises from him, but then again, this is the same studio that made Dragon Ball Z...
The art and animation was still pretty good, not as flashy as the last episode, but still nice to watch. Moria's "fight" with Jimbei was entertaining because they threw around weight insults and that they're both voiced by Katsuhisa Hoki, yet sound nothing alike. This was also the start of Moria's "Memetic Loser" status, I believe. The finsher was rather weak though. The animation lacked that certain oomph to it.
Luffy's fight with Smoker, on the other hand, was animated superbly! Some prime fast-paced eye candy right there. Not a fan of the scene with Hancock though. Openly attacking and proclaiming to be allied with Luffy in front of someone like Smoker is a really stupid move, and is exactly the kind of thing Nyon warned her against doing, thus throwing that aspect of the Amazon Lily arc right out the window. I'm hoping that something happens to kind of give her a wake up call to give her some positive Character Development and remind her that she does have responsibilities, but given how Oda's been writing material related to her so far, I doubt that's going to happen. And this scene is only going to get worse next episode...
Ending cliffhanger is not much of a cliffhanger for the audience, since Kuma being fully robotized was something a lot of fans predicted. Gives another meaning to his final words to Luffy on Sabaody, which I think is acknowledged in the next chapter/episode.
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469: Kuma's Change - Iva's Furious Attack
The soldiers stand still, transfixed at the sight of Hancock protecting Luffy. She does make a gesture as if to attack, but hidden from the soldiers' views, she actually produces a key from her person and gives it to Luffy, whispering that it's the key to Ace's shackles. While the marines continue to provide mistaken commentary, Luffy, overjoyed, glomps Hancock, a feat that forces him to jump up thus dragging her down. Luffy says that he owes her one before disengaging and continuing to dash towards the scaffold, leaving the overwhelmed Hancock to mistake his act for a marriage proposal, complete with the appropriate fantasy...which is shattered by Smoker going after Luffy again. She intercepts him and breaks his jutte in half, declaring that she will not allow anyone to pass her. Smoker growls that she better know what will happen if she continues to sabotage the Navy.
Luffy encounters Ivankov again, and upon recognizing Kuma, warns him to look out. Doflamingo says that the Kuma they knew and the one before them are like two different people. He explains that as part of the government's Pacifista project, Kuma's body was modified and outfitted with mechanized parts, and that process was finally completed just a few days ago, leaving behind the mindless Pacifista PX-0.
Eyecatches: Nami and Usopp
Despite being attacked yet again with lasers, Ivankov continues to try to get a response out of Kuma. Luffy puts together the double meaning behind Kuma's last words to him on Sabaody. Kuma meanwhile blasts a group of the New Kamas with Pad Hou (Pad Cannon), infuriating Ivankov to the point where he goes on the offensive, boosting his power with Ganmen Spectrum (Face Spectrum), and blasting Kuma with a barrage of his Galaxy Wink attack and follows up by kicking him into an ice floe. He then starts ranting over how this is the first time anyone has forgotten his face, and that it Kuma has forgotten how scary he can be, then he'll beat it back into him.
Meanwhile Crocodile and Mr. 1 are easily taking out Whitebeard's guards, until Jozu rams into him, sending him flying into the air. Crocodile recovers as Jozu dashes at him again, but this time is brought to a halt by none other than Doflamingo, who teases Crocodile over his imprisonment before suggesting that they should team up.
Luffy continues his dash towards the platform, but now a far more frightening opponent than what he's faced so far in this battle appears before him; the world's strongest swordsman, Dracule Mihawk!
Well, all good things come to an end. After a series of pretty good episodes, we now have a dud on our hands. The art, eh, it was largely okay I thought. The real problems were the directing and the animation.
I said with the last episode that the Hancock scene was only going to get worse, and it sure did. I don't care how anyone tries to justify it, that key was an Ass Pull, as nowhere was it ever hinted where or how Hancock got her hands on it. This would have been the perfect time for the anime to give it a little filler explanation to close the plothole, but instead they expanded on that silly marriage gag that dragged on for way, way too long, and was frankly rather embarrassing to watch given that the sounds Hancock was making made it sound like she was having an orgasm or something. Really, of all the things that could've been expanded on in this chapter, that was what they decided to go for?
Anyway, moving on to the Kuma stuff. First, I hate how everything always grinds to a halt whenever anyone delivers any sort of exposition. It's a trap that's kind of unavoidable given the two different mediums of paper and animation, but it can be handled with more grace. Kuma losing his self-will came as no real surprise to the audience. It's definitely dumbed him down, though, since the Kuma we saw at Thriller Bark and Sabaody would have had no trouble deflecting attacks of that caliber. I guess Oda simply fell into the common trap of making characters so powerful that they have to be dumbed down when the plot requires so that the good guys can stand a chance against them. I didn't really like how the fight with Ivankov and Kuma turned out either. It was very lazy and uninspired.
Anyway, Luffy has to go through Mihawk next time. Can't really say that's a match-up that I ever expected.
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470: The Swordsman Mihawk - Luffy Faces the Black Blade's Slash
Luffy says that he has no time to fight someone as strong as Mihawk, and activates Gear Second in order to jet past him. Two of the New Kamas, claiming to be former victims of Mihawk, try to hold him off and get some payback, but they are effortlessly cut down, with Mihawk simply saying that he doesn't remember every weakling he defeats. He then comments that Luffy is still within his range and sends an air slash across the battlefield which knocks Luffy into the bay wall, trapping him.
With Luffy currently incapacitated, Jimbei steps up to the plate to fend off Mihawk, claiming that no matter the outcome of this battle, Luffy is still the hope of the seas. The two clash, and Jimbei is sent crashing through the ice and into the sea, defeated. Mihawk then leaps into the air and tries to perform a diving attack with his sword. Luffy manages to free himself from the rubble, get away, but as he's about to attack he realizes that his arms would just get cut off and aborts. Mihawk observes that Luffy isn't as reckless as he thought and takes another slash at Luffy, which misses its target and instead slices the massive frozen wave in the distance in half, sending giant blocks of ice raining down on the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Doflamingo explains to Crocodile that soon the age of Whitebeard and his generation will be over, and that the era of the strong will be ushered in; an era for individuals like themselves. Crocodile responds that he'll never be an underling for him, and blows him away with a sandstorm. Elsewhere, Buggy and his followers launch their plan to sneak by the fighting and steal one of the telesnails transmitting the battle to Sabaody, only to be caught up in this very storm.
Eyecatches: Brook and Zoro
Seeing an opportunity, Luffy grabs Buggy out of the air and uses him as a human shield against Mihawk's attacks. Despite being immune to blades, Buggy's none too happy over being used like that, and sends one of his Muggy Balls at Mihawk, who simply deflects it back at him, blowing the clown to Kingdom Come. Marco orders Vista to back Luffy up, and he intercepts Mihawk, commenting that it's a pleasure to fight him. Mihawk himself monologues that Luffy's most dangerous ability isn't his Devil Fruit or his fighting skills, but rather his ability to gather allies over to his side to back him up.
On the execution scaffold, the executioners flank Ace, even though the scheduled time has not yet arrived. Sengoku orders the broadcasting telesnails to be switched off so that the world doesn't see what's to come. All they need to know is that the Navy is victorious.
Out beyond the frozen bay, several of the New World ships suddenly explode, and an army of Pacifistas emerge from the smoke and flames.
I'll say this was an okay episode overall, even if it did have some kinks here and there. I was hoping for an animation director who was higher up on the food chain to handle this episode myself, but instead it was a merely average one. Some parts of the animation, like Mihawk slicing the wave in half, was kinda clunky, and his filler clash with Jimbei was kind of awkward. Still, Mihawk casually slicing that wave was a nice little sneak-peak at what's to come during the endgame, I think. I wouldn't be surprised, nay, I expect, Zoro's final fight with him having entire islands and junk getting split.
The little part with Mihawk's swordsmanship being utterly ineffective against Buggy was cute. If you pit them against each other in one of the Grand Battle games, Buggy even says "Even Hawk-Eye can't cut me!" and it turns out to be true. It's funny how this Joke Character from the very beginning of the series pretty much completely gimps this massively powerful, endgame opponent,
Anyway, now that the Pacifistas have arrived, the battle starts getting more desperate and intense, if I remember the manga chapters correctly. But I'm going to take a little break from blogging the episodes, as my next project is to blog Movie 10. A nice change of pace for me.
edited 17th Oct '10 8:49:54 PM by ComicX6
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So, it's finally time to cover the tenth One Piece movie, Strong World.
Unlike the previous films, this one was written by Eiichiro Oda himself, the story apparently being one that he originally intended to depict in the manga, yet never got around to doing it. So with Oda being involved, there was a lot of hype for the film, and the bonus chapter (later animated as an OVA) that covered the backstory and tied the film into the manga canon only added to that. I'm looking forward to a story with the classic One Piece humor, sense of adventure, action, and of course, the emotional moments too. And apparently the story lends itself to Ship Tease very easily, if a good chunk of the fan art I've seen for the film is any indication. We'll see about that.
Anyway, time to begin the blog!
Strong World: Part 1
The film opens at Marineford, where alarms are blaring and marines rush about. Watching the activity, Vice-Admiral Garp comments that there's only one man he knows that can pull off a stunt such as this. A giant structure passes overhead and approaches a fleet of Navy battleships suspended in mid air. Garp and Fleet Admiral Sengoku say that the culprit is a pirate from the days of Gold Roger, Gold Lion Shiki, who escaped imprisonment by cutting off his own legs. Shiki himself appears on a lighthouse balcony on board his ship, declares that this is a warning, and with a single hand gesture the fleet of battleships fall from the sky, wreaking devestation on the bay and city below. Marineford's cannons open fire, but they are unable to touch Shiki's retreating ship. As it leaves, Garp is left wondering if Shiki has come back to get revenge on the world.
The scene changes to Luffy, outfitting in his definition of "adventure gear", trudging through a jungle forest. He comes out to a clearing and surveys the view: all around him are floating islands covered with trees and ruins. Stating that he has to hurry up and find the others, he breaks into a sprint and launches himself over a cliff edge and in to free-fall.
On the next island Luffy finds himself being chased by a series of gigantic, monstrous animals. First by a flattened alligator, which gets pummeled by a land-dwelling octopus, which gets several of its tentacles sliced off by a praying mantis, which in turn gets suplexed by a bear with sloth-like arms. Watching this, Luffy comments on how strange the island's wildlife is, just in time to see the bear charging him. He tries to use Pistol on it but gets smacked back into the forest. Deciding that he'd better not underestimate these creatures, Luffy finishes the bear by activating Gear Third and smashing it with Gigant Pistol.
On another, autumn-themed island, Robin, Franky, and Brook are walking through the ruins of a half-sunken village when a horde of army ants stream out of the decaying structures towards them. Bypassing the petrified Brook, the ants make their way towards the other two, but are distracted by a giant, elongated shark leaping out of the water, which they immediately attack and devour in seconds, leaving nothing but the skeleton behind. Franky's comments that Brook was ignored because he was all bones touches a nerve, and Brook dashes through the horde, cutting them down with his Hanauta Sancho Yahazu Giri (Three-Pace Hum Notched-Arrow Slash) fencing technique. It's true that he's all bones, the living skeleton says, but only because he wants to lose weight! As the three leave the ruins, Robin observes how the islands' wildlife has evolved in ways never before seen. The only law is survival of the fittest.
We are then treated to a rather nifty opening sequence that uses lots of match cuts that introduces each Straw Hat and what they are currently up to, all set to a very up-beat, surreal music piece that uses recordings of a radio announcer as "lyrics". Zoro and Chopper are being ambushed by a giant horned monster in on a snow-covered island. Robin, Franky, and Brook continue their trek through the autumn forest. Sanji and Usopp are on an island covered in flowers and cherry blossom trees. Luffy is snacking on one of the land octopus's severed tentacles. And Nami? Well...
Nami is seen lounging in a pool within a greenhouse located on another snow-covered island. After swimming a few laps she exits the pool and is greeted by music blaring as Gold Lion Shiki, a man with long blond hair wearing ragged Japanese-style clothing, swords in place of his lost feet, and a piece of a ship's steering wheel lodged in his head, Dr. Indigo, a lab coat-wearing blue-haired mime, and a gorilla in a pink suit jacket named Scarlet, dance their way down the stairs to greet her. Her only reaction to the performance is to turn her nose up at them. Shiki asks "Baby" if she's made her decision, and she roughly asks to be let free. Indigo starts miming out something, his shoes making farting noises the whole way through. Shiki shouts that he doesn't understand him, so Indigo says that he wanted to show him something. While this performance is going on, Nami gazes through the greenhouse's panes, wondering how things have come to where they are.
Flashback to one week prior, where the Thousand Sunny is sailing along. The East Blue Straw Hats are in a bit of a somber mood thanks to a newspaper article on the mysterious destruction of numerous villages and towns in their home sea. As they discuss the issue, a large shadow is cast over them, and they all look up to see what they at first think is a flying island, but soon realize that it is actually a flying pirate ship. While the others marvel over this sight, Nami tells Luffy that they need to change their course, as a storm is coming. Luffy decides that they should warn the flying ship as well, and begins waving his arms and shouting in an effort to get their attention. An orange seashell drifts down from the flying ship to the Straw Hats, and the crew recognizes it being a Tone Dial from the sky islands.
On the bridge of the flying ship, Shiki retrieves the Dial and replays the message: Nami warning them of the storm and to how to avoid it. He asks his own navigation team, but they say that there are no signs of any storm forming. But of course, one does whip up right in front of their eyes, and the ship just barely has enough time to follow the Sunny's lead. Once they're safe, Shiki shoots the head navigator for his failure, and takes note of the skill of the woman on board the ship below.
So Shiki himself pays a visit to the Straw Hats on board their ship. Luffy and the others are of course startled at seeing a man fly, but Shiki formally introduces himself, and thanks Nami for her warning. He then explains his power; he ate the Float Float Fruit, which allows him to levitate himself and any other non-living object, which he demonstrates on a set of Zoro's dumbbells. As a sign of thanks, he invites them to visit his base, but Luffy says that they're going to go to East Blue instead. The others are surprised at this sudden declaration, since that isn't something that can be done easily, but Luffy says that they can't just stand by when their hometowns are in danger. Shiki declares that he's liking the Straw Hats more and more, and offers to give them a ride to East Blue.
And so the Sunny leaves the sea and takes to the sky, in the wake of Shiki's own ship. They eventually reach Shiki's base, and the sight of islands of different climatic types floating in the sky together is an awing one for the Straw Hats. Shiki declares that this is Merveille, a land perfect for adventurers such as themselves. And with that, he snatches up Nami and drops the Sunny out of the sky, the Straw Hats along with it, all while gloating over getting their navigator. Nami and Luffy of course scream out each other's names and he tries to reach out and grab her back, but Shiki foils him by rotating the Sunny so that the crow's nest smashes into the group, scattering them across the sky.
Back in the present, Indigo prances over to Shiki, declaring that he's created a new evolution. He throws down a bird cage containing a large, cowering yellow bird which electrocutes Shiki and his two henchmen as soon as it leaves its cage. Nami asks what was meant by "evolution", and Shiki explains that the animals on Merveille evolve faster than normal thanks to a plant called IQ. After twenty years of research, Indigo created a serum called SIQ, which accelerates the process even more, resulting in the monsters that currently inhabit the islands. Nami thinks this is horrible, and Shiki says that she'll come around once she understands everything and joins his crew. He ominously adds that he'll make sure that she'll want to join him.
Meanwhile, on the cherry blossom island, Sanji is bellowing his lungs out calling for Robin and Nami, much to Usopp's dismay, since his shouts draw one monster after another. After having to escape from a giant caterpiller, Sanji defeating a giant blue six-legged, twin-tailed saber tooth tiger, and Usopp's nerves getting shot, they are attacked by a group of small bull creatures that slam into the ground with the force of cannon balls, leading to the ground giving way and the two falling into a lake on the island below.
On the snow island, Zoro and Chopper save a little girl from a Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur. When she wakes up the three are riding a wooly mammoth through the snow. Chopper asks what she was doing, but the girl doesn't say. Zoro says that they should just focus on getting out of the snow, as he's tired of it after wandering through it for days. The girls says that it only takes half a day to leave, and sure enough, grasslands and forests are visible lower down the mountain. Zoro's lack of direction strikes again. The girl says that her name is Xiao, and that her village isn't very far away.
Sanji and Usopp wake up inside a rowboat moored at a dock. They're in a small town filled with straw-roofed houses and people going about menial tasks. Usopp's surprised to see people living here, and that they all appear to have feathers growing out of their arms. In his own unique way, Sanji observes that there are no young women or men visible. An older woman goes over to them and says that they're lucky to be alive after falling out of the sky. Sanji asks about the feathers, but the woman says that nobody really knows why they have them. It is then revealed that everyone here lives under Shiki's rule, and all the young people work for him, leaving everyone else in a dreary state. On top of that, a giant telesnail crawls through the village, transmitting everything back to Shiki's palace.
Having finally gotten out of the mountains, the mammoth that Zoro, Chopper, and Xiao are riding suddenly goes wild, bucks them off, and runs off. Xiao explains that her village is surrounded by trees called Daft Greens, which emit poisonous spores. Humans can withstand them, but animals hate the stuff and stay as far away as they can. Even Chopper is forced to plug his nose up to withstand them. When the village is reached and Xiao is reunited with her mother, it's revealed that Xiao was looking for an IQ plant in order to save her grandmother, who's been afflicted with Daft Green poisoning, and covered in green rashes. While cross with Xiao, her mother thanks Zoro and Chopper for finding her daughter. They learn that Shiki had stolen all of the IQ plants, and that all of the villagers hate him and wish that they'd go back to the sea. Once outside, Zoro suggests that they take a rest before going back to looking for the others.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Usopp stagger up the town's main path, drained from a lack of sleep over the past week. Sanji plops himself down at the bottom of a set of stone steps. He looks up, Zoro looks down, and the only thing they have the strength to say is "Oh. You."
There's the first chunk or so of the film out of the way, onto the critique.
Well, the film's start is a pretty strong one. Immediately we're thrown into this world full of intense color, vibrancy, and danger. The opening sequence with Luffy running through the forest lets you know right from the beginning that this is going to be an experience. The animal designs are worth talking about. Some of them are based off of mythological creatures, like the saber tooth being inspired by the nekomata, or punny, like the army ants being decked out with spears and helmets, and having music reminiscent of military marches playing. The way they move and are animated is very fun to see, and it really goes to show how much fun and creativity Oda has when it comes to monster designs.
Artistically, I don't think it's a stretch at all to say that this is the overall best looking One Piece movie. The backgrounds and scenery are absolutely full of Scenery Porn. I especially love the panoramas of each island's environments. The colors are bright, the animation fluid and expressive, it's really all you could ask for from a One Piece production.
The animation director and character designer (after Oda, of course) is Masayuki Sato. According to some of the film's promotional materials, he was chosen for the job after Toei searched their ranks for someone who could handle the animals' complex animations as well as emulate Oda's art style as close as possible. The result is that the characters, while not quite looking exactly like their manga counterparts, still look pretty damn good. Luffy, Nami, Sanji, Robin, and Franky I feel look especially good. Nami's even got some neat little gradiant shading in her hair. Stylistically, the film uses the manga colors instead of the normal anime ones. Meaning, that everyone with darker skin normally (Zoro, Usopp, Robin, and Franky) are just as pale as everyone else, and Robin has brown eyes instead of blue. Even Franky's hair is a slightly lighter shade than normal. For me it was a bit weird at first, having started watching the anime and only picking up the manga around the end of Thriller Bark, but it is a nice homage to Oda's work. It's my wish that even after this movie, Sato will do some key animation (he apparently did some for One Day) or even do directing work for the main series.
Content-wise, so far there's not a whole lot to the story, since we're still establishing the setting. Nami getting kidnapped is hardly a new plot-hook (Movie 2, Thriller Bark), but here, the focus is on Nami the navigator, as opposed to Nami the fanservice icon (Thriller Bark...ugh). That right there is a sign that things will be different in that regard. And I'm glad for that, since when treated properly, her character has given us some very emotional and memorable scenes. I think I would have appreciated it a bit more if the motive for the kidnapping was a bit more than a whim, but the movie's still young, and the details of what Shiki's full plan is and the foreshadowing with Shiki claiming that Nami will join him by her own volition hasn't been touched on yet. Plenty of time for more stuff to develop.
Shiki himself is, as I mentioned during by entry on the Episode 0 OVA, very fun to watch, helped by the performance of Japanese actor Naoto Takenaka. The dance scene and the bridge scene shows that he's a classic Oda villain; amusingly quirky, yet ruthless at the flip of a switch. Indigo is pretty amusing to watch too, and it helps that he's voiced by Ryusei Nakao. It's funny too, since Indigo is very much a lighthearted, cartoony counterpart to another villainous scientist that Nakao voices, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Scarlet's...just kind of there for now, and doesn't seem to have a speaking voice, which is a shame, as he's voiced by Banjo Ginga.
The Straw Hats, well they're the Straw Hats. Luffy's Luffy, their interactions are natural, and it's just really great to see them all together after having been separated in the current series for so long.
I do think I should be keeping a tally of how many more times Say My Name is invoked, however. I have a feeling that it's going to crop up quite a fair bit, especially in a movie with Nami at its center.
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Strong World: Part 2
Inside his castle, Shiki recieves word that the pirate captains that are participating in his plan have begun to arrive. At this, he tells one of his men to release one of the villagers working for him, to provide the others with a little glimmer of hope before he snuffs it out. Indigo runs into the room miming, and reveals that Nami has escaped!
Riding on the back of the bird, she managed to get out via a water duct that connected the greenhouse pool to the outside. The two end up popping out of the waterfall on the edge of the main island and fall into a water-filled crater on another island floating below. Inside the basin are a bunch of monsters, but the bird electrocutes them all, and is quite proud of its accomplishment until it sees that Nami's floating facedown in the water too. She turns out to be all right though, and despite getting electrocuted, thanks it for saving her.
After climbing out of the crater, Nami spots the Sunny lying in a clearing at the bottom of the slope and starts heading towards it, when suddenly there's a commotion nearby in the jungle. Luffy emerges from the foliage, sees the Sunny, and then sees Nami. Thrilled to see her, he makes a beeline for her...as do the monsters that had been chasing him. Fortunately for Luffy and Nami, the bird electrocutes them too.
Afterwards Nami changes out of her bathing suit while Luffy munches on the remains of the monsters that were just killed. Luffy names the bird Billy (after the Japanese onomatopoeia for crackling electricity biribiri), and the two decide that they'll go search for the others.
Elsewhere, Franky, Robin, and Brook are making their way through a cactus-filled desert on the back of a crayfish that Franky converted into a "Zarley Davidson" motorcycle. They spot a town off in the distance, and are forced to abandon their vehicle and walk when they encounter Daft Green spores.
In the air, Luffy and Nami are riding on Billy's back (with Nami riding piggyback on Luffy for some reason) as he flies through the sky. They run into more spores, so they need to plug Billy's beak in order to continue. Nami spies a village surrounded by Daft Green trees, and comes to the conclusion that they're being used to keep the animals away.
So Luffy and Nami reunited with the others, and everyone, Sanji especially, are relieved to see that she's safe and sound. They're greeted by Xiao and her mother, who invites them into their house to rest. Luffy suggests that Nami take a nap inside, and she obliges. However, the telesnail patrolling the town is secretly recording all of this and transmitting the feed back to Shiki's palace. Upon seeing this footage, Shiki declares that it's time to retrieve his navigator.
Robin, Franky, and Brook are inside a giant, packed beer hall. Franky notes that everyone here is a pirate and wonders why there are so many, and Robin suggests that they were all invited, since they all seem to have an Eternal Pose. A waitress walks by, and Robin asks why she has feathers growing out of her arms. The waitress replies that they all think that they're birds, which only serves to puzzle Franky. A man drinking at a nearby table recognizes the three as part of the Straw Hat Pirates and thinks that they're part of Shiki's plan. Robin plays along and asks why Shiki has gathered so many pirates, and the man says that they should pay attention to the news and hands her a newspaper.
At the village, an excited Xiao runs past the sleeping Straw Hats and into her house and tells her mother and grandmother that one of the village men has returned. According to him, Shiki and his men are finally going to leave the island with their animals for the sea, to East Blue! Her mother says that she wishes Shiki would go there immediately and leave Merveille be. Huddled in a corner, Nami overhears her, fingers her bracelet, and starts to realize the meaning behind all of Shiki's words to her. In a frightened tone, she says Luffy's name, and gets up to go to him.
The newspaper Robin was handed was the one reporting on the destroyed villages in East Blue. The man who gave it to her explains that Shiki's plan is to take the animals to East Blue and have them destroy it to prove his power and frighten the World Government into surrendering to them. Another man at the table tells Robin that there's a dress code for the participating pirates to follow, and that tonight, Shiki's going to give them a little demonstration of what's to come by destroying the obly inhabited village on the islands.
Nami sets outside to find Luffy gone, but then his voice calls out to her to stay back. Luffy and the others are standing on an elevated patch of ground, and before them, standing against the setting sun, is Shiki himself. Shiki reprimands Nami, claiming that her leaving him without a word hurt him deeply, and goes on to say that the Straw Hats should have protected her better if they didn't want her to be taken away. Of course, he adds, he's pretty sure that right now there's no way that Nami's going to leave him. Angered, Luffy says that he's not going to let him get away with hurting Nami, and that he's going to kick his ass.
Shiki laughs at that prospect, and Luffy launches himself forward and tries to clothsline him with Kama (Scythe), but Shiki avoids it by flying into the air, where he dodges and deflects attacks from Usopp and Zoro. Chopper manages to land a blow on his back, and Sanji tries to kick him, only to have Shiki catch his blow. He complements them on managing to hit him and prepares to strike Sanji, only to have Luffy rocket into him from behind, freeing his crewmate.
As the Straw Hats regroup, Shiki comments on how annoying they are and says that he'll take them all out at once. Using a technique called Shishi Odoshi Chimaki (Menacing Lion - Ground Winding), he breaks open the ground and fashions the waves of debris into giant lion heads that loom over and surround the Straw Hats. Luffy manages to destroy one of the heads with Cannon, giving Sanji and Zoro an opening to attack, but it's ultimately futile and they all get buried under the huge wave of earth, which them forms itself into a massive spiral pillar, trapping them inside.
While Nami watches this in horror, Shiki walks over to her, saying that fighting the others was a real pain since she had finally realized what was going on. Nami begs him to not harm her friends or East Blue any more, and Shiki replies that she can only make such demands after she joins him. He goes on to explain that right now, storms are the biggest threats to him, and that he needs a skilled navigator to help him. Noticing Nami fingering her bracelet again, he asks if she's going to leave that as a memento, and Nami answers that it's a gift that her sister gave her when she left her hometown, and asks if he'll really spare East Blue if she joins him. Shiki replies that of course he will, since he values his crew members and would never lay a hand on their homelands.
At this point Usopp, the only one of the others still conscious, shouts out at Nami, telling her that she can't do this and that Luffy would never forgive her if she left them. Nami tells him that this is to protect East Blue, and that they should continue on on their journey without her. Usopp continues to shout at her until Shiki smashes a boulder into his face.
After pretty much being forced into pleading to join Shiki's crew, Nami finally falls to her knees and says that she'll join him. Shiki welcomes her and floats the Tone Dial from earlier over to her, saying that he's an honorable pirate in that he'll let her leave a farewell message for her old crewmates. After she gives it, Shiki remarks that it's a fine message, and gestures over to the large telesnail hiding nearby.
Seeing Shiki's signal through the telesnail's footage, Indigo announces the commencement of Shiki's plan.
Just over half-way through the film, roughly. The pacing has slowed down, for now we get a sense of what Shiki's plan is and introduce the main conflict. Of course, the real significance of Shiki choosing East Blue as the target of his plan is All There in the Manual, and thus lost on anyone who hasn't read the backstory in Chapter 0. I'm not really a fan of that kind of stuff; making a viewer have to consult multiple sources to fully get the main plot.
Anyway, the centerpiece here is Shiki flexing some muscle and the situation with Nami. The Float Float Fruit is certainly quite powerful; that attack with the lions was on a scale usually reserved for Logias, and that's on top of keeping all of these islands in the sky. I wouldn't hesitate to mark it as one of the most powerful Paramecias we've seen so far, along with Kuma's Paw Paw Fruit and Whitebeard's Quake Quake Fruit. You could see Oda's fingerprints all over the fighting, in how the Straw Hats worked as a team in fighting Shiki. I also liked how Luffy used some attacks that he hasn't used in a while. Can't say I really cared for the Conspicious CG, but that part was over pretty quickly.
As for Nami herself, well, now she has the dubious honor of being part of three different pirate crews over the course of the series. I did like how in the beginning of this section she managed to successfully escape on her own, defying the Neutral Female archetype. As for her Face–Heel Turn, I did like how she did it primarily to save her hometown, instead of the more standard Sadistic Choice with the Straw Hats, though that was certainly still a factor. Also, regarding Nami's bracelet, it being a gift from Nojiko was actually mentioned in a Skypiea-era SBS, but this is the first time that's been brought up in the series itself.
Kinda disappointed that Robin, Franky, and Brook are missing out on all this. That's the one issue I have with how Oda uses his characters. It always feels like the older members get most of the focus, and he doesn't always know what to do with the newer ones.
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Strong World: Part 3
Having obtained Nami's alleigence, Shiki's "demonstration" goes into action. As the pirate captains under his command file on board his ship, his men uproot the Daft Green trees surrounding the village and Scarlet calls out to the animals, drawing them towards the hapless target.
Shiki arrives at his command center in order to watch the proceedings. He has a sullen Nami, now wearing a black formal dress to match the rest of the pirates, enter with him, and tells her to watch the animals demolish the village when the villagers flee in terror, and savor the fact that her own village will not suffer this fate. Nami says that she isn't interested in the spectacle and leaves the room. As she does, Shiki expresses disappointment at her lack of emotion.
Franky, Robin, and Brook arrive at the now destroyed village, too late to do anything. They do quickly find the pillar and save the other Straw Hats from it and fill them in on Shiki's plan for the East Blue. While they ponder what to do next, Xiao, accompanied by her mother and grandmother approach them, having managed to survive the destruction by hiding out underground. Xiao's mother claims that what happened to Nami is all fault, as she had said that she wished for Shiki to go to East Blue right in front of her. Luffy notices that Xiao is carrying the Tone Dial, which she claims she found lying on the ground. Luffy says that they're kind people for worrying about Nami even after their village has been destroyed, and promises to beat Shiki up for them. The others gather around as Luffy replays Nami's message.
Inside the message, Nami states that she's becoming Shiki's navigator. She implores the others to just leave her be, as they'd only die were they to fight a legendary pirate such as Shiki. At this, Luffy snaps, infuriated that Nami has given up on them and at the suggestion that he doesn't stand a chance against Shiki, despite Franky pointing out that he did just wipe them all out at once. Usopp tries to get him to calm down, and Luffy forces the Dial on him before stalking off cursing. With Luffy gone, Sanji asks Usopp to replay the message again. He obliges, and this time, things become clear.
Behind them, Luffy punches a cliffside in two in his anger.
A short part, but I wanted to get it out of the way before moving on to the film's climax.
Well, I can't really say the village's destruction did anything for me. It doesn't really add anything other than showing how evil Shiki is, but it's not like Luffy and the Straw Hats need anymore reason to take Shiki down. Franky, Robin, and Brook arriving Late to the Party just goes to reinforce my earlier point of Oda having to sideline part of his cast because he can'teffectively manage them all at once.
The main focus here is on Nami's message, and what struck me was how...emotional Luffy's reaction to the message was. He went through pretty much the exact same thing with Robin during Water 7, and his reaction there was to be despondant for a bit before becoming more determined than ever to beat CP9 and save Robin. I guess it's more an issue of how Luffy and Nami relate, the whole trust between them, since they've been through a number of highly charged situations together ever since the Arlong arc. And now, as Luffy puts it, it's like she's given up and doesn't believe that he can do it.
Next up, the real action finally starts, and one of the most memorable scenes in the series is finally here.
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Strong World: Part 4
As Shiki watches footage of the pirate captains returning from viewing his "demonstration", Indigo runs into the command room and begins to frantically mime out a message. This time, Shiki understands what he means right away, leaving the mime estatic. Donning a gas mask, Shiki goes outside to the grove of Daft Green trees surrounding his palace, finding dynamite set up on the snow-covered ground and two of his goons holding Nami captive. Shiki deduces that in her efforts to destroy the trees, she underestimated the effect of the poison spores, and sure enough, Nami's face and arms are covered by the green rash indictative of the poisoning. She angrily retorts that she knew all along that there was no way that Shiki would keep his promise to her, and that she doesn't want to see her home destroyed or her friends' sorrow. In response Shiki poisons her further by slamming her face into one of the trees before using a pile of levitated rods to imprison her on the ground, before walking away, laughing about how he'll still let her be his navigator if she somehow survives this.
Shiki returns to his palace meeting hall, where the pirate captains have gathered. Taking his seat at the head of the assembly, Shiki welcomes them, and announces that they will set sail for East Blue, "the sea of tragedy". Outside in the snow, the guards are met with a stunning sight: the Thousand Sunny, flying through the air towards them. Just as Shiki is about to lead a toast, an attendant runs into the room to deliver the urgent message that eight men have come to attack. Shiki is incredulous, but before his eyes the sliding doors to his assembly hall are broken down, and none other than the Straw Hats enter triumphantly, dressed in formal wear and each armed with an over-sized firearm.
The Straw Hats step into the center of the hall, and the first thing Luffy asks is if Shiki really does intend to go to East Blue. Upon recieving confirmation, he asks if Nami's doing alright. Shiki says that she's doing great, though the attendants' snickering says otherwise. Shiki goes on to declare that Nami's living in a dream world if she thinks sacrificing herself will save her home, and as the folding screens lining the hall are kicked down to reveal a whole horde of his own men, armed to the teeth, that the Straw Hats are too for thinking they can save her. As the Straw Hats calmly train their weapons on their foes, Luffy retorts that Nami wasn't sacrificing herself, she was just the harbinger of what's to come. And with that, they open fire, throwing the assembly hall into chaos.
When they run out of ammo and the survivors start picking themselves up off of the floor, Zoro declares that that was enough of a greeting and prepares to fight. Luffy tells Usopp and Chopper to go look for Nami as he discards his pirate overcoat and suit jacket and makes for Shiki, with Brook, Zoro, and Sanji clearing his path for him. Shiki tries to make his escape through a backdoor, but Luffy punches him through it while yelling "What the hell did you do to her?!" and dashes after the flying pirate in pursuit.
Outside, Nami wakes up to see Billy electrocuting the men who were guarding her, and despite getting shocked by his electricity, desperately grabs on to his feathers in an effort to request him to light the dynamites' fuses and destroy the Daft Green trees. Usopp and Chopper manage to spot her and jump into the Daft Green grove, just as the fuses run out and the dynamite explodes...which they all manage to survive without a scratch. Somehow. Anyway, the force of the explosion partially frees Nami from some of the bars, allowing Usopp and Chopper to work on getting her out of them. Chopper recognizes the green rash and says that they have to find a way to treat her. Of course, now that there's a gap in the Daft Green grove, the monstrous animals outside the compound manage to find their way in and rampage, forcing Usopp and Chopper to high-tail it out of there with Nami as quickly as possible.
While the animals rampage about Shiki's palace, Usopp and Chopper manage to find an untouched place where they can safely examine Nami, who's barely conscious by this point. Chopper says that they need to search for an IQ plant to make an antidote, when the walkway they're on gets destroyed by Shiki, who declares that this time, Nami has really done it, and that he's finished with her. He creates more lion heads out of the snow to attack the three Straw Hats, but each one of them is dispersed by a volley of punches from none other than Gear Second Luffy. Nami briefly opens her eyes and Luffy tells her that they'll leave together after he defeats Shiki. She manages to say his name once more before closing her eyes again. Luffy tells Usopp and Chopper to get out of there and nails Shiki with Jet Pistol, while shouting that he won't determine their fates. Shiki catches himself in mid-air and growls that he won't show any mercy to someone from East Blue.
Usopp and Chopper quickly find a laboratory that contains research on the IQ plants, but waiting for them is Indigo, who has the antidote that they need to cure Nami. As they face off a voice calls out, claiming that all they need to do is beat Indigo. Zoro enters the room, swords drawn, and Usopp is all to eager to leave the fighting up to him. Indigo calls him an East Blue weakling, and shouts that no one will care if that sea gets crushed. The two move onto a walkway outside, and Indigo shoots a series of fireballs at Zoro, who deflects them while declaring that he doesn't have time for circus tricks. Indigo hurls a much larger fireball at him, but Zoro tanks the explosion and dashes forward in his Asura stance, wreathed in flames. If he's an East Blue weakling, he asks, what does that make Indigo when he loses to him. Zoro finishes the doctor off with Ugui (Drill Force), and tosses the antidote to Chopper before going back to the fighting...the wrong way.
Elsewhere, Sanji and Brook are just finishing off a group of the marauding animals when Sanji hears the sound of a monkey howling. Jumping up onto a roof, he spots a smitten Scarlet standing atop a tower, clutching a captive Robin in his hand. Enraged, Sanji stomps out his cigarette and dashes up a tether connecting to the tower and bursts up onto the roof, ranting all the while about how the gorilla has done it by laying a hand on not just Robin, but by threatening all of the women in East Blue. He manages to knock Scarlet's arm away with a Diable Jambe-enhanced kick before smashing the big ape down through the tower to the ground, declaring that this is a taste of East Blue love. Of course, doing so results in Robin being thrown off into space, so being the dashing knight he is, the cook leaps out to catch her...only for Brook to beat him to the punch. Sanji's threats at filleting Brook are cut off by his impaction with the ground.
With the grunts and henchmen taken care of, all that's left is for Luffy to defeat Shiki.
Here we are, at the climax. The Straw Hats' confrontation in the assembly hall is sure to go down as one of the most memorable scenes in the series. And with Usopp getting his foot stuck in the sliding door, I have to say, leave it to Oda to try and squeeze in some humor or Usopp physical abuse during tense scenes. The bit that followed felt pretty weird though. I mean, seeing Usopp and Franky fire off guns like that doesn't feel all that odd, but Robin, Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy doing so definitely does. I remember all of the fandom's speculation over what the guns were going to be used for, since they Straw Hats by and large stay away from them, and they turn out to just be used for clearing out a mob of mooks. I guess in retrospect though, what else would you use guns that big for in this series? Also, have to express my approval of everyone's new outfits. Luffy, Nami, Robin, and Franky's being my favorites. A little odd to see Franky wearing pants, but he seems to lose them pretty quickly. Also, a little oversight; when Shiki first traps Nami in the rods, she's facing upward, with her back to the ground, but in her subsequent scenes, she's facing downward.
For Oda's big movie and the centerpieces of the action, I thought the fights were not executed well at all, especially Zoro's. Don't get me wrong, I loved the rearrangement of Zoro's battle music, and Asura has never looked this good, but man, his fight had absolutely no tension, and barely any movement to it. Yeah, he needed to hurry and get the antidote, but effortlessly tanking your opponent's strongest attack and instantly whipping out you Super Mode and one-shotting him does not a thrilling fight make. This guy sailed in the New World and fought Gold Roger's crew, he shouldn't be curbstomped like this! Sanji's fight fared a bit better because even though it was a groan-inducing King Kong parody and pretty short and one-sided as well, it was visually interesting and the ending had me laughing out loud. Comedic timing was great. Luffy's fight with Shiki hasn't been shown yet, but man, Gear Second looked absolutely crazy, and the most Kaioken-ish it's ever been in the anime. It's why I vastly prefer its anime depiction to the manga one. The pink just makes it look cooler.
Next time, we wrap this sucker up.
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Strong World: Part 5
Having been treated with the Daft Green antidote, Nami regains consciousness on Chopper's back as he and Usopp rush back towards the Sunny. When Usopp tells her that everyone's come to save her she starts crying and manages to get out a thank you, but quickly recomposes herself when she senses something in the air and tells the two that they need to get back to the palace, for a storm is nearby.
Meanwhile, Luffy and Shiki fight a fierce battle in mid air, Luffy riding on Billy's back in order to match Shiki's flight powers. Shiki declares that it's time to settle their match, and uses his prosthetic sword-legs to slice through the water spilling over Merveille's edge and entrap both Luffy and Billy inside the levitated water. He then recieves a call on his telesnail from his navigation team, who tells him to move the islands east to avoid the coming storm. Shiki does so, but unbeknownst to him, it's false information that Nami, with a little help from Usopp and Chopper, forced the operator to give. With this deed done, Shiki turns back to watch Luffy drowning and taunts him with the deaths of both East Blue and Nami before attacking him with a volley of air-slashes, sending him crashing to the island below.
With Merveille sailing right into the storm, the winds gather great strength, and the remains of Shiki's men prepare to escape to the sea, while Chopper and Robin set up dynamite in order to destroy Shiki's stock of SIQ.
Billy and Luffy recover and head back up to the sky, this time heading for the clouds, where lightning flashes ominously. Shiki spots them but gets distracted by Nami calling out to him from the roof of his palace. Still sickly but defiant, Nami shouts that his plan is finished, as the planted dynamite will destroy everything of his left on the island. Shiki rages at the prospect of a group of kids foiling his twenty years of work and hurls a huge chunk of earth at her, but Luffy has Billy save her at the last second. Shiki curses, but Luffy shouts out that he's his opponent. Activating Gear Third, Luffy shouts that he won't let Shiki go to East Blue as he enlarges his foot and sticks it into the thundercloud above, where the electricity strikes and energizes it. Shiki laughs at Luffy's recklessness. but soon sings a different tune as Luffy screams that he'll never let Shiki harm his crew or his sea before bringing down his electrified limb for his final attack: Gigant Thor Axe. Shiki's eyes go wipe as he cannot believe a man from East Blue has managed to defeat him not once, but twice, and he screams out Roger's name.
With everyone else safely on board and the ground crumbling from the force of Luffy's attack, Franky yells for everyone to hold on tight and activates the Sunny's Coup de Vent function, launching the ship safely into the air, whereupon the ship uses Shiki's own massive jolly roger as a parachute to drift safely through the air. As the crew watches the massive smoke plume with apprehension, a voice calls out and Billy bursts out of the smoke, with a shrunken Luffy on his back. As the crew expresses their relief at the safety of both Luffy and East Blue, Zoro remarks that he can never take Luffy seriously when he's shrunken like that, and Nami, eyes now filled with tears of relief, agrees.
But he's not the only one to come out of the cloud. With Shiki defeated, his power over the islands break, and they fall back to the sea where they properly belong. The islanders manage to pull through as well, having discovered that their forearm feathers allow them to fly like birds after all. A fleet of Navy battleships mops up the remainder of Shiki's men while contending with the high waves caused by the islands' descent. Vice-Admiral Onigumo recognizes the Sunny floating in the distance and orders his men to open fire, but the Straw Hats are already safely out of range.
In his office within Marineford, Sengoku receives the report on the incident and the Straw Hats' role in it. "So, we were useless then." he begrudges.
Some time later the Thousand Sunny is sailing the seas as life has returned to normal for the crew. Nami steps outside and Chopper announces that Nami has fully recovered from her poisoning, much to everyone's great relief. Well, everyone except Luffy, who glares at her with a sour expression from his fishing spot on the deck railing. He marches over to her brandishing the Tone Dial, angrily demanding what she meant by her message, by her claims that he couldn't do anything against Shiki or to save her. It's like she doesn't have any faith, even after everything that they've gone through.
Of course, the others are puzzled at his behavior. It turns out that there was one last part to the message that Luffy never got around to hearing thanks to his shouting and storming off earlier, despite the fact that, according to Nami, she made sure he would be able to understand it, since the message was directed towards him, after all. Franky suggests that he simply replay it. As Luffy starts doing so, Nami gets embarrassed at the prospect of him playing it in front of everyone, and tries to snatch it away. Usopp joins in, not wanting Nami to throw away a valuable Dial, and as the three struggle for control over it, it gets knocked out of Luffy's hands and into the sea. But as the Dial spins through the air, the last part of Nami's message, the part Luffy never got to hear, rings out:
But please, help me.
The End
And there we have it, Oda's first One Piece film. I feel that, ultimately, like with so many other things, the hype for this film was so great that it was impossible for it to fully meet the expectations placed upon. That's not to say it's a bad movie, but you can see things starting to unravel towards the very end.
Shiki, while still being very entertaining to watch, doesn't really come across as as big of a legend as he's been made out to be. His plan ultimately is not very original, and much of the motivation is lost to an audience who hasn't read the backstory in chapter 0. Apparently Oda's orginal draft of the script, the one that was initially teased to audiences as "The Crystal Log", had much more intensity to it, but Oda thought that he was trying too hard to write a tearjerker or such, and threw the whole thing out aside from soem base elements (Shiki, floating islands, Nami leaving the crew), so I am deeply curious as to what that final product would have looked like and how justified his fears were. Movie 6 showed that a little intensity isn't bad for the series at all, after all.
I felt that the fight with Shiki was ultimately a big letdown. Luffy's gone up against some pretty tough customers, but never someone who fought with Gold Roger himself, so you'd expect a huge fight right? Nope, Luffy punches him a few times, they clash for maybe about thirty seconds or so, and then Luffy goes on to win simply because Shiki doesn't move out of the way. I guess yeah, you could argue that he was in the middle of a Villainous Breakdown, but it doesn't help the fact that Shiki was hardly touched by Luffy before then, and had barely used is powers, which had before been shown to be immense. As I said some time before, it's the common trap of having to dumb the enemy down so that the hero can stand a chance. I was also waiting for the moment where Shiki compared Luffy to Roger, like nearly everyone else of that generation has, but he never did, unless you squint a bit at the ending.
But with all that being said, the pros of this movie still do outweigh the cons in the end. The scene at the end put a big smile on my face. It was cute and made sense considering Luffy and Nami's relationship and how they act around each other. Luffy (indirectly) says it himself, it's their trust in the other that makes the whole thing work.
Aside from that couple I have to give a shout out to Usopp for being the MVP of the film. He was the one who tried to stop Nami from leaving, he helped save Nami, he helped set up Luffy's final attack. Sure, Luffy was the hero and Nami the damsel, but Usopp proved to be invaluable in getting things to work.
Despite the disappointing payoff, this is definitely one of the better One Piece films, and a welcome breath of fresh air after the previous two remakes. One who hasn't been exposed to all of the hype will no doubt enjoy this greatly, as it encapsulates a little bit of all the things that make this series what it is: memorable characters, cool displays of power, quirky humor, fantastical settings, and beautiful visuals. I recommend this as something to show to people who are either new to series or have never read it before as a good gauge to see if they like it, though viewers who have been with the series for a while and are familiar with the character relations like myself will probably get a bit more out of it.
And that's a wrap! Next we shall be returning to the Marineford arc. Until then.
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471: The Elimination Plan Begins - The Pacifista Army's Power
The pirates are confused at the arrival of the Pacifistas since they all look exactly like Kuma. Sentomaru angrily speaks into a telesnail, complaining about how the pirates are scattered all over the place instead of being cornered within the bay as originally planned. Thanks to Whitebeard ordering the New World fleet to attack the Navy ships, they avoided the trap. Sentomaru says that some of the Navy vessels will get caught in the crossfire, and Kizaru responds by telling him to keep the friendly fire to a minimum.
And so the Pacifistas begin their attack, firing volleys of lasers into the battlefield and advancing forward with surprising speed, invulnerable to the gunfire turned on them. With this new assault, Whitebeard yells for his men to stay firm and rush towards the plaza. As this unfolds, all but one of the viewscreens transmitting the battle to Sabaody are suddenly cut off. Sengoku issues orders to have the encircling walls mobilized once the feed is cut, after which they shall destroy the pirates and execute Ace.
Luffy, meanwhile, runs into Kizaru, who casually punts him back across the ice field into Jimbei's arms. Luckily for them though, the division commanders step up to the plate, offerring to distract the Admiral so that Luffy can move ahead.
Eyecatches: Luffy and Nami
As his impatiently tapping foot suggests, Sengoku's plan has hit a bit of a snag, since as you may recall, Buggy and the prisoners managed to snatch one of the broadcasting telesnails. The reason for their hijacking of the airwaves is to promote the legendary pirate, member of Gold Roger's crew, friend of the Emperor Shanks, duelist with Mihawk, Buggy the Clown to the world. Sengoku yells for them to be stopped while the viewers yell for the battle footage to be restored.
As Whitebeard watches all of this from the prow of the Moby Dick someone approaches him from behind. It's Squardo, the New World captain who had gone MIA not long before. He reports that many of the allies are starting to fall from the Navy's assault, and asks how Whitebeard knew about the manuever. Whitebeard responds with that he's known Sengoku for a long time, and then declares that he's going to take to the battlefield himself to lead the charge. As he steps forward, Squardo unsheathes an over-sized sword he had been carrying and says that all of the New World crews owe a great debt to him. Whitebeard starts to apologize for bringing all of this upon them but Squardo says that he knows that the great pirate Whitebeard would never abandon his crew, his family. But, if only there was a place in that family for them too...
What follows next is something that no one could have foreseen: Squardo impaling Whitebeard through the stomach.
I wouldn't say that there was a huge amount of substance in this episode. The Pacifistas pretty much start steamrolling over the mooks, Sengoku has a plan in the works, and we have about twenty minutes of people running around getting blown up. Not much to write about.
Until the end, where the mini subplot involving Squardo's disappearance a few episodes ago is solved. He shows up at the end and does the unthinkable. I'm not sure at the moment whether the anime or the manga had more shock value. In the manga Squardo only appeared in the background of two spreads before this, so this guy everyone had pegged as background fodder coming out of nowhere and doing something like this is rather surprising. In the anime, when first jumping into the battle he proclaims that he'll give his life for Whitebeard, and Marco says that he tries too hard to impress, then he shows up with dialogue that gives the impression of someone who is deeply betrayed, and turns his blade on the man he was willing to die for. What could bring about such a change? And I think this was the moment that the fandom decided or came to realize that no matter what the ultimate outcome of this battle will be, Whitebeard is not going to be around to see it.
What else... Well, Buggy's segment was kinda "Eh". He's trying to sell himself to the world to boost his infamy, and Oda's using him as a device so that the world learns whatever it is that Sengoku's trying to hide. By now I'm all tuckered out on Buggy jokes. I think I've heard more than a lifetime's worth of "Stealthy Night Shadow" by now.
Luffy took that infinite mass kick surprisingly well. I know physical blows are cushioned, but I'd expect a (sorta) lightspeed kick to hurt a lot and be much more damaging, even if you're rubber.
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472: Akainu's Scheme! Whitebeard Ensnared
Squardo's surprise betrayal manages to bring the entire battlefield to a halt as everyone gapes in shock at what they've witnesses, with the stolen telesnail transmitting the footage back to the audience on Sabaody. Squardo manages to pull his massive sword out of Whitebeard and stands there, overwhelmed at what he just did, until Marco flies over and smashes him to the deck, demanding to know why he'd do such a thing.
Squardo accuses Whitebeard of making a deal with the Navy in order to ensure Ace's survival. He goes on to say that he had no idea that Ace was Gold Roger's son, a man who killed his entire crew, leaving Squardo to starting drunken barroom brawls when Whitebeard first found him. Squardo already felt betrayed and belittled by that knowledge, as he had befriended Ace during his time with Whitebeard, but to add to that, he claims that the alledged deal would result in the New World fleet being sacrificed so that Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates would go free. Indeed, once the Pacifistas came out they began targetting the New World pirates exclusively, and the man who approached him and gave him all of this information was none other than Akainu.
As they are cut to pieces with no escape route, the pirates cry out in desperation to Whitebeard, pleading for him to deny these accusations.
Eyecatches: Zoro and Usopp
Sengoku says that this is enough and has Aokiji zip over to Buggy's group and freeze them solid, cutting the transmissions to Sabaody, then gives the order to mobilize the walls. Crocodile meanwhile yells at Whitebeard, infuriated that he'd get hit like this, as the man that defeated him wasn't this weak. Marco silently agrees, since Whitebeard would normally have dodged an attack like that. His health is weakening, and before the battle Whitebeard removed his breathing tube and I Vs despite the protests of his men to avoid looking weak.
Despite his serious wound, Whitebeard still manages to loom intimidatingly over Squardo. He calls him a stupid son for turning his blade against him, yet instead of striking Squardo, he embraces him, saying that even if he is a fool, he still loves him. Squardo insists that it's a trick, but eventually admits that Akainu put him up to this, claiming that he'll save the pirates if Whitebeard is killed. Whitebeard tells him that it's wrong for him to despise Ace for what Roger did. They fought together, befriended each other, and they are both members of the same family, thanks to chance meetings on the vast sea. Hearing these kind words despite what he did, Squardo drops his sword and tears up at the realization of his mistake.
Whitebeard leaves him and steps out on to the edge of the Moby Dick's prow, saying that the idea of him selling out his men is ridiculous, and punches the air, releasing a seismic wave that destroys the giant ice walls surrounding the bay, giving the pirates an escape route, before yelling out to the men that they can decide what path to take on their own. Realizing the truth, the pirates roar with renewed vigor.
Whitebeard recalls Crocodile's words to him, and admits to himself that he's only a single person, he can't go on being the strongest forever. Yelling for his men to follow him, he leaps off of the prow in order to join the fray. Sengoku yells for his own men to stand strong, for the world's strongest man is about to attack.
Not really impressed with that plan, really. It's obviously a lie, as the Whitebeards themselves had already gotten roughed up pretty well, and it's Obviously Evil Akainu! So at the end when Squardo went into the orz position I didn't really have much sympathy for him. Especially since we'll probably never see him again after this arc.
I admit it's a little hard to reconcile this forgiving father persona of Whitebeard's with his earlier characterization of a stubborn man who pretty much did whatever he wanted, even if he was clearly in the wrong. But I suppose that that's the point, to make us think one thing and then show that it's actually another. I do find it quite silly that he's able to run and leapt off of a battleship, but is somehow unable to dodge a giant sword that's right in front of him, and impossible to not see coming.
The skies are starting to get overcast. Meaning that, even though there are around, oh, three more months of this arc left, we're beginning to hit the climax.
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473: The Walls Mobilize! The Whitebeard Pirates' Desperate Plight!!
Whitebeard crashes down onto the battlefield in front of his vessel, and the first thing he does is point his weapon in the direction of the execution scaffold, and his men eagerly charge forward to clear a path. Inside a control room within Marineford, the marines activate the enclosure walls, which slowly begin to rise up from the seabed, only for their ascent to be blocked by the frozen ice. Meanwhile, Squardo's still beating himself up over what he's done, until Marco walks over to him and asks if he's just going to sit there and cry, or give the Navy some payback.
Jimbei and Ivankov manage to meet up on the battlefield, Ivankov telling the Fishman that while everyone's been distracted, all of the marines have left the battlefield and retreated to the plaza. Jimbei admits that he has a bad feeling about this turn of events, but says that there's no time to be second-guessing.
With the walls still not raised, a voice bellows out that he'll buy some time, as the Giant Vice-Admiral John Giant bounds onto the battlefield and begins tearing through the enemy. He reaches Whitebeard himself and attacks, yet Whitebeard easily deflects the Giant's weapon with his own, before grabbing the very air itself and heaving, sending John Giant to the ground and causing the entire island to shake. As everyone, pirate and marine alike, desperately try to maintain their footing,they witness something astounding: the sea rising up around them, for Whitebeard has managed to tilt the entire island, sea and all.
Eyecatches: Zoro and Luffy
As things settle down Luffy complains to Jimbei about the collateral damage, and he responds by saying that his crew know to stay away. On the Navy's side, Helmeppo and Coby get to their feet, and Coby is left awe-struck at the sight of the destroyed Marineford city. John Giant gets back to his feetand tries to attack Whitebeard again, but this time Whitebeard hits him right in the stomach with a seismic punch. The Giant goes down, and a shockwave continues onward, straight for the execution scaffold, but before it can hit, the wave is mysteriously deflected by the Admirals.
Finally getting close enough to the plaza, Luffy stretches out to slingshot himself into the plaza, just as the walls finally manage to break through the ice and knock him off. The risen walls encircle the bay, blocking the plaza and scaffold from sight. The pirates try attacking it, but their weapons are powerless against the thick steel plating, and what's more, dozens of cannons pointing through slits in the steel train their sights on them. There appears to be nowhere to run.
But there is one place still open. One of the walls could not be raised thanks to Oars Jr.'s body being stuck on top of it. Sengoku says that even if the pirates aren't fully enclosed, they'll proceed anyway, and orders Akainu to begin. The Admiral steps forward and begins shooting lava high into the air. The pirates at first wonder what he's doing, until it all becomes clear. Giant fists of lava begin to fall out of the sky, devestating the battlefield and those on it.
Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, finally takes to the field...and doesn't do all that much. Well, okay, he did take out John Giant (where the heck was that guy hiding during the previous episodes?), and did mess up the island a bit (how the heck does that work, grabbing the air, anyway?). I guess I'm just a bit let down at how the proclaimed strongest pirate crew in the world is basically just another Red Shirt Army with around four or five standouts.
Sengoku's plan is also something that I'm a bit let down at. Yeah, I guess the wall's efficent, but I'm imagine someone who is famed for his tactical mind would come up with something a little...grander than a giant wall.
Also, the map at the start of each episode is starting to get a bit silly. It was all right during Skypiea, for instance, where stuff was happening with each episode, but here it's basically "Yeah, the pirates are still in the bay, and Ace is still on the scaffold...yep."
The Admirals were obviously using Ambition there to deflect the shockwave. That bit sort of reminded me of something you'd see in a Magical Girl series, which is funny when you consider Toei's Pretty Cure franchise. But I have to say, the Whitebeard Pirates don't really seem to be all that concerned with Ace's safety, as this is the third time they've endangered him like this. First Whitebeard tried dumping two huge tidal waves on top of him, then Jozu threw that huge iceberg at the scaffold, and now the shockwave. They should really be more careful with how they handle themselves.
Ah well, this episode did have some pretty good production values, and the next one does too, as it marks the return of animation director Eisaku Inoue after an absence of nearly two years. To give you an idea of what that means, some of his previous episodes include Zoro vs. Kuma and the Going Merry's funeral.
edited 18th Nov '10 3:13:55 PM by ComicX6
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454: The Crew's Whereabouts - A Giant Bird Chick and a Pink Showdown
As the ship continues to sail onward, Jimbei briefs Luffy on what they're going to be up against, and Luffy says that it sounds even worse than Impel Down. An all-out war is inevitable.
On the shore of Momoiro Island a disheveled Sanji sits among the rocks, wondering what is up with the inhabitants here. Dressing up in women's clothing, chasing him all day, even destroying a massive boulder that he had kicked at them. He looks at his Vivre Card and turns to the sky, wailing when is he ever going to see Nami and Robin again. Meanwhile at the Kamabakka palace, the ruler receives the report that there's someone on the island who is having difficulty excepting his "true nature", so they'll use the "traditional method", which hasnt been used in quite a while...
So the next day Sanji finds himself once again being chased by a horde of Kamabakkans. He's pursued into the palace and dropped down a trapdoor and finds himself in the throne room. There, he finds himself before a large-headed man wearing a crown, who introduces himself as Caroline, the substitute queen while Emporio Ivankov is away. The Kamabakkans squeal in unison. Sanji, of course, is rather beside himself, and retorts that he just wants to leave here as soon as possible. Caroline tells him that if he can defeat the strongest fighter on the island, he's free to go. Sanji eagerly excepts. The Kamabakkans leer in unison.
At the outdoor battle field Sanji is subjected to the indignity of having to wear makeup, a dress, and high heels, the "traditional battle uniform". He yells at the squeeing Kamabakkans to shut up, and then declares that he's going to settle this fight in a single blow and say fairwell to this island. His opponent is none other than Caroline, also filling in for the island's strongest fighter.
Sanji opens the fight with his Concasser, but Caroline vanishes and reappears right next to him, throwing him off balance with a single strike of the hand. Sanji retaliates with a volley of kicks, but not one of them manage to hit. Sanji wonders how this could be, and then discovers the horrifying truth: the reason he's missing is because Caroline is constantly angling for a better view of the bloomers he has on. He quickly tries covering up, which Caroline claims is proof of his "maiden's heart". Sanji shouts that that's ridiculous, but Caroline points out that his kicks aren't as high now.
Caroline attacks with the secret art of New Kama Kenpo, Otome no Mezame (Awakening of a Maiden), which consists of a big ol' bear hug. As he blushes furiously, Sanji wonders why he's getting so embarrassed about this. Does it mean that maybe, just maybe, he's losing sight of himself!
As the Kamabakkans frolick across the beach there is a newcomer who thinks to himself that maybe the next time he meets the girls Nami and Robin, that they'll be great friends.
...
Eyecatches: Sanji and Chopper
On the layered island of Torino Chopper trudges uphill, carrying a huge platter of fruit. He thinks to himself how he hates this island. The giant birds view him as a plaything, the human natives try to eat him, and the birds and natives are always fighting each other. Once inside the cave that he's made his home, he offers the giant platter of food to a baby giant bird that he'd been nursing back to health after it fell out if its nest. Looking at his Vivre Card, Chopper hits upon an idea, and asks the bird to fly him back to Sabaody after it learns how to fly. The chick promises to, and promptly knocks him around like a toy.
The next day Chopper wakes up to find th chick gone. He finds it playing not far from the cave, but the two are forced to hide from a group of natives hunting them. Instead of keeping quiet though, the chick just gets louder, and the two are forced to flee from the ravenous natives. Just when the two are cornered, however, they're saving by a flock of giant birds distracting the natives. One of them carries the chick away, but not before the two reaffirm their promise.
Of course it is only afterwards that Chopper realizes that it's going to take time for the chick to grow up and learn how to fly, and he shouts how he wants to leave the island and how much he hates it here. And the birds and humans continue to fight...
Oh boy, where should I begin? I guess I should say that this episode was hilarious. In a deeply disturbing, awkward, "Wha tthe hell am I watching?" kind of way.
Sanji's side was..well... Well, this change of his obviously isn't going tyo be permanent. As soon as he gets a glimpse of some genuine femininity or learns from Ivankov what's been going on, he'll be back to his old self. I wouldn't put it past Oda to pull something like him in drag somehow making it on to his bounty poster or something. Watching this, I definitely get the impression that everyone involved in the production had oodles of fun working on it, especially wit hthe designs (though Caroline's breasts were rather alarming). The whole part at the end with the blushing, the sparkles, the flower become, eh, erect, just killed me while being incredibly cringe-worthy. And we have another set of this to go through too. It's not going to be pretty...
Chopper's half was, as a fellow forumgoer put it, straight sugar. An incredibly sweet finisher following a disgustingly sour aftertaste left by the previous half. I don't think Chopper should worry too much, since I've heard that it doesn't take baby birds very long to grow big enough to fly. That bird was pretty cute, speaking of which. I have to wonder where those natives got their hands on rocket-propelled spears though. Knowing One Piece, we might never find out.
So next episode will cover more of Robin and Usopp's stories. I'm really looking forward to it, for it's being handled by Naoki Tate, who also did part one of their story. That's good, because he probably the only one who can make that really gloomy, somber atmosphere on Tequila Wolf work. It'll be pretty funny if Robin's half dominates the episode again, though I personally wouldn't mind, since her story's much more interesting than Usopp's.
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