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.
