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more One Piece squee
Having now read through ch.597:
Marineford is INSANE. I don't even know exactly how I feel about it, because it was just so epically out of control. Forget "war is hell," this war was madness. And not OP's silly crack, either.
Okay, ouch. Yeah. I'll confess, I didn't actually cry at Ace's death - and yes, that's probably because I was spoiled for it. OTOH I'm not sure I would've wanted to read it unspoiled. Because to go through so much, so much sacrifice and desperation - Luffy giving up 10 years of his life, and then he keeps pushing himself beyond his limits, how many times; and Bon Clay sacrificing himself to get them there; and Whitebeard and all of his men, going to war with the government of the world, all to save him - and then they do save him from the execution, and he and Luffy are fighting back-to-back - after all that, to fail...ow. The "rescue a comrade" is a standard shounen trope, but isn't the comrade always supposed to get rescued? And that he died for Luffy...that after all that, it was so fast - one blow and it's over. Oda-sensei, you are a cruel master indeed.
But I did tear up post-flashback, "I HAVE MY NAKAMA!" Oh, Luffy...
It was a long time to go without the nakama (by my count it was about 2 years' real time as well as in-story?!) but at the same time, it's good that they weren't there. Because it's doubtful they all would've made it out alive, and besides, seeing Luffy like that, so completely overwhelmed - they were all so torn up just hearing about it; seeing it would've killed them. Any of them would've given their lives to spare Luffy that pain, and it's good that none of them were there to try.
(That being said, I miss them all and can't wait for them to be back together - gonna start reading post-time-skip before bed, let's see how much sleep I actually get tonight...!)
(Also hee to the various adventures they're having, especially Zoro with Mihawk, and even more specially Franky's explosive adventures of running screaming through the mountains wearing a tiger skin that's on fire and thus inadvertently spawning a new legend of the Grand Line. I nearly cried at that, too, I was laughing so hard XD)
Meanwhile, while not the nakama, everyone else ever was there - yay Bon Clay! And Crocodile~~~! Okay, Crocodile has always been my favorite OP big bad, for being such an OTT James-Bond supervillain, and he was in such fine form here - and nominally on their side, even if only because it served his purposes, and eeeee~~! Plus the newcomers - Ivankov is pretty dang awesome, as is Inazuma who is just fabulous with those scissors (and the wineglass!) And aww, Jinbe, getting attached to Luffy in spite of himself (as you do. Which is apparently part of his bloodline? Hmm...)
Speaking of bad guys and not-bad guys...I don't actually hate Sengoku. I'm not sure I like him, but he seems to be one of the more honorable Marines types? He genuinely believes he's keeping the peace for the sake of the world, and it's not his fault that the supposed peace-keepers are rotten to the core (his outraged disbelief at the end, when the World Government ordered him to cover up the Level 6 escapes...and before when Ace dies, and Garp is telling him to hold him down, because otherwise ...) Kizaru and Akainu are both assholes (Akainu might be the more evil, but Kizaru just grates on me; looking forward to seeing them both go down hard.) Aokiji is still cool (*cough*) and I still love Smoker, even though I was sad to see him on the wrong side...
And Coby! Oh Coby!! <3333 You've come so far, even if you still have a ways to go (but he's mastering Rokushiki, that's awesome! ...does that mean he's trying for CP9?)
And SHANKS! I didn't really have spoilers there - I thought I'd heard Shanks appeared but wasn't sure. So that he's there and STOPS THE WAR, basically just by saying so - so does Shanks get by entirely on his haki?? I.e. the spirit of total badassery.
Ahah, and that's why everyone loves Trafalgar Law - I knew he was popular but didn't know why (other than that he's hot by OP standards.) Yeah, saving Luffy rather does predispose me to like him, too.
Have one question - I was reading pretty quickly, and I'm notoriously bad at following action in shounen manga (one of the reasons I do tend to like it animated) and Marineford as previously mentioned is insanity on paper, so I might've just missed this - but did Garp ever really fight? Like did we see what his power was? Other than this one page, and I can't tell what he's doing, except that the magma has a dog head? (I love Garp, but that goes without saying, no?)
So that was why Blackbeard wanted the gura-gura fruit - because he can absorb other powers? Allow me to be the latest to say OH SHIT. (Paging Dr. Vegapunk!! When are we gonna meet that bastard, anyway????)
Also, Sabo...so he's with Dragon now? (I'm assuming it was him injured here, otherwise this page makes no sense. Except for the awww chibi!Zoro & Kuina!) The three brothers were awful cute, but man that story was dark, even for OP...
(Hmm, looking at those online scans , they're different translations from what I read...yargh I really need to be able to read this in Japanese >.> I can, but it takes so long with all the vocab I gotta look up, it's easier with scanlations...but then I miss stuff...)
Also I've been watching the anime's Water 7 with the bro (he's never gotten around to reading the manga, so the anime is mostly how he gets his OP) - and even though the animation quality is sub-par compared to Oda's gorgeous art, and they stretch out the fights and the gags and everything else shamelessly (LOLOL how just about every trick of animating manga that Gintama makes fun of is played totally straight in OP), the story's still fantastic and the seiyuu are amazing (Tanaka Mayumi as Luffy, oh my god. And Yamaguchi Kappei damn near rips his own heart out.) and the "Oitsumerareta" BGM ("Cornered", a.k.a the "You do NOT hurt Monkey D. Luffy's nakama" theme) still makes me want to cheer. (and rewatch Arlong Park. I want to find someone to show the show to...that's the one advantage of OP not being the most popular series over here; there's still people you can share it with, and it's fun to watch someone be captivated for the first time...)
Marineford is INSANE. I don't even know exactly how I feel about it, because it was just so epically out of control. Forget "war is hell," this war was madness. And not OP's silly crack, either.
Okay, ouch. Yeah. I'll confess, I didn't actually cry at Ace's death - and yes, that's probably because I was spoiled for it. OTOH I'm not sure I would've wanted to read it unspoiled. Because to go through so much, so much sacrifice and desperation - Luffy giving up 10 years of his life, and then he keeps pushing himself beyond his limits, how many times; and Bon Clay sacrificing himself to get them there; and Whitebeard and all of his men, going to war with the government of the world, all to save him - and then they do save him from the execution, and he and Luffy are fighting back-to-back - after all that, to fail...ow. The "rescue a comrade" is a standard shounen trope, but isn't the comrade always supposed to get rescued? And that he died for Luffy...that after all that, it was so fast - one blow and it's over. Oda-sensei, you are a cruel master indeed.
But I did tear up post-flashback, "I HAVE MY NAKAMA!" Oh, Luffy...
It was a long time to go without the nakama (by my count it was about 2 years' real time as well as in-story?!) but at the same time, it's good that they weren't there. Because it's doubtful they all would've made it out alive, and besides, seeing Luffy like that, so completely overwhelmed - they were all so torn up just hearing about it; seeing it would've killed them. Any of them would've given their lives to spare Luffy that pain, and it's good that none of them were there to try.
(That being said, I miss them all and can't wait for them to be back together - gonna start reading post-time-skip before bed, let's see how much sleep I actually get tonight...!)
(Also hee to the various adventures they're having, especially Zoro with Mihawk, and even more specially Franky's explosive adventures of running screaming through the mountains wearing a tiger skin that's on fire and thus inadvertently spawning a new legend of the Grand Line. I nearly cried at that, too, I was laughing so hard XD)
Meanwhile, while not the nakama, everyone else ever was there - yay Bon Clay! And Crocodile~~~! Okay, Crocodile has always been my favorite OP big bad, for being such an OTT James-Bond supervillain, and he was in such fine form here - and nominally on their side, even if only because it served his purposes, and eeeee~~! Plus the newcomers - Ivankov is pretty dang awesome, as is Inazuma who is just fabulous with those scissors (and the wineglass!) And aww, Jinbe, getting attached to Luffy in spite of himself (as you do. Which is apparently part of his bloodline? Hmm...)
Speaking of bad guys and not-bad guys...I don't actually hate Sengoku. I'm not sure I like him, but he seems to be one of the more honorable Marines types? He genuinely believes he's keeping the peace for the sake of the world, and it's not his fault that the supposed peace-keepers are rotten to the core (his outraged disbelief at the end, when the World Government ordered him to cover up the Level 6 escapes...and before when Ace dies, and Garp is telling him to hold him down, because otherwise ...) Kizaru and Akainu are both assholes (Akainu might be the more evil, but Kizaru just grates on me; looking forward to seeing them both go down hard.) Aokiji is still cool (*cough*) and I still love Smoker, even though I was sad to see him on the wrong side...
And Coby! Oh Coby!! <3333 You've come so far, even if you still have a ways to go (but he's mastering Rokushiki, that's awesome! ...does that mean he's trying for CP9?)
And SHANKS! I didn't really have spoilers there - I thought I'd heard Shanks appeared but wasn't sure. So that he's there and STOPS THE WAR, basically just by saying so - so does Shanks get by entirely on his haki?? I.e. the spirit of total badassery.
Ahah, and that's why everyone loves Trafalgar Law - I knew he was popular but didn't know why (other than that he's hot by OP standards.) Yeah, saving Luffy rather does predispose me to like him, too.
Have one question - I was reading pretty quickly, and I'm notoriously bad at following action in shounen manga (one of the reasons I do tend to like it animated) and Marineford as previously mentioned is insanity on paper, so I might've just missed this - but did Garp ever really fight? Like did we see what his power was? Other than this one page, and I can't tell what he's doing, except that the magma has a dog head? (I love Garp, but that goes without saying, no?)
So that was why Blackbeard wanted the gura-gura fruit - because he can absorb other powers? Allow me to be the latest to say OH SHIT. (Paging Dr. Vegapunk!! When are we gonna meet that bastard, anyway????)
Also, Sabo...so he's with Dragon now? (I'm assuming it was him injured here, otherwise this page makes no sense. Except for the awww chibi!Zoro & Kuina!) The three brothers were awful cute, but man that story was dark, even for OP...
(Hmm, looking at those online scans , they're different translations from what I read...yargh I really need to be able to read this in Japanese >.> I can, but it takes so long with all the vocab I gotta look up, it's easier with scanlations...but then I miss stuff...)
Also I've been watching the anime's Water 7 with the bro (he's never gotten around to reading the manga, so the anime is mostly how he gets his OP) - and even though the animation quality is sub-par compared to Oda's gorgeous art, and they stretch out the fights and the gags and everything else shamelessly (LOLOL how just about every trick of animating manga that Gintama makes fun of is played totally straight in OP), the story's still fantastic and the seiyuu are amazing (Tanaka Mayumi as Luffy, oh my god. And Yamaguchi Kappei damn near rips his own heart out.) and the "Oitsumerareta" BGM ("Cornered", a.k.a the "You do NOT hurt Monkey D. Luffy's nakama" theme) still makes me want to cheer. (and rewatch Arlong Park. I want to find someone to show the show to...that's the one advantage of OP not being the most popular series over here; there's still people you can share it with, and it's fun to watch someone be captivated for the first time...)