(no subject)
Aug. 2nd, 2011 10:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moveyourdeadfrosOKAY, inbetween having to help at home with redecorations and housework, I just haven't seemed to be very good at keeping up with the whole recap business. Mea Culpa, but I'll try to be more on the ball in the future. But for now we get two chapters worth of recap in one post, so hey- there's that!
We open up this chapter with something so cute, people with heart diseases are adviced to look elsewhere- Baroque Works Babies! Yes, turns out that mister 9, the bat-wielding partner of Vivi and miss Monday, the muscle-bound nun who get her ass kicked by Zoro shacked up and have a baby!
A baby mister 9 juggles with his bats. Never stop being you, Oda.
While the people of Fishman Island hurry to Gyoncorde Plaza so they don’t miss out on their chance at ”World’s Most Useless Citizens”, Megalo swims Shirahoshi and Jinbe to that very same place as fast as he can! Lifes are at stake, the situation looks grim and it’s all or nothing! This is of course the perfect set up-
-For a gag so silly that there is no way it could ever work out. Surely no way, let us not even think about that and instead go see how the princes are doing.
And much to my dismay and no ones surprise, their arrival amounted to jack and shit, as the combined forces of the doped up Hody-officers was too much to handle. Anyhow- Hody doesn’t execute them on the spot because he’s waiting for Decken to report in regarding Shirahoshi’s death, for he fears her power the most. Yes-
-Truly THIS ditz is the most fearsome foe the Four Seas have ever born witness to. BUT Hody doesn’t sweat the small stuff as he moves on to the next part on his Obvious Villain Checklist- the speech where he reveals EVERY single detail of his eeeevil plot, checking off ”taunting the fates by insisting the heroes are already dead slash unable to stop me” while he’s at it. For you see, he’s got some pretty darn nifty back-up: Over 70 000 battle-capable fishmen, and roughly 30 000 human slaves- all ready and roaring for battle! But you know how it goes- you can’t go ONE splash page in this comic without someone trying to steal your thunder, and in Hody’s case that someone...
Is Madam Shirley- here to remind us of that pesky little prophecy she made a whole bunch of chapters back: Straw Hat Luffy will destroy the island! Hody thus decides to engage in a debate regarding determinism versus free will-
By the good old argument of ”water bullet to the chest”. Only he is allowed to strut around and show his abs, this is HIS day godammit! After casually dropping the small bomb that apparently Shirley and Arlong are siblings for no apparent reason, Hody then FINALLY gets on with his evil speech. Did Shirahoshi really think a nameless human killed her mother? No…
Hody killed your mother! And Shirahoshis shaken response is… that she knew it all along.
Wow. Talk about your anti-climax, and quite a twist ending to leave off on. Except this is One Piece and Oda never forgets anyone- because it’s time to remind us of why Vander Decken should make us reach for our brown pants. Sure, he may be utterly cray-cray and a sometimes-pedo…
-But he’s also clever enough to milk his power for ALL it is worth.
No time to waste, so let us move on to
We open up with seeing two familiar faces, the giants Dorry and Broggy from WAY back when, STILL fighting on their island over who has the biggest e-beard. Oh, those cads.
Hody is not pleased that Shirahoshi essentially completely sunk his big reveal, and I think there’s a little narcissistic maniac in all of us who can sympathize with him. But how did Shirahoshi find out that dastardly secret? Why, from MEGALO of course, who apparently was a mascot back then and that somehow leads to him being in a position to see Hody shoot Otohime, whereupon he only told Shirahoshi some years afterwards because… well, because we wouldn’t have a plot otherwise. When Jinbe asks her the very sensible question of why the hell she didn’t say anything, this is her answer.
… Basically, she didn’t want to spread any harsh vibes and wreck everyone’s groove, and also didn’t think that maybe obeying her mothers last wish to the letter wasn’t a good idea. Wow.
Double wow- I’m agreeing with HODY of all people. I like that Oda actually seems to portray Hody as being in the RIGHT here- it was a stupid thing to do, and Jinbe’s words comes off as desperate attempts to console Shirahoshi. You just know he wants to facepalm, but his arms are unfortunately tied. Hody proceeds to prove how right he is by unleashing water bullet hell on the male royals, while the assembled townspeople continue being useless. When some of the children as Shirley when Luffy will come to save their sorry asses and she responds by saying she doesn’t know WHEN her predictions will happen, they and all the assembled fish-people basically start shouting out prayers for Luffy to come destroy the island-
-Because they KNOW they are useless civilians that can’t do anything without nine humans showing up to save their sorry tail-finns, and better to destroy the island than let Hody have it. But alas, the miracle would not happen, and Hody moves in to kill Neptune and -
BAM! COUP-BLOCKED, HODY! Yes indeed, Luffy apparently tailed along inside the sharks stomach, BUT HE DID NOT COME ALONE!
That’s right- Nami covered up their arrival with mirages, allowing Robin to sneak about unnoticed and pilfer the keys to all the restraints. And what’s that in the sky? It’s a whale! No, it’s a lion! No-
It’s a super pervert, crashing the party in style! While Hoe snatches up the Royal Family and carries them off to safety, the assembled useless townspeople ask Luffy the question on everyone’s mind: Be they enemies or allies? Be they devils or angels? Luffy’s response…
Is that they are but men. ROCK!
… Or MACK, if you’re Brook and have your priorities set straight.
SO- thoughts and feelings on these chapters… Many have stated they feel Hody being behind Otohime’s death, while logical, kind of cheapens the whole theme of suffering minorities struggling with racism, in that a problem with no real solution other than time and onstant diplomacy has now been boiled down to there being one single bad guy behind everything bad and Luffy can solve everything by punching him in the face. I can see where people are coming from, but on the other hand we have already seen the Fishmen suffer and endure horrible racism, and seeing humans actually reaching out, no matter how small a step it might be, to help them makes the conflict feel more real than just humans, and especially Celestial Dragons, being bastards all the time. To me this feels like a natural evolution of Arlong’s hatred, a hatred that has grown so much that it eventually consumes people and erases their rational thoughts. Sometimes, it’s the monster grown in our backyard that’s the scariest one.
It is pretty darn contrived that Hody’s revealing his master plan when he’s got NOTHING to win by doing so though. He says he fears Shirahoshi’s power, and then goes out of his WAY to antagonize her? Slick move there, champ. It makes him look like a big primadonna- everyone HAS to know that he was the one who planned it all and that he’s the biggest king of the castle, so exposition away! Shirahoshi being captured becomes less stupid when it was probably part of the plan, but her refusal to tell people of the serpent in their midst… I groaned. I groand a lot. But nevermind that now- it is time to commence with the kicking of asses, and with the stage set and the actors in position all I’m wondering is who will get a one on one fight with the Hody officers, and who get relegated to handling those 100 000 strong army in the background.
We open up this chapter with something so cute, people with heart diseases are adviced to look elsewhere- Baroque Works Babies! Yes, turns out that mister 9, the bat-wielding partner of Vivi and miss Monday, the muscle-bound nun who get her ass kicked by Zoro shacked up and have a baby!
A baby mister 9 juggles with his bats. Never stop being you, Oda.
While the people of Fishman Island hurry to Gyoncorde Plaza so they don’t miss out on their chance at ”World’s Most Useless Citizens”, Megalo swims Shirahoshi and Jinbe to that very same place as fast as he can! Lifes are at stake, the situation looks grim and it’s all or nothing! This is of course the perfect set up-
-For a gag so silly that there is no way it could ever work out. Surely no way, let us not even think about that and instead go see how the princes are doing.
And much to my dismay and no ones surprise, their arrival amounted to jack and shit, as the combined forces of the doped up Hody-officers was too much to handle. Anyhow- Hody doesn’t execute them on the spot because he’s waiting for Decken to report in regarding Shirahoshi’s death, for he fears her power the most. Yes-
-Truly THIS ditz is the most fearsome foe the Four Seas have ever born witness to. BUT Hody doesn’t sweat the small stuff as he moves on to the next part on his Obvious Villain Checklist- the speech where he reveals EVERY single detail of his eeeevil plot, checking off ”taunting the fates by insisting the heroes are already dead slash unable to stop me” while he’s at it. For you see, he’s got some pretty darn nifty back-up: Over 70 000 battle-capable fishmen, and roughly 30 000 human slaves- all ready and roaring for battle! But you know how it goes- you can’t go ONE splash page in this comic without someone trying to steal your thunder, and in Hody’s case that someone...
Is Madam Shirley- here to remind us of that pesky little prophecy she made a whole bunch of chapters back: Straw Hat Luffy will destroy the island! Hody thus decides to engage in a debate regarding determinism versus free will-
By the good old argument of ”water bullet to the chest”. Only he is allowed to strut around and show his abs, this is HIS day godammit! After casually dropping the small bomb that apparently Shirley and Arlong are siblings for no apparent reason, Hody then FINALLY gets on with his evil speech. Did Shirahoshi really think a nameless human killed her mother? No…
Hody killed your mother! And Shirahoshis shaken response is… that she knew it all along.
Wow. Talk about your anti-climax, and quite a twist ending to leave off on. Except this is One Piece and Oda never forgets anyone- because it’s time to remind us of why Vander Decken should make us reach for our brown pants. Sure, he may be utterly cray-cray and a sometimes-pedo…
-But he’s also clever enough to milk his power for ALL it is worth.
No time to waste, so let us move on to
We open up with seeing two familiar faces, the giants Dorry and Broggy from WAY back when, STILL fighting on their island over who has the biggest e-beard. Oh, those cads.
Hody is not pleased that Shirahoshi essentially completely sunk his big reveal, and I think there’s a little narcissistic maniac in all of us who can sympathize with him. But how did Shirahoshi find out that dastardly secret? Why, from MEGALO of course, who apparently was a mascot back then and that somehow leads to him being in a position to see Hody shoot Otohime, whereupon he only told Shirahoshi some years afterwards because… well, because we wouldn’t have a plot otherwise. When Jinbe asks her the very sensible question of why the hell she didn’t say anything, this is her answer.
… Basically, she didn’t want to spread any harsh vibes and wreck everyone’s groove, and also didn’t think that maybe obeying her mothers last wish to the letter wasn’t a good idea. Wow.
Double wow- I’m agreeing with HODY of all people. I like that Oda actually seems to portray Hody as being in the RIGHT here- it was a stupid thing to do, and Jinbe’s words comes off as desperate attempts to console Shirahoshi. You just know he wants to facepalm, but his arms are unfortunately tied. Hody proceeds to prove how right he is by unleashing water bullet hell on the male royals, while the assembled townspeople continue being useless. When some of the children as Shirley when Luffy will come to save their sorry asses and she responds by saying she doesn’t know WHEN her predictions will happen, they and all the assembled fish-people basically start shouting out prayers for Luffy to come destroy the island-
-Because they KNOW they are useless civilians that can’t do anything without nine humans showing up to save their sorry tail-finns, and better to destroy the island than let Hody have it. But alas, the miracle would not happen, and Hody moves in to kill Neptune and -
BAM! COUP-BLOCKED, HODY! Yes indeed, Luffy apparently tailed along inside the sharks stomach, BUT HE DID NOT COME ALONE!
That’s right- Nami covered up their arrival with mirages, allowing Robin to sneak about unnoticed and pilfer the keys to all the restraints. And what’s that in the sky? It’s a whale! No, it’s a lion! No-
It’s a super pervert, crashing the party in style! While Hoe snatches up the Royal Family and carries them off to safety, the assembled useless townspeople ask Luffy the question on everyone’s mind: Be they enemies or allies? Be they devils or angels? Luffy’s response…
Is that they are but men. ROCK!
… Or MACK, if you’re Brook and have your priorities set straight.
SO- thoughts and feelings on these chapters… Many have stated they feel Hody being behind Otohime’s death, while logical, kind of cheapens the whole theme of suffering minorities struggling with racism, in that a problem with no real solution other than time and onstant diplomacy has now been boiled down to there being one single bad guy behind everything bad and Luffy can solve everything by punching him in the face. I can see where people are coming from, but on the other hand we have already seen the Fishmen suffer and endure horrible racism, and seeing humans actually reaching out, no matter how small a step it might be, to help them makes the conflict feel more real than just humans, and especially Celestial Dragons, being bastards all the time. To me this feels like a natural evolution of Arlong’s hatred, a hatred that has grown so much that it eventually consumes people and erases their rational thoughts. Sometimes, it’s the monster grown in our backyard that’s the scariest one.
It is pretty darn contrived that Hody’s revealing his master plan when he’s got NOTHING to win by doing so though. He says he fears Shirahoshi’s power, and then goes out of his WAY to antagonize her? Slick move there, champ. It makes him look like a big primadonna- everyone HAS to know that he was the one who planned it all and that he’s the biggest king of the castle, so exposition away! Shirahoshi being captured becomes less stupid when it was probably part of the plan, but her refusal to tell people of the serpent in their midst… I groaned. I groand a lot. But nevermind that now- it is time to commence with the kicking of asses, and with the stage set and the actors in position all I’m wondering is who will get a one on one fight with the Hody officers, and who get relegated to handling those 100 000 strong army in the background.
