One Piece - General Discussion

[Sandman87]

Popeye the Kabuki Man apparently gets his hair done at the same place as Medusa of the Inhumans. That's almost cool enough to make up for his constant "Yohyoh yoh" kabuki noises. Was nice of him to go all poetic when he was getting ready to kill Nami. That's kinda like showing respect.

 

If I've learned one thing from anime, it's that enemies get really ticked off if you're obviously not fighting them seriously. Sanji should have known better.

 

I really hope they eventually show Chimney smoking cigarettes. Not only would that justify her odd name, but it would piss off the people who make those obnoxious "Truth" ads (seriously, they can all go FOAD right now.)

[Lantern7]

I picked up the DVD from my library's system. For those who never heard of One Piece Film: Z (pronounced "Zed" because we're in England all of a sudden), it was released in late 2012, and takes place after the two year timeskip. If you're watching It parallel with the current DVD releases, it's a huge step forward. More powers, bigger danger, and Brook the afro-wearing skeleton is a crew member. Once again: because creator Eiichiro Oda, that's why. And don't ask me why Chopper (the boy-reindeer doctor) is dressed like a cow. Or why we have Avril Lavigne covering two songs over the end credits.

 

While I liked Strong World more, Z holds up well. The Straw Hats run into a fanatical ex-Navy Admiral who has a mad-on for pirates. Z has a bulked-up mechanical arm made of sea prism stone, which weakens Devil Fruit power-users, and that puts Luffy on his ass a few times. He also has a few underlings . . . one with the Devil Fruit power to control plant life, another with the ability to regress anything she touches a dozen years. This confuses me, since we already have a Devil Fruit user who can age/de-age people in Jewelry Bonney. That power is used to chibi-fy Nami and Chopper, turn Robin into an 18-year-old, and make Brook a little younger (relatively speaking). I don't know why we have that subplot. The main plot with Z seeking to destroy key spots to more or less wreck the world and all pirates is serviceable. The only post-skip things that take to the forefront in my mind are Borsalino (the badass Admiral with the light-based powers) and the eleventh hour onslaught of Pacifistas. Other than that, I think the movie holds up well.

 

Has anybody else seen Z?

[Lantern7]

Chimney and Gonbe show Luffy the secret passage that leads to Robin; Franky puts on a display of raw punching power.

 

ETA: Hey, we get to see what happens with Franky powers up with stuff besides cola. Then he gets cola and one-shots Fukurou, the cha-pa-pain-in-the-ass. If Wikipedia is accurate, next week will show us what Zoro and Usopp/Sniper King have been doing with Jabra and Kaku.

[lathspel]

I love the continued Usopp side gags:

"Give us back our Usopp!"

"What, you were just with him!"

Also - looks like Lucci is angling for a rematch with Luffy, or else wants something to hold over Spandam's head.

[Sandman87]

It will be interesting to see where Lucci's sudden attack of uncooperativeness is leading. I get the impression that he doesn't like Spandam.

Kumadori has all those CP-9 powers, but he can't get himself out of a fridge? Sad.

I want to see what happens if Franky accidentally uses hot sauce or Jolt Cola. Or diet cola. Or cola that's gone flat.

[Lantern7]

I think the next time Franky tries to power up with something other than cola is right before the timeskip. So it'll be a while.
 
Thinking about it, it'll be a few weeks before we find out what Devil Fruit was eaten by Kalifa. In the meantime, here's what would have happened had she had scarfed up the Ox-Ox Fruit, Model Giraffe.
 
ETA: For those who don't know why Luffy shrank after breaking down the door . . .

it's his Third Gear technique. Basically, he bites into his thumb and blows real hard, creating a giant arm. The downside is that he becomes one foot tall, and that lasts for as long as he creates his "bone balloons."

It'll be a while before we see the technique in full.

[Lantern7]

Franky's brawl spills into the ocean; Usopp and Sanji attempt to overcome their handcuffs by outsmarting their opponents.

I think Time-Warner meant Usopp and Zoro.

 

ETA: The Franky/Fukurou fight was pretty epic, but it's small potatoes compared to the other brawls. Like Zoro forcing Usopp/Sniper King to be his katana. I did like Plan A, though . . . chop off a hand from the cuffs, get Chopper to reattach it. Zoro is a bit of a lateral thinker in that respect.

[Sandman87]

I'm beginning to doubt the sanity and/or intelligence of the CP-9 animal duo. Sniper King was able to get them bickering with each other twice in the same fight, just minutes apart.

 

 

Zorro apparently buys into the samurai notion that defeating your enemy is good, but doing so by deliberately causing yourself life-threatening injury is much better. Like, you know, chopping off your own hand. Luckily he had a much safer yet dumber Plan B to go with.

 

 

Looks like Popeye the Kabuki Man was able to eat his way out of the fridge. If his brand new massive gut is any indication, he might have eaten the fridge itself. Maybe it'll slow him down, or maybe it'll make him throw up. In the latter case, I can't wait to see just how dramatic and poetic he can make it.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Sandman87

[lathspel]

"Lateral Thinker" is putting mildly in this case. Zoro has a lot of confidence in Chopper; I wonder what he'd think of that plan?

I like how Franky's eyes are a bit Terminator-esque behind the glasses. And, terrible centaur mode actually came in handy. All in all, it's my favorite CP9 fight yet (if you don't count Nami's "What, I just stole the key and I'm running away, no problem").

That said, the best single line was "Just the kind of point I'd expect a tall horse to make."

Edited February 23, 2015 by lathspel

[Lantern7]

Chopper summons the Rumble Ball again.

 

Bad news . . . I think the next few weeks involve filler.

[Sandman87]

Aww, it's Chopper. He's so adorably cute that...OMGWTFHAPPENEDTOCHOPPER!!?? But seriously kids, just say "no" to Rumble Balls.

 

Now we know how Popeye the Kabuki Medusa controls his hair: Bio-feedback. He can even do Finger Pistols with his hair.

 

Still waiting to see how Zorro manages to turn A Sword Named Usopp into a good thing. So far it's an even worse idea than Ichigo's idea of tying his sword to Uryu's head in Bleach.

[Lantern7]

I think this was the first time the consequences of Rumble Balls was addressed. With one of those, Chopper can go into one of seven modes, depending on what he needs at the time. Eating three Rumble Balls? He turns into a monster, which you just saw. Post time-skip,

he can use his forms without the Rumble Balls, and eating one turns him into a monster, albeit with control. Also, he does the "Don't Flatter Me" dance in that mode, which is a little disturbing.

[Lantern7]

I've decided that individual episode threads are a waste. Only three people post on them, myself included. This thread will cover the episodes that have aired on Toonami, and would not go over spoilers from the current (Enies Lobby) arc.

 

With that said, it looks like we'll be leaving the current story (assault against CP9, Chopper turns himself into a reindeer monster) and going into filler for a few weeks. Here's the description for "Boss Luffy Returns! Is It a Dream or Reality? Lottery Ruckus!":

 

A madcap adventure starring the Straw Hats; a came that eats lottery tickets.

Sounds like something that would beat any filler you'd get on Bleach. The following episode is titled "A Big Rice Cake Tossing Race at the Castle! Red Nose's Plot!" This suggests the coming of Buggy the Clown. This should intrigue at least one of the regulars here, since he keep seeing him in the (full) credits, and wants to know more about the clown pirate.

 

[Sandman87]

Hey! I only mentioned Pirate Pennywise once. It'd be funny if he has a clown ship; something the size of a rowboat with a crew of about 100 clowns.

[Lantern7]

His pirates are circus-themed. Maybe it'll come up in the filler. And he's not that creepy a clown . . . though his Chop-Chop power might be nightmare fodder, depending on how you look at it.

 

ETA: Well, that episode was . . . .Japanese. I reckon there should have been annotations for a lot of the story. I recognized the kids as Usopp's "crew" from his introduction arc in Syrup Village, Mr. 3 as the commissioner, and Princess Vivi and her aides. And we got to see Buggy and a bit of his Chop-Chop power . . . though I should mention that he doesn't usually have kabuki makeup. It was a fun holiday filler, but I felt a lot was lost on me.

[lathspel]

For filler, it was pretty good. I liked the clementine bush outside the restaurant.

Presumably Pops is also somebody I should know?

[Lantern7]

I don't remember who "Pops" was supposed to be. His face was hidden, right? Oh, and I missed the tangerines outside the restaurant. In canon, Nami grows them on the ship, and she has a tattoo that's a combination of a tangerine and pinwheel. A wood carving of that was hanging outside the restaurant.

 

Oh, and not only will there be filler next week, I found another "Boss Luffy" title down the line in the Enies Lobby arc.

[lathspel]

I couldn't remember which small citrus it was, but I remember then from the Merry. And I did notice that the woodcarving was Nami's tattoo.

At the end we see that Pops is a skinny panda, unless you mean that was a suit too.

[Lantern7]

Oh, the panda. I think he's called "Pandaman." From what I recall, creator Eiichiro Oda slips him into the background of the manga every so often.

[Sandman87]

I was a little disappointed with Buggy. Other than masks and makeup he seemed like just a regular bad guy with a regular bad guy crew. Regular for this show, that is.

[Lantern7]

Heads up . . . apparently, [adult swim] will be rerunning episodes at 8:30. Just in time for us to get another taste of Japanese-flavored filler. I guess it's great for those who can't stay up until 2:30 in the morning and can't record episodes for whatever reason. As for the next episode, "A Big Rice Cake Tossing Race at the Castle! Red Nose's Plot!":

 

 

 

The madcap throwback continues as Luffy and the gang competes for a priceless treasure hidden inside a tasty snack.

 

Sandman87 . .. I guess you have to see Buggy's two arcs to get the full experience. Dude's got a circus-themed crew, and he can detach parts of his body. Even for the show, he's bonkers. Maybe we'll see more of Mr.3, the Baroque Works agent with the powers of the Wax-Wax Fruit.

 

ETA: Curious . . . is throwing rice cakes from castles a thing in Japan? Another wacky episode, with more supporting characters from previous arcs. Of course, Zoro the monk would wind up not only getting lost, but also throwing away the "winning" rice cake. And, once again, we barely get any Buggy using his powers. Oh, well.

[Sandman87]

Interesting that Buggy keeps thanking Luffy for his hard work. That's a politeness level that's extreme, even for Japan.

[Lantern7]

To be honest, I didn't notice that. I was too focused on Buggy using the word "flashy" over and over again.

[Lantern7]

Anybody else catch "Bubble Master Kalifa! The Soap Trap Closes in on Nami!"? Kalifa's new power only looks dumb on paper, but she's still an assassin. Meanwhile, Chopper goes massive and nearly kills Kumadori, and Luffy nears a rematch with Rob "Pigeon Guy" Lucci.

 

ETA: And we got a teaser for the next episode. That never happens! I guess the episode ran short, so Toonami didn't feel the need to cut it off as per usual.

[Sandman87]

Chopper basically turned into Godzilla; everything Kumadori hit him with was completely useless. Didn't even seem to annoy him.

 

Kalifa's power seems just about as random as you can get.

[lathspel]

Chopper was legitimately scary.

Khalifa seems to be playing it for the fan service factor, but at least we know that Sanji died happy. And her power might have actually made Giraffe-guy's transformation worse, I suppose.

[Lantern7]

I forgot about the Spandam/Robin scene. That is rough to watch, because Spandam is such a pantload. Forgive me if I'm repeating myself, but I like it when One Piece arc villains are wicked strong. Sure, Lucci might be considered the Big Bad, but Spandam is his boss, and it's been established that the wanker is weaker than an average Marine.

[Lantern7]

Just want to see if anybody caught the latest episode. Spandam got his snail transponders mixed up, and he invoked a Buster Call on Enies Lobby itself. For added yuks, his tirade about trading lives to many more gets broadcast all over the island. Not much else goes on, save for the Galley-La/Franky Family alliance getting tied up and held captive, and the giants going down by force. I think Nami called Kalifa a bitch, but I'm not 100 percent on that.

[Sandman87]

There's absolutely no way Spandam would ever have risen to a position of authority if he hadn't ridden his father's coattails. He's just too much of a screw-up to have gotten to where he is on merit.

[Lantern7]

Bad news . . . One Piece won't be running repeats at 8:30 after Dragonball Z Kai anymore.

[Lantern7]

How to tell when characters are serious about fighting each other in an anime . . . they don't bother calling out their attack names. Such is the case with Luffy and Lucci, as they continue their battle. Meanwhile, Kalifa gets her fanservice on against Nami, making her skin slippery to the point where she can barely hold onto her Clima Takt (the weapon Usopp made for her prior to the main Alabaster arc). But she manages to wash away the scrubbing bubbles and creates vapor-based copies of herself, aka "Mirage Tempo." Oh, and Chopper busts in on the fight, and Kalifa is dumb enough to think it's Nami with a Zoan Devil Fruit power. Also: Usopp gets into his role as "Nosestorm."

 

ETA: I forgot about Spandam knocking Robin down the stairs again. I feel that I should keep track of how many times that sort of abuse happens, because it is hard to watch.

[lathspel]

Yeah, I am worried that there's not enough comeuppance in the world for Spandam.

I enjoyed the whole "Nosestorm Allure" gag way more than I should have. Shouldn't those two CP9 guys have been able to handle Zoro by now, though? It feels like that fight has progressed the least of any of them.

[Sandman87]

Nosestorm sounds like something that would require many, many boxes of Kleenex to deal with.

The kid and her rabbit-cat-thing crack me up. "It was all like 'whoosh!' and then he was all 'aaah!' and there was a hole and stuff." Granny just nods her head and smiles.

[Lantern7]

Bit of a rant . . . I went to a convention over the weekend. One table was selling CP9 chess-style blind box items for $14. I got one . . . turned out it was the same piece I got last time: Kumadori and Fukuro, back-to-back. At least I got this cool sketch of a character that comes in a later arc.

 

This week . . .  I think "deer gorilla" fits Chopper's large humanoid form, not to mention his monster mode. Also nice to see Kalifa get what was coming to her, even though she managed to "finger pistol" Nami once or twice. In addition, Robin didn't get smacked around by that wanker Spandam. I am waiting for Luffy to launch into Second Gear against Lucci. At least we'll be seeing Zoro fight unencumbered by Sniper King. now that the handcuffs are off.

[lathspel]

"That's not a threat... it's a forecast!" Good line. Nice to see that Nami can be deadly.

[Sandman87]

I don't think Kalifa will be getting back up. There was smoke coming out of her mouth after that last lightning strike.

[Lantern7]

lathspel .  . . Nami likes to channel her inner weather anchor anytime she fights with the Clima Tact.

[Lantern7]

No big results this week, aside from Sanji's dramatic entrance and road to redemption from going out like a punk at Kalifa's manicured hands. Luffy still can't make any progress against Lucci. Ditto Zoro with Kaku. Spandam uses his elephant sword (?!?) to subdue Robin, then starts dragging her by her hair. I feel we need a countdown to when he gets his, because it's painful seeing somebody as powerful as Robin get treated that way.

[Sandman87]

Looks like Funkfried is basically Zabimaru, but without the bankai.

Am I remembering correctly that we last saw T-Bone running along the tracks toward the island? If so, he ought to be arriving any minute now.

[lathspel]

Nami: "Nosopp!"

Usopp, grumbling: "Now it's to the point where neither sniper nor king are in my name. "

[Lantern7]

Nice we get to see one of Sanji's signature moves debut . . . the ability to spin around really fast and have friction cause his leg to catch fire. Jabra had it coming, what with lying about Robin being his little sister. In other news, I'm sill waiting for Luffy to break out Second Gear on Lucci, but I'm guessing he's waiting until all the other plots get resolved first. Oh, and Spandam calls Robin "stupid" a lot. Joy.

[lathspel]

Nami had a better last line in her fight, but Sanji's was good too.

[Lantern7]

Nice that the "pasta machine" analogy made it past translation. Also, Spandam needs an ass-kicking of the highest magnitude. But we already knew that.

[Sandman87]

Franky doesn't take direction very well. How many times did Luffy have to tell him to go save Robin? Five? Seven?

 

I kinda hoped Zorro's fight would be over by now. It's starting to drag.

[Lantern7]

Looks like I was right about Luffy . . . he wouldn't go into Second Gear until the rest of CP9 was defeated. At least Kaku showed how dangerous giraffes can be .  . . especially a giraffe-man with Six Powers training. Zoro had to evolve into a three-headed nine-armed sword god to defeat him.

[Sandman87]

I get the feeling that we're never going to learn how Luffy and Zorro got their new abilities. And no, "I just trained a lot off-screen" is not sufficient.

 

Good ol' Spandam; at least we can rely on him to to pop in every episode and be a bastard. I hope we get to see Robin being very, VERY angry once Franky unlocks her cuffs.

[lathspel]

Cue the "Zoro gets lost on the way with the keys" gag. Although he gave his key to Sanji so maybe not.

Actually, didn't Sanji already leave to follow the signs painted on the wall? He must've doubled back to make sure Moss-Head finds his way.

I continue to be distracted trying to figure out the topology and geography of Enie's lobby and the Gates of Justice. If you can open a door that big against the sea pressure, do you really need Pluton, the ultimate weapon?

[Lantern7]

Sandman87 . . . .Zoro tends to level up during fights. He learned how to cut through steel while battling Mr. 1 in the Alabasta arc, which was needed since Mr. 1 had Devil Fruit power of becoming steel.

 

I forgot to mention Spandam's wickedness, Should I be impressed by Robin biting down on the rail in order to forestall her fate?

[Lantern7]

Well, it finally happened. No . . . not the end of the Luffy/Lucci fight. Robin getting the cuffs off and proceeding to slap the hell out of Spandam with her Flower-Flower power. I knew it was coming, I saw it on YouTube, and it was still refreshing to watch. You can even forgive the show for the Ohara flashbacks.

 

ETA: No "new" episode next week  . . .Toonami is having a Kill La Kill marathon during Memorial Day weekend.

[Sandman87]

That was a little anti-climactic. She slaps him a bunch of times? That's the epic beat-down that I've been waiting for? I want a refund. Sniper King, on the other hand, was all kinds of awesome. With that giant new slingshot of his he's a freakin' mobile artillery piece.

 

After doing an image search for One Piece on Google yesterday, I decided that it'd be hilarious if Gold Roger's legendary One Piece treasure turned out to be a warehouse full of swimsuits.

 

Toonami is having a Kill La Kill marathon during Memorial Day weekend.

Nothing says "honoring our veterans" like a marathon of a Japanese show full of nudity, swearing, posturing, and yelling.