One Piece - General Discussion

[Sandman87]

Just in time for the holiday season, Robin puts on a production of The Nutcracker.

 

When she uses her multiple arms power, is there full tactile feedback from the arms, meaning that it feels the same as if she used her own hands? Because...eww.

 

Loved the crowd reactions:

"Put on some damn pants!"

"Think of the children!"

"I'll never be able to un-see that!"

 

I guess I'm never going to get the story on that Humpty Dumpty looking guy in Franky's crew.

[Lantern7]

We're almost at the farewell point for Water7. While Zoro is a bit of a buttmonkey, at least when it comes to direction, he does act as the voice of reason that Luffy needs. Usopp was wrong in leaving the crew, and he had to apologize.

 

Quick rundown: next episode is a bit of a POV chapter. After that comes a fight between two of the heavier hitters of that world. After that: filler. I haven't seen it yet, but I figure it would be less of a grind to get through than Bleach or Naruto. Then come the Thriller Bark arc, which is pretty insane.

[Sandman87]

Shut up Zorro. Robin left without an explanation, or even so much as a goodbye, and you wrecked an island and a half to get her back. Franky was too proud to join in the first place, and you did all but kidnap him to make him come with you. But when Usopp leaves for completely understandable reasons, which he explained, and even apologized for at the time, you refuse to let him come back unless he begs and apologizes again? Take all three of your swords and cram them, sideways. You also get bonus asshole and hypocrite points for issuing an ultimatum to the captain based on Usopp's supposed disrespect for said captain. "You're the captain and what you say goes, so I'm not sticking around if you don't make the decision I want."

[Lantern7]

Just looked at the Toonami Tumblr . . . there will be an One Piece marathon running on December 26. The bad news: it'll be recently-run episodes, as opposed to powering through the filler.

 

ETA: Looks like we'll be waiting a little longer for new episodes . . . Toonami is running a Parasyte marathon next week.

 

Did anybody else catch the latest episode? The cola-fueled getaway from the Thousand Sunny is only the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) for the ship. Franky built all sorts of amenities. Also nice to catch up with folks from the crew's past . . . though it's frustrating to see Dragon, since he pops up in the stories so seldom.

[Sandman87]

Did anybody else catch the latest episode? The cola-fueled getaway from the Thousand Sunny is only the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) for the ship.

I thought he said coal, not cola. Cola makes more sense, at least on this show.

[Lantern7]

What the hell . . . here's 7-5:

 

It's heavy on Warden Magellan, with a brief return of a screaming Bon Clay from the Baroque Works arc. Another major player can be seen near the end . . .

Emporio Ivankov, the gender-bending possessor of Hormone-Hormone powers.

[Lantern7]

I wouldn't blame anybody for being miffed at the ambiguity of the Ace/Blackbeard fight. The battle does set up major ramifications, but that doesn't happen for a couple of seasons.

 

Ace was in the Alabaster arc for a bit, joining his little brother Luffy (long story), his crew and Princess Vivi. Luffy got into a scrap with Blackbeard leading up to the Skypiea arc, but it was nowhere near as epic as Ace/Blackbeard.

 

And in case you didn't hear, we'll be delving into filler. Here's hoping it goes by fast, because the Thriller Bark arc is nuts.

[Lantern7]

First up . . . we have new credits. There's spoilers for the Thousand Sunny's capabilities, but most of it centers on the upcoming Thriller Bark arc.

 
You want to know who the skeleton guy is? It'll be a while before he pops up. In the meantime, there are a few manga canon moments (Luffy catching a shark, Chopper admiring his office) sprinkled into the filler. I did get a laugh at Franky seeing a ship without sails and thinking about a Davy Back battle. Also amusing: at least three crew members being savvy enough to avoid being knocked out by spiked alcohol.

[Sandman87]

The Davy Back Fight mention was funny:

"There's this thing called a Davy Back Fight..."

"We know."

I'm getting awfully tired of hearing the Story of Gold Roger at the beginning of every episode.

Did the shark that Luffy caught remind anyone else of Jabberjaw? No? Just me then.

[Lantern7]

Did Jabberjaw have horns?

 

Just checking to see if anybody is watching the marathon right now. I'd power through the filler if I ran Toonami, but I don't, so we're stuck with the grind. I have a reserve for that arc's DVD from the library, and I'll post on the All Episodes thread when I see it.

 

ETA: I'm good with the narration bit. It's like listen to an Elric talk about Equivalent Exchange before the start of Fullmetal Alchemist.

[lathspel]

Wait, a guy with a weird blond haircut and a mecha (according to the title, I didn't see it though) puts his plan into action by saying "Showtime"? I think that may have been a Big O reference!

I like that Luffy and Usopp are both dumb enough to drink the sleeping drug, and then later they are both so convinced they evaded the fake marines. What a pair.

[Lantern7]

I figure Chopper totally would have been drugged had he'd been on the Sunny, instead of treating Puzzle.

 

Downside: We're just scraping the surface with the Phoenix Pirates and the bounty hunters.

 

ETA: I think the "mecha" part of the title referred to the paddleboat mode of Sunny.

[Lantern7]

Just checking to see if anybody else is watching the filler. It's good, but not as fun as the canon stuff. I do like the concept of a family of bounty hunters with an ice sports motif . . . though I wonder if hockey is played in Japan. I also like Robin playing with Lil.

[Sandman87]

I'm watching, but the filler looks pretty generic so far.

 

Yes, they do play hockey in Japan.

[lathspel]

I like that, similar to that last arc, Usopp is at his best when he's a mostly inanimate prop for one of the big three fighters.

[Sandman87]

Robin pretends to join the bad guys. Luffy walks to the bounty hunter base. Zorro gets a hot reception. The rest of the Straw Hats get a cold reception. We find out that Daddy Bounty Hunter has a hot temper.

 

You'd think that Franky would have put a heater in his submarine. It's cold underwater, after all.

[lathspel]

I'm guessing Franky is rarely cold, although at one point he does mention "maybe I should've put on pants".

[Lantern7]

Funko to produce four One Piece vinyl dolls. We got Luffy, Chopper, Ace and Law. I think stylish headgear put them over the top.

[Lantern7]

Anybody keeping up with the filler? We have two more weeks of the current story, followed by a goofy one-shot tale. Not that Capt. Puzzle and the "Scorching Don" aren't compelling, but I want to get to Thriller Bark more quickly because it is insane.

[Sandman87]

I'm just waiting for something interesting to happen.

[lathspel]

So how can Papa swim in lava if he has devil fruit powers? I guess maybe he's floating so it's OK?

I liked that Luffy basically beat him with a high speed friction burn.

[Sandman87]

I want to know why the Don isn't causing massive steam explosions when he touches the ice, and why he's not making the lava boil violently. I also want to know why Luffy isn't dead just from being within 30 feet of him. He's the same temperature as the surface of the Sun.

[Lantern7]

Lava is different from seawater. That's all I got.

 

Good news . . . after tonight's light filler episode, we kick off a new arc next week. The ep airs when the clocks go forward an hour, but it's scheduled anyway..

[lathspel]

I like how the Giant Luffy Mech looked like an Orc Mecha-Gargant from Warhammer. (Nerd cred: secure.)

Chopper being bashful when people like him is super cute.

[Lantern7]

From Toonami's Tumblr: a little something from tomorrow night's episode.

[Sandman87]

I like how the Giant Luffy Mech looked like an Orc Mecha-Gargant from Warhammer. (Nerd cred: secure.)

And it was even painted red (da red wunz go fastuh.)

[Lantern7]

I saw the episode on DVD, and I'll rewatch it later today. One of the things that gets cut for broadcast is the teaser for the next episode, which always concludes with Luffy boasting, "I'm gonna be king of the pirates!" In the teaser leading up to the Chopperman story, he went, "I'm gonna be . . . a giant robot?!?" I thought that was a nice touch.

[Sandman87]

Whoever this gigantic skeleton guy is, I like him. He's already taught me that skeletons poop and sing. Luffy seems to like him too. That's got to be a record for shortest time before being invited to join the crew.

[Lantern7]

I think Luffy was almost as insistent for Sanji to come on board the Merry as the ship's chef.

 

We'll find out more about the skeleton in the next episode . . . his name, abilities, weaknesses, etc. He's voiced by Ian Sinclair, who played Space Dandy.

 

ETA: Can the skeleton's hair be considered an afro? Looks more like curly hair to me.

[Lantern7]

Hope y'all like Brook. I know, the "SKULL JOKES!!!" can be annoying, but the guy was adrift without human contact for who-knows-how long. It's amazing he can still speak . . . and that's without going fully into the backstory, which ranks with Nami and Robin in terms of being depressing.

 

Next time, we'll see one of the fringe benefits of being all bones. In the meantime, here's a sketch of Brook I got in 2012.

[Sandman87]

Turns out that the singing skeleton's name isn't Jack Skellington, but Brook. He also had a suspiciously weak story about why he has no reflection, has no shadow, and can't go out in the sun. He says his soul was stolen, but I think he's a vampire skeleton!

 

I hope that Brook (or should I say Count Brook?) is going to knock off the constant laughing sometime soon. It's his most annoying trait.

 

I'll bet Brook can disassemble himself like skeletons in old cartoons can. Maybe he can play xylophone on his ribs too.

[Lantern7]

I don't think vampires exist in this world. Boy-reindeer, cyborgs and animated skeletons, sure . . . but not vampires. Eiichiro Oda has to draw the line somewhere. And Brook's shadow was stolen, not his soul.

 

Anybody got a clue of what Brook was going to play before the "ghost" interrupted him? I'm thinking "Them Bones" by Alice In Chains.

[Sandman87]

My money's on Saint Saens' Danse Macabre, which has an awesome violin arrangement.

 

Other possibilities: Alice Cooper's "Skeletons in the Closet", George Throrogood's "Bad to the Bone", or XTC's "Poor Skeleton Steps Out."

[Lantern7]

More table-setting. The unknown assailant will be revealed in time. Forgot about Mini-Merry, which was a nice touch from Franky. And we'll get to meet Dr. Hogback in the next episode.

[Sandman87]

Awfully handy for Brook to be able to run across water. Makes his devil fruit power a little better to not have to worry about swimming.

 

I hope there's some significance to "Cerberus" having a fake head.

[Lantern7]

I think Cerberus has a fox's head, not a fake one.

[Sandman87]

Fox head, faux head, tomato, tomahto...

[Sandman87]

Usopp, Nami, and Chopper get a carriage lift from a guy who looks like a cross between Frankenstein's monster, The Count ("A-Ha-Ha! One Devil Fruit! Two Devil Fruits!"), and a Teletubby. They're going to visit Dr. Hogworts, or Hogsbreath, or whatever his name is, but get cold feet. Count Teletubenstein ditches them in a graveyard, where they get chased by zombies who can run really fast but tire out easily. They finally reach Dr. Hogleg's mansion, where they meet a lady named Victoria who lives in a well and dishes out some punishment to Usopp. Dr. Hogshead invites them in for dinner, where he feeds them lies and dessert. Chopper is all fanboy for Doc Hogg, but will definitely not be invited on a tour of the lab.

 

Meanwhile, The rest of the Straw Hats manage to get their ship stuck in a giant spider web. It's probably time for the harbormaster to hire an exterminator.

 

What do you get when you put Chopper and Usopp in a graveyard? A headache. I thought the screaming would never stop.

 

I get that the Doctor is all about sewing things to other things to make new things, but I'm a little curious as to why the new things all end up being imitations of spooky things. Also wondering if he stole his peek-a-boo fishnet shirt from the Naruto prop department.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Sandman87

[Lantern7]

It's Dr. Hogback. He's the second character with a distinctive laugh ("FO HO HO HO!!"), and he's about as credible as he looks. We'll find out about Cinry's backstory later, and why she hates plates.

 

I'm used to the freaking out. Gotta love it when Chopper's hat leaves his head, and you notice his antlers are gone as well.

[Lantern7]

More freaking out from Usopp, Nami and Chopper. Nami gets assaulted in the bath by an invisible man. Not fun. The rest of the crew disembarks, and Luffy tames Cerberus. Robin finds him "cute." I'm waiting on the scene where they meet the zombies.

[Sandman87]

The Invisible Guy needs to be beaten down severely, preferably by Nami.

 

Couldn't help thinking of various Disneyland attractions when everything in Doc Hogwallow's mansion started coming to life. All that was missing was the singing. The bear rug should have done a rendition of "Blood on the Saddle." Nice to see that Chekhov's Gun is in effect, because those two swords on the wall were just asking to be used eventually

 

I like the planning that went into the activity on the island: Have three of the weakest Straw Hats go to the island first so they can freak out during the "introducing all the characters & exposition" phase, then have the rest roll up behind them, taking care of business as they go.

[Lantern7]

Only caught a bit of last night's episode. Apparently, the scene where Luffy shows how to deal with zombies made it to Toonami's Tumblr. That's what The Walking Dead is lacking!

 

ETA: I think the 600 Million Berry Jackpot was a double-paged spread in the manga. On the downside, this scene from Tumblr wasn't in the latest episode. Does anybody else have "Single Ladies" running through the head? Oh, and I think the big boss of the arc gets introduced in the next ep.

[Lantern7]

More advancing of the plot this week. The big guns actually meet an old man with severe injuries. Two of the "zombie generals" are partially revealed: Absalom (the invisible man) and Perona (a character whom I got a sketch four year ago). And the big bad gets a name: Gekko Moria. And "big" is the operative adjective.

[Sandman87]

Absalom has a feline face. Given his proclivities, I guess one could call him a peeping tomcat.

 

The island is actually a ship. A really, really big ship. I'm kind of curious where the shipyard is that's big enough to build it.

[Lantern7]

More fun on Thriller Bark. No big reveal of Moria yet. Sanji winds up missing, while the rest of the heavy hitters deal with the house zombies. The Chopper/Nami/Usopp team get one-shotted by Ryuma the zombie general. Also: zombie song-and-dance number, complete with disco ball. And if you mute the volume, the sequence can be paired with "Single Ladies."

Saw this on Toonami's Tumblr. Is it artistic license, or do you think Luffy can do that with his tongue?

[Sandman87]

Once again the baddies that gave Usopp, Nami and Chopper the screaming fits are just playtime for Luffy & the big guns.

Never seen zombies bring their own disco ball to a dance before. They needed a zombie Michael Jackson to show up and start singing "It's a Thriller, Thriller Bark..."

When Luffy says he's going to kick Moira's ass hard enough to break the island in half, I suspect it means that he's really going to end up breaking the island in half.

[Sandman87]

Funny, that "new guy" penguin has the same hangup about hitting women as Sanji. You don't suppose...

Even money says that Absalom ends up married before the arc is over.

[Lantern7]

There's a reason the dog-faced penguin is acting like Sanji. Just keep watching.

Speaking of Absalom . . . I got a sketch of him at Anime Fan Fest. I'm not too hellbent on getting Dr. Hogback, though.

[lathspel]

Finally caught up enough to mention I'm really enjoying this arc.  

Still trying to figure out how the zombie swordsman didn't actually kill the three an episode or two ago. And, why he's so Brook-like. 

And, parasol girl who's stealing the Straw Hats' treasure will be getting some comeuppance from Nami, I presume.  

[Lantern7]

Perona will be pitted against a Straw Hat, but not the one you'd might expect. And the zombie samurai and dog-faced penguin have something in common. That's all I'm going to say for now.

Welcome back, lathspel.