This was in my top 3 cries of One Piece and One Piece is the anime I've cried the most and the hardest to. My other two: Usopp and Luffy's fight, and the Merry's farewell. HOWEVER, those were sad tears. Tears of goodbye, tears of agony upon seeing what has become of Usopp and seeing two people I love so dearly fight. You could summarize by saying those were both sad tears. This episode had happy tears from the moment Brook started playing piano until the very end... Easily one of my favorite episodes in the series and it solidifies Brook as one of the greatest. Moreover, this arc has had one of the most immaculate endings in all of One Piece, I would go as far to say Thriller Bark with the Zoro display earlier and now this makes it the best ending to an arc in the series.
Really just a wonderful character episode. Because I want to talk SO much about Brook, I'll start with the two smaller things I want to bring up.
Sanji yet again showed his emotional intelligence this episode as well as his bromance with Zoro. He understood what Zoro meant by "nothing happened" so well, I did interpret it similarly as he felt he was just doing his duty but why he would want to hide that was not something I had articulated even if I felt it. Sanji knew and he stopped the victims from going against his wishes. Zoro did it because this is the decision he's made to be a Straw Hat, that means dying for his nakama, putting them before his own life and his own dream. He did not do it for gratitude and he thinks nothing good will come of it being known. Recall his answer to Chopper's tears when Usopp left was to tell Chopper not to talk about him anymore. Because, no good would come from lingering on it. Sanji showed his bromance by keeping his word and by understanding him but he also showed his understanding of subtle emotion. Sanji, in the same scenario as when Zoro told Chopper not to talk about Usopp anymore, took Chopper out to see Usopp. He understood how Chopper felt and he tried to comfort him. He's really good with kids for that reason by seeing how people feel and caring about them. Finding the right words to say and the right things to do that don't come off as too much. Here we saw how he refused letting what happened out, as respect to Zoro's wish, but also for the rest of the crew. Think about how they would feel, think about how Luffy would feel if he learned it was HIS pain that nearly killed Zoro. It would devastate them. He is showing a similar side to himself like when he fought Chopper to stop him from helping Usopp after he lost to Luffy. "If you pity him now you will make him feel even worse".
In the way that Sanji is so good at understanding the subtlety of people's emotion and how he works around them, Luffy is similar but I would describe him as seeing the heart of the individual. He doesn't pick and choose his responses according to how people feel in the moment like Sanji does. Like when Luffy told Usopp they were getting rid of the Merry. He approached a very sensitive topic by stating it like he was ripping off a bandaid. The reason was because he knew it had to get out and he knew Usopp would fight against it and he knew that no matter how much faking things would be okay it would only get worse, that this was the one way to continue forward, at least in my opinion. He can see into people's hearts understand who they are so quickly and the way he uses that skill is by often acting rashly and doing something people may not appreciate right away but is what they truly want. Sanji would never let out the news of the Merry like Luffy did. And think of Luffy and how he stabbed Laboon and picked a fight with it. He did that to soothe him and give him a brand new promise so he had someone to wait for so that he wouldn't have to hurt himself any longer. Or when he fought with Vivi to get it into her head that she needs to let her nakama fight with and for her. Both have incredible emotional intelligence and both use it so differently. I love that dearly. Sanji has a lot of depth and just like Zoro they can seem simplistic at first but as you delve who they are you see so much nuance and thought. I love this freaking show. You know this will be a long post because this is one of the "small" things I wanted to bring up.
The second was how we learned what happened in Ace and Blackbeards epic battle. Ace was defeated but kept alive and given to the government. This was probably the stepping stone that Blackbeard needed to become a warlord and that's exactly why he did it. I'm assuming at some point we're going to see our crew break Luffy's dear brother out! On the flipside, White Beard is an emperor and one of the strongest pirates out there, even if he's fallen in health. Instead of Luffy's crew maybe White Beard will get him out.
Now onto the part that touched me so dearly I cried for 20 minutes straight. The reason I started crying at the happy moment where Brook took to the piano was because of how this built to it and what we know of Brook's tragic past. Earlier he commended Zoro and Sanji over their resolve saying it moved him, and later saying "isn't it great to have comrades". Further, remember back when he first ate with the Straw Hats. Even then I thought he was just doing it for the social interaction and that he couldn't taste and didn't have organs to process that food. Now we know he can't taste, the salt he collected may as well have been sugar for all he knew because he could not taste in his own words. Yet in this dining hall(where they sat on rubble from the broken Thriller Bark... charming) he referred to Sanji's food as good but we know he can't taste it. I'm pretty sure like my first assumption about him, he just loves to be able to feel like he did 50 years ago when he had his nakama still alive. He was on a huge pirate ship and he used to eat and party with them just like that, I'm sure. Plus afterwards I think the words he had to Sanji show that he was thinking about his nakama and how he can relate to their feelings with theirs, "isn't it great to have comrades". So for him to start playing a song after not allowing Sanji to pick one, an old one that pirates sang together in good and bad times, one that he and his crew used to play, I think this solidified it. This is the first time he's been able to truly feel like he did back when the people he loved were alive and with him. That's why he chose that song! The way it built up to that made tears start flowing out my eyeballs the second the song started.
It was a melancholic happiness. It was happiness that only came from the sadness in the past. The fact that Brook hasn't been able to be with those nakama and has been isolated so long. The fact that he ate for the sake of it, to be a part of a crew again, one that wasn't even scared of him and laughed with him. The fact he was just reminiscing about his fallen crew. And now, the fact that he's playing a song he used to play with them. All of it hit so hard. I feel so bad for him and I'm so sorry he had to go through all of that. He's such a tragic character. But, the fact that he could experience that happiness for the first time in so long, the fact he was able to play his crews song for a new generation of people, it was so freaking beautiful in a horribly sad way. That's why it was so melancholic. Every happy feeling that came with it came because of the horrors of his past. That's why it really resonated with me so much. The part that hit me the hardest however was when we saw the brief flashback with Laboon. It was the most melancholic part for me because after hearing the quiet solo piano that came from Brook, in the flashback we heard an array of instruments and voices bouncing off each other like a wonderful music hall. It was a simple reminder that this is what it sounded like when Brook had the people he loved. And now, that array of music has whittled down to one broken skeleton playing piano and singing by himself. Holy ****. I love Brook so MUCH.
That's not even getting to the part where he cried! The way Luffy told him that Laboon was still waiting for him so bluntly with that big smile was perfect and goes with what I explained Luffy as earlier. You could feel how Brook felt. The emotion that hit him overpowered his friggin skeleton body and let him cry tears. It was so powerful he could actually cry. His last living nakama Laboon who he made a promise to and who he has been living for, unsure if he's still around or still waiting, was proven by Luffy to be there. All is not for naught. Even though Laboon could have given up on the promise, Brook had no right, NO RIGHT to doubt him because on the 1% chance he's still there, sad and waiting, he has to try. So freaking admirable and so freaking beautiful that Laboon waited that whole time. It was like Luffy told him "your existence and suffering has had a purpose, the fact that you didn't kill yourself was the right thing to do". All the doubt that a human being would feel in his situation, living a horrible, isolated life for something that may not be around anymore, it vanished and like he said, it was the happiest he has ever been. Brook showcases something quite human here, he showcases that the happiest you can be is when you almost lose the things you love but get a hold of them before they slip. Even if he lost most of it, he still has Laboon. The baby whale he can still picture to this day. HOLY ****.
This episode is like definitely in my top 3, another is that Usopp vs Luffy fight, I'm not sure what the other is off the top of my head.
And that's not even mentioning Nami's continued friendship with Lola and how sweet that was or Franky's anger over the skeleton jokes and amazing dance with Brook "DINNEER, COME ON BABY, DINNEEER, SUUPER". It's not even mentioning the hilarious victims being so moved by how cool Sanji and Zoro are that they mimicked him. This was a perfect episode all around and it hardly even had recap. |