I guess there were three major points of interest this episode. The first was the mission to reclaim the Sunny! Brook and Chopper are already an adorable duo so seeing their synergy is nice, and Brook continues to be the coolest skeleton around so that's also quite nice. In fact, while watching the scene it hit me that Brook basically has circumstantial conqueror's haki. His soul manipulating abilities allow for him to zap the consciousness out of the lesser minions, exactly what conquerors can do too! It's a nice way to give him a temporary buff, to me it didn't feel cheap, and it gives him a stronger basis for being one of the cornerstones of this arc! That said, with the fearlessness of Brook and Chopper in fighting for the ship; showing their gratitude for their friends with action also echoed by Chiffon, this does feel more like they are buying time and defeating the lesser opponents, I would love to see them to a number on Perospero and Katakuri, but we all know Luffy will be the one to finally handle the jelly bean man at the very least.
As for Chiffon’s decision to help Pudding... All the way back when the meeting with Bege began and Nami befriended Chiffon, I realized a seed of loyalty had been sown. That of Chiffon being indebted to Nami, something that I assumed would drive a fork between Bege, who didn’t have any such obligation, and Chiffon. This difference in loyalty within the Bege family has finally grown into a flower and the way that it is influencing the story is by, assumedly, forcing the Fire Tank pirates into a position of helping the Straw Hats once again. They love their mama, you saw how everybody refused to leave her behind, and if they want to help her, they in turn have to help the Straw Hats. It's a simple but effective method to set up character motivation later down the line. Other aspects of the scene I wanted to mention: Seeing Vito as the stand-in mother was just totally adorable and another reason for me to love this bloodthirsty and geeky criminal. Seeing Pez smile at his mom as she was suggesting she could die on this mission was really bittersweet, and the whole decision of Chiffon deciding to risk her life reminded me of Lola’s willingness to burn with her saviors, and it let me know why Bege may have fallen in love with this woman.
The third is the most pressing point of interest, Pudding’s transformation. She's not the first tsundere to grace us with their presence, Galdino and Perona are both high in my ranks as some of my favourite characters in the franchise. However, the way she has gotten to this point, and the extremity of her behavior are certainly nothing to scoff at!!! I worry that she may have become a less interesting character with this development; something like being primarily relegated to humor, but regardless, her screen presence is at an all-time high! Going from girly and lovestruck to psychotic and sadistic with seemingly no control as we saw her own behaviour go against her thoughts, seeing her cry from her third eye and freak out, and above all else, do the tsundere schtick as on the nose of possible with phrases like “S-so it’s not like I came all the way to stop her because i didn’t want you to die, Sanji…” Sanji has broken her, Pudding has become an impulsive ball of uncontrollable emotions, in like I'm saying, perhaps it will not be as interesting as her previous role as a slow burn conflicted character, but it is certainly incredibly funny and enjoyable. With that Sanji joined up with the cake making squad and got out of there!!
I am curious how Big Mom would follow them through the water though, she could take Zeus, but if they distracted him then I would assume water would still lead to her drowning, so I admit that I found that kind of odd. With Kaido not knowing how to kill himself and an easy solution being some devil fruits; which he should have plenty of, and/or water, maybe emperors break the rules, cholololol. |