This episode was actually freaking beautiful. I cried nearly the entire time. Everything about it was amazing. Jimbei and Shanks both put it how it is, the thing I've picking up on for a long time, the series has shifted and became a series about Luffy learning that he fell behind the rest of the world. That the best he can do is run and barely get by. He learnt what it meant to keep people safe, to taste victory. He never doubted himself and always gave his all. But this arc was about striking down his confidence one strike at a time, all the way until he truly felt loss and futility. The amazing unstoppable Luffy turned into a child who refused to acknowledge he was in too deep. But, if he gets over this, this is when a man becomes a man, when one faces their own futility and moves on, as Shanks put it.
Jimbei is a damn good friend. He refused to leave Luffy's side and even beat him down to make his head clear. He may have been losing this entire arc and lost the person most important to him and broken the pledge he made as a child for Sabo and may feel like the antithesis of what he tries to be, but he's not alone yet. Like Brook who lost everyone but fights for Laboon. Luffy has to carry on Sabo and Ace in spirit and fight for what he still has, his nakama. He's not alone, he still has a reason to fight!!! However, it may not be as easy as saying that, the friends he wants to see are so far away. I do see Luffy in time becoming strong from this though.
As for the Dadan and Garp sequence, that made me sick. Garp, the guy who would scare Dadan into doing what he wanted, let her beat the living hell out of him. He didn't put up a hand. It's an act of atoning, its an act of taking what he thinks he deserves. He's hurt and he knows how hurt everyone else is too, because in the end he did choose his navy duty over his sons life. All he could do was sit with Ace and face it with him and now he'll gladly take all the beating he can if he helps make Dadan feel better. That whole scene was so hard to watch, Makino crying and Dadan calling out to Luffy. Marineford was truly a tragedy, Ace and Whitebeard have died, the world has changed, and everyone has to deal with the personal and broader consequences.
The funeral was another fantastic scene. Shanks did take their bodies to pay respects and he did with some beautiful graves. The burned up jolly roger and their clothing on top to remember them by. Shanks is amazing, and I already touched on it but the monologue he gave to Luffy was incredible, it clearly shows he's been around this block too. In fact he mentioned just as Garp did, that Ace's death was the exact thing Roger would have done as well..
I don't think any anime arc has made me cry this much ever. And not just sadness and tears, this arc has been beautiful, disgusting, exciting, rage inducing, sickening, and at times felt incredibly empty. It did amazing things with old characters, introduced strong new ones, had a scale unlike anything else I've ever seen which was organically built to over 500 episodes, and started to give Luffy a serious character arc while exploring him in amazing new ways. Plus it broke formula as I've said countless times and solved that major nitpick I had with the series. Summit War's thematic prowess coming all the way from the end of Thriller Bark was incredible, and I have to say Impel Down and Marineford are two of my favorite arcs ever. I love Sabaody as well and Amazon Lily is nothing to scoff at. Wonderful stuff. Love you Oda!! |