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OMG. I was kinda mad. Last thread people were saying next episode was going to be real sad. I was also told I would cry at the end of the escape. So I expected something, but not that. I think part of the beauty of Impel Down and the new cast ever since Amazon Lily is that anything can happen. People could technically die, or be left behind, or sacrifice themselves. With the Straw Hat crew we know nothing serious will happen, or at least I think so. There's no way Franky would leave himself behind and potentially die for the rest of the crew. At least without the crew going back for him. So, that gave this arc some real stakes I hadn't considered yet.
Bon Clay may be fairly simple but I love that he is a beacon of 'the power of friendship' in its most pure form. It's not like it's a power up, instead its the ability to sacrifice yourself and push yourself to the brink for the sake of your friends. Everyone in the Straw Hats can do that but it is what defines Bon Clay. Like he said when he left Luffy to get poisoned, he won't let both die for no reason but if he has a chance to save Luffy he will. Well we proved that. He is willing to die for his friends as long as it gets them a chance to escape.
As they were approaching the gate and Buggy yelled at Jimbei I was like, you idiot, Jimbei has been ahead of everything he has a plan. But, I think the reason he didn't say anything was both guilt and because he didn't want Luffy to hear the news. Someone had to be left behind and Bon Clay offered to himself... So when it cut to the guards saying 'you sure you want to open this' my heart sank, I knew he stayed behind and slipped in through the chaos.
I think what made this so sad was that it's another nail in the coffin. Luffy cannot get through this anymore unless he has teamwork, and sacrifice. Never giving up doesn't cut it. To even continue moving he has to leave the people he hates unscathed, and he has to rely on his friends to sacrifice themselves for his own sake. Margaret almost died for that, I imagine Ivan may have just injected himself with energy so he could sacrifice himself to save Inazuma and even if he's somehow okay both already nearly died for Luffy's sake, and now Bon Clay. He can't save any of them and just before this he thought his whole crew died under him. It really feels like anything can go wrong now... Just to save a loved one he's having to sacrifice his friends. This kind of unpredictability is amazing!
On top of that the nuanced emotions got to me. The one thing I didn't get that I hoped for was some sign of sadness in Crocodile. That said, clearly Jimbei thought this was necessary and didn't want it to occur, he justified it but I think it definitely hurt him. Luffy was broken up, he knows he only made it this far because of everything Bon Clay did for him and now he's sacrificing himself for his sake, of course he'd cry. Mr. 3 showed yet again that he's just a tsundere jerk. He fought for Luffy and the groups sake saying, "It's not that I like you or anything", and here he showed that the Mr. 2 he wanted to leave locked up actually meant something to him as he broke down into tears too and Buggy showed that it hurts him too. In typical Buggy fashion manly shows of faith and friendship and trust in others moves him, he just tends to avoid participating in them himself. These two self interested jerks do have some room for something other than self love in their hearts. In fact, I'm starting to get the impression that Mr. 3 cares about being superior to other people and does so by acting smart but deep down he does like them.
Bon Clay.. I wonder if he's actually dead. With how much death was in this arc and the new tone of the series, maybe that's not so crazy.
Side note, I loved how Luffy imitated Mr. 3 and how the anime pointed it out. It's an observation I made ever since I read that Luffy is influenced by his peers as to like women only with Usopp.
I came here to post my overall thoughts on Impel Down after thinking about it and because I already made a fairly large post as to not dominate this entire page of posts I will spoiler tag my thoughts on why Impel Down was awesome.
I know I posted a lot earlier today already but I just wanted to make another post since I reflected on Impel Down as a whole and I really liked it. The only part I didn't enjoy was the couple episodes even I felt it slowed down, it reminded me of the Enies Lobby assault. The more time I have to sit with it I think I really love the choice to have an entirely new main cast like this.
It like I mentioned before gives this feeling of real stakes. Anything can happen, in a shounen it's hard to kill off main characters or at least damage them so much that they aren't relevant for a long time, but with these characters everyone except for Luffy can technically die. That is super interesting to me.
The hilarious and exciting nature of Luffy sneaking into the prison via Hancock's power, and run in with all these old faces while exploring a video game-feeling prison was great. It was awesome to see the challenges that pertained to each floor and it was never too much. I found that the flow of each floor blending into each other was completely smooth with no down time at all. It was like a rollar coaster ride.
Then like I touched on we had so many great characters. I could honestly root for everyone here. Hannyabal and Magellan who are fighting for a pure sense of justice under a corrupt system, giving good arguments such as 'you're freeing people who will kill peoples loved ones', and fighting with their all. Blackbeard who's all about doing what you want and chasing your ambitions and not excusing them or justifying them in anyway. And Luffy's group of intersecting ambitions, killing Whitebeard, saving Ace, helping Dragon via saving Dragon's sons, stopping a war, friendship, and escape. Ivancov and Inazuma as little as we know about them are a blast in Ivan's colorful and loud nature and respect of people's resolve and Inazuma's loyalty, and I love the whole 'transcended' gender thing. Jimbei came out of nowhere and he is incredibly fascinating to me, strong, level headed, calm, caring, willing to do what needs to be done, strategic.
And to touch more specifically on this, I loved the new way of seeing Bon Clay, Buggy, and Mr. 3 this arc gave me. Of course I could have a wrong reading but this is how I see everyone now.
Mr. 3 feels superior to others and to prove that he uses his intelligence and looks down on them and he's always looking out for himself. Yet, he cares about people. In the end he fought for Luffy, and despite talking badly about Bon Clay it broke his heart for him to stay behind. I think Mr. 3 is a tsundere who refuses to overtly show care for people despite the fact that he does because he thinks it tarnish his image, maybe for himself too. I wonder what his relationship with Ms. Goldenweek was, I'm sure she saw more of that side of him than most.
Buggy showed me exactly why he knows all the people he does. He is a weasel who clings to the strong! Yet, he has a level of tenacity that I almost would only compare to Luffy's. He decides he's going to do something and he does it, no matter what, and he does so in first way that comes to his mind. He can be imprisoned, he can look for the treasure island he's trying to find forever, he can be tied up and shot across the sea as a little man, no matter what happens he doesn't let go. His tenacity on top of his ability to boost the moral of his men and give them confidence in him makes me realize exactly why he is so charismatic to so many, there's a strong feeling that if you're with Captain Buggy you will get somewhere even if you get beaten down 100 times before that.
Some smaller things about these two I loved was that they complimented each other. These two self interested jerks got to bond and their kinds of logical, farsighted intelligence and chaotic nearsighted intelligence allowed them to watch each others backs. Mr. 3 figured out where the enemies were going and planned how to ditch Luffy, Buggy as able to create a riot and take those men as his own, and many other cases like the wax box come to mind too.
Plus, I really liked how Buggy showed that he loves these notions of self sacrifice and trust and faith even though he doesn't participate in them to our knowledge. He cried for Bon Clay and he cried when Luffy trusted him with the arm bracelet. It's a charming side to him on top of his slow reaction and acceptance of what's going on at times. It feels human for him to admire behaviors that he doesn't have the conviction to do himself.
For Bon Clay I didn't really expand my knowledge of him that much but instead I realized how he is one of the few characters I'd say are on the level of conviction the Straw Hats are on when it comes to protecting their friends. If he has a chance to help his friend out he will sacrifice himself over and over and over again to do so. He's a ball of emotions and he acts emotionally, how he feels, he acts, and he acts with love for his friends and no fear for his own life. Unless, that is, he thinks he is throwing away his life for no reason, with no chance of saving his friends, which I think adds a nice level of nuance to him. You can also see his emotions get in the way as he makes mistakes as he's using his actually intelligent plans to disguise himself and manipulate situations into his favor. I'll miss that queer. <3
On top of all of that, I like how it continued this theme that things aren't going to go as they have. Luffy lost to Magellan and then he had to run from Magellan just to survive so he could save Ace. He had to free Crocodile someone he could never forgive. He had to leave the man responsible for everything and not fight him. He had to sacrifice friends to even survive and escape. For such a fun and chaotic arc it had some seriously intense and sad moments. Bon Clay's sacrifice. Inazuma waiting to see if Ivan made it. Luffy giving up his arms and it not being enough, and later Luffy fighting through the poison. Bon Clay dragging Luffy through the snow while both were near death. And then the hilarious and crazy ending with Jimbei being a boat and Ivan's lucky appearance and death wink following Ivan's head being used as a boat.
I love Impel Down and especially the fact that it was so smoothly linked from Saboady to Amazon Lily and now it's going to link into a somehow even more epic and even more scary Marineford. I don't know where I'd rank this or if I should consider the whole thing 'Summit War' but either way it's up there for me as a whole and individually.
I wanted to write a whole paragraph about how much the ending scene with Bon touched me, and describe exactly how intense and emotional I felt about him sacrificing himself once again. But after just finishing this episode, I'm finding myself at a loss for words.
What Bon Clay did for Luffy in the Alabasta Arc and in Impel Down is downright amazing. No one else would give so much of their own personal security or well-being so quickly, and certainly not at the expense of their own ambitions. However Bon jumped at the chance to do so, not just once, but on several occasions.
I really wish we could have seen some more of his past, realized exactly what drove him and how that one small bit of kindness Luffy's crew gave him was enough for him to risk it all. I wish he could have joined the crew, to really show forth his friendship and live happily with the others. But most of all, I wish that he could have come with them or survived.
I could tangibly feel the grief of Luffy and the others at leaving him behind. After all of Bon's sacrifices, the least he deserves is freedom and happiness.
Regardless, this is quite an honorable way of sending off his character. And I will certainly miss him.
Yeah, Bon-chan's sacrafice was touching, but I wasn't that sad about it. Why? Because this is One Piece. Characters rarely die outisde of flashbacks. So i'm sure this wont be the last we see of him
Bon Clay was a true friend that saved Luffy time and time again. For him to become the one who guaranteed the freedom of his friends in the very end was nothing short of beautiful. If they ever get to meet each other again in Okama Way, the tears of joy shed by the two at their reunion would definitely be enough to drown in.
Great episode. So sad, but still great. Bon-chan will be always in our hearts.
He did EVERYTHING for luffy. He escaped once from Magellan when he was useless against him. But after that he saved luffy from dying in the 5th floor. He was for 8 hours praying and cheering for him to fight for his life, and made 100 other Okamas do the same. And the final blow, he sacrified himself for Luffy and 200 other people to escape from impel down.
I am speechless. Great arc. Great character development. We will see you in the Okama garden sir.
I want to see Bon-chan again in the future he really is just such an awesome character, I hope he survived that :(
At first I thought he would be just a Comedic relief character when he was firstly introduced but now he's one of the legendary characters on One Piece, for me at least
That was a nice send off for Bon Clay. It is rare to see anybody (who isn’t a background character) die in One Piece. To think I wrote him off as some character never to be seen again and if he did make a comeback he’d just be another gag character like Buggy or Mr.3. Instead he developed as a character as he managed to control his fear and face Magellan and had a memorable send off.
Another thing that was interesting is how did Ivankov recover so quickly?