gfsdfgsdgsdfgs said:Firstly, I want to mention how the battlefield this war takes place on tells its own story. It's one of my favorite parts of this arc, just seeing how it shifts and molds to fit the battle taking place is so awesome. The land this arc started with is nowhere near what it is now. It's been covered with Oars corpse. It's had its water frozen with tsunami walls serving as enclosing ice keeping everyone from escape. That tsunami was cut and later shattered. There is a massive ident in the ice where Luffy's group landed that was initially made by Jozu's attack. And now, the navy town is destroyed, the encircling walls have suffocated Whitebeard's team and magma is raining upon the battlefield, to burn the ships, burn Whitebeard's allies, and melt the ice under his fighters with limited places to escape to. The battlefields shape alone is such a cool story telling device. It's a reminder of every single action that has shaken it. It reminds me how Oda tells stories with scars and swords and hats, I think he really likes to give visual importance to storytelling elements and that's so beautiful!
Secondly, I think Squard is getting some fair and unfair criticism. The reason his reveal as a betrayer was kind of boring to me was because of how obvious it was set up and because it didn't give us a reason to care about him before that. The justifications for why he betrayed Whitebeard and his hatred of Roger afterwards were strong and I could have sympathy for him, he was deceived and was acting out the only thing he could do, to save the allies and get some revenge on the man he trusted. Upon being proven wrong by Whitebeard's display he realized he, as a son, was as stupid as he was and went against his father. It broke him down. His voice work was amazing and it reminded me of Nishikiyama from the Yakuza 0 forest scene with the emotional inflection of Squards voice, the forest scene being some of my favorite voice work I might add. It also led to Marco's powerful line:
- "can you pay them back by crying?"
Yet despite how much I loved Squard I can admit he was not an organic element of the story, I found him as a plot device regarding his role in the story. It was unexplored beforehand and, to me, there clearly to injure Whitebeard and make us hate Akainu as well as it was to explore Whitebeard's compassion and love of his children/his leadership. It wasn't really about Squard, he hardly had any screen time and his importance was after he acted. We don't know Whitebeard's allies at all essentially, so if we had it would have been more affecting, but I found his inclusion amazing for what he offered and I ultimately have sympathy for him through the reasons for why he acted and his regret which I found quite powerful in its acting. Could he have been better and more organic, most definitely. But as a plot device I think he was a darn good one.
So Whitebeard is finally in the battle. He reflects cannonballs with punches and initiates a charge to the scaffold by literally tilting the sea with his fingers. I am starting to see why he is the man who can destroy the world if he so willed it. I wanna give props to John Giant or whatever his name is. He may not be the brightest but he is committed for the navy and for his cause! He challenged Whitebeard, what the heck! Overall Whitebeard was so cool this episode in the way he pointed to Sengoku to initiate a charge with a smirk on his face and the way he made Sengoku freak out for if that wall did not come things would not look too good.
As for the wall, I'm sure WB could do some damage to it but you have to consider that his attacks are so destructive and there is about nowhere for everyone on his side to run except for Oar's body, and its raining magma. It's not like he can just punch it from so far away that easily without harming a lot of his men, at least I don't think so... A thought I had was that if it isn't some seaprism material then Crocodile could do a dang good job turning it to sand if he can get to it before WB could. Not that he really has good reason to, unless you know maybe he wants WB at his strongest to make his victory matter or something, but that's going into fanfiction territory!
And for some brief thoughts, Kizaru confronted Luffy and some WB commanders and that confrontation was never continued, it was in episode 471. That happened right, like maybe I missed something or we're just supposed to assume the two parties split up after some fighting.. I also thought that there has been a serious lack of Pacifisita's this episode but upon further thought I wouldn't be surprised if as the government fell behind and got ready for the encircling walls they probably moved the pacifista's out of there too. As why would they risk tools that are so expensive to manufacture, they are planning to melt the ice and perhaps an admirals attacks could seriously harm them.