I found the pacing perfect this episode.
Interesting! Moria is turning out to be exactly what I wanted him to be. In typical villain fashion, they say their worldview which is inherently wrong by the One Piece laws of nature, "I shall become the King of Pirates without lifting a finger and instead by being carried by subordinates". Obviously, we've already had moments like when Arlong said your crew is to be used as a means for the goal and Luffy was all "nakama aren't tools!", here Moria is not nearly as cruel as a leader as Arlong was to his slave Nami but I can imagine a similar response coming from Luffy. You don't deserve nakama if you use them and refuse to fight for their sake too, or something on those lines. And, the fight has started with him and immediately we now understand why he hasn't been saved for last. Luffy has to convince him to give all the shadows back and the only way he can do that is most likely if Luffy kicks all of his strong zombies and phantoms heads in. Meaning, to convince him he'll probably have to beat Oars. Oars could easily be tricked into eating a salted fish and I would honestly like for someone to beat him that way but that would not be a climatic gear 3 finish so I have to assume that won't be the case.
The Perona and Usopp fight is so actually amazing. I love it!!! Usopp showed off his great tactics in battle with his obvious fake defeat to make them think they know what he's doing and cover their mouths only to get a face full of pepper and later he shot a fire star that intentionally missed to later land on them. Usopp is so smart. He found some tricks to manage to get his trump card the salt stars back into play. So, Perona ran for her life screaming, Usopp chased her screaming running for his life from Kumacy. That was really funny and this fight is so adorable. Both characters are grasping at straws and trying to find any way they could possibly find to win in the fight. And, someone is actually running from Usopp. This is wonderful, it shows off Usopp's strengths, creates a new dynamic we haven't seen anything like before, and it's hilarious and cute. GANBARE!!!
The Sanji scene had to be the highlight of this episode though which is saying a lot since the Usopp one was great too. "GET YOUR GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF HER"! The gag where both kept getting enamored in Nami's beauty was super funny to me. I knew as soon as Absalom underestimated Sanji and mentioned he was going to marry her that he was going to die.
Absalom got a beating for trying to marry Nami, peeking at her in the bath, licking Robin, and presumably knocking Nami out but that's not all. There seems to be one thing that lit a fire in Sanji even greater than those he has to hit him for. O_O I loved how he wildly tossed salt balls until he found him.
I also really want to rant about how people are saying Absalom and Sanji are one in the same. Sanji has done perverted acts like buying Nami and Vivi belly dancer outfits or how he gets excited to see Nami in a bikini. But, these are not the prevalent part of his character. He loves the beauty of women. But further, the admiration of woman's beauty isn't what defines him either for his dogguin even refused to hit Lola. Sanji is defined by his gentleman-esque chivalry. He truly is a gentleman and he refuses to hit a woman even in dire situations. He'd rather die than do that. I do not consider him a pervert. I consider him a gentleman, a woman lover, a hopeless romantic, but I would never put him in the same boat as Absalom. Absalom tried to forcefully marry Nami, he restrained her naked self in the bath that he sneaked his way into, and he licked an unconsenting woman while holding her back. He's nearly a rapist and he's awful and a total pervert who cannot control himself. Doing any of these things would get you killed by Sanji and its why he's so angry. He's mad that Absalom may have gotten rough with her and knocked her out. He's furious he almost attacked Nami by attacking in her vicinity. He may be a hopeless romantic who gets lost in a woman's beauty and that fascination with beauty may obviously be shared with Absalom but at his core, Absalom is a pervert without chivalry and he's the opposite of a gentleman. I suppose I cannot argue that Sanji truly isn't perverted but my point is that it is only a side effect of his deeper character traits whereas Absaloms pervertedness defines him on a far greater and more problematic degree. |