I loved this episode. This is how you make an episode which mostly consisted of one single ship with only brief looks outside of it fascinating. It had so many great character moments, it was touching, exciting, plot moving, and hilarious. It's the kind of episode I love in One Piece and it was the first time I felt similar depth to the Straw Hats with the new group.
Firstly, Magellan did basically kill Blackbeard's crew. What you guys said was right, they went down like everyone else did when they faced Magellan. They are no exception. Due to the name and all I assumed he could just suck that poison into darkness. Yet, he couldn't. It was Shiryu who saved them with an antidote, after all the poison they took was nothing more than one Hydra, something that we've seen can be healed by an antidote. Further, I found it a powerful scene for those guys, they were able to laugh off near death, 'when you die you die, no point worrying about it' a quality we see in Luffy too. I wonder if the 'fate' obsessed sniper has anything to do with the 'fate' obsessed voodoo supernova Hawkins.
Next, I had assumed Ivan had sacrificed himself to save Inazuma by injecting energy hormones into himself rather than healing hormones. However, it seems it was nothing more than Luffy treatment, but perhaps the poison wasn't as bad as Luffy's so he was able to heal it comparatively quickly with healing and energy hormones but promptly lost years of his life at the same time. Although it seemed only antidote or healing hormones could heal the poison, Inazuma is being healed naturally so that he won't lose years of his life which is reasonable. Those two could have ended up far worse!
I found the scene where Luffy and Mr. 3 mourned over Bon Clay quite special. It was a small scene but it showed that Bon Clay was the closest friend to the two of them and they were really worried for his sake and sad for his sacrifice. And more of Mr. 3 realizing that he did like Bon Clay this whole time even if he rejected it himself. It was small but it was meaningful and I think it only grew the two of them closer. Perhaps Mr. 3 will overcome his selfish nature and decide to fight really hard to make sure Bon Clay's sacrifice wasn't for nothing, although that may be pushing it and honestly I'm super happy with the depth he's already been given. <3
Meanwhile Buggy has seriously shot up to one of my favorite anime characters of all time. He is a man of admirable and pathetic qualities. He's both a weasel with ungrounded arrogance who clings to the strong and a charismatic, manipulative leader who can rally up any number of people under him. He may not be a mastermind but he's able to believe in himself and decide to do ridiculous things and refuse to give up on them, he's one tenacious and opportunistic bastard. And, despite the fact that he's able to forget about Bon Clay moments after his potential death and celebrate, and no matter how he can leave behind anyone who's problematic to him, he has a hypocritical but human side nonetheless where he admires the heroic sides of people yet chooses to never muster them up himself. He started as a simple gag villain, but alike Mr. 3 and Bon Clay and nearly every One Piece character, when they're around long enough you get to know them on a much deeper level and I love how Buggy's a chaotic, selfish foil to Luffy in how rash and straight forward he acts when it comes to what he wants to do. Seeing him rally up the whole ship and quickly change the horrible scenario he was tossed into to one where he can become the king of the pirates was hilarious. He's a scumbag weasel, but he's tenacious and endearing one. It was nice to get his whole background outlined here, a roger pirate and Shank's kyoudai, or sworn brother. The more you see of him the more you can understand why he has so many devoted followers and why he's been involved with so many legends of the world. I want to see his relationship with Shanks so badly now.
So, it makes sense when the navy saw Luffy and Buggy were together from the beginning of Impel Down and when they checked Buggy's background that they would decide he's the second in command here. I adored how Luffy answered "it's the navy", with "hello, it's Luffy". It was very kid goku-esque.
I found Jimbei quite touching this episode too. He knows about Luffy's past with Arlong as he's the one who, if I recall, became a Warlord to free Arlong from prison and unleashed him onto the sea. But, now’s not the time to mourn or apologize or pay back debts. Instead, Jimbei thinks now is the time for them live up the Queer-kun's expectations. I love how Jimbei knows what needs to be done, feels guilt for the sacrifice, went against Bon Clay's orders and made sure Luffy and his friends got parting words with him, and now wants to make darn sure that sacrifice wasn't for nothing. He's a much more 'wise' character than most I think. That and him and Croc having some words together was interesting.
I think this episode was a reminder to me that, although it's impossible for the new cast to be as 'deep' or nuanced as the Straw Hats due to the amount of raw time we've had with them, the Straw Hats didn't always seem 'deep' either. Instead, like back then, the more time we have with new cast the more we get to know their strengths, weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. It's what gives them that depth, and I'm certainly seeing it in everyone so far. The more I see of them the more I like them. :)
P.S. Lot's of Franky voice acting background characters and 3 or 4 panda mans? Weird! Also, serious Hiei vibes from Crocodile & Mr. 1's ability to kill an entire ship of people for getting in their way in an instant. |