I found this episode good! Ever since Absalom first took Nami I suspected she had faked passing out and that she was planning to get the upper hand on Absalom, so when that didn't occur I was sad. For her to finish off an Absalom that admittedly was already close to collapsing from his Sanji fight really made me happy because ever since I thought that she'd fight him I really wanted it to occur. Nami is so strong and fierce. When she gets those fierce looks on her face and steps up to fight for what she believes in it's always so great. And I thought her relationship with Lola was sweet.
Someone in this thread thought her relationship with Lola was dumb but if you think about it Nami was the first one to treat Lola like she wasn't a monster and she was the first person to support her in following her dream. When she did this, Lola showed a kind side to Nami that surprised her and made her realize not to judge a book by its cover(a prominent theme in One Piece). Then later to show Nami that their newfound friendship meant something and that she appreciated the support, she helped her escape. This was a really nice development for the seemingly 1D Lola and although the two had few interactions the fact they formed a bond over them was really freaking sweet. Nami seeing Lola get struck down and insulted by the man she loves made her step up and fight back. Nami may act cowardly or self interested but as we've seen since the Buggy arc, she can't watch people get hurt, especially her friends. ^_^
Perona was uber cute this episode. I think she's easily the cutest One Piece villain. The cutest overall character is Zoro though.
Oars is a big dummy and he thought he killed the Straw Hats when he hadn't yet. I love how he yells he's looking for a woman and how Perona thought that meant her. I also love how he didn't realize Usopp was "the cool hero" as well as how he calls Sogeking a "cool hero", it's so sweet. The way the Straw Hats faced him here reminded me of the Enies Lobby staredown. I sincerely hope we get one of the first major cases of teamwork, one that rivals Usopp and Chopper's fight in Alabasta, and that the Straw Hats actually take down Oars! It would be so cool to see that occur in a team fight. Maybe Chopper could even push himself to transforming. Meanwhile Luffy would get an actual 1v1 with Moria. I've already said why I don't think this will occur, if it wants to be really generic everyone can lose and Luffy can get there, see them hurt, and get in a rage fighting against Oars, but I have hope it can do something different(even if that itself would still be cheesy and fun in its own way).
Xynic said:Nami fanservice in this arc is just going too far. I mean love boobs but this is just disgusting. This is not just fanservice anymore, it's pretty much promoting rape.
I agree that the overt fanservice (even if the bath scene was called for being a horror cliche among many others in the arc) is too much. I prefer the old character design of her from Arlong and don't like how sexualized she is now. That said, I think she is a wonderfully strong character and I accept the crazy inaccurate female designs as just a quirk of Oda liking to draw big boobed ladies. However, saying "it's pretty much promoting rape" is ridiculous.
Assuming you aren't speaking about the problematic way it supports Lola's obsession of Absalom and not his over Nami, and rather the way she's objectified and assaulted and forced by him, that's not true. He's absolutely vilified. He's portrayed as a dumbass, insecure, power hungry, obsessed rapist and the way he licked Robin or held Nami back in the bath or presumably knocked her out in some way to force her into marriage are there to make us hate him. I never once laughed at his humor and the way it painted him as a monster made it cathartic when he got his butt kicked. It contrasts Absalom and Sanji as both love woman dearly but Sanji's comes from a place of chivalry and a gentleman's code, for even if he does love their beauty his Dogguin even refused to hurt Lola purely due to her status as a female. Sanji works for woman and tries to make them happy, whereas Absalom obsesses over women and due to his power hungry nature he tries to forcibly make them his. It's disgusting and it's why Sanji was so furious at him for hurting the women he loves and it made for his fight scene to be so strong.
Sanji kicking his butt and Nami finishing him off, on top of his poor characterization is, to me, Oda's way of not promoting rape but vilifying people who act like Absalom. I know you probably meant that by hyperbole but I just found it problematic to phrase it that way despite how much I agreed with it so I wanted to type this out. |