Categories
Manga One Piece

Don’t Drink the Wano! (One Piece 911)

Seeing Luffy stretchy backhand that baddie was such a casual, yet awesome use of his powers.

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Charlie Murphy!

With the entire (sans Jinbe) Straw Hat Crew there and various allies coming, Oda did the smart thing and started us off with only Luffy. I love Luffy’s treatment of animals, you don’t mess with him and he won’t mess with you. We meet the mini-Vivi Clone, Otama and learn she’s waiting for Ace. Ruh-oh! Isn’t that just like a pirate to go out for cigarettes and never come back! Well, whatever Ace had going on with Otama you can bet Luffy’s picking up where he left off.

Categories
Manga One Piece

♪ I Wano Hold Your Fish ♪ (One Piece 910)

I get the feeling the Wano arc will be so Japanese I’ll be speaking in Nagoya dialect by the tenth chapter.

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Welcome to Wano, Biatch!

Goodbye Reverie! You were fun, but Oda ain’t slowin’ down for no one, whether you Wano or not. We catch up with Luffy’s team wearing their Wano arc clothes, touching on the Reverie. We also get a title introduction for Straw Hat Luffy (not Monkey D. Luffy) because… I don’t know. Is Oda reminding us Luffy is a tough mofo before all heck breaks loose or is there an even deeper meaning?

Categories
Manga One Piece

I Wano Go Back to the Reverie! (One Piece 909)

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Where’s the Revolutionaries’ declaration? What’s will happen to Bonney? Is Vivi Im’s takedown confirmation? What about Fujitora’s anti Warlord panel in Hall H? Oh, so we’re doing that, Oda? You set up the plots and now you’re letting it simmer. Everything I mentioned can be shown at a later date, or specifically, it’s effects and consequences. Why have Im tell us when we’ll instead see soldiers gunning for Vivi? Why see what Bonney’s going to do when we can see her allying with the Revolutionaries later (Yep, I think that’s where Bonney’s character is going.).

Categories
Manga One Piece Uncategorized

Bonney’s Ancestor is Kuma? (One Piece 908)

The World Building Arc is rolling along.

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I mean, come on! Miz Cracker deserves to be in the top four!

Let’s start with Jewelry Bonney, a pirate who snuck into the highest security place on the planet. Why? To save Kuma, it looks like. Why? Because he’s family? Okay, he’s family. Oda’s dropped enough breadcrumbs for us to guess that much. Bonney disguised herself as Queen Dowager, of Sorbet Kingdom. No makeup, just simply aged herself. If that’s not a big hint the real Dowager is related to Bonney, I don’t know what is. And, yeah, I assume there’s a real Dowager. Someone has to be running Sorbet and Bonney can’t do her pirate thing and rule a kingdom at the same time. Makes sense she asked her relative to say home while she went to the Reverie to try and save Kuma.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Shanks Snitchin’ on Blackbeard? (One Piece 907)

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…but I’m a bit thirsty. Can I get a bottle of bourbon and some ice? Two bottles, if you got it.

This chapter had more meat than a male strip club. Rox? What’s that? Oda dropped some new lore on us that probably won’t be addressed for another five years at least. It sounded like Rox was an old pirate crew or alliance that had something to do with Big Mom and Kaido. Why now Oda? Why bring up the pre-Gol D. Roger era now? My guess, it has something to do with Shanks, or at least who Shanks wants to discuss with the Five Elders.

Before we get to that, can we sit in awe that Shanks, one of the four most powerful pirates on the planet, is sitting at World Government ground zero with the five people who rule over almost everything in the world? Soak it in. This is happening, folks.

Everyone still with me? Okay. How does Shank know the Five Elders? Well, the only reason that comes to mind is One Piece, the treasure, not the manga. That’d be weird. Shanks knows the truth about the world and so do the Five Elders. That must be their connection. Of course, it doesn’t explain how they first met and why they trust Shanks enough to meet with him, but I can assume is somehow/someway, the Five Elders probably met with most, if not all, of Roger’s crew to discuss One Piece and the truth about everything. Yeah, we’re getting a flashback about that one day. Maybe right before Shanks dies. Come on! You know it’s happening!

Categories
Manga One Piece

Sacred Mary J. Blige (One Piece chapter 906)

If there’s one thing people love about One Piece is its world building and we’re getting a huge helping throughout the Reverie.

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Vivi and Rebecca aren’t playing around

First things first, Team Luffy Allies have finally meet! Happy it was done early since we knew it was coming. Those Nami clones are taking over the world. We got Blue Name, Pink Nami, Big Nami and even Old Nami. I swear if Oda one day reveals all Nami clone are actually the result of DNA manipulation during the Void Century I’d lose my mind.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Blackbeard Ups the Ante, Bye-Bye Shanks (One Piece)

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These scars aren’t from Blackbeard. I forgot Makino’s birthday.

Monkey D. Luffy picked a fight with one of the four pirate emperors and won. He beat Katakuri, Big Mom’s strongest crewmember, and amateur sugar cookie contest judge. His bounty is now over a billion. Where does Luffy go from here? Beating a Yonko, right? Wrong! …Nah, just kidding! Beating a Yonko is Luffy’s next feat. Maybe.

Is it possible Luffy will defeat an admiral first instead? Admiral Green Bull could tussle with Luffy, but I don’t think we’ll see a clear winner if it happens. And, don’t forget, Luffy has to reach Kaido. His subordinates, the tough ones like Jack, won’t make it easy. Safe to say Luffy and his allies will have to earn Kaido’s defeat. Heck, I bet Luffy will need to tag-team to defeat the Beasts Pirates Captain. Yep, based on the number of allies coming to Wano and it being Luffy’s first Yonku takedown, he’ll need help. LOTS of help. Luffy’s big one-vs-one Yonku fight won’t happen until he faces the final boss, Blackbeard. Speaking of Blackbeard…

The other biggest Pirate King contender will kill Shanks. Shocked, right? Probably not. Blackbeard killing Shanks theories are common. So, why am I bringing it up? Because Blackbeard now HAS to kill Shanks. And, it’s all Luffy’s fault.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Worst Generation/Best Friends (One Piece)

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Go Team Skittles!

One Piece’s Whole Cake Island Arc is over. And once again, Luffy gained another kingdom ally with Germa. And, don’t kid yourself, they’re allies. I know. I know. They’re assholes who deserve to die except Sanji’s sister but its One Piece. You can be a horrible piece of shit, but as long as you see the error of your ways or you only did that crap in the past it doesn’t count.

Anyway, the Firetank Pirates—Luffy has them as allies too. Nice. But, wait! Luffy is also allied with Law and his Heart Pirates. Could there be a pattern? Yes. Not even gotta be cryptic about it. Longtime One Piece fans know the Strawhats have been cozy with kingdoms in the past. Kingdoms and gathering new Strawhat members. But, as a big contender for Pirate King, Luffy needs more than a crew. He needs powerful pirates on his side. And let’s face it, no one is joining the Strawhats after Jinbe. NO ONE. Yes, that includes Carrot. She not unique, guys. Being a female bunny character isn’t enough. Being a lookout isn’t enough. You have to be the best and nothing Carrot has done isn’t considered the best.

Categories
One Piece

Ranting Redgeek Strikes Again + One Piece 904

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Damn, Oda. You are off the rails, out the park, and colliding threw buildings.

You caught me on a bad day, Chapter 904. I found a YouTube video from a well known One Piece content creator talking about women being sexualized in One Piece. Watch it yourself and form you’re own opinion. From what I gathered his main points are these:
1. One Piece is created for young boys and they’re horny so its okay to most women are drawn that way.
2. One Piece wouldn’t be popular without the women drawn that way.
3. Hey, the anime is worse. Don’t blame Oda.

If anyone has videos or links to posts with females discussing sexism in One Piece, please share it. I feel like there’s a disconnect with certain male One Piece fans and it’s perfectly understandable. Being male and not wanting to criticize a manga you like can create a huge bias. But, am I overthinking it? Is it just acceptable that shonen manga is sexist to the point of being expected? Is manga one of the last mediums where treating women as weak pin-ups okay because, hey, traditionalism. It’s been done since the beginning, why stop now? Maybe I’m expecting too much from a man who grew up in a sexist country and makes a living creating sexist material? Maybe…oh no. Maybe I want Oda to change because it’ll justify my love for the series? Is this all a way for me to unleash my guilt? I don’t know, or maybe I don’t want to know.

Categories
Eiichiro Oda Manga One Piece

Sour Commander Smoothie? A One Piece Rant.

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One Piece Theorists. People, fans, in love with One Piece so much they can’t help but talk and theorize the snot out the pirate series. I put myself in that category, even if I don’t talk about it often here. Mostly because I’ve fallen out of love with One Piece. I like it a LOT, but if I had to talk about it constantly I’ll only be complaining and I don’t want that. Well, I don’t want that all the time.

I love listening/reading (thought-provoking) One Piece opinions and theories though. Mostly in forums but do subscribe to some One Piece theory YouTube channels (The ones that don’t put a freaking spoiler thumbnail in reviews. I hate that!). And boy, did one of them tick me off today. I wasn’t going to link to his video, but considering a few at most read anything I say it doesn’t matter. Plus, while I disagree with Joy Boy, I’m still subscribed and mature enough not to do otherwise because his opinion differs about a Japanese pirate comic series. I got 99 problems and Joy Boy ain’t one. Seriously, check out his videos.

Joy Boy’s Smoothie video outlines his opinions on her and Smoothie haters. Again, nothing world breaking. I’m not so much upset as disappointed with Joy Boy. I respect his opinion, but it seems he’s taking a wishy-washy stance on Smoothie’s role in Big Mom’s arc. He acknowledges she hasn’t lived up to her Sweet Commander title but throws it back at fans. We didn’t give Smoothie the title of one of the most powerful Big Mom Pirates crew members. We didn’t draw Smoothie hardly doing anything of importance throughout the entire arc. There is nothing Smoothie did, baring her devil fruit powers, that couldn’t be done by anyone else. She wasn’t a Sweet Commander. She was a lackey. A grunt.

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