Darkness Overtakes All | Reviewing One Piece: Sabaody Archipelago
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- čas přidán 6. 08. 2024
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0:00 - Intro + Comment Highlights
17:17 - Overall Thoughts and Feelings
34:54 - Chronological Story Review
1:33:21 - Character Rankings + Conclusion - Zábava
You can watch my next One Piece review (Amazon Lily) RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr
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CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE:
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Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece reading streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details.
Sundays @ 11am EST: Vinland Saga S2 anime reactions & One Piece Chapter reads
Alright sir , I will check the pinned comment 👍,Thankyou for opening with me.
And yeah, I just wanted to put an idea in ur head that maybe u can do character analysis on onepiece using fanarts or something , though that will be waay in the future but, just think bout it a little.
Love everything u have done for me with Haikyuu and now one piece, ur content is a great supplement for both the series and I can't imagine them without some of ur ideas now 🙏
😢 Luffy: "This is the worst day of my life."
😐 Kuma: "Worst day of your life _so_ _far."_
Luffy: "This is the worst day of my life"
Akainu: "Bet"
Weird for Kuma to say when he spends the remaining time protecting the Sunny
For me this is the most flawless arc in the series. Not my number 1 favourite but undeniably top 3
Yeah this arc is so incredible
I would go so far to say that it's aged the best out of the series! There are so many things we learned from this arc which got expanded in the new world.
Fishman issues, the history of Roger and Rayleigh, the worst generation introduction, Kuma's return! Looking back on the arc, it is crazy to think how much it set up
@@zyonhenderson67 yeah it's one of the best aged stories although I don't know which arc hasn't aged too well...
#AJPiece While you’re definitely right to say not a single Strawhat would stand for the Celestial Dragon’s oppression, Zoro being the one to first encounter Charloss is a bit of brilliance. You’ve noted many times, as have others, that Zoro and Luffy are very much on the same wavelength. Maybe more than anyone else on the crew, these men are born to be legends, carrying a mythic aura. When Hachi says not to interfere with a World Noble, your mind immediately goes to Luffy. You know it’s going to happen, I know it, everybody knows it. The arc is now on a timer. We’re waiting for the inevitable. Only for Zoro to blunder up. In that moment, we all have the same reaction. Because if there is one person besides Luffy who will attack a World Noble with zero hesitation, it’s Zoro. And he is far, far more lethal. It’s a fun little switch that really builds him up.
Tru
#AJPiece Actually, speaking of people 'properly' joining the crew, if you go back and look at the chapter titles there's a naming theme. The chapter where Zoro joins is titled "The First", and the chapter where Sanji joins is called "The Fourth". But the chapter "The Second" doesn't happen until after Arlong Park when Nami joins for real. And Usopp never had a chapter titled like that... Until chapter 439 "The Third and Seventh". So not only had Usopp not properly joined, but also Oda had at least a rough plan for Usopp's character arc from the very beginning.
Damn, I have never noticed that
#AJPiece Ussop standing between Sanji and the unstoppable force, Kuma, is another example of why I love their, in my opinion understated, relationship. From all the way back in the Alabasta Saga, when Sanji defeats Mr. 2 and takes back Ussop’s goggles from him, they have all these small moments that make their dynamic awesome. Sanji kicking Ussop away from Enel’s attack and taking the blast himself, Sanji kicking Luffy to stop him from saying something he knows would be incredibly painful for Ussop to hear, and then inspiring Ussop (or Sogeking, who happens to be wearing the goggles Sanji won back for Ussop) that he has a role to fill that Sanji or anyone else in the crew aren’t able to. This is then carried on in Thriller Bark when Ussop is the only one able to face the opponent even Sanji and Zoro were being halted by. But in this instance with Kuma, neither Sanji, Ussop or anyone else could do anything to stop him, and while recognizing this, Ussop without hesitation tries putting his life and everything he has on the line. Maybe he was hoping he could at least buy time, because an injured Sanji will definitely disappear (and in his mind probably die) if he doesn’t do something. As futile as it was, I think the spirit of the back and forth he and Sanji have is still there in this scene.
My favourite part about the supernova is how they were a very last minute addition. How Oda creates that many memorable characters that quickly is amazing
#AJpiece Nami's plan of buying Kamie is not development, it's her staying in character. From the moment we first seen her she's already doing this for her hometown. Just that at time, she's buying her fishman friend.
Yes! For her money means freedom. So she will uses it to guarantee the freedom for her and her friends.
Yes exactly, the whole reason she needed money was for other people, not herself.
I can’t stress enough how excited I am every time I see you upload another one piece review! Thanks for doing what you do man!
My pleasure mate!
Same!
Same, these videos have got to be the thing I look forward to the most on this platform.
Seconded.
#AJPiece This arc really showed Luffy's flaws, the serious ones not the comical ones, namely his arrogance. The Straw Hats have had an unbelievable success rate and its gone to their heads. It's very subtle but its there to the point they ignored Moria's warnings about the kinds of foes that waited them in the New World. Cocky Rookies cannot survive that hell and no amount of Plot Armor is going to change that.
The Straw Hats barely beat Moria, a washed up has been but still a survivor of the New World then they only survived Kuma because of his honor code. They should have woken up to reality then. It should not have taken the appearance of Kizaru, Sentomaru and the Pacifista to drive it into their skulls.
I really like when protagonists, especially Shonen Protagonists, are deconstructed so this arc is one of my favorites.
Looking back, Thriller Bark contained so many setups for later arcs its honestly kind of insane...
I honestly didn’t notice this until you pointed it out, thanks for that
The way I see it, Luffy knew very well that, by punching Charlos, it was very likely that things would end up the way they did. They had already been soundly defeated by Aokiji, who wasn't even trying, so they knew how terrifying an admiral truly is, but he couldn't just lie down and watch as Charlos led Hachi and Camie to their doom.
Seeing you experience One Piece for the first time is the closest thing for me to mimic the same feelings I had when experience it for the first time!
And wow you are so good in analysing and understand stuff, without spoiling anything you sometimes focus on small details out of nowhere that will get relevant in hunderts of chapters... its mindblowing. And thanks to you I now feel better about Moria! For me he was one of the most forgetable and useless enemies, because I did not see the parallels that you mentiond that he might be a future version of luffy who lost all he has.
My pleasure! Glad you enjoy the videos.
This arc really gave me a new appreciation for Luffy. At first I assumed that he's just the typical blockheaded protag that's typical for a shounen but Oda has depicted Luffy in ways that even the most revered shounen are scared to do with their protags - he's shown Luffy failing, whether its protecting his loved ones or something else, and the crushing despair that Luffy feels as a result. Luffy is only human after all and a young one at that (17 I believe), he isn't invincible.
Edit: Also I'm not sure if it's mentioned in this video but its mentioned that the Celestial Dragons wear bubble helmets when they're out in public as they are just THAT disgusted with the idea of breathing the same air as lowly humans. A wholesome bunch, those dragons.
Literally every shounen MC faces that.
#AJPiece i love how this arc adds so many layers and nuance to Aarlong Park and the fishmen. How we can see that the rhetoric Aarlong spews is the very insults that are flung at fishmen, almost like he's trying to reclaim those slurs. How Aarlong Park looks exactly like Sabaody Park, trying to create a space for fishmen like Sabaody Park so that they don't have to be excluded. Aarlong goes from a despicable villain to an incredibly human character desperate to make things better for his people, blinded by the hatred he holds for humanity.
#AJPiece People probably advised it already but I recommend seeing the anime adaptation of THE punch. You can notice a few details : Luffy dodges the bullets of Charloss depite being immune to it, he walks towards him despite being able to stretch his arms, I have seen mentioned that if Luffy loses all respect for an enemy there is no more "bouncy boy" he dealt with Charloss the same way he dealt with Bellamy but if felt even more gratifying because Belamy could at least walk by himself and as Kid mentioned the pirates feel like rowdy children compared to the disgusting actions of the celestial dragons. Essentially Luffy treated Charloss the way Chraloss treats everyone else, like an annoying bug.
Seen it already!
#AJPiece I don't know if you've already been told this, but back in Orange Town when Buggy is first introduced, in the small flashback of Shanks and Buggy being part of the same crew, you actually get the first look at Rayleigh with his signature beard. I also heard that Oda made sure the anime didn't refer to him as the Captain. It's that kind of foreshadowing that makes One Piece so good on reread.
I think something that somehow makes the slavery to the Celestial Dragons worse (or maybe more twisted would be the right word) is that they don't see their slaves as tools with possible value, but rather as toys. Shalria has a "captain's collection" and she genuinely sees them as nothing more than a bunch pf collectibles, like the rest of us would collect figurines, and Charlos would have put Caimie in a tank with piranhas just to see how long and fast she could swim.
You can also see this in the way Rosward talks to Shalria about the slave we had seen escape. "She" had ruined him and "she" was too hard on her collection. To me it sounds very similar to a parent gently scolding their child for accidentally dropping something.
Other people to them are not real and so doesn't have real emotions.
Have I ever told you how much I love this review series?!!!!
#AJPiece
the thing that strikes me the most about Sabaody as a setting, is how full of contradictions it is.
Like you said, it looks beautifull and dreamlike, yet the most horrifying and heartbreaking events in the story so far take place there.
It has both amusement parks and tourist spots, but also slave auctions and people getting shot in the streets
To top it off, the Elites of this world, the Celestial Dragons ,and the outcasts, the supposed "scum" called pirates, kinda just peacfully coexist on this island, with pirates for the most part being treated as just another travellers stopping by on thier way to the New World, bein allowed to roam the towns and amusement parks... that is as long nobody upsets this "peaceful" status quo of this land, and those who benefit from it, and that is, the World Nobles.
Words cannot expressed how disgusted me and others felt when that one marine used an euphenism while talking to Sengoku, to describe THE SLAVE TRADE...
This is my favourite arc in One Piece. It's uncharacteristically snappy for the series, has excellent drama, introduces numerous imperative characters, and is full of great moments.
#AJPiece regarding your question of if Kuma’s motive of capturing Luffy changed, I might have missed it if you mentioned this, but he also was shown saying something to Rayleigh that the reader doesn’t get to hear yet and Rayleigh responding with “You expect me to believe you?” right before Kizaru questions what Kuma is doing. We see Rayleigh lamenting that he can’t go help the straw hats while holding off an admiral because the years have slowed him down, and Kizaru gets offended that he’s implying a younger Rayleigh could handle him and Kuma. Then Kuma came and whispered something to Rayleigh and followed by telling Rayleigh that believe him or don’t but he’s endangering his position by doing this and refused to explain himself to Kizaru. Then it’s left pretty ambiguous whether Rayleigh believes him or just has no choice but basically Kuma told Rayleigh what he was doing but refused to tell the Navy
#AJPIECE This arc is such an eye-opener in so many ways for both the Straw Hats and the reader. First how cruel the system and its beneficiaries are and secondly how huge the power gap for Luffy and the crew is. It’s kinda poetic that Luffy emerged victorious against Moria but right after he experienced total defeat like the latter and didn’t even make it to the New World. *sound of bursting bubbles*
Having you say "outside the end of skypiea" about the Merry scene being the most emotional part of the series gave me chills man. Just someone mentioning the name is enough for me to feel. Skypiea has my peaks, which says alot since One Piece is my favorite piece of fiction or anything really. Glad you appreciate the greatness of the arc some people skip.
Haven't gotten past the first few minutes but wanted to share. Sogeki no shima de umareta ore wa!
I think for Nami it's also a call back to her own lifestyle where her life needed to be bought for by nojiko and Nami can't see that happening to others
#AJPiece what’s crazy is Odas literally thought of the Super Nova and all their designs, the week of their debut. They are so iconic it’s crazy to think of the story without them.
Saboady has the most emotional moment in the entire series for me. Luffy banging his head into the floor and writhing is futility and regret breaks my heart more so than anything else before or since.
It's especially so effective in the anime.
@@bobbyzamora6389 Oh, 100%. The screaming, the music, the popping of the bubbles. Chills, every time.
A little scene on this arc that is often overlooked but says a lot about Kid's character is when they're fighting the marines outside and Luffy states that he is gonna become the King of the pirates like he usually does. Kid looks at him with a little smile and talks about that with Killer, saying that before that point he would laughed at for stating these kind of dreams - which might be related to the fact that he is known for killing civilians - and from now on if you're not even brave enough to own your dreams, you're not worthy.
#AjPiece
Aw, my heart is broken that Belle Mere isn’t on the honourable mentions anymore. She’s still one of my favourites in how she sacrificed herself just because she would never say that she didn’t have kids. It was incredible
Got Patreon access early just for this, can't wait.
Awesome, thank you! Hope you enjoy.
Thank you for always uploading these before I go to the gym. It’s nice to listen to in between sets
Loved the thematic discussion in particular for this arc! Excited for where things go from here
#AJPiece Fun Fact: The Supernova were characters Oda came up with at the drop of a hat because he felt the arc wasn't exciting enough.
Slight Correction: It was an editor who suggested the arc needed more characters.
#AJPiece
To me, Bartholemew Kuma felt like one of the most terrifying opponents I've read in the last few arcs. The feelings of helplessness was something the strawhats haven't experienced to a different degree, and the way the Kuma and the clones act while not displaying any kind of emotion makes it even scarier for me.
Another reason Kuma's terrifying are when the other moments occur that I want to add, which are related to Zoro. At the beginning of the arc, we see him training, saying, "I need to get stronger," and it's concerning that he hardly takes some rest. It's not a want, it's a need. The main reason being: the "nothing happened" moment. He does not want to burden his crew or have them experience something similar to that. So when Zoro sees Kuma again, I feel as if there's at least some fear or even ptsd involved (it's shown much clearer in the anime episode 402, but that's just my perspective).
Sanji leaving Nami to help Zoro was a huge surprise, especially when he jokingly told Nami that he'll protect her, even if it kills him. It's small but an amazing moment for his character as it shows that fighting and bickering aside, he does care for Zoro. Brook also carries the swords that belonged to Zoro, because not only is Brook is a swordsman, he knows how important these swords are to Zoro as he watched him "bury" Yubashiri. Both Sanji and Brook know about "what happened" to Zoro and while they respect him for not telling the crew and putting his life on the line, they know that Zoro is still struggling.
Even Usopp, who earlier begged Zoro to protect him, carried him when he saw Zoro hurt. Again, Zoro feels as if he's burdening everyone, so he asks Usopp to put him down, so that he can let everyone escape, but Usopp says he more useless than he is and that it's Luffy's orders, which I thought is something Zoro would usually say.
But sadly, Zoro's the first to leave. Not only did he fail to protect the crew once, but twice.
Today was a great day, first an awesome stream, and now a 1h40 minutes One Piece review ! Thank you for all the content you provide AJ
My pleasure!
SO excited for this one!
My favourite arc in the series. just perfect
I know people say this is the start of the saga but personally I think that Thriller Bark is the start of this Saga. Yes the story is mostly self-contained but it does a good amount of setup for the major events of this arc which tie into the saga.
Oda: i want every arc to be happy endings.
Also oda: writes sabaody and marineford
#AJPiece now that you’ve met two of the three admirals, one with the powers of cold/ice (Aokiji), and the other with the powers of light (Kizaru), do you have any predictions as to what the powers of the third admiral will be?
#AJPiece
Your mention of futility as a theme is spot on. This arc kicks off a saga that is going to show us Luffy and the extent he is capable of. The very first visual of this arc is the Red Line, a wall so tall and oppressive that you can not see the top. After they lose to Kuma, Luffy questions himself: he has no failed like this before. he is a force of nature, one who fights for his friends, but reality sets in, and he can not protect them when it matters.
Keep a focus on futility over the next three arcs. Luffy's answer to that problem is the answer as to what he believes the Pirate King is and should be, and how he has not lived up to it yet. This arc was a culmination of prior moments: Luffy's speech to Arlong, his fight with Aokiji, Moria's threats of the new world (which they didn't even get to). He is the leader because he can beat the boss, and if he can't, can he be a leader?
So far, Luffy has been fighting on behalf of others. This fight was the first to show that he has to be strong enough to fight on behalf of everyone, both crew and world
Yes! Justice for Moria's relevance! People often don't really pay attention to the mentions of his past, and I was really happy to see you make note of it. Was looking forward to you reflecting on it here, and didn't get disappointed :D
Usually the arc division puts Thriller Bark as its own saga, but I personally kinda want to count it as a part of the current saga. Moria so directly sets up the conflict for Luffy here, that I have a hard time considering it as a wholly separate thing. (I _do_ understand why others divide it that way for story structure purposes, and am on the fence about which way I prefer it too, but at least at the moment, this is the way I'm leaning.)
#AJPiece
#AJPiece
This might be too late to be read here now, still I would like to share one thing to about Brook.
He lost the crew he found after 50 years so quickly. After waiting so long to find people he could hang out with again and had another shot at fulfilling his promise he just lost everyone. He does not know where they are or even if they are alive. With so much happening in this arc and so many more prominent things happening, this feels like an important detail, personally for me since I like brook a lot and this realization broke my heart.
Congrats on reaching the halfway mark, thank you for the brilliant one piece content and I hope you enjoy the next 500 chapters too.
This video changed my thoughts on the subject, thank you.
#AJPiece not sure if this will make it into the video at this point, but there’s a really small scene at the end of Thriller Bark that I don’t think I even noticed until my 3rd or 4th time through the series.
At the very beginning of the arc, Hogback introduces Cindry as a woman who hates plates due to her breaking some expensive plates to test her lover’s loyalty, only for him to leave her. Eventually we learn that that isn’t really Cindry, but really the personality of the shadow that was inserted into Cindry’s body. At the very end of the fight with Moria, there’s a little montage of random characters throughout the world having their shadows returned to them, and among those scenes is a woman who drops a plate in reaction to seeing her reflection again. It’s a really subtle detail to a character that we ultimately don’t need to spend time with, but it’s such a strength of Oda to bring even the smallest of story beats full circle, even for a character like Cindry who takes a lesser role in the rest of the arc.
I really like the scene with Kidd where after Luffy said that he was gonna find the one piece kidd mentions to his second in command Killer that every time on their journey when they said that they were going too find the one piece people laughed at them and that they killed anyone who dared but in the sea that they are going to, you need to have the guts to say and follow a goal like that if they want to survive. It also shows the difference in character between him and luffy in Jaya when people laughed at him he brushed it off but had it been Kidd he would have killed everyone in that bar.
You are right there Mr. Aleczandxr. You are slowly approaching my favorite shonen manga arc. Get ready for peak.
While I do agree Robin and Nami allowed themselves to belong to the crew after their respective sagas, I think it’s different with the guys.
I think with Usopp its less that he didn’t belong to the crew, its that he didn’t acknowledge Luffy as his captain, just as his friend. Heck, for Usopp to stop calling himself Captain Usopp…! That’s the change rather than not belonging to the crew.
Zoro acknowledged Luffy as captain from the moment he allowed himself to be rescued. Though it’s interesting to note Zoro was also the one character who beat the big bad in his saga, pointing to the special relationship Captain and swordsman have.
Ay, seems I'm here early, excited about this one. This is a bit of a twist to the story.
As for Kumo's motives, they'll reveal themselves in time, it's better to not get overloaded with info that is revealed later.
Loving your reviews of this series, been a one piece fan for a long time now and I get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing someone watch it for the first time.
Awesome to hear it :)
I've never seen someone who loves Skypeia this much, probably the most surprising thing for me from this series.
It shouldn’t be too surprising if you’ve watched my Skypiea videos, I explained all my reasoning on there.
One of my favorite arcs! Also we got to meet the supernovas which will drive the story into a new direction. I see water 7/ennies lobby having similar themes.
Im going through a really rough time and watching these is making it bearable. I wish I had friends to talk about one piece with
Another banger
To Luffy, his mistake was not being strong enough to help his friends, not that it was wrong to help them and i'm sure he'd do it 1000 times over before letting someone hurt his friends and sit still.
That’s the same mistake. If he wasn’t strong enough then he shouldn’t have done it considering the consequences.
@Aleczandxr his methods may be shortsighted, but i don't think he'd change much, considering the other option.😂
I guess it's a quality and a flaw at the same time
Oh man i can't wait for your reaction gor the arc that is to come after 6 arcs
Punk hazard?
Thanks man . Great video .
Glad you liked it!
1:17:42 I'm crying the confusion in your expression works so well with the background audio 💀
So interesting thing to note is the supernovas are characters Oda thought up on the spot when he made them, they weren’t supposed to be all that important until oda found himself writing a lot for a few of them and really liking them, specifically law and kidd
Finally peak fiction is here!
"Sabaody" being pronounced "Shabondy" is a dual-language name; "shabon" in Japanese means "bubble," but the spelling and pronunciation are meant to be Portuguese, like how "pão" (bread) has a vague N sound at the end (similar to "pain"/bread in French, which actually includes the N in the written word)
Japanese expulsion of Christians in the early 1600s was in part due to the perception that Portuguese priests were kidnapping Japanese people and selling them into slavery, so that might be way the slavery arc has Portuguese references in the name
babe wake up, new Aleczandr one piece review
The style of animation used for this arc in the anime is unbelievable, and they use Binks' Sake too as a song for it? Insane direction.
I was so amazed by Sabaody Archipelago when I first watched it. The level of animation is so consistently above what we'd been used up until that moment, the pacing is divine, and the story is so engaging and tense. Definitely a masterpiece arc. It instantly became my favourite, and has remained so ever since.
#Ajpiece Kid bounty was higher than Luffy cuz he attacks civilians. And him wanting to buy a slave to free them out of the goodness of his heart don’t seem like it. We saw the strawhats and Law free slaves Kidd had every opportunity to do so but he didn’t. Kidd don’t like the hypocrisy of the world nobles Kidd owns his villain side while the world nobles who are much worse get praised for it. I’m not saying it’s impossible that Kidd might wanna buy a slave out of the goodness of his heart to free them all I’m saying is nothing of his character portrayal shows it and he had an opportunity to show it like Law but didn’t. Thanks
I think the reason for the weird spelling pronunciation thing is because Sabaody based off of the Portuguese word for soap, sabão, where the ão can be, in some accents, pronounced as n. I'm not quite sure why the S is pronounced Sh, probably some romanization thing (in English the common system of representing Japanese words in roman letters is the Hepburn system [syllables like し is romanized as "shi", ち is "chi", etc], in Japanese however the more common romanization system is the Kunrei-Shiki system [syllables like し are instead spelled "si" but still pronounced shi, ち is "ti" but still pronounced chi, etc]). I personally don't really care how it's pronounced, it's almost always clear based off the context what is meant anyways. Glad you liked this Arc!
#AJPiece
Hey,
Love the videos.
I just wanted to let you know of my experience reading this. I was already reading this weekly at this point and the last chapter of this arc was so impactful not knowing what was coming next. What followed was a lengthy, I think, 6 week hiatus, and this made me wonder what the hell was going to happen next. It was desperate times for me as i honestly wasn't sure what was going to happen next as there was no one from the crew left. The anxiety built up week on week as I was not part of any community to inform me of how long this break was for. I almost thought the series had ended with everyone disappearing.
What came after did not and has not dissapointed at all. I love this series and I have loved your analysis so much, so please keep up the great job that you are doing!!!
Chapter 513 is adapted in Episode 405 in the anime, and I would say they did a phenomenal job, somehow adding so much more to the emotional gutpunch.
Also, I will always be ever so slightly disappointed that they just barely missed the chance to make it Episode 404. That would have been perfect.
Episode 404 titled "Strahats Not Found"
#AJPiece So now that you have gather up a lot of the crew, and now lost them, I feel like this a good point to bring up my theory on how each of the Straw Hat Crew seem to fit certain tropes in popular epics, folk tales, and monsters across literature. The most obvious ones I feel are Usopp being a version of Aseop Fables in structure just like Pinnochio! His nose stopped growing after he stopped telling the lie his father was coming back, and everything he's said since has been the truth. Chopper is Dr. Jackyl and Mr. Hyde with some Werewofl stuff. Franky is Frakenstein's monsters and man made monsters. Nami I actually think is a bit like a Witch (something Zoro often calls her) but I also feel like they have strong literary attachment to Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West. She is slowing gaining items and abilities akin to Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing as told in the story. It's kind of interesting that those three also match the monster three of Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro respectively. Zoro obvious has Zorro the masked vigilanted BUT with he's often called a demon I do feel like Zoro is more of a stand in for Urban Legends. He's an effective boogieman people tell stories about. Sanji is interesting because I didn't realize he was based on Steve Buschemi from Reservoir Dogs, but it did help me come to the conclusion he does feel more like a Pulp novel's protagonist like James Bond or some of those pulp noir stories. Brook is obviously seeped in musical lore but given his back story I do feel like he fits the Rime of the Ancient Mariner the most! Which leaves Robin and Luffy. I'll be honest I'd love to pin them down a bit more, but it may be a piece I'm not as in tuned with but my comparison feels more like biblically accurate angel. The whole many limbed motif, the fact they're called a demon child, her fleshy wings. A fallen angel does seem a little on point. As for Luffy I will leave it to him being shonen in general. I know Oda is more of a gardener, but it really does feel like he likes to pull from other literature, and I do think he has a love for monsters and villains and in doing so is showing his love for stories by using from a bunch of different stories. Just a thought and one I'd be interested on your thoughts on!
I am pretty confident it is called SABAOdy and not shabondy because of the word sabao in portugese. It means soap and perfectly fits with this arcs location.
Luffy got really humbled here. He got a little bit too cocky and thought he and his crew could overcome any obstacle even with Moria waring him. The crew should have realized after Thriller Bark that they werent ready. Sadly this time they know for sure they arent. One of the best moments in the entire series because it is so unexpected to happen in a shonen.
Sabaody also showcases the very essence of one piece. You See a beautiful setting and get distracted by it only for it to be flipped and Show the cruelity of the place. Like the series itself. It starts as a goofy Pirate Adventure only to be turned into a complete distopia.
Really enjoy your reviews!
By the time you catch up, I think one piece will be truly approaching it’s climax, and it’ll be easy to cover weekly.
I don't think he'd want to cover it weekly.
Such an incredible arc. Witness the depths of the story of the Strawhats and as a result, Luffy's mind
If you make any mistakes, it’s cool. Luffy always mispronounces names and things, sometimes on purpose :)
#AJPiece
This is, to this day one of my favourite arcs in the series and I wanted to talk about Eustass Kid, a character who's introduced here.
We see the difference between Luffy & Kid quiet clearly here when Kid says that he killed anyone who laughed at his dream of becoming the Pirate King.
We've seen instances such as Bellamy make fun of Luffy too but Luffy didn't even say a word to him because he considered it was beneath him.
Luffy was taught about these things by Shanks when he was a kid and he is quite mature in that regard. Whereas Eustass "Kid" is still a kid.
As you said, this is a while away, but I think you could read each chapter on stream, then do a video covering each batch. For every three (sometimes two) chapters that comes out, Oda takes the next week off. So you could read weekly and do a more thought out video on the recent batch. Just a thought, but no matter what you do, I will be there!
@ajpiece I’m sure someone else will point this out better but I have to point out the similarity between arlong park and the amusement park here, it’s one of my favorite amazing missable moments
#AJPiece I’m not sure if this has been mentioned to you already or if you’ve already picked up on this but I love how Oda uses character’s devil fruits as a thematic tie in to their biggest characteristic. Examples being of course Luffy’s gum-gum fruit showing how he always bounces back as well as Moria’s shadow-shadow fruit showing how he’s literally a shadow of his former self to even an underrated one being Bellamy’s spring-spring fruit being a more restricted version of Luffy’s fruit showing how Bellamy is similar to Luffy (young rookie with aspirations) but he’s just more limited in his beliefs compared to Luffy leading to him falling short. There are many more to come that I’m sure you’ll pick up on as well and I just think it’s such a neat way for Oda to explore his characters.
Can't wait for the Impel Down and Marineford videos!!!
I really don't see the Luffy punch as a mistake. The consequences are heavy but it wasn't a futile action, it was a significant strong statement of not only were Luffy values lies but Oda's too. The fact that they have the world coming for them isn't a "Luffy made a mistake by punching who needed to be punched" but rather a sign that they need to be strong enough to sustain the decision to fight for what they believe. Maybe from a tactical stand point yeah, sure, it wasn't the best decision, but on a character and ethical stand point it was 100% the right thing to do in my eyes, even with what happened to them later.
#AjPiece
I don’t think right and wrong really apply much in these situations tbh. It’s a complex moment with many ramifications and I think it was a mistake because it lead to all of his friends disappearing after it brought a force that they could not deal with upon them. They could have easily died and if they did, Luffy would have regretted it for the rest of his life. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t satisfying or deserved, but it was a learning moment for him IMO and I definitely still think it was a mistake on some level.
@@Aleczandxr I totally get what you're saying and I agree with you when you say that it was a learning moment, I just think that the theme of standing up and being a force of change in the status quo even when the consequences might be irreversible override the mistake. Of course he didn't solved the problem with the Celestial Dragons and he for sure wasn't strong enough to deal with the force but thematically I don't think Luffy would do anything different even if his friends died because that would mean to betray his values and even his friends values too. But I see what you saying, you're not wrong.
This isn’t really a disagreement then. Maybe when I can see the full picture I’d agree that that overrides the mistake. In the full scope of the series, I can easily see that happening. But as you yourself just said here, it doesn’t negate the presence of a mistake, and that’s all I was saying.
Personally for me, I always enjoy your POV. I may not be a fanatic with every piece of media you discuss. That being said you have also opened my eyes to many things. If I had a choice in doing a arc review vs a chapter review. I would feel that your thoughts on each chapter would be great to view as an audience. I just hope that it would not make you feel pressured or stressed about doing the content. Either way it's your choice. As a fan of your work, I will enjoy what you create.
You do know that he is reading the chapters live on twitch? You can already watch his thoughts on every chapter..
Saying goodbye to the Merry hurt so much, it was the first time i broke down watching the show (but also to be fair i watched OP growing up and have no idea where i stopped so it all felt pretty familiar till then). It was just a ship, why did she fight so hard to pull her weight on the crew? She was just a ship!! I always joke about how each member has been fighting for their lives since the moment they stepped off their islands, but when you think about it, The Merry was doing the same, for the most part she was taking as much damage as Zoro each arc lol. She was kidnapped, eatten, flew, rode up a blast of water, landed in the water from the sky, got hit by spears, Usopp gave it his all to be her doctor. She tried so hard to be a ride or die, and i remember that anytime something happens to the Sunny that reminds you its made of special quality wood made to LAST lol. She was just a ship man, no way should a ship have that much character. They wouldnt be here today if not for her.
Great work as always! Any chance you could upload the reviews on spotify as audio format?
Sorry but I won't be doing that, that would end up hurting the channel unfortunately!
I think Duval gets underrated a bit, his design before the reveal is almost built to bring up the idea that he might be someone from the straw hats past, the grill(?) on his mask is similar to Axe Hand Morgan, his cape looks like crocodiles, all around he feels like Oda clearly wants you to speculate, with all these characters and Elements coming back from the end of thriller bark and now Hacchi you really feel like we’re about to get something big only for it to be completely rug pulled. Excellent execution imo
#AJPiece I’ve always enjoyed how the Straw Hats’ softer sides are displayed through relatively smaller moments within the series, and this is epitomized in Nami during this arc. It shows that despite her understandably materialistic and money-oriented personality traits (which truly are a part of her due to her upbringing and inclinations) and the negative affects it can have on her life, she not only has a much more sentimental side, but her financial knowledge plays assist a lot of the time. This sentimentality & kindness is shown in Water 7 when Usopp gets fleeced and beaten up, and she prioritizes his wellbeing & honor over their finances. Here, she puts it all on the line for a friend, an individual she met mere days ago, as an excellent gesture of kindness and utilization of resources. Even though it should perhaps seem like an obvious course of action in the situation, it contrasts with the way some people may view her character & some people may not genuinely put forth this effort or make this sacrifice despite being morally opposed (i.e. pirates living in Sabaody). Just a great display of her consistent kindness and the increasing expression of it throughout the series as she becomes more comfortable with herself, even tying into her interactions with Hachi.
(P.S. Zoro carrying away the husband who Charloss shot is another subtle goat moment).
Something about the final fight that I like is that it wasn't just they weren't strong enough. It was luffys fault. The admirals was there because of luffy. This was luffys decision.
I think the they arnt strong enough lesson is important but I think it hits so much harder when it's his fault. The captain made a decision right or wrong it lead to loss.
(Though screw the celestial he deserved the punch)
Oh also on what Laws powers are because its never explained well. Law is "the surgeon of death" so the idea is his power opens up an operation room in which he has power as the surgeon. My understanding of it is that he can alter the position of everything in that space without necessarily killing anything
My favorite arc!
remember this arc and the arlong park arc cause it will be important on a later arc
Love to listen, as always! May i ask where the soundtrack in the background is from? it's very chill
Did you find out?
Saying that kid is smart and manipulative is false. They all just become a competitive idiot trio when grouped together.
Lmao what? All I did was explain why doing what he did was clever because he knew how the other two would react. There’s nothing false about that. And obviously I have literally only seen him for a couple of scenes so I know very little, but that little moment was smart of him for the reasons I explained and that’s undeniable.
Definitely my fav arc😩😩😩😩😩
30:50 - It's almost akin to Luke Skywalker's actions in _"The Empire Strike Back"_ - He acts on his emotions and sense of right and wrong, putting his friends and his justice first, which is his one of his defining attributes - and while it usually leads to some of his most iconic victories, in this case it led to one of his biggest faliures...
Usopp became a brave warrior of the sea for me when he risked it all to protect zoro against an admiral. Hope he sees it too. Love the content.
I was up to date on the anime during sabaody. and caught up on the manga in the beggining of the arc after the next.
this part of one piece was very impactful to me.
also, I think luffy knew exactly what punching charllos meant when he decided to do it. after all he apologizes for doing it right away.
Kuma is a cyborg like franky. An enhanced human. The pacifista are robots
this is my favorite one piece arc
#AJPiece Don Krieg, Arlong, Crocodile, and Moria. Each one is mighty for their own merit, each one once had a loyal crew, each one was once an uprising newcomer in the pirate world with dreams which some would say to be childish, but they persevere until the cold hand of cruel reality came and slapped them away from the new world back to the first half of the grandline and some back to the weakest sea, Luffy is currently facing that hand of reality, he has been warned by many before him how dangerous the grand line is, the only thing that could help him now is his undying will and support of his crew.
"Shocky is this Veteran"
...interesting choice of words
I could be wrong but I believe the "ao" sound in some languages like Portuguese has a subtle "n" sound at the end of it so that's why it sounds like Shabondy
I'm a little confused as to where Usopp protected Sanji. From what I'm seeing, Sanji attacks Kuma and gets bounced away. Then Kuma starts going for Ussop and he desperately starts shooting him while screaming for help before getting poofed.
It's pronounced that way because it's based on the portuguese word for soap "sabão" which is shabon in Japanese. It should actually be Sabãody Archipelago. As in Soapy Archipelago because of the bubbles.
#AJPiece What makes this arc so disturbing is the use of systems. The Celestial Dragons are cartoonishly evil, but it's the entire system forcing it so that everyone must accept this as normal, that they have the right to do this, the fear of upsetting them is what makes these easy caricatures and turns them from a shallow villain into one of the most horrifying and disgusting concepts. The carefree start really catches you off guard for how dehumanizing Camie's second capture is, her becoming a product as people beg for anything else, even someone killing themself on stage rather than be forced to live in this system.
Cause the Celestial Dragons only have political power, these weak disgusting people even easily taken out by Usopp by accident, but it's the system backing them that makes OP one of the best written dives into corrupt systems. Sengoku's underlings going "there was an incident at the slave- I mean the alternative employment house." In a lot of series there'd only be a few people who know about it or it's treated as a shock, but this is more realistic, more disturbing. It's just accepted, much like the Celestial Dragon's atrocities, or the constant dehumanization of Fishmen. Very fitting for Hachi to comes back again in time to bring up the slow burning racism and discrimination against them. Came being called a thing, Hachi being seen as a hunting prize without agency as Charlos jumps for joy over shooting this creature.
There's so much slow building reveals for how Fishmen are viewed from how Tom gets immediately called a dirty Fishman once he shows aggression even after saving the island. In One Piece corruption isn't just a single person, it's a system it's a culture. It's all in your face as most cultures of corruption and hatred are. I'll leave on the note that for as wide and varied as the marines are, there hasn't been a single Fishman in their ranks so far.
Separate note for the future, my suggestion would be maybe bring the weekly chapters with another series like you did with HxH and as for videos, save those for either arc ends, or if you feel on retrospect there's some new angles you'd like to tackle themes or Characters etc. I'd prefer just you making the videos you want to or batch ones. I know Merphy Napier much prefers doing her videos as batches than week to week so whatever the case I'll be here for all of it.
1:35:52 My Favorite Character, Eustass Ace Kidd