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Flashtroshka

Very interesting chapter, so let's get right into it. We're continuing our scene here with the Underworld group and getting into some really big ideas. But I can't ignore this one right away as Gaban gets into the idea it's just an application of Conqueror's Haki to get around the regeneration. Which is fine and expected, what's really cool is the scene about first Sanji begging for daddy to tell him he has it and "confirming" Zoro does in hilarious fashion. Luffy's response is great.

But I do like this because it's spelling out the moral of Wano for Zoro's story. The cool sword and power are reflections of the personal growth he had. The Akazaya Nine are a great parable about how much the rest of the crew really needs to step up if they want to keep up with Luffy. A reflection of the core theme of Thriller Bark. Think about it, Oden had nine people under him who all knew both types of basic Haki and even the baby sister of the group could cross the high, high bar of hurting a juggernaut like Kaido. One of Whitebeard's old guard mainstays was still just part of this group instead of far and away the best. I love the steps like Monet to Kiku's arm and the "Little Pirate Games" motif but here is where someone is just spelling it out to Zoro...

And it just so happens to fall in a chapter where Luffy throws us an interesting gambit like this. Remember our argument for Luffy is that by Wano, his experience with Katakuri was already getting Luffy to be the type of captain he needs to be. I just re-read Udon for the first time in a while and it's fucking amazing how suave and composed he is there. But that stops and changes course with G5 reminding you that the first thing we learned about awakening is it can take over.

So that's why this moment is so interesting to me because it's somehow both showing that growth is coming back and not. Yamato was such an obvious red herring to me because the logic was tainted from the start. You outright told Luffy it's his obligation to make good on one of Ace's promises. He was mature enough to just let it go in the moment and look at how far that went out the window when Shanks came up. To the point he pulls this. He's asked people who blew him off plenty, but this idea he's like...pulling rank on Hajrudin openly. It's acting like a captain at least, but in a shitty way you're typically better than. We'll see how it goes from here, but for now Loki adamantly refused and Luffy's interest is such a house of sand to me still.

Especially when Zoro needles at this weakness when Shanks comes up. Remember how this arc started and what happened to another Grand Fleet captain. Honestly, Luffy still hasn't even figured out what happened to Jaggy. You two are rivals dude...you need to shape the fuck up and stop acting like a five year old when his name comes up or one of your primary competitors is going to find out he gives as much leverage over you as Caramel did Big Mom. I don't care how much you like him dude, you wanna watch the Sunny get torched and dragged into being a subordinate after all this time because you were too busy giggling?

But now we get to the main show. Gaban and Loki sorta of sharing a flashback is already quite interesting. Like, imagine if you had Kin'emon and Momo telling their stories simultaneously in Act 1. But that's not where this gets truly weird. Because while we're in this flashback...

We have nested flashbacks again? Sweeeet. It's really hard to pin down how I feel about the content just yet. My god does the framing of this Harald story sound like how Oden's started and we know he's gonna go from pure scum to a great king. But he's already a great king in my eyes because kicking over a castle shouting "Who's your God now?" if fuckin' hilarious.

But this was a confusing setup. We have a dual flashback of when the guy was killed in what might still be a bit of a brief flashback in our story to catch us up on what Luffy was doing while Gunko is going crazy up there and now it ends as a deep lore flashback about the old king. That's a lot to process and I'm very curious how it unfolds. But I do need to note that kicking this off now...it does mean the end of our cover serial could very easily align with something in this (maybe like, Harald knew Toki?) or even realistically with the end of this flashback and getting back to the main story.

We have just entered some very strange territory in this chapter. And I'm so ready to see how it unfolds.

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Next we have the lovable Princess Vivi of Alabasta! With her courtly grace and blue hair and, perhaps, pronouns she's a lovely choice for this anthology. But we do have something a little different for this story. Koza is arguably the main protagonist here. It's weird, it's a story more about Vivi's reputation in Alabasta. Imagine the opposite of a movie with an almost entirely female cast that doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. The image here sets the scene with something that smartly characterizes Vivi through contrast with a memorable Hancock bit. She earnestly appreciates a portrait a young boy drew for her, cutely calls it "avant-garde" when the maid criticizes the quality.

So the main thrust of our story will actually be Koza and this little boy Fata. Data is just a kid who likes drawing, he thought a picture of Vivi in the newspaper was pretty, just so happened to see her walk by when he finished, and developed a crush when Vivi graciously accepted it and praised his artwork. This is why it's still a story about Vivi, what we really see here is how much of a dedicated leader she is. Reminds me of an old story about a famous local senator, how he'd take out a phone book and call ten constituents at random every day. I respected my Dad as mayor not for the swanky parties, but because he could tell me about almost everyone in town. This is the side of Vivi we focus on.

But to get there we have Koza and Fata in an iconic Alabasta location. The clock tower that was the former base for the Sand-Sand Clan. Fata wanted to send a love letter and another drawing to Vivi, he reasoned she loves Alabasta more than anything, so he wanted to climb up to where he could draw a good landscape. Koza was up there reflecting on the responsibility of being in charge while the royals are at Reverie. Incidentally, Koza was made Minister of the Environment after the events of the Baroque Works Saga. We get a lot of nice cultural backdrop for the country too, you can tell someone read a book or two on MENA cultures.

When Fata finishes he hands the letter to Koza to read and it flutters to the ground below. By the time we get there there's a big scene. Cobra and the Guardians show up right after Koza made the panic move to say he wrote it and spare the boy's feelings, then right when Cobra's giving the "what are your intentions with my daughter?" grilling Vivi shows up. And cutely that gives Koza the easy out because he knows if he just shows it to her she'll recognize the handwriting. Which she does and as sweetly as she can turns the boy down.

This one was funny. It's not a bad deal to focus on Koza's POV so much. We saw a lot of Vivi and we know a certain side of her really well, but highlighting the kind of princess she is makes for a great way to flesh her out. Good way to get a little romance in the anthology without making one of the girlies suddenly boy crazy. And if you're a Vivi/Koza truther...worth the price of admission alone.

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#2 is Nico Robin of course and this is a great setup right off the bat. Set as she's sailing back to Sabaody, we get a Robin & Koala tale and oh my god that got me so excited right away. We stan Koala hard here even if I haven't gushed about her much. I freaking love Koala. Especially in this setting. The Revolutionaries are also transporting some historical artifacts out of an active warzone. Koala has taken an interest in trying to translate a clay tablet. The implication is this would be incredibly easy for Robin and it really shows off the sensible idea her general expertise is ancient languages. The best thing about this one is getting to see Robin's thought process a lot more than we're used to.

It's a simple idea executed well. Robin checks in on Koala as she unravels the mystery and offers insight on the actually process of decoding an unknown language. Which is cool. We incidentally clarify some details about the world too. Robin treats it as a casual fact the World Government has normalized speaking language but individual nations have all adapted their writing systems to that, and that this has been the norm for at least 300-400 years. All great stuff. Slashed with cute Nico Robin flare like a cheeky hint in sprouting a hand to rotate the tablet.

The beauty of this one is in how it all comes together. We bait a hook with Sabo poorly cooking some bitter mushrooms. Then the tablet actually ended up being a recipe for how to make a great soup with them. But all framed through this dynamic of making a bygone culture come back to life. What an awesome little story! I love seeing Robin get to be the academic and it ends with a great moment between her and Sabo.

It's set up by the picture here, we play into the running theme the RA has a very egalitarian mindset. Sabo does grunt work too and Koala has a complex about looking like she's getting special treatment. But they wouldn't dare make Robin work even though Robin likes using her many hands to make the dishes easy and doesn't get to because a certain cook cannot stomach the idea of a lady scrubbing his dishes. But they get a sweet moment talking about Luffy. I really enjoyed this one, good story and letting Robin showcase the process of an academic challenge is fertile ground for her stories.

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As you'd probably expect, Nami is our leadoff girl in the Heroines novel. With a story about shoes. And I love it because it answers the joke about how the hell she can do all these acrobatics in heels. Short answer, she spares no expense on footwear and favors a luxury brand that boasts heels you can run in. But we start our story in a great Nami scenario. She's not happy with the quality and yelling at the shopkeep. Since this is new I'll do a cutoff for the real spoilers because I love this story for my favorite Straw Hat.

First off, I love part of Nami's motivation here because it's something sensible about her we never see in the main story. She gets a lot of shit from some of the guys for these shoes and how impractical/expensive they are. So her pride is coming into the equation a bit more, just that idea that even with Robin around Nami's kinda wanting for companionship with other girls. It is a little bit of a weird place for her because I'd imagine otherwise she is the type of girl who'd have mostly female friends.

Where this story really gets good though is the cobbler girl Miucha. Nami gripes about the expensive shoes sucking ass, the cobbler girl admits they've been cutting back on quality to meet demand, the designer comes in and wants Nami as a model, offering a custom-made pair. The cobbler is seething with a darker version of the mindset we see in the little Fan Letter girl, rather than being inspired she's very envious of Nami's glamour while Nami's just being nice. She's actually thinking about Bellemere in a cute way during most of this. Which I love, it's kinda like why I like Yuzu from Skip & Loafer. My transition story was more one of ending up getting a lot more attention than I was ready for faster than I was ready for and while I can handle a catcall the envy from other girls left some serious scars.

But this really comes to a head when Nami drops a twist she picked up on. The cobbler is dating the designer! And it's really sad but she's like his third girlfriend and clearly just likes the status even though he treats her like shit. So when the modeling show starts (love the guy in the illustrations who looks like Bob Belcher) Nami pulls a fast one and comes out in just her normal casual clothes, no makeup, and the shoes. It works because right before we highlight the worry her beauty would detract from them, then Nami spins it as something reminiscent of another favorite Skip & Loafer scene where Nao gives a great lesson on the proper place for fashion and beauty. If it's something you want to do because you like it, great! Don't let anyone give you shit for caring about your appearance. But it's never going to fill a void for some other issue.

This is why I love this story and it's a good example of what I love about the women of One Piece. What starts as a story about shoes and modeling turns into one of building other women up vs. tearing them down and a healthy message about beauty. All while giving us a lot of good classic Nami. Of course she swiped everyone's wallets at the show. The illustrations were nice too, I really like Sayaka Suwa's art style here and a more shoujo take on these characters. Naturally I just assume that's a pen name for Carrot. The way she draws Nami is really, really cool and yes there is at least one woman involved in this project. So all in all a great first outing.

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One Piece Academy Chapter 58: Delinquent Leader (Part 2) Translation

part 1

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Look what I found with MegaTama! I didn't even know the English release came and went or I would have been looking. I also got the Wanted! anthology so stay tuned. One Piece Heroines! Finally something suited to my tastes after Ace/Law. It's a light novel compilation of four single stories featuring each of the quartet on the cover then a final bonus Nami/Robin one. Obviously you have two slots filled right away but I do like the group we have here. Same with the Vol. 2 group. I hope we get more, give me Kiku/Tsuru at the teahouse...

That's actually pretty in line with these. I'll just do a review of the full presentation today and each story on its own. Kinda like Academy, Oda-supervised but a different author. Kinda weird choice to go with a man here but Jun Esaka has done other One Piece light novels so it's probably just a staff thing. I know that'd make it really easy for some types to lazily criticize the very girly stories on display here. But like most of the women of One Piece, it's much more nuanced than that. Like...I know I'm not the only one that likes the One Piece women embracing femininity because it makes them more relatable.

All that to say, don't be quick to judge. Nami's story about designer shoes is answering a fun question about her then pivots hard to her consistent "girls' girl" side. Robin's is a great use of her academic cred on a level we normally don't get to see and it's about her and Koala during the timeskip. Vivi's highlights her as a passionate leader who has had an active role in her kingdom's prosperity. And Perona's is just plain zany One Piece fun. This is clearly aimed at basic bitches who want a fun beach read and like One Piece. I respect the hell out of that. It's exactly the type of thing I'd want on a long plane ride.

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Favorite by plot: Kyoshiro (Denjiro)

No comments on how much I LOVE this man, his story, everything (っ °Д °;)っ

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And this was the crown jewel. Where Mila went from the unlikely Hero of Kvatch to the iconic Saivor of Bruma. Later Imperial scholars were certain there was no way this wasn't engineered to be propaganda somewhat but when the threat to Bruma and Cloud Ruler Temple drew nigh the wicked Dagon opened portals outside every other city in Cyrodil to keep them from sending aid. They say Martin's agent crossed the entire province and closed them all within two days owing to her skills as a healer allowing her to tweak the energy of the body. The assembled force that day saw why the rumors were likely true, the lightly-clad priest hung back and just waited like a sprinter on their mark. Then when those gates fused...she was off in a puff of magic. Within five minutes the great gate was closed and she emerged victorious, muttering about still being too slow over the bodies of a couple of Blades who perished in the battle...

I actually got into it. I know it gets shit but I love Oblivion's main quest. I don't think it's a knock at all that you play out the duel between primary agents of opposing leaders. Perfect way to handle a game like this honestly. You never have to worry about the implications of the player's deeds on future games. The Hero of Kvatch and Mankar Camoran's protracted campaign against each other was the real story happening in the shadows of the last Septim and the Prince of Chaos. Martin Septim is an excellent character, and frankly...yeah the Oblivion Gates get samey if you just sit there binging playthrough after playthrough. I like speedrunning them, the game design even arguably encourages that as a viable route for usually thieves but it made sense for the type of mage I am here too. Mila was honestly my best at it.

That's kind of my whole thing with criticism of the game. Like, yeah if you're the type of Himmel-coded player who has to turn over every stone these will get boring, but what's that phrase everyone likes? Ludonarrative dissonance? You shouldn't be dicking around trying to find every gold coin in the active portal to hell. Frankly, for all the comparisons I don't think I've ever seen anyone point out how this segment fixes the generally agreed worst part of Morrowind's main quest. You actually do get to see this big setpiece of bringing everyone together but you don't have to do the tedious quest. It'll make the fight where Martin can die and result in a complete failure harder which is a great, realistic consequence.

Incidentally, I love the organic storytelling potential of an Elder Scrolls playthrough when you've played a few times. The Count of Cheydinhal's foolhardy son got me. I was a good sport since I figured Mila the Ex-Tribunal Priest wouldn't be put off by a noble Dunmer acting pompous. He legitimately was a big help all the way up til the end of the tower and I was just starting to think about how the experience would make him a better count one day...then he got stroked by a lightning bolt and flung down the tower. We got a shock shield sigil stone out of it. When the count gave me his son's ring as a memento, I just had to have Farwil's shield guarding me until the end. That's what these games are about right? I've never had a character that made me realize Farwil's still one of the few people to at least try and close the gate himself.

That comes after a quest where you have to strip all your gear and fight your way out of a cave of cultists and its just up to you to figure out how you're pulling that off and one where you have to make the legit decision of finding and giving up one of the powerful daedric artifacts. This is why Oblivion is my favorite. That sweet middle ground of still having some guts and grit to the quest design but having little touches of Skyrim's cinematic appeal. Sean Bean recording a line for each artifact is great. The extra story of his own time with Sanguine's Rose is a classic. I gave up the Skeleton Key this time and got a funny joke about merchants sleeping more soundly if we bothered to tell them. Though Spell Breaker is my favorite.

The reserved reverence, just simply stating very few people would give that away especially since it legitimately would be directly useful fighting against Camoran. Who himself is one of the better boss fights in the series. The greatest tragedy is that Martin never got to actually rule the Empire given how much capacity for leadership he showed. I love the little moment where he plainly tells you he wants your judgement not your obedience and consoling the Countess that it's a noble trait to recognize when desperation is the tactical move.

Once again, that's about sixty hours of gameplay on Imperial City quests, the main one, and taking a detour for the Mehrunes Razor DLC I've never done before. I could still easily double that with the good Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood, and Knights of the Nine questlines then still have a ton of content left to play.

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The big remaster made me want to play again. Not buying it again for shiny graphics and it isn't like I have anything with the space for that whopping file size anyways but man is Oblivion fun. This and 90s alt rock was my jam during the dog days of summer in high school. Decided to go with an echo of a build I tried in a recent Morrowind playthrough. Meet Mila the Dunmer Cleric. She was an adherent of the Tribunal Temple until some weirdo showed up, rose through the ranks, then killed both the great Vivec and Almalexia but also took care of Dagoth Ur so really Mila isn't sure how to feel about that. While investigating rumors all this talk of a Nerevarine was a plot by Emperor Septim she ended up in jail until she was sprung by and the final confidant of that same emperor.

She's both over the gods and about to be drawn into her own destiny and no I actually did not ever consider how well that aligns with Martin Septim before I got close to getting ready to dive into the main quest. Restoration plus Maces is fun. Clobbering dudes with big stuff is rad. You don't need big armor or a lot of health if you can maintain a big heal over time. Absorb Health with an AOE effect is hilarious if you can bottleneck a bunch of enemies. But the really cool thing is being able to bust out the Kaio-Ken. You have to plan around needing a little space, but a short Fortify Intelligence/Magicka gives you enough of a window to then cast a huge buff to Strength/Health/Weapon Skill for a decent amount of time.

I know most of the people who do this do it out of a deep love for the games, but in a world where you do have several lengthy Youtube works picking over all kinds of areas they could improve...it's easy to lose sight. Like I said, I'm just getting ready to do the main quest at a higher level. I did a few of the classic Imperial City quests like the merchant being supplied by a graverobber and decided to have a little fun leveling up with the Umbacano quest. A collector wants you to find things in the mysterious Ayleid ruins and while I know they get some flak I like them so this quest is one of my favorites.

Take a step back. Between that, taking a little time to train my character, building up Battlehorn Castle, and doing the vampire cure quest because I caught the condition and hadn't done it before...that was about 30 hours. 30 hours of a good blend of about a dozen ancient ruins, overworld treks to get to them, and a vibrant city with some great urban fantasy sidequests. There were a couple of points in my "main quest" with Umbacano where things could go differently depending on choices I made. There was some cool lore to it and a decent twist. I quite liked tailing a merchant or killing time in the arena to get money for upgrades to my player home. The gear was randomized which could dramatically alter my decisionmaking and there were a lot of cool extras like legit in-universe lore books and alchemy which my botany-loving ass adores.

By 2006 standards that is an amazing game I'm fine buying full price because I'll probably play it at least twice. That's on par with Fable which was a big deal around that time. I haven't touched a guild, I've barely set foot in a town other than the Imperial City. I've barely scratched the surface of the game with this character and I've played a full game. Technically I also did the Kvatch quest to free up the master resto trainer and got a lucky random encounter that was cool out of the two gates that can open around Battlehorn Castle, a little writing on my part says I decided Martin was safer at my castle because Mila doesn't trust the empire. All this to say my first "game" had a good sequel hook that I will also get to play...and still have the majority of Oblivion content left.

People always want to compare the hit Elder Scrolls games and I've always had a soft spot for Cyrodil. It's the sweet spot between Morrowind's barrier to entry and Skyrim's limited options, and in a world where everyone wants to be subversive and different I respect the straightforward middle ages fantasy of the Imperial province. To me Oblivion is the sweet spot between Morrowind's freedom and Skyrim's chill, cinematic gameplay.

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Nami: "Okay...you're still adorable and all but I need to know right now if some nasty bird woman gave you candy."

Hiyori: "See Kiku? I told you you're not *that* tall."

Kiku: "...so this is what it feels like to be Izo."

(I saw her on sale, I immediately thought it would be hilarious to have all tiny Wano gang but MegaTama. Who can likely only be stopped by Tokozuna.)

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Hooooly shit, I am floored any of these girls are still alive. Last year I talked about Lynn Conway's death. How she was such this distant presence but not. I'm like 90% sure I talked with Lynn Conway on some old forum in the 00s. Someone like Bambi? That's her guiding light. That's all you should need to demand your diminished attention spans hold it together long enough to read the damn article this time. Go on, do it, the rest of my part will still be here. Every transfemme at least owes it to herself to see what 89 can look like for you.

If Jo got along with women well enough to not be a TERF she'd probably grasp the backhanded brutality of that one line after an interview and life that flies in the face of her crusade. Seriously...almost 90 and came out as a youth. Isn't that wild? I already feel like a wizened old sage of the movement with fifteen years behind me. Now add fifty? At the point in life I'm at right now roughly, this woman backed off because she could see he winds shifting and realized what we'd now consider...all of modern transphobia was just starting to take root. And she's still kicking watching it reduced to the desperation of a cornered animal. But she's not willing to coddle a youth movement that has more of a hand in current issues than we like to admit. Don't let that overshadow a fascinating autobiographical account because she honestly has a point.

Can our community please take this current backlash as the signal to drop the nagging nun bullshit and get back to being cool, artsy rebels? If you don't know exactly what I mean, I'd wager at least 60% of your local community hates you. Show of hands, how many of y'all saw the same? The most annoying people in town the past few years also just so happen to be the first to scatter when things got scary? I don't know about Bambi's time but fifteen years on I've caught myself feeling nostalgia for "more dangerous, but freer" days. The way forward, the way to break this oppression of having to fit in a little box people told you to fit in...you don't do that by making 26 little edge case boxes and shaming people into remembering them.

If 89 year old Bambi is willing to come out of a well-deserved retirement to try and rekindle that spark, the rest of us owe it to her to fan the flame. Let her be a reminder we've always been here, we've always been cool, and our movement makes the most waves when we remember no one can command the stage better than us.

(And seriously Hollywood, take the hint! The Danish Girl sucked. You got Hunter Schafer as a perfect expy to play this girl in a biopic that'd make Moulin Rouge look like Yellowstone and it could come out right when Bambi dies. Are you softening the ground AP? I see it in those eyes, she's ready to take one for the team. Hollywood owes us one for Emelia Perez. Make this treasure immortal.)

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Dear Shogun Momonosuke:

I like to think of myself as a tolerant person. Especially after such brutal days with Kaido the last thing we need is ugly, ugly sins like discrimination. I wholeheartedly support your appointments of Daimyo Inuarashi and Daimyo Kawamatsu as a sign of racial tolerance. But sometimes we have to draw a line. 100% of Wano's known transgender population are able to best Yokozuna-caliber athletes with ease despite no prior sumo experience.

There is clearly a case of some kind of unfair physical advantage their entrancing gender sorcery is conveying. This is not a condemnation of that outright! One of our national heroes Lady Kikunojo is a more skilled practitioner and we're still not quite sure how you look like that at 42 but this Hanayanagi Style allowing one so thin and erm...well endowed to topple a Yokozuna outright is an affront to our national image! I may know these two are earnest. You'll notice I am not complaining about Sir Yamato's presence inherently defiling the sumo ring and I supported the expulsion of the men who forced Okiku to do so in Bakura. I still agree both her and Luffytaro are entitled to an equal share of the prize money offered under the conditions stipulated. But if the wider world were to get the wrong impression they may start to believe Wano is a land of beguiling, beautiful men and women who could grapple a bull into submission.

How are the rest of us to keep up with such lofty standards? So I implore you to issue an edict to preserve our sacred sumo ring.

Signed,

Stevejiro, Kibi

(It was too fun for me. Now for real, you tell me why else this happens right after returning the sword. Sukune's a reference to sumo's origin story and yes, it is actually a sign of how they see Yamato if no one cares about him being in a sumo ring. Now uh...get in the ring Kawamatsu. I wanna see a real match.)

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Back to the Drawing Go Board

This was a trippy place to start. The way I read these sometimes I have to scroll through pages and I stopped on the top half. If you've been around a while you know Oimo & Kashi are really special to me because their big moment is where I caught up to the manga. So I see this and it really hits especially because it reminds me of parts of Wano too and just when I'm thinking I can make a great point about Denjiro's best line, "You've confused a geisha with a pet dog, how can a woman bloom if you aren't the clear water at her roots?" Then...

I downloaded the page as a full image. I open it up to crop and bam. The Reversi game just underneath. Of course it's Reversi because last chapter but it's a cousin game to Go that'll work for the same reason it did on Onigashima. The games share that element of flipping pieces, you are the environment that surrounds you, and hell yes it reinforces the idea that someone needs to step up as a strategist. These core ideas will be prominent in this chapter, though like the cover I do feel going into a break we're seeing more the setup than the execution of this phase on Elbaph.

First, this gets in here because it made me wheeze laugh for two minutes straight. Spooky Gregg Gang rise up as well. Like Hamlet I love the feeling that Oda (and his assistants probably) may make a lot of these weirdos, but when it comes to giving a few best ones the spotlight our tastes are similar. Seriously this is Luffy shoving the zombie back down levels of gold and it makes less sense the longer you look at it and that is just amazing.

I also liked the real moms being all "fuck this we're comin' kids" and after seeing their nightmare versions I hope they succeed.

Then hey, if we're doing Wano callbacks let's play with time some. We hop back to finally get an update on the scene down below. And as predicted Gaban fell down to them. But...way to go Chopper. This was a high watermark for you too after Robin's similar trick. I love how Chopper freaks and does it without thinking but pulls it together. Excellent, excellent Chopper moment so he gets a gold star and that big vertical panel is one of my favorites.

Luffy's perception also becomes a theme here. Even he doesn't seem to understand how he knew it was Chopper. Let's watch that going forward. Loki gets another call from Mosa too and it seems like he's calming down a bit. Still, don't think it was the most important part just yet. But I'll be very interested if that sword being returned ended up marking where he gets back to the smarter version of Luffy we were developing before G5.

Peak comedic moment in any chapter that didn't have something as god-tier as that Spooky Gregg bit. I love how this times back up with the big Haki burst. It means we can take a moment to let this breathe and figure some things out then hop back up when Luffy's group catches up to the scene up above. We do it this way and you don't have to worry too much about advancing those dire straits.

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Heckin 5-star haul! Checked the mail and finally got my Momonosuke alt. Japanese for a change. Think it looks cool, the surviving retainers from the scene at the end are around him and the dragon is textured. But we also had a new set. I grabbed six packs and got something novel for me, an alt-art Katakuri leader. Sweet. Those are pricey and the texturing is amazing.

Then went back with sweetie because the store had a great used manga deal he wanted and got two more. Already felt nice seeing Hibari in the first one. Then alt Kujaku! And a Shirley. Dope.

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"Hakumai maples, Herald the flower's next bloom, We're returning home."

Originally I had a big long post about this, but I said plenty of what I want to say here yesterday and past a certain point things seem best kept simple. The haiku really does say it all. If we're jumping this quick to returning the sword to this ramshackle shrine in the middle of nowhere. If it's just Yamato and his first two sworn swords it sorta proves returning the sword wasn't the reason for showing all this. So here we are at Enma Shrine. Do you remember this is a place we see a couple of times? There's an argument we're completing a Rashomon type scene with this being the third. Enma Shrine is not where Oden starts writing his journal, but it is somewhere Zoro/Hiyori went together and where Denjiro went to unleash his rage in the past.

The sword is returned, we have a nice double title, but there's still an obvious point in that hat Ulti's holding to keep us going. Kawamatsu is also free of the sword quest, which makes me really start thinking about how he's Kiku's bestie. What else is there to say at this point? The window that was obvious to me from the second we saw the map of Yamato's route is now wide open with a main story our girl is well in the wheelhouse of playing off of. Kappa buddy is free to help set it up. They're the only thing left now. Taking up and returning swords is an established motif in her story to mark changes. The play's over, time for the real story to manifest. I also do just love the panel. Got some of those lovely Hakumai maples and I like seeing Page One get a moment to rest.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

One Piece chapter 1150 brief thoughts.

I really like how direct and on the nose this demonic transformation stuff is. Leaving nothing to the imagination about Battle Angel Gunmu's views on demons & power.

Demonic appearance, giving up part of your life for battle. This sentiment reminds of the Sunacchi phrase the samurai know. Surrender your name and be as a child. And how it applies to Kiku's story specifically.

I imagine that Queen would love this demon possession stuff. He loves using viruses to make his enemies fight each other like a game.

Plus, this is just a damn awesome two pager.

This line from the chief is good too. I like how it is highlighting the worst parts of Elbaf's warrior culture.

And remember, we have seen Usopp confront a similar mindset prior.

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Devi-Devi Mahou Shoujo Gunko-Chan

Oh no! The wicked, skeletal Soul King's fiendish plot to reawaken Gunko-chan's repressed memories almost stopped her in her mission to uphold truth and justice in the world. Thankfully, our heroine's distant benefactor offered words of encouragement, allowing her to ascend to a new form! The brutish giants are no match for Gunko-chan's Devi-Devi Demon Contract of Kindness! Ganbatte Gunko-chan! We believe in you!

Thank you for humoring me. Now on to our main show. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS CHAPTER!? It was crazy enough when Stussy's dropping bat wings and going all Red Wine Supernova on CP0. Now Gunko's going full LadyDeviMon Digivolution here and whipping out comically oversized shotguns from a spellbook. This was a...sudden escalation. And we're only just now acknowledging our main fighters are still MIA. That said, if this is our first taste of Imu's power I actually do like a lot of what I'm seeing. I think this chapter does a lot to ensure Imu will stay a good foil to Luffy/Nika in the end of this. Because this power is still so wild.

See? God her flippantly doodling a spell circle has me feeling something. But this is crucial. We're seeing a brutal compelled contract power. Something much scarier than Tama's or Sugar's. Especially if it can affect guys like Dorry & Brogy. But it is still framed as something that will allow one to become unbound by logic and reason. Dark Nika. It seems there's some form of restriction where it has to work on someone Imu can rationalize as a King.

I love that hypocrisy. It reminds me of Fruits Basket a little, especially if you look at it through the lens of being a metaphor for the dynamics of the Sohma Family being very very old money. They could all always leave their troubling situations if they accepted growing up and being a normal person who has to live in the real world. Hierarchy is inherently a pyramid scheme. Every little bit of extra power you get over others further down comes with a cost of your freedom in having to maintain the position. The person at the top, be they Imu or Akito Sohma, is so busy maintaining their grip they don't have a life.

Why would I compare worldwide authoritarianism to the dynamics of an abusive home? Well maybe our title and vector for this shift can illuminate. Domi reversi would be Latin for "Returning Home." Why wouldn't I compare those two things? The more I watch far right (and frankly some leftist voices who lost sight of the cause) messaging spiral further and further into naked embrace of brutal repression towards "undesirables" the more the rhetoric reminds me of abusive family members. I don't want to flex stuff like this when talking about a comic book too much, but remember this is coming from someone with a Master's who has heavily studied authoritarianism since well before 2016 and I've worked with the juvenile justice system in the past. Fascist ideologies are really just abuse writ large in so many ways. From Cindry to Gunko and all these girlies in between we see these stories because they're a stand-in for the real world traumas that mirror these fantasy arcs.

Now, tomorrow we'll talk more about how this Domi Reversi title has a double meaning. You can't ignore how well it works for the cover serial this time too and when it came to Wano taking up/returning swords were a way to mark significant changes in Kiku's story. I can't ignore that happening and transitioning us to the part where she's perfectly poised to be weird and interesting right when a similar character in Gunko tears the wheels off of Elbaph and sends it into free fall. Let's wrap up this chapter, but I think it's a fair point to say any of the next 5-6 could get really clever with our girl in a myriad of ways.

"If I hit em high hit em high hit em high, then you hit em low hit em low hit em low."

Sorry, the original Space Jam soundtrack holds a permanent spot in my brain. The other reason I'd bring Kiku up here is because I cannot ignore how she's a great go-to example of someone who I could argue might be able to resist this type of demonic contract. A fair few but not all of these good-hearted women could but I wanna stick with the one who's got a golden opportunity to tie in via the covers. Let's assume for a second the idea the Knights had to consider a worthy target means there are some limits. I'm going to start from the idea it works like the closest thing we've seen. Big Mom (though Boa Hancock works) who is tied to Elbaf and don't forget we've connected that idea thematically in why the kids' moms were a good symbol. A miracle, even a staged one like Mother Caramel's might just be your best bet here.

Think about it this way. Big Mom's Soul Pocus worked if you had any shred of fear towards her. I get the vibe Imu's contract is the same, but for ambition. That's why a tough honorable warrior dude like Brogy who'd waste a century on a pissing match is susceptible and how Luffy needs to be special to overcome it. That's why someone like Kiku would not have to worry. Sure she was grateful and dutiful but generally happiest when she was part of a grubby little reject family no one would care enough about to laugh at the queer. Position requires obligation. Noblesse oblige is a two-way street. The best ones to wield power and influence are the ones who don't want it. It's not exactly a new idea, same logic as why the Hobbits were portrayed as the virtuous ones who could handle the One Ring's corruption.

When you put powerful men consistently up against women like this. When you take the time to show "good" guys like Oden & Vegapunk freely took advantage of this dynamic...I love the way you see these as two sides of the same coin. The more power you seek, the more humanity you rob from those you have dominion over...but you're losing humanity yourself and the one at the top is arguably in the worst position of all. Living Luffy's greatest fear of being fully alone. His greatest power is rallying anyone he meets to his cause. But you'll only ever maintain that if you never take the devil's bargain of stepping over others to serve your own ends. Even when they're hurt, helpful women who have had parts of their own humanity stripped away by the constant demands of others. Even if you know the exact words that can call her "home."