harpy-monet

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 105 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 22

"One Piece Girls! Everyone is Different and Everyone is Good!!" by Onatsu-san, Ibaraki Prefecture

Finally, checking all of the Digital Colored Comic volume releases for the fanart sections has paid off! It only took twelve volumes across three years since the last one!

This is an adorable piece, fitting as many girls from across the One Piece canon (and even non-canon) as it can (plus Sanji to adore them), all beautifully rendered with a rainbow gradient outlining the collage of chibis!

Of course, this isn't every girl in the entire series. Including everyone from Amazon Lily alone would be a logistical nightmare, though I don't think there's any excuse to omit Marguerite since she's such a central figure to that arc, but whatever. This isn't a Marguerite appreciation blog, this is a Monet blog (though I might make one of those someday...)

I think it was a great choice to put Monet in the orange corner, as outlining her predominantly green color scheme with orange really helps her stand out while also alluding to the rest of her usual design. This might be a coincidence, though, as there seems to be a sort of chronology to the piece, grouping characters by what arcs they were introduced in (Monet is next to Baby 5 and Sugar, representing Punk Hazard and Dressrosa, who are also nearby Camie and Shirahoshi from the preceding Fishman Island, etc.)

I am admittedly sad that Monet art only ever seems to come up in collages at this point in the series, but it makes sense since she isn't exactly a relevant figure, but I'm grateful that she still finds her way into works like this! It would be so easy to leave her out since she has such a relatively complex design, but people keep drawing her anyway, and that's worth celebrating!

Hopefully, I won't have to wait another three years to see her in the Usopp Gallery, but even if it's another five, you know I'll be here to share it with you all! ... tumblr's existence permitting, of course!

[harpy-monet]

Not technically an Every Monet, but definitely something that I think is worth bringing up: her Transponder Snail in the anime has wings where every other snail has arms

This is not in the manga, so it shouldn't be taken as canon, but Transponder Snails can mimic who's speaking, so it's definitely what one would expect her snail to look like

The question is this: since it's still unclear whether or not Doflamingo ever knew about Monet receiving the harpy surgery from Law, what was his reaction the first time he saw that?

Did he point it out? Did he leave well enough alone? Did he even care?

Did he perhaps think that Monet was just accessorizing and thought nothing of it? Did he ask and she dodged the question, or did she narc on Law after all?

Or maybe did he just think "huh, weird. Wonder what that means." and just drop it?

Even if Monet comes back Oda will likely never tell us because he probably doesn't think it matters, but it matters so much to me!

[harpy-monet]

One Piece Party ch.6, pg.33

Wow! Never thought I'd actually get to add more to this blog, at least not until Monet comes back for real. I debated endlessly about whether or not to include the context for this panel since I wouldn't want to trample on the joke, so in the end, I did the natural thing and included both the context and the panel alone for the sake of seeing Monet as close-up as possible! Aren't I a smarty?

Normally I'd analyze the panel, but since this is a non-canon gag, there's not really anything to glean about Monet's character from it. I'm really just happy that Andou Ei decided to include Monet at all

Hm...if I had to analyze something about it though...isn't it odd that Monet showed up in this little imagination spot? Sanji is playing on Law's traumas and distastes by describing food he hates being fed to him by someone he hates in a scenario that he would hate, but he never actually mentioned Monet, only Doflamingo and Vergo

So why did Law imagine Monet? Could Law be looking for whatever beauty he can amidst the horror? Or was her laughter when Vergo clutched his heart so traumatizing that he can't help but remember her when he thinks of Vergo?

Probably nothing so deep, but I do appreciate the opportunity to see my girl again. I particularly like how Andou drew her wings, I might have to take note of that

[harpy-monet]

When Vergo was posing as an admiral, he’d use a specific excuse to go to Dressrosa and check on the Family: a sick sister he had to visit.

Imagine if he turns out to be alive and he’s indeed tending to a sick relative: Monet.

While I doubt Vergo and Monet are actually related, considering that Vergo was a child on the same island as Doflamingo and the other original Donquixote Pirates and they wouldn't meet Monet for another 18 years, it would definitely be fitting for Vergo to consider Monet as a sister on the basis that they're both in the "Donquixote Family"

Having Vergo's lie become true in that manner would be really nice; I've always said that Smoker wouldn't have reported Vergo's betrayal post-mortem so as to maintain the illusion that the Vergo who attacked his men was fake, so it would be interesting for him to have used "he quit the navy to take care of his sister fulltime" as a cover-up, and even better for it to turn out to be true

Admittedly I don't spend much time wondering about Vergo's fate; I've pretty much always just assumed that if he's alive, he would be a vehicle for Monet to come back and not much else, but I've also figured that I just don't have the vision to foresee every single aspect of Oda's story, so it would undoubtedly be more satisfying than anything I can anticipate

[harpy-monet]

With the potential revival of Monet for the 10 year anniversary of her supposed death, I decided it was appropriate to get in one last hurrah as a Monet theorist, assuming I don’t get another opportunity later

I wasn’t originally going to post this one, but there were a shocking number of evidence points to go over, so I figured it’d be a waste not to talk about it, especially if I turn out to be right

[harpy-monet]

Harpy 10 Year Anniversary!

It’s been ten years to the day since Monet’s disappearance from the story, and the beginning of the mystery of whether she’d come back

Perhaps a more appropriate anniversary would have been for her first appearance, but I missed that back in February (the 20th, by the by) and didn’t think of it until now, so whatever

I’m super proud of how this came out, so much so that I didn’t want to risk ruining it by inking and coloring it! Perhaps I’ll try that later, or maybe I’ll try to do it digitally, we’ll see, but for now, I think this is one of my best pieces, and I was so excited about it I just had to share it as is!

Also it was either this or make an AMV with 10 Years Today by Bullet for my Valentine, and this was more fun

One Piece doesn’t have too much longer to go according to Oda, so our mystery is also nearing it’s end! Here’s hoping that our prayers are answered and we get to see our girl again, but even if we don’t, it’s been a hell of a decade, huh?

[harpy-monet]

giltheweebzard replied:

I've been thinking of a parallel with King and how he believed Kaido to be Joyboy when he saved him. Maybe she saw something similar in Doflamingo when he saved her.

If my speculation is correct, then seeing Luffy in the news as a Yonkou in his Nika appearance might be the persuasion she needs to seek out Luffy if she turns up alive.

This person gets it

I agree, that’s something I’ve been considering since we learned that King was aware of Joy Boy. It’s especially likely when you consider that Doflamingo was “a god (a World Noble) who delivered smiles (SMILEs)”. If Monet was in fact a slave as many people speculate, Doflamingo saving her would certainly make him an even better fit for the role, wouldn’t it?

[harpy-monet]

Vivre Card Databook Vol. 8, Punk Hazard Pack

Concept art of Monet’s prototype design. I’m not crazy about leaving off this project on something so far from the current character, but I would be remiss not to acknowledge her roots just because I find them unattractive

This design, at least at a glance, isn’t very memorable. She just looks like a worse version of Alvida’s original design to me. Maybe seeing this design realized in the actual series would do her wonders, since she’d be able to have actual characterization, but the concept art doesn’t exactly make a good impression

What’s really interesting to me though is what this implies about Oda’s creative process. Comparing the start and end concepts feels like the Ship of Theseus of character design: there are absolutely no clear indicators of a connection between these two versions of Monet

Did they have the same name? Did they fulfill the same narrative function? Did they have the same job as Caesar’s secretary? 

She doesn’t look like she’d be a fastidious, detail-oriented character. She doesn’t look like a bookworm, she looks like a brawler. She doesn’t look like she’d be flirtatious, sarcastic or motherly, and she doesn’t look like she’d make for a good spy. This design evokes a pretty stereotypical “violent ugly woman” type character

I think she might have been originally envisioned as one of Brownbeard’s crew, since it kind of looks like she might be a centaur, but it’s pretty hard to tell. She certainly didn’t originally have the harpy theme

The only thing I can imagine is that she was named Monet and was going to be a relatively major enemy during Punk Hazard, possibly fighting Zoro based on the swords

Whether she would still be a Donquixote Pirate who would try to sacrifice herself for Doflamingo only to be inadvertently “killed” by Caesar is completely unknown, but it’s hard to imagine that scene taking place with a character that looks like this. Not that it couldn’t work, it’s just hard to picture, especially since Oda doesn’t usually give those types of moments to characters who aren’t attractive

Some people may also look at this and think that Oda having a different design for Monet implies that she was never meant to be an important character in the long-term, that he changed her design on a whim so that he could work her into the Punk Hazard narrative a bit more, but that’s a silly thought to have. Who knows how old this concept art is? Who knows when this was conceptualized? Who even knows if this character “became” Monet so much as was “replaced” by Monet? This design means absolutely nothing when determining the future trajectory of the plot or Monet’s involvement in it

And now...the Every Monet project has finally come to an end. After nine months, I have finally posted and analyzed every bit of Monet content that I could find in the manga

It’s been a lot of fun, and I really hope that I’ll get the opportunity to continue it in the future. Whether it’s more fanart, concept art or proper manga panels, I’ll add anything Oda gives me to this blog

Thank you all for joining me on this journey! Here’s hoping we get to see each other again soon!

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 93 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 21

“How Many Characters are There!? Guess and Win a Prize!!” by ?-san, ? Prefecture

Incredible how humble this artist was to leave out their name, there’s no way in hell I wouldn’t go out of my way to make people know I made this if it were me

Though this one is in color, it also loses a lot of much-needed definition from being scanned into a relatively small portion of a collected manga volume, in and of itself a small book

But that’s not what we’re talking about here! What we’re worried about is Monet! I assure you, she is in fact in this collage, but I won’t spoil it for you, see if you can find her!

And with that, we have reached the end of the current available fanart, at least that I was able to find. It’s possible that I missed a few here or there since they’re not super easy to parse a lot of the time, but if I missed any, it probably wasn’t more than a couple

If you find any that I missed or notice that she’s in any of the SBS banners or anything, please, let me know!

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 88 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 20

“Dream Showdown!! Baroque Works vs. The Donquixote Family!!” by Kasumi Ichiro-san, Hyogo Prefecture

Y’know, we really don’t get to see any clashes between enemy crews. The closest we really get is Marineford, so I’d be down for something like this even just once. Shame Baroque Works are living that domestic coffee shop AU life and the Donquixote Pirates are all in Impel Down

I do wonder who Monet would be paired off against in this scenario, though...not that it matters, she’s a Logia user and none of them had/have Haki. Mr. 5′s explosions might produce enough heat to counter her snow, but I think she’d be more than capable of outpacing and out-ranging him, so it’s not much of an issue

Mr. 3 has flames, but he’s pretty weak, so I think the real question is how his wax would interact with her snow. I’m inclined to think that since candles are thematically appropriate to use within the context of igloos, the Wax Wax Fruit would probably be somewhat resistant to the Snow Snow Fruit, but Monet’s smarter and stronger than Mr. 3, so I’m not too worried about her odds

As for the art itself, Monet’s a pretty small part, but you can make out her wing and her smile, so I’m satisfied

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 82 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 19

“Monet’s Delicate Touch!!! Beautiful!!!” by Meno Takashi-san, Oita Prefecture

I cannot imagine how stunning this must look in color with those flowers accenting Monet’s hair and feathers, surrounded by what appears to be either grass or fallen leaves

So many details seem like they might have been lost in the transition here; there seem to be branches or vines lining up with the shape of her wings, so I wonder if the intention was for her wings to be replaced with plants here? It’s so hard to tell with the picture in this state

Aside from that, though, the details do still stand out quite well, and Monet herself is drawn almost like a porcelain doll. Takashi wasn’t kidding when he titled this “Beautiful!!!,” it’s really clear that he’s as captured by Monet’s beauty as I am, he just has the artistic skill to express it

Good going, Takashi!!!

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 80 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 18

“Now Presenting the Nightmare! The Circus Troupe of Darkness! The Donquixote Family!” by Maron-san, Saitama Prefecture

With how wacky and disparate their designs are, I’ve always personally described the Donquixote Pirates as a bunch of clowns, so it’s kinda nice to see that someone else agreed with me. Funny enough, with them all committing to the clown theme, they actually look MORE cohesive

This is sadly another one that is heavily impacted by the form it’s forced to be presented in. The best fanart sadly gets butchered the most by the cheap production quality of collected manga, which is especially a shame here because it makes some of the characters harder to make out

Fortunately, the only one I personally care about is relatively easy to see, with Monet perching on a trapeze and wearing what looks to be a harlequin patterned dress

She’s by no means the focus, but she definitely stands out, and that’s always something I can appreciate

[harpy-monet]

Vol.80 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 17

“The Loyal and Talented Sisters! Monet & Sugar.” by  Ame☆Monkey-san, Aichi Prefecture

Monet and Sugar spending quality time together on a swing, you love to see it

This is another one that’s very heavily detailed and utterly ruined by being compressed and digitized

I bet it looks absolutely stunning in its original form, which I’m also willing to bet was colored

Upon closer inspection, it looks like this is supposed to be a photo in a frame, though their feet do seem to be popping out of it, giving the image a lot more depth. I choose to interpret this as a photo that seems to come to life while looking at it, evoking the memory of the day it was taken as if it were still happening in real time

I wonder who keeps this photo on their wall/desk. Could it be Monet herself reminiscing about her baby sister? Could it be Doflamingo, who does genuinely care about his subordinates more than the story would have us believe? Could it be me, who hasn’t been able to get off the Monet train in the last six years???

...I mean, obviously that last one

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 80 SBS

Glasses count - 15.5

Doesn’t really count towards the overall glasses count since it isn’t a panel in the story proper, nor are these the spiral glasses we’ve come to know and love, but it does at least tell us that Monet has worn glasses the majority of her life

I mentioned it back when Monet’s glasses were first introduced, but the lack of spirals in her childhood glasses suggests that the glass was thinner, and thus her vision deteriorated as she got older

More importantly, though, compare Monet’s childhood design to all of the other young Donquixote Pirates. Notice anything?

Aside from Machvise, Monet is the only one here who isn’t bruised, bandaged, or wearing rags.

Doesn’t that seem a little strange?

We don’t really know anything about Machvise’s backstory, Oda’s never really gone out of his way to tell us a single detail about him, but Monet? We were explicitly told that she grew up in an unfortunate environment, yet she looks completely pristine here. Not only that, she has a textbook on birds (showing that she’s been interested in ornithology since childhood, likely influencing her decision to ask to become a harpy), which suggests there was a point where she was relatively well off

So what happened? At what point in her young life did her environment turn so unfortunate, and how? I’m sure everyone reading this already knows my thoughts on that, but we don’t have any definitive indication in canon. That said, this dangling plot thread just seems so strange that I can’t imagine Oda doesn’t intend to address it at some point, much like most every other aspect of Monet’s story

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 79 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 16

“The Powerful Sisters Picked Up by the Family” by Shouko-san, Aichi Prefecture

SHORT! HAIRED!! MONET!!!

HOLDING HANDS! WITH SUGAR!!!

Honestly what more could you possibly want from Monet fanart?

It’s super cute, it extrapolates Monet’s relationship with the rest of the crew and her sister (at least more than canon does...), and it gives Monet a unique design

I’ve said it a couple times already, but this is my favorite piece of fanart so far, thank you Shouko-san

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 77 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 15

“The Donquixote Family’s Grand Assembly~!!” by Eight-san, Hyogo Prefecture

I really appreciate any fanart that puts Monet with the rest of the Donquixote Pirates, and while this isn’t the first one to do so, it is unique in that it has the crew in chibi form

Plus, even though Monet is in the far back, she isn’t being obscured by everyone in front of her, so that’s a huge bonus in my book

[harpy-monet]

Vol. 76 Usopp Gallery Pirates

Fanart count - 14

“Grand Line Girls Collection ♡ ♡ ″ by Maron-san, Saitama Prefecture

Really wish I could see this one in color, it looks like it’s lost a lot of definition from the digitization and resizing process

I’m really glad to see all of these ladies together, and it’s nice to see a fan showing more dedication to bringing together so many of them than even Oda did in the Tokyo Girls Collection promotional art

Wonder if Maron-san’ll expand it with all of the new ladies we’ve met since then