#LET ME SEE HIS BACKSTORY ODA

[moongothic]

Was there a part where oda said crocodile was like Luffy in personality? I thought that when oda compared them he was referring to how quickly crocodile gained his bounty like Luffy

Though I would love to see a parallel of crocodile and Luffy. Imagine how devastating his life must’ve been in order to make someone like Luffy become someone like crocodile

Correct you are, the only time Oda's pointed out a similarity between Luffy and Crocodile was during that one SBS (vol 78, page 86), about how the two rose to fame as pirates really fast

So we don't really know what Young Croc was actually like, all we can really do is analyze his behaviour and make some guesses. And yeah. The poor bastard's had it rough, clearly 🥲💔

Interestingly, jaded as he is, there are these little similarities between Crocodile and Luffy*, and based on the conversation the two had during their final battle, he does make it sound like he might've been a bit less bitter etc before all his hopes and dreams were crushed forever. Which does make it sound plausible Young Croc could've been similar to Luffy

*(Willingness to make deals and the lowkey expectation to have a promise honored, agreeing about stuff like casulties being unavoidable and that there's no such thing as fairness in a fight between pirates, etc) (But then there's also those dark reflections where you can see how the two are different, like how Luffy's horrified of being alone while Croc was seemingly happy to spend like 14+ years of his life by himself etc)

But while it's plausible, whether or not young Crocodile was similar to Luffy just ends up depending on what kind of circumstances he grew up in. Like although he was lonely at times and had to fight for it a bit, Luffy was generally speaking surrounded by people who loved him and cared for him. Luffy was accepted by those around him. Meanwhile, Baby Croc (and even his Seraphim) does seem like a bit of a sour puss. And... what can I even say. If he was raised in an uncaring environment and was surrounded by people who didn't accept him, or would humiliate and mock him endlessly, that would explain Baby Croc's seemingly serious demeanor. And considdering the high likelyhood of him being trans... yeah, I dunno, not doing gender correctly as a kid is one way to get bullied relentlessly and get completely alienated by everyone else.

(And that's just A Suggestion, there's about a dozen other possible things that could've happened to Croc that could cause a child to get alienated similarly) (And this is just to get him off to a bad start, then there's All The Shit That Could've Happened To Him As A Young Adult that would just reinforce all his trauma etc)

And if he's been essenitially alone ever since he was a kid... I do find it unlikely he was ever SUPER SIMILAR to Luffy as a young adult, let alone as a child (if anything I'd almost imagine him having been a bit more like Ace)... But at the same time, I do feel like even now, deep inside him there might still be the remnants of a happier person

You probably can't undo all the hurt he's gone through to turn him into an absolute ray of sunshine like Luffy. But I think one could maybe get him to relax a little bit or something

[sabh0]

What's your opinion on the anime? I find it pretty funny, but I can't say that I am not disappointed to see so many scenes missing.

For exemple, I wanted to see Dazai cry laugh at Chuuya's young mistress act, show that it was a joke shared by both of them, rather than one made to us at the expense of Chuuya. They took a genuinely funny moment and made me cringe SO hard for no reason T^T

God i could go on for hours about how Bones ruined this series. I'm obviously thankful we have an anime adaptation but. Well just compare bsd anime to jjk one or smth and yeah.

I will be complaining more under the cut,,

First the overall writing choices:

-Deleting or changing skk scenes to the point im not even shocked when ppl think these two actually somehow hate each other.

-The way they portrayed Sigma. They deleted half of his personality and backstory. And just speedrunned the Sky Casino arc like if seeing that place was giving them nightmares. No wonder he gets mischaracterized now.

-Tachihara's internal conflict about belonging to either Port Mafia or The Hunting Dogs? Bones never heard about it. It's not like IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINT.

-Akutagawa's whole character in the anime is just 'edgy and angry and bad grr'. In the manga he had some 'kind' or even seelf-reflection moments that were ommited in the anime. Like where he realizes defeating Atsushi didn't satisfy him (ship fight, season 1). Or when he gives files about the orphanage Director to Atsushi and says he won't fight him today because he lost someone impirtant to him. Sskk vs Fukuchi fight?? No scene where Sskk r helping each other walk. Instead we get Akutagwa just pushing Atsushi away. Won't even start on that last smile that looked more like another angry expression.

-THE WAY THEY CHANGED "DAZAI'S ENTRANCE EXAM" INTO SOME CURRENT TIMELINE EPISODES. IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY LIKE. THIS NOVEL WAS SO GOOD. Showing both Dazai and Kunikida's characters and partnership so well. But no. Let's just??? Put Atsushi there. Let's delete the fact this thing happened 2 years ago. And let's delete everything that was actually important about it, too.

-also some changes in the Dark Era arc. Like. Lord. Dazai is so much more emotional in the novel. His expressions r described so well. But the anime either shows him from the back at those moments (him finding out Oda was almost killed by a sniper in Ango's room) or just deletes/changes the thing (Oda dying. This scene is so emotional in the novel. From the description u can tell Dazai was crying/on the verge of it as Odasaku died. But in the anime he looks calm and then we get a far aeay frame and he just. Gets up and that's it yeah.) They also deleted the scene of him visiting Oda's grave.

-The way they rushed seasons 4 and 5. Just to give us an episode that goes further than the manga and has the shittiest writing ever when it comes to skk's plan revelation (im so angry about this u guys have no idea. I sincerely believe that if this episode never came out, the manga would go differently bc there's no way that Asagiri who wrote things like Stormbringer suddenly thought that some dollar store vampire make up will fool a guy who's centuries old and literally lived next to vampires. But well!! Seems like these two speeches Dazai gave weren't important at all and now we can just forget about them yippiee)

I could definitely mention WAYY more examples of that but this is already long af. Like guys. I know u cant fit everything in an animated show. It takes time to make it and all but. Bro. The character's in the anime r so shallow compared to their original versions.

.

Now onto the artstyle of the anime.

Lord. U know? It was actually pretty in the first 2 seasons. The official arts at the time were also really nice to look at.

No idea what happened later. Why did Bones suddenly decide that those ugly turtle smiles r gonna become the main thing in the character design. Why so many fisheyes. Atp sometimes i look at the official art and i go oh lord even i could fix it. It really feels like they draw some characters ugly on purpose now (Chuuya being the main victim for unknown reasons).

Tho i must say they have their moments even now. Some last episodes of season 5 weren't really bad, especially the Meursault part (love them for animating Dazai and Sigma dancing so well. And for that 101 animation. And maybe for the heartattack they gave me with 109 and Chuuya shooting Dazai so many times.)

.

On some other things, i really like the music! Bsd openings and endings never miss,,,

[sanigopiece]

why uta is a well-written character

reposted from twitter since i saw uta get a lot of hate on there. a lot of people seem to not get her character so i am writing this post in hopes of getting people to see the light. anyways here we go,

1. her motivations are well supported by her backstory. it all began in the tragedy in elegia years prior where shanks took the blame for the destruction of the city and left uta in the care of gordon. this led uta to being forced into a life of loneliness and isolation for the rest of her growing up years.

these feelings accumulate while she studies music until she eventually finds a den den mushi to livestream her performance. here she learns of the harshness of pirates in the outside world and coupled with her resentment towards the red haired pirates for leaving her motivates her to revisit her old dream of starting a new genesis. this is a solid way of story cohesion between uta's backstory and her actions in the present. everything ties in very nicely & its easy to understand & empathize with.

2) i've seen some complain about how uta saying that she knew all along that she had caused the destruction of elegia & called it bad writing. this was actually her way of coping with the years of isolation but also her grief in shanks leaving her.

i speculate that uta realized she caused the destruction of elegia when she learned about tot musica and when faced with this, she chooses to find someone else to blame because guilt ate away at her so she chose to continue believing the lie that shanks did it. so it isnt bad writing because we are given more context on her mental state at the time and it is meant to be a gateway for viewers to empathize with her more but i guess people missed that.

3. she is not entirely evil. yes she is a villain because she believes she is doing whats right in order to achieve her goal however she still has goodness in her heart. she could've easily kept people trapped in the song world after tot musica was defeated.

but she didnt because she realized that what she did was wrong and she changed for the better. yes there's moments in the film where she does upsetting things like tearing shanks's hat but these were done in her mentally unstable state so it is unfair to entirely fault her for her actions. she is merely a misguided and misunderstood lonely girl with a dream so dont be so hard on her. she is good deep down.

4. her character is unique. already a given since we dont have that many music centric characters except maybe brook but even brook's powers aren't linked to music so uta is really special. also her songs carry so much meaning and not only does it set the mood for most scenes but it also adds to the story. i highly recommend checking out the lyrics of each uta song because they really tie in to the events of the story and you might just enjoy her character more.

5. her canonity adds more flare to the story. oda recently confirmed uta to be canon and this means a lot to both shanks and luffy's backstory. it does not detract from their backstories but rather it gives more context like how we understand a lot more about luffy's dream and why he wants a musician in his crew thanks to uta.

as for shanks, he now has more reason of being and we also got some clues to his lineage in the movie. this is really nice since most shoe horned characters have issues when they're added to canon.

alright so thats all. its been quite the long thread but i love uta and i want more people to appreciate her instead of hating or mischaracterizing her. if i missed anything do let me know. thanks and have a nice day <3

[nighttimeebony]

Unanswered questions about Dazai's backstory that are driving me fucking insane

(Yeah, so, completely against my will, Bungou Stray Dogs has been consuming every last neuron in my brain for the past several weeks, so I thought I'd share my unraveling)

(mentions of eye injuries and self-harm/attempted suicide below the cut, if you're sensitive to those kinds of things).

(1) In season 2, episode 3, when Ango turns out to be a spy in the Port Mafia, Dazai says, "Everything I never want to lose is always lost. Everything worth wanting is lost the moment I obtain it. And nothing I pursue is worth the cost of prolonging this life, this suffering." Like! What the fuck does this mean?!?!! What happened in Dazai's life that made him think this? The way he says it indicates that him "losing things he wants to keep" has happened often enough for it to become a pattern for him, so what was Dazai talking about when he said this?

(2) In season 3, episode 3, why did Dazai say "thank you" to the old Port Mafia boss when he killed Rimbaud's double of him?

In the sub, he says "let me thank you for once," and in the dub, he says "I'll never get another chance to say this, so thank you". Why did he say that?

(3) Why did Dazai keep his eye covered as a teenager? At first, I assumed it was because Dazai had some kind of injury that he was covering, considering how easily it bled every time Dazai sustained some kind of damage to his head or face, but never to the eye directly. In episode 1 of season 2, when a bullet grazes the side of his face, his eye starts to bleed

and the same thing happens again in episode 1 of season 3 when Chuuya kicks him into a wall.

BUT! When Oda's dying and he pulls Dazai's bandages off, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his eye. And it can't be that Dazai was just wearing them as some kind of intimidation tactic; there had to have been something wrong with it, because we see it bleed twice (even though the eye itself never sustained any direct injury), but there is no visual indication that anything is wrong with his eye, either in the flashbacks or in the present (no scars, seemingly no vision issues, and no discoloration in the eye like you might expect to see as a result of permanent damage). So I am asking WHAT THE FUCK WERE THE BANDAGES FOR

(4) Where did Dazai come from before he was in the Port Mafia? We know that he was a witness to the old boss's murder when he was 14, but Dazai wasn't an official Mafia member until he was 15 when Mori tasked him to work the Arahabaki case. Was Dazai always connected to the Mafia in some way, or did he come from a normal family before Mori inducted him?

(5) FOLLOWING THAT: where are Dazai's parents? In the "Fifteen" novel, it's stated that Dazai wasn't a mere orphan that Mori just picked up, but we don't know if Dazai's parents are dead or alive or where they would be if they were alive.

(6) What are Dazai's bandages actually for? Given Dazai's track record of suicide attempts, it's a common theory that the bandages are to hide self harm scars (I subscribe to this theory myself, as it's the most plausible), but we don't actually know because we've never seen Dazai without his bandages before.

EDIT: (7) Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. In season 3, episode 2-

What is the motivation behind this scene? Why does Dazai keep shooting? Why does he think that the soldier deserved to suffer more? Dazai offers the guy a more merciful death, but Dazai also thinks that a merciful death is "more than he deserves". Why does Dazai think this? This can't just be about this one soldier, because Dazai hasn't had any kind of encounter with him before this. Dazai is clearly having some kind of small breakdown, but what triggered it and why?

[luffyvace]

There’s gonna be a new op series called character remix!!

this is so exciting and cool!

here’s my thoughts and take on it 💌💗

so if you haven’t heard it’s basically where we’ll get to view all the strawhats pov before they met Luffy, instead of picking up on they’re life where Luffy met them since the anime is in his pov. They’ll be going in chronological order and the first 2 volumes will come out July 4th. Starting with Luffy I believe, in stead of flashbacks like marineford we’ll get the full thing! :) yippie! Also! There’s gonna be 580 pages per volume! That’ll totally be packed with info right?! 🎉

starting with who I’m most curious about:

Robin: 📖📚

she’s first because most backstories are straight to the point in flashbacks but for me it just feels like it happened really quickly. Personal opinion. Also! We got to see that she likes books but we mostly saw her pain. The only thing to have ever made her happy as a child was books, Saul and the researchers. Therefore we didn’t get a chance to learn much about little robin! Would she like dolls if she had to opportunity to get one? Or building blocks? If she wasn’t neglected would she have been a louder person naturally? You never know because how you grow up can mold you, so if you’re in a survival mode from such a young age you don’t get much time to focus on your personality! Which is why I like Robin’s “saying creepy things” gag, it lets me know she’d be a bit of a weirdo! But it can also stem from hardly having any light in her life- also fact that she’s straightforward about it shows some of her personality as well!

Zoro: ⚔️🗡️

this guy’s past is definitely gonna be good! We seriously didn’t get to see anything about him at all! We don’t know what he like’s personally, and yes training and such, but what about silly little adventures?! He lost Kuina which is a part of big part of darkness in his life, but we still don’t know Zoro on a deep level. Really it’s just gonna be interesting to see what the volume has to offer! :)

Franky: 🤖🦾

this!!! This guy! Nobody talks about how little we know of him! It’s like Zoro, we only know what he’s good at! We only know he likes to build! But we don’t know any habits or hobbies he could’ve tried to pick up that didn’t stick, we didn’t see him evolve and grow! Franky and Robin are in their 30s! We don’t even know what they were like in their 20s! Especially not franky!! I’m really pumped to see what he’ll be like from the flashback up til when he meets Luffy, a weirdo that’s for sure. It’d be fun to see the franky family funny moments too!

Brook: ☠️🏴‍☠️

Dude. No one talks about the fact that his flashback started when he was already an adult!! The only reason we know what he looks like as a child is because Oda drew it! Obviously he was playing music back then as well, but all the strawhats ambitions started when they were a kid! That’s not enough info! We don’t know his parents, hometown, anything! We don’t even know why he loves music! I mean we do, but not really we’re it stems from directly, was his parents out of the picture? Were they there but didn’t care so music was all he had? Were they struggling financially? Did he raise himself? What?!

Nami: 🍊🧡

again! All we know is her dream, not her personally! The most we know is why she loves money! And that was shown in the flashback! We also know she wasn’t financially stable, but what about the day to day life? Did the tangerine sales pick up in the summer? Why weren’t they selling good? Couldn’t they have gone to all the neighboring towns to sell them? How did Bellmere break the news that they weren’t a biological family when Nami was of age? Did she always figure and it was an unspoken thing? Or did Nami cry when she found out? We don’t know!

Sanji: 🧑‍🍳🥘

ngl he would be higher on the list if I watch whole cake but I’m only on Zou 😁 anyway, the article I read to find out the series was coming out mentioned the fact that we don’t know exactly when and how Zeff met, which is a good point!! I’m interested in how that went down too! It pretty much just slipped over that during the flashback, did Sanji escape? Did Zeff take him in welcoming or did Sanji have to fight to get in? Did Zeff help break in out? Now keep in mind I haven’t watch Whole cake so if these questions have been answered I don’t know yet. Anyway that’s my take on it, but one more thing. I feel we’ll get a deeper sense of why Sanji loves to cook. And if there’s anything else he likes besides that!

Chopper: 🦌

I wanna see his day to day life! And also funny moments bc IK they’re there. Also to see him study more! Honestly just more background for this little cutie is all I want. Maybe he should be lower on this list….idk? I really wanna see his tho..

Usopp: 🤥

he’s also lower bc i feel they did a good job showing us enough of Usopp’s background. They got the point across real well, but I would like to see more Usopp pirate crew adventures tho!

Luffy: 🧑‍🌾

Lol the emoji is supposed to be a strawhat. Anyway I LOVE Luffy which makes it odd that he’s so low on this list, but he gets lots of screen time, I feel he also got the longest and most detailed backstory. They did a real good job covering most things, I’d honestly just want to see more adventures and they years between 14-17 bc they timeskiped it lol. Itd be fun to see teen Luffy and Ace interact more, since they’re not little kids anymore. Like arguments about who’s gonna be taller, hobbies they might’ve picked up, talking about what they’re gonna name they pirate crews, sneaking into Goa kingdom together and going through another man’s trash to find they’re own treasure. So I guess I might wanna see his more than I thought! Anywho!

🌷🏴‍☠️

-Brook

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Predictions for Soukoku’s fate (BSD CH 109 spoilers!!)

How I be looking after dedicating two posts on the possibility of Chuuya not being a vampire due to the fact he was faceless for absolutley no reason during some chapters, thinking it was important: 

alright people, i wish i could express my embarassment further but instead of kicking my feet, screaming and crying over my miscalculations, i will proceed to (hopefully) redeem myself with my following predictions.  

Guys, first of all I need to tell you something that I think is absolutely obvious: Dazai is not going to die. 

thematically, it makes absolutley no sense for Dazai to die considering how many characters still depend on him, EVEN HIMSELF.

We still haven’t learned his backstory, we still haven’t had a cathartic moment between Akutagwa and Dazai, Atsushi is yet to learn more from his mentor, and he’s overall a very key character to foil others and develop them while he’s at it.

Even Dazai himself dying right now feels extremely weightless, we haven’t even learned anything about Dazai’s past and he’s already killed? without growing as a person? without fullfilling Oda’s promise?  I don’t know, personally to me, direction wise, development wise and plot wise killing him off is absolutley nonsensical.

Asagiri does tend to take a very unique and unpredictable route with his writing and characters, but for plots sake, I highly doubt Dazai is gone forever.

Also, Fydoor and Dazai continue throwing uno reverse cards at each other, always catching one another unexpectedly. I am still going strong on the idea that Double Black will catch Fyodor off-guard.

Fyodor during these whole prision sections has been constantly belittling and teasing Dazai over how shallow his bond with Chuuya is.

When that’s beyond the truth. Dazai and Chuuya’s trust is literally undying. Stormbringer, the double black chapter and dead apple show us this in the most obvious way possible.

Asagiri himself has quoted that Soukoku knows each others motives, which has also been proven plenty of times when they are working together. 

Dazai himself admited there really was moments where their hearts reached out to one another.

and I think that’s enough to understand, Fyodor is wrong. THEY ARE DOUBLE BLACK FOR A REASON!!!

So far in this chapter, I got various things confirmed. Let’s walk through them together. 

1. Dazai’s nullifcation ability works on vampires, confirmed by Fyodor himself.

So what does this tell us? That Dazai had been planning all along to get in contact with Chuuya. He knew his partner’s abilities will break him out of the water trap, he’s not dumb.

So Dazaj totally meant to get in physical contact with Chuuya in order to nullify his vamparism. And no, it’s not only because Dazai cares for Chuuya (which is a true statement, but not the main reason.) It’s because out of everyone in this room, Chuuya is the only one able to physically overpower Fyodor. 

And even if Chuuya somehow can’t overpower Fyodor, atleast Chuuya can be Dazai’s bodyguard considering well...Dazai’s countless of injuries. Chuuya is Dazai’s ticket to get out of the prision.

Dazai needs Chuuya in his corner. He needs double black in action. He needs Chuuya. 

2. Dazai is genuienly frustrated that his plan to bring back Chuuya didn’t work.

I can’t be the only one who ADORED seeing Dazai panicking. (I sound so masochistic but seriously, it’s rare to see Dazai unmask this way).

Anyways, Dazai’s panic and frustrating during these pannels are unfortunately proof that things did not go at all how he planned.

3. Aya is attempting to take out the sword that stops Bram from having full atonomy on his vampire abilty. 

If by any luck, Aya is able to detach the swoard from Bram, Chuuya and literally every other vamp will return to normal. (which honestly, let’s do hope Aya removes the sword bc this is getting too agonizingly dragged out.)

4. Chuuya and Dazai are destined to....

 kiss?? marry?? make out under the moonlight??

Nono my friends, Chuuya and Dazai are destined to die together.

Chuuya and Dazai dying together has been hinted since Fifthteen, but my theory of these two dying together strenghtened during Stormbringer when Mori teased Dazai about a double suicide with Chuuya.

I’m not saying they will die right now but in order to solidify the need for Shin Soukoku in Yokahama.....

This old married couple gotta go and make room for the highschool sweethearts/hj

5. Dazai took the L

Honestly, I won’t lie to you and say that Dazai’s way out of this situation is going to be hard. But Dazai has attempted to kill himself plenty of times, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has shot a bullet through his head in his early 20s. (Im not joking when I say this i swear).

Anyways, Dazai seems somewhat imune to death and honestly, his character is too important to die, especially in such a meh, anticlimatic way. 

Dazai said it himself best, him and Chuuya are destined to die together.

6. Vampire Chuuya’s expression

I mean,,,, what is the need for the random three little pensive speach bubble ?? we have been proven by Akutagawa that vampires are capable of some sort of sentinence, especially when it’s tied to their deepest desieres/mental strenghts.

I don’t have anywhere grand to go with this but, I just wanted to point it out lol.

ALL IN ALL

I can’t say for sure what is going to happen, but with Aya’s attempts of removing the swoard the possibility for Chuuya to become concious and do something to get out of there and save Dazai still remain pausible in my books.

I am not too confident on where this section of the story will go exactly but I am certain that Soukoku won’t die yet. MARK MY WORDS!!!

[joyish-little-boy]

One Backstory to Rule them All

Anyone else think about how Sanji's backstory parallels every other Strawhat's backstory?

1. Luffy - Luffy is the most obvious, as they quite literally flashback to Shanks losing his arm right after Sanji explains how Zeff sacrificed his leg for Sanji. It's interesting the parallel here - because Shanks sacrifice is what took Luffy a step further in his dreams and made him determined to be the captain of his own pirate crew rather than simply joining Shank's crew, which is what he wanted to do previously. Now, for Sanji, Zeff's sacrifice had the opposite effect and Sanji chained himself to Zeff and what remained of Zeff's dreams rather than being pushed forward by it.

2. Zoro - I find it interesting that all of the Monster Trio parallel each other in their backstories in that all of them constantly lost when they were kids. Zoro lost 2001 times to Kuina, Luffy lost 50 fights to Ace and 50 to Sabo every day, and Sanji was constantly being beaten by his siblings. Each were called weak by those beating them, and each grew past that. What's also interesting to me is that there's the specific method of losing in Sanji's losing montage that's a direct callback to Zoro's backstory, as Oda includes multiple scenes of Sanji being beat at fights with wooden swords.

The difference being that Kuina is a decent human being and doesn't abuse Zoro. She calls him weak, but ultimately respects him as a rival and Zoro respects her in turn. Luffy also eventually earns that respect, though Sanji never does which leads to a noticeable difference in how Zoro and Sanji see themselves and their places on the crew - Thriller Bark I think being a perfect example of how Sanji believes that he's replaceable in a way that Zoro doesn't.

3. Nami - Nami and Sanji were both kids that found themselves in abusive situations, though at different ages. For both of them, their abuse centered around a man who's belief in their own superiority led them to a sense of entitlement to what was theirs. Arlong believed in his own biological superiority and Judge believed in the superiority of the Vinsmoke name, as well as genetic superiority which led him to experiment on his own children. Arlong values the lives of fishmen, the lives of the rest of his crew over the lives of Nami and the rest of her village. Judge values the lives of his other children over Sanji, seeing him as a failure for the way he was born (although it's also mentioned he blames Sanji for what happened with Sora). I think another very interesting parallel in their stories is the role of their respective older sisters. Nojiko and Reiju both privately support their younger sibling but both cannot stand up to the abusive figure in their lives. Nojiko gets tattoos to match Nami's to help her feel less alone, she listens to Nami, and does her best to try and support her through the 8 years of hell (8 years being another parallel to other members of the crew including Sanji). Reiju for her part laughs along with her brothers, but never lays a hand against Sanji and does her best to patch him up after everyone is gone. Their actions are indirect and discreet, save for the final fights, and that muted care is a very interesting part of each of their characters and it's why, I think neither of them felt it was their place to accompany their siblings on their journey. When Nami leaves, Nojiko lets her go, like she's always let her go. And Reiju pushes Sanji to leave, just as she pushed before. That regret of not being able to help more will stick with them forever.

4. Usopp - Usopp's backstory is all of 5 seconds long and still manages to parallel Sanji's somehow??? If I had a nickel for each strawhat who's mom was sick and died from illness when they were young, I'd have 2 nickels-

5. Chopper - HOO boy the parallel of your biological family hating you for the way that you were born and neglecting/abusing you for it hits right on Chopper's blue nose. Now, it's not all bad for either of them, though - considering they each had someone that accepted them for who they were. Chopper had Hiraluk and Sanji had Sora. Hiraluk inspired Chopper to be a doctor, emphasizing he had the most important qualification - a big heart. Sora meanwhile cried about how kind Sanji was to Reiju and her nurse, when he told her to "get better soon", calling him the "sweetest boy in the world". That kindness - that caring nature, is something that Hiraluk and Sora would do anything to protect and it's so evident that these two cared deeply for their kids. It's why Hiraluk ate that poisoned mushroom and encouraged Chopper to become a doctor and Sora ate the ruined food despite her fragile constitution and asked Sanji to cook for her again! This is love, baby!

These two kids were willing to risk so much to bring nourishment and care to the ones they loved, BOTH standing up to their biological families - Chopper fighting through his old herd of reindeer to get the mushroom, and Sanji sneaking out risking his father's wrath and braving the storm and wild dogs to deliver the food. Hiraluk and Sora are Chopper's and Sanji's source of encouragement which kick start each of their passions. And both of them tragically die which is honestly just heartbreaking. But all hope isn't lost, and both Chopper and Sanji find a new mentor, ones who are strict - but do care a lot for each of them, and help them develop the discipline they need to learn their respective crafts. Kurehara and Zeff are interesting parallels, both tough older mentors who are sharp of tongue and strict with their new apprentices. They can be this way without discouraging Chopper and Sanji, because the passion has already been ignited and so it's easy to see how they're good fits for helping these two live up to their full potential.

6. Robin - the big parallel with these two boils down to these two scenes and I sob about both of them.

Saul and Reiju, telling them to set out to sea, placing faith in the vastness of the world, knowing that they've done everything they can for now and planting that seed of hope that someday Robin and Sanji will meet people that can give them what they deserve is just such a touching moment. While this parallel is interesting, what's also interesting is the ways in which these two characters differ. The danger that Robin runs from is something that chases her, whereas the danger that Sanji runs from is his family and once he's made it onto the boat he's free. Robin thought she would never be safe, Sanji thought he was safe up until the wedding fiasco. And precisely the thing that hurts Sanji - the fact that his family wanted him gone - is so different from what's hurting Robin - the fact that she'll never be left alone by the government. Robin is wanted for the skills she and only she has, her story is (wo)man vs world, her bounty set at 79,000,000 which is the literal value on her head. Sanji is unwanted for the skills he, and he alone (in his family) lacks. There's no bounty, no one goes after him. His story is man vs self and undoing the damage that was done to his psyche as a child. It's so fascinating to me the way that both of these characters are saved by the crew in similar but such different ways, the way that each of them wanted to die, but for different reasons. Robin wanted to sacrifice herself because she's been betrayed and hurt by the world so many times that she couldn't trust in the strawhats' love. She loved them too much to risk being hurt like that again. Sanji wanted to sacrifice himself because he'd rather die than inconvenience the crew. Rather than not believing in their love, he doesn't believe he's worth that love, preferring to solve his problems on his own. And I think that it's so fitting the way that both of their stories intersect in Wano, with Robin being able to protect Sanji and Sanji finally believing in his own worth enough to ask for help. They're such different characters, with Sanji wearing his heart on his sleeves and Robin holding her's close to her chest and such interesting mirrors of each other.

7. Franky - they're cyborgs, what else can I say? The difference here is clear - Sanji's body was modified without his consent, whereas Franky modified himself. They're also both unwanted children, with Franky's parents abandoning him on Water 7 whereas Sanji's father was happy when Sanji left.

8. Brook - the parallel here is in the loneliness that both of them experienced, and really Sanji just got a taste of what Brook went through. Sanji and Brook were both parts of different crews before they were on the strawhats, albeit Sanji as a child and for a very short time, whereas Brook was with the Rumbar pirates for a longer time as an adult journeying very similarly to how the strawhats are now. Both were the sole survivors of their respective crews after being attacked, and though Sanji had Zeff on the rock, neither of them communicated with each other for the first 70 days after their initial agreement. Sanji felt a taste of the 50 years that Brook had to go through, with no food or water or way to escape off his abandoned pirate ship.

9. Jimbei - honestly I don't really have a good comparison for these two, other than they're both people who when confronted with the cruelty of others chose irrational kindness. Jimbe eventually learned how to live with and respect humans, and Sanji wouldn't let his family die, even after everything they put him through. They're both people who derived their codes of honor from others - Jimbei from Fisher Tiger and Queen Otohime and Sanji from Zeff. Idk maybe there's more there, but i don't really have too much to say about these two

Anyways, idk i just think they're neat 👉👈 and the way that Oda threw in parallels to all the other character's when completing Sanji's backstroy is so fascinating to me

[mooshs-crack-headcanons]

What fucks me up the most about 1098 is something I don't see many people bringing up

So we have the very fucked circumstances around Bonney's birth, right? Everything that happened to Ginny is beyond fucked and capulates exactly everything that's fucking wrong about the Celestial Dragon "system" and the World Government.

Then you have Kuma, just imagine dealing with this trauma AND having to have heard your wife - who was on death's door as she's on the phone with you and your closet comrades - tell you she's dying of a terminal illness and it's a miracle she even had the chance to talk to you for the last time, you leaving to teleport to where she is in desperation to save her ultimately missing her last I love you and her probably dying ON CALL given how we see the den-den mushi receiver still in her hand after she's already gone, THEN finding Bonney, her daughter, and the million fucking horrific things that must go through your head for her even to be able to exist, then swearing to your dead wife you will raise her as your own. Think about how fucked that is.

But then, turns out Ginny's illness was genetic. And Bonny now has it and can no longer be exposed to sunlight. The kid's make fun of her over it - over something she can't control. Then it turns out she has only five years to live because no normal doctors can find a cure, ultimately and I'm assuming leading to Kuma going to Vegapunk to find a cure and maybe that's how the Government finds him and only lets the treatment happen in exchange for Kuma working for them as Warlord - the last part being only a theory for now.

So you have all of that, right? But you know what's the kicker for me?

All the stuff about Ginny, Bonney only just found that out when she looked in Kuma's bubble. She didn't know beforehand.

I mean why would she? She's actually twelve, a child, only appearing older due to her fruit and probably having to appear older to be a pirate and all the stuff being a pirate entails for her own safety to at least appear to be an adult - which I'm heavily guessing she only did become a pirate in the first place just to find her dad, which is really really fucking sad. But she's a kid, Kuma - also probably dealing with the World Government and Warlord shit at the same time and pre-pacifista - would've never told her at this age. This is a fucking heavy topic, and to learn that not only Kuma isn't her biological dad but she's also... part Celestial Dragon is something that should take a lot out of anyone and with her apparently crying all night after seeing the bubble, now it just makes even more sense. But even still, she loves her dad - not some fucking monster who enslaved her mother, her actual dad who loved and raised her and most likely agreed to being a World Government genie pig in exchange for treatment to save his daughter's life.

Only so few chapters so far and I'm personally already considering it my favorite saddest, depressing, gut wrenching backstories. And general this flackback just adds so much to all the pre-established stuff we already knew about Kuma. It's the type of flashback that puts so many things in place just 🫠 it's fucked up and sad but I absolutely live for these types of flashbacks like I'm crying, disgusted, my heart ripped out but damn Oda. You really didn't pull punches, huh?

[note-boom]

Life and Death Parallels within the ADA

Someone in a tag said a while back to throw some of my tags of this post onto a post, and I meant to do it way back in February but kind of got lost to the timestream.

But I'm back and I really do have thoughts about the way the ADA is structured to really be, as Atsushi was told just before the Kamui revelation, a place where the members give the organisation unique strengths that cover each other's weaknesses. And I thought about how there's a sort of equal divide between the older generation (Ranpo, Yosano, Dazai, and Kunikida) and the younger generation (Kyouka, Kenji, Tanizaki, Atsushi) and how each of these characters have both a similar aged parallel to them in the agency as well as a minor-adult parallel.

I'll try to be as concise as possible (I failed), but hear me out...

We have Ranpo/Yosano, Dazai/Kunikida, Atsushi/Tanizaki, and Kyouka/Kenji as similar-aged parallel sets that pair a death-coded individual with a life-coded individual. On the the adult-minor side, you have Ranpo/Kenji, Yosano/Atsushi, Dazai/Kyouka, and Tanizaki/Kunikida as parallel sets in their story arcs rather than thematic ones.

So, to start with the first set.

Ranpo (life-coded) and Yosano (death-coded): I feel as if these two have sort of reached the most balanced level of thematic parallels than any of the other pairings. Ranpo's past was full of this enjoyment with life where his parents' occupations dealing with darker forces of the world were hidden from him. Meanwhile, Yosano's past was full of death and darkness that was not hidden from her. And in Yosano's backstory, she was called the angel of death; in Ranpo's Origins tale with Fukuzawa, he confronted an angel of death of a sort. Yosano was deteriorating into death while Ranpo was slowly thriving under Fukuzawa. And then they met...and Ranpo found someone to bring back to life, and a place in the ADA where he could use murders and death and the darkness of the world to spread light/life by literally shining light on the mysteries, while Yosano found a place where she could use death to bring life in the ADA.

Dazai (death-coded) and Kunikida (life-coded): I think this parallel of life/death manifests the most in their ideals...Dazai's ideal is sort of entrenched in death and trying to die a painless suicide while Kunikida is all about spreading life for himself and others no matter how much pain it brings him. What's so wrong with these two is that they also have inclinations towards their "opposite coding," so to speak. We constantly see people pointing out Kunikida's secret desire to die while we clearly see Dazai doing his uttermost to live a good life and carry on Oda's legacy. Life haunts Kunikida as much as death haunts Dazai, and yet death chases after Kunikida (all the people he's witnessed dying, RIP) as much as life comes after Dazai (all his failed suicide attempts, double RIP)

Atsushi (life-coded) and Tanizaki (death-coded): This is honestly pretty tricky because we barely know anything about Tanizaki. Even though Kunikida and Dazai's past-pasts are still pretty mysterious, we have a good grasp on their characters. But Tanizaki's personality dissonance and as-of-yet unknown past with his sister definitely contrasts with the way we're know Atsushi's past and values. Both, however, are incredibly protective, but the way Tanizaki and Atsushi approach it is pretty different; Tanizaki seems to have this mentality that he must kill the threat while Atsushi seems determined more to save the victim. (I also find that one throwaway about "wimp of the east (Tanizaki)/wimp of the west (Atsushi)" interesting because maybe it's just in western lit, but west denotes sunsets and death while east denotes sunrises and rising, except in Buddhism where the west is shown as a direction of enlightenment(info check?)...which provides another host of interesting parallels to Atsushi and his relation to the book but let's not go there). All in all, these two are a bit of a stretch, but it's interesting to see that Atsushi's mysteries lie more towards the future (usually associated with life) while Tanizaki's life more in the past.

Kenji (life-coded) and Kyouka (death-coded): This one's pretty straightforward, not just because they're the youngest members of the ADA. But you see their life philosophies and personalities lean towards what they're coded as, as well as their pasts (Kenji as a farmer, cultivating life, and Kyouka as an assassin, dealing death). And yet what drew each to the ADA....Kenji was drawn to the ADA after witnessing death after a lifetime of growing new life while Kyouka was drawn to the ADA after being given life after a long childhood of killing.

However, in the end, the Armed Detective Agency is a detective organisation devoted to saving people, and all of them end up choosing life for it. But the different ways they go about it just go to show that you can have any crazy skill and still spread some sort of life through it. All of them are haunted by death, anyway, and yet all of them choose to spread life regardless.

Now onto the second set, which I'll keep shorter by simply saying that the pairs - Ranpo/Kenji, Yosano/Atsushi, Dazai/Kyouka, and Tanizaki/Kunikida - just have similar story beats, in a sense.

Ranpo and Kenji raised fairly happy, rudely awakened by the world, and yet choosing to believe in continuing to keep up a positive attitude; I'd say, though, that Ranpo does it primarily through shutting his eyes to the world while unmasking it while Kenji does it through acknowledging its pain and refusing to let it bring him down.

Yosano and Atsushi both with honestly terrible childhoods spent witnessing some of the most cruel sides of human natures growing up to be champions of life, only Yosano has definitely developed more steel and walls while Atsushi's definitely softer and more open still (they're both crazy stubborn, though).

Then Dazai and Kyouka's past with the Port Mafia and a disillusionment in reality that was abruptly interrupted when they realised they had to do something about it as useless as it sounded; Dazai thanks to Oda dying and Kyouka thanks to Dazai telling her to save people anyway.

And again, Kunikida and Tanizaki's probably a stretch given we know nothing about their pasts, but I really really find it interesting that Kunikida was a former teacher and Atsushi first assumed Tanizaki and Naomi to be students; also, I've mentioned this in other posts but Kunikida and Tanizaki are paired together a lot and have...their moments. It's pretty interesting to perceive these two people with strong ideals that are almost the reversal of the other ("the world for one person" vs "myself (one person) for the world").

But yeah...that has been parallels within the ADA concerning themes of life and death and their character's narrative arcs.

Bonus? Fukuzawa and Naomi....a middle aged president and a teenaged clerk, both protective about the people they claim to be their own, smart in their own ways, with seemingly "support" roles.

[pillowdrawz]

Im just gonna rant about One piece live action.

What if The reason Sanji doesn't have a curly eye brow is because Its recognizable to the whole world. Like he doesn't want any relation to his brothers so he shave it and as it keep on growing he keep on shaving it. Because People might recognize that "hey that eye brow is similar to The Vinsmoke brothers" etc.

Why is Opla Garp and Zeff gay Like GARP knew Zeff was distracting him BUT Garp Didn't let him stop he just let Zeff continue Lmaoo Old men in love /j.

I love Opla so much And One piece I honestly do not like Animanga sanji but In Opla? Sanji live action is chef kissed (literally) man doesn't have a pervy gag he is just a flirt A win is a win.

I better Hear opla Sabo having a British accent.

Like "BLOODY HELL ACE"

Also Opla Luffy Canon even Is gonna RUINED me Oh my god.(Ace)

Considering In Opla They are killing of Characters Now Cause well Oda wanted that.

Also Imagine in alabasta arc In a Chase Ace and Luffy are running and Accidentally stumble upon a 2nd in command of the revolutionary army with amnesia yes I'm talking about sabo. Then cue the Backstory-

Cause I have a feeling Whenever a character is introduced Theres always a backstory. AND ACE IS CLOSE .

ONE PIECE LIVE ACTION WHERES THE REST OF YAH ???? WHERES SEASON 2 WHERES MY BOY ACE I BETTER SEE HIS SECOND IN COMMAND DEUCE-

[inamagicalhallucination]

did i already share it? well ill share it again ig

dazai after oda's death wandering around yokohama, a mess becuz someone so precious to him died, unable to understand the very human feelings he's feeling, perhaps feeling something so strongly for someone for the first time (at least whilst being aware that he is)

its night time now and he's crumpled up in some alley way not knowing what to do or how to process anything when someone calls out to him

he ignores it

they come near him

he reaches for his gun, angry at being approached by who ever the fuck-

"are you okay?" the voice asks, and dazai's so caught off guard even tho he shouldnt be - there r only two ppl after all - ppl who dont care and ppl who ask if ur okay to pretend that they do

oda was always an exception

he thinks he says fine and that should be the end of it and it is becuz the voice leaves and dazai tries to go back to breathing

except it comes back a while later with the familiar rustle of plastic bags and suddenly someone's in front of him, not touching, but close enough dazai cant ignore him, his hand tightens on his gun

"you look like you havent eaten" and in front of him, in a plastic bag, riceballs, water, and napkins

he stares

"you're well dressed" the voice says "so you probably have somewhere to go to" he doesnt "but you look hurt, covered in blood. if it was one of my students i would want someone to help them"

when dazai looks up the person in front of him doesn't look older than him

he's got long blond hair tied up, glasses, dressed in a black button up, a tan coat, and a stern look on his face

"i dont" dazai says even though he doesnt know why he's telling this strange man anything - but its true he has no where to go (chuuya's? but something stopped him before he could; ango's? that... if ango had been here... maybe oda wouldn't have-)

"dont what" dazai doesn't reply but the man seems to understand - his face falters for a second

"youngins these days, they never plan out anything. why would you spend money on expensive looking clothes and not rent out a place? my first priority was an apartment! i bought non necessary clothes after" the man scolds gesturing to his coat, dazai wants to reach for his gun again "whatever, you can stay with me for the night - i have a spare couch! this is a one time thing though! you better rent out a hotel room tomorrow!"

dazai stares at him in surprise, at his offer, his contradictory tone, voice, and words or simply the fact that someone can show such... kindness - dazai isnt sure

he doesn't remember agreeing - but he must have

must have agreed and followed the man back to his apartment, must have cleaned up the blood (odaodaoda) in his bathroom, must have eaten his food, drank his water and fallen asleep on his couch because thats where he is in the morning

its still dark out when dazai wakes up in an unfamiliar place and remembers the man

he has a feeling that the man will scold him for not immediately finding a place but let him stay for longer, but he cant stand to be here any longer

he needs to leave

go far far away from oda, the mafia, this man who showed him kindness for no reason as if oda was still here watching, making sure - he needs to go

there's only a brief hesitation when he sees the man's coat, so familiar to the one oda wears, hanging by the door, easy to grab and leave

he doesn't feel guilt when he takes it with him

he thinks of the man a few times here and there in the two years he spends wandering, waiting

he meets him again eventually, walking into the ada office with a fake backstory - he's there with the person he was told was the boss

when he looks over his eyes linger on the coat, a touch of something but not recognition

this is fine with dazai who puts on his best happy mask

"hey there! i'm here for a job interview! my name's dazai"

"Ah yes. My name is Fukuzawa, I am the president of the Agency. This is one of my employees, your future coworker if it all works out, Kunikida"

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1099 - Initial Thoughts

And we're back

After a week break it's time to see if One Piece will take the lead in emotionally devastating me for this week, given how other things are leaving me on 3 week breaks of ship-based anxiety, not that you could tell of course I've kept it sooooo well-hidden

Anyways, it's time for more One Piece and so, more Kuma backstory, let's see where we go from here

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release also

Oden cover this time, Tanukis are giving him a makeover

We pick up where we left off two weeks ago, King Becori has returned and has been burning down the south

Kuma though is fighting through the fire to save people

Becori got the idea from the Goa Kingdom fire, figures

The people though are a lot more resistant to the act than the Goa Nobles were, so Becori orders a few to be killed to silence the mob

Kuma is here and he is fucking pissed

The church is being used as a shelter, as Bonney worries for her dad

Despite Becori's threats, Kuma lays out the entire castle, the One Man Revolution of Sorbet

News travels to Marejois about a new king in Sorbet, as Saturn learns that the people voted Kuma to rule

Kuma though says he's just a figurehead, since a previous king, Bulldog, is actually running the country

A much more adult looking Bonney is running laps in the church though, surprising everyone in how much she looks like Ginny

Seems she somehow ate a Devil Fruit, but also wasn't aware of it, since her aging up was unintentional and she was just trying to up her stamina

As the others try to see how much control Bonney has over the fruit, King Bulldog arrives at the church

Hey it's that old version of Bonney she used in the Reverie, but also Bonney here...

Turns out Queen Dowager Conney was an actual person, explains some things at least in how she made it to the Reverie in that disguise

Kuma yelling at Conney at the back thinking it's Bonney XD

Conney is Bulldog's mother, and Bulldog as Kuma's advisor has come with news

Becori's still about, running a smear campaign on Kuma, thus the moniker of 'The Tyrant'

The propaganda means he's still backed by the World Government, and thus it's only a matter of time until they come back to finish the job

Wanting to protect Sorbet, Kuma leaves it in Bulldog's hands, and goes out to confront Becori again at sea, this also means Bulldog and Conney will take care of Bonney in the meantime

'But I'll be so lonely' welp that's another knife in my riddled heart right now

Alas, Kuma does confront Becori, sitting pretty on a Navy ship and accusing Kuma of usurping him and being a corrupt dictator

Kuma sunk the armada, which got him a bounty (Carrot meanwhile sinks a bunch of Yonko ships and doesn't even get one bounty...yes I'm still sore about it the anime did not help validate her conclusion in Wano)

'He was a hero' 'I don't care, he was my dad first' - Oda please my heart doesn't have room for all these knives

Bonney also wants to be a pirate when she's 10 and cured

Kuma journeys out for info on Sapphire Scales, traveling to all the places he sent the Straw Hats to

He first goes to Chopper's island, since they had vast medical information

Then to Mihawk's island, doesn't look too occupied back then

Oh hey it's those Grand Fleet guys, Jeet and Abdullah

The bounty hunters of course fail in trying to claim Kuma, this was very pre-Dressrosa

Vegapunk's old home is next but they don't have answers

Tequila Wolf is sailed past again (Kuma and Oden have now sailed past it), I don't know what the next one is but it looked like Kuma helped it out, maybe it was Brook's island?

Then Weatheria (Nami's island) and the Boin Archipelago (Usopp's island) with Heracles'n

The stress is creeping up on Kuma though, dead ends and Bonney's 10th birthday is getting closer

Now that's a draconic ship there

The Revolutionaries have found Kuma, Morley has joined and Betty is still looking way different to how she does now

Dragon has a drink with his old Comrade, Ivankov and Inazuma are in Impel Down at this point, but despite all the news around Kuma he doesn't listen to media

Betty also gets Kuma's blessing to lead the Eastern Forces, since Dragon wouldn't allow anyone to take Ginny's position without it

Sabo and Koala also wanted to see Kuma, if only Dragon showed this much pride in his biological child

But he does give Kuma some intel, Vegapunk is moving labs and security is lax, good time for an audience

I think the move is implied to be the Punk Hazard incident too

Kuma is more than willing to rejoin the Revolutionaries once Bonney is cured, and Dragon is more than willing to welcome him back

Back at Sorbet, Bonney is learning how to fight, the scales are still spreading slowly though

Kuma takes Bonney to Navy Science Division Lab 08, which will later be where Egghead Island is, telling her it's a check-up

Got a little box for her like Nezuko

Everyone's surprised about how weird looking the other is

Vegapunk CAN cure Bonney, so clone theory might be done now

Bonney is playing with Sentomaru at this moment so she's not privy to the conversation

Stem Cell Treatment will be the method, real life solutions being thrown in there

The price is exorbitant though, equivalent to building a cyborg

Vegapunk also learns that Kuma's a buccaneer, even though his association with the WG would make that dangerous information

Vegapunk can't explain why Buccaneer blood is special, but he'd like more of it to clone him

Kuma is of course concerned about the idea of clone soldiers, but with Vegapunk using it as a form of payment he's more than willing to do it

Vegapunk hoped at least that the clone army's ability to deflect bullets and shoot lasers would scare evil pirates into submission, having watched Oppenheimer I think the sentiment is meant to be similar

But Kuma does like the idea of robots bearing his likeness protecting the innocent

Saturn meanwhile though has other intentions for them 'a weapon's worth is defined by how many it kills'

The bots are named Pacifista after Kuma's proclaiming himself a pacifist, two men looking to do some good without the hindsight of what damage they will wrought

This was a steady chapter really, could've been a lot more devastating for sure.

We've slowly built up again to all the stuff leading to Kuma's affiliation with Vegapunk, as well as his brief run as a pirate. Much like Corazon it seems most of his travels were fuelled by trying to find a cure for Bonney. A lot of blasts from the pasts this chapter too, though I suppose it makes sense that Kuma visited the places he sent the Straw Hats to, given how them being sent there was tailored for their skills or what they needed to improve on.

The Bonney Clone theory is likely dead, but I still can't put it past Oda to pull the rug, especially for Chapter 1100 - Oda and round numbers after all.

But yeah, it seems a brief alleviation for the moment, before it likely goes to hell again...

[team7-headquarter]

Now that I'm reading One Piece, let me say this: even when I think One Piece is better written, the comparison between both mangas in their pre timeskip period is often done poorly.

Naruto decides to be immediately a more explicit and visceral story in terms of cruelty, with a main cast of 12 year old children. While One Piece takes its time building the foundation for its characters and future arcs, Naruto jumps right into the issue at hand. The first chapter is practically spelling it out to you, the reason why Naruto could and even should be a villain, given the circumstances. He's a sad sight, the loneliness and general dark feelings coating Naruto as a story are strong from the very start. I'm not saying that One Piece doesn't have a lot of dark themes and feelings too, but Oda style is to use comedy and good humor to balance it first. One Piece is lighter at the beginning.

For example, compare the East Blue saga and the Land of the Waves arc. Unfair, I know, but I want to prove a certain point here.

Each arc of the East Blue has a bit of cruelty in it, the worst being Arlong Park. In the 3 first arcs, when Luffy meets his three first nakamas, we can say it is more comedy than tragedy. No one dies, there is cruelty and battles, but it's kept on the "safe side". The villains are shown to be more "evil" than anything else. Morgan, Buggy and Kuro are pirates after all. Then they reach the Baratie and things start to get serious. Sanji's backstory is heavy (everything Sanji and Zeff went through is dark, from the starvation to the amputation and the grey scale of their animosity turned bond). You have the first hint at Nami's complexity as a character, you get a taste of the Grand Line in the Mihawk and Zoro encounter where Zoro almost dies, there's explicit sacrifice...

Like I said, Arlong Park is the worst of it all. The story of the town, of Bell-Mere and her children, of what the fish-men did to Nami... It would be incorrect to say that comedy is out aside. First of all, because one of the most common purposes of comedy is to build the ground for drama. You will need a light mood to present the gravity of the situation at hand. The reader must be desperate to see the characters laughing and joking again, to recover the good times, to preserve the bonds and friendships. All the previous arcs needed to be so silly for Arlong Park to be impactful. Nami lived through hell. There's war and discrimination, abuse, manipulation, government corruption and betrayal. I'd never dare to say it's a light arc.

With Naruto, it's like they went straight to their own Arlong Park. It doesn't get clearer than the explanation Tazuna gave about what was going on with Kato and the bridge. They step out of the gates and there's an assassination attempt where Kakashi pretends to get explicitly murdered in front of the kids so he can figure out what they're dealing with. You have the story of how the local town hero was basically crucified to get his arms ripped by Kato's men. Hell, before all of these you have things like the Uchiha massacre and Sasuke saying his goal is to kill someone.

Then the top of the cake: Zabuza and Haku. They end up dead, both of them. Suddenly the enemy is not just "evil" or "ambitious" but also very very human. Kids killing kids or refusing to kill kids, it's a nightmare. Kakashi kills Haku with a chidori to the chest and the manga lingers on the blood of it all. There's a panel when Sasuke takes a hit meant for Naruto— the visual impact is insane. That one panel of Naruto awakening the kyubi's chakra and threatening to kill Haku? This is not a story about pirates and treasures and dreams. This is a story about survival and murder and duty, where a kid happens to want to dream above all the misery of his world.

Compare now the Arabasta saga and the Chuning Exams. Both are about politics, foul play to take a country/hidden village down, how normal people are nothing but pieces of a bigger game, how the world is baster and more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine.

The difference is that the straw hats choose to participate and choose how to do so. Every step is one they take conscious of the risk. They are teenagers still, sure, but they have their agency and they're powerful enough to not let anyone else push them around. They're at the heart of the conflict, they know what's going on behind the curtains. One Piece is about freedom, something that people in Naruto clearly lack. Even when there's death and sacrifices and a lot of cruelty, it's shown differently than in Naruto.

Team 7 gets thrown into the mess of Konoha's crush knowing nothing. The Chunning Exams are a shit show. The horror of Orochimaru and the cursed mark, the Hyuuga's plotline about family branches and slavery, arms exploding, Rock Lee's fight, Hiruzen's death, Gaara's backstory... Team 7 (at least the kids) move on such a different scale. It's terrifying. The Chunning Exams are war in a micro scale, designed to keep the power balance using their lower class soldiers, children included.

I can keep going, but well. I feel like I made my point clear with this post.

While Naruto's story pace is faster, the characters and the themes aren't rushed per se. It fits that in a world in constant conflict, things keep coming faster and the characters can't catch a break. The journey of the straw hats allows them more time to build the foundations of the crew, going from island to island. The way the stories are told are different too, so it'd be futile to compare them if you don't acknowledge that. What are the core values of the story? What is the general feeling? What is it trying to tell and how it corresponds to the way the story is told?

You either ask yourself those questions or you'll get a half-assed analysis, at most.

[theclearblue]

Is it bad that I feel personally victimised by WCI or am I just being dramatic?

I don't think so anon, I think the themes of family in WCI are some of the most personal and nuanced Oda has ever done and while tragic in so many ways, I think results in the best way of conveying how powerful found family is but also how someone can have complicated feelings towards their blood family.

Throughout all of One Piece, you can see this through line of found family and how blood relations isn't what matters in who you consider family (The ASL brothers, Bellemere and Nojiko for Nami, Kuina for Zoro, Zeff for Sanji, Saul for Robin, Tom and Iceburg for Franky, and while not a strawhat, Corazon and Law deeply affected me as well). This is obviously a trope Oda has liked writing for a long time and one he does well, but (with somewhat the exception of Marineford/Post-War arc with Whitebeard and Ace), WCI is the first time he really dives into these themes of what family is, and what I really appreciated, how messy it can be.

(I uhhh wrote a lot after the cut so be prepared for that)

And it's not just Sanji in this arc (I'll get to him though don't worry), from Germa, from the Big Mom Pirates, and the Firetank Pirates, so many characters are acting as narrative foils to Sanji and dealing with family related trauma, and responding to it differently. The ones that really got me were Pudding and Katakuri though, and they're pretty similar to each other as well. I've talked a little bit about Pudding already here so I'll talk a bit more about Katakuri instead, but it hit me really hard when he made a temple for himself, and he lets the rumors fly about "his back has never touched the ground, he's praying to a god of war, no one has seen him eat" and it's just. Him laying on his back, eating donuts happily. And the scene is kind of silly and funny right, but I kid you not my New Year's resolution this year was to just, try to be more comfortable in my living room/kitchen without thinking everyone is going to judge me for, what? Eating? Watching a show I like? Completely normal things, but if you've ever grown up in a house where just, EVERYTHING you do is picked apart and criticized by family, it's easier to just shut yourself away in a room and hide it. And isn't that tragic? Katakuri projecting this image of strength that his family asks of him so much that he feels he has to hide completely normal things like lying down and eating? I could go even deeper into this character but this is just one example of a character's complicated relationship with his family, where he hides so much of himself for them, but also it stemming from a place of love after what happened to Brulee when they were kids.

And now to talk about Sanji. Ohhhh where do I even start with this guy. As kind of a sidenote, if you've seen any of my posts from Thriller Bark through Punk Hazard, I was really struggling to like Sanji as a character and I didn't make that a secret. Which was upsetting to me because, from Baratie-Enies Lobby (and really good moments at the end of Thriller Bark and Saoboady) he was a favorite of mine! And at times I thought his character was done pretty dirty where he was stripped down to a singular gag and Oda leaned into it way way way too hard. But it's immensely satisfying to me to see all the little seeds Oda planted for so many years come to fruition in Zou and WCI, to the point I think he's turned from being the most one note strawhat to the most nuanced and layered in the span of a singular saga. And that was incredible to see.

I think what really captivated me about Sanji from the beginning were how strong and rigid his convictions are, and that even though he's kind of a rude brat (I say that with love lol), he's so undeniably kind, even to a fault. And with his first backstory we see how a lot of his rigid rules he's made for himself come from, it's from Zeff. He doesn't hit women, he'll feed anyone who's hungry no matter what, and he learns to fight to protect people he cares about, but he isn't really a fighter in the same way Luffy and Zoro are, and that's made clear in his desire to protect his hands in a fight so that he can do what he really loves, and that's to cook. A lot of what makes Sanji who he is today is shown here, but Oda was smart in showing aspects of Sanji that clearly don't stem from Zeff without telling the audience why for the longest time.

He shares the dream of the All Blue with Zeff, but where did it come from? Zeff is kind of similar where he has this hard exterior but underneath is kind as well, but it's taken to another level with Sanji where it becomes self sacrificial. Throwing himself down the mountain on Drum Island, taking the lightning bolts from Enel for Nami and Usopp on Skypeia, boarding the water train alone to try and get to Robin, and most prominently, at least for me, him trying to take Luffy's pain at the end of Thriller Bark instead of Zoro, where he very clearly places more value on Zoro's dream and life than his own. That was the moment to me that made me really realize he does not see value in himself, unless he's providing something he deems useful. And if the situation calls for it, he'll throw his life and dream away if that makes him "useful" not realizing that the crew don't see him as this dispensable thing like he sees himself.

And all of Sanji's strengths and flaws as a character just come to make this perfect storm and mess that is Whole Cake Island. And the kindness that is Sanji's most definitive trait is so clearly not in this family, at least not seen at first. His brothers are made to have no zero empathy and beat down on him constantly, verbally and physically, and Judge just watches and doesn't care, eventually just hides Sanji in a cell and pretends he's dead. Because he was physically weaker and human. And yet he continues to cook because he loves doing it, he remembers his mother's kindness, and his dream of the all blue is formed in a small dark room and just. This got to me big time. Not to get too personal but the set of expectations put onto Sanji by his family, ones he can never live up to and finding passion in something his family finds to be worthless and a waste of time. Finding an escape in books and finding his dream there even though everything around him is hell. Slowly realizing the extent of cruelty that his father will go to as he grows up. Very unfortunately for me this might be the most relatable character I have ever come across in regards to my own experiences. I'm someone to voice my thoughts on things even if nobody else cares (hence why I've been liveblogging on here since Drum Island I think lmao) but while watching Sanji's backstory it affected me like nothing else ever has. It's not even something that made me cry really, I was just in shock after watching it for awhile. And Reiju saying to Sanji, "There are people out there who will accept you for who you are, you need to get out of here" which is so similar to what Saul said to Robin and even similar to what one of my sisters said to me growing up. Yeah. I also felt personally victimized by Whole Cake Island lmao.

But the end result of Sanji's arc is so beautiful and amazing. Sanji putting on this act of looking down on Luffy, and once again trying to sacrifice himself to protect those that he cares about, but Luffy just cuts through the bullshit because he knows that isn't really Sanji talking in that fight. Luffy's speech as Sanji is being driven away where he says that he can't become the pirate king without him by his side. This isn't an original thought but Sanji and Zoro both kind of represent different aspects of Luffy's dreams. Zoro with a seemingly impossible ideal and putting 100% of yourself into it. "I will become the greatest swordsman." "I will become the pirate king." But Sanji's dream of finding the All Blue reflects Luffy's dream of finding the One Piece. They both don't know if either of those things are even real (the audience at this point knows the one piece is real, but to my knowledge and where I'm at, Luffy doesn't). Yet there's this childlike wonder they both have about these dreams, because, what if it is real? Luffy knows that Sanji is irreplaceable because of the ideals that they share, not because of what Sanji can provide or be "useful" as.

It takes so much for Sanji to go running back to Luffy, and even when he does, he obviously gets insecure again and starts listing off reasons why he isn't worthy enough to go back to the Sunny and to the crew. And God is it satisfying to see Luffy absolutely rock his shit for saying that and asking him to just SAY what he really wants. And Sanji breaking down and saying how much he misses the Sunny and the crew and also airing out how he feels backed into a corner and doesn't know the way out, that he wants to help his family even though he doesn't consider them family and he KNOWS it doesn't make sense, he is being kind to a fault again. But Luffy smiling at him and saying "Well, that's just how you are. Let's go crash the wedding." That's when I started sobbing lmao, because there is such unconditional love and kindness in that statement that Sanji has so desperately needed ever since his mother died. Someone who just accepts him and all his faults wholeheartedly, and is that not the most beautiful representation of family??? His relationship with his blood family is so messy and complicated and full of mixed feelings(and that's very common), but his feelings about Zeff and Luffy and the rest of the strawhats are so clearly full of adoration and unconditional love for them, and they feel that same love for him as well! How lucky all of them are where they found their people, and how everyone else in this world has that opportunity to find the space and people they truly belong to, not tied down by blood. Whole Cake Island's themes on family were so well done and also fundamentally changed me as a person I think.

[roydeezed]

Tin Foil Hat Theory-Bonney is a Clone

Bonney is dead, Long Live Bonney!

In where the original Bonney is dead, this Bonney is a clone with Bucaneer Blood, Kuma transferred her memories and as a result, her soul into the new body and also Weevil is a clone. Pretty much covers it. :)

Ok so I woke up in the middle of the night with one thought in my head, which was, Bonney is a clone. Let no one accuse me of not loving One Piece enough. I don't know if this is a thoery out there or not, and if it is, sorry for biting whoever's it was first. Also this could totally not happen, not beholden to it at all but there's a lot of things that stick out to me.

You might think that after the newest chapter, it's pretty much confirmed that Bonney isn't a Buccaneer by blood. And that we've seen Kuma suffer enough. I say nay, because Oda has laid out a very specific trail of breadcrumbs. Let's follow it.

First things first, Bonney's about to die. Either from Sapphire Poisoning or King Becori's return and maybe another culling game. Whatever the case, she's popping death flags left and right. Next, she is consistently shown to be around the Straw Hats Age, around 19 or so even though she's supposed to be around 12. Now, her fruit could take care of both of those issues, with her constantly shifting to an older age to bypass the poisoning but let's just assume that's not the case for the sake of the argument. Mainly cause of this:

In where Bonney transforms into a Buccaneer type version of herself. Now, considering it's called Distorted Future, it could be an alternate timeline version of her that she conceptually tapped into somehow. I could accept that explanation if this wasn't Chapter 1072, which literally on the page before this, had this to say.

Now, we assume that this was about Miss Buckingham Stussy as it shows her at the end of the chapter.

But it says the first successful Clone Experiment. It could say the first because of the Seraphim's being other successful clones, but knowing Vegapunk's perfectionism and his ridiculously high bar for things, could it possibly point to other one to one clones?

Such as Bonney?

Might be a stretch but I can't shake the feeling that all these disparate things Oda has shown us all add up. Also sandwhiched between two chapters that discuss cloning and memories, we get a glimpse at this guy-

Who Stussy adamantly states is Whitebeards son. A Whitebeard who Marco staunchly believes is not the father. Many have speculated Whitebeard to be gay to add even more credibility to Marco's position. But then how is Weevil so strong? Well, Vegapunk did get Stussy's DNA, and we did see how Bakkin tried to hang on to Whitebeard in the past. Maybe it was an exchange? In return for her cooperation, maybe Bakkin got the son she never could with Whitebeard.

Now if we assume this premise to be true, we also have to question why it was shoehorned in that bluntly? We all know that Oda like to repeat and layer. So why then would that be in this chain of events?

Because it's a question of what it is to be alive. That's what all these different people have in common. Kuma, Stussy, Weevil. They're living beings and others argue against thier very existence. It gets brought up in God Valley and in Kuma's backstory and in Kuma all throughout his life. From Slave to Outlaw to Robot. He's always been alive but people have debated the value of that. With what I believe Oda is doing with Bonney, I think he's saying that it doesn't matter who or what we are, as long as we're alive. Even Vegapunk with his satelites feeds into this.

And Vegapunk feeds into this another way as well.

Here he discusses what a soul is. Basically, it's tied to memories. So if memories were transferred, the soul would go with it. Here we see Kuma staunchly against this, but later we see Bonney mention that she knows that the giant paw in Egghead are Kuma's Memories.

So how does she know that? And why is Vegapunk so insistent on her not finding out?

I don't think it's just because she's a child and it would be hard for her. I also think Kuma losing his free will had something to do with it. Vegapunk probably did an exchange with Bakkin. What if he did the same with Kuma? What if Kuma losing his memories wasn't just about Ginny's death but also to forget his daughter's death?

So here's where it all comes together. I think the Bonney is going to become exposed to the light soon. Maybe Becori burns down the church. And as she dies, he extracts her memories. That could be where she knows that this specific bubble contains memories, she saw it done to herself. And in his pain, Kuma takes it upon himself to forget. And in exchange for bringing her back to life, he becomes the slave of the Celestial Dragons. But when Vegapunk makes her clone, he also puts Kuma's dna in her, thus allowing the strength we saw from "distorted future". The fate that Vegapunk is trying to save Bonney from is to stop her learning that she isn't the original Bonney. She was made in a lab and then her memories were implanted in her. This could lead to the very real possibility that Kuma suffers more in that he doesn't know this version of his daughter. The daughter that's alive.

A little disjointed but I hope I made the point I was trying to make. I don't think Kuma's suffering is over. He's very biblical in his suffering and it would be that cruel ironic twist of fate to see his daughter die from what his god is supposed to be, the sun. Nika is the sun god and Bonney can die from the sun's rays. And him not seeing her would add on to his suffering. So yeah, if all of these disparate pieces match up in the way I think they do then we could be in store for more tears. Happy crying everybody!

[melonteee]

i made a thread about the sanji flashback on twt so that might’ve been the one u saw. like. it’s one of the most bizarre things i’ve seen on tv and i genuinely cannot believe oda approved of this. one of oda’s demands was to keep the backstories of the straw hats unchanged because

”… they're so pivotal to who they are as people, what their dreams and motivations are, and how luffy digs into that as he meets them and helps them rediscover those dreams”

now, looking at how sanji’s story was handled and how his backstory was shoved into a context that didn’t respect his backstory at all, and how his conflict was reduced to ”i want to cook more extravagant dishes but zeff won’t let me” it’s obvious that they only met this demand in the most literal sense. what i get from that quote from oda is that he wanted the straw hats arcs, not just their backstories, to be treated with care. so i have to wonder, did oda set this demand before contracts were written? meaning he literally didn’t have any creative control beyond the just the actual backstories. idk how these things work but i don’t have any other explanation for this mess :(

I mean the answer to that is the producers have all the pull, they have no obligation to actually listen to Oda lol. Yeah Oda said he approved the script and approved some scenes but it's very possible they just changed it AFTERWARDS so they got his public okay to make it look good.

I've been saying it since day one but netflix notoriously do not listen to their creators, and Oda either had a different idea of what this was gonna be and didn't get the memo, or they just gave him empty promises so they could slap his name everywhere and make everyone feel at ease. I honestly can't imagine Oda enjoying what they did to the Baratie and Syrup Village at all, especially since all these characters are very close to his heart.

Sidelining Sanji to focus on the Zoro/Mihawk fight is genuinely such a disrespect to his story lmao, Sanji's complications, emotions and self made obligation towards the baratie being turned into "Zeff won't let me cook my creative dishes" is insane?? From what I know we didn't even get the line of Luffy telling Sanji that sacrificing your life is no way to show gratitude to your saviour, we didn't get Sanji's realisation of how inspiring Zoro and Luffy are as people, we didn't get Sanji facing himself and his own dreams due to Luffy, nor did we get Luffy not taking no for an answer from Sanji ?? We didn't even get to see the effects of Sanji's kindness through Gin, we didn't see the build up of Gin threatening to take Sanji's life just to break down and realise he can't do it due to how POWERFUL of a thing Sanji's kindness is.

Instead, he became a side character in his OWN ARC? Instead they just slapped manga titles onto the episodes to make us think this will indeed follow Sanji's original story, and boy were we surprised! The entire motivation and struggle of his character, his flaws and depth, have been upended, because they deemed Zoro and Mihawk more important in this version. How discouraging is that? All I can say is lol. lmao.