#adaption

[generouskittentidalwave]

I want to ask, how do people in China actually view Lego Monkie Kid?

No doubt that Lmk fandom as a whole has a major issue with drowning out the voices of people in China and the fact that this show is based on genuine relfion and mythology that is taken, from what I've heard and seen, quite seriously.

Now I've been a fan of the show for a very long time, so much so that it got me into researching and learning as much as I could about it jttw and the religion and mythology behind it all, which led to some interesting things I've noticed about it and the show as whole.

For one, lmk killing the Jade Emperor so quickly and easily was a bold move, seeing as it's the equivalent, from what I've seen, of taking Jesus and easily disintegrating him by throwing him down a flight of escalaters so hopefully they have an explanation for that later on. There's other things that have been pointed out like it not lining up 100% with the book and some minor things here and there, and people not understanding things cause they never read the book or because some things were changed and it was misinterpreted. However at the same time there have been many jttw adaptions (with this one being unique as it's more of a 'sequal') with some made by America and some made by China that also make changes here and there, from what I've seen and heard that are also loved.

Which leaves me a bit confused and to genuinely ask, how do people in China view lmk? Is it good or bad? Is it respectful or disrespectful? And is it okay for one to like and enjoy the show like me and many MANY others have been? I know it might seem like a silly question, but to overthinkers like me and many others out there (Yeah I see you), it can be pretty draining to think about how you could be enjoying a show that is harming others without you realizing it. So now I created this posts to hear your thoughts on it ^^

I do ask that it is kept civil as it's meant to teach and educate, not offend others or tear people down. I hope to hear your thoughts and learn more about all of this ^^

[thekingofwinterblog]

The Problem With Yasopp

So like many people I was genuinely surprised by Netflix One Piece, adaption, which turned out the exact opposite of pretty much every single travesty that america has made when adapting Manga and Anime.

It certainly was not without flaws, for one thing it needed to be at least 3-5 episodes longer in order to fix it's pacing issues if it wanted to get all of East Blue into one season, and the fight scenes while very well choreographed, didn't exactly sell me on the superhuman strength of most of these characters.

However, there was one thing that genuinely pissed me off, in large part because the american adapters changed something they didn't like, in order to fit "western sensibilites" and in doing so, completely missing the point, and frankly tragedy of the original context.

That of course, is the character of Usopp's relationship with his parents Yasopp and Banchina, and the rather sad tale of plans going completely arry due to twists of fate.

In the west, the character of Yasopp has been a rather contentious one, for several reasons, but also one that has been a bit altered by the changes from Japanese to English.

Yasopp is critiqued heavily by people who don't like him for abandoning his kid, and his wife to seek adventure on the high seas. Now this is not untrue, but there is a bit of context here that's a bit lost in translation.

And you can really tell that, because the way Netflix portrays Yasopp leaving is the surface level one you might get if you just read Syrup Village arc, and you don't pay any attention at all to the timeline given.

In the neflix series, it's explicitly said that Yasopp left Usopp and his mother while Usopp was still a baby. That is such a common reading, that it's actually what the One Piece Wiki claims happened(Another example of why you should always be critical of Wiki's).

The actual Manga tells a different story.

Yasopp left Syrup village right before Banchina unexpedetly got sick with the disease that ultimatly killed her.

When Usopp is so touchy against Kuro about him badmouting his father, it's not in the context of him idolizing some father he never met, because Usopp and Yasopp knew and loved each other dearly. Usopp's wish to see his dad again isn't some wish to meet the father he only knows through stories, but to reconnect with the dad he loved so much growing up and was sad when he left.

And then of course there is the glory of mistraslation. If you've read this part of the manga, you might rightly be wondering, what sort of woman would be proud of the man who abandoned her to take care of their kid while he sought adventure.

The answer, which the english translation does not give, is a woman who was the one to convince him to go out on that journey in the first place.

Because that is what happened in the orignal manga. It was Banchina, for reasons we don't fully understand or have the context for, eho convinced her husband to go out and seek his dreams.

That's the reason why she is so certain Yasopp will NOT be coming home, but why she is also not bitter about it. She was the one who encouraged Yasopp to go out to sea, while she stayed home and took care of their kid, until he grew old enough to care for himself, and seek the seas himself if he wished.

The story of Yasopp, Usopp and his wife is a genuine tragedy, but not because Yasopp abandoned Usopp before he ever got to know him, but because Usopp's parents made plans for the future, that while not perfect by any stretch, seemed workable enough... only for the entire thing to come crumbling down after Yasopp left due to something as mundane as a random disease.

One can certainly make an argument that this was NOT the best course of action for Yasopp and Banchina to take, but it's not the complete deadbeat dad who abandons his baby trope that the Netflix series portrays it as.

Further hammering in that this was a bit more complicated than that, Yasopp seems to have been one of the very first crew members Shanks tried to recruit, having sought him out not long after Roger died... And Yasopp seems to have flat out rejected him, as he stayed with Banchina for years and years afterwards.

It adds a lot of context to the idea that Banchina was the one who ultimately convinced Yasopp to go out and chase his dreams while she took care of the kid... Because it took years and years for it to ultimately conclude at this course of action. Yasopp would continue to reject Shanks offer to join him for years to instead to take care of his wife and kid, until about a year before Shanks met Luffy, when his wife told him to go.

It's a hell of a lot more nuanced and interesting than what Netflix did, that's for damn sure.

[hah-studios]

Just a bunch of random Wonderland of Oz stuff. Enjoy~

[agreatartist1]

The School Carnival Comparison

1st Picture: George and Harold made the very first School Carnival when they became "Principals for the Day".

2nd Picture: In Cutfem (Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie), Captain (Who was disguised as Mr. Krupp) ordered the second School Carnival to "Make his school fun again". ("Free the Children!")

3rd Picture: In Tetocu (The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants) S1 EP7, The Wall Painters painted the third School Carnival. The "AI-Generated" mural includes George, Harold, and other new classmates enjoying this place with happiness and despair.

[fishtail-tavra]

Dreamed of 1980’s animated adaptation of Age of Resistance (in the style of the last unicorn) and to be honest it was super fun

They pushed everything into one, hour and a half movie, so a lot of things that were secrets weren’t anymore and the set up got changed to move things right to the climax-

So everyone knows the Skeksis are evil and eating people, but the Skeksis are holding everyone hostage saying the Dark Crystal will die without them (taking all of Thra with it) and THEY will die without Gelfling essence, so from the very start tithes include sacrifices and the retuning of the drained people and

In my dream I cared more about the gays though, meaning Tavra and Onica.

Tavra got introduced arriving late to some big party Mayrin was hosting for the visiting Skeksis- no actually, it was for Brea? Some kind of coming of age thing?- anyway, Tavra trips and falls on her face coming in the doors and everyone’s very O_O; except her sisters who are already running over to say hi

She tripped though bc she saw ONICA in the crowd, disguised, and there were a lot of shots of her in the background during the main action of the party, looking worried and discreetly talking with Totally Not Onica while spilling things on herself absentmindedly or having to get tugged out of the way gently by Onica before she runs into/got run into by someone else

(there’s a morning scene later where we see them in bed together- very PG- both still fully dressed bc Tavra was up most of the night worrying- but Onica is watching Tavra sleep now, reaching out to touch her recently shortened hair (more on that later), and Tavra wakes up from that, smiling, and it’s the first time in the movie we see her really smile so)

In my dream I was mostly busy looking at screen caps and gifs of these two, but there was other changes I had fun with, like BADASS ARCHER NAIA

Naia showing up at the last big battle-

(right before the Skeksis get spooked into unleash the garthim and the clans all scatter desperately hoping at least one Gelfling survives the slaughter long enough to fulfil the Far-Dream that Onica led them into dreaming together blah blah)  

-with this MASSIVE bow, bigger than she is, (lots of cool shots of her arms and back muscles whenever she drew it) and to fire the thing she actually needs to be either standing on something (usually her brother) (or one time both Kylan and Amri stood in for a single Gurjin) or she needs to be airborne

She and Gurjin had this trick where he’d kneel down and she’d run and jump on him, he’d boost her up, and she’d use her wings to slow her fall long enough to get off a shot or two before landing again

She didn’t used it to kill anyone (except Arathim) bc movie Naia still was big on not having the Mystics as collateral damage for stopping the Skeksis,

But she did get a few really dramatic shots- once shattering a Skeksis’s jeweled staff when they were using it to hypnotized and then almost kill someone- and another where (after her own bow got broken) she picks up urVa’s bow (MUCH bigger than hers) and uses her legs while lying on the ground wounded to shoot a flask of essence out of a skeksis hand before they can drink it

In this adaption though Brea is the one who really gets the rebellion kicking, still by reading something, but not a book this time

The movie had Brea going through the trial by wing that her grandmother started as like a coming of age/proof of power to rule kinda thing, where the women who lead the Vapra have to fly the dangerous winds of Raunip’s Pass alone, reach this one high spot where Raunip left an inscription, read it and bring back a stone from the pile siting nearby

This rock pile and inscribed stone is actually the movie version of Lore,

only this time Lore was created by ye oldie Tavra (Raunip’s Friend) to keep her friend Raunip company long after she was dead, and as a way to show no hard feelings for the fight they had over the UrSkeks.

But when Raunip left for the last time (passing through the mountains of Tavra’s home and what would later get named Raunip’s pass) he left Lore behind in the cliffs overlooking Ha’rar, so the Dream-Stitched stone could watch over Tavra’s people even after he was gone

This choked me up every time dream me saw a dream post about it ngl

Anyway, Seladon the 1st, Mayrin, Seladon the 2nd, and Tavra had all just flown up there, seen some old oddly etched rocks, the dedication from Raunip to his friend Tavra, shrugged and grabbed a rock before leaving

(the size of the rock you could manage to haul back was also part of the trial and Seladon was feeling both worried for ‘airheaded’ Brea and insecure knowing her little sister was probably going to bring back a larger stone than Seladon- with her crooked wing- had felt safe carrying)

Only Brea actually takes an interest the ancient writing and the symbols and the odd carvings and she gets distracted clearing away some dirt and rubble

underneath she finds the Dream-Stitching, activates it, gets a lore dump from ye oldie Tavra’s memories AND gets Lore itself to wake up, when it turns out to be able to play recordings of Raunip’s voice etched into stone- Tavra’s real gift to him, a way for him to Dream-Stitch his memories and be remembered even without vliya- so Brea ALSO gets all of RAUNIP’S fears and confessions about his involvement with the second great conjunction and the UrSkeks and the shattering and how things have gone downhill since then and

Brea’s family is getting increasingly worried she’s taking so long, what if she got smashing on the rocks by the winds, what if she’s hurt and needs help-

and the Skeksis get a chance to be evil and manipulative commenting that if Brea isn’t strong enough to follow in her grandmother’s flight path then maybe it’s the will of Thra that she fails this challenge and never comes home

I think I remember this being one of those moments where you can see everyone’s different reactions in a single frame, and it went something like Mayrin: devastated, Seladon: flinching and cringing, Tavra: looking absolutely murderous.

This is when Tavra steps forward and when questioned says she’s going to go look for her sister, since it was the will of Thra that they BE sisters in the first place, and Seladon hesitates before also saying she’ll go with Tavra

But that’s when Brea comes home with an entire rock monster and sort of accidentally starts a rebellion by asking questions, so

The night BEFORE this, the party scene, with the tithing and the prepping Brea for her big day, there had been this moment when the drained Gelflings were returned home, and Mira was one of them

And so Rian had come too, because up until this moment the “crystal anointed” were kept in seclusion, hooded and veiled, to keep a general panic from breaking out, and they only were released back to their own family in the clan they came from

(an information isolation tactic, to help the Skeksis spread rumors of each clan paying more than the other, or of their offered Gelfling being less worthy of the Crystal’s light and THAT’S why they are Like That Now, but the other clans aren’t being effected, no no no it’s totally just you, and you’re also having to give more people because the richer clans are paying more in tithes to send fewer offerings, so really the ones you should be mad at are the OTHER CLANS, not the Skeksis, the Skeksis don’t care how they get their sacrifices, the Skeksis only care about maintaining the Crystal that maintains all life on Thra obviously-)

Rian followed them to Ha’rar (with Gurjin) (and Naia because Naia’s not letting her twin go off into maybe danger without her) to finally reunite with Mira, but she’s been SO badly drained he barely recognizes her and she DOESN’T recognize him,

Cue very sad scene of Rian trying to help her remember, and after a bit she does reach out to dreamfast, like its instinct, only nothing happens, and Naia (the healer) checks and declares she doesn’t have enough vliya to dreamfast with- in fact, she doesn’t have enough to stay alive with, even. She isn’t just old and drained looking. She’s dying.

Rian is horrified, Rian breaks down, Rian shouts at the Skeksis while crying and holding Mira close,

The Skeksis don’t like that and we get a fun dramatic party screeches to a halt scene as the General gets up and draws his sword

Dream me thought it was very fun that Gurjin still got his hero moment, causing a distraction by taking on the castle guards that came here with the Skeksis so Rian could get Mira away

(also callback to the first movie, with a drained and totally out of it Mira still managing to break her and Rian’s fall with her wings when he has to throw them off a cliff)

(he totally thought they were gonna die together and was fine with that)

(instead they land on a Sifa ship and WOOO YEAH TAE AND ETHRI ARE HERE totally not because Oinca had a feeling it would be good and convenient if they parked their ship in this very specific spot)

Back in Ha’rar, Gurjin is captured by the guard, a pissed Naia challenges and fights the general about it

(there was a scene were the Skeksis realize Naia and Gurjin are twins and get Excited about that)

So they make a deal with Naia, if she wins, her brother will go free, if she loses… they both will go to the crystal together.

And while all THIS was happening, BREA ran off to fetch Tavra, who’d slipped away at some point, and runs in on the secret that her big stern sister is very much kissing a Sifa, which these days is Very Very illegal, but Brea’s just shocked to see very serious soldier Tavvra actually kissing anyone-

She remembers to tell Tavra what’s happening at the party, Tavra dives out the nearest window to get there faster, Onica suggests she and Brea take a detour along the way

(the detour is to set up a small tricky sabotage that will let Naia escape in moment)

The first time we see Tavra do anything cool in the movie is when she breaks through a window, sword drawn, and slashes at the General’s hand to make him drop Naia when he has her by the throat

Tavra and the General duel, Naia uses this distraction to attack the guards holding Gurjin and they exit stage right pursued by more guards, Seladon is freaking out and Mayrin calls for Tavra to stand down-

And in the tags of one post about this, ppl talk about how earlier in the movie it was set up how Gelfling don’t normally cut there hair short, since hair is kinda like tree rings or roots to them, so getting rid of it is like throwing away your life up till then and wanting to forget/distance yourself from it

(a thing traditionally associated with criminals, outlaws, Gelflings who went against their families)

BUT lately short hair has ALSO been used by rebels, the rumored Gelflings who refuse to pay tithes or offer up people to the castle

So this scene comes up, Tavra's duel, where the General says something like “blah blah traitorous Vapra, blah, oath breaking Gelfling scum”

And Tavra’s just like, it’s not breaking a vow to defend the people I’ve sworn to protect- which makes the General so mad he tries decapitating her, only she just kneels in response and bows her head-

So the sword cuts off her braid of hair instead. Big crowd reaction shot and gasp

(also revelation that Tavra’s hair is really wavy/curly when it’s short and not tied back, I don’t know why dream me thought that detail was super fun)    

(tags on this post point out that this is kinda like, symbolism of how the Skeksis have being cutting Gelfling’s off from their actual old laws and traditions while making Gelflings bow to them instead)

And the other Skeksis sees this, hears the murmurs and muttering, sees the very bad PR image of a Skeksis about to kill a princess who is kneeling on the floor before him WHILE ALL THEIR PERSONAL GUARDS ARE MISSING and rushes in to pull the General back before he can split Tavra down the middle

The party ends… awkwardly, with the Skeksis placating the crowd by commending Tavra (through gritted beaks) for withstanding their ‘test’ of her loyalty and duty to her vows as a paladin, which they totally did on purpose, never would have actually killed anyone nope

They just barely restrain most of their rage when the guards come back (covered in odd powders that make them sneeze and slipping on boots covered in grease) to report that the three ‘criminals’ have escaped with their ‘abducted’ ‘prisoner’ (Mira)

annnnnnd they’re forced to accept Mayrin’s offer of Tavra leading her soldiers on the search, since they’re the only ones who know Ha’rar well enough to do it

(quick scene of Tavra directing her paladins to search the mountains and the cliffs and the village and the valley, and… no, not the seashore or the coast. Without the help of a Sifa they wouldn’t survive long there and would have to turn inland soon anyway. it’s not like there are any Sifa up here right now. Right? Right.)

I think I also remember that Deet gets introduced while she’s dreamfasting a giant taint-maddened nebrie-

(she can’t heal them, but as long as she’s dreamfasting with them SHE can take on the pain and horror of the taint, and when she sings while doing that they fall peacefully asleep, letting anyone nearby get safely away)

And it turns out she’s been working so hard to find out what’s going on with the tainted creatures of Thra she’s become sensitive to the presence of the taint, AND good enough at listening with her vliya that she can hear and understand what the Trees are saying, even though their voices have almost gone quiet

The trees lost contract with each other as the taint spread (some of them being taken over by it even) so Deet got sent out by her clan’s Tree to contact / warn / bring messages to the other trees and their clans

There was still that cool moment of Kylan dreamstitching the warning onto flower petals and everyone watching them fly off in a cloud so I guess Deet recruited him at some point… or no… maybe that was to summon the clans to what ended up being the big final battle?

I feel like there was a ‘lighting the beacons’ scene where all the clans lit their blue flames and a moment (echoing the opening of the tv show) where we saw their leaders all standing together in dreamfast on a map vision of Skarith land, reaching out to each other around a shared blue fire….

Anyway taking on the suffering of the taint was slowly tainting Deet herself, and she kept lashing out in pain more, or getting lost in the nightmare visions of the crystal’s breaking  

She got one cool scene at the end though.

After the Gelfling come together to Far-Dream the prophecy of how the Skeksis might fall and the Skeksis see this and, in a panic, unleash all their Garthim before they can even control them properly, leading to many Gelfling being killed instead of captured for draining-

Deet is one of the ones caught and brought back to be drained, but she’s laughing when they strap her into the draining chair, and when she calls out,

all the tainted creatures she’s helped over the movie wake up in time to cause havoc on any nearby garthim-

and so do the Trees, reconnected briefly THROUGH the spreading taint BY Deet as she’s being DRAINED by the crystal, and the connection lasts just long enough for their roots to soak up as much of the taint as they can while tearing up the ground around the castle, breaking the crystal (and the taint’s) direct connection to the rest of Thra-

The trees all die, burning up in a last blaze of vliya along with Deet, but the tainted creatures aren't tainted anymore, and outside the barren land around the castle everything else starts growing in healthy again

Turns out it was the world that was feeding life to the crystal, not the other way around

(another skeksis lie)

Which makes the skeksis ultra SUPER unhappy the garthim rampage killed off so many useful Gelflings before their essence could be drained

The stinger ending was Kylan finishing writing all this down and hiding the book just before garthim burst in, the shot of his hand desperately tucking the book away-

-jump cutting to Jen’s hand gently pulling it’s crumbling pages out of hiding who knows how many trine later

Final shot being a slow pull back and pan out of Jen calling to Kira about what he found, and her excitedly calling back that she thinks a small nearby sapling might have just talked to her, so maybe he could read the book aloud to both of them?

end credits roll over the scene as Jen reads and Kira clears away weeds from a young baby tree, while fizzgig gets chased around the clearing by a whole pack of little angry baby fizzgigs

And that’s it, that’s the movie adaption that doesn’t exist but I got to be in the fandom of for a few glorious minutes

The last unicorn animation style REALLY went well with the vibes. loved it.

[regaliasonata]

Missed opportunity with not adapting Donbrothers, cause you could've gotten Antonio and Ethan to co-mentor that team. Two techy dudes, one who develops grid power by himself and the other into video games and shit, perfect for that.

The team up we need

[tychodorian]

This is definitely the most PAINFUL panel I've had to draw in this comic so far. It literally hurt my heart to draw it.

We are officially 130 updates and 80 subs into the comic on Tapas, so thank you!

You can read Heaven's Equal every week on Wednesday by subbing on Tapas and Webtoon. Interested? Check out my pinned post.

[dora-papp]

David Tennant and a Verne adaptation. Sure, OK, that's my thing. But then I hear Hans Zimmer. I mean I can actually hear him before even seeing his name at the opening credits. WHAT! Perfection. This summer I got to hear his music live, which meant that I saw the amazing Tina Guo as well. Damn, what a magical night that was.

[artdecoandmodernist]

American actress Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan during the filming of the 1974 film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel 'The Great Gatsby'.

Costume design by Theoni V. Aldredge.

Photo by Eva Sereny.

Through Her Lens: The Stories Behind the Photography of Eva Sereny for sale at Amazon.

[pollyaunt]

CULPA MIA/MY FAULT BEST WATTPAD ADAPTION IN FACT BEST BOOK ADAPTION TILL DATE AND NO I WONT TAKE ANY CRITICISM.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Zoro VS Mihawk - Manga/Anime

So while comparing the fight between Zoro vs Mihawk across the two main mediums, I noticed some interesting ways the two differed to tell the same story, but with more emphasis on different beats to tell two somewhat different versions of the same tale, and frankly, i think the Anime version took what was already great, and for the most part improved upon it.

Starting off with the beginning of the fight, Zoro in the manga is much more cautious, and has internal doubts, noting he genuinely didnt think he would meet Mihawk at this early point, to which his oppenent rather unsubtly tells him that he's nowhere near the level of power or experience to fight him.

Zoro is guarded, keeps his swords at the ready, expecting this fight to start at any point.

meanwhile Anime Zoro is more confident, more self assured, and despite the fight of his life being in sight, he's more at ease.

He approaches this as just another duel, not the potential end of his journey one way or another.

What happens next thus has two completely different connotations, despite basically being the same point in both. The point being that Zoro is about to learn just how much farther the real world is ahead of him.

In both versions, when Mihawk mocks him by deciding on merely using his knife, Zoro gets pissed and charges in, but there signifigant differences between each version.

In the Manga, Zoro's self confidence at seeing the sheer cliff that is the difference between him and Mihawk, begins to crumble immediatly.

Rather than remain calm, or stoic, his self assuredness crumbles as he futily tries to fall back on his prefered, offensive style of brute forcing his way through problems through power and speed.

meanwhile, this is also the turning point for zoro's confidence in the anime, but it's a much more slow burn. Zoro's belief in himself, his own strength and resolutions, doesnt immediatly begin to crumble. instead its put under a searing hot flame as pressure is applied.

being more confident, he in turn has much further to fall, and thats what the animated version puts all its emphasis on.

The same dance begins, but unlike the manga, Mihawk does not end it almost immediatly after a short clash. He instead plays defensively, letting Zoro throw everything he has at him, and very easily dodging and deflecting every blow.

It's a much more slow burn, as Zoro's will begins to slowly come to the realization that his body cant keep up with it.

Then, after Zoro has one, single, brief moment where his concentration breaks, as he thinks back to Kuina, Mihawk immediatly notices, dodges out of the way rather than another parry, and punishes Zoro HARD with a neck chop that seemingly almost breaks his neck.

Zoro then has a near death flashback to Kuina doing this exact thing, capitalizing on his own moment of weakness to deliver what could have been a decisive blow, only to let him live by showing delibertate, and humiliating mercy.

This is for all intents and purposes a repeat of that Duel so long ago for Zoro, matching himself with a vastly superior foe... And with that foe and rival now gone forever, the only foe remaining who is worthy of filling that hole, is Mihawk.

He flashes back to the promise he made with her, and her subsequent stupid, pointless death that robbed him of his friend, and the one, true goal he had in life. The foe he could never defeat despite all his efforts.

he then stumbles back to his feet, and staggers forward, delivering a basic, sloppy cut that Mihawk lazily dodges.

the camera becomes shaky, the backgrounds become wobbly, and you really feel just how much that blow shook him to his core.

and when hsi cut fails, he collapses sideways and unto his back, his body refusing to listen to his will as he just lies there, panting as Mihawk coldly looks down on him.

it is here, as the only thing Zoro can do, is glare back at him, that Mihawk asks what Zoro's motivations are, while also making a point out of calling him a weakling.

its also a much more dismissive tone than his manga counterpart.

He just asks, no cruelty, or spite or anything, just matter of factly asking the weakling ahead of him why he seeks the kind of power Mihawk has.

By contrast, Manga Mihawk very deliberatly insults Zoro's abilities, as rather than just ask the question, puts a lot of emphasis on the label of Weak.

despite arguably being beaten even worse in the anime, The animated counterpart does not at this point have the disdain that Manga Mihawk has for his Zoro. why? Because the animated Zoro does not buckle. He came into this duel with his head held high, and despite being utterly trounced, he has shown no hesitation or wavering in his convictions. The Manga version has, and so Mihawk has nothing but disdain for him.

Anime Mihawk might not respect Zoro, but he doesnt despise him either.

Which in turn leads into the next scene, the most important one in this entire fight. The moment Zoro is stabbed.

It is also here that the anime takes what has so far been a much more dynamic fight than the manga, and builds upon it to turn this into a work of Art.

It slows down, and not in the terrible way later One Piece does where what should be over in a flash is stretched out across minutes, with characters barely moving.

No it slows down along with the beatings of a heart.

Zoro's heart.

the scenery around as it slows down begins to fade to white and black as the world around is reduced to two things as the heart begins to beat faster and faster.

the anime visually, and audible tells us withouth any need for drawn out exposition, that Zoro in the Anime has come to understand what is about to happen.

This is it.

His instincts tell him that it's do or die, because the next attack will be the one that truly decides the match.

and then, as he prepares his attack, and the world fades back into view, Zoro once more makes the mistake of leaving himself wide open as he readies what he thinks will be his finishing move.

It happens again.

Rather keeping his head in the game, Zoro instead thinks back to another person who matters to him, who he draws strenght from. His captain, Monkey D. Luffy, the man who believes fully in his strength and that he does in fact got this.

And just like the previous time Zoro let his focus dip, Mihawk pounces, nailing Zoro with a basic, forward thrust with the dagger that Zoro so dismissed.

His power attack defeated by a simple basic move, that any fencer would know well.

Meanwhile, in the manga, while the same thing does happen, with the same flashback, there is no greater thematic thread that ties the entire fight before this, to this moment speciffically.

While there is the fact that he defeats zoro very deliberatly with a basic fencing thrust, there is nothing here that elevates him as a swordsman above zoro the way the anime did it. He was simply faster and stronger than him.

Zoro did not make any obvious mistakes here, he just wasnt able to keep up, whereas in the anime Zoro repeated the exact same misstep that almost cost him his head a few moments earlier.

And of course, there is nothing to suggest zoro realised that this moment would be the decisive one, the way the anime handled it.

What follows though, is also the only part of this fight where the original manga is just better.

When Zoro and Mihawk have their debate about why zoro isnt stepping back rather than have the knife just a few inches away from his heart, The anime for whatever reason decides to have the entire thing be very fast paced, whereas in the manga, you get the sense the exchange took a while.

Despite this the way the anime handles it, does tie into the differences between each version of Mihawk.

this is after all the moment that both zoro's earns their respective rivals respect, though for slighty different reasons.

In the anime version, Mihawks brusque tone and refusal to not just ask things with a casual, non drawn out manner does add to the way that he is suprised, but not baffled by the way that Zoro does not in any way back down from possible death in the face of his own ambition.

Anime Zoro wins Mihawk's respect by the fact that even now, even after facing death so close, his will, the one thing that never wavered in this entire fight did not give out, even at the prospect of dying.

Meanwhile, the way Manga Mihawk's dialogue comes across as more drawn out, makes him come across as far more baffled and genuinely surprised by the fact that at his seeming end, Zoro did not break as he was sure he would.

And by that, he proves to him that he wasnt bluster. Zoro, despite being so much weaker is the real deal in terms of conviction and will.

And so, as Mihawk asks for his name and draws the strongest sword in the world, what follows has a very different tone across mediums, both for Zoro and Mihawk.

both of them understands that this will be the last clash, but Anime Zoro understands it in the context that there was a decisive clash before this, and he failed then. There will not be a third one.

This is it.

and of course in both anime and manga, the following clash is decisive, and other than drawing more attention on the broken swords in the manga, both mediums handles zoro's reaction the same. He lost, and he has accepted his defeat.

No where they are different is Mihawk.

In the Manga, Mihawk is ready with another clash, fully expecting Zoro to whip around and finish the fight, while in the anime, the process of Zoro sheating his blade, then dramatically turning around, and leaving himself wide open as a sign of accepting an honorable defeat, is much more drawn out.

While he has his blade out, he obviously is not expecting this fight to continue, and is just waiting to see how zoro handles it.

by contrast, Manga Mihawk is far, far more genuine surprised by Zoro's choice of accepting defeat, and so his ultimate decision to spare him come across much more of a sudden impulse, while the Animated Mihawk's decision seems much more planned, that he decided on it after pulling out the knife from Zoro's knife instead.

In any case, this masterful adaption of one, single fight, where it took what was already there to create a true piece of art is a far, far cry the abyssmal way modern One Piece handles its fights.

[hah-studios]

Sharing stories

[waffelton]

so next year we’re getting Daisy Jones and the Six, Shadow and Bone S2, probably Heartstopper S2, The Colour Purple musical movie, American Born Chinese, and probably All the Light We Cannot See. It’s a good year for the book lovers.

[agreatartist1]

Every Final Sentence Of Tetocu S1

EP1: "No!"

EP2: "Where are my clothes?!"

EP3: "Yeah!"

EP4: "We got it!"

EP5: "Legends."

EP6: "I can't wait to eat food that doesn't fight back!"

EP7: "Okay, maybe just a peek."

EP8: "Seriously, they don't tell me anything."

EP9: "So good."

EP10: "Oh my har!"

EP11: "Wha?"

EP12: "All will be revealed, except for the robe."

EP13: "For i am Future Melvin Sneedly, and you three are GONE!!!"

[throughflowersshineslight]

This is who I see as James when reading young mungo.