#ch474

[opbackgrounds]

One of Oda's great unappreciated talents is his ability to keep his world and story consistent even as the scope outgrew his original plans by several orders of magnitude. I think there's enough in Thriller Bark to know that Oda always planned for Kuma to be a secret Revolutionary, but I doubt anything but the broadest strokes of his backstory was hammered out until much later. The Eleven Supernovas, and thus Bonney, weren't even conceived until Saboady, and even if you wanted to say that Oda already knew Kuma let himself be turned into a robot because he had a kid, he had to twist the threads of the story to turn Bonney into that kid.

To be perfectly honest, Kuma during his introduction is a whole lotta smoke. All the reader knows is his moniker and that he had the reputation for committing atrocities. That's as close to a blank slate as you can get while still building hype, and that blank slate lets Oda slot in whatever he feels is appropriate once he gets to the point where Kuma's backstory is important. That flexibility is a wonderful tool, but Oda's careful to keep the old consistent with the new, and that's enormously difficult when writing serialized fiction over a period of 25+ years

[webtoon-devourer]

hangyeol baek is the single most tragic character in lookism holy hell

[tillman-posts]

house design house-plan-ch474 10 https://ift.tt/2NfRgrp

[naruto1to700]

Chapter 474

[opbackgrounds]

I enjoy how Oda shows the maturation of the crew during the fight with Oars. It's fitting that it starts off with Usopp insisting that Luffy will save the day, since he was the one who showed the most doubt during Water 7. He's overcome that and reinstated his utmost faith in his captain's ability, but as always Zoro is the down to earth realist of the crew. He's not doubting Luffy's strength, but taking into account his very real weakness to trickery and deception. It helps that Oda starts the chapter by showing Luffy being tricked by Moriah's shadow into running back out to the woods, far away from where he should be. It's the narrative going out if its way to prove that Zoro's right, and this is very much something they should be worried about.

And instead of arguing about it or getting freaked out, the rest of the crew agree that Zoro's got a point and they can't sit around twiddling their thumbs waiting to be saved. The speech ends with Zoro once again affirming is faith in Luffy's abilty to defeat Moriah. It all feels very appropriate for a good number two, but that kind of stability and practicality isn't unusual for Zoro. It's the fact that the rest of the crew rallies behind him is what really solidifies the crew's growth as a group. This isn't a bunch of individuals who happen to be fighting for a common goal; they are the Straw Hat Pirates.

[opbackgrounds]

I'm sorry, their designs are so silly, I can't. I love that in a scene between two of the strongest people in the world, one has little paw prints on his shirt and a bucket hat with bear ears, and the other is a goth shallot

[opbackgrounds]

Okay, this made me laugh harder than it should have

[opbackgrounds]

It is incredible how well Kuma is able to play Moriah by preying on what he has to know is his greatest insecurity. The real coup de grace is that little inconspicuous offer to help at the end, added almost as an afterthought. If Moriah agrees, then Kuma can poof the Straw Hats wherever he wants to like he did on Sabaody. And if he refuses, well, we see how angry it makes him, and how his injured pride causes him to make stupid mistakes. Hell, Kuma has seen how badly the Straw Hats have wrecked Thriller Bark already. It could be that he genuinely believes Luffy could defeat Moriah unaided. The little push just helped get things started in the right direction.

The whole conversation is another one of those moments that takes on so much more meaning in retrospect, but even without that retrospect it's still impactful. I don't have to know Moriah's entire backstory to understand exactly why he's reacting the way he is, and that alone makes it one of my favorite bits of writing in the entire arc. So often the big personalities of One Piece can cause characters to feel more like caricatures, but this moment feels very human.

[opbackgrounds]

Unlike Perona, Moriah is actually taller than Kuma. But like Perona, he isn't the one with power during this conversation. As Moriah acts like a petulant child, he is shown to look like one next to the more reasonable and rational Kuma

[opbackgrounds]

I love when Oda lets his characters have emotions so big that they distort the very world around them, Loony Tunes-style.

[opbackgrounds]

This is a perfect little hype nugget dropped in during a conversation that ultimately has very little to do with Blackbeard

[opbackgrounds]

And Zoro was never shown struggling to control Shusui ever again

[opbackgrounds]

Chapter 473 marks yet another transition point in the Thriller Bark arc, and while the Straw Hats vs Oars is mostly straight up humor, Oda takes the time to remind the reader that there are actual stakes if they don't win this fight. It's appropriate that this speech by Zoro continues into the next chapter after Kuma's introduced, as it becomes immediately apparent that this new Warlord isn't someone to be trifled with. Oda ratchets up the tension with Kuma, then reminds the reader that the real importance isn't Oars, but the crew's missing shadows

It's this sense for pacing that helps Oda transition from comedic and dramatic moments seamlessly. It's not jarring when the mostly funny Oars fight later turns deadly serious, because it's something Oda has primed his audience to be ready for

[opbackgrounds]

Hogback's greatest medical miracle is having Oars be able to function without any of his abdominal muscles, but even so, I must admit the little cockpit is very cool

[opbackgrounds]

Ayy, we've got another decapitated Kuma panel!