#creative limitations

[just-french-me-up]

I'm sorry, cringe culture can't come to the phone right now. Why? Oh, cause it's dead!

[brandonwheelz1]

Differences Between Digital and Outdoor Advertising

Differences Between Digital and Outdoor Advertising

CONTENT OVERVIEW

I. Introduction

Brief overview of the topic

II. Digital Advertising

Definition

Types of Digital Advertising

Advantages of Digital Advertising

III. Outdoor Advertising

Definition

Types of Outdoor Advertising

Advantages of Outdoor Advertising

IV. Differences between Digital and Outdoor Advertising

Key Differences

V. Conclusion

I. Introduction:

In today's world, businesses have several options when it comes to advertising. With the rise of digital technology, digital advertising has become a popular choice. But, outdoor advertising still holds its ground. In this article, we'll look at the differences between digital and outdoor advertising and help you understand the benefits of each type of advertising.

II. Digital Advertising:

Digital advertising refers to the use of digital channels such as websites, social media, search engines, and mobile apps to promote a product, service, or brand. It allows for targeted audience reach and measurable results, with the ability to make real-time adjustments. Digital advertising is cost-effective, but can be more expensive compared to other forms of advertising.

Types of Digital Advertising:

Search engine advertising

Social media advertising

Mobile advertising

Video advertising

Advantages of Digital Advertising:

Targeted audience

Cost-effective

Measurable results

Real-time adjustments

III. Outdoor Advertising:

Outdoor advertising refers to advertising through physical media such as billboards, transit advertisements, and street advertising. It has a large audience reach and can be cost-effective for high impact ads, creating a tangible impact and good for building brand awareness. However, it provides limited measurable results compared to digital advertising.

Types of Outdoor Advertising:

Billboards

Transit advertisements

Street advertising

Building advertisements

These are all types of outdoor advertising, which refers to advertisements that are displayed in public spaces outside of buildings. Each of the listed forms refers to a specific way in which outdoor advertising is accomplished:

Billboards are large, freestanding structures that display advertisements, often along highways and in high-traffic areas.

Transit advertisements refer to advertisements that appear on vehicles like buses and trains, as well as on subway or bus stations.

Street advertising involves posters, banners or signs attached to street furniture, buildings or on the street itself.

Building advertisements refer to the use of buildings or their facades as a display surface for advertisements.

Advantages of Outdoor Advertising:

Large audience reach

Cost-effective for high impact ads

Tangible impact

Good for building brand awareness

IV. Differences between Digital and Outdoor Advertising:

Key Differences:

Audience reach

Cost-effectiveness

Measurable results

Tangible impact

Flexibility

Creative limitations

Geolocation targeting

Environmental impact

Reach and frequency

Interactivity

Audience reach: Digital advertising allows for targeted audience reach through channels such as websites, social media, and search engines. Outdoor advertising, on the other hand, has a larger audience reach through physical media such as billboards and transit advertisements.

Cost-effectiveness: Digital advertising can be cost-effective, particularly when compared to traditional forms of advertising such as television and print. However, the cost of digital advertising can vary greatly depending on the specific channel and target audience. Outdoor advertising can also be cost-effective, particularly for high impact ads such as billboards.

Measurable results: Digital advertising offers measurable results through metrics such as clicks, conversions, and impressions. This allows advertisers to adjust their campaigns in real-time to optimize performance. Outdoor advertising, however, provides limited measurable results and relies more on brand recall and impact.

Tangible impact: Outdoor advertising creates a tangible impact with its physical presence, particularly for high impact ads such as billboards. Digital advertising, on the other hand, relies more on the use of metrics to measure its impact.

Flexibility: Digital advertising allows for real-time adjustments and changes to campaigns, whereas outdoor advertising typically requires more lead time for changes or updates.

Creative limitations: Digital advertising has the ability to use interactive and dynamic elements such as video and animation, whereas outdoor advertising has limited creative capabilities.

Geolocation targeting: Digital advertising allows for targeting specific geographic locations through GPS technology and IP addresses, whereas outdoor advertising is limited in its ability to target specific geographic locations.

Environmental impact: Outdoor advertising has a potential impact on the environment through the production and disposal of physical media such as billboards. Digital advertising, on the other hand, has a lesser impact on the environment but may consume energy in data centers.

Reach and frequency: Digital advertising allows for a large number of impressions and a high frequency of exposure to the target audience, whereas outdoor advertising has a more limited reach and frequency.

Interactivity: Digital advertising allows for two-way communication and interactivity with the audience, whereas outdoor advertising is limited in its ability to engage with the audience.

In conclusion, both digital and outdoor advertising have their advantages and disadvantages. The type of advertising that is right for your business will depend on your specific advertising goals, target audience, and budget. It's important to understand the differences between digital and outdoor advertising to make an informed decision.

V. Conclusion:

In conclusion, both digital and outdoor advertising have their advantages and disadvantages. The type of advertising that is right for your business will depend on your specific advertising goals, target audience, and budget. It's important to understand the differences between digital and outdoor advertising so you can make an informed decision for your business.

[butchjesus]

ok but for real now. since tiktok has so throughly disappointed on this trend. who is your strangest hear me out / most bizarre crush? freaks and headscratchers only edition

[hydrangeapartridge]

Spiderman Kiss (Pro Hitoshi Shinsou x reader)

Seeing Hitoshi hanging upside down like spiderman altered my brain chemistry, and I had to write a little something including the iconic spiderman kiss (from 2002... I'm getting old...).

So here it is! (under the cut).

It is a stand alone drabble but in my head it is set in the universe of my ProHero Shinsou x Cat Café owner reader fanfiction Chocolate Kisses and Catpuccinos. (So the characters are adults).

You cursed against your idiocy as you struggled to lock your shop. You had forgotten your gloves again this morning, and with your fingers numbed from the cold winter air, you couldn’t get the damn key in the small keyhole. You let out a frustrated groan when a gust of icy wind blew in your hair. You nuzzled deeper into the too big scarf around your neck, seeking its warmth, and the scent of its real owner. The scent of him, fresh and flowery. It gave you courage, and you finally succeeded in locking the damn door. You indulged into a little victory dance before stepping away from the door and heading to your bike. Unlocking it was difficult too with how cold your hands were. You started feeling frustrated. It was late and you were eager to be back in the warmth of your home.

You were struggling with the bike lock when you heard noises coming from the alley beside your shop. Curious, you left your bike to head there. For all you knew, you could find a stray cat in need of care. You loved cats. And so did he.

So you stepped into the dark alley. It was a bit narrow, barely enough for two people to fit in. Another noise caught your ears, and you yelped when a voice followed.

“Kitten”

Of course you recognized Hitoshi’s voice the second you heard it, and the jolt of fear that seized you gave way to a warm feeling of affection. You turned around, looking for your boyfriend; your hero. However, your eyes found no trace of him. You frowned, perplex. You were sure you heard him.

“Are you sure it’s safe to step into dark alleys alone like you just did?”

You turned around again, following his voice. And to your surprise, there he was, but upside down, hanging from the nearby building by clever twists and knots of his capture weapon. At first you recoiled in astonishment upon seeing him starring at you from this unusual position. With how narrow the street was, his face was mere inches from yours, his pretty violet eyes almost at the same level as your gaze. The mask he usually wore over his mouth was lowered around his neck, letting you see the whole expanse of his pale features.

“Hi!” You beamed at him, once the surprise gone, simply happy to see him. He was on patrol duty tonight, so you never hoped to see him before he came home.

“Hi” He lowly replied, a soft smile gracing his thin lips.

You admired his pretty features, simply getting lost in the unexpected joy to see him.

“Is there something on my face?” Hitoshi teased after a moment, and you shook your head, smiling even brighter if possible.

“No, just happy to see you” You honestly told him. “But what are you doing here?”

Hitoshi grinned, and rummaged through one of the many pockets of his uniform. He retrieved something before offering it to you in his opened palm.

“Here, you forgot them this morning” He said, just as your eyes fell onto the pair of wool gloves you usually wore when it was cold.

You carefully took them and put them on. Warmth instantly returned to your numb fingers, the feeling first weird, but then pleasant.

Your eyes met Hitoshi’s again, and you were sure that he could see in your eyes all the affection you had for him. How much you adored him.

“Thank you” You simply whispered, but words alone couldn’t express your deep gratitude.

In a rush of affection, you placed your now gloved hands on his cold cheeks. You barely had time to see surprise paint Hitoshi’s features before you closed your eyes and kissed him.

With the strange position you found yourself into, the kiss felt different. Hitoshi inhaled sharply through his nose when your lips pressed against his, but soon, his lips parted, accepting your kiss.

His lips moved against yours in an unusual dance. Kissing like that in public, so differently from your usual sleepy make-out sessions in the comfy couch in your apartment, made the whole situation thrilling. You were losing yourself in the excitement your hungry kissing brought, keeping Hitoshi’s face in place as he indulged you, his tongue caressing yours until your knees felt weak.

You boyfriend was on duty, and he should be going back to his patrol. You shouldn’t be distracting him like you were. There were more important things for him to do. You knew about that, but in that moment you really did not care.

The kiss went on until your lips felt swollen and your brain turned to mush. Was it because he was starting to feel as light-headed as you, especially while upside-down, or because he remembered his duty, but Hitoshi soon progressively toned down the kiss, placing one last tender peck on your lips before pulling away. He was always the reasonable one.

Your eyes fluttered opened, and you were met with the delicious sight of your boyfriend’s cheeks flushed, and his lips reddened. You had trouble calming your breathing, and you knew you would have even more trouble letting him go. But you had to. His job was important.

If you often felt selfish in your desire to keep him to yourself, Hitoshi was selfless, always putting the job he dreamed of first. But it was alright; you would be seeing him in the morning, as always, when he would be done helping those in need.

“I have to go” Your boyfriend apologetically whispered.

You nodded your head in understanding. You were glad he already went as far as bringing you your gloves.

“Be safe. My hero” You told him, leaving one last caress on his cheek.

[philosophybits]

To achieve great things, we must be self-confined: mastery is revealed in limitation.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Selected Poetry

[nothingofpracticalgardening]

20 Versions of Sherlock Holmes Ranked from Most to Least Likely to Set a Building on Fire in a Fit of Rage

[writingwithfolklore]

Words to Limit in your Final Draft

(None of this advice really applies to dialogue. If it’s in your character’s voice, they can use whatever words they like!)

Suddenly

                This one usually makes people’s list for things to cut. “Suddenly, the door opened.” Turns into, “The door slammed open.”

                As always, we want to make the readers think wow that was sudden! Instead of just telling them so.

Saw/Heard + Felt

                I already explained this in my post here!

Seemed

                There’s a use for seemed in writing when your character is surprised, assuming, or guessing at something. “It seemed impossible.” “The noise seemed to travel for miles.” Etc.

                However, when guessing at someone’s emotions—or a group of people—it’s better to just describe what those people look like. So “He seemed happy” turns into, “he grinned, bouncing on his feet.”

Really/Very

                Instead of “The really big house” try, “the huge house.” Or “His hair was very dark.” Turns into “His hair was inky black.”

That

                If you can take ‘that’ out of a sentence, it usually is stronger than if you don’t. “It was the best cake that she’d ever had!” turns into “It was the best cake she’d ever had!” It reads a bit less clunky.

Then

                Then can be used sometimes, but it’s one of those words that’s easy to overuse. To cut out a lot of your ‘thens’ you can replace them with “and” such as, “He left the house, then got into the car.” Turns into, “He left the house and got into the car.”

Down/Up

                “He sat down” is redundant. “He sat” means the same thing. Same with “She stood up.”

I chose the ones I find the most important, but there’s tons of other words that can be unnecessary or bog down your prose. Let me know which ones I missed! Good luck!

[canisalbus]

I really like Machete and Vasco, but I was wondering how many more OCs you have? I remember seeing some kind of dog deity on your twitter account and I've been wondering who it was ever since. 🤔

You can find most if them in my toyhouse! I still haven't added some of the most recent ones, like Ludovica.

My stats there seem to claim I have 97 characters listed, but none of them are as developed and active as Machete and Vasco. Many have just a design and a couple of core traits.

Unfortunately I can't say which one you might've seen back in twitter.

[asteropescrolls]

"born to live"

darling, you were never born to die...you were born to live. you were born to feel the air splurge through your lungs, to feel the sunlight warming your back, to hear the birds sing early in the morning. may these little joys coat your existence akin to a warm blanket. may they keep your heart beating. never lose the childlike wonder locked in your core, too beautiful a thing it is to let go of.

[viveela]

The Princess has been kidnapped!

Drew this for a fic I've been tryna make for ages, it's finally seeing the light

[rassicas]

Do you have a favorite fan-made Inkling/Octoling hairstyle?

eh, there's a lot of cool ones ive seen but that isnt something i keep track of. when it comes to splatoon oc stuff i p much just keep up with my friends and a select few people. more on brand would be to share some styles from official concept art that i like. for octolings i think these two are really cool, especially the one on the left. the way the upper and underside of the tentacles contrast is very cool

for inklings the one on the left im biased because i used that as inspo for my sona's style. the one on the right i like how its cut into. there's a lot of other concepts im drawn to less so for the shape of the hair itself but for showing interesting colorations and things like. grilling and frying the hair.

related to this, my splatoon OC design take is that its better to not break the 6 tentacle (4 for octolings) guideline. im a firm believer that limitations breed creativity, there is so much that can be done by cutting into tentacles and i think people dont utilize that fact enough. just look at the concept art for inspiration. if you want more strands u can cut into the tentacle vertically, or u can even give them hair extensions. i think you can also stretch the definition of what counts as a tentacle. (however there is some concept art that seemingly breaks this rule. most of it looks really old, and it gets more often broken in octoling designs rather than inklings... a lot of those guideline breaking designs dont look as good imo)

oh yeah, here's where you can see a collection of inkling and octoling hairstyles from the artbooks, for your reference!

[calware]

thinking about doing a month-long event for the homestuck tumblr community to encourage people to make + post fanworks as well as reblog other people's fanworks.... where people can opt-in by being randomly assigned one of two teams (probably red and blue) so that each team has roughly the same amount of members. teams get points for making fanworks and having their posts reblogged, which encourages people to make posts and also reblog the posts made by their team members. and the top 3 people in each team to get the most points get some kind of reward... hmmmm

[tragicsiblings]

@usergif new year, new fonts • day 5 — FAVORITE FONT(S) ⤷ fonts used: Velino (befonts.com), Utopia (wfonts.com)

[notlumenera]

wet cat gains a cat

[ring-a-ling-a-lune]

Scrolling Instagram is always a mistake, but I’ve been seeing a lot of focus on tropes lately. Writers selling their stories using a bulleted list instead of, like, snippets or summaries, people who only consume media with certain themes while never bothering to branch out, stuff like that. I don’t have particularly strong feelings on tropes, but I do feel that reducing a piece of media to neat little boxes is kind of limiting.

It’s like looking at the foundation of a house. You can build something on that? Cool. But you haven’t. It’s not a house. It’s a slab of stone. One with potential, yes, but a slab nonetheless. I don’t care if it’s “friends to enemies, morally gray” if you CANNOT give me any characterization or depth outside of that.

You need to build on these things. A trope is a foundation. It is the base. YOU build from there. YOU put in the legwork to create. Use other tropes as the supports and cornerstones, but flesh out the walls yourself. Give me something that is hand crafted and made with earnest, even if it’s a shack.

“Ahh this work is shallow and falling apart!” In your attempt to remodel the house (you forcibly put things in boxes), you removed a load-bearing wall (erased important nuance), and now the structure is sagging (it’s narratively weak and cannot hold its own).

Maybe I’m being dramatic. If that’s the case, feel free to call me a goober and a loser and a fun-void. I don’t think I’m (entirely) wrong tho. Who knows.

[kikokus]

Lucci and Kaku: An Analysis

I haven’t done long analysis/meta/essay-style posts in a while, but after seeing a comment that amounted to “every time Lucci’s shown an interest in something that doesn’t have to do with killing, Kaku’s involved” it made me think about whether or not that's true and, more specifically, whether or not there’s been sufficient build-up to justify what happens in Chapter 1111.

So let’s explore, shall we?

First of all, basic disclaimer that I’ve been heavily into One Piece since 2008 and Water 7 has been my favorite arc since the first time I read it that summer. Kaku, in turn, has always been one of my top characters in the entire series for various reasons…but this isn’t about him (at least, not entirely), so all of that is just to say that I’ve thought about these characters a lot over the years.

And I think what always struck me about them is that not only are they so fundamentally different, but that realistically Lucci should not tolerate Kaku at all. He’s pretty much everything Lucci’s not, and they’re more-or-less a perfect example of the ‘someone will die…of fun!’ meme in a lot of ways (and honestly it’s what I think of every time I see this card, but I digress):

At the same time, what happened in the latest chapter didn’t surprise me, because there’s been hints all along, and I’ve personally been waiting years for it to pay off…even though part of me thought it never would, or at least not in the way it did!

Still, how did we get here?

But First, A Bit About 相棒

So. Why is the fact that Lucci calls Kaku his “相棒” (aibou) so significant? Mostly because of the…individualistic meaning of the word. It literally translates to ‘partner’, but not in a romantic/life-partner way (not to say that it has never been used like that, but it’s not the inherent meaning of the word).

Unlike words such as 友人 (yuujin), 友達 (tomodachi), and of course, with Luffy, 仲間 (nakama), aibou generally only refers to one person. You can have many friends, teammates, crew members…but only one aibou. So by calling Kaku that, Lucci’s already placing him on a different level to anyone else in CP9 or CP0 and acknowledging openly that Kaku’s important enough to him to have earned that distinction.

Which is why a lot of us were very excited about it, since this is not a common occurrence where Lucci’s concerned.

That aside, let’s get to the actual canon content.

Water 7

Obviously at the beginning we find out they both work at the shipyard, but that in and of itself isn’t entirely significant…until you consider that, since Kalifa is pretty much with Iceburg all the time and Blueno’s running the bar, the two of them are working in much closer proximity to each other than to the other CP9 members in the city. 

The first real indication we get regarding their comfort level with each other comes in chapter 327 when Kaku gets back from examining the Merry and goes to sit down to explain what he’s discovered. Paulie’s the closest to him, but he actually ends up stepping past both him and Lucci in order to sit directly beside Lucci on the same level.

It’s quite a while before we see the two of them alone again, and it doesn’t happen until chapter 339 when they’re speaking with Robin. Of course at the time we’re not supposed to know it’s them, but there’s really nobody else it can be since this is happening at the exact same time that Blueno’s talking with Franky and Kokoro at the bar. So, as will become fairly common, the two of them are again acting as a unit of their own within the larger group.

And then, of course, we get the infiltration of the mansion prior to The Big Reveal (which I’ve spoken about before because for me it’s still the single greatest reveal in the entire manga because of how carefully crafted it is, right down to Kaku’s limited dialogue in this section being completely devoid of his usual speech quirks in the original Japanese text). Once again, Blueno and Kalifa are doing their own things while these two are working together.

This panel has always been interesting to me because immediately prior to this Lucci says he can’t let Paulie live, and then he decides to just restrain him instead. In Luffy’s case it makes sense because they gave their word to Robin not to harm the Strawhats, but he has absolutely no reason to spare Paulie, and the little lines of shock/surprise beside Kaku imply that he hadn’t expected Lucci to do that, either. The ‘why’ is still unclear, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and it’s also…noteworthy that it’s the only thing Lucci asks Kaku to do. All of the actual damage Paulie takes comes from Lucci and he never asks for or expects Kaku to harm him.

I never connected these two panels before but it’s obviously very deliberate to have Lucci telling Iceburg that feeling emotions is a sign of humanity followed immediately by Kaku…demonstrating exactly that and thanking Iceburg. It’s important to establish that part of Kaku’s character, but keep in mind Lucci’s lack of a reaction here because it’ll come back later.

Again, very tiny moment, but there’s a lot of examples of Lucci deferring to Kaku or letting him take the lead without any hesitation, and I like this because Kaku’s noticed something that Lucci hasn’t and Lucci just goes with it immediately.

I’d forgotten about this but Kaku’s also the one that decides to take Usopp with them, first by recognizing him as one of the Strawhats and then going through with it even after finding out he doesn’t consider himself a part of them anymore. And Lucci just…stands back and lets him give out orders to the others while doing so.

Okay so this is what I was referencing earlier. Kaku shows actual emotions with Iceburg and Lucci’s silent, but the moment Kalifa gets even slightly happy about completing the mission he’s berating her instantly. Kaku’s expression here is interesting too because he looks absolutely haunted and it’s very telling.

And also another visual representation of Lucci and Kaku being equal to/on the same level as each other.

I didn’t include the panel but Kaku was ‘sleeping’ when Corgi was giving them all of the information about Nero while Lucci was (seemingly) wide awake, and yet Lucci has no idea who he is and relies on Kaku to have all the information. Which he does.

Kaku being the one to take charge again and direct the others even though Lucci’s standing right there. They do this more than I’d realized at first, especially since Lucci always seems to be looked at as the unofficial ‘leader’ of CP9.

Enies Lobby

We’ve made it to Enies Lobby, which is the first glimpse we get of these two interacting with the full CP9 group outside of any sort of ‘mission’ environment.

Mostly it entails Lucci being more combative (especially with Jabra) and Kaku being more annoyed, but again I can’t really imagine anyone else taking this tone with Lucci and getting away with it while Kaku does it fairly often and Lucci never retorts or gets angry with him.

And while Kaku’s not immune to taking Jabra’s bait in the right circumstances, his typical tendency is to de-escalate situations if he can and here he’s refusing to engage despite being deliberately called out…and Lucci, without being asked, immediately takes his side and defends his choice.

This is practically the next panel and while both Lucci and Jabra are kind of equally at fault for this little display, Kaku only berates Jabra for it while Kalifa’s directing her comments at both of them.

Now that I’m actually looking for these sorts of things it’s becoming more obvious, but again we have Lucci and Kaku in an equal position to each other at the front of CP9.

This isn’t just to Kaku since Kalifa’s there as well, but Lucci’s still encouraging them to eat the fruits and I have to believe it’s coming from a place of good faith because he’d know whether or not being able to swim is that big an issue in their profession. I also want to note that Kaku echoes Lucci’s ‘it’ll be fun’ line when he actually does eat his fruit, so obviously that resonated with him.

I’ve put these two together because they both highlight the same thing, that being in both of these sequences we get almost all of CP9 giving out their individual thoughts/comments on what’s happening but Kaku’s statement both times is a direct reply to what Lucci says, so again the two of them are paired off in a way that doesn’t include anyone else there. 

The only other thing of note in this section is that while Robin’s talking about what happened during the Buster Call on Ohara, Kaku and Lucci are the only CP9 members to kind of…break formation and actually look at her while she’s speaking, which is interesting.

And for the rest of Enies Lobby they aren’t together so there’s not too much more to say here other than Kaku of course being the one to have the actual key to Robin’s cuffs, but it’s never made explicit who came up with that plan or handed out the keys so…if I ever actually do the thing and write a full analysis of Kaku’s character we can talk about it then Lark you’ve been saying you’ll do this for years IF I EVER--

Interlude - CP9’s Independent Report

Besides the fact that this is still one of my favorite cover stories, there’s a couple of noteworthy things here, the first of which is that Kaku again is taking the lead. Even though he’s the only other CP9 member other than Lucci to be injured badly enough that he can’t walk on his own, he’s still the one directing them where to go.

Other than that, I love seeing all of them just…interacting like friends and being very relaxed and casual, and pretty much every panel where Kaku and Lucci are together they’re directly beside each other so I’ve included a bunch of those here.

Dressrosa & Egghead

The next time we see Lucci and Kaku is at the end of Dressrosa, where they’ve been promoted to CP0 Oda can we please get some explanation of how this happened and let me tell you, I remember this vividly because the spoilers at the time just said that Lucci was talking to ‘someone’ and when the raws came out you can bet I went right to the dialogue to see if it was Kaku because his way of speaking is so telling.

But even in this little scene, we can see they’re having an equal conversation and there’s a major difference between how Lucci’s speaking with Kaku and how he addresses Spandam mere seconds later.

After this we have the Reverie/Levely/what-even-is-this-thing-called arc where they get all of a single panel together and while it’s the first time we actually ‘see’ Kaku after the time-skip, nothing really interesting regarding their relationship happens, so let’s move on to…

The end of the colored manga! And Egghead.

We start with a very familiar situation: Lucci asking Kaku what’s going on, and while Kaku this entire arc seems more outwardly annoyed with Lucci than he ever was in the past (which is never really explained but then again, Lucci spends a lot of the arc doing things he’s specifically been told not to do, so maybe it’s understandable…), he still has all the information and relays it.

Though Kaku’s also much more comfortable letting his real personality show despite them being on a mission while before he was always completely serious after the Water 7 reveal, especially around Lucci. It came through with Zoro and Jabra but during the cover story he’s smiling and laughing a lot with Lucci right there so it makes sense he’d be more willing to let his guard down even ‘on the job’ by now.

So here’s the first real instance of Lucci showing concern for Kaku, something which escalates pretty quickly throughout the arc. It’s subtle, and though he’s framing it as a suggestion to Stussy, if he didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have said anything. 

At this point it’s fairly obvious that Lucci and Kaku don’t really have any authority difference between them and Kaku spends a lot of time in this chapter especially telling Lucci to Not Do The Thing. Anyone that’s ever lived with a cat knows how well this works.

I’ve always found this bit of dialogue particularly interesting because Kaku’s very openly…praising Sentomaru for choosing his loyalty to Vegapunk over assisting the government, and there’s no way Lucci doesn’t hear him say this but he doesn’t say anything in return. There’s no real evidence that Lucci knows about Kaku willingly giving up the key to Zoro or how conflicted he was about Paulie and everyone else, but this seems to imply that at the very least, even if he doesn’t share those sentiments, he wouldn’t think less of Kaku because of it.

Putting these two together since they’re in the same scene but at this point it’s not even subtle concern anymore, Lucci’s genuinely worried for Kaku and you can tell this caught him off-guard.

Kaku’s the first one to suggest working together but Lucci immediately backs him up and goes with the idea. It’s logical in the sense that it’ll give them the biggest chance to survive, but willingly working with pirates isn’t exactly the sort of thing that Lucci, especially in the past, would have so easily done regardless of the situation.

So at this point it’s becoming clear that this whole 4-v-2 section is supposed to be the most…light-hearted thing going on right now and a lot of it is played to be comedic, including Lucci’s inability to lie, but yet again there’s almost nobody else that could get away with scolding him the way Kaku’s doing here.

…And then we skip ahead a day and things happen that I really hope get explained at some point because they seem important, but while Lucci’s never going to have impeccable bedside manner, he’s very concerned with getting Kaku to rest and while Kaku’s trying to justify what happened Lucci really doesn’t seem to care about that. It’s a big departure from him being willing to write off anyone he deems ‘too weak’ and it’s a nice character moment.

I’d mentioned on my liveblog that some of the things Lucci was doing after this point were confusing, but if you look at them through the lens of him wanting to protect Kaku, it makes a lot more sense. Yes, he’s deliberately keeping him out of the loop, but Lucci I think has decided that he’s going to throw caution to the wind and act alone since if Kaku can’t prove he knew about the plan, he’s probably safer being left with the Strawhats, and if the Marines show up he should be safe anyway or so Lucci thinks…

When this chapter came out, I’d said something about Lucci being a hypocrite considering what the rest of CP9 did for him when they could have easily just left him at Enies Lobby, but given what happens almost directly after and likely what he’s trying to do with this entire fight, these words feel even less genuine…

And that brings us to this. The moment that I’ve been thinking about for almost an entire week now. The moment that, looking back at…oh, wow…almost 3000 words of analysis maybe shouldn’t be as surprising as it was for most of us, but it does feel like the payoff for a long, long buildup that’s taken nearly twenty years to reach. Because really, there’s no other way to describe them other than ‘partners’, and probably hasn’t been for a long time…and I’m so glad that Lucci acknowledged it.

To summarize, I think what surprised me most about re-visiting all of this is how much the manga has framed them as equals since the beginning even though it was never explicitly stated between the characters themselves. Lucci’s always been far more lenient with Kaku than with anyone else, and Kaku in turn has never had any fear of Lucci even if he wasn’t really expressing his true self with him for a long time.

The cover story being the turning point makes perfect sense, and the progression throughout Egghead of Lucci being more outwardly willing to show his concern and Kaku not hiding his emotions at all seems like a natural progression of their relationship and their level of comfort around each other.

And the fact that Oda is never really…hitting us over the head with any of it until that final moment when Lucci says everything so plainly because Kaku’s life is the most important thing to him even when faced with a literal monster… It’s so effective. 

I don’t know where we go from here. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of where we go from here. But regardless of the outcome, I hope this little essay has been at the very least interesting and perhaps allowed you to look at these two in a different light.

Thanks for reading.