#kozuki Clan

[fallensnowfan]

I love episode 1079!

Hiyori being a huge troll to her brother and to Zoro is gold.

The Straw Hats spending time with Momo, Tama, and Toko gives me elder/younger sibling vibes. The jump cuts of Luffy greeting Momo are so silly, I love them. Nami reading a clothing book to Toko, just precious. Everyone getting of kick out of Tama here, incredible. She is a mini Kiku is so many ways, if more likely to say her thoughts out loud.

Nami is friendly and cute and pretty and has nice new kimono. Love the double flower layers on a rich blue. Looks as if the flowers are floating on a pond.

Okiku being a charming and wonderful trans woman, and the best character of the arc, all while rocking her new kimono during some well earned down time. I love how supportive Nami and Hiyori are of her, there is no huge fuss or anything. Kiku knows herself. I love her so much. 💛💛💛

Various alliance members sweetly relaxing in the bath. Love to see Doctor Chopper having a good time after being overwhelmed with injured patients last two episodes, and worrying about Luffy & Zoro. He is a special little guy and I care him.

What better way to wrap up this post with some Monke the Luff and Jinbo being buddies. Thanks for the great episode, Toei!

[julia-shephard]

toki commission!!

[monkey-d-ezekiel]

i love this new opening! it's so mellow yet upbeat. i think it's great for capturing the bittersweet tale of wano. another 8 episodes till wano ends, how did y'all like it in the anime? what were your thoughts on the story, pacing and side characters? there were so many cool side characters in this arc (and many disappointments too) so i wanna see whom people liked the most. hope y'all had fun in this saga!

here's my gifs of the new opening!

One Piece, Opening 25 - "The Peak" by Sekai No Owari

[classytbitch]

Look at this team, we're gonna do great!

[jellybe-gets-creative]

Two people waiting for the dawn.

[ Kyoshiro is srs one of my favourite in the wano arc. His story so badass and cool and I like the idea that he was a parental figure for hyori bc he took her under his wing when she was like nine? ]

[8amira8]

"dang I messed up so bad we can't go even bald anymore !!!"

it is well over midnight and I need to sleep

[dciphe-r]

Part 2:

[leyreying]

Did I rush to draw Izo instead of finishing PeronaxZoroxMihawk family selfie? Yes

I mean look at him ♡

Since Marineford, he stood out to me, and now that I'm seeing him in Wano, he is just *chef's kiss*😌

[alexoreality]

Guess who's deciding to rewrite the Kozuki Luffy Au????

[gliphelanime]

Kozuki Momonosuke - dragon form by WodenCreativ

[fallensnowfan]

When talking episode 1085, not quite done with it here yet, of course you have to mention these beautiful wonderful ukiyo-e woodblock paintings!

The waves in the backdrop evoke Tokage Port, on the night of the raid where in spite of the setbacks, the meeting of the Alliance took place. Love the cherry blossoms and valiant depictions of our samurai friends, and the addition of the crescent moon shawls look very nice too.

Kiku's portrait having her name written as "Okiku" is a nice touch, adds some formality and it's the name she introduces herself with and one she seems most comfortable with, alongside "Kiku."

It would seem that these were painted to promote the exciting Rakugo performance which we witness in the conclusion of the episode. Neat!

[kudzu-san]

Oh nah, he just like me...

[portgas-d--umb-ass]

kozuki hiyori shogun of wano au when?

[basedkikuenjoyer]

OP TCG Musings

Cynical cash grab that will likely never have enough of a playerbase in the area to be worth the investment (if my early 30s ass even had the time) it may be...it has come to my attention that the One Piece TCG will allow one to play the Akazaya Nine from the first set. Which means naturally I will be picking it up from the first set now.

Seriously though, around 2014-15ish I had a rather hot run as a semi-pro MTG player. At least made enough in winnings I was coming out a little ahead even with a couple trips for tournaments a year. Always loved CCGs, my teen years lined up with Yugioh’s first competitive scene and I pushed the short lived but amazing YuYu Hakusho game from 2003 hard. Tricky to tell until I can get a proper feel for the game, but looking at the cards and the rules it looks like you do have a solid deck out of the Kozuki. Like, I mean it could be a breakout competitive one if there is a scene for that. 

If that sounds like a topic that interests you, I’m going to pop off with a deep dive gut reation from that vantage point.

First off, one of the best things a Kozuki/Akazaya deck has out of the box is options. From Japan we know the first two sets and starter exclusives. Only looking at what we’ll get for inital releases. This is hilarious, but the Akazaya have options for one amazing reason off the bat; an actual choice between leaders. Because the Akazaya cards check if Oden is your leader...and Yamato counts as Kozuki Oden! 

Awesome, but it means in this early stage we’re one of the camps who has a choice to make. A real one. Oden’s ability is being able to discard a Wano card to reuse the like, mana/resource thing. That plus support cards that let you draw cards and a certain sibling pair who are phenomenal, aggressively costed creature control? Pretty solid base for a control deck. Especially since Ashura piggybacks well off of Kiku/Izo’s abilities as a big attacker. Denjiro also plays nice with Oden’s ability by doing it more. 

That said...Yamato’s a tantalizing choice too. He has a very aggressive ability. Kawamatsu and Tsuru are some nifty low cost characters and you still have that cheap draw spell. I don’t think you quite have the same support here just yet, but a little bit of power creep down the line can get you the foundation of something like Zoo archetypes in Magic. Lightning fast beatdown.

Either way, Kin’emon is the magical one in either build. He gets to bring a buddy with him, Kiku being perfectly costed. In the first build, great for establishing a board presence without investing as much. Keeping more resources open. But he also seems just the right cost for Yamato to use him as a nice closeout before the game goes long.

I am also quite impressed how well all of this jives with the series and my interpretation of the group as a whole.

(Uhhh...disregard some of that. Yama’s not a leader. My bad. Akazaya are still a great early control deck though and we will get a good Kin leader in set #2)

[carrillo123]

[theclearblue]

Love the development that Law is just secretly a huge nerd in the way a 12 year old boy is. Raizo telling him in Zou that ninjas don't say 'nin-nin' and Law's stoicism breaks and he's like "they...they don't??" and making a D: face. And him knowing soooo much about the Germa comics and starting to root against Sanji because of the Germa raid suit, and when he gets called out on it he's like "Umm everyone from the North Blue knows about the comics haha it's only natural I know so much." Like ok...sure buddy...you might just be a massive nerd though lmao