#yeah :] luffy as a main character is so wonderful like something about his pov of the world is so brilliant

[opbackgrounds]

so I was doing some research after watching movie 6...

...and apparently it was originally written as a comedy

Yeah, I was surprised, too

Baron Omatsuri is not my favorite One Piece movie—Film Z has too many of my favorite tropes to be usurped from that position—but I do think it is the most daring. Of all the supplemental material I’ve seen and read, it feels the least...One Piece-ish. 

Yes, that includes the noodle commercials. 

If you haven’t seen the movie and can stomach a little spookiness, do yourself a favor and give it a watch. Unlike movies like Strong World or Z that have the look and feel of a manga arc, Movie 6 transplants the Straw Hat Pirates into a world that doesn’t feel like a One Piece story, taking risks and exploring themes that would never fit in the manga proper. 

In addition to the obvious changes in art and animation style, there are supernatural elements that don’t make sense within the One Piece world. None of the Straw Hats win a fight—Luffy included, although he is heavily implied to have killed the big bad at the end. The moral of the movie, if it can be said to have a moral, is if you lose the people closest to you, the answer is to forget about them and make new friends. The story ends with many questions left unanswered and the main drama between the crew unresolved.

And, if you allow me to get philosophical for a moment, I wish there were more movies like it. As I wrote in my review of Novel A, I don’t go to supplemental material or side stories looking for a repeat of what’s in the manga. Oda has written 1000 chapters of One Piece—why not spice things up a little and try something different for a change?

I know the answer isn’t that simple, and by their very nature not all risks will pan out. There will be people who don’t like this movie because it’s different, both in look and tone. But there’s something to be said about a creator putting their heart and soul into a work and having it show in the final product. 

Which brings us back to the original premise. How does a movie go from a light-hearted comedy based on a variety show theme to...this

Baron Omatsuri was directed by Mamoru Hosoda and came out in 2005. To put that into perspective, the movie was in production when the Luffy vs Usopp fight was first seen in the manga. Manga!Luffy had not yet faced the challenge of an inter-crew disputes when the story was being written and boarded, nor did the creative team have the events of Sabaody and Marineford to see how Luffy would react to the loss of his loved ones. They were working without a full understanding of Luffy’s character, and to a lessor extent the character of the Straw Hat Pirates, and it seems like Oda was much less involved In production than has been in movies since Strong World and beyond. 

Likewise, Hosoda had just left a tumultuous situation at Studio Ghibli while working on Howl’s Moving Castle, and if this interview is anything to go by (https://instrangeaeonsblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/mamoru-hosoda-on-omatsuri-danshaku-animestyle-interview-part-1/) was going through a lot of personal shit when he was brought on as director. The script he was given was originally written like a variety show—something that was carried over into the various trials seen in the final movie—and meant to be a lighthearted affair after the relatively serious Movie 5 (which I have not seen am thus unable to compare tone). 

With that backstory in mind, it’s easy to see how the bickering and backbiting between the Straw Hats early in the movie is a metaphor for Hosoda’s time at Ghibli, which is something he admits to in the interview. Movie 6 feels different than any other One Piece movie because it’s the project of a man who has had to endure the loss of those who he was close with, at least in a professional capacity. 

There are moments in Movie 6 where Luffy doesn’t feel like Luffy. More than once a member of the Straw Hats ask him to intervene during arguments, moments Luffy either ignores or doesn’t notice. It’s a version of Water 7 where instead of fighting Usopp, Luffy ignores the underlying differences within his crew, and as a result loses everybody. 

The structure of the three trials follows a clear path of deterioration within the crew, the initial goldfish scooping game showing the Straw Hats at their best and inciting the jealousy of the Baron, the ring toss sowing discord among the crew even as they snatch a narrow victory, only for them to be utterly crushed in the third and final challenge as they’re unable help one another survive. 

It is somewhat implied that the Breaking of the Fellowship(TM) is magical in nature—that like the One Ring, the Lily Carnation was able to influence the Straw Hat’s thoughts and actions, but this is never stated outright and I prefer the more mundane interpretation: That without strong leadership the Straw Hats fell victim to the manipulative machinations of the Baron, and simply self-destructed as a result.  In the end, it’s up to the interpretation of the viewer. 

And speaking of things up to interpretation, I love how the Lily Carnation isn’t explained in the slightest. The plant that initially absorbs the Straw Hats looks more like the stem of a devil fruit than a flower, it for some reason rings like a gong when hit, and somehow is able to turn pieces of itself into facsimile of the Baron’s old crew who can somehow move around despite being plans. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and the element of the unknown works so well in the horror-lite setting. 

My personal theory is the island somehow managed to eat a devil fruit which manifests itself as the Lily Carnation (which due to the L/R conflation in Japanese, is pronounced ‘reincarnation’, which I think is a nice touch of foreshadowing that may or may not have been intentional).

(Also, I can’t decide if little chewing animation it makes when it’s eating people or the weird bullseyes it makes when shit gets real are the most terrifying thing in the movie.)

Hmmm, tasty.

Anyway, this is getting long, so here are some final thoughts:

1) This movie has some low key fantastic outfits. The Straw Hats all look very cool without being over designed like a lot of recent movies. Big hat Robin is of course a fave, and makes me really want to see her in a Carmen Sandiego getup.

2) Screenshots do not do the animation of the movie justice. It’s very fluid and has a lot of excellent expressions/poses, although I admit the 3D is jarring at times. Do not let the art put you off if you haven’t seen it 

3) Also, I don’t think there’s any shading? Like at all? The movie does a lot of cool stuff with color instead. For example, the scene where Luffy initially loses to the Baron his skin goes all grey, and I thought it was because he was fighting at night, but it stays grey even in the better lighting of the underground tunnels and stays that way until he finds out the Straw Hats are still alive, where it returns to his normal color

4) There’s an extended Benny Hill-type gag when Luffy first chases after the little mustache pirate that’s perfectly timed to the music, and ends when Luffy just uses his power to grab him. The comedic timing is amazing and it’s probably my favorite funny moment in the movie, of which there are several despite the overall darker tone

5) The extended jungle shot from Nami’s POV? Very cool

6) I love how from the earliest scenes nothing is as it seems. The opening text is Robin reading the map, but the storm that’s seen on screen is the one that sank the Baron’s crew. Likewise the whole fancy city is shown to be fake panels early on, the goldfish catching game is a trap, etc., etc. It does a good job clueing the viewer in early that’s something’s very wrong on the island, even if they don’t realize it at first

7) I don’t think this type of movie would work in modern One Piece without somehow nerfing Luffy. Horror works best when the protagonist is weak and vulnerable, and that fits best with a pre-Gear 2/3 Luffy (same with the rest of the crew, tbh. I was waiting for Nami to use her lightning stick during the games, forgetting it hadn’t been boosted yet). 

8) I like how there are four captains on the island representing different levels of loss—the Baron has lost his crew and wants to destroy all others because of it, mustache pirate lost his crew and is willing to put it behind him to make new friends, Luffy has freshly lost his crew and hasn’t decided what path he will go, and coward dad hasn’t lost his crew yet but is at risk if he doesn’t change his cowardly ways

9) I think the reason why Chopper was the first Straw Hat to disappear is he’s the most likely to play the part of peacemaker. He’s also the only crew member needing rescuing at the end of the goldfish scoop game, when Luffy foolishly puts his life at risk trying to save him from drowning, just like he recklessly charges the Baron at the end of the movie. Except that time there was no Sanji to save him, leaving Luffy to get his ass thoroughly kicked

10) This is a very good Halloween movie, and I’m glad I watched it in October

[justice4sasuke]

(1/?)Hi! really liking your posts about Sasuke, it helps me make more sense of why the series left me so confused, and I really think that ,like you said in your about Section, many of Kishi interesting bits of narrative and characterization are flukes,(I'm a Hopeless Madara fan speaking,it is really hard to like characters from a show you dont like) I do have to admit tho that his world building looks really insteresting (even tho not explored properly) ,I was wondering however, if there is

2/? anyway of interpreting kishis insistence on making sasuke the “bad Guy” as a proyection of the “generalized”(and I mean “in general”, everyone is diffent) Japanese view of life and comunity?,as in “endure the hardships for the good of everyone , even if it cost me my own well being” kind of mindset .I mean, as a westerner, I did enjoyed anime and manga growing up, but many times I do tend to forget that many of the tropes present in them and narrative desisions are taken by the authors who

3/4authors who have a completely different world view from mine, and their values of what is wrong and right diverge greatly from what mine could be; I do want to point out, I DO NOT agree with A LOT of the so said “lessons”the series wants to transmit, I think it fails in delivering any true message exactly because of making that said mindset the final destination of the series(and also having a DBZ final battle), leaving the whole uchiha and ame gakure things with no final solution, I mean

4/4, I mean , it is shonen, why would I exept any real resolution on things that seem to matter …but still!!But yeah, that was my question, how much of the bad of the series do you think is Kishi just being a bad author and how much do you think is kishi being too into the conformative mindset and wanting to transmit that to the public?Sorry for the long ask, I was just curious on you pov, thank you for reading all of that! and sorry 4 bad english, I do not speak it as first language.

yooooooo I love Madara so I get it. I got a whole load of interpretations about him and I’m planning on talking about him and most of the Uchiha members we know when we get to them in shippuden since the Uchiha clan is a big part of Sasuke’s character (and as an excuse to drag Obito because I hate him with a fiery passion). 

I completely understand what you are saying and a long time ago I probably would have at least thought about it more, if not agreed with you, but there is this one thing I have read that has changed a lot of my expectations of the shonen genre.

It’s called One Piece.

One Piece is the best selling manga or comic by a single author of all time and is primarily popular in Japan (testimonial) because the initial dub got fucked over which affected it’s popularity in the west and also western audiences have shit taste. 

Now, surface level I think everyone knows One Piece is the pirate shonen manga, but something you can only get from reading it is that what One Piece is really about personal freedom. Pirates in One Piece aren’t actually, like, people that pillage other ships or towns. They can be that, but that’s not inherently what a pirate is in-universe. I’m sure many people have heard that the main character Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates through secondhand knowledge, but what you might not have heard is that to Luffy the King of the Pirates is the person on the ocean who is the most free.

And, not to get spoilery, but there’s the World Government which, actually, here’s a post that puts it better than I ever could.

Also I just make this joke a lot: in Naruto the Revolutionary Army would be the bad guys. Because there is a Revolutionary Army in One Piece. And I think we all know how the word Revolution is treated in Naruto.

All of this is to say that given that One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan I think it would be insulting to say that these themes in Naruto should just be seen as an outcome of Japanese culture. I’m sure Kishimoto is not a bad guy and he is a person shaped by his circumstances and culture like anyone else, but people can leave the box that the world has drawn them into and, especially for a creator, you should be able to do that. The creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, was also born into Japanese culture and his series goes the complete opposite direction of Kishimoto because in One Piece you don’t endure, you fight, and his series is way more popular with the Japanese public (granted, Oda is also just a rare talent in character writing, world building, and loooooooong story telling). One Piece alone is proof that Naruto’s failures aren’t cultural, they’re just the author’s.

Also everyone should read One Piece, but if you want another example that is less of a commitment try Fullmetal Alchemist.