sahugani's One Piece Review 452

sahugani · Apr 13, 2007

Sahugani’s One Piece Review 452

i finally got around to looking around deviantart for these. big thanks to e1n for this one :hug

Everyone throw your hands up and thank whatever god you pray to (or at the very least Oda and the MH RAW hunters) that One Piece is once again making its way here REALLY damn early. For a while it has been coming out at roughly the same time as the other series, and all of those series were shifted back a day as well. Now things are back to the way they should be with a Wednesday One Piece release (even if it does come at the expense of Bleach). Also, once again, Ichiban has released an ultra-fast MQ Edited Manga of the latest chapter and I have taken this week’s pics from said release as I always do. The title pic this week was provided by e1n at deviantart and please check out his other fanarts by clicking on his name.

Funeral

it's a sad day for robots

Wow! Did not see this coming. Of course I expected the kindly old man, Professor Tsukimi, to die eventually, but this suddenness was a bit of a shock. Apparently he died from choking on the dumpling he was eating while watching the explosion on the moon. I can only assume that the shock of the event caused the food to go the wrong way. In any case, he is now dead and is given a beautiful funeral from his mourning robot children. Being that the death wasn’t intentionally caused by the space pirates, I doubt Spacey’s motives are revenge in the current time plot. Instead, I’d guess that the robots went to the moon to investigate the problem on one of their Father’s greatest loves and then decided to protect it. I can’t wait to see Spacey’s courage turn Enel into a noble warrior.

Sir Luffy of D.

will we see Franky go beyond the song title?

What would One Piece be if it wasn’t for Luffy’s idiotic impulses? Armor Luffy has joined the ranks of Afro Luffy and Mizu Luffy, but we have yet to see it actually come in handy like the others have. As past battles have shown us, whenever Luffy takes an appearance that differs from his norm, it actually ends up serving some real purpose in the fight (except in Alabasta and Drum where the change was for climate issues). He has turned these changes that initially look stupid and or useless and applied them to some productive means in the fight. The exception is Afro Luffy, which was used more for a joke through the crowd’s reaction. In short, I expect this armor to actually provide some use in one of Luffy’s battles in the future of this arc.

I’d also like to mention that Armor Luffy has allowed us the pleasure of solidifying Franky’s role in the crew. As I’ve mentioned in previous instances during this arc, Franky is shaping up to be Luffy’s biggest partner in his random antics. While everyone else screams at Luffy for being stupid (mainly Nami, Zoro and Sanji) or too gung-ho (mainly Nami, Usopp, and Chopper…Nami yells at him alot), Robin quietly enjoys his enthusiasm and Franky is the only one that seems to share his spirit. After a brief explanation of the armor serving the purpose of classic romance and a reference to Franky’s own metal body, Franky sympathizes with Luffy’s heart and brings out his guitar to spill his emotions. I personally love that Oda is developing Franky in this direction as we can now look forward to more stupidity at the level of Afro Luffy from a crewmate now. Franky has so much potential in this area as Oda could basically put any random contraption he wants into Franky’s anatomy.

Franky’s Duel

GOOOOOO FRAAAAANKYYYYYY!!!!!!

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, Luffy, Robin, and Franky find themselves at an arena and a suit of armor falls from the wall and attacks Franky. Finally, we get to see a bit of Franky in action as a Strawhat. Needless to say, he wins quite easily despite the zombie’s apparent refusal to die again. His metal body serves its purpose in protecting him from his opponent’s sword and he eventually just gets fed up and tosses the armored zombie like a rag doll. During this fight though, the pig takes the opportunity to escape down the hallway and seal it off with a wall zombie. Before the exit is closed though, he offers us a bit of information about the general zombies.

Zombie Elite Squad

the only one missing seems to be the gunman

The exit of Oinkchuck marks the entrance of the previously seen general zombies, each of whom was incredibly strong and famous in their previous lives. Among them we see Captain John, the long necked knight, and the huge one who is apparently an elephant centaur. I’m sure this will sadden the many who counted the general zombies we saw at the end of 450 in their lineups for the final fights, but as you can see, they are nothing more than a crew of more skilled common soldiers. I do think that one or two may come back into play later on to play a role before the final fights though. There is also more information about the numbering system shown here. In an earlier review (or response to a reader noticing Cindry’s #400) I mentioned that all creature zombies (including Hildon) have a number below 400 while all regular zombies have a number above 400. After this chapter, I noticed that all general zombies have a number above 800 and went back and confirmed that all normal ones are below 800. We still have yet to see what significance Hogback’s numbering system has but I assume it is significantly important to #400 Cindry and #800, an unnamed general zombie who I think is Ryuuma.

Zoro Zombie

... ... ... thats just f*cked up

I hate to admit it but it seems I was wrong about Zoro simply getting lost last chapter as we now meet a zombie who mimics him like the penguin matched Sanji. If we thought Sanji’s penguin looked bad though, this guy is in an entirely different league of hideousness. If the tutu and bolts through the head weren’t enough, he has a Hitler mustache. On a more serious note, with his entrance comes more evidence regarding the zombie animation process as well as new questions regarding previously held beliefs. First of all, this new zombie, Jigoroh, gives us a speech that matches Zoro’s nearly word for word just as the penguin and Ryuuma had done for Sanji and Brooke, thus confirming that Zoro was taken and showing us how fast the process or reanimation is after the original personality is taken. What confuses me about Jigoroh’s personality is that after he mimic’s Zoro’s policy on back scars, he contradicts himself by mentioning his own back scars, which I instantly found reminiscent of Brooke’s skull jokes as Zoro’s personality never would have been that ridiculous regarding that particular matter. Another oddity is that Jigoroh used Zoro’s 36 pound cannon technique, which brings up the issue of Ryuuma’s skill as a swordsman with regards to Brooke. If the zombie’s abilities in battle are taken from the personality they are mimicking, then it would mean that Brooke is the real master swordsman and Ryuuma’s techniques were gained from him.

From what we’ve seen so far I’ve tried to piece together the various aspects of the shadow theory for zombie reanimation, and this is what I’ve come up with

Shadows mimic the movements of a person, so it is logical that if it is the stolen shadows that reanimate the zombies, those zombies mimic the originals like the shadows had before. These shadow versions copy the actions of the original, resulting in identical speeches and (according to the latest chapter) identical techniques. However, since it is the body that actually experiences the world, the memories are not transferred to the shadow and thus are not given to the zombie. None of the zombies talk about their pasts as Sanji’s penguin said he had no memory of Nami and the pasts of Cindory and Ryuuma were revealed secondhand through Hogback and the book in Cindory’s shrine.

Regarding the issue as it pertains to Zoro, Sanji, and possibly now Luffy, by only having their shadows taken, it leaves them fully capable of acting after the process is over, whereas other explanations of how the Zoro/Sanji zombies appeared would leave them incapacitated. Notice the huge number of free running people who have had their shadows stolen. Moria does not seem at all concerned with them once their shadows were extracted as they are not locked up, meaning that even if the Strawhats were subjected to the process, all it means is that they enter from a new location.

Escape Problem

it makes you wonder why people follow him

As Luffy is dealing with Zoro’s copycat zombie, Franky and Robin try to make for their pre-battle plan and escape to the courtyard. These zombies are quite a bit stronger and smarter than the graveyard zombies. Even Franky’s fresh fire, which is perfect for dispatching the fire-fearing zombies is countered by having buckets of water on hand. Eventually they do make it out to the courtyard though and realize that Luffy didn’t make it out. Once again, Franky and Robin are left to deal with things by themselves. While they wonder what happened to Luffy, they notice a coffin being pulled by a chain overhead and realize that their captain is inside of it. This may explain a lot when it comes to the disappearance of Zoro and Sanji. The mansion seems to be filled with secret passages and I had always suspected that trapdoors and flipped walls would be responsible for the earlier vanishing acts but could not figure out how this would go unnoticed and how their corresponding zombies appeared so fast. In a creepy place like this, a random assortment of coffins would go relatively unnoticed and the chain would allow quick transport away from the scene to wherever the process of taking their shadows (which is what I believe) and reaffixing them takes place.

Spider Monkey

how exactly did Hogback get spider and monkey parts big enough to stitch together into that?

As Franky and Robin chase after Luffy’s coffin, their way is blocked by a gigantic zombiefied crossbreed of a spider and a monkey, fittingly called Spider Monkey. Although the thought of Franky and Robin’s combo battle against the giant freaky beast is interesting, the creature’s presence is more intriguing to me in looking at his webs in this and earlier chapters. Back when Luffy’s group first landed on the island, the Mini Merry, the Sunny, and Brooke’s ship were all caught in gigantic spider webs, which I can only assume were spun by this freak. It also seems that Luffy’s coffin is covered in a strange substance that I believe to be more of his web. Sanji, Zoro, and Sanji could have made it out of those coffins easily, so that substance is probably incredibly strong, fitting with the extreme strength of spider webs (relative to their thickness). I believe that this type of webbing will play a large part of his battle strategy, but will end up foiled by Robin’s ability, which she can use even if pinned down.

Overall

I was really hoping that Zoro just got lost as it would have helped single out Sanji and promote my idea of his role, but I guess Oda just couldn’t resist including a santouryuu swordsman sporting a tutu and a Hitler moustache. My theory is still possible though, so I’m happy. In terms of humor, the highlight of this chapter was the romance of donning metal armor. I hope Luffy’s new “form” comes into play soon as I can’t really see how he could make good use of it with his fighting style. As a Franky fan, I just loved to see my favorite cyborg kicking the asses of the general zombies and can’t wait to see him and Robin’s united front against Spider Monkey. In regards to the review, as it was fairly battle heavy, some sections were more straightforward and thus some sections were shorter than i would have liked.

Luckas · Apr 13, 2007