@kouch_lee:
Puppets, yes? Being manipulated for an entire decade counts as being puppeted, yes, independently on your opinion of these people.
I'm sorry, there was very little manipulation actually being shown.
@kouch_lee:
Dressrosans HATED the old regime based on a manipulation made by Doflamingo. Princess Rebecca fighting on death matches felt like righteous vengeance to them. Same with "political prisoners". They are favorable to the old Riku regime? Down with them.
And you think approving of that makes them good people?
@kouch_lee:
As for the bloody fights. . .were all the romans who went to the gladiator fights evil people? All of them? Are people in my country (Spain, country that Oda used as a reference for Dressrosa) that go to bullfighting corridas (the corrida in Corrida Colosseum comes from this, and Diamante is a Matador) where a guy dressed like a clown plays with an animal by stabbing it to death "terrible people"? I hate bullfighting, but I know people that appreciate it as a form of art and they're not "terrible people".
A) There is a difference between killing an animal, and a human being, and I shouldn't be pointing it out.
B) The idea that the Roman gladiatorial fights were blood sport in the sense of them actually killing and maiming each other is a misconception spread by hollywood, not a historical fact… at least, for most of their history.
And yes, it is immoral by modern standarts. And I'm deeply troubled by the fact that you even imply that it might be acceptable.
@kouch_lee:
The new Doflamingo era came with a set of rules. Midnight curfew, men and toys separated and gladiator fights are now to the death. People accepted it, this guy was their hero in a time of crisis, and they bought into it, that does not make them terrible people. Also, their new found heroes fought regularly on the Colosseum, it's a way of watching and cheering them.
Yes it does.
Hillariously, you are using the same arguments to defend them as many war criminals sentenced for crimes against humanity in totalitarian regimes did in the trials.
@kouch_lee:
I admit it doesn't seem like something Oda thought entirely through and it does seem like, once upon a time, he wanted to dwelve into its nature, but it can be explained pretty easily without making everyone on the country look like a bloodthirsty person.
Only if you don't think about it hard enough.
@kouch_lee:
Introduce a plot point? The birdcage is a plot point just introduced? People running away from it? No. This is tying with Dofla's whole "how long will it take till the elderly and the injured start dying?". Riku gave everyone a motivational rush. If that's too much for you to swallow, well, sorry, this is the world of shonen manga. And Hollywood movies.
I… hmm. Hillariously enough, I can't think of any other example of a chapter with Hero fighting with an Arc Villain being interupted by motivational speech to a third party.
And no, the citizens suddenly losing all hope and being ready to lie down and die was an introduced plot point. They were doing just fine running in the past few chapters.