@Kairouseki:
You do realize that the Japanese don't really collect the volumes like Americans do right? And since this is the anime forums I'm sure a lot of people here haven't read the arc.
Blanket statement about "the Japanese" = FALSE.
Do a little research and see how many One Piece tankobon have been sold. Publishing records have been broken.
I thought the new opening was better than any we've had in awhile. More mature, and suited to the upcoming material. Glad to switch to something more rocky than that painfully saccharine pop from last time. The animation is also better than the last couple too. My favorite is the various shots of the Strawhats on the ship during their downtime, and the blue mountain scene frame between Luffy and Ace.
Why are people comparing this to shitty American pop punk?
I'm confudes as to why people think Luffy is going to possibly give up on his dream, or go around depressed.
I think that this chapter proves that he won't. He has recognized his weakness before (though he didn't know how truely weak he is) and he showed his determination to get stronger and protect those he cares about by developing gears 2 and 3.
If anything, by declaring his weakness, we should not expect Luffy to mope or give up, we should expect him to be more determined than ever to become stronger. Whether this means haki, gears 4,5, etc, and/or something completely different there's no way to tell.
One thing is for certain. The time skip is on the horizon, and we will shortly see just how much stronger Luffy and the rest of the straw hats have become,So yeah, you should know better than to think Luffy would give up or mope. C'mon people.
Except everything that he has done since waking up from his injuries IS mope.
Its not that I think he's going to give up on his dream, its just that he has powerful doubts after all that has happened and a whole lot of pain. Doesn't that seem a lot more interesting and ultimately rewarding then Luffy just going, "Oh well, I'm STILL gonna be the Pirate King!" This is setting up for a really epic return to form and growth in strength, and the return of the strawhats, with a good potential for a new nakama too.
It's not about doubting Luffy, its about believing in Oda's capacity for good storytelling.
What a great wrap up to the flashback. Looks like I was right back when Ace first died when I said that Luffy was gonna lose his will to fight and pursue his dream from this. Not only does he have the weight of Ace and Sabo's (he assumes) death, but the memory of his inability to protect any of his nakama back on Sabaody.
So I think we know how he'll get his will back, right? Time for the Strawhats (and Sabo) to come back!
I. Can't. Wait.
This is easy for me:
Robin's shouting: "I want to live! Take me out to sea with you!"
Has anyone beaten it on bitter mode? If so, PM me and let me know if the ending is any different than on mild. SIGH.
On another note: how much did I want to look closer at my spoils on the shelves by the closet!?! ARG.
It would be perfect to continue the story now instead of a time skip. What happens to Luffy after the war? What happens to the WB pirates? What happens to BB and his crew? What happens to Ace's body? What happens to the marines? There are too many scenarios that can be explore, explain, answer, and etc.
that would be boring and tedious, not to mention loooong. all of those developments need TIME to come together and be explained, and it's just plain bad storytelling to tell it all at once. if anything you're making more of an argument FOR a timeskip.
am i crazy, or didn't oda recently say during some interview for the strong world movie that he wrote the story for it because he wanted to make a memorable movie with luffy at 17? because he won't be that age for much longer?? someone back me up here.
i'm proud of the fact that i'm one of only 12 people (as of this point) to vote for sentoumaru.
The fact that I'm even reading this thread shows how desperate I get when there isn't a chapter every week.
It's depressing that there are so many easily threatened idiots out there who want everyone to be EXACTLY THE SAME. Zzzzz.
despite even more of those tedious buggy and mr. 3 shenanigans, i gotta say that this was one of the best episodes they have had in a REALLY long time. great direction at the end there.
