HALP.
I'd been saving up the most recent chapters of OP for a rainy day when I really needed something to cheer me up. Said rainy day was Friday, and it got rainier when I discovered my download of Chapter 499 was corrupted! OP HQ's 499 download is empty and I do not feel like weedwhacking my way through MangaHelpers to try and find a download link that works, so can somebody hook me up with some sweet 499 love?
I find in interesting that both the first chapter of One Piece and the "middle" chapter are marked by a brutal "on-screen" death. Oda's not shy about killing people in flashbacks, but having it happen present-day, in front of the main characters? Almost never. Admittedly, Captain Dias from 497 may survive (whereas the bandit that Roux shot in the head most assuredly did not), but Dias was humanized in a way that Random Nameless Bandit Q was not. He had a wife and a kid and he just wanted to go home. Oda could not have found a better way to reinforce the casual cruelty of the Tenryuubito than have them kill somebody helpless on-screen in front of the Strawhats.
The fact that death is so rare in OP makes me pause and think about some of the other shows I watch--JLA/JLU has an IMMENSE casualty count, and that one's rated for young children. But they don't emphasize the importance of death--it never shows up on screen, all you see is property damage. Oda makes almost every death a huge deal. The death of a loved one forged most of the Strawhats into the people they are today, and Luffy makes a point of not killing his opponents, even though he knows they might recover and come after him. Oda used killing to display the corruption that runs rampant in the Marines, though Purin-Purin and his crew died off-screen. All we saw was their ship being destroyed on Nezumi's orders. And Doflamingo forcing Sarquiss to kill Bellamy, even if the death itself was off-screen, really kind of hit it home that the Shichibukai are SRS BSNS. And the fact that Captain Kidd's bounty is high because he causes massive collateral damage? It's a phenomenal way to showcase what makes Luffy special. Luffy's bounty is high because he foments civil discord and makes the government angry, not because he kills lots of people.
I'll be interested to see where this goes from here.
I find in interesting that both the first chapter of One Piece and the "middle" chapter are marked by a brutal "on-screen" death. Oda's not shy about killing people in flashbacks, but having it happen present-day, in front of the main characters? Almost never. Admittedly, Captain Dias from 497 may survive (whereas the bandit that Roux shot in the head most assuredly did not), but Dias was humanized in a way that Random Nameless Bandit Q was not. He had a wife and a kid and he just wanted to go home. Oda could not have found a better way to reinforce the casual cruelty of the Tenryuubito than have them kill somebody helpless on-screen in front of the Strawhats.
The fact that death is so rare in OP makes me pause and think about some of the other shows I watch--JLA/JLU has an IMMENSE casualty count, and that one's rated for young children. But they don't emphasize the importance of death--it never shows up on screen, all you see is property damage. Oda makes almost every death a huge deal. The death of a loved one forged most of the Strawhats into the people they are today, and Luffy makes a point of not killing his opponents, even though he knows they might recover and come after him. Oda used killing to display the corruption that runs rampant in the Marines, though Purin-Purin and his crew died off-screen. All we saw was their ship being destroyed on Nezumi's orders. And Doflamingo forcing Sarquiss to kill Bellamy, even if the death itself was off-screen, really kind of hit it home that the Shichibukai are SRS BSNS. And the fact that Captain Kidd's bounty is high because he causes massive collateral damage? It's a phenomenal way to showcase what makes Luffy special. Luffy's bounty is high because he foments civil discord and makes the government angry, not because he kills lots of people.
I'll be interested to see where this goes from here.