It kind of feels like the main function of this volume is to move all the pieces into place for the climax. (But I do love the climax itself! Coming up, volumes 31 and 32.)
Taiko drums: in the great translator tradition of Mt Fujiyama!
(Aisa hates when he calls it a kintama (golden ball) - I gather the reference is obscene.)
You gather? You can't guess what a word made up of ball/balls + adjective indicating unusual value might imply? ;)
God I love Ace's cover story; he is such a dork throughout. His first disguise attempt almost killed me. At least he covered up his Whitebeard tattoo, but he still had the one with his name in full view, and naturally it didn't even occur to him to do up his shirt. About the only way a disguise that bad could fool anyone is because it's so bad it doesn't even look like a disguise. So of course he has to throw even that away by blowing his cover at the first opportunity. XDXD
[Ace backstory spoilers]That arc alone has me just about convinced that even if he and Luffy are only adoptive siblings, they've got to be second cousins or something at least somewhere back in their family tree - there is no way those boys don't share some DNA somewhere. Whyyyyyy did they never animate it? Such a waste. :(
Also ranking with the Things I Loved From This Volume: - Conis's big moment. Didn't see it coming at all when we first met her, but it's right up there with all Nami and Robin's scenes on my mental tally of ways in which the girls were awesome in this arc.
- Sanji sabotaging Enel's arc (and still finding time to thank him for the light at the end). Sanji is at his best when he's getting to be clever, sneaky and smug.
Also kinda loved that Wiper got so close to taking down Enel. It's always fascinating to me how Oda handles characters like him. Most of the arc seems to be setting him up as the kind of extremist whose cause is sympathetic but who's big piture role can only be to get brought down by his own recklessness as this week's moral lesson. Then you have the whole subplot where his allies are desperately trying to get to him to warn him Enel's a logia before it's too late, and it all looks like the obvious set up for him getting his arse kicked after running in without thinking. But when he finally does reach Enel, what happens? "Guess who brought seastone, bitches!" *REJECT* It doesn't win the day, and it certainly doesn't justify all his crazy extremism, but it's so refreshing to see supporting characters who get to be competent and to surprise us like that. *g*
You can't guess what a word made up of ball/balls + adjective indicating unusual value might imply? ;)
Oh, I can guess. ^_~ It's just that I haven't really encountered its usage in Japanese, so I don't automatically sense the obscene meaning. I mean, "golden ball" doesn't sound obscene in English, but only because we don't happen to use it with that particular innuendo. (Compare "golden shower," which probably wouldn't make anyone blink in Japanese.)
(Totally agreed on your Ace backstory comment, btw. Ace and Luffy are SO alike.)
I love that Sanji's role is kind of a test run for his role in Enies Lobby. Go, Sanji!
it's so refreshing to see supporting characters who get to be competent and to surprise us like that. *g*
Agreed, Wiper is an interesting character. It just blows me away how Oda can create such a universe of characters who are, many of them, just as interesting (wonderful, funny, complex, flawed) as the main characters. He's like Dickens in that respect.
I'm thinking more along the lines of euphemisms like 'family jewels'. From that angle it's hilarious just how similar the two terms are. XD
I love that Sanji's role is kind of a test run for his role in Enies Lobby. Go, Sanji!
I thought of it as more of a logical continuation of his Mr Prince routine from Alabasta. He gets to be sneaky quite a few times, but I don't think he's gotten to rub it in the bad guy's face to quite the same degree since. *g*
It just blows me away how Oda can create such a universe of characters who are, many of them, just as interesting (wonderful, funny, complex, flawed) as the main characters. He's like Dickens in that respect.
I'm sure it helps that One Piece moves along at such a (ahem) leisurely pace - gives more time to develop each stop along the way - but it's still a hell of an achievement. I tend to liken it to Terry Pratchett's Discworld myself - huge sprawling world full of wonderful characters, variously side-splittingly funny and horribly serious. Small wonder Oda's sold more manga than anyone else in history, whereas Pratchett's works come second only to JK Rowling in the fantasy novel stakes.
(Aisa hates when he calls it a kintama (golden ball) - I gather the reference is obscene.)
You gather? You can't guess what a word made up of ball/balls + adjective indicating unusual value might imply? ;)
God I love Ace's cover story; he is such a dork throughout. His first disguise attempt almost killed me. At least he covered up his Whitebeard tattoo, but he still had the one with his name in full view, and naturally it didn't even occur to him to do up his shirt. About the only way a disguise that bad could fool anyone is because it's so bad it doesn't even look like a disguise. So of course he has to throw even that away by blowing his cover at the first opportunity. XDXD
[Ace backstory spoilers]That arc alone has me just about convinced that even if he and Luffy are only adoptive siblings, they've got to be second cousins or something at least somewhere back in their family tree - there is no way those boys don't share some DNA somewhere. Whyyyyyy did they never animate it? Such a waste. :(
Also ranking with the Things I Loved From This Volume:
- Conis's big moment. Didn't see it coming at all when we first met her, but it's right up there with all Nami and Robin's scenes on my mental tally of ways in which the girls were awesome in this arc.
- Sanji sabotaging Enel's arc (and still finding time to thank him for the light at the end). Sanji is at his best when he's getting to be clever, sneaky and smug.
Also kinda loved that Wiper got so close to taking down Enel. It's always fascinating to me how Oda handles characters like him. Most of the arc seems to be setting him up as the kind of extremist whose cause is sympathetic but who's big piture role can only be to get brought down by his own recklessness as this week's moral lesson. Then you have the whole subplot where his allies are desperately trying to get to him to warn him Enel's a logia before it's too late, and it all looks like the obvious set up for him getting his arse kicked after running in without thinking. But when he finally does reach Enel, what happens? "Guess who brought seastone, bitches!" *REJECT* It doesn't win the day, and it certainly doesn't justify all his crazy extremism, but it's so refreshing to see supporting characters who get to be competent and to surprise us like that. *g*
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Oh, I can guess. ^_~ It's just that I haven't really encountered its usage in Japanese, so I don't automatically sense the obscene meaning. I mean, "golden ball" doesn't sound obscene in English, but only because we don't happen to use it with that particular innuendo. (Compare "golden shower," which probably wouldn't make anyone blink in Japanese.)
(Totally agreed on your Ace backstory comment, btw. Ace and Luffy are SO alike.)
I love that Sanji's role is kind of a test run for his role in Enies Lobby. Go, Sanji!
it's so refreshing to see supporting characters who get to be competent and to surprise us like that. *g*
Agreed, Wiper is an interesting character. It just blows me away how Oda can create such a universe of characters who are, many of them, just as interesting (wonderful, funny, complex, flawed) as the main characters. He's like Dickens in that respect.
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I love that Sanji's role is kind of a test run for his role in Enies Lobby. Go, Sanji!
I thought of it as more of a logical continuation of his Mr Prince routine from Alabasta. He gets to be sneaky quite a few times, but I don't think he's gotten to rub it in the bad guy's face to quite the same degree since. *g*
It just blows me away how Oda can create such a universe of characters who are, many of them, just as interesting (wonderful, funny, complex, flawed) as the main characters. He's like Dickens in that respect.
I'm sure it helps that One Piece moves along at such a (ahem) leisurely pace - gives more time to develop each stop along the way - but it's still a hell of an achievement. I tend to liken it to Terry Pratchett's Discworld myself - huge sprawling world full of wonderful characters, variously side-splittingly funny and horribly serious. Small wonder Oda's sold more manga than anyone else in history, whereas Pratchett's works come second only to JK Rowling in the fantasy novel stakes.
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