\o/
So, today's Fandom Snowflake (Day 13): In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favourite interview, a book) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I've done this before, for Kingdom Hearts, so today I'mma talk about One Piece, since that's my most recent and I'm more easily able to drag things outta my head.
(Though what the hell, OP wiki. You don't reference ANYTHING. =__= You're a WIKI, fucking EVERYTHING should be cited! I shouldn't have to look up the arc pages and then GUESS to find major events. :|)
Anyway, the thing that comes to mind most as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome is the sequence in chapter 398 (Ennies Lobby). If you've read/watched it, you'll know it. It's the one where Luffy gets Sogeking to burn the flag of the world government, which signifies declaring war on the world (not that Luffy gives a fuck), as a message to Robin: We love you. You're ours. Come home with us, you're not allowed to sacrifice yourself for us, that won't make anyone happy. We will do anything to keep you with us, happy and healthy and cared for.
And for Robin, even more than most people, that sort of unconditional acceptance, love, desire-for-your-presence strikes her right to the heart. She's been on the outside her entire life, after all. And it gives her the courage to say what she really wants; she wants to live, she wants to stay with them just as much as they want her to be there. It's a short sequence - six pages! - and the anime really overdoes it, what with repeating bits in the filler flashback eps they have after the first time it airs, but in itself it's a really fucking powerful sequence.
I saw a doco on One Piece before I read it, as part of class (yes, really), and it was one of the major sequences shown, not that I really knew it at the time (it was a Japanese doco - I say doco but it's more like a current affairs kind of show, though not quite as trashy as they are over here, so Iono. Public interest? Something. They interviewed experts and fans and stuff), and one of the people who was talking about One Piece at length was saying how, when he lost his job (due to the recession, I think), and felt like he had nothing to live for - no family, no job, no social life, and in a major depressive slump because of it - it made him realise that no, his life has meaning too. Yes, it's okay to want to live, even if it feels like everyone hates you, like you have no meaning and nowhere to go. You still have worth as a person.
And that's really fucking awesome, you know? It's not a unique message, but it was said at the right place and time - One Piece is popular even among people who don't typically read manga at all, not just people who don't read shounen manga; it's a household name, like. I don't know much about TV, actually. CSI in its early days, or - MasterChef, actually. First season, at least; I don't know how it's gone after that, but it was the #1 rated TV show, taking pretty much everyone by surprise, and people from all sorts of backgrounds and situations were watching it. That sort of cultural phenomenon, you know? I think One Piece's popularity is waning, compared to back then? Not entirely sure, but that's the impression I have. But, at the time of this particular arc, at least, it was telling a whole bunch of people something they really needed to hear (guy on the doco's story wasn't exactly a surprising one, though of course I don't think most people got hit quite so bad).
Anyway! I think that's really cool, even aside from how incredibly awesome it is in-series - and it IS, I mean. They declare WAR ON THE WORLD. Because they LOVE THEIR ROBIN SO MUCH and doing anything less for her is completely unreasonable. Of course, it's Luffy who's the brain of this, but you notice how NO ONE ELSE IS OBJECTING? Usually Nami and Usopp, if no one else, go a;lsdgj;alskdjg ARE YOU A COMPLETE FUCKING MORON at Luffy's usual selfish, danger-bating antics. But not here. Everyone is completely serious. This is their Robin, and they are taking her back now, they don't care how many of you there are, or how strong you are (or that you just kicked their asses), or anything. THEIRS.
...I was gonna add some more scenes, but uh. Wow, that got long. Okay, um. Let's just say Impel Down makes me SO HAPPY, and so does most of Marineford, and the ASL flashback is all FUZZY FEELINGS EVERYWHERE, and the Zoro-Kuma thing (you know the one) is just. a;sdgja;ls
BASICALLY I'M ALL ABOUT PEOPLE BEING AWESOME FOR THE SAKE OF PEOPLE THEY LOVE, APPARENTLY. ^^;;
Also some of the recent stuff is making me go \o/, but I don't want to talk about it because spoilers~~ (I'm only keeping up myself 'cause Az keeps going OMG OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS WEEK'S ONE PIECE, so I do. Otherwise I'd let it sit a couple of years and come back and biiinge. ^^;;;;)
And of course I'm forgetting a lot! Though I admit it took me... *checks, I did talk about it at the time* Until Water 7, so more than 300 chapters to uh. Really start liking One Piece. So! |D;;;
...I need some more One Piece icons. >:
I've done this before, for Kingdom Hearts, so today I'mma talk about One Piece, since that's my most recent and I'm more easily able to drag things outta my head.
(Though what the hell, OP wiki. You don't reference ANYTHING. =__= You're a WIKI, fucking EVERYTHING should be cited! I shouldn't have to look up the arc pages and then GUESS to find major events. :|)
Anyway, the thing that comes to mind most as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome is the sequence in chapter 398 (Ennies Lobby). If you've read/watched it, you'll know it. It's the one where Luffy gets Sogeking to burn the flag of the world government, which signifies declaring war on the world (not that Luffy gives a fuck), as a message to Robin: We love you. You're ours. Come home with us, you're not allowed to sacrifice yourself for us, that won't make anyone happy. We will do anything to keep you with us, happy and healthy and cared for.
And for Robin, even more than most people, that sort of unconditional acceptance, love, desire-for-your-presence strikes her right to the heart. She's been on the outside her entire life, after all. And it gives her the courage to say what she really wants; she wants to live, she wants to stay with them just as much as they want her to be there. It's a short sequence - six pages! - and the anime really overdoes it, what with repeating bits in the filler flashback eps they have after the first time it airs, but in itself it's a really fucking powerful sequence.
I saw a doco on One Piece before I read it, as part of class (yes, really), and it was one of the major sequences shown, not that I really knew it at the time (it was a Japanese doco - I say doco but it's more like a current affairs kind of show, though not quite as trashy as they are over here, so Iono. Public interest? Something. They interviewed experts and fans and stuff), and one of the people who was talking about One Piece at length was saying how, when he lost his job (due to the recession, I think), and felt like he had nothing to live for - no family, no job, no social life, and in a major depressive slump because of it - it made him realise that no, his life has meaning too. Yes, it's okay to want to live, even if it feels like everyone hates you, like you have no meaning and nowhere to go. You still have worth as a person.
And that's really fucking awesome, you know? It's not a unique message, but it was said at the right place and time - One Piece is popular even among people who don't typically read manga at all, not just people who don't read shounen manga; it's a household name, like. I don't know much about TV, actually. CSI in its early days, or - MasterChef, actually. First season, at least; I don't know how it's gone after that, but it was the #1 rated TV show, taking pretty much everyone by surprise, and people from all sorts of backgrounds and situations were watching it. That sort of cultural phenomenon, you know? I think One Piece's popularity is waning, compared to back then? Not entirely sure, but that's the impression I have. But, at the time of this particular arc, at least, it was telling a whole bunch of people something they really needed to hear (guy on the doco's story wasn't exactly a surprising one, though of course I don't think most people got hit quite so bad).
Anyway! I think that's really cool, even aside from how incredibly awesome it is in-series - and it IS, I mean. They declare WAR ON THE WORLD. Because they LOVE THEIR ROBIN SO MUCH and doing anything less for her is completely unreasonable. Of course, it's Luffy who's the brain of this, but you notice how NO ONE ELSE IS OBJECTING? Usually Nami and Usopp, if no one else, go a;lsdgj;alskdjg ARE YOU A COMPLETE FUCKING MORON at Luffy's usual selfish, danger-bating antics. But not here. Everyone is completely serious. This is their Robin, and they are taking her back now, they don't care how many of you there are, or how strong you are (or that you just kicked their asses), or anything. THEIRS.
...I was gonna add some more scenes, but uh. Wow, that got long. Okay, um. Let's just say Impel Down makes me SO HAPPY, and so does most of Marineford, and the ASL flashback is all FUZZY FEELINGS EVERYWHERE, and the Zoro-Kuma thing (you know the one) is just. a;sdgja;ls
BASICALLY I'M ALL ABOUT PEOPLE BEING AWESOME FOR THE SAKE OF PEOPLE THEY LOVE, APPARENTLY. ^^;;
Also some of the recent stuff is making me go \o/, but I don't want to talk about it because spoilers~~ (I'm only keeping up myself 'cause Az keeps going OMG OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS WEEK'S ONE PIECE, so I do. Otherwise I'd let it sit a couple of years and come back and biiinge. ^^;;;;)
And of course I'm forgetting a lot! Though I admit it took me... *checks, I did talk about it at the time* Until Water 7, so more than 300 chapters to uh. Really start liking One Piece. So! |D;;;
...I need some more One Piece icons. >: