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One Piece Book Club - [Part 4, Water 7]

We're back with another One Piece book club, starting at 6pm EST/3pm PST. This time we're covering Water 7, often considered one of, if not the high points of One Piece.

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One Piece Book Club - [Part 4, Water 7]

Comments

God I feel that talk about Robin not being allowed to be a character so hard. And it sucks because she's great Robin's hilarious and Oda clearly put some thought into how her character should contrast with the rest of the crew with how Robin is notably the only character who doesn't cartoon react when a situation happens and how she's generally very down to earth with her observations alongside her gallows humor. Like when Robin is allowed to be a character or even just afforded speaking lines she says and does some of the funniest things. But overwhelmingly she just doesn't get to do anything.

BreadBunny

Also unrelated, but would you guys do something like a One Piece character smash/pass or colorspread tierlist after you finish? I would love to see that

DragonRageLee

I didn't get to listen to the stream because I went to see Barbie with friends but I did enjoy hearing your guys' thoughts afterward. You guys posed some interesting alternate cases for Franky and a lot of it's cool. I love leaning harder into him being a weapons dismantler. But for me, I can't imagine the crew without him. Cutting the down party to be smaller makes the most sense storytelling-wise, obviously, but as a long-time fan, removing any member of this family feels wrong. Now as a certified Franky enjoyer, I do just want to praise what I like about him because it didn't come up. I love Franky's design immeasurably. He has the most varied body type among all the dudes in the crew, I love his popeye arms and pompadour. I love that he just walks around in a Speedo and the fact that he is a cyborg. It's sooo silly. He's just a 10/10 Oda weirdo design with so much personality. On that note, I love Franky's personality. He just exudes this positive masculinity that I just really enjoy. He's not afraid to cry, he really listens to people like Usopp (and a better paternal role model than Yasopp for that matter. Seriously I love their father-son moments), he can be so protective of his bros, and is the first to be the butt of the joke if it makes his family laugh. I do disagree with Jello that the crew shouldn't have forgiven him. I think his being so onboard helped me to forgive him honestly. Like Robin also spent an arc helping Crocodile try to kill the crew but none of them held any ill will to her once Luffy gave her his pass. I want to also point out, I like how at the beginning of Water 7 a lot of emphasis is put on Luffy needing to start acting like a captain. He can't just always force his will to solve problems anymore. That bit when he elects to just ignore Iceberg's advice and he just says "and you call yourself a captain?" Perfect. It's part of what I love about his argument when fighting Usopp. He's trying to keep the crew safe and be a responsible leader but of course, emotions get heated and fists start flying. I really like also that Sanji is the one to end that argument, when he's a softie it's cute. Paulie asking Zoro to tell CP9 "You're all fired" was such a badass little moment to me. I really enjoyed Paulie a lot more on this read-through. He's a cool guy. I love all the wind Oda draws in the background of panels as Aqua Lagoona approaches. That's a neat little detail. For me also, I just love how much this arc drives home this crew really fucking loves each other. It's not a question of if the crew will get Robin back, it's when. When Nami finds out the real reason Robin left, it doesn't upset her, it uplifts her. Now there's nothing holding them back from saving her. Her, Chopper, and Usopp, none of them hesitate in going to the WG's front door to save Robin. It's not a question in their mind. That unflinching love and resolve to be there for each other is one of the biggest reasons I love One Piece.

DragonRageLee

I forgot to ask during the stream itself, but thoughts on the live action One Piece?

verdragon 5

I keep goofing and not seeing the alert email and missing the live meeting but I did wanna say that a few meetings ago Jello commented on how bad the maps get as the series goes, and I did take just a bit more time in my reading of this chapter assignment to notice how truly awful the Enies Lobby map was. Actively misleadingly bad, if I didn't already have better mental notes. I think the stuff with Frankie's backstory is interesting, because while I do agree that the effect was poor, I think (in a slightly generous reading) Tom's thematic message was to take responsibility. Tom saying you can't disown the things you make when they're used for ill purposes is an important second half to Iceburg saying you have to be careful who you let have access to dangerous weaponry, and leaving it around is asking for trouble. But I do agree that it kinda felt like Tom was saying "well just give up and accept that if you want to create weapons, it's not your fault what somebody else does with them" and it was presented in a way weirdly contrary to Iceberg. It especially interesting because Iceberg has to live with providing the military with ships, despite his feelings on them. Strongly agree that Franky was a bad addition to the Strawhats long term, the more characters the main crew has the less traits any of them have room for individually. I actually liked Franky a lot more than I expected during these arcs for his excessive emotional reactions to everything (very similar to Mr.2, now that I know that tidbit about the VAs) but he doesn't have a lot to offer as a long term regular.

A. Tamar


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