Thriller Bark in review
Jun. 13th, 2012 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rallamajoopBit of a mixed bag, this time around. While it picks up so much in later episodes that I had quite thoroughly forgiven it by the end, ye gods, but me and Thriller Bark did not get off to a good start.
At its core, there were some nice twists in how Moria’s shadow powers worked. There’s hardly anything original about monsters which steal people’s shadows for assorted hand-wavy reasons, and the idea of reanimating bodies using stolen souls of the living has been used over and over; however, a version where it’s the stolen shadow that gives the creature life – on the reasoning that a shadow follows its owner’s movements and thus provides a perfect copy of all his skills and techniques – that’s really quite clever. The internal logic works very neatly, allowing characters to have their ‘souls’ stolen without being themselves incapacitated. It also gives the badguys the perfect excuse to go around deliberately targeting strong victims (the stronger the original, the stronger the shadow) without going to so far as killing most of them, as the death of the original means the death of the shadow too. (We shall get to the additional bonuses of putting the Strawhats in particular in this position later on.)
However, to get there, Thriller Bark first puts us through a few dozen episodes worth of watching the cast pass around the idiot ball on a field of cheesy horror tropes apparently borrow from the scripts of old Scooby Do episodes. Adding insult to injury, I have become terribly fond of Nami over the last several story arcs – she just keeps on exceeding my every expectation in all the best possible ways – while Usopp had at this point only just gotten through a whole character arc about his place on the crew. So to see them and Chopper singled out as the weakling trio, separated from the rest of the Strawhats with the flimsiest of excuses, made to play guileless horror movie victims to a menagerie of mad scientist's experiments and yet fail to instantly guess how this all connected to a mysterious maverick doctor living on the same island they knew was home to the creature that stole Brook’s shadow – gotta be blunt here, it was nothing short of painful. There was nothing in those early episodes they shouldn’t have been able to handle with a Rumble Ball, a little localised weather, and at worst, some mirages or a good smoke bomb to cover their exit. At the very least we ought to have seen them give it a better try.
And then I got to that scene where they get jumped by a new batch of zombie monsters, and the story decides Usopp will hold them off while Nami hides in the bushes.
GODDAMNIT IT ONE PIECE IF YOU THINK I WILL SIT HERE AND WATCH THE MOST AWESOME LADY I HAVE SEEN IN SHONEN IN FOREVER FORGET SHE TOOK OUT A WHOLE PLATOON OF MARINES SINGLEHANDEDLY ONLY LAST ARC BECAUSE YOU …you…
oh, wait, you mean that scene wasn’t in the manga?
So the whole bushes thing was just a bit of uninspired filler thrown into that confrontation to lengthen things out for the anime? Oh. Well then.
Carry on.
So, the arc from here still had some scattered problems. Thriller Bark marks about the first time in recent history I have felt characters were often guilty of forgetting they could do things that ought to have been terribly useful (Luffy, weren’t you moving at Soru speeds back at Water 7? Why haven’t any of you tried blinding that monster – Robin could have covered its eyes, we’ve still got smoke bombs and mirages – it might not win you the battle but at the very least it would buy you an opening). Much of this is bound to stem from the standard shounen filler problem where everything gets dragged out until half the episode is filled with dead time where everyone stands around looking shocked, but that's not much of an excuse. On the other hand, part of the reason this stood out so much is that I do believe this is the first time we have ever seen the entire team united against a single threat. And here we get right on to the stuff that redeemed this arc for me so thoroughly.
In no particular order:
Zombies with ~personality~
Irritating as I found some of these scenes, you have got to give credit for a forest full of mutant freaks that deal with being spotted by looking embarrassed and trying to slink away, and zombies that deal with being set on fire or expected to rise from the dead yet again for another round by bitching loudly to anyone in earshot.
“Ah… if I’m reincarnated… I want to be a clam.”
AHAHAHAHAHA *wheeze* repeat. Oh Luffy. I am just a little disappointed that negative!Zoro wasn’t given some better lines. “Why… why do I lift all those weights? What am I trying to prove?” “I should just get lost and never come back again.” – or, for maximum blackmail potential, “That cook has been right about me all along.”
Luffy as a rule just generally lifts every scene he’s part of, no matter how bad the clichés he’s forced to work with. His attempt to rebury that first zombie needs a special note all to itself.
Usopp vs Perona
Hands down the best fight Usopp has ever had. His liar/coward routine can get a little grating sometimes, but I will always be the first to cheer him on when he finally gets a moment to shine.
Gecko Moria
I did not like his character design one bit (see notes on generic cheesy horror above), but so help me, I kinda liked his attitude. Absolutely cackling evil, but you’ve got to enjoy a villain who will go on lounging against a wall with a grin on his face long after Luffy bursts in, then eventually deals with him by running off and giving him the slip. There’s something about his mix of gleeful self-assurance and willingness to look at his zombie minions as representing the greater part of his strength – despite absolutely being a major threat in his own right – that made a nice change from the last few major villains we’ve been through.
Oz
I am not sure what it says that my favourite villain thus far in the whole series is a ginormous ogre zombie that thinks it’s Luffy (Other than maybe that Luffy truly does lift every scene he’s in, even when he’s not technically in the scene at all.) There was no part of watching Oz climb around declaring his intent to become pirate king, making himself a hat and wondering why his arms wouldn’t stretch that wasn’t ridiculously good value. Even when he’d settled into obedient zombie mode and busily trying to slaughter our heroes he was still strangely lovable.
Speaking of shadow zombie shenanigans, I love that, were I the sort of fan inclined to pick apart every last scene for evidence of her OTP, I could, in all seriousness, add an entry to that list along the lines of, “There was this time when Zoro’s shadow was used to animate a zombie and Sanji’s was stuffed in this penguin-pug hybrid-thing and long after Sanji’s had forgotten all about how much it loved women, it still remembered it hated Zoro. What does that tell us about the depths of their relationship?” (Answer: I have no idea.)
The battle with Oz
The first time we’ve ever seen the whole crew team up to take down a single threat (former complaints notwithstanding) was just about everything I could have wanted it to be. The Strawhats swiftly proved themselves both, by turns, completely ridiculous (Tactic 15, anyone?) and tremendously effective. And even if they did have to wait for Luffy to get back before they could win, he couldn’t have won it without them either. So much love for this battle. <3
Lola
I am developing the weirdest relationship with One Piece’s use of genre-typical sexist clichés. On the one hand, I have very little tolerance left for that kind of bullshit – but on the other, in OP thing never do run the course you expect. The classic example is the Sanji/Nami relationship. In any other series, Nami would either a) have to return his feelings, no matter how hard the lady doth outwardly protest, or b) be the evil bitch stringing him along for her own amusement. No exceptions. But in One Piece we are four hundred episodes in without so much as a whisper of a suggestion of a hint that Nami sees Sanji any differently to the rest of her nakama, besides the obvious convenience of having a guy on hand who’s so helplessly pleased to wait on her every whim. She’s not remotely jealous of the attention; he can hit on other girls right in front of her and the worst she’ll do is roll her eyes, and somewhere under all that window dressing, they both have a lot of genuine respect for each other. That’s pretty much it.
At Thriller Bark, we introduce a new player: the evil pervert who falls for our heroine and considers abduction an appropriate first act to courtship. As a bonus complication, we have an evil female pervert who’s madly in love with our evil male example, and who will inevitably see our heroine as competition to be eliminated for the sake of her one true love.
How it would usually go: Evil Female Pervert (Lola) turns on Our Heroine (Nami), leading to either a chickfight or a well-timed rescue.
How it actually goes: Nami tells Lola how very perfect she thinks Lola and Evil Male Pervert (Absalom) are for each other, prompting Lola to burst into tears with gratitude. The two proceed to bond over the subject of the best way to force Absalom into signing Lola’s marriage certificate (willing, conscious or no).
How it would usually go: Absalom abducts Nami and gets her all the way up to the alter before Our Hero (Sanji) bursts in to rescue her.
How it actually goes: Sanji goes several rounds with Absalom and looks like having won right up until the latter wakes up while Sanji's not looking and sneaks off with the unconscious Nami. Nami is granted a temporary reprieve when Lola bursts in, one again furious with Nami for taking her man.
How it would usually go: Sanji gets back up and rushes to her rescue, this time beating both Lola and Absalom for good.
How it actually goes: In between many hits aimed to miss, Lola communicates to Nami that she was so touched by their earlier bonding moment that she’s actually come to buy her the chance to escape. She fights Absalom under the guise of amorous rage, but he knocks her down. Furious on Lola’s behalf, Nami stands up and deals the finishing blow to Absalom herself, then rushes back to Lola’s side to thank her for all her help.
Later, when Nami gets to meet Lola’s original human incarnation, she’s so thrilled she actually gives away some of her treasure, and the two are seen happily chatting together through much of the post-victory party.
One Piece: When it’s good it’s so very, very good, and when it’s bad, it’s… aw hell, even then it still has its moments.
Whoa, got a little sidetracked there. Still have more awesome stuff to cover.
Kuma
“But I’m also here because the Strawhats have entered your territory, and the World Government are scared they’re going to lose another Shichibukai.”
This scene. Damn. Few things have pleased me more than seeing Luffy’s adorkable travelling circus grow to where major world powers have started viewing them as a real and serious threat, but I’m not sure anything else in the series has ever hammered the point home quite like this moment.
And speaking of Kuma… the conclusion
As I’ve mentioning in passing once or twice, I come to One Piece from the confusing angle of someone who has already been spoiled for half the major plot points (generally as ranked on a decreasing scale of What Will Leave My Sister Clawing At Her Monitor For Need Of Someone To Tell), so I had spent most of Thriller Bark with a pretty good idea of what was coming. It still blew me away. I just. Everything Sanji and Zoro did or said in those scenes – the lengths they were willing to go to without a second thought. We’ve seen Luffy risk his life for the crew more than once, and we’ve seen Zoro react, but this was something else altogether. I don’t think I could ever ship Zoro/Luffy, but by god I love their relationship in all its depths of unspoken, unshakable loyalty to the end of the world and beyond. As for Sanji, this was a side of him I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. The fallout afterwards – who did or didn’t ever find out exactly how far Zoro had gone – was so subtly and beautifully handled too.
Or I could just sum my whole reaction up as awwww, Oda, you really DO love your fangirls! :3 This episode was like a gift made specially for each and every one of us. <3<3<3
Brook
Well, thus far he shows no signs of winning me over on anything like the level Franky has achieved and if I never hear another skull joke again it will be too soon, but he does get steadily more likeable and interesting all throughout his Thriller Bark appearances – and if nothing else, One Piece clearly knows that there is no-one it cannot sell to us with the judicious application of a heart-wrenching tale of childhood trauma*. I must give particular credit in this instance of managing to introduce a character who had been drifting at sea alone for fifty years after the death of his entire crew and yet still fulfil the standard requirement that every Strawhat must have a) family waiting for them back home, that b) the other Strawhats have met.
I do have to note the incredible convenience of how the Strawhats have set themselves up to end their Grand Line tour with a free and unlimited ticket through the Calm Belt in the form of a very friendly island whale who will surely never leave Brook's side again. But mostly, whatever the ending may bring, I'm really looking forward to that reunion. Dawww, Laboon is just the cutest overgrown sea monster ever.
* Seriously, the levels it descends to by the time it gets to Robin borders on outright emotional manipulation, which I am sure I would be far more bitter about if it… look, I even don’t know anymore, don’t ask me to explain it, and now you will have to excuse me because I appear to have something in my eye. I JUST WANT TO HUG EVERYONE IS THAT SO WRONG? :((((((
In conclusion, if anyone has any good post-Thriller Bark fic bookmarked, now would be an excellent time to drop me a rec. :3
At its core, there were some nice twists in how Moria’s shadow powers worked. There’s hardly anything original about monsters which steal people’s shadows for assorted hand-wavy reasons, and the idea of reanimating bodies using stolen souls of the living has been used over and over; however, a version where it’s the stolen shadow that gives the creature life – on the reasoning that a shadow follows its owner’s movements and thus provides a perfect copy of all his skills and techniques – that’s really quite clever. The internal logic works very neatly, allowing characters to have their ‘souls’ stolen without being themselves incapacitated. It also gives the badguys the perfect excuse to go around deliberately targeting strong victims (the stronger the original, the stronger the shadow) without going to so far as killing most of them, as the death of the original means the death of the shadow too. (We shall get to the additional bonuses of putting the Strawhats in particular in this position later on.)
However, to get there, Thriller Bark first puts us through a few dozen episodes worth of watching the cast pass around the idiot ball on a field of cheesy horror tropes apparently borrow from the scripts of old Scooby Do episodes. Adding insult to injury, I have become terribly fond of Nami over the last several story arcs – she just keeps on exceeding my every expectation in all the best possible ways – while Usopp had at this point only just gotten through a whole character arc about his place on the crew. So to see them and Chopper singled out as the weakling trio, separated from the rest of the Strawhats with the flimsiest of excuses, made to play guileless horror movie victims to a menagerie of mad scientist's experiments and yet fail to instantly guess how this all connected to a mysterious maverick doctor living on the same island they knew was home to the creature that stole Brook’s shadow – gotta be blunt here, it was nothing short of painful. There was nothing in those early episodes they shouldn’t have been able to handle with a Rumble Ball, a little localised weather, and at worst, some mirages or a good smoke bomb to cover their exit. At the very least we ought to have seen them give it a better try.
And then I got to that scene where they get jumped by a new batch of zombie monsters, and the story decides Usopp will hold them off while Nami hides in the bushes.
| (╯°□°）╯︵ | ┻━━┻ |
GODDAMNIT IT ONE PIECE IF YOU THINK I WILL SIT HERE AND WATCH THE MOST AWESOME LADY I HAVE SEEN IN SHONEN IN FOREVER FORGET SHE TOOK OUT A WHOLE PLATOON OF MARINES SINGLEHANDEDLY ONLY LAST ARC BECAUSE YOU …you…
oh, wait, you mean that scene wasn’t in the manga?
| ( º _ º ) | ┻━━┻ |
So the whole bushes thing was just a bit of uninspired filler thrown into that confrontation to lengthen things out for the anime? Oh. Well then.
| ( ¬ _ ¬ ) | ┻━━┻ | ||
| ┻━━┻ | ﾉ( ¬ _ ¬ ﾉ) |
| ┫ | ||
| ┃ | ||
| ┫ | ╮( ¬ _ ¬ ╮) |
| ┳━━┳ | ノ( ¬ _ ¬ノ) | |
| | ||
| ( ⌐ _ ⌐ )╯ | ┳━━┳ |
Carry on.
So, the arc from here still had some scattered problems. Thriller Bark marks about the first time in recent history I have felt characters were often guilty of forgetting they could do things that ought to have been terribly useful (Luffy, weren’t you moving at Soru speeds back at Water 7? Why haven’t any of you tried blinding that monster – Robin could have covered its eyes, we’ve still got smoke bombs and mirages – it might not win you the battle but at the very least it would buy you an opening). Much of this is bound to stem from the standard shounen filler problem where everything gets dragged out until half the episode is filled with dead time where everyone stands around looking shocked, but that's not much of an excuse. On the other hand, part of the reason this stood out so much is that I do believe this is the first time we have ever seen the entire team united against a single threat. And here we get right on to the stuff that redeemed this arc for me so thoroughly.
In no particular order:
Zombies with ~personality~
Irritating as I found some of these scenes, you have got to give credit for a forest full of mutant freaks that deal with being spotted by looking embarrassed and trying to slink away, and zombies that deal with being set on fire or expected to rise from the dead yet again for another round by bitching loudly to anyone in earshot.
“Ah… if I’m reincarnated… I want to be a clam.”
AHAHAHAHAHA *wheeze* repeat. Oh Luffy. I am just a little disappointed that negative!Zoro wasn’t given some better lines. “Why… why do I lift all those weights? What am I trying to prove?” “I should just get lost and never come back again.” – or, for maximum blackmail potential, “That cook has been right about me all along.”
Luffy as a rule just generally lifts every scene he’s part of, no matter how bad the clichés he’s forced to work with. His attempt to rebury that first zombie needs a special note all to itself.
Usopp vs Perona
Hands down the best fight Usopp has ever had. His liar/coward routine can get a little grating sometimes, but I will always be the first to cheer him on when he finally gets a moment to shine.
Gecko Moria
I did not like his character design one bit (see notes on generic cheesy horror above), but so help me, I kinda liked his attitude. Absolutely cackling evil, but you’ve got to enjoy a villain who will go on lounging against a wall with a grin on his face long after Luffy bursts in, then eventually deals with him by running off and giving him the slip. There’s something about his mix of gleeful self-assurance and willingness to look at his zombie minions as representing the greater part of his strength – despite absolutely being a major threat in his own right – that made a nice change from the last few major villains we’ve been through.
Oz
I am not sure what it says that my favourite villain thus far in the whole series is a ginormous ogre zombie that thinks it’s Luffy (Other than maybe that Luffy truly does lift every scene he’s in, even when he’s not technically in the scene at all.) There was no part of watching Oz climb around declaring his intent to become pirate king, making himself a hat and wondering why his arms wouldn’t stretch that wasn’t ridiculously good value. Even when he’d settled into obedient zombie mode and busily trying to slaughter our heroes he was still strangely lovable.
Speaking of shadow zombie shenanigans, I love that, were I the sort of fan inclined to pick apart every last scene for evidence of her OTP, I could, in all seriousness, add an entry to that list along the lines of, “There was this time when Zoro’s shadow was used to animate a zombie and Sanji’s was stuffed in this penguin-pug hybrid-thing and long after Sanji’s had forgotten all about how much it loved women, it still remembered it hated Zoro. What does that tell us about the depths of their relationship?” (Answer: I have no idea.)
The battle with Oz
The first time we’ve ever seen the whole crew team up to take down a single threat (former complaints notwithstanding) was just about everything I could have wanted it to be. The Strawhats swiftly proved themselves both, by turns, completely ridiculous (Tactic 15, anyone?) and tremendously effective. And even if they did have to wait for Luffy to get back before they could win, he couldn’t have won it without them either. So much love for this battle. <3
Lola
I am developing the weirdest relationship with One Piece’s use of genre-typical sexist clichés. On the one hand, I have very little tolerance left for that kind of bullshit – but on the other, in OP thing never do run the course you expect. The classic example is the Sanji/Nami relationship. In any other series, Nami would either a) have to return his feelings, no matter how hard the lady doth outwardly protest, or b) be the evil bitch stringing him along for her own amusement. No exceptions. But in One Piece we are four hundred episodes in without so much as a whisper of a suggestion of a hint that Nami sees Sanji any differently to the rest of her nakama, besides the obvious convenience of having a guy on hand who’s so helplessly pleased to wait on her every whim. She’s not remotely jealous of the attention; he can hit on other girls right in front of her and the worst she’ll do is roll her eyes, and somewhere under all that window dressing, they both have a lot of genuine respect for each other. That’s pretty much it.
At Thriller Bark, we introduce a new player: the evil pervert who falls for our heroine and considers abduction an appropriate first act to courtship. As a bonus complication, we have an evil female pervert who’s madly in love with our evil male example, and who will inevitably see our heroine as competition to be eliminated for the sake of her one true love.
How it would usually go: Evil Female Pervert (Lola) turns on Our Heroine (Nami), leading to either a chickfight or a well-timed rescue.
How it actually goes: Nami tells Lola how very perfect she thinks Lola and Evil Male Pervert (Absalom) are for each other, prompting Lola to burst into tears with gratitude. The two proceed to bond over the subject of the best way to force Absalom into signing Lola’s marriage certificate (willing, conscious or no).
How it would usually go: Absalom abducts Nami and gets her all the way up to the alter before Our Hero (Sanji) bursts in to rescue her.
How it actually goes: Sanji goes several rounds with Absalom and looks like having won right up until the latter wakes up while Sanji's not looking and sneaks off with the unconscious Nami. Nami is granted a temporary reprieve when Lola bursts in, one again furious with Nami for taking her man.
How it would usually go: Sanji gets back up and rushes to her rescue, this time beating both Lola and Absalom for good.
How it actually goes: In between many hits aimed to miss, Lola communicates to Nami that she was so touched by their earlier bonding moment that she’s actually come to buy her the chance to escape. She fights Absalom under the guise of amorous rage, but he knocks her down. Furious on Lola’s behalf, Nami stands up and deals the finishing blow to Absalom herself, then rushes back to Lola’s side to thank her for all her help.
Later, when Nami gets to meet Lola’s original human incarnation, she’s so thrilled she actually gives away some of her treasure, and the two are seen happily chatting together through much of the post-victory party.
One Piece: When it’s good it’s so very, very good, and when it’s bad, it’s… aw hell, even then it still has its moments.
Whoa, got a little sidetracked there. Still have more awesome stuff to cover.
Kuma
“But I’m also here because the Strawhats have entered your territory, and the World Government are scared they’re going to lose another Shichibukai.”
This scene. Damn. Few things have pleased me more than seeing Luffy’s adorkable travelling circus grow to where major world powers have started viewing them as a real and serious threat, but I’m not sure anything else in the series has ever hammered the point home quite like this moment.
And speaking of Kuma… the conclusion
As I’ve mentioning in passing once or twice, I come to One Piece from the confusing angle of someone who has already been spoiled for half the major plot points (generally as ranked on a decreasing scale of What Will Leave My Sister Clawing At Her Monitor For Need Of Someone To Tell), so I had spent most of Thriller Bark with a pretty good idea of what was coming. It still blew me away. I just. Everything Sanji and Zoro did or said in those scenes – the lengths they were willing to go to without a second thought. We’ve seen Luffy risk his life for the crew more than once, and we’ve seen Zoro react, but this was something else altogether. I don’t think I could ever ship Zoro/Luffy, but by god I love their relationship in all its depths of unspoken, unshakable loyalty to the end of the world and beyond. As for Sanji, this was a side of him I don’t think we’ve ever seen before. The fallout afterwards – who did or didn’t ever find out exactly how far Zoro had gone – was so subtly and beautifully handled too.
Or I could just sum my whole reaction up as awwww, Oda, you really DO love your fangirls! :3 This episode was like a gift made specially for each and every one of us. <3<3<3
Brook
Well, thus far he shows no signs of winning me over on anything like the level Franky has achieved and if I never hear another skull joke again it will be too soon, but he does get steadily more likeable and interesting all throughout his Thriller Bark appearances – and if nothing else, One Piece clearly knows that there is no-one it cannot sell to us with the judicious application of a heart-wrenching tale of childhood trauma*. I must give particular credit in this instance of managing to introduce a character who had been drifting at sea alone for fifty years after the death of his entire crew and yet still fulfil the standard requirement that every Strawhat must have a) family waiting for them back home, that b) the other Strawhats have met.
I do have to note the incredible convenience of how the Strawhats have set themselves up to end their Grand Line tour with a free and unlimited ticket through the Calm Belt in the form of a very friendly island whale who will surely never leave Brook's side again. But mostly, whatever the ending may bring, I'm really looking forward to that reunion. Dawww, Laboon is just the cutest overgrown sea monster ever.
* Seriously, the levels it descends to by the time it gets to Robin borders on outright emotional manipulation, which I am sure I would be far more bitter about if it… look, I even don’t know anymore, don’t ask me to explain it, and now you will have to excuse me because I appear to have something in my eye. I JUST WANT TO HUG EVERYONE IS THAT SO WRONG? :((((((
In conclusion, if anyone has any good post-Thriller Bark fic bookmarked, now would be an excellent time to drop me a rec. :3
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Date: 2012-06-15 04:15 am (UTC)I don't know, after the Time skip I feel things had just become absurd, even for One Piede standars. The plot behing the manga is still awesome (especially on Fisherman Island, when we get to know interesting things) but it's just... too much.
Plus... too much boobies. Sure, Nami still kick asses but... :(
I know, I shouldn't take this seriously a shounen like One Piece. Enjoy your ride! XD