Tag: Captain Kuro

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 39

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

I like the way today’s chapter is put together. Functionally, you’ve got two fights; one between Luffy and Kuro and another between Kaya, Usopp’s ‘crew’, and Django (which later gets two extra participants as the chapter comes to a close). The chapter keeps up the tension with the fairly simple trick of swapping between them, so there are no real “dead moments” at any point.

One Piece is good about this in general, but I find chapter 39 fairly exceptional in this regard. Basically everybody—at least, all the ‘good guys’, excepting Nami—get a solid badass moment. In something this long, you cannot expect every single chapter to have major story revelations or anything like that, but it’s good one when can make an exceptional showing on the Cool Points front, if nothing else.

It’s Luffy who gets the bulk of them, as despite Kuro’s techniques, he’s not much of a match for the rubberband pirate (assuming he doesn’t have some other secret trick up his sleeve anyhow), and Luffy is able to lay him flat without too much trouble over the course of the chapter.

Kuro of course panics about this, and we get one of those huge open-mouthed hollers that Oda seems to love drawing.

Meanwhile, Kaya is willing to sign the will without being mind-controlled, if Django will just leave Usopp’s little friends alone. The hitman hypnotist is having none of it, though, and Kaya actually has to threaten to hurt herself in order to get him to even consider it.

And Usopp’s crew promptly get their moment a few pages later when they charge him from behind and knock him on his ass. Which buys all involved just enough time for Zolo and Usopp to show up.

It’s actually Usopp himself who gets the final blow on Django, hitting him with some sort of exploding projectile via his slingshot.

And meanwhile, back at the beach, Luffy seems to put Captain Kuro down for good. Look at that neck; I don’t know if he’s coming back from that one.

Tomorrow: Is the battle over, or just beginning?

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 38

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

Rule 1 of a shonen manga – Any time someone says something like “oh no, the ultimate technique!” you need to get out of where you are as fast as possible.

A few other things happen in this chapter, but for the most part, Chapter 38 is Kuro and Luffy going at it again, and Kuro threatening the ever-living hell out of his old crew.

You might think disclosing your intent to kill a bunch of people ahead of time would be unwise, but if it is, the Black Cats are even less wise, since they mostly take the route of pleading with him rather than, say, running away. Even later in the chapter when he starts saying things like this.

It is worth noting that given the makeshift-democratic character of most pirate charters, this could be argued to be almost the exact opposite of a “real pirate’s” attitude.

As the chapter closes, he unleashes his—seriously—“Out the Bag” technique, which seems to consist of moving so quickly that he’s invisible to the naked eye and slashing everything in the area to ribbons. Pretty standard shonen manga stuff, but still not something you’d want to get caught in, for certain. We very briefly catch up with Nami here, too, although only just long enough for her to have this reaction to the attack.

Meanwhile in the woods, Django tries to force Kaya to open her eyes so he can hypnotize her, and the pirate kids try to attack him while he’s distracted. This goes….badly, and their ultimate fate here is again left uncertain.

Tomorrow: These two stories sail on.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 35

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

Hello folks! You’ll have to forgive the late upload today, I thought I had one in the tin for this morning already only to wake up and realize I did not. Hence; this one coming to you a bit late. (Don’t worry, I’m going to be penning a couple this afternoon, so this shouldn’t happen again. At least not for a while.)

Something I like about One Piece, and I’m not sure if I’ve outright said this, is the amount of weight it gives its battles. In modern shonen, even the very best fight scenes can sometimes feel over too quickly owing to the rather brisk pace of most modern TV anime and the manga they’re adapted from. (A particularly bad offender here, because I never miss a chance to take a shot at it, is the anime version of God of High School.) This isn’t to say the opposite is inherently a good thing, as someone who grew up watching a lot of Dragonball Z with my stepfather I am well aware that a single fight being doled out across weeks or potentially even months can be on the draining side, but still, I think so far, One Piece strikes a nice balance. (How this goes in the show I couldn’t tell you, given that I’m not watching said show.)

Not a ton actually happens in this chapter from a “narrative perspective.” Basically it boils down to “Luffy and Zolo cover for Usopp’s little ‘crew’ of kids as he orders them to flee the battlefield with Kaya.” But everything has a nice sense of solid urgency. That it manages to convey that in the still rather economical space of just 20 or so pages is pretty impressive. (Get used to that observation, I don’t think it’s the first time I’ve made it here and it will almost certainly not be the last.)

Take for example, the mostly-comical Butchie getting a chance to slam into the ground with enough force to do that “rocks and terrain explode everywhere” thing that people (including myself) are so fond of.

“What happened to the ground?!” “My parents took it down because I’m grounded :/”

Or even this on-its-face silly scene where the pirate kids wail on a still-laid-flat Captain Kuro with sticks. Sure, it’s funny, but he could straight-up disembowel those children if he wanted to. That’s a scary notion!

Especially since Kuro is only wounded to the extent of feeling the need to remark that Luffy slugging him in the face “smarted.” (What is he, a British schoolboy?)

Usopp certainly knows the score, as he spends several pages trying to get the kids (and Kaya) to run away.

Eventually, he convinces them to by framing it as an order from their ‘captain,’ which is pretty clever. I don’t know if I’ve properly conveyed this but I really have come around on Usopp since his introduction, it’s clear he cares a lot for these people and (spoiler alert here) I know from prior knowledge that he joins the main cast eventually, so I’m interested to see what he adds to their dynamic when he does. (He also gets an amusing and very literal cheap shot at Django, here, which is mostly worth noting because it literally makes the big bad hypno-pirate say “owie.”)

None of this is to say our other heroes don’t get a minute to shine here, though, because they do. Specifically, Luffy and Zolo pull off a pretty badass “you shall not pass” sort of moment when intercepting Django, who’s been ordered to pursue Kaya and the kids.

And the chapter ends there, leaving what will become of the heiress and Usopp’s little buddies a question for tomorrow. See you then, pirates.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 34

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

Today’s chapter is a terrific little tornado of tough-talk, tussling, and takedowns. First of all; if you were worried about Nami yesterday, well, don’t be. Luffy happens to (quite accidentally) get between Django’s chakram and Nami’s very vulnerable body. Unlike Nami, Luffy can take a blade to the head just fine.

Average Abdullah the Butcher match aftermath.

Not that he won’t complain. In fact, the speech bubble for his yell is so loud that it’s larger than the panel!

The real development of this chapter though is Kaya arriving on the scene. She calls out to her former butler to stop all this, but, predictably, it does not help.

She even just tries to buy Captain Kuro and his crew off, but because Kuro is a villain in a shonen manga, that doesn’t work either.

Kaya pulls out a gun in response to that little comment, but Kuro successfully rattles her by listeing off all the things he’s done for her, and making it clear that he hated every minute of it. Then he goes on the defensive, and Usopp tries to cut in to prevent him from hurting Kaya, despite his being rather unsuited to the task.

But then, well, someone else gets the drop on him.

He’s gonna feel that in the morning.

The chapter ends with that explosive pop from Luffy. I imagine Kuro will have something to say about that tomorrow.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 33

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

Today, Captain Kuro joins the fray directly. He is not happy about the dillydallying his former crew have been engaging in. That is to say; he really thinks they should’ve killed Luffy and friends by now.

Some of the Black Cat Pirates, namely the catboy brothers (whose actual name I have decided is irrelevant), don’t take kindly to this, and wonder if perhaps their former captain is only being so commandeering because he’s gone too soft in the past three years to finish his foes off himself. In the process, they make some fun faces.

But as it turns out, Kuro really is the monster heel the arc has hyped him up to be, and he’s not to be taken lightly. He instantly outmaneuvers the brothers, and threatens them pretty plainly.

What is the name of this masterful piece of footwork?

You will never guess.

No seriously, guess.

Yeah.

We also get an explanation for his weird habit of pushing up his glasses with the palm of his hand. Little details, people, they make the world go ’round.

Feeling at least a bit merciful, he gives the catboy brothers five minutes to finish off Zolo. Instead, Nami tosses Zolo his swords, and he takes the two of them out with a single slash, in one of Oda’s full-page action panels. I quite like these.

But he really has no time to bask in the victory. Nami tries to wake Luffy up as well, only for Django to grow tired of her interference. He attacks her, and the chapter ends here, on that particular cliffhanger.

A cliffhanger to be resolved tomorrow, certainly.

I quite liked this chapter, although I’m not sure how well it showed. (I’m in a bit of a sour mood for unrelated reasons.) Interested to see what exactly Kuro brings to the table, fight scene-wise, with those big kitty claws of his.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 30

Seasonal First Impressions is a column where I detail my thoughts, however brief or long, about a currently-airing anime’s first episode or so.

The big three-oh. Hello, folks. I’m writing to you mere hours (at most) before this column will go live, because I’ve completely burned through my meager back-catalogue and didn’t have time to get this written yesterday. Life! It’s complicated sometimes. Also, hey, let’s talk about this chapter art for a second, because it has to be some of the weirdest I’ve yet come across while reading this manga. Robot versions of the Straw Hat Pirates? Although I’ll admit my inner Transformers fan is delighted by Zolotron up there.

In any case, the actual chapter makes something super important very clear; if the Black Cat pirates were an MMO party, One-Two Django would be the guy handling buffs and heals. In theory, that’s all well and good. Luffy and Zolo pulverize the entire Black Cat landing force, but Django is able to heal them back up and make them stronger with nothing more than his hypnotism. (How exactly that works is left as an exercise to the reader but hey, it’s a shonen manga, don’t overthink it.)

And that would be fine, were it not for the fact that Django is apparently a bit subpar at directing his hypnotic powers. (Or maybe Luffy is just that easy to hypnotize.)

Since Luffy is also healed and strengthened, this turns the entire battle against the Black Cat landing force into a typhoon of rubber fists and “yarr” noises. They really don’t stand a chance. Doubly so when Luffy actually rips the bow off of their ship, which leads to this amusing bit here.

I cannot think of anything I could say that could possibly make this funnier than “shiver me timbers!” already is.

But while Luffy and co. have definitely made a dent in the Black Cat Pirates, they haven’t actually won. Django conks Luffy out with his hypnotism shortly after this, and we get an allusion to two apparently particularly-vicious pirates who are still onboard the ship (perhaps along with some other contingent of crew).

And meanwhile, one of Usopp’s young friends notices the “butler” of the town’s mansion heading to the beach rather early, and decides to trail him. I hope the little buddy stays safe! We’ll learn of his fate tomorrow, one must assume.

As a minor PS for today’s column: I just wanted to note, I know I’ve been a little quiet with replying to comments and such over the past week or two. Hoping to start doing that again this coming week, since I’m finally out of having an absolute ton to do every day for life reasons.

Actually, let me field you a question, Straw Hat Pirates. Have you been reading any manga lately? (Other than One Piece, presumably.) I picked up Chainsaw Man a few days ago, I quite like it.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 28

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

Today’s One Piece is a comedy of errors.

Something I suppose I should’ve picked up on by now is that there’s usually a little more time before the Big Climactic Battle in a given One Piece arc than you might expect. So today’s chapter is almost entirely setup, but it’s at least decently fun setup.

We open with a bit of half-character development for Usopp (PS: thank you guys for pointing out all the interesting literary references baked in to the character in the comments. To be honest, I’d never have picked up on those on my own).

It’s a start.

Our heroes prepare an ingenious trap wherein they coat the only passage leading from the island’s southern beach to the village with an oil slick. We’ll get back to the flaws in this plan momentarily.

Meanwhile, Captain Kuro lays his cards on the table, or at least he does for the other butler in Kaya’s employ (who I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a name for).

I absolutely love this; he has zero reason to do any of it and it ends with him killing the guy. Was the whole point of the long con here not specifically that he could do all this without having to commit any violence other than killing Kaya? What is the point of the pirate raid itself, actually, now that I think of it and on that note? Is it to create plausible confusion that Kaya might die in?

Whatever the case, that marks the end of Kuro’s nice guy act. Good riddance. In the sort of thing that seems counterintuitive only if you don’t know how stories work, he’s actually more likable as an out-and-out bad guy.

When we cut to the next day, Luffy and co. realize they’ve made a minor mistake. Namely; they’re on the wrong beach.

As the chapter ends, Luffy, Zolo, and Nami are two-for-three on being somehow unable to confront the pirates. Luffy runs off in the wrong direction, and Zolo gets caught in the crew’s own oil trap. (Which Nami accidentally pushes him into.)

Is this girlboss behavior? Vote now in the comments below.

Tomorrow: Can our heroes overcome this comedic series of obstacles to stop the Black Cat Pirates, or will Usopp truly have to fend them off alone?

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 26

One Piece Every Day is a column where I read a chapter of One Piece every single day—more or less—and discuss my thoughts on it. Each entry will have spoilers up to the chapter covered in that day’s column.

Please keep in mind that many other readers are also first-timers. Do NOT spoil anything beyond this point in the comments!

I have to be honest, until now I haven’t been entirely on board with this arc. “Guy with a big nose learns not to lie” is….well, it’s pretty far away from my usual interests as a manga reader.

Today, secret murder plans get involved. That is drama I’m here for.

No wacky misunderstandings here; Klahadore has been going deep cover for the past three years as part of a winding long con to bump his ostensible mistress off and take her vast fortune. That weird backwards-walking hypnotist guy from last chapter is, of course, also in on it. As for Klahadore; there is no Klahadore. It’s a persona. His real name? Captain Kuro.

Despite his protests, I will be calling him “Kuro” from here on out, because it is easier to spell than Klahadore. Kuro’s plan is rather elaborate. Overly so, I might even say, given that it also involves Django’s hypnotism powers.

This step seems a bit unnecessary to me. Maybe it betrays a lack of confidence on Kuro’s part in his own plan? Maybe he’s just paranoid. In any case, the predictable happens; Luffy shouts from atop the cliff that they can’t do this thing, because the Silly Putty Pirate has never met a knot of rope he wouldn’t try to slash in half with a cutlass.

Although in this case, he meets something that being made out of rubber can’t help with. As he rushes down the cliffside, Django hypnotizes him—and also himself—and the two conk out simultaneously. Leading Usopp to play the role of the boy who cried….well you know.

Predictably, nobody does believe him, other than his own three little buddies. Zolo, though, notices that Luffy’s gone missing, and I suspect that no matter what Kuro may have planned, he’s probably not accounting for a guy with three swords.

Tomorrow: A guy with three swords saves Luffy’s straw hatted hide. (Probably.)

Also this.

One Piece Every Day relies on reader support even more than most of my columns do. Please consider sharing this article around if you liked it!

Also consider following Magic Planet Anime to get notified when new articles go live. If you’d like to talk to other Magic Planet Anime readers, consider joining my Discord server! Also consider following me on Twitter and supporting me on Ko-Fi or Patreon. If you want to read more of my work, consider heading over to the Directory to browse by category.