Tag: Manga

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 27

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!

Something that may not have been immediately obvious is that yesterday’s chapter was the end of its volume. To me, this is a little odd, given that that felt more like the dead middle of a story arc than the start or end of one. But on the other hand, maybe it’s building to something more. Certainly, the new volume has a promising title.

We open on a dramatic irony, Kaya buying a gift for “Klahadore”, to commemorate the third anniversary of his arriving at the estate. This sets a pattern that recurs throughout the chapter. Despite her warm feelings for Usopp, Kaya very much believes that her butler is a kind person who has only her best interests at heart.

Usopp, meanwhile, has predictably found his warning of the impending pirate raid to be met with incredulity, and, eventually, torches and pitchforks. Things do not go any better when he tries to convince Kaya that her butler is out to get her. In fact, they escalate quickly and unpleasantly.

And indeed Usopp eventually resorts to trying to physically drag Kaya out of her manor. This goes about as well as you’d expect, and culminates with Kaya—who, remember, has no context for any of this—slapping Usopp.

Driven farther out of town, Usopp deliberately drives off the three children who follow him around and pretend to be his “crew” by claiming that this pirate attack, too, is all a lie. He does this so they won’t get hurt, but it’s clear that the hit to his pride bothers him. Toward’s the chapter’s end it really does seem like he intends to face the incoming horde of the Black Cat pirates all on his own.

But, of course, One Piece is not that sort of manga. Don’t go expecting Usopp to die heroically alone here.

Tomorrow; Luffy’s crew vs. Captain Kuro’s.

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!

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Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 25

Klahadore is a real piece of work, isn’t he?

I find it hard to imagine a more “oh fuck this guy”-inducing phrase that a character could use than “ruffian heritage.”

But, ah, this chapter also gives us his sympathetic backstory. So it goes. It’s a brief one, mostly boiling down to the revelation that Klahadore himself used to work on a ship, only to be marooned for making “a mistake.” The word “pirate” goes unsaid but is perhaps implied. Kaya’s father took him in, and his overprotective streak toward her—which eventually leaves Usopp, and then Luffy, to storm off in a huff—comes from a desire to not fail him. It’s not explicitly stated that Kaya’s father is deceased but, again, it’s pretty strongly implied.

Anyway, you know what’s more exciting than butler / heiress interpersonal drama? Guys who walk backwards.

Hahahahaha what the fuck.

We do not learn Django’s deal here. My guess is that he’ll end up being this arc’s antagonist? But a guess is all it is. He does pull of a pretty impressive “trick” where he hypnotizes Usopp’s three little buddies, only to also conk out himself. Still more compelling than most Penn & Teller specials, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Luffy kind of knows Usopp’s dad! Or knew, anyway. This is the sort of thing I could’ve seen coming if I were a bit more diligent with note-taking. We get a flashback to Luffy hanging out with Yasopp, who was part of Red Hair Shanks’ crew. He’s noted as an incredible shot (fair enough). And, despite Luffy and Usopp’s remarks to the contrary, he kind of comes across as a deadbeat.

My own father left my mother shortly after I was born for dubious reasons, so I will not pretend I’m free of biases here.

In any case, Usopp and Luffy happen to randomly spot “that butler” from their clifftop perch, which leads to the chapter ending on this note.

Tomorrow: Butler Betrayal! (Or perhaps just a wacky misunderstanding.)

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 24

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!

Why does Usopp tell so many lies? Well, today we find out; mostly, to entertain a pretty girl. There are worse reasons to just Make Things Up All The Time. That girl is Kaya, the rich, ill heiress alluded to but not shown in the previous chapter. We meet her formally here, as well as her butler Klahadore. Their dynamic—and their relation to Usopp—becomes clear pretty quickly.

What the hell is he doing with his glasses.

Usopp sits outside of Kaya’s window and tells her tall tales of his “exploits” as a “gallant pirate.” These are nonsense, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows they’re nonsense, but they make her happy, which is all that matters to either of them. Klahadore is having none of this, as he apparently thinks that…being excited is bad for Kaya’s constitution. I suspect there is more to it than that, but that’s what he claims his motive is, at any rate.

Luffy and friends learn about all this from Usopp’s “pirate lackeys”—a trio of kids with vegetable names who look up to Usopp because they like his ability to tell stories—and promptly decides that this, clearly, is where he and his crew should acquire their ship.

Thus, the final scene of the chapter is a big morass outside Kaya’s bedroom window. Usopp, who’s been telling her a story is confronted by her butler, and then Luffy and friends show up to make things even more complicated.

But things really heat up when Klahadore starts laying into Usopp about his father being a pirate. This, apparently, is 100% fact. And Usopp does not take having his missing dad spoken ill of kindly.

There’s an overtone of class tension here. Not that “working class pirate falls for rich girl” is anything new even if Usopp really were a pirate, but it’s interesting how Klahadore deliberately provokes Usopp and then blames him for snapping. A dynamic that is, unfortunately, quite true to life. (On a level more immediate to One Piece’s original target audience, I imagine it reminded no small amount of kids of their school bullies, too.)

The chapter ends here, quite literally mid-thought from Luffy. What does he remember? That’s a question for 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 23

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!

Oh boy.

Meet Usopp, the village idiot.

Every single day, Usopp runs around his village screaming his head off about an impending pirate invasion. Every single day, he is lying. Is he a mythomaniac and can’t help it? Is he just a dick, as teenagers sometimes are? Who knows. More pertinent to my personal experience is that this entire opening sequence made me want to go crawl in a cave and hibernate for three months. “Boy who cried wolf” situations just rouse some sort of deep, visceral nails-on-chalkboard feeling within me.

More to the point, what is this village anyway? It’s some place that Nami suggested the crew look for a larger ship, since going the Grand Line unprepared is likely to get them all killed. Fair enough, I say. That is the situation; they’re here on this island searching for a ship, and they have to deal with This Fucking Guy.

Who of course claims to be a pirate when he meets Luffy and friends. Nami does not really buy it. And no one buys it when Usopp tries to slide into their crew in a later scene.

I’m sure the character’s voluminous bravado will eventually get more endearing than embarrassing but—and maybe this is just because I’m rather sleepy as I’m typing this—in this moment, I am just a bit annoyed by him. Probably this will change, but that is how I feel in the immediacy of the now. (“The immediacy of the now” is one of my favorite overblown pretentious turns of phrase. I highly recommend trying to slip it into casual conversation sometime just to see what happens.)

More interesting than Usopp’s bloviating is the mysterious mansion, complete with an ill heiress, that he informs Luffy’s crew lies on the outskirts of town. The chapter ends on this note, a cut to said heiress (although honestly, she kind of looks like Nami. I suspect this will be a recurring pattern).

Tomorrow: We find out whatever’s going on here and hopefully I feel a bit more awake when I’m writing my next one of these.

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 22

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!

Chapter 22 is called “Strange Creatures.” Now, I wonder why it might have a title like that?

Do y’all think there are like ZooBooks about these creatures in the One Piece universe? Is my audience even old enough to remember ZooBooks? Did any of you have the Free Tiger Poster? If you still do, I would exchange an anime commission for it.

Feathered and crested foxes aside, this chapter is actually a mostly self-contained little story. Its actual events, at the moment at least, seem to me to be of little consequence. But, we get some important worldbuilding and learn a few other interesting things. That’s more than enough to justify the slightly-longer-than-usual page count here (30 vs. the usual 20-something).

The basic plot is quite straightforward. Luffy spots an island through his looking scope, he and Nami make landfall while Zolo rests in the ship, and they meet a bunch of weird animals. And also this guy.

This fuzzy gentleman is Gaimon. He was stranded on the island nearly 20 years prior while searching for treasure (as part of a pirate crew, natch). He fell in an empty treasure chest, got stuck, and no one has come back to help him in all that time. A sad story in its own way, maybe, but Gaimon is quite the comical figure, being mostly a waddling head with his entire body, sans feet and hands, stuck in the box. He’s a bit of a human hermit crab, one might say.

Luffy eventually helps the man find the treasure he’s been searching for all these years, only for it to turn out that the chests are empty. Easy come, easy go. (Gaimon declines an offer to join Luffy’s crew, staying on the island as the protector of the many tiankeng-worthy creatures that live there.) The whole misadventure is a little inconsequential, and the chapter itself might feel that way too if not for some interesting things we learn about the actual world of One Piece during it.

For instance. You, like I, may have thought “The Grand Line” was a slightly odd name for a stretch of ocean. As it turns out, it’s not a stretch of ocean, it’s a strait that links two of them. Think The Bosporus if, instead of linking two large, economically-important and well-traversed seas, it linked the only two major of bodies of water on the planet.

This instantly explains a lot about the world of One Piece, especially its generally nautically-focused nature. The Grand Line is dangerous, though, even Gaimon, who’s been stranded on his island for two decades, has stories to pass on of the souls who survive a passage through it.

But, Luffy’s casual but overwhelming self-confidence must be infectious, as it’s not long before Gaimon is wishing him good luck when he departs.

This was an odd little detour for the series, but I’m glad we took it, if only for the interesting tidbits about the world of One Piece itself. As for Gaimon, he’s not too banged up about the empty treasure chests.

I wouldn’t be too shocked if he shows up again someday. But for now, it’s farewell to the weird warden of the island of strange animals.

As for tomorrow’s adventure? Who knows?

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 21

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!

One Piece chapter 21 is a comedy of errors. The gist of it all; that Nami joins Luffy’s still-small pirate crew, and that our heroes cast off from the port town that Buggy and his men had invaded, is fairly simple. Scattered throughout, though, are some fun details.

Details like “booty is a funny word and it’s funny how everyone in this manga says it with a straight face.” There, you don’t get analysis like that from AnimeNewsNetwork.

Take, for instance, the townspeople. When they come upon the wreckage near the docks, and see only two people (Nami and Luffy) still conscious, they make the reasonable assumption that it’s Luffy who’s caused all this chaos. A notion Luffy seems to actively contribute to, rather than resolving.

They pose no real threat to Luffy, Nami, and the still half-conscious Zolo. Even if they did, their retreat is covered by the manga’s best character; Chou-Chou the dog.

Our heroes eventually encounter some familiar faces hiding out on Nami’s ship.

Which certainly seems like it could be a chapter all its own. But, harkening back to what happened to them all the way back when Zolo and Luffy were originally separated, the pirates bolt—not even leaving the ship properly, just straight up jumping overboard—as Zolo wakes up.

The Mayor eventually regains consciousness as well, and….well he actually doesn’t clear up the misunderstanding with the townsfolk at all, but he does see Luffy and co. off, thanking them as they depart. This is the second time now that Luffy’s crew has left a town that way, and I imagine it won’t be the last.

So, our heroes are +1 Navigator, +1 Map of the Grand Line, and +1 on Rollicking Adventures. What’s next for them? Well, I’ll let the narration boxes do my job for me.

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 20

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!

We return to the realm of the chapter-long action sequence here. At the end of the last chapter, Buggy popped the top half of his body off of his legs and chased down Nami, knives akimbo. Obviously, Luffy manages to save her right off the top, here. Because Buggy leaving the lower half of his body behind gives him a completely foreseeable weakness.

You Will No Longer Load The Buggy Balls

Thus begins the systematic dismantling—both literally and figuratively—of Buggy the Clown. Luffy kicks him between the legs, he bickers with Nami over whether or not his treasure is “hers” even if she hasn’t technically fully absconded with it yet, and he makes a desperate attempt to launch an all-out assault by flinging his limbs every which way. This does not go well for him either; Luffy happens to notice that even though every other part of him can fly around freely if he detaches them from his body, the same is not true of his feet, which must remain grounded.

Yes, I am about to post Buggy Feet. You’ve been warned.

Although maybe I should’ve warned you more about some of these facial expressions….

Having Luffy attack his other obvious humiliating weak point distracts Buggy long enough for Nami to round up the rest of his limbs and tie them up. Meaning that, when he does finally pull himself together, he looks like this.

And Luffy finishes off the Clown Prince of the High Seas with a “Gum-Gum Bazooka.” Which mostly just seems to involve chucking him as far away as possible. And with that, it’s bye-bye Buggy, at least for now.

To the victor go the spoils, of course.

Tomorrow: What will Luffy do with that marvelous map he’s found?

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, Uncategorized

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 19

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!

Unsurprisingly, Buggy the Clown is not dead. But in contrast to last chapter’s pure, streamlined punch-and-stab machine, this chapter is a bit more all over the place. Not in a bad way, but it’s a lot less Just One Thing than yesterday’s.

Mainly, we learn a couple things here; about Red-Hair Shanks, about Buggy the Clown, and about the Devil Fruits themselves, which, it’s becoming increasingly obvious if it weren’t already, are the manga’s central plot tokens.

It’s worth taking an aside here to point this out; it seems like Mayor Boodle’s bravery has inspired his citizens, and they arm themselves while preparing to fight Buggy off. They don’t arrive at the site of the battle in this chapter, though. My guess is we’ll circle back on them tomorrow.

Much more of the chapter is taken up by a flashback from Buggy, where we see a slice of his youth serving as an “apprentice” aboard a pirate ship. We also learn why he ate the Devil Fruit in the first place and why he doesn’t like Shanks. In order, he ate it because he was trying to steal it, and he doesn’t like Shanks because Shanks saved his life. No, that was not a typo. Why did he want to steal the Devil Fruit? Turns out, a lot of people will pay good money for superpowers if the only downside is that they can’t swim.

Assuming a “berry” is roughly about a yen, a hundred million of them is about $743,000 USD. If it’s actually closer in value to a US dollar, then it’s about $100,000,000 USD.

Buggy, via an ill-considered harebrained scheme, ends up both accidentally eating the fruit and nearly drowning. Shanks has to save him, and in spite of that, Buggy ends up blaming him for the failure of his get-rich-quick plan. This is the rare shonen flashback that actually manages to make a character even less sympathetic than they already were, it almost comes across as parodic. (Obviously, that’s intentional, but still, it’s pretty funny.)

Importantly, though, it does establish that Buggy’s fixation on literal gold-and-jewels-style treasure is deep-rooted. Which makes it make sense when he actually cuts and runs from his fight with Luffy. Literally! He pops the top half of his body off and flies at Nami like some kind of cutlass-wielding aerial drone, a shot on which the chapter ends.

Tomorrow: Buggy vs. the thief of 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 18

In which Buggy the Clown learns not to mess with Luffy’s hat.

Today’s One Piece chapter is another that’s essentially just a single, uninterrupted action scene. It’s also a bit longer than normal, with a few extra pages, presumably to commemorate the start of a new volume. But if you’re inclined to worry that this will dilute the action somehow, rest easy. There really isn’t much to this chapter but 20-some pages of blood and iron, but a series like this doesn’t always need much else.

We do learn one thing, though. That cliffhanger from the end of the last chapter is followed up on immediately; Buggy and Red-Hair Shanks once served on the same ship. Beyond that, we don’t get much detail, and it’s not like Buggy is going to tell Luffy anything else without a very good reason.

Of course, Luffy interprets Buggy’s reluctance to share info in a somewhat different light.

The remainder of the chapter’s pages are largely a tangle of rubber limbs and detaching heads; Luffy and Buggy seem almost an equal match, and I like the comedic detail of the more normal members of Buggy’s crew knowing to stay out of the fight.

What gives Luffy an extra edge? Buggy damaging his hat, of course, first just by nicking the brim and then by full-on impaling it with a trio of stubby daggers. That much is enough to turn the tide in Luffy’s favor.

Will it be enough to actually take the clown down? Well, we’ll find out together, 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.