Tag: recap

Posted on in anime, Seasonal Impression Roundups

Seasonal First Impressions: Something is Wrong in SMILE OF THE ARSNOTORIA THE ANIMATION

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.

As we stand in the blistering spring wind,
we are resolute, humble, and decorous.
We are Pentagrams,
and with the pride of flowers,
we learn and study hard.

I really must, before saying anything at all about this series, direct even site regulars to the warning in the header. Arsnotoria is the sort of thing I’d recommend going into as blind as possible. (Even saying that much is a bit of a giveaway, but there’s a certain amount of that which can’t be helped.)

But let’s get into it, shall we?

You get them a few times per year; anime whose premieres just make you go “huh?”

Often, they start out as one genre and then take a left turn into another. Or their tone does a total headstand somewhere in the first episode or two. Something like that. By me even mentioning this, you can guess that Smile of The Arsnotoria: The Animation—clunky title and all—is an example of this, but it’s worth explaining why even bringing that up is noteworthy. These days, these kinds of swerves don’t have much impact anymore. Somewhere after Gakkou Gurashi people started to almost expect them, and most modern examples don’t even bother waiting until the premiere to tip their hand, with, for example, one of Arsnotoria‘s contemporaries Lycoris Recoil not even keeping up the facade for all of its preview trailers. So, if nothing else, if the entire rest of the series is a total, out-and-out bomb that drops off the face of the Earth after it finishes airing, it should at least be noted for its restraint.

There are 22 minutes in Arsnotoria‘s first episode. About 20 of them are extremely pleasant, almost iyashikei-esque slice of life coziness. Let’s talk about those minutes first, since they form the bulk of the episode.

Right from the top, we’re dropped to the goings-on in a magical academy of some sort, and into the lives of five schoolgirls. These are Arsnotoria herself (Misaki Kuno), Mell (Miharu Hanai), Ko Alberta (Miyu Tomita), Picatrix (Eri Yukimura), and Abramelin (Eriko Matsui). No, I don’t know why Ko is the only one with a last name either (although there is brief mention of a Grand Alberta, also. Maybe they’re related).

They fall into familiar and broad character archetypes; Arsnotoria is the cutesy and naive one, Mell is rambunctious and michievious, Ko is a sleepyhead who’s more aware than she lets on, Picatrix is an ojou complete with ending most of her sentences with “desu wa”, and Abramelin is the serious, responsible one. These aren’t the most compelling or deep characters, but they work in the sort of easygoing, slice of life mold that most of the episode traffics in.

“Easygoing” might be underselling it, really. Much of the episode is positively languid, and it’s telling that a solid 10 minutes are taken up by the characters discussing tea. This admittedly gets a little boring toward the end, but it’s to Arsnotoria‘s credit that it manages to actually keep this fairly engaging for most of that time. Discussions of what side one butters their scones on recall the (in?)famous chocolate coronet scene in Lucky Star. And at one point, Ko tries to bash a sealed jam jar open with some lavishly-animated and quite powerful looking magic wherein she summons a huge, bandaged hand to punch it.

Aside from this, there are a few setting details. The school this all takes place at, the “academy city” of Ashlam, seems to basically be a furnishing school for young arcanists, which is perfectly fine as a setting and it’s one plenty of other things have done (in anime alone you have everything from Tweeny Witches to Little Witch Academia to Mahou Girls Precure to, perhaps most relevant for this part of the episode, Mysteria Friends). A fair bit of proper terminology gets lobbed at us here. Not quite enough to be a Proper Noun Machine Gun, but maybe a Proper Noun Slingshot.

And mixed in with all this are some interesting bits about London being on “the surface”, which seems to both imply (somewhat surprisingly) that this takes place in a version of our world, and that Ashlam is actually physically above the ground.

All of this may seem irrelevant, given the total tonal 180 that you’re all aware, if you’ve gotten this far in the article, is coming, but there is one other detail that seems significant; the opening of the episode sees our characters return from a “watch” shift. A watch for what is not a question I thought to ask while first viewing the scene, but it’s certainly on my mind at this point.

Because, yes, in its final two minutes or so, Arsnotoria completely tips its hand, in perhaps the most dope slap-blunt way possible. A cut to black, the word “WARNING” inexplicably written across the screen in bright red, and then this.

A scene of total, apocalyptic ruin. (Complete with some very nice billowing fire animation.) Inquisitors patrol streets and slaughter citizens for being “Negatives,” explaining nothing with their cryptic comments as they do so. It does not even look like it’s from the same universe as the entire preceding 20 minutes, and with just that little bit of footage, Arsnotoria goes from being enjoyable if predictable to a total fucking wildcard.

None of this necessarily means that Arsnotoria will be good. It is entirely possible to have an interesting structure but fail on any number of other counts (or even all other counts), but it’s at least a good sign.

The Takeaway: Really, this one is pretty simple. If you enjoy throwing caution to the wind and gambling on something that no one has any real idea as to where it’s going, you want in on this. If not, you can probably skip it.

Like what you’re reading? 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.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

Posted on in Manga, One Piece Every Day

ONE PIECE Every Day – Chapter 29

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, One Piece returns to its usual forte. Basically, a whole chapter that’s a long action sequence. (In fact, this and the next chapter seem to form a contiguous single action sequence. That in mind, it’s really more like half of one.)

We open on an unenviable situation; Usopp and Nami, easily the least combat-capable of our protagonists, are forced to stand alone against the Black Cat Pirates, who, after some banter, promptly charge.

Surprisingly though, they manage to fend the pirates off, at least for a little while, with a combination of caltrops(!) and Usopp’s slingshot(?!?!). Also, hijinks continue to occur.

“My work here is done.” “But you didn’t do anything!”

And I’d be remiss to not at least briefly touch on Luffy being lost for about half the chapter.

The real centerpiece of the chapter though comes when Usopp gets his head knocked in. He’s clearly hurt pretty bad, but he still doesn’t just let Captain Kuro’s crew walk all over him. It’s a bit of the old burning justice that keeps him hanging on, and it’s nice to see him trying an honest stab at being genuinely heroic.

But, of course, the real capable hands arrive just as Django’s lot push their way past Usopp and Nami. Meaning that the conclusion of this particular fight is a concern 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 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 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 anime, Let's Watch

Let’s Watch LYCORIS RECOIL Episode 1 – Easy Does It

Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!

Erase, delete, eradicate, and beautify.

It opens like this; sunrise over a peaceful Tokyo, a gleaming monument to some sin or glory enshrined in the skyline. Our lead, Chisato Nishikigi (Chika Anzai), does stretches in front of her apartment window. A call comes in, and she’s out the door like a bolt of lightning. She monologues, extolling the virtues of Japanese politeness and the serenity of her hometown at dawn while the visuals supercut through scenes of high school girls packing pistols as they apprehend criminals. One appears to execute somebody. These are the Lycoris—named for the spider lily—agents who manufacture the peace that this Tokyo’s citizens enjoy.

Halfway across town, she arrives in time to see another such high school supercop toting a chain gun—that’s Takina Inoue (Shion Wakayama), our other lead—gun down a room full of arms dealers, and nearly hit one of her teammates in the process. Chisato, watching from a building over, whoops and cheers.

Takina’s stunt, meanwhile, gets her expelled from her department—the “DA”—and transferred to Chisato’s, LycoReco, which is rather inexplicably based out of a cafe. (This was the source of much of the show’s early promotional material.) There, she meets Chisato herself, the enigmatic owner Mika (Kousuke Sakaki), and alternately tries to adjust to her new role and openly wonders how she might find her way back to the force.

This, all of it, is Lycoris Recoil. This missile barrage of violence, cute girls, cafes, and tension-ratcheting authoritarian imagery is how it chooses to open. There have been anime somewhat like this before—Princess Principal, RELEASE THE SPYCE, to a lesser extent Assault Lily Bouquet—but of them, this might have the most openly bonkers, beat-your-fucking-head-in introduction of all. There is a sublime unease to the juxtaposition of Chisato’s cheery, upbeat narration and the blunt violence of what we see, even as all of the visuals have a sleek, modern edge that distantly recalls but does not actually look like its ancestors in the “girls with guns” boom of the 2000s. (Rest in peace, Bee Train.)

The episode’s second half sees some additional context. The Chisato and Takina’s unit handles what one might charitably call odd jobs. Chisato’s description is….vague.

They help out at a daycare, then a Japanese-as-second language school, and deliver rare coffee grounds to a mob boss. In the second half of the episode, they help a woman deal with a stalker. The woman’s stalkers turn out to be connected to the same arms deal that got Takina shunted over to Chisato’s unit, and Lycoris Recoil quickly establishes that in its world, everything is a connected, dizzying clockwork of interlocking plots and motivations. Coincidence is for suckers. That’s how we go from “three girls talking out a problem in a restaurant” to “hostage situation” in perhaps ten real-time minutes.

Takina actually intentionally lets the woman get kidnapped, to lure them out. Real piece of work, this girl.

This is all also connected to a mysterious hacker named Walnut—think The Laughing Man from Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex if he had a fursona1—and an eccentric, sinister billionaire named Allen Adams, who at one point we see cause an explosion in a building by remotely tapping a few commands into his Tesla’s touchscreen.

The inevitable and valid question is what all this adds up to, but the fact of the matter is that we simply don’t know yet. It’s clear that Chisato, despite her sunny front, has seen some things. The “symbol of peace” in Tokyo is evidently the result of some situation that she was involved with, and in deed, if not by name, she’s famous throughout the country. She lets a few remarkably cynical comments slip a couple times, and, frankly, given that supporting character Mizuki Nakahara (Ami Koshimizu) notes that Lycorises (Lycori?) are often recruited from orphanages, it’s not hard to imagine why. She and Takina’s original department also seem to have very different ideas of how to keep a place safe and worth living in; her narration—and her habit of helping out just about anyone—point to a belief in focusing on the community itself. And the DA, well, we see them shoot people. It’s not hard to draw a contrast, there.

That may well be the source of Takina’s already-established tendency to use violence as her first and only solution to any obstacle in her way. And this is to say nothing of the Lycoris Cafe’s owner, Mika, who himself seems to be an old hand in the field, the aforementioned villains, the DA’s director, who seems to have her own agenda, and on and on. There are a lot of interesting characters in Lycoris Recoil, and an absolute ton happens, even in its first 24 minutes.

No matter what happens from here on out; Lycoris Recoil should be remembered for a premiere that hits like information overload. Between the silenced pistols and shining city streets, conspiracies form in the broken glass on the floor. I won’t pretend to have all—or even any—answers, as this is clearly a series with a lot going on. But to me, that is part of the adventure. What’s next is unknown and unknowable, and for us to discover together.

1: I did not know this myself, but the text circling his avatar is a reference to a James Joyce story. God knows how that factors in to all this.

Like what you’re reading? 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.

All views expressed on Magic Planet Anime are solely my own opinions and conclusions and should not be taken to reflect the opinions of any other persons, groups, or organizations. All text, excepting direct quotations, is owned by Magic Planet Anime. Do not duplicate without permission. All images are owned by their original copyright holders.

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.

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?

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