Anime: Impel Down Arc- Episode 435

First Thoughts
Wow. For once I found it a bit hard to laugh at this episode. I kind of chuckled a bit at the beginning of the episode but really this was one serious episode. It was basically a fight between Luffy and Magellan that involved things that were not a laughing matter. I am not sure if this was because I already know the outcome or was it because I couldn't find away or think of a way that Luffy could defeat a foe he couldn't touch. I mean Luffy's fighting style is all about hand to hand combat. There isn't really a projectile attack in Luffy's arsenal. A fight that Usopp can win by shooting a few things is something that Luffy isn't able to do.

Still I also felt that this episode was a bit dragged out. That they were trying to buy time with Bon Clay's problem. I am not sure about this and I won't know til next week when I get my hands on Shonen Jump but I am hoping that not too much was filler.

Also I just realize that this post will be my first covering a fight in One Piece. It was mostly fighting so I am not sure how I will handle this one. I feel like I took too many screencaps. I hope this will be something good though. haha

Summary

Luffy faces off against Magellan as Bon Clay isn't sure on what to do. Eventually Bon Clay runs off in fear.

Buggy and Mr. 3 tries to escape to Level 3 but encounters Hannyabal and his men.




Thoughts

Well things look pretty bad for our guys since it seems like they all know that there are things waiting for them if they try to leave this floor. I do fine it funny that SadieChan was just drinking with her Demon Guards. It is as if the is confident that nothing is going to happen. Either the girl it that confident that her people are going to be able to handle Luffy and his friends or the Demon Guards just work better if they are drunk. haha I am going for a combination of the both since that sounds like more fun. haha

Then Hannyabal looks stupid there. I am guessing we all saw it coming to where he would say something about not doing something or taking Magellan job. This guy is eager to take the man's job alright. A really go-getter. A man to go up the social ladder. Though I wonder why Hannyabal would let any prisoner to get pass him but that is for later on in this post.

This is a sign of a good friend right here.  A friend is willing to take a punch of you to keep you from doing something stupid and then act as if it was nothing while telling you why he did it...wait...that doesn't sound right. haha

Still this kind of made me knew that this was a serious episode. It would have been easy for Bon Clay to just let Luffy hit Magellan and then get poison but he took the hit. Usually fights in One Piece are funny with some sort of aspect but wow. When have we had a fight this serious though? Usually things tend to just build up to a serious point then we hit a climax. Though here we are just sent into a serious fight without even getting a build up.

This may just be me though who feels like this but this fight feels very serious as in tone.

A real friend also transform to look like you and tries to mimic you. haha

Wow....I have no words for this moment. I just found it funny that Bon Clay actually tried to pull this off. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or just stare in awe as I watch this. haha The way that Luffy was just standing there as if he knew that this wasn't going to work too was funny too. If Luffy thinks something isn't going to work then you know that you have problems. Still it is nice to see that Bon Clay was trying to help. In his own special way.

Still things seem to be going from bad to worse as we all see that Magellan just made two other hydras appear to help counter this Luffy double trouble.

This is one of the main reasons why I am saying that this fight is a serious fight. The use of poison is a might weapon as we can see that Magellan has a mastery over his ability. He isn't fighting with his fist to bring death to Luffy. Magellan is using things like tear gas and sneezing powder to fight. He isn't aiming his attacks at just Luffy but everybody else in the prison too. Nobody is safe from this fight from Luffy to the prisoners and the jailers of Impel Down.

I feel really uneasy as we see the fight from Luffy's eyes as we see that they are watery from the tear gas. I just realize that Usopp did things like this against his fight with Luffy but to me this is taking it to the next level. Usopp wasn't going for Luffy's life but Magellan is.

Though Magellan looks  really funny without his horns. Apparently they are removable so now we know that Magellan has long hair that are in ponytails. I always thought the horns were his hair. Guess I was wrong.

This may have been me but at certain parts of this episode it seems as if Luffy was really little or looked like a little kid. this was one of those moments. At least the moment before here where Luffy was literally against the wall. I think it was the facial expression that Luffy was showing since his eyes were watery. I want to say it was fear that Luffy was feeling but that isn't right to say. We all know that Luffy wasn't afraid but he just couldn't attack and then it doesn't help that he could bray see since his eyes were all full of tears.

This is where I felt it was unneeded to see. I mean it is nice that we got into a little bit of Bon Clay's head but it felt really unneeded. I want to check if this was in the manga but really I don't want to do it. Especially since I will find out next week when I pick up my Shonen Jump. Still I am guessing that this is to point out that all roads lead to death or as in Bon Clay's words, "Withering rose".

Still this moment felt just really long to watch. I was beginning to wonder how much longer I need to watch this so we  can get back to Luffy's fight or something that looks good. I wanted to laugh but I was finding it hard to laugh though. It may have been because it was awkward to watch and wasn't funny or maybe because it was just so grim. I mean we saw Bon Clay being brave with heroic music then fall down as he drowns in a pool of poison. How lovely. Then we got this two more times to drive the point in. Nice.

In the end we just get to see Bon Clay running away in fear. I am sure that is what most people would do in a situation like this but was it really needed to see the scenes just now? Would a simple inner monologue been enough? Still it sucks that Bon Clay ran away since it seem as if he was being all cool before back with the Minotaurus.

Then we see the antics that Buggy and Mr. 3 are having with Hannyabal. Now I am really questioning Hannyabal's thinking here. Does the guy really think that he will be promoted to warden if he just lets Mr. 3 and Buggy pass. It would look bad on Magellan but would it look good for Hannyabal? Wouldn't the big guys at Marineford like to hear that while Magellan was failing at his job that Hannyabal was taking the offense in capturing the escapees? Then again what do I know? Not like I know how to make myself look good right? haha

Still I guess I should stop talking Hannyabal stupid and get rid of the tag 'Hannyabal stupid' for the blog seeing that this guy is more then just bark. Apparently the guy ha some bite too as he was able to survive the combine attacks of Buggy and Mr. 3. I am wonder if we will see a full fledge fight here so we can see what Hannyabal is able to do but really I don't think we will get one. Still I am hoping.

And no, I am not going to get rid of my 'Hannyabal stupid' tag. I happen to like that one. haha

Finally things get a bit serious now since we are seeing that Luffy is literally with his back against the wall. I was actually thinking that Luffy has found his footing here and realize that with Second Gear he doesn't have to touch Magellan but I guess here is when I think I don't know how Second Gear works. I thought that Luffy will send out a shot that was so fast that he wouldn't need to touch Magellan but it seems like Jet Bazooka does touch the person.

Now things are on a counter for Luffy. He finally  got himself poison by choice and things are now going to get grim I suspect. Luffy is on a countdown to see if he can beat Magellan before the poison takes it toll on him. I guess we are going have to wait and see if Luffy can take down the toxic warden.

Preview

Looks like Luffy and Magellan are going to keep fighting for a while. Luffy is getting affected by the poison  but he is going to take full advantage of the speed from Second Gear to gain an upperhand on the big man Magellan. I have no idea why Magellan's chest has two purple spots but I am guessing we are going to see why next week.  Overall we have another episode of this fighting for us. I am just hoping that it won't get worse for our rubbery friend but then again it doesn't seem to be getting better.