Anime: Marineford Arc- Episode 461

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First Thoughts
Are you ready for some hot Whitebeard and Ace action? Well this episode had a lot of it here! This episode covered the rocky start that Whitebeard and Ace's relationship had but as we saw it turned out to be completely fine as it blossomed into a loving relationship. 

This wasn't a boring episode and that is saying a lot since most of it was a flashback episode. Though my favorite part was the Shanks part since it is always fun to see Shanks.

What else was awesome about this episode? Whitebeard when it started to punch the air. QUAKEPUNCH! Too soon? Oh well but it is still cool to see Whitebeard do that.

Summary
The Whitebeard forces began to appear from under the water. The commanders of Whitebeard's fleet stand firm as Whitebeard cracks the air to make two tidal waves appear.

Flashback of how Ace and Whitebeard came together.

Ace claims it was him who decided to chase after Blackbeard against Whitebeard's order but Whitebeard claims responsibility for Ace's actions.

Thoughts 

So it seems like big bad Whitebeard has appeared and he brought along a big group of friends. All of them look pretty tough including Marco in his tropical pink shirt. Very intimidating there Marco. Still if anybody in this line up of Whitebeard men that I must say I am impress with just by how they look is the guy with the black mustache and top hat. He look very awesome and tough too. Bare chest to show off the muscles and how strong he is but a top hat to show that he is refine. A good blend of strength and class.

I found it surprising that Whitebeard has three whale ships. I wonder which one of them we saw back when Shanks aboard it way back when or back during the Jaya arc with Rockstar. Still the white one explains the name 'Moby Dick' very well. All three of his ships looks pretty massive. A row of cannons on each side and Whitebeard standing on the front head. Then I am sure that each one of this ships has an array of powerful people on them. Then behind those three ships are the over forty pirates crews that came to help Whitebeard. I would say things look even if wasn't for the massive army of clones that the Marines seem to have.

If you enlarge the one with the Admirals, you can see that Kizaru is still responding to revelation of Ace's father

And what a massive force the Marines have on their side. The manpower of the three Admirals, the Seven Warlords, giants and all that other things. There seem to be a lot of people in between Whitebeard's forces and Ace. Then when you think about it, maybe they have the manpower of two Admirals judging by Kizaru's face. The guy seem to be frozen in his spot as he tries to react to what happen twenty minutes ago. Kizaru looks like he doesn't even know what is going on right now much less ten minutes ago.

Though I wonder what is in Moria's pants. That guy looks upset to see Whitebeard there. I am guessing he was hoping they weren't coming or something.

So back on the farm...

This episode marks the the first time that we hear Ivankov's new voice actor. In case you didn't hear, Ivankov's original voice actor got in a bit of trouble by showing off too much of his full body tattoo in his personal blog. Eventually the police came and threw him in jail. Due to how voice actors are treated and revere in Japan, Toei decided it would be best to cut ties Ivankov's original voice actor and use somebody new for the role.

So now we are here with a new voice actor for Ivankov. I have to say that the new voice actor does a pretty good job. After the first few lines from Ivankov did I remember that this was a different voice actor. Still the new voice sounds good and I am looking forward to hear more from this person in the future.

Still we join our merry band of ex-prisoners as they are entering the Gates of Justice. Though we then find out that there is a little secret about the fathers of Ace and Luffy. Turns out that Luffy's actual father is Dragon while Ace's is Roger. haha So all this worrying about if Dragon was Luffy's actual father was all for nothing. Also it turns out that Ivankov can stop worrying about Dragon coming to crash the party at Marineford. The reaction from everybody was priceless as Luffy just said this like it was nothing. That is a great way to break the news.

Also Chibi Ace, Dragon, Luffy and Roger look great.

QUAKEPUNCH! Too soon?

Now that is a great attack. The cracks in the air look great and the pose that Whitebeard took was very epic looking. You could tell that Whitebeard was going to do something cool when you saw him crouch down preparing to do whatever he just did. It looked like he just punched the air and made everything crack when he did whatever he just did. Very nicely animated too as you could see that things looked a bit off as if you were looking though a cracked camera.

Things looked awesome when this attach was done. The island looked as if it was being warped by the very cracking of the air as the waves were raising. Then everything stopped. Very nicely done. I can't wait to see what happens next. You can tell by the onlookers that they were scared by this.

Then we enter flashback! We see the moment that Ace left Windmill Village to start his pirate voyage. Seems like a happy time for him. We see a bit of Makino in the back ground and seems like Luffy is happy about seeing his big brother leaving the nest. Not much to say here seeing that it just the beginning of this flashback.

Except to vote for Makino in the Arlong Park Forums Tournament on Wednesday! This old girl is going to head for the third round!

So it seems like Ace was his own captain when he started out and a powerful one too. For some reason I always thought that Ace was always part of Whitebeard's crew. That he had the dream to just go out and join Whitebeard.Though this proves my idea wrong as it seems like he had his own crew and ship with a pony on it. His wanted poster looks nice though. Looks like there was an ace of spades here. (BAD JOKE!)

Thought looks like you get some attention from the higher ups if you are a new person that is also very powerful. Ace was able to get the attention of the big upperhead Sengoku which looks like this was a flag to make Ace one of the most watch pirates on the Grand Line. If anything this could have lead Sengoku think that Ace may have had a connection to Roger.

 Enlarge image to have a better view

Now we hit an interesting part of this episode. A part that seem very strange....

Doesn't Shanks only have one arm? You know since he lost it when that sea monster kind of ripped it off while Shanks was saving Luffy? Yet here is Shanks with both arms if you look at the images above. How did Shanks get his other arm back? Is he part Namek or something? Can he magically regrow his arm then rip it off? The last time we saw Shanks, he was missing that arm since when he went to visit Whitebeard, which happens much later then this scene.

Seems like Toei forgot about the little fact that Shanks has only one arm. Still I am surprise they let this past. The first two images were scenes from the manga while the third was filler made to expand on Shanks and Ace's meeting. Still I guess they were rushing to make sure that this episode would get done or something since they didn't catch this mistake.

Overall I really like this part of the episode. It was fun to watch since it started off all serious then got silly. Very typical for a moment involving Shanks since this always seem to happen with him. Though it looks like Shanks likes Luffy's older brother due to the party in the cold cave that they are having. haha

I think I got a thing for top hats

Then things get serious as Ace comes face to face with some of the toughest people in the world. First off it is Jimbei with his nice black kimono with the fishes on it. haha Got to say that the fishes were a nice touch on the kimono since all great kimono has fishes on them. Still this has to be one of the best off screen fight scenes in One Piece ever since this was a long fight. A fight that lasted five days as Ace's crew stood on the side.

Then out of the oven and into the frying pan as it seems like Ace is now up against Whitebeard. I am guessing that getting into another tough fight after fighting one tough fight runs in the 'family' as I think this is something that Luffy has done a few times. If anything recently if you count the fight that the StrawHats had with Oars then going into a fight with Moria.

Still looks like this would have been a heated battle. Though it just another battle that happen mostly off screen.

Was it just me or did anybody found this a bit creepy? You first beat up the guy and then you go and call him son. Nothing against Whitebeard since I am sure he is a powerful pirate and all but this was kind of creepy for me. Showing mercy and love for your opponent is nice and all but this is a bit much for me. Though this is how Ace became part of Whitebeard's crew. First he tried to beat up on Whitebeard and then the big guy brings Ace to his crew as a 'son'.

This may be the first time Ace actually had somebody that could be called a father. Judging from what Luffy said, it seems like Ace doesn't really like his father Roger too much. Let see if Whitebeard is any different.

That be a white whale there!

I just wanted to put the image of Whitebeard's ship. From the front it looks really cool and I like it. Very different and this is coming from a world that has sheep and lions with sunflower manes for ship figureheads. Still that looks like a big ship there but then again I guess you need a big ship if there is a huge tall person, nurses and a pirate crew aboard.

Going on the record to say that I really like the guy with the top hat and mustache. haha He looks wicked awesome as he twirls his mustache. Clearly a man with class.

And Ace doesn't want to be on Whitebeard's ship. So many tries to kill Whitebeard but they all fail. Still a lot of hot Whitebeard on Ace action here. Ace gets hot and bothered as he moves in closer to Whitebeard. Then he makes him move and bounces on to Whitebeard. The big guy doesn't even try as he just denies Ace the chance to have some great action.

If you got anything I said in the last paragraph then congrats. Also I am sorry that I gave you such visuals in your mind. Ace is just flaming after all. haha (BAD JOKE!)

 Then we get the touching part of the episode. Where we learn the reason why everybody calls Whitebeard 'pops'. It seems like Whitebeard makes it a habit to find discarded people and makes them part of his 'family'. Very touching and I guess it makes sense. Most pirates are unwanted people of society and it has to be hard to be out at sea with nobody to help you out or show that you are appreciated it. Makes me wonder about the backstory of some of the other Whitebeard pirates like Marco and Jozu. Still Whitebeard sounds like a good father too since he forgives and doesn't judge his 'sons'. He had no problem with Ace even though he is the son of his most powerful rival. He just nodded and took Ace in as if he was just some regular person which is something rare in this world seeing how the people at Sabaody reacted to the news of Ace being Roger's son.

So not only did Ace gain a powerful friend but also a father that he never had.

Didn't we see this guy in the line up of pirates from the episode before? It really seems like Whitebeard makes it a habit of making friends with people that he beat up. This guy with the money was in the last episode in that line up. There was also those two guys that looked like twins which we saw when Ace went to help back up Thatch. That is kind of creepy since I can see Whitebeard going up to these guys and said, "Come be my son!".

Marco looks very manly! Strike that pose!

So it turns out that Blackbeard was one of the first people to join Whitebeard's crew. It be nice to see all of the original Whitebeard pirates and where they are now. We all know why Blackbeard had no ambition to move up seeing that all he wanted from Whitebeard was a way to find the Dark Dark Fruit.

Still a party and everybody looks like they are having a good time. Though it was kind of strange to see Ace eat up that piece of meat bone and all. Still it is a party and at parties that is what you do!

Before this episode, I always thought of Thatch of being some stuck up guy. Everytime we saw him, he had that smile that made him look evil or something. If anything he looked like a douche or something. Though watching this episode, Thatch seems kind of cool and nice. He was one of the first people to welcome Ace to the Whitebeard crew. So now it looks like the smile we always see Thatch with was a friendly smile and not one of a douche bag.

Which makes Blackbeard even more of a douche seeing that he killed such a nice guy. Though if anything it did look pretty cool when he killed Thatch. The lightning in the background was a nice effect added on to the smile that Blackbeard had.

And out of the flashback we go! Back at the execution platform we see Ace saying that everything is his fault. This may be true (Okay, it is.) but it seems like Whitebeard is just being a father and willing to help bail his son out. He even goes as far as to say that it is his fault. In a way it is his fault since he didn't go after Ace and tried to stop him. We saw that he just let Ace go out after Blackbeard. The old dude is feeling regret now and is endanger of losing his son. Must be tough on the guy.

Thus this episode ends. Nothing big and impressive like the last episode but it was deep. A bond between a 'father' and 'son' was shown here. Something common in this show as we see a lot of people here have a bond that goes beyond blood. Now let see how far this bond will go.

Preview

Looks like some action is going to go down in the next episode! The Marines are firing and the Whitebeard Pirates are going to surely fire back. Can't wait to see some of the things that these guys have up their sleeve. Also looks like we are going to see some of the Admirals in action like Aokiji.

Looks like there are going to be some rumbling going on in the next episode as it looks action pack! Finally we are going to see the 'war' part in what everybody is calling "The Whitebeard War" saga.

Next Episode: The Power to Destroy the World! The Tremor Tremor Fruit's Ability!

Stay tune because this war is just beginning!