Anime: Marineford Arc- Episode 477

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First Thoughts 
Not much on the first thoughts for this episode. This episode had a lot moments that were good like the beginning and the end...I think...I don't have much to say off the top of my head right now.

I do have the feeling that the animators didn't do something to that is kind of important. Then I went to look at my copies of Shonen Jump to find out that what I was thinking was in a different chapter that is later on.

So let get to the meat of the post and hope that Mikey has more to say there.



Summary
Ace looks back at his past.

Buggy and some of his prisoners thwarted out.

Jozu, Marco and Whitebeard are attacked by the three Admrials.

Luffy is injected with Energy Hormones by Ivankov

Thoughts

This episode did have the usage of footage from Episode 0 where you get to see Afro Sengoku and Garp as they face down Shiki. This may have been the best part of the episode since there was some scary action going on there. Seems like this isn't the first time that Marineford was made into a battleground. Looks like it was a deadly battle since Shiki was standing on top of a pile of what looks like dead Marines. That is always nice.....right? Also battleship flying in the air and slamming into Marineford is a good sign of things to come.

Kind of funny to see these scenes in this episode since the animation between Episode 0 and Episode 477 are so different. You can obvious see how different they are and that is seeing that Episode 0 came out a little less then a year ago. Though it sure looks good.

Kind of funny that Whitebeard was telling his men to not get scared of Garp just because of his 'name' when almost all the Marines were doing the same with Whitebeard. Apparently both sides have big guns that can make men tremble in fear just by their name.

Above is this week's 'Screenshot of the Week'. I just wanted to use it in the post and thought it looked cool. Wish we could see it better and maybe whole but guess it wasn't possible. I hope Akainu uses it again and \it is better animated. Though this quality animation is good for it as well.

The power of the New World. Kind of hard to remember that all of the pirates that on here with Whitebeard all came from the New World. It is amazing though since they may not look impressive but they are still able to take down Pacifistas with little difficulties. Then if we look back to around Episode 401 where the StrawHats had struggle to take down just one using their best moves. A clear difference of power between Luffy and his band of friends against Whitebeard and his allies. Looks like the StrawHats are going to have a lot against them if they are going into the New World anytime soon. Either the StrawHats are going to get a rude awakening upon entering the New World or this New World has been WAY over-hyped.

Luffy sure doesn't look too good. The titlecard scene didn't make him look too good especially since he looked nicely animated. I was very tempted to get a screenshot of that but I don't like taking screenshots of the titlecards of episodes.

It looks like Luffy isn't going anywhere anytime soon. That kid looks very beat up. Poor kid since he has been trying so hard ever since Impel Down to try to rescue his big brother Ace.

Ace seem like he had an interesting childhood. Instead of playing with other kids his age, Ace instead decided to find out information about his dad and beat up anybody who badmouthed him. haha Nice childhood. I remember doing the same thing as well when I was Ace's age.

Ace was such a serious kid it looks like. We didn't see a single smile on him during this little flashback and he seem to have went all over the place looking for information. Got to give Ace props though since he was able to beat up people at least three times his age to almost death.  Good for Ace!

Also to note, we see a new character here during Ace's flashback. Wonder if we will this person later on since they are nicely animated but hidden at the same time. Strong chances that we will.

"...that I deserve to be born?"
-Ace

An interesting question from such a young kid. Ace seems to be around eight or something yet he is asking if he deserves to be born. Then we get an interesting response from Garp telling Ace that he will only see that as he lives on. Most people would just tell Ace that he does deserve to be born but Garp just tells him to live on and see. That is a good reason to keep living since you will never know if you deserve to live until you go out and see it. The thing is that people would usually try and comfort the person but Garp doesn't. I guess a serious question from a little kid needs a serious response from an adult.

Is it just me or do these tears looked kind of strangely animated?

It seems like Ace may have just started to realize the answer to his question though. So many people are here trying to fight for his life. That could maybe be proof that he does deserve to be born. Nobody would fight for a dead person with as much passion as Whitebeard, his allies and Luffy after all.

A strange note though, those tears running down Ace's face look very strange. I don't mean strange such as 'men shouldn't cry' because we seen a lot of men cry in this series already. It just that how they were animated really bother me both times I saw this episode. They just looked very strange as they came out and down Ace's face.

This was a funny part of the episode since everybody was praising how Buggy was helping them out even when he was frozen in ice yet at the same time their 'Captain Buggy' was drowning in the water not too far from them. haha

These guys have so much faith in Buggy that you have to believe that Buggy has something great about him. haha It just funny as they all mourn him being frozen and then they drop him into the water which does thwart him out but also he risk the chance of drowning due to his devil fruit power. haha This was all filler but it was good filler since I always thought that Buggy and his men were thwart due to Akainu's raining magma fist. The problem was that I couldn't figure out how it melted the ice but not burn them to ashes. Guess the anime people figure that some of Buggy's band must have escape the flash freezing of Aokiji and somehow dumped Buggy and the others into the boiling water. Makes sense to me and we get good filler. haha

Also looks like we may get more Buggy filler as they try to find away over the wall. Hold on to your pants because this could be long. haha

Remember when I said that Luffy doesn't look good? Also include Jozu, Marco and Whitebeard because they don't look too good either. Magma fist to the chest? Getting literally a cold shoulder? Two laser beams to the chest? Don't think those are comfortable things especially that magma fist to the chest....Yeah....so can't be good. Umm...also that laser beam to the chest....and that frozen shoulder....Yeah....all not good.

This all happen because Whitebeard began to flatter a bit because of his health. It was a chain reaction as Marco looked over concern for Whitebeard's health while Jozu was startle because of Marco being attacked. This doesn't look good for the Whitebeard pirates since I am sure that they all look up to these three powerful men.

Luffy seems to have a strange effect on Coby. He has inspire the pink haired kid to become an admiral. Clearly Coby looks up to Luffy in a strange way which is why I always consider Coby to be the Garp in the whole Roger-Garp thing. Coby may not be much right now but give him some time to gain experience and strength and I can see Coby chasing after Luffy and stand a chance against him. Coby may not be up for the job right now especially after the thing in the Post Water 7 arc but things can change.

Just wanted to say that since it was in my mind for a while.

So thus this episode ends in a tense way. Luffy just got a fresh injection of Energy Hormones from Ivankov while the executioners that has been called are slowly coming. The race against time from Impel Down continues as Luffy is up and going.

Luffy is very serious about rescuing Ace that he is willing to lay down his own life. That is something that I don't think many little brother would do for their older brother. Then again I could be putting my foot in my mouth (Watch somebody will leave a comment saying something "I did it last year when I gave my liver to my older brother!"). Things are getting tense as it seems like Coby will be entering the battlefield now inspired by Luffy's determination. This could get very interesting now.

Preview

Looks like we are going to get some good action next week with Coby looking serious and Whitebeard going on a rampage. Not even a magma fist to the chest will stop this old man. Looking forward to what type of destruction may happen. Coby looks determine himself so we see what will happen. Expecting a Luffy-Coby showdown here that will bare interesting results.

Next Episode: For a Promise! Luffy and Coby Clash!

Things are coming down to the wire and not much time is left to save Ace. Just going have to keep watching to find out what will happen.