Anime: Post Marineford Arc- Episode 491 *Late*

It is always a sad time to say goodbye to this grand Arc. Of course, WE can see what happens after the fighters disperse right over at OnePieceOfficial.com…

First Thoughts

Sora once more, seemingly in a pattern of school-dazed lateness…but with all good intents and purposes, this episode sure did lift my spirits considerably! Well, erm, sorta. After all, in all of the ways this war could have ended (and people recuperated in the aftermath), it turned out rather well. For some people. But not Luffy. As this episode so easily points out, the aftermath of the Great War is certainly not the end to piracy, or even a break from it. Hancock has an actually important decision to make here, and even with her newly-found Real Nice-ness, it may not be enough to see Luffy through…all-in-all, not what I was expecting. Much, much better!

Summary

In the two weeks following the Great War, the entire world deals with the after-effects of the event, none of which proves to be as positive as they had hoped. Islands previously under the protection of Whitebeard in the New World are destroyed and taken over; towns in all four of the seas are ransacked by rapscallions filled with the desire for the now “proven” treasure One Piece; and lives of the innocent everywhere are torn apart by what has occurred.

Meanwhile, Ivankov takes his leave of the Pirate Empress and Heart Pirates, returning on the stolen Marine ship to his own okama island kingdom with his comrades. Boa Hancock guides Trafalgar Law’s ship (including the still-injured and duty-bound Jimbei) into Amazon Lily’s in-land cove, almost breaking the “No Men” rule of the island.

After two careful weeks of keeping the men on the bare out-coves of Amazon Lily, Luffy finally awakens, with only one frenzied, delusional, denying question on his mind:

Where. Is. Ace?

Thoughts

Not much seems to get accomplished in this episode besides tying up a few ends, but the significance of these events is staggering.

We start off at a great moment, where the prior episode left off further detailing the total effect of this war on the entire world. First in West Blue, where pirate crews are now daring enough to even assault towns under Marine protection, and stretching all the way to the Grand Line where whole islands previously under the protection of Whitebeard fall to the hands of his enemies and foes.

The destruction and mass chaos is staggering, the terror really does charge this episode to be really life-like.

This place called Foodvalten Island…it looks like it should be important somehow. It kind of looks like Porco Rosso’s island-base in Miyazaki’s movie. I wonder if it will come up again…but still, this really sucks for them. Seriously, this is really bad.

The raid on this island really puts into perspective how devastating Whitebeard’s death is to so many islands in the New World, if more are like this one. Islands that used to be fully protected by Whitebeard’s name are literally up for grabs from dictators and other pirates. That is really awful. Saddening too, to think that for maybe even your whole life you lived on a “protected island”, then one day your protector dies and your island is immediately set upon by brutes and savages. Horrible.

Brownbeard. Really? How original.

I think that between the rising political tension across the globe and the threat of all these dangerous criminals and pirates roaming the seas now…this is the part of the episode which really started to brighten my day just by That much more. If only a little. Because I got to see (sighs dreamily) Law-sama…

I am, however, extremely interested to see how Luffy gets to stay on Amazon Lily, since his condition currently Definitely requires the assistance of Law at this time. (Again, I have a spoiler for the major-decision, but the details…eh, not so much.)

Ha! This is great. Hancock is actually Warmly greeting her sisters and subjects. Wow…she actually DID become a nicer person(-ish) because of her love for Luffy. I have totally got to see how this develops now, hahaha. Hey, maybe Hancock isn’t so bad after all.

Anyone else think it is interesting as to why a doctor’s pirate ship is called “Death”? Or is it just me?

Hm…this is a new development. I had not accounted on Jimbei’s involvement with Luffy’s recovery. Well, from this point on, I will be getting a Lot of surprises. Although I can’t say I am sad to see all those okamas leave. Whoo boy! Aww, I guess I am gonna miss Ivankov…a little. He is kinda like Buggy. One of those people who you just wanna say “uh…yay?” and shake your head at them the other 80% of the time.

0.0 Oh dear. I just recalled as Ivankov mentioned his “candies” waiting for him…hehe…SANJI is there right now…isn’t he? Hehehehehehehe…It makes me chuckle. Poor, poor Sanji.

I like how the okamas are just taking the Marine ship that Hancock commandeered. In wonder whatever happened to all those Marines on-board that Hancock turned to stone…huh. Oh well. Goodbye, dudes in freaky animal costumes!
I have to admit, it is rather nice to see Amazon Lily again. It feels as though Luffy’s first metaphorical step in his next journey has been taken, and it led him in a circle back to where he started out once more. Weird analogy. Back to island of female-only fighters.

I like this part. I had to re-watch it a couple of times. It is just that awesome. I can totally see how the warriors would react upon seeing all of these random men show up like this. The best part? Law and Jimbei have no reaction. That just proves what type of a league they are in compared to the rest of Law’s “normal” crew. Awesome.

However, as much as Hancock has become a better person now, it is at a really bad time considering how ill Luffy is bound to be currently, and for a while. This really sucks for Hancock. She finally gets to have Luffy all to herself, and what happens (in her opinion)? This. He is dangerously ill, possibly with mental problems now, and so she can’t do anything. Poor her.

This argument with Granny Nyon…I can see where Granny is coming from, but…this is a serious problem. After all, the Old Hancock would never dream of even allowing a man within several Miles of her island, let alone a whole male pirate crew. Even if they Are doctors.

Law’s seriousness scares me. I think he is too cool to creep me out with it though, but I fear as though I Should feel creeped-out…what a weird combo.

I am very impressed with Granny Nyon’s decision about letting the men-pirates stay in the bay area. A reasonable, and wise, decision. Cool on her part.

Haha! I laugh when Hancock goes like this and proclaims about Luffy. Her voice gets all girly and squeaky and it is funny.

Haha! I laugh too when Hancock gets a big “NO” stamp in her fantasy, courtesy of Granny Nyon.

“One more thing…”haha. Still, I like how Margureite has a much different relation to Luffy than the love-sick Hancock does. Woe to the blonde warrior should this relation turn to love, haha!

I think you would have to be a man to understand this part here. Only a man could really see staying on this island as such a…well, I don’t quite know what they would see in it…but still. It is funny all the same, so who is complaining?

Aphelandra is so awesome. I like her! She is really nice, and haha, reminds me of one of my old friends! That other lady is scaaaaary though…haha!

I don’t know. Everything about Law just screams “don’t talk to me, I don’t like you”. And yet…I still feel strangely attracted to him. You know, as a character! Totally…haha.

Poor Hancock. This really sucks for her. Still…this is not good for Luffy. This is a really dangerous situation, and needs to be handled delicately. I really don’t know how they are going to pull of helping Luffy out of whatever funk he is going to be in…

Note: My only real issue with these flashback/dream sequences that Luffy is seeing (and continues seeing) is that they are just repeated images. I think it would have been really neat to see a warped or distorted view of these scenes, or like a real dream-scape where things are even worse than they were in real life. That would have been really cool to have seen.

Luffy! Oh gods, he is awake! Now, for the final test…what is his current mind-set? Acceptance, desperation, loss of memory, or worst yet, Denial?

Denial.

Aw man. They switched to the cheap-animation for the higher-action scene. Good to see that they didn’t continue it for very long, but still, not very nice looking wherever they put it.

Yeah, I pretty much had bet on denial. Considering his initial reaction was his body just Shut Down…yeah. Not a big surprise there. What I want to see now, however, is how these guys deal with the newly awoken Luffy and his mental state…

Haha, just tossing dudes left and right. It would be so much funnier a situation if only Luffy’s reason for it wasn’t so distantly sad…or, you know, that each step he takes exerts more force onto this already weakened body that could potentially, you know, Kill him. Yeah, that too.

Well…I really don’t see how piling on-top of the guy who you are trying to catch (who is injured) will help, but hey, it is their patient, not mine…

Well, this certainly prevents a lot of Kuja warriors from interfering with Luffy’s (hopefully) soon-to-be process of reclaiming his mind by going all to see him. Go Granny!

Okay, now I have a feeling of overbearing sadness…Hancock is genuinely trying here, and…well, Luffy won’t see any of it anyway. I mean, she is trying her best to be nice and good, but…to Luffy, only Ace is gonna matter for a while. Poor Hancock…I really do feel bad for her.

Hm…so the tone suddenly changes to a more mellow, distant-tone while the ship repairs are coming along. Haha, again, it must be a man thing. “I heard that if a man enters Maiden Island that he would be turned to stone, but maybe it’s worth dying for.” Nice dudes, nice.

I like how Jean Bart has just been randomly standing around this whole time. It is just funny to me in an odd sense.

All of this destruction…not a good sign. No, not good.

It is odd. After a time, you would think that something as old as Ace’s death would start to not faze someone after hearing it recounted for almost a year now. Surprisingly enough to me though, as Luffy has these flashbacks, I am strangely torn a bit inside for how the teen feels. It must be something about Luffy… I don’t know.

I did like the flash from the bandaged hand to the bloodied hand. That was really good for the scene. It really made the situation “come alive”, as they say.

Oh, Jimbei…? Hm. As he stares at Luffy like this, the brother of his dead friend Ace, is he wondering about his promise to take care of Luffy? After all, some pirates’ siblings turn evil or become…twisted, after the death of a loved one. Is Jimbei rethinking his thoughts? No one knows what Luffy will do now, after all. This is the first time Luffy has ever lost someone this close to him in such a manner.

I liked the actual effects in this scene. There is no music, but birds chirping, and natural forest sounds in the background. Jimbei is being harsh, but wholly honest with Luffy, and Luffy is complying with harsh words, but serious ones. He sounds like he is finally accepting this as reality. That is good…

This part with Luffy blubbering and crying, and Jimbei practically reprimanding him made me really sad. Luffy is dealing with this Exactly like a little kid would if his father told him his mother or sibling died, then said, “Take it like a man”. It actually touched something in me. Maybe a bit of my spleen or liver, not totally sure. Haha, joking there! But really, it was serious chiz.

Great episode. Really phenomenal all around. Excellent!

Preview

No Preview; Late, remember?


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