Anime: Post Marineford Arc- Episode 498

I don't watch filler often but when I do it is on OnePieceOfficial.com

First Thoughts
Meh....To tell the truth we get filler a lot via other animes we saw and though Marineford.  So I guess the above statement is a bit of a lie. Still as mention before not all filler is bad since it kind of help fill in the cracks that Oda left behind.

I figure we would get some filler episodes but I was kind of hoping that I will not work on said episodes but I guess I was wrong. At least this week's episode had cooler manga contend then this week's. The episode mostly seems interesting and surely somebody at Toei is milking young Luffy for all that he is worth. haha

Summary
(Flashback)
Ace, Luffy, and Sabo decide to figure out who will be captain via a competition to defeat the 'Big Tiger'.

An old man who claims to have fought with Gol Roger rescue Ace, Luffy and Sabo from an bear. The kids have an argument after Luffy is told about Ace's father.

Sabo's father makes a deal with Bluejam and crew to find Sabo. The Celestial Dragons are announced to be making a visit to the Goa Kingdom.

Thoughts

 

I had a hard time trying to figure out the bear that the kids were chasing after during the first few minutes of this episode. Most of the animals in One Piece seem to have some sort of real animal based counterpart. The bear is complete filler but Toei has done somewhat of a good job in keeping up with this trope. My guess is that it just a panda with the colors reversed.

As mention before, those guys at Toei are really trying to milk the cuteness out of Young Luffy as much as they can. They had little Luffy slip and fall down the mountain and then by accident (and some skill) knock out the bear in a cute way. Add the way that he was celebrating and Luffy won with this moment the cutest character in One Piece. haha

It would seems like Luffy has gain some of Ace's traits such as the whole 'not going to run away' thing. Kind of strange that this came from Luffy but this does explain his attitude later on in the series. It seems like he learned this from Ace and he hasn't let up until the events at Sabaody. Wonder if this goes the other way around too with Ace.

"That's something you would do!"
-Sabo

Glad that they address that staying back and fighting the tiger would be something that Ace would do. I figured that it was kind of out of character of Young Ace to run away but I guess even Ace knows when it is time to retreat and when not to. Facing a giant tiger that could eat you up is one of those times.

 

It is kind of cute to see Luffy proclaim that he wants to be the captain over his brothers. You know they be totally against the idea but he still tries anyways hoping they will like the idea. The little imagination scene was also cute to watch too. Makes you want to see Luffy be strong enough to actually help Ace and Sabo. I guess that is totally possible with Ace de-...Oh wait...too soon right?

Bad joke aside, it seems like the purpose of this filler episode has been set up. Ace, Luffy and Sabo are going to decide who will be captain of their crew via competition. We know that the result of this competition will be that none of the kids will be captain over each other but it should be interesting to watch.

The sound of people stepping on snow is painful to hear. In real life and anime.

You know...We could have gotten filler of the kids getting the fish that were going to be used to help lure the tiger. Just a thought. To tell the truth I have nothing else.

Luffy is acting all cute by making shooing the bear away. I know he isn't acting cute on purpose but you have to admit that it is cute to see a little boy trying to shoo away a giant bear. I wonder if watching little kids version of Shonen heroes are always like this. I never felt this way for Ichigo (Bleach) or Naruto (Naruto) so I can't be sure. I don't remember Goku from Dragonball but then again he has a different kind of innocence I feel.

 

I'm THOR~

So enter Naguri. The old man that lives in Gray Terminal that carries around a hammer and reminds me of Thor. Just give him long blond hair and a winged helmet and the guy be all set.

It seems like they want to make this guy somewhat important. He seems to have Haki similar to Luffy and Shanks since he was able to stop that bear in it's tracks. The difference seems that he was able to tell the bear to go away instead of making it pass out. Makes me wonder if this is actually Haki and not something else since Ace, Luffy and Sabo didn't pass out. Either the kids have a strong enough willpower to stand up to it or something fishy is happening here.

I personally going with 'Toei messing with Haki'. If not that then I am going with the first.

Maybe it just me but I feel like Naguri knowing about Roger being Ace's father will kind of bite the kids in the butt later on. Not sure how but surely it will. He doesn't seem like a bad guy but who knows.

 

Glad that Toei at least reanimated this part instead of doing what they tend to do with flashbacks that involve things before they went to a widescreen format. Shanks looks a bit wonky with his face but it better then nothing. It kind of looks like they were trying to mix features with how he looks like right now and how he did back then. Shank's face looks too wide to be how it looked back then. Maybe it is because they were trying to make him look serious but it doesn't seem to look like how it was back then.

Maybe I should take out my DVDs and watch that episode but to tell the truth I feel too lazy to do such a thing. haha

 "I didn't know that your father was Roger!"
-Young Luffy

 This was the best line of the episode. I laughed so hard when Luffy just walked in and said that to Ace. haha Luffy is such...he is something else. Luffy and Sabo both come in acting as if nothing happen and then Luffy blurts out that.

Surely Ace isn't going to take this nicely if Luffy knows about his parentage. The kid looked pretty upset already with Naguri having ties to Roger. If anything Ace surely has daddy issues to deal with since he hasn't come to term (or ever) with Roger being his dad.

This isn't good

Nor did it happen in the manga.

It seems like Toei wants to cause some drama between the boys during this little moment of filler. Wonder what they have in mind seeing that this fight didn't happen in the manga at all. Kind of wonder how the boy's relationship is going to be after this.

This moment kind of reminds me of the moments when siblings have fights and then yell at each other saying that they aren't related. When kids say this things tend to go back to normal since they are actually related but I wonder how this works when you are only brothers in oath and not in blood. Does it have the same effect or will things just go back to manga canon with little to no consequence.

 

Now we kind of getting back to manga content. It seems like Sabo's dad has contracted 'Bad Teeth' Bluejam to help find his son. You know something is being built up if these two are meeting up. Either Bluejam is going to double cross Sabo's dad or the other way around. Either way it doesn't seem to be something good for Ace, Luffy and Sabo.

Still if Bluejam is being paid for this then maybe he can finally get a dentist for those teeth.

Then hiding in the wings seems to be a visit from the Celestial Dragons. Anything involving these guys can't be good. Add up the fact that Bluejam and Sabo's dad are working together. It looking like some bad things are going to happen. Wonder how things are going to turn out especially since we haven't heard anything about Sabo before until Ace mention him before dieing (IN LUFFY'S ARMS!). So surely this will lead to answer where Sabo has been this whole time in the story.

For now just sit back and enjoy where the filler will take us. If anything it should be enjoyable and filled with lots of cute moments from Young Luffy.

Preview

Next episode seems to have more filler involving Naguri and the Giant Tiger. Ace, Luffy and Sabo seem to find the tiger. I figure that they will try to take on the tiger each on their own but eventually work together to take it down.

As with Naguri, it looks like he is going to show the kids his old ship or a new one that he is planning to take out to sea soon. Also looks like he is going to confront Ace involving stuff with Roger. This part seems like the more interesting thing of the episode.

Next Episode: Battle with the Big Tiger! Who's the Captain? 

Come back next time for even more adventures featuring Young Luffy, Ace and Sabo!