One Piece 36
February 8, 2010
Eiichiro Oda – Viz – 2010 – 56+ volumes
See, I told you I’d be back with more in a week. Two volumes this time, continuing in the saga of Water 7 and Who Shot Iceburg.
There’s lots of politics at play, more than we’ve had to deal with so far in the series. Rather than the usual “This man is bad and is doing bad things, stop him,” we have a more ambiguous plot on our hands here. Why are the Straw Hats being blamed for the attempted assassination of the mayor of Water 7? Why does he swear it was Robin that did it? Why does he seem to have it in for Robin, aside from that? Lots more questions come up by the end of the volume involving the World Government, the use of legendary weapons, secret agencies at work within the realms of the government, the identities of some of the shipwrights in the Galley-La company, and what makes Franky so super.
There’s not much to say about this volume that doesn’t give too much away. Aside from the brief continuation of the fight with Franky and the shipwrights letting Luffy know he’s not welcome anymore, there’s lots of sitting around on rooftops and gathering information about what’s going on. Towards the end, there’s a big night raid set up to try to reach Iceberg once again, with plans to infiltrate by both the mystery assassins and the Straw Hats, with a massive army of the Galley-La men defending. There’s not much of a fight here, and it’s really more of an information gathering exercise in the end, but we still learn an awful lot about what’s going on here, and it leaves off in a very interesting place for next time.
I love Franky. He wears no pants, has an open Hawaiian shirt, sports a pompadour, is a cyborg powered by cola he keeps in a fridge in his stomach, and calls everything “super.” Part of me suspects that he’s supposed to be vaguely American, and if that’s the case, he’s even funnier. I also thought it was a really strange detail to include when the two square-hairdo girls with him seemed to be walking sideways to a musical beat in order to avoid being blown over by the wind and storm that’s blowing up around the city.
I do have one question, but it’s a vague spoiler, so let me mark it out here. Not that I’ve been at all careful about spoilers concerning One Piece, but still.
spoiler…
spoiler…
spoiler…
spoiler…
I… skipped over this whole part years ago after being so saddened by Usopp and Luffy’s fight, so I am completely unaware of the way the story works here aside from how things come out on the other side. So, Robin is part of CP9, who is stealing Tom’s plans for the Pluton weapon. But… Robin knows all about Pluton already, since she’s seen the plans for it at Alabasta. She also knows about Leviathan, another weapon, since she’s seen the plans for it at Shandora. Is this a hint that she’s not all bad, or not really cooperating with CP9? Obviously she’s not, since she comes out on the other side of all this a Straw Hat, and I assume her silence on the matter through this entire book is another hint. I know we weren’t supposed to forget that she had seen the plans for these weapons, because she states it pretty plainly when she finds the glyphs. I suppose I should just wait patiently and find out in future volumes like a good girl.
More explanation, more forward momentum in the story, and a flashback by way of explanation should happen next volume.
Also, I can’t remember if I mentioned this last volume, but I can’t believe that it took me as long as it did to realize that the weird trees in the Gedatsu title page story were supposed to be an onsen mark, of sorts. I love that they stay there through the entire story, taunting you with the fact they were there from the first page.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
February 8, 2010 at 6:59 am
[...] (Stop, Drop, and Read) Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 30 of One Piece (The Comic Book Bin) Connie on vol. 36 of One Piece (Slightly Biased Manga) Tiamat’s Disciple on vol. 2 of Oninagi (Tiamat’s Manga Reviws) [...]
February 8, 2010 at 8:46 am
The name of the weapon from Alabasta is supposed to be Poseidon I believe. Also Oda posted a list of what the characters nationalities would be in the real world and Franky is indeed supposed to be American.
February 8, 2010 at 11:22 am
- I know we weren’t supposed to forget that she had seen the plans for these weapons, because she states it pretty plainly when she finds the glyphs-
She’s seen them, but it’s not like she has the glyphs with her to just hand over, Water 7′s far from Alabaster and those ones were buried on top of it.
Iirc, the glyphs just had the locations of the original’s hidden locations written down, while this is plans to make a new one.
February 8, 2010 at 5:47 pm
March volumes on review? I’m jealous already.
Yes, the story revolves around Robin, so you’ll be able to see where her allegiance lies as well as why she is looking for something…(quick, check the Skypiea volume where she makes a comment about the weapons!)
February 9, 2010 at 1:21 am
Haha, thanks guys. Your comments cleared that up a little for me. And… yes, let me go back and read those volume of Alabasta and Skypiea again, just to check and make sure I’m clear on what’s going on with her side at this point.
And thanks for that extra bit of info on Franky. I do love him a little more for that alone.
March 16, 2010 at 3:16 am
All your questions will be answered in next couple of issue, in fact, most of them should be answered in Vol. 38.
That’s one thing I always loved about OP, (being reading it since 1999 after a few online friends suggest the series for me when I went back to Asia), everything falls into place sooner or later. Even if it was something small to begins with, more often than not it has HUGE impact in future storyline.
For example, not many people remembers that BlackBeard was first mentioned in Drum Kingdom and was responsible for the fall of Wapol. Or that Dragon, the man who saved Luffy back in Rouge Town was mentioned in flashback of the WG meeting Vivi attended back when she was small. It these little infos that Oda strategically places in and his imagination that makes the series burst of life.
March 16, 2010 at 3:18 am
made mistake, I was going to replay in the Vol 37 review, didn’t know how it got posted here instead….
March 18, 2010 at 1:18 am
Yeah, I love the way Oda lays little hints about future plot developments in the most unlikely ways. My favorites are the ones in the title page short stories. I’ve read most of the series through before (I skipped Water 7 and Enies Lobby after Usopp quit, I was too shook up after that), but reading it through in English, I was boggling at stuff like Garp appearing in that Coby and Helmeppo story, or when Camie showed up in the octopus story 20 volumes or so before she shows up in the real story. I never put much thought into them, but they are still part of the story. I think this didn’t really hit home for me until I saw Fullbody and Django together as Marines in… Alabasta (?), but I still tend to forget it.