By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.
This volume is fantastic, but also heartbreaking in many ways. Things begin to fall apart here, and much of the manga seems to be devoted to systematically destroying Usopp. He gets beaten to a pulp multiple times, called weak and feeble (and it’s implied that therefore his friends are the same), forced to deal with the fact that the Going Merry has to be abandoned, and finally quitting the crew in a haze of rage and self-loathing.
Usopp’s always had it rough, especially over here in North America. Several of my friends simply hate him, calling him the weak crybaby. (They don’t like Chopper either, but he gets a pass as he’s not human.) In a fandom that keeps talking about how guys with awesome strength can beat up on other guys with awesome strength, Usopp’s clever fights, tricks, and constant need to deal with honest to goodness fear rub some people the wrong way. Of course, Oda knows exactly what he’s doing. Usopp’s drive to overcome his weaknesses is his entire plotline (Oda has said point blank that Usopp will always be the weakest crew member), and that’s what makes this volume so hard to read.
Not that he doesn’t get in some badass moments in his fight with Luffy over the Going Merry. Usopp is smart, and knows Luffy and his powers very well. Using his sharpshooting skills, some tricks, and a few dials from Skypeia, he manages to get in a few major blows on Luffy (which puts him ahead of a lot of the villains). Of course, Luffy is Luffy and Usopp is Usopp, so the outcome is not in doubt. Usopp gets curb stomped.
Robin also has a major role in this volume, which is especially interesting as she doesn’t actually appear in it. The crew is continuing to search for her, but all that becomes academic when Iceberg is shot, and he reveals that she was the culprit. This makes everyone suspect the entire Straw Hat crew, meaning that things are about to get much, much worse in Vol. 36. Indeed, the manga ends with Kaku, Paulie, Rob Lucci and Lulu showing up to kick some Straw Hat Pirate Ass, and looking really pissed off.
And of course we meet Franky. Oda loves to draw goofy characters, and Franky, a cyborg who looks like a cross between Frankenstein and Popeye, fits the bill perfectly. He dresses in only a speedo and Hawaiian shirt, he has blue hair gelled up high on his forehead, and he’s accompanied by two identical twin sisters who wear their hair in giant square afros. Never let it be said Oda can’t bring the goofy, especially when it comes to his character design. (I also loved the running gag of Lulu’s cowlick, which migrates all over his head and which he’s constantly trying to push down.)
Overall, though, this was a serious, melancholy volume. And the next one won’t be much easier, as Robin returns and we find out who’s really behind all of this.
