By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

As the last volume featured our heroes getting their asses kicked to a large degree, it seems fitting that this volume should show them getting a bit of their own back, as Zoro, Sanji and Usopp all have big epic fights, and Robin and Chopper have a lesser but still satisfying fight.

When this was first coming out a couple years ago, I was irritated with what he’d done with Nami in this arc, and I still am to a degree. Oda has rarely had to resort to ‘helpless woman being rescued by big strong man’ plots in the past. You can argue there was a certain amount of that in Enies Lobby, but that was Robin’s own choice, and once she stopped wishing for death, we saw several scenes of her fighting against captivity. But Nami, though this volume, is unconscious. You could replace her with a doll for all the difference it makes.

And I admit it doesn’t help that I find Sanji’s perverse ‘chivalry’ grating, especially when we see it combined with his perversity. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, comedy Sanji talking about women does nothing but annoy me. We’ve frequently seen him be serious and clever, especially when women aren’t involved, so seeing him this obsessed over losing the fruit that could let him see women showering naked is not that fun for me.

As a side note, this volume came out in Weekly Shonen Jump at about the same time that another gag manga, Bobobobo-bobobo, was ending. Oda, it seems to me, pays tribute to its style throughout here, notably with the zombies watching Sanji and Absalom. The Zombie Generals, throughout the fight, react in surprise with bugged-out eyes to various things. “Where did the bazookas come from?!?!” “His anger is totally misplaced!” This is very much a Bobobo trademark, usually with Beauty reacting to her companions’ stupidity. It’s nice to see such a subtle shout-out.

Meanwhile, Zoro has found the swordsman who has Brook’s shadow. And, coincidentally enough, a kick-ass sword. Since Zoro has just lost a sword in the prior arc, this is very convenient. What follows is one of the more normal battles in the volume, as generally Zoro fights don’t get as silly as others might. And Chopper and Robin fight against Hogback and Cindry, giving us some suggestions that Zombies and their personalities might not be as cut and dry as we once thought. It’s nice seeing Chopper fight the battle with moral sense as much as physical strength. And Cindry’s final smile was both fantastic and chilling.

And then there’s Usopp. Oh, Usopp, I love you. Back at the start of the volume, half the gang runs into Perona and her ghosts, and they fall easy prey to the depressing thoughts that accompany them. But not Usopp… he’s made of stronger stuff! Negative Hollows can’t affect a man who’s already negative! (Perona’s face, a callback to Eneru’s in Skypeia, is a stitch.) So he goes off to battle Perona, only to find she has more tricks up her sleeve than he’d thought. (Another quick note: despite Perona being a goth loli, and Oda giving us increasing fanservice for Nami and Robin, when we see giant Perona squatting in the castle, we get no panty shots whatsoever. I am grateful.)

So Usopp is now dealing with a seemingly unkillable woman. Oda briefly fakes us out by having Usopp call on Sniper King to help him (and donning the mask), but that’s just to run away for a bit. The real battle is won by Usopp himself, who is clever enough to realize something’s up with Perona’s confidence, tricky enough to miscall his attacks (oh, if only more manga heroes did this), and badass enough to use the dials in just the right way. Defeating Perona by a combination of sticky goop, fake roaches, and a balloon hammer. And yet it’s so awesome that you jump into the air along with him when it’s done.

And so, having won their minor battles, our heroes now have to face up against Oars. Who is huge, and has Luffy’s shadow. Yeah, they’re crushed badly. Only Luffy can save them now! But we’ll have to wait for June to see him do so.

By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

Some quick hit thoughts on One Piece 47:

— This is Oda’s take on horror, so we get several obvious horror tropes, including the cast vanishing one by one. Surprisingly, though, it’s the 3 best fighters who are taken, showing that the enemy is serious business.
— Nami really gets a chance to show off her skills in the first half of this volume… sadly, it’s to make up for her being a damsel in distress for the rest of this and all of the next volume. I don’t really like unconscious Nami needing to be rescued, thank you very much.
— Chopper believing that Nami was really a man all along is hysterical, though. So that’s where all the genderbent fans got the name Namizou from…
— Meanwhile, it has to be said that Franky and Robin still work great as a team. I was rather startled at seeing Robin get stuck in that spider web (more fetish fuel from Oda, whose manga has gotten increasingly fanservicey over the years), but was gobsmacked at her Wing powers. Damn, that’s useful! Well, very briefly useful.
— Gecko Moria so far is merely a scary-looking big vampire guy, but as he’s one of the Shichibukai, clearly he will show off more later. Also, in case you were still in denial over Oda basing this on the Thriller music video, check out the Zombie Night dance.
— Brook… is an idiot. It has to be said. His jokes are so bad they make Franky want to smack him immediately, though Robin stops him. Briefly. After the 3rd bad pun, even she says “OK, hit him”. That said, he’s an idiot with a dream, and we know what that means in One Piece. He even got Franky to cry! Which admittedly takes little effort.
— Wow, that’s one big zombie.
— Eeeee! When Franky and Robin come to the rescue of Usopp and Chopper, she asks if they’re hurt. She asks… by calling them Usopp and Chopper! Not Long-nose and Doctor! Oh Robin, your thawing heart is so beautiful! (cries)
— Usopp’s method of waking up Luffy, Zoro and Sanji is the funniest thing in the entire volume.
— Ah yes, and now we come to Brook’s dream. It was noted in Enies Lobby that Oda loved to set things up well in advance, as he had Usopp telling the Giant guards about their leaders at Little Garden. But this is one better. We had been set up, on hearing Laboon’s story, to see it as fairly tragic. Everyone thought the crew had cut and run, leaving their whale behind. Now we see that it’s far deeper than that. This is the best part of the whole book, and the reactions of the four who were there to meet Laboon are fantastic.
— For all that I go on about Oda’s great pacing, I think if anything it’s UNDERappreciated. Look at the way Laboon is handled here. We first see Brook telling the story to Franky and Robin… but we don’t actually hear it. We merely see Franky’s reaction later. And they’re two of the crew members who wouldn’t know who the whale was. Then, once everyone is back together, we get the flashback to Franky and Robin being told about Laboon, followed by the reaction of the others. It’s almost flawless.

And so now we have the whole crew (minus one) back, going off to beat people up, get back Nami, shadows, and FOOD! Roll on, Volume 48!

By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

I’ll admit, I might not have as much to say about these next few volumes as I did about the previous 12. Don’t get me wrong, Thriller Bark is pretty good… but it’s pretty good in a ‘this is a light-hearted change of pace’ way, rather than the epic awesomeness we had come to expect from our One Piece.

First off, however, is the end of the Ace/Blackbeard fight. As one might expect, ‘darkness’ is a lot more than just making things dark, it’s more of a black hole. Also notable is that Blackbeard’s actually fairly vulnerable to damage from other fruit user attacks, getting burned by Ace’s fire powers a couple of times. The outcome of the fight is supposedly a cliffhanger, but seeing Ace’s hat lying upside down on the ground suggests that he’s not coming out on the winning side.

However, the main thrust of the volume is the introduction of Brook and the arrival at Thriller Bark. Yep, still no Fishman Island for you. One would think Oda was deliberately teasing us… instead, we meet Brook, the gentleman skeleton. Gentleman is arguable, especially after asking for Nami and Robin’s panties, but he’s definitely a skeleton. He’s a giant goofball, so naturally Luffy IMMEDIATELY asks him to join his crew. Brook, however, has other fish to fry… he’s lost his shadow, and rushes off to Thriller Bark to get it back.

What follows is a bunch of setup, mostly revolving around horror movie tropes. Oda apparently got the idea for this arc after seeing the video Thriller by Michael Jackson, and that comes across pretty well, especially when we meet the zombies. He also knows how to balance out his crew to fight the horrors. They’re divided up in a way that will show maximum comedy. This means we get Nami, Usopp and Chopper screaming and running their way through things; and we also get the rest of the crew being far less scared.

Favorite gags include the ‘600 Million Berry Jackpot’; Thriller Bark’s animate scenery trying to avoid being seen by our heroes; everyone’s reaction to Cerberus (well, the 2nd time); and 3 of the goofiest henchmen we’ve seen this side of Alabasta, featuring a mad doctor and his grumpy Frankenstein girl, a perverted invisible tiger man, and my personal favorite, Perona, a Goth With Attitude (GWA). We only just get introduced to them here, though.

Oh yes, when Robin says “I love… a good thrill”, I’m sure many other reader’s minds went right where mine did.

This volume is mostly setup, like many arc beginners. It shows what we’re in for; a lighter, more playful arc than the angst and trauma of Enies Lobby. In that, I think it succeeds pretty well.