One Piece Volume 38

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

This is one of my favorite volumes in the series. There’s so much awesome going on that it can be hard to sum up, but I’ll give it a shot. Franky’s flashback finishes up and CP9 capture him, with Usopp putting barely a token resistance. Worse still, they throw Going Merry away into the sea! And oh crap, Spandam’s back in post-flashback time, and he’s got a leather gimp mask now.

However, things are now going to turn around. Chopper rescues Iceberg and Paulie (and Zoro’s cursed sword) from a burning building, looking utterly badass as he does so. Iceberg then wakes, and has a chat with Nami about what really happened with Robin several chapters ago. We get confirmed (as if we couldn’t guess) that Robin has become too attached to the crew to use and abandon them like she always has before, so is sacrificing herself and the world just so that the Straw Hats can leave Water 7 safely. It’s pretty cool.

What follows is the moment I usually use when someone asks me “What moment sums up all of One Piece for you?” It’s almost iconic. Nami collapses, and Iceberg starts to worry, but it turns out she’s collapsing in relief because Robin is still their friend after all. Then she gets up and heads off. I’ll quote this part in full:

Iceberg: Wait! The Straw Hats are already defeated. What can you do now?!”
Nami: *Now*, you say? This *starts* now! Luffy and the others are fine. They can’t be done away with that easily. We’re going to get Robin back! Hesitating makes us weak. Now that we know she needs to be saved, OUR STRENGTH WILL BE INFINITE!!!

As if that weren’t enough, this is followed by Sanji getting off a quote that makes him look manly and cool, and then sees him discovering Robin about to get on the train to Enies Lobby. Chapter 359 is near perfect.

I feel I should note that there is some great humor in this volume. Galley-La’s reaction to Chopper’s transformations, Sanji’s hilarious image of Robin as a Rose-of-Versailles shoujo princess, the entire scene with Sanji’s note to Nami (note her utter lack of reaction: I once again note this manga is not for shippers), and Luffy and Zoro’s reaction after Nami arrives at the train with a huge bag of meat and sake. Oda can still bring the lols. (There’s one more, but as it’s a cliffhanger I’ll wait for the end.)

With all this done, it’s time to go find Luffy and Zoro, who have managed to get themselves trapped in various bits of the city. Oh, and there’s a huge tidal wave caused by the typhoon, hitting the city. For those who like action, Luffy, Nami, Zoro and Chopper escaping from Aqua Laguna (with an assist from Paulie) is utterly fantastic. Times like these make One Piece seem like a big-budget movie. (I also note that Luffy, escaping with Nami, simply wraps his rubber arm around her torso and yanks her. Luffy is no Sanji. And thank God for that.)

Unfortunately, the storm is so bad that ships can’t get through, and the last train (with Robin and CP9) is gone. Fortunately, Sanji, as well as the captured Franky and Usopp, are on board that train. Also fortunately, Kokoro knows of a prototype runaway sea train that will be able to follow them to Enies Lobby. This leads to everyone and their brother setting off in pursuit: the remaining Straw Hats; Paulie, Lulu and Tilestone from Galley-La; and the ENTIRE Franky Family, including their giant sea horses Sodomu and Gomora. (Yes, yes, I know… look, Viz has to keep this rated T for teen. Best to just smile and nod at the odd romanji.)

And then there’s the end. Franky and Usopp are free, but Usopp is still in bitter self-hatred mode, so shouts that he can’t possibly do anything and stomps off. Grr. But wait! Another person heard their call! He has come to help them save Robin with his awesome sharpshooting skills! That great masked hero… SNIPER KING! Sniper King in general is wonderful, and we only get a brief taste here. Wait till Volume 39, where you find out where Sniper Island is. (No spoilers in the comments, please.)

This volume marks the end of the first part of Water Seven. The next 6 volumes are unofficially known by fans as the Enies Lobby arc, and indeed, that’s where everyone’s headed. Can’t wait for April!

Excel Saga Volume 4

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By Rikdo Koshi. Released in Japan by Shonen Gahosha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young King OURS. Released in North America by Viz.

There’s a lot going on in this volume, which lays out a lot of the questions regarding Il Palazzo and Excel’s past. Questions which, I note, are still unanswered in the current run 13 years later. Though we at least have a few more ideas…

The first chapter wraps up the sewer infiltration arc from Volume 3, showing that Excel is still a bit of an idiot when it comes to actually listening to people, and we first see Matsuya’s desperate attempts to avoid falling further into the batshit insaneness that her life has become, as she lies point blank to Kabapu about having seen anyone down there. We also have Watanabe trying to figure out if he actually saw Hyatt/Ayasugi-san down there, and a wonderful moment where Matsuya rips into him for being passive.

The next chapter was, I believe, also adapted for the anime. Hyatt is accidentally kidnapped by two Yakuza wannabes, and Excel has to go chasing off after her on a bike. It’s hard to top Hyatt’s trail of dead animals for pure comedy fun, I will admit, and we note that Excel is starting to get used to Hyatt’s occasional deaths. There was one thing I disliked about this chapter, though, one of the few issues I have with the translation. At one point, the elder yakuza wanna be shouts ‘kono amaa zettai!’ at Hyatt. It’s apparently very strong Japanese, and Carl and Dan translated it as ‘you cunt!’. This is a T-rated series, not an M one. I think they could have found another way to put it.

The funniest chapter in the volume is the one where Excel has a toothache, and goes to see the dentist. Of course, this series only has one doctor, and he’s now doing dentistry. It’s very amusing to see Excel as the sarcastic snarker and (mostly) straight man, and almost a foreshadowing of the sort of person she’d become when Elgala was introduced. The doctor, meanwhile, just wants to start yankin’ out teeth, regardless of whether they may need it or not.

Dr. Kabapu’s secretary, Momochi is introduced here. She continues to appear through the series, but we still know next to nothing about her. The very definition of a cool, competent secretary (and she hasn’t opened her eyes either. We also start to see Matsuya spying to get more info on Kabapu, and she definitely finds something – pictures of him in an album looking much the same as he does now, but standing in a Fukuoka with no skyscrapers.

The swimming chapter that follows was very loosely adapted for the anime. It should be noted that the manga version does actually show its male characters. :) Watanabe finds that you should never drink from anything Hyatt has already sipped from, and Matsuya finds that she may have been a national-finals swimmer in high school, but that’s nothing against someone like Excel. (Matsuya still doesn’t recognize Excel, and Watanabe has not put two and two together either.)

And then we have the two-parter where Excel is hit by a car. This was a stunner when it came out in Japan, mostly as it has the series’ first semi-serious cliffhanger. Excel’s accident is short and brutal, and Hyatt, standing there trying to take it all in (complete with a math equation!), faints. When she wakes Excel is gone, having woken and wandered off with no memories of who she is. There are flashes of recognition – notably, when desperate, she wants to cry out to a ‘Lord’ somebody. She then walks by the hospital, where Dr. Not-Blackjack has just tossed a syringe out of an upper-story window. It doesn’t hit her, but she looks up to see it coming at her point-first and has flashes of memory that seems far older than what we’re used to. “Something sharp… something scary… it hurt, it was hard, it was scary…”. Accompanying this are shadowy drawings of Excel being stabbed in the head by something, and her hands covered in gore, followed by Il Palazzo with his head lowered into one hand. Excel comes back to reality to find that she’s crying, and isn’t sure why. Chapter break.

The second chapter features Excel trying to get herself out of the crying jag by slamming her head against a wall, which only increases her injuries. Dazed, she walks randomly through the city, finally collapsing in the arms of what she feels is Il Palazzo. Ironically (BOY, is it ironic – see later volumes), it’s Kabapu, who was on his way to see Watanabe, hospitalized after drinking Hyatt’s drug-laced cocktail in the swimming chapter. They get Excel tended to… and then leave her on a bench. In passing, Momochi asks if Kabapu knows Excel, and he replies that “she bears some resemblance to an old acquaintance of mine.” Finally, Excel runs into Hyatt, who unfortunately dies in front of her so is no help at all. Excel then tears off after Menchi, who is panicking, and ends up leaping into a canal. Falling into water is exactly what her brain needed. She comes to, murmuring about how she wants to follow Il Palazzo forever and begging for forgiveness… and then snaps back to the Excel we know.

There’s one more chapter, dealing with Watanabe leaving the hospital and getting revenge on Iwata, who wrote on his face in permanent marker. But the highlight of the volume is definitely that 2-parter beforehand. We’d seen hints that Rikdo had more going on here than just ‘wacky schtick’, but this is where we start to get a lot of the series’ mythology. It’s completely opaque, and 17 volumes later we still don’t know a hell of a lot more about Excel’s past, but it keeps the fans speculating. Next volume we see the intro of two of the more important cast members, Dr. Shioji and Ropponmatsu.

One Piece Volume 37

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

Every One Piece arc has a section where our heroes get the ever loving crap kicked out of them, in order to show how serious the new villains are before the Straw Hats then come back and wipe them out later. And, Water Seven being the longest arc to date, the ‘things suck’ section is particularly long, taking three whole volumes. Luckily this is the last, so after this one we should be getting back to the pirates kicking ass and having wacky fun doing it.

In the meantime, though… Iceberg’s been shot, apparently by Nico Robin, who is in cahoots with CP9, a secret government organization who turned out to have been moles at Water Seven. Luffy and company appeal to Robin, but she’s having none of it, insisting that she is leaving the crew, and that she has a wish that will never be fulfilled if she stays with them. (If they read their own manga, they’d know this was a giant hint that Robin is deceiving them. What kind of wish or dream CAN’T be fulfilled by being with Luffy?)

And what’s worse, Lucci and Blueno are Devil Fruit users, and put their powers to very good use. Luffy and Zoro get punched out of the building and across the entire city (shades of what Luffy did to Crocodile in Alabasta…), and Nami (merely thrown out the window, the curse of being one of the two ‘normal’ crew members) is now surrounded by people who still think she’s part of the ‘evil pirate crew’. Oh, and Chopper’s trapped in a blazing inferno along with Iceberg and Paulie.

Could things get any more desperate? Of course they could! CP9 has realized that if Iceberg doesn’t have the plans they’re looking for, then they must be with Franky, and they go charging off to capture him. Franky, meanwhile, is having a talk with Usopp, still frantically trying to fix the Going Merry. This is the nicest scene in the volume, and also the first time that we see Franky not being a jerk. This will prove to be important, of course. We also hear the legend of Klaubtermann, a legend that exists in particularly beloved ships, and realize that that’s how Going Merry got fixed in Skypeia. (Betcha forgot that, huh? Oda loves to do callbacks, and this is nowhere near the best. Wait till Thriller Bark…)

And then CP9 come in and start kicking the crap out of everyone again. This leads us to the second half of the volume, which is a giant flashback showing Franky’s childhood with Iceberg, along with their mentor, Mr. Tom. Tom is half-fishman and kind of written to be a vague ethnic stereotype, talking about doing things with a BOOM! He’s a fabulous character, but this is a flashback, so he also has ‘doomed’ written on his forehead in permanent marker. The flashback, like most One Piece flashbacks, is quite depressing. I was particularly struck by Kokoro, who appears younger here, and gives the impression that Tom’s death drove her to become an alcoholic.

And then there’s Spandam. I hate Spandam. I *really* hate Spandam. There are One Piece villains that are more badass (Crocodile), or very strong but complete monsters (Arlong), or even so cool they even avoid their karmic due (Eneru), but it’s hard to find one as smug, loathsome, and annoying as Spandam is. And unfortunately, get used to him, because we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Luckily, as I noted at the start, things begin to get better in the next volume, which has many of my all-time favorite One Piece moments. Stay tuned…