Manga Diaries – One Piece Volumes 28 to 30

One Piece Volume 28 One Piece Volume 29 One Piece Volume 30
If you don’t know what my Diaries are, please go here. Spoilers ahoy!

Otherwise, let’s go!


Volume 28:

I honestly thought some of these battles would be longer. Chopper, Zolo, and Nami/Ganfor all have won, and Robin is in the midst of her fight. Luffy finds himself…somewhere after his battle.

Firstly, I was confused by Chopper’s “point”. I had to cheat and look it up. I didn’t realize “boost” was a change. Anyways, he seems to  have leveled up. I think if I was Chopper, I would have tried to pull a “I’m just an ordinary reindeer (or racoon)” scheme. One Piece has a high population of idiots, so you never know what you might be able to pull off.

Nami’s group is the largest, but they’re the ones who end up facing the biggest battles. Sanji gets KO’d right away, Usopp is useless, and Gandor is injured. Luckily, she and Gandor pull through. Then they’re reunited with the father-daughter pair from earlier, and I’m curious as to what she’s getting. A dial because she was so good at the waverunner thingy?

So we learn there’s a 100 year history blackout. Eneru is a lightning god who easily overpowers his challengers. We also get references to Jack and the Beanstalk and very long, literal chapter titles. Aisa (whose name I want to read as “Asia”) is obviously more than just a girl who collects varse. Is she supposed to be the next kami or something?

So, in short, a lot happened. Busy, busy, busy. But One Piece readers are prime apes?! Can we summon Ash’s Primeape in response?

Volume 29:

These chapter titles seem strange for a manga like One Piece. They sound like they should be from a tournament manga.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m just spacing out while reading this series. Raki mentions something about the Logia type of Devil Fruits. Before, there was something about Zoa (Zola?) fruits. Have the types of Fruits ever properly been introduced. It’s like all of a sudden there was this Zoa — and now Logia — classification, but they really mean nothing to me. Zoa was something about transformations, right? I’m not sure. Why bring up terms without a real introduction.

Eneru proves he’s a major Boss. The Straw Hats mostly manage to reunite, which is important because their group is running low on fighters. Nami pretty much spends half the volume looking shocked in the style of old 70s shoujo manga. I kind of wish Oda had opened chapters with a map and show the location of where everyone is more often. There was one or two here (or was it the last volume?), and it is hard to tell how big this place is.

We finally have an animal who isn’t abandoned! The snake seems like it’s been searching for its homeland (and auditioning for Animals Got Talent). Zolo is kidnapped and later ditched by a bird. Southern bird? Or because everything seems topsy-turvey here, a Northern bird?

I keep thinking Robin looks like a Sadako. She should have been a Sadako. Anyone agree?

Anyways, lots of KO’s here. The body count is rising.

Volume 30:

Eneru’s main attack does 0 damage to Luffy, but the status effects still work.

Nami also gets told off by Luffy to stop whining. I know she’s primarily a thief and a trickster, but she comes off as that party member in an RPG you wish you could leave behind except for her one good ability. She needs an ultimate weapon to be usable.

The translator and adaptation writers changed last volume, but I really didn’t notice until this one. You would think there would have been a change in the volume with Chopper’s points, but nope. It’s not a huge difference, but there are some subtle differences. It probably is less noticeable because of the relatively serious tone of these last two volumes.

I didn’t realize the things behind Eneru were taiko. I guess I just kind of figured they were orbs. I must say, One Piece readers are pretty sharp to catch all of Oda’s hidden references.

The Maxim wasn’t as impressive as I thought it’d be. It’s basically huge and that’s it. Fit for a self-proclaimed kami I guess.

Nami makes a bold proclamation finally, but the impact is lost since we immediately discover Sanji and Usopp escape.

Paramythia?! When was that introduced?! So there’s three types.

Final Comments:

Some parts were hard to follow because of fast pace and large number of battles. So many of the mains we get to see shine in triumph for their victory only to be immediately KO’d. Again, I still like this arc better than the last. Despite Luffy having an innate resistance to Eneru’s ability, Eneru is not going down easily. In the last arc, the citizens of Vivi’s kingdom were really the ones in trouble. Here, it’s the citizens of Skypiea as well as the Straw Hats.

I think they need to recruit a second healer. Chopper’s like a Alchemist, so go with a pure White Mage next time.

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2 Comments

  1. The Otaku Judge

    I’m okay with battles not being too long. Dragon Ball Z made me realize that dragging out fights with episodes worth of yelling and waiting for planets to explode isn’t always epic.

    Reply
    1. Krystallina

      The “waiting for planets to explode” reminds me of Supernova from FFVII. That’s what a lot of those anime feel like. “Oh, man, again? Guess I can checkout for a while.”

      Reply

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