Manga Diaries – One Piece Volumes 49 to 51

If you don’t know what my Diaries are, please go here. Spoilers ahoy!

Otherwise, let’s go!

Volume 49:

Well, the back cover may be Finding Dory: One Piece Edition, but the volume itself is Attack on Titan: One Piece Edition. I really like having the whole crew work together. It’s a welcome change of pace from the one-on-one fights that have been dominating the series. Sanji and Zolo being the frontline fighters, Nami and Robin attack from a distance, and Franky, Usopp, and Chopper are a mix of support and warriors. (Brook is kind of a wild card at this moment.)

Brook also shows why he’s rising in my favorite character ranks. He’s full of bone puns but adds some brains (i.e. strategy) to the run-on-instincts pirates. Meanwhile, another warlord shows up and seemingly disposes of Perona. I hope not because I’d love to see her splash page adventures.

Franky’s building abilities are amazing. Can he come to my house and build some additional rooms for my manga?

Volume 50:

Thriller Bark wraps up. The Straw Hats’ sea travels are mostly skipped over to immediately (accidentally) meet a mermaid. Hachi prepares to make his return.

Pappagu is a fashion designer, but he should also be a spokesfish. “You can be anything you want to be!”

But back to the beginning. Nothing worse than defeating a tough Boss and then immediately having to face an even tougher Boss. “Yay, we’ve got our shadows back! Let’s head to the save point! … Oh crap!” I remember the first time I played Final Fantasy VII, I had trouble with Schizo. My party barely survived, so I decided to go back and use a tent. I unfortunately got stuck in an unescapable battle and got annihilated. (It’s a glitch, but, of course, I didn’t know what the heck was happening.)

Brook’s back story is touching. That’s a long time to be alone, plus then he can’t do much when his shadow is stolen. So glad he has friends.

Speaking of friends, Nami has made a close one in Lola, even if Lola herself doesn’t understand.

I think the Paw-Paw Fruit gets the award for having the biggest disconnect between its name and ability.

Volume 51:

Today’s theme song is “Tako Luka Maguro Fever“.

Did any of you when you were a toddler have one of those leash things? You know, to prevent you from wandering away? I had a Big Bird one. Someone should make one for Zolo.

I mentioned earlier Sanji’s poster got the Flynn Rider treatment. Well, what’s worse is your actual face having the Flynn Rider syndrome. Well, Duval becomes handsome and annoying instead of not-so-handsome and an idiot. What’s more surprising is that he takes a significant role in the story.

All in all, this volume plays out exactly like an RPG:

1. Arrive in an area
2. Fight some monsters and help someone in the process
3. Need some way to power up your vehicle
4. Have to search and kill time waiting for the person’s return
5. Get involved in an even bigger conflict

So while it’s pretty typical, I actually didn’t mind this formula here. The Hachi-Camie scenes were pretty cute, and there was a good balance of humor and drama in this volume.

Luffy’s rivals are introduced. The only name I remember is Jewelry. Too bad, as I had the perfect nickname for her: Pizza Tifa. I wasn’t expecting her to save Zolo. Guess we’ll see how the others will interact with the Straw Hats in the future. But first, the gang has a couple of rescue missions to go on.

Final Comments:

For being a large world, geez, everyone really does come back like a boomerang. I’d like to see Tashigi again.

All in all, I really enjoyed Thriller Bark, and Sabaody (which I keep wanting to write as “Seabody”) is shaping up to be another short but good arc. Since almost everyone’s currently together, I’m hoping for more team battles.