Manga Diaries – One Piece Volumes 52 to 54

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

Otherwise, let’s go!

Volume 52:

I find it interesting Oda has all the male characters use hiragana “ore”. Usually authors mix it up. It makes it so much easier on readers like me to keep track of who is speaking. It’s one of those things that really make it a pain translating into English (and other languages I assume). Japanese games and light novels don’t always include “said so-and-so” because you’re supposed to know based on their speech patterns. Like in Uta no Prince-sama, whether someone used 俺 or オレ would immediately narrow the field down. Sometimes it’s hard to follow light novels because you have to try to figure out who’s speaking, and you can forget when there’s a long exchange.

Anyway. I can totally picture Yamaguchi being the pain. But he’s also hilarious! What do you expect from L and Bugs Bunny? XD (But he’s also Kudo/Kaito…)

The team is being pushed to the brink. It can be a bit confusing keeping up with who’s who here. So… many… enemies… and so… many… groups…

Volume 53:

Oda apologizes for making people spending so much money on his series. And yet about 30 volumes later, he’s still only 65% complete. Yeah…

Anyway, a big switch in this volume. Luffy ends up in Sanji’s paradise and gets into all kinds of trouble. Snake Princess acts like a witch and then falls in love with Luffy. Sanji would be so jealous.

This volume felt boring compared to the previous ones. The beginning was full of jewel jokes, then just randomness in order for Luffy to head to Ace. I wonder how long it will be before we see anybody else. I don’t think this is the part where Sanji disappears for a couple of years. It seems too early.

Volume 54:

So we enter a new arc. Everyone gets to where they need to go. Well, maybe not Sanji. (I forgot there’s a time skip in this series, isn’t there.) Brook landing in the midst of a black magic ritual was pretty funny.

I thought Perona would return eventually, but I never thought Zolo would encounter her. I thought Usopp would see her again. Zolo seems to unintentionally be the ladie’s man. First Tashigi, then Jewelry, and now Perona.

Tashigi!

And Alvira??

How sharp are reader’s eyes? Geez, I wear glasses and can’t make out Buggy’s picture. (Although I’m nearsighted, so my glasses wouldn’t help anyway.)

Oda talks about the length. Um, yeah, I have a feeling One Piece isn’t going to quit until Oda physically can’t draw anymore. Unless he goes on long hiatuses a la Hunter x Hunter. But a person could really go bankrupt collecting this series. I wonder how many English fans have been collecting them all…

Haha, Tanaka is a prankster. That’s pretty funny. And of course you can’t touch Otani!!

In short: this is an RPG dungeon with lots of famous monsters like manticores and basilisks. Always have Stoneproof equipped, people. Unless you’re facing Chak and it doesn’t work…

Final Comments:

I hope Impel Down doesn’t last much longer. I mean, what’s the point of having awesome characters if you’re going to have them disappear for long periods of time? Quite frankly, I’m getting bored of all these reunited enemies becoming (willing or unwilling) allies. Not to mention all of the splash pages where former enemies end up living better (or at least less cruel) lives. I liked how the Straw Hats really finally faced some hard Bosses, but I don’t want to go on grindfests with each character, especially one after another after another.