(no subject)
Oct. 30th, 2023 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42So I’ve finished the Amazon Lily and Impel Down arcs in One Piece, and I’m going to write a separate post about each. First, let’s get into Amazon Lily.
Before I do that, though, I want to quickly get to some thoughts on the Sabaody Archipelago arc that I wasn’t able to share because I was so shaken by the way it ended lol. Namely, I can’t believe I didn’t mention the most EPIC scene in the whole show thus far- Luffy punching out the Celestial Dragon!! Like… Yeah, yeah, that ended up being a terrible idea because it brought the wrath of the World Government upon them… BUT GOD THAT WAS SO SATISFYING, I HATED THAT GUY SO MUCH. On one level, hitting that guy was the “right thing” to do. Morally, anyway. Usually I don’t agree with any kind of violence being used to solve problems, but after seeing this guy (I can’t even be bothered to remember his name lol) shoot Hatchan (essentially committing a hate crime, since Fishmen are an oppressed minority in the One Piece world) and then dance around bragging about it… Who’s to say punching that smug little grin off his face wasn’t a totally valid reaction? However… unfortunately, it wasn’t the “right” thing to do, as the Celestial Dragons ended up reporting the assault and calling a fleet of Marines, plus an admiral, on the Straw Hats. (Speaking of Admiral Kizaru… 1. I wonder if his powers have a weakness like how Crocodile’s did, or if the only way to defeat him is by using haki (which is something I’ll definitely discuss later)- I think it would be disappointing if they could only use haki to defeat him, and 2. I don’t know why but his laid-back demeanor bothered the CRAP out of me.) When you think about it, Kuma actually saved the crew by sending them all flying…
I also wanted to briefly talk about the Eleven Supernovas, who were introduced in this arc. I feel like 9 new characters (not including Luffy and Zoro) is too many to keep track of, but several did make an impression, namely the two captains who fought with Luffy, Law and Kid, and my personal favorite so far, Bonney. I think she and Luffy need to meet and get into a meat-eating contest. I know Law is a fan favorite and he seems really cool and interesting so far, so I understand why. I can’t wait to learn more about his powers (and his crew- the bear in particular was super endearing!). And Kid, while he didn’t make a huge impression on me personality-wise, has such a cool power and uses it in such an interesting way that I’m looking forward to eventually seeing more of him. I love how Luffy’s reaction to them was “You guys have weird powers” and they’re like “WTF YOU’RE the weird one!!!?!?!”
Anyway, back to Amazon Lily. I think the only part of this arc that I really had a problem with was that aforementioned scene where the women were washing Luffy, like… *CRINGE* And on a similar note, when the women were all lining up to touch Luffy at the banquet, and how it got so bad that he had to grab his food and escape. Granted, Luffy seemed to be more upset that he didn’t get to eat enough than he was with the women touching him, but it was still disappointing to see sexual harassment (yes, I’m calling it that) being played for laughs, just because it was a bunch of women harassing a man. (Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure if all of them were necessarily trying to touch him with sexual intentions- I think most of them were just curious about his rubber powers- but it sure had those kinds of undertones to me and I hated that.)
What I did like, however, were these things:
-The idea of an island of women where strength is valued more than beauty was awesome, and I loved seeing all those cool ladies in action. And the fact that they weren’t all little waifs, but there was so much diversity in their body types and appearances! That was really pleasant to see considering how much flack this show has (rightfully) gotten for its usual lack of diversity in women’s body types. When I heard that Amazon Lily was an island of warrior women, I was imagining it would be an excuse for scantily-clad, skinny fanservice, but I never felt like the women were sexualized (except for Boa Hancock, and she intentionally sexualized herself- that’s another thing I’ll get to in a moment) and overall, it was more progressive than I thought it would be. (The fact that we were seeing the island/community through the eyes of Luffy, who was so ace in this arc that it hurt, probably had something to do with that though.)
-I really appreciated getting to see how Luffy behaves when he's on his own (vs. when he's with the crew). There have definitely been moments in previous arcs where he's gone off on his own- I remember him being separated from the crew for what felt like forever during the Skypeia arc, and there was also the moment where he stormed Enies Lobby by himself. But those situations were different- the latter was a battle, and in the case of both, the crew was never far from him. In the Amazon Lily arc, however, Luffy was entirely on his own and had to rely on only his skills and what little intelligence he possesses to survive. (Random tangent here- I honestly don't think Luffy is unintelligent, really. I think his bluntness, impulsiveness, distractible tendencies, forgetfulness, and optimism makes him seem that way- but really, aren't those just qualities that many neurodivergent people have, too? (Hmm... maybe Luffy isn't stupid, he just has ADHD, haha. That makes him more relatable to me tbh. Imagine how much more powerful he’d become if he started taking Adderall :P)) Like I said in the previous post, it was really telling how without the crew around to curb his behavior, Luffy ends up acting on his impulses to the point of detriment, as seen when he eats the poisonous mushrooms. It also showed how he's much better at taking action when he has other people around to help him refine his ideas, as seen when he's trying to figure out who to go to to ask for a ship, and decides to go to the tallest building because "important people live in tall buildings." That scene even pokes fun at his inability to make a decision without the crew's input by having him say that his head hurts from doing so much thinking, haha.
Mostly, however, what I thought was most interesting about Luffy's behavior on his own was how his kindness shone through in so many different ways. I highly doubt that he would have fought the Boa sisters with quite so much passion if Hancock hadn't turned the girls who'd helped him into stone. One could say that he just felt guilty for getting them turned to stone on his behalf, but Luffy is also the type of person who will make friends with any random stranger, so the brief time that he spent with the girls was probably enough for him to consider them friends. And even if he didn't consider them friends, and even if he didn't owe a debt, I think he still would have moved them out of the arena after they'd been turned to stone, and choose to have Hancock change them back over getting an opportunity to escape at the conclusion of the duel, because he knew they were innocents who had nothing to do with the fight, and that they didn't deserve Hancock's treatment. And then there was the moment where Hancock was telling Luffy her backstory, and one of her sisters started freaking out having a flashback to what happened, and Luffy started insisting that he had heard enough and he didn't want the sisters to put themselves through reliving the bad memories. This was interesting for me to compare what happened when the crew learned Nami's backstory way back when. Luffy specifically didn't care about hearing it and he only went on to defeat Arlong because he knew he had hurt Nami, without even knowing what it was that Arlong had done. He's the type of person who doesn't care about another person's past. As long as their hearts are kind and true in the present, that's enough for him to trust them and try to befriend them. Without the crew, however, Luffy kind of HAD to pay attention to Hancock's backstory, because no one else was around who could memorize that information for him. So this is maybe the first time he's willingly listened as someone shared their past- and since he isn't the type of person who would have wanted to hear about it anyway, it doesn't matter to him that he doesn't hear the full story. All he wants is for the sisters to be okay and to not hurt themselves for his sake. All in all, I loved seeing all these glimpses of Luffy's kindness, because it shows that this isn't the crew influencing him to be more polite or anything- this is completely 100% who he is, a kind young man who wants to make friends with the world, unless someone in the world pisses him off and then it's every man for themselves. What a fascinating character.
-Like I said above, Luffy was so ace in this arc that it HURTS. I know he's not really canonically asexual in the sense that the creator has labeled him as such, but... The fact that he was immune to Hancock's power (turning people who find her attractive to stone) absolutely codes him as asexual. Not to mention the other scene where Hancock takes off her clothes to show him her brand, and he doesn't even bat an eye when he walks in on her and is just disappointed because he was expecting food. And how he was perfectly okay with being naked in front of all the women (because nudity isn't inherently a sexual thing in his mind- of course, I just call that "having a normal mindset about nudity," so that's not ace-exclusive, but it still fits the profile imo), and how the only thing he cared about at the banquet was getting enough to eat and he was annoyed with all the women trying to touch him because they were distracting him, and really the mere fact that he didn't flirt with ANY of the women on the entire island or show ANY interest in them outside of befriending them... GAAAAH it was all SO good and refreshing to see, and even if you don't headcanon Luffy as ace (but how can you not), the fact that he was so respectful of the women was so lovely.
-Finally… I’m not sure how well I can put this into words, but to state this crudely… I love how the idea of misandry was handled in its application to Amazon Lily. What I mean is… Although Amazon Lily is a women-only island, and they explicitly don’t allow men there, I don’t think they were anywhere near as fearful/mistrustful of them before Hancock came into power. Up until meeting Luffy, Hancock and her sisters had only ever met one man they trusted, and that mindset carried over when Hancock became the Snake Princess. Of course, it’s not just men that Hancock hates and fears- she acts cold and cruel towards everyone. But I do fully believe it’s because of her leadership that the women acted so aggressively towards Luffy after he’d had his little hissy fit about the clothes they made for him, saying that he was showing his true colors. Before, they were only curious about him. Then, after Luffy expresses his anger over the clothes (which even he quickly recognized wasn’t anything serious, and he really was grateful to have new clothes even if the style wasn’t to his liking- he’s just impulsive and blunt, like I said before, and he knee-jerk reaction was to voice his annoyance right away), the women immediately went on alert and lost all their interest in him. It’s a mindset they learned from Hancock, who refuses to trust anyone, and since they all adore their Snake Princess, they can’t help emulating her. This is also shown when Marguerite tracked Luffy down after he had escaped and was talking with him, and she threatened him with her bow and arrows, saying that she’d become attached to him if they kept talking. I don’t think this is how the Kuja warriors are expected to behave. Once again, I think this is Hancock’s influence. Marguerite could tell that Luffy was harmless, and she even found herself starting to like him, but she had to remind herself that she’s not supposed to think that way and she’s supposed to see him as an enemy- much like how Hancock sees every outsider as an enemy. To sum up- I like how this mistrust of men was shown to be detrimental to the Kuja society, and how it likely wasn’t a natural mindset of theirs.
The way Hancock overcame her mistrust, however, is something I’m a little iffy about. Before I started watching this arc, I only knew one thing about Hancock- that she falls in love with Luffy. So I was already resigned to that. And I think it was great to have her begin to trust outsiders and men again because she happened to meet such a nice man who proved that no gender is a monolith. But honestly… did she HAVE to realize this because she was romantically attracted to Luffy?? What’s wrong with her simply befriending him? It became hard to take her seriously after that, when she started acting like a silly schoolgirl around him (while of course Luffy remained oblivious). And I also don’t like that her lovesick feelings were depicted as an actual disease. I don’t know if I was meant to take that literally or not… But does this mean that if Luffy doesn’t return Hancock’s affections, she could eventually die from it?? God, I hope not. I hate everything about that.
I don’t have much more to say about this arc, so I might get into Impel Down tomorrow. THAT is sure to be a long post, so we’ll see!
Before I do that, though, I want to quickly get to some thoughts on the Sabaody Archipelago arc that I wasn’t able to share because I was so shaken by the way it ended lol. Namely, I can’t believe I didn’t mention the most EPIC scene in the whole show thus far- Luffy punching out the Celestial Dragon!! Like… Yeah, yeah, that ended up being a terrible idea because it brought the wrath of the World Government upon them… BUT GOD THAT WAS SO SATISFYING, I HATED THAT GUY SO MUCH. On one level, hitting that guy was the “right thing” to do. Morally, anyway. Usually I don’t agree with any kind of violence being used to solve problems, but after seeing this guy (I can’t even be bothered to remember his name lol) shoot Hatchan (essentially committing a hate crime, since Fishmen are an oppressed minority in the One Piece world) and then dance around bragging about it… Who’s to say punching that smug little grin off his face wasn’t a totally valid reaction? However… unfortunately, it wasn’t the “right” thing to do, as the Celestial Dragons ended up reporting the assault and calling a fleet of Marines, plus an admiral, on the Straw Hats. (Speaking of Admiral Kizaru… 1. I wonder if his powers have a weakness like how Crocodile’s did, or if the only way to defeat him is by using haki (which is something I’ll definitely discuss later)- I think it would be disappointing if they could only use haki to defeat him, and 2. I don’t know why but his laid-back demeanor bothered the CRAP out of me.) When you think about it, Kuma actually saved the crew by sending them all flying…
I also wanted to briefly talk about the Eleven Supernovas, who were introduced in this arc. I feel like 9 new characters (not including Luffy and Zoro) is too many to keep track of, but several did make an impression, namely the two captains who fought with Luffy, Law and Kid, and my personal favorite so far, Bonney. I think she and Luffy need to meet and get into a meat-eating contest. I know Law is a fan favorite and he seems really cool and interesting so far, so I understand why. I can’t wait to learn more about his powers (and his crew- the bear in particular was super endearing!). And Kid, while he didn’t make a huge impression on me personality-wise, has such a cool power and uses it in such an interesting way that I’m looking forward to eventually seeing more of him. I love how Luffy’s reaction to them was “You guys have weird powers” and they’re like “WTF YOU’RE the weird one!!!?!?!”
Anyway, back to Amazon Lily. I think the only part of this arc that I really had a problem with was that aforementioned scene where the women were washing Luffy, like… *CRINGE* And on a similar note, when the women were all lining up to touch Luffy at the banquet, and how it got so bad that he had to grab his food and escape. Granted, Luffy seemed to be more upset that he didn’t get to eat enough than he was with the women touching him, but it was still disappointing to see sexual harassment (yes, I’m calling it that) being played for laughs, just because it was a bunch of women harassing a man. (Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure if all of them were necessarily trying to touch him with sexual intentions- I think most of them were just curious about his rubber powers- but it sure had those kinds of undertones to me and I hated that.)
What I did like, however, were these things:
-The idea of an island of women where strength is valued more than beauty was awesome, and I loved seeing all those cool ladies in action. And the fact that they weren’t all little waifs, but there was so much diversity in their body types and appearances! That was really pleasant to see considering how much flack this show has (rightfully) gotten for its usual lack of diversity in women’s body types. When I heard that Amazon Lily was an island of warrior women, I was imagining it would be an excuse for scantily-clad, skinny fanservice, but I never felt like the women were sexualized (except for Boa Hancock, and she intentionally sexualized herself- that’s another thing I’ll get to in a moment) and overall, it was more progressive than I thought it would be. (The fact that we were seeing the island/community through the eyes of Luffy, who was so ace in this arc that it hurt, probably had something to do with that though.)
-I really appreciated getting to see how Luffy behaves when he's on his own (vs. when he's with the crew). There have definitely been moments in previous arcs where he's gone off on his own- I remember him being separated from the crew for what felt like forever during the Skypeia arc, and there was also the moment where he stormed Enies Lobby by himself. But those situations were different- the latter was a battle, and in the case of both, the crew was never far from him. In the Amazon Lily arc, however, Luffy was entirely on his own and had to rely on only his skills and what little intelligence he possesses to survive. (Random tangent here- I honestly don't think Luffy is unintelligent, really. I think his bluntness, impulsiveness, distractible tendencies, forgetfulness, and optimism makes him seem that way- but really, aren't those just qualities that many neurodivergent people have, too? (Hmm... maybe Luffy isn't stupid, he just has ADHD, haha. That makes him more relatable to me tbh. Imagine how much more powerful he’d become if he started taking Adderall :P)) Like I said in the previous post, it was really telling how without the crew around to curb his behavior, Luffy ends up acting on his impulses to the point of detriment, as seen when he eats the poisonous mushrooms. It also showed how he's much better at taking action when he has other people around to help him refine his ideas, as seen when he's trying to figure out who to go to to ask for a ship, and decides to go to the tallest building because "important people live in tall buildings." That scene even pokes fun at his inability to make a decision without the crew's input by having him say that his head hurts from doing so much thinking, haha.
Mostly, however, what I thought was most interesting about Luffy's behavior on his own was how his kindness shone through in so many different ways. I highly doubt that he would have fought the Boa sisters with quite so much passion if Hancock hadn't turned the girls who'd helped him into stone. One could say that he just felt guilty for getting them turned to stone on his behalf, but Luffy is also the type of person who will make friends with any random stranger, so the brief time that he spent with the girls was probably enough for him to consider them friends. And even if he didn't consider them friends, and even if he didn't owe a debt, I think he still would have moved them out of the arena after they'd been turned to stone, and choose to have Hancock change them back over getting an opportunity to escape at the conclusion of the duel, because he knew they were innocents who had nothing to do with the fight, and that they didn't deserve Hancock's treatment. And then there was the moment where Hancock was telling Luffy her backstory, and one of her sisters started freaking out having a flashback to what happened, and Luffy started insisting that he had heard enough and he didn't want the sisters to put themselves through reliving the bad memories. This was interesting for me to compare what happened when the crew learned Nami's backstory way back when. Luffy specifically didn't care about hearing it and he only went on to defeat Arlong because he knew he had hurt Nami, without even knowing what it was that Arlong had done. He's the type of person who doesn't care about another person's past. As long as their hearts are kind and true in the present, that's enough for him to trust them and try to befriend them. Without the crew, however, Luffy kind of HAD to pay attention to Hancock's backstory, because no one else was around who could memorize that information for him. So this is maybe the first time he's willingly listened as someone shared their past- and since he isn't the type of person who would have wanted to hear about it anyway, it doesn't matter to him that he doesn't hear the full story. All he wants is for the sisters to be okay and to not hurt themselves for his sake. All in all, I loved seeing all these glimpses of Luffy's kindness, because it shows that this isn't the crew influencing him to be more polite or anything- this is completely 100% who he is, a kind young man who wants to make friends with the world, unless someone in the world pisses him off and then it's every man for themselves. What a fascinating character.
-Like I said above, Luffy was so ace in this arc that it HURTS. I know he's not really canonically asexual in the sense that the creator has labeled him as such, but... The fact that he was immune to Hancock's power (turning people who find her attractive to stone) absolutely codes him as asexual. Not to mention the other scene where Hancock takes off her clothes to show him her brand, and he doesn't even bat an eye when he walks in on her and is just disappointed because he was expecting food. And how he was perfectly okay with being naked in front of all the women (because nudity isn't inherently a sexual thing in his mind- of course, I just call that "having a normal mindset about nudity," so that's not ace-exclusive, but it still fits the profile imo), and how the only thing he cared about at the banquet was getting enough to eat and he was annoyed with all the women trying to touch him because they were distracting him, and really the mere fact that he didn't flirt with ANY of the women on the entire island or show ANY interest in them outside of befriending them... GAAAAH it was all SO good and refreshing to see, and even if you don't headcanon Luffy as ace (but how can you not), the fact that he was so respectful of the women was so lovely.
-Finally… I’m not sure how well I can put this into words, but to state this crudely… I love how the idea of misandry was handled in its application to Amazon Lily. What I mean is… Although Amazon Lily is a women-only island, and they explicitly don’t allow men there, I don’t think they were anywhere near as fearful/mistrustful of them before Hancock came into power. Up until meeting Luffy, Hancock and her sisters had only ever met one man they trusted, and that mindset carried over when Hancock became the Snake Princess. Of course, it’s not just men that Hancock hates and fears- she acts cold and cruel towards everyone. But I do fully believe it’s because of her leadership that the women acted so aggressively towards Luffy after he’d had his little hissy fit about the clothes they made for him, saying that he was showing his true colors. Before, they were only curious about him. Then, after Luffy expresses his anger over the clothes (which even he quickly recognized wasn’t anything serious, and he really was grateful to have new clothes even if the style wasn’t to his liking- he’s just impulsive and blunt, like I said before, and he knee-jerk reaction was to voice his annoyance right away), the women immediately went on alert and lost all their interest in him. It’s a mindset they learned from Hancock, who refuses to trust anyone, and since they all adore their Snake Princess, they can’t help emulating her. This is also shown when Marguerite tracked Luffy down after he had escaped and was talking with him, and she threatened him with her bow and arrows, saying that she’d become attached to him if they kept talking. I don’t think this is how the Kuja warriors are expected to behave. Once again, I think this is Hancock’s influence. Marguerite could tell that Luffy was harmless, and she even found herself starting to like him, but she had to remind herself that she’s not supposed to think that way and she’s supposed to see him as an enemy- much like how Hancock sees every outsider as an enemy. To sum up- I like how this mistrust of men was shown to be detrimental to the Kuja society, and how it likely wasn’t a natural mindset of theirs.
The way Hancock overcame her mistrust, however, is something I’m a little iffy about. Before I started watching this arc, I only knew one thing about Hancock- that she falls in love with Luffy. So I was already resigned to that. And I think it was great to have her begin to trust outsiders and men again because she happened to meet such a nice man who proved that no gender is a monolith. But honestly… did she HAVE to realize this because she was romantically attracted to Luffy?? What’s wrong with her simply befriending him? It became hard to take her seriously after that, when she started acting like a silly schoolgirl around him (while of course Luffy remained oblivious). And I also don’t like that her lovesick feelings were depicted as an actual disease. I don’t know if I was meant to take that literally or not… But does this mean that if Luffy doesn’t return Hancock’s affections, she could eventually die from it?? God, I hope not. I hate everything about that.
I don’t have much more to say about this arc, so I might get into Impel Down tomorrow. THAT is sure to be a long post, so we’ll see!
