In a near 1200 chapter manga that tends to leave things beyond Luffy's story cryptic regarding encounters and offscreening, i was surprised by what we got.
Not a 10/10 for me. More like an 8 i guess, and thats generally because I lower my expectations in a lot of things since Wano. Oda didnt do enough with the non-main players who were the sole new characters on the flashback. Shiki barely got focus as it stood.
But I get it. Again. 1200 chapters. To spend 6 chapters on God Valley set into another near 10 chapter flashback which mainly does nothing big but show us Blackbeard and Shanks' origins beyond Loki and Harald's, im surprised he even gave us several chapter fights even between Rocks and other people.
Yeah, I would have loved to see more of John or Shiki outside of 2 doublespreads. Gansui got very little. Silver Axe was a joke. And none of the women did anything noteworthy and it begs the question why they exist in the first place
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Retconned Roger's mustache
0/10 flashback
For the 10000th time, this is fanart lmao
The original is a storyboard that looks nothing like this, but its why both the real one this chapter and this fan one look similar in framing.
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GV problems :
- Shakky plot. Stupid reason for the GV gathering. Should have been a treasure / huge DF or something special and not to rescue Shakky. A plot that was thankfully glossed over quick in the event. The Ray / Shakky thing wasn’t great at all either.
- The retcon about BM and Kaido life debt. BM looks stupid af with her life debt while Kaido just owned her lmao.
- The retcon of Kaido wanting to attack / fight Roger. No where in sight.
- the whole « fight » and clash was a mess. No real and clean fight panels, no hype etc. A bit of a shame considering the hype of the event. MF was quick yet we had some huge hype panel of monster fighting. It isn’t that difficult. Clash piece is really lame. Lot of guys should have had focus or at least one or two feats.
- the Imu fight was lame. Barely readable and the EPIXC double spread where everyone attacked was lame. There is also the problem of Garp attacking Saturn just like that no consequences lol.
- the DR reaction of the Yonko was straight up ridiculous. Everyone turned their brain off. Obviously Odas fault, but man it’s embarrassing this level of writing
- the last fight was a bit too quick and didn’t show enough but I guess for a flashback it was expected
the GV good things :
- Dragon is the biggest winner of GV. Loved his character arc and made me want again to see more of him
- Garp was an absolute mad lad and a unit. The guy went with a bunch of marine bozos against the strongest pirate crews ever and everyone was shitting their boots. Threat level over 9000 confirmed.
- Rocks was still a good character even in the GV mess. The man was a bit more of a good guy than I expected and what was sold beforehand but why not. But even like that he was still dope and bossy. Erasing the HK and Garling as a side quest, butchering his Davy clan etc.
- Garling. Yeah he was disappointing as fuck in the power/feat department. But as a villain and an evil piece of shit the guy is up there. Killed Shanks/Shamrock mom just like that, landing the last blow on Rocks etc etc. The guy is a fiend and I can’t wait for his elder version to deliver.
- BM / Kaido dynamic was kinda fun. And Kaido himself was fun. Too bad their characters were such a mess in their respective arcs because BM and Kaido had real potential.
- DR Xebec was a monster and the strongest character we have seen for now. Ragdolled Garp/Roger.
- Polo Gram kicking the shit if Silver lame axe
- Ganzui being a great meme with his dragon flame snot attack
The whole flashback was good, no doubt. A good 14-15/20
But the GV part specifically wasn’t that great and lacking. Not a whole mess and garbage but not up there. Barely a 9-10/20 and I’m generous.
Oda missed the premise and the execution too much for GV to be great.
Imo involving Imu was the biggest mistake he made here.
I hate the idea of using fridging to advance plot but there was a very clear means to drive Rocks away from everyone else, the slaughter of his clan and "failing" to protect his family.
He could have been made extremely angry at GKs when he finds out his clan was murdered. This causes him to just start destroying everything, putting victims in harms way, and betraying his crew because he also thinks his family died. Right there is the exact excuse for his crew to leave him and for Roger and Garp to stop him.
Why this doesnt happen I have no idea. I still dont get why Imu had to be there, let alone the fact that all Yonko and Roger and Garp have known this entity exists. Like, theres zero agency on that at all lol. Nobody even acknowledges (outside of Garp with Sengoku) what they encountered lol
