You just said that Kidd has never done anything that you would not expect him to do so therefore he is uninteresting. Isn’t him focusing on the bigger goal and leaving Apoo something you didn’t expect him to do? Same thing with him sacrificing his personal revenge to seperate Big Mom. Do we really need some inner monologue speech from Kidd to know that this was a unexpected sacrifice on his part? We all know how much Kidd wanted Kaido, we don’t need a monologue to explain that Kidd put the goal of the team ahead of his vendetta, just like he did with Apoo.
I need a hell of a lot more than this
and this
to say that Kid has the depth in character that you think these scenes warrent.
This doesn’t look to me to be any great personal sacrifice. I’m not getting much agency from Kid, an idea that he’s being pushed into doing something he wouldn’t want to do.
I’m just seeing the hand of the author neatly going “I need to put this character over here with this character.” Like, Kid and Law teaming up to fight Big Mom didn’t really surprise me. It‘s a decision I expected the author to make, so that Luffy could go solo with Kaido. Had Oda focused on Kid’s
reasoning to do so, that could have surprised me. But he didn‘t, he just skipped through it quickly
I will grant that I’d forgotten the ear covering scene, which was quite funny,
Not expected at all, 99% of One Piece universe would back off. Again, ain't expected.
I remember community going wild after chapter 824 cause the verdict was "Kidd alliance was bullied by Kaido 3 crews/4 supernovas vs 1 creature. That was expected. Hawkins revelations gave a whole new picture with Kidd and Killer fighting alone cause Apoo was a snitch since the start while Hawkins subdued. That's characterization.
I don’t care about 99% of the One Piece universe here
I care about Kid. And if the question is, “was it surprising thay Oda made this guy fight until the bitter end?” then the answer is no. Because that’s Kid’s archetype of a character. People can certainly like him for that, but it’s not surprising. A strong character being strong is no surprise, it’s when a weak one shows courage, or a strong one shows vulnerability, that things get interesting
This is another point like the first I listed: Oda gave us the perspective that Kidd was one of the 4 SNs who tried to invade Totland and failed with Brule's words. He later destroyed it by precising that Kidd never met Linlin cause he didn't mean too, he actually entered Totland, took what he wanted and wounded a Sweet General in the process.
Oda shows something about Kidd that pushes the reader to think something and later he overturns it by giving a completely different perspective, that's exactly how Oda works with Kidd. This is also the reason of why I'll not be surprised when the circumstance of his defeat against the Red Haired Pirates will be really different from what the community expects...
Problem with this is, it was one sentence years ago. Sure, Kid later turned out to have done more than what Brulee suggested. But it was all skipped over so quickly no one even cared. Most (sane) people just said it probably happened early in Kid’s journey so doesn’t matter much.
A quick sentence from Brulee and then Caribou talking shit only to be immediately put correctly, it’s really not putting much effort in, and it also isn’t doing anything to make Kid a better character.
What can I tell you? Shit happens.
Oda's point was to show how Kidd, who already didn't feel good with the alliance and was persuaded by Killer, is so angry for what happened (especially to Killer) that he can't trust anyone anymore. That's more characterization for you.
And brings even some development when they reach the rooftop and realize that the are honorable pirates like them:
- After Luffy's "Red Roc" Killer is surprised and relieved to see that this time they have some worthy pirates to back them (another reference to Apoo/Hawkins betrayal).
- After Zoro stopping "Hakai" for a moment, Kidd thanks him. Same reason of Killer-Luffy interaction.
You gotts look into details to catch some of it.
Yeah, but this is not interesting or surprising in the slightest. I know what Oda is doing with Kid here, but “tough guy discovering that the protagonists are worthy of respect” is, again, not an especially thrilling detail about Kid. It does not make me think of Kid as some sort of heigh point in the series.
He would genuinely have been more interesting if he refused point blank to work with Luffy and Zoro and became a wildcard third option trying to beat both Luffy and the Yonko. That would have been surprising. Luffy and Kid teaming up, on the other hand, nope.
When you think on your feet you ain't got much time to be torn up by your decision. Oda built it in the course of 3 chapters by little steps:
- He noted how fighting both Kaido and Linlin at the same time was hell
- Agreed to Law's proposal and performed the combo with him to push her outside
- Since Law decided to sacrifice the plan instead of one of them, Kidd went after Linlin to keep her away
He's more pragmatic than people seem to realize.
Thinking on your feet isn’t much of an excuse when thought bubbles, a free action that shows the character‘s thoughts without taking up anytime, exist.
There’s nothing to suggest that Kid was in any way bothered by moving on to Big Mom. He just goes from A to B, no fuss. I’m not in any way amazed by that, it’s not great character writing, it’s just simply moving the pieces of the plot around.
Introduction of a character doesn't mean shit and you know that.
I don’t know what’s worse, the statement here that introductions are meaningless or the idea that 500 chapters (or being generous, the 100 since Kid reappeared on Wano) counts as an “introduction.”
Introductions are an absolutely vital part in characterisation, whether that’s as a first impression that will be played with and proven to be false later on, or as a building block to help develop the character. If a character has failed to be especially captivating despite years of screentime, then that is a failure.
EoW won't even be Kidd's peak as a character, that will come later in the story. And the great status that he'll have post Wano won't be something he gained all of a sudden.
Taking aside the assertation that great things are in store for Kid post Wano- the peak is irrelevant if the journey of the character beforehand is irrelvant. I know Kid is strong, that doesn’t make me care about him.
