It was pretty mid all things considered. I’d give it a 6 or 7 out of 10
Some characters got a lot more than I thought and came out better characters
Some completely surprised me and I like them a lot more than I did previously
Dragon, Kuma, and Kaido are 3 of the biggest winners of God Valley and really this flashback in general. I was never the biggest Kaido guy before but this flashback made me genuinely like him
Rocks has been amazing the entire flashback so I don’t have to speak on him
Garp was cooler than I expected
Roger was alright he didn’t really do anything crazy
Big Mom’s dynamic with Kaido also made me enjoy her character more so there’s that
Rayleigh and Gaban did little to nothing which is unfortunate but I did like Rayleigh and Shakky’s dynamic I thought it was cute
The Holy Knights are all ass but I’ll admit it’s extremely satisfying to see them lose in a way that’s never been seen before in One Piece for me. Like I don’t know what it is but seeing Garling get bodied the way he did actually made me giddy lol
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Now that that’s out of the way I have to talk about my personal favorite old gen character who also ranks among my top 5 favorite One Piece characters
Whitebeard
Whitebeard, Whitebeard, Whitebeard where do I begin
Throughout the flashback I loved him and his dynamic with the crew. A mediator who was almost like a chill older brother figure to Kaido
Then we get to God Valley and initially I’d say everything went pretty well. Sure, he ran from Garp but with context it made perfect sense. Then he went on to clash with DR Xebec and singlehandedly brought down a mountain in the process
This was all well and good until the conclusion of the incident. I have no problem with Oda making Kaido or Big Mom braindead, no problem at all
But Whitebeard has always been portrayed as a level headed and intelligent guy. Strategic, emotionally intelligent, wise, everything you could ask for in a man
And instead of coming back to assist his captain who very clearly had something wrong with him he… just left?
It made no sense at all. Sure, Roger and Garp needed the VOAT to figure it out but I’d argue Whitebeard has been established to be the smartest old gen captain/leader. Even if they couldn’t figure it out initially that shouldn’t apply to Whitebeard
That seriously soured Whitebeard’s role in God Valley for me. Like I know Whitebeard always viewed Rocks as a flawed individual and similarly believed that the crew was doomed from the start but like… he clearly didn’t hate the guy
I dunno it just annoyed me
