An early chapter. Nice.
In all honesty, this chapter would have probably made more of an emotional impact had I been more invested in the character of Oden. This chapter and the massive flashback that preceded it, all hinged on Oden being someone I could care for as a reader. But, unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Oden didn’t win me over. Oda didn’t quite hit the mark when it came to his portrayal. His outlandish intro making him to be this ‘larger than life figure’ – really soured me to no end. There was nothing wrong with Oden except being somewhat tactless and selfish. Which is classic ‘Gary Stu’ – where a near perfect character has a so-called flaw which isn’t really a flaw, but is actually a good thing. So that was a turn off from early on.
Him taking on the burdens of Wano by himself or him going off alone trusting in his own strength. All these are not flaws either. But Oden not trusting his Scabbards/friends/allies IS a flaw though, yet Oda will never have any character call him out on it. Not with the way things are now with the Scabbards and the people of Wano idolising and near-mythologising Oden.
Compounding it further Oda had Oden display an astounding lack of common sense, while having massive amounts of gullibility. So much so it took me out of the experience as a reader because it is something one simply cannot relate to. One doesn’t trust someone who is a proven liar who implied he killed your father, tried to kill your wife and fully intends to bring ruin to your family, friends and the entire nation.
A person would have to be clinically brain-damaged to keep on trusting Orochi without any kind of back-up plan. Which shows how lousy of a ‘classical’ Samurai Oden I really is. One would think since he is the son of the Shogun he’d have been taught and raised to be of the Samurai class. Which means studying and knowing proper manners and etiquette, martial arts, weapons, culture as well as military tactics and strategies. These guys would have memorised stuff like ‘The Art of War’ the way we’d memorise multiplication tables. But we get none of that really.
Oden is just presented as a tactless but strong swordsman. How I wish Oda had been somewhat more daring and presented Oden as the illegitimate child of Sukiyaki who was raised outside the palace instead. Perhaps he’s regarded as an untamed oni-child, raised in the wild. That certainly fits Oden more than ‘son of the Shogun’.
Due to having minimal interest in Oden and his plight, the flashback and this chapter didn’t really do much in terms of ‘hitting me in the feels’. The whole thing left me unmoved. The Law flashback with Rocinante’s death tugged at the heartstrings. In this instance I felt completely detached from everything that transpired. It doesn’t help that the guy is presented as a superhuman. With superhuman endurance and strength and gary-stuness dripping from every pore. I was bored by the extended, over-dramatic death scene. Sometimes keeping it simple is best.
The only time I felt a twinge of interest was during the Oden x Kaidou exchange. Oda decides to mitigate the damage to Kaidou’s earlier portrayal as someone who wants a fair one-on-one, by having him off-panel the Old Hag permanently. His tone changes and he starts addressing Oden somewhat more respectfully. Again, instead of the mocking laughter of before we get acknowledgment and Kaidou provides what in his mind, is a worthy death – by the hand of his enemy rather than dying by the boiling oil. Not going so far as to suggest that this was an 'honourable' thing in the traditional sense( some people seem to take umbrage at the idea that Kaidou is anything other than despicable scum) but he does operate by his own 'moral' code. This was somewhat diluted by the earlier chapters. Glad Oda reaffirms it again.
It’s also obvious that Oda has retconned what he’d written during Zou. Back then, Kinemon spoke of Kaidou and Orochi executing Oden because they wanted info on Raftel and One Piece. Now? That’s complete gone. I can imagine the reason being that Oda didn’t want the tragedy of Oden and Wano to be overshadowed by Raftel and One Piece. He wanted the focus to be all on the death of Oden and the impending doom of Wano. It doesn’t mean these matters won’t be addressed later on of course.
Also, looks like Momo was never present or saw Oden get boiled either. Would have been too much maybe to show on panel? Guess just hearing about it gave the kid major PTSD then.
There’s also a major foreshadowing hidden in plain sight which nobody has mentioned. This is better in the long run because if it happens it will be a nice surprise and if it doesn’t pan out, then no –one will be the wiser anyway. It’ll be another ‘what-if’ scenario.
The scans (which could be proven wrong in less than 24 hours) seems to heavily suggest that in Oden’s eyes, there will someday emerge a group of people who will take down Kaidou. This definitely makes the most sense. It somewhat explains the whole “If it’s one on one, Kaidou wins” which has been interpreted as a power-level thing and not as a thematic element. The flashback of Oden was a salutary lesson in having trust with one’s nakama/friends/crew rather than trying to take on the entire burden alone. At the very least Luffy and Zoro are definitely going to be involved and I have no issues with Zoro cutting/contributing to Kaidou’s defeat. There have been far too many hints already of that happening. Yet I also expect the other SH’s will also contribute in a major way.
All the discussion about JoyBoy, Chosen One and prophecies – it’s shonen what does one expect? Besides this was pretty much set up all the way back from chapter 100 anyway (as I can recall). The shame is that Dragon’s portrayal got downgraded from a mystical, robed prophet-like figure; to an office manager sitting at his desk doing paperwork and getting reports.
Oh yeah Lady Toki. Nothing to say about her since she really did nothing.
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