One Man Bland
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2017
A lot of ppl are complaining about how Kaido didn't take any lives, and well, that's the point imo, the entire point of his ending is that he's rendered into a footnote in history through entirely unknown means, the government doesn't even want to announce who did it and how they did it! Having Kaido kill anyone important before he goes is just another form of remembrance that he doesn't deserve.
Does he really want to be remembered for this though? He talks a lot about wanting to die, and he praises Oden and Whitebeard for their respective deaths, but his introduction is him attempting suicide by throwing himself off an island with seemingly little care for having witnesses - that would‘ve hardly been a glorious death worthy of history books had it been successful, let alone one that would rival Oden or Whitebeard if that’s what he was going for.
Kaido to me comes off more like he’s meant to be seen as a hypocritical sellout - talks up haki as being the only true measure of strength yet aims to make ”the strongest crew” with mass-produced imitation DF powers, for instance - and even his suicidal tendencies are part of that hypocrisy to an extent. Probably having something to do with how eating his DF supposedly saved his life at God Valley.
Kaido to me comes off more like he’s meant to be seen as a hypocritical sellout - talks up haki as being the only true measure of strength yet aims to make ”the strongest crew” with mass-produced imitation DF powers, for instance - and even his suicidal tendencies are part of that hypocrisy to an extent. Probably having something to do with how eating his DF supposedly saved his life at God Valley.
From what I understand there was actually a bunch of scenes with Zoro in Wano that got left on the cutting room floor. Mainly because they were just extended versions of other scenes: mostly references to Kurosawa flicks that likely wouldn’t add much under than flavor, and one was a running gag where people mistake him for that Shimotsuki daimyo in the same vein that Zoro had with Tashigi that was also cut for page space. Which on the one hand definitely would’ve added to the experience, but on the other likely wouldn’t enough to carry any chapter without padding out other parts elsewhere.Also what happened to this being Zoro's arc? He had one good character moment when he saw Luffy and hugged them, maybe the only one like it in the post-timeskip, then he was just sorta there like he usually is post-timeskip. Then he got a good fight but his seemingly cool power up barely played into that. King is interesting, I really like him even with how little we got of him, but Zoro was only a platform to show him off. Sanji had more character and relevance in Wano and he just had his own damn arc.
I’m still on the fence about King vs Zoro. I like the set up, I like that King is basically every part opponent Zoro’s ever had combined into one person, I like the scene with him thinking back on the bonds he has with his swords and showing they’re more than just tools, I like Enma acting up whenever his confidence wavers during the fight, I like Kozaburo and the explanation of cursed swords, I like how that explanation ties into Zoro using haki to tame his swords, I like the little detail in the flashback where Zoro hesitates when first hearing a sword‘s purpose is murder, and I like the final hit. But the explanation that Zoro’s problem in that fight was that he was being too cautious and was holding himself back is lackluster. Like, really? The guy who tried to cut off his own feet, took a scythe to the chest just so he could steal it, and charged head first into fighting Kaido on the roof, needed a lesson in not being so darn careful? It’d be one thing if we saw Zoro getting frustrated/discouraged by a lack of progress with Enma prior to that fight, and maybe there will be more development later, but as is the way Zoro gets from point A to point B with King is flimsy at best.
I’m still curious about his visit to Ryuma’s shrine, since even before the grim reaper stuff it felt like that would be a scene with some interesting developments related to it.
Although if Zoro somehow ends up getting his own version of a WCI arc after this, I’ll laugh my ass off. It would be just like Oda to make Wano a huge red herring with Zoro mostly bumming around doing his best wandering samurai impression, only to side swipe everyone with completely different revelations about him because Zoro technically isn’t a samurai.
I just hope Green Bull isn’t coming just to faff around. For once, at least since Kizaru, I want an Admiral to give them a run for their money.
I’m still of the mind that the real question isn’t whether or not the Straw Hats/the alliance can take on Green Bull, but whether or not Wano’s forces can handle the World Government on their own when all their pirate allies eventually have to leave.