#ch437

[opbackgrounds]

So Oda's doing the thing here where he has a character spell out another character's entire motivation and development, and while that can at times be a sign of bad writing, here it works really well. Franky's in some deep denial here (ironically kind of like how Usopp was when they had their conversation about the Merry) and needs to hear what Iceburg's saying. And again, it's more effective because it's Iceburg who's saying it. Their history has been so fraught, but they're still brothers.

It doesn't hurt that the message itself is so, so important. Franky undoubtedly contributed to Tom's death, and everything he's done since then has been a form of self-punishment trying to atone for that mistake. But that's not what Tom would have wanted. It's not anything Iceburg or Kokoro or anyone else demanded of him. The only thing keeping Franky from living his dream is a cage made of his own guilt.

One Piece is a series that prioritizes freedom above all else, but the road to that freedom is usually blocked by what seems like insurmountable obstacles that can only be cleared with the help of others. Sometimes those obstacles are external, but just as often they're internal barriers that prevent characters from pursuing their own happiness. And for all the issues Iceburg and Franky have had in the past, this is what Franky needed to hear in order to unlock that cage and live his best, freest life.

[every-sanji]

[startswith0]

Ch 434, Ch437

Haibara slowly finding reasons to be hopeful after the event of the bus hijacking. She found her late mum's recordings and knew that her sister didn't simply abandon her.

She had friends, she had Shinichi who's always telling her to face forward and not be scared, and even Ran who she finds difficult to understand I reckon, wanted to voluntarily help her, risking her own life at it.

Edit : Ran you superhero. I was looking at these panels again, she's just so cool, mann...

[leonawriter]

Ok I had to share this after my post earlier with regards to comparisons and contrasts with Persona 5, because... wow. Sometimes you can tell that a case just exists to further a character's development.

This has layers.

First there's "his motive was to stir up society and draw attention to himself" and tbh that's the same motive we see for both the Phantom Thieves and also Akechi. Part of me hoped that it'd go further than this, but of course it doesn't; the cynical part of me says that the criminal causing trouble wasn't allowed to have a valid point.

The similarity ends there, and goes into "he wanted excitement to [offset] the dull and plain everyday" and that, then, reminds me of Adachi, who was bored of everyday life and wanted to turn it into a game he could play (with peoples' lives).

Basically... there is a level of frustration that, like I mentioned in my previous post, is because I'm now curious how Conan would deal with a character or group that was stirring up trouble and chaos not just because they're bored, but to draw attention to real problems.

I'm still all the way back at (checks) the end of ch437, so maybe cases like that might appear in the future, and I just never noticed before, or hadn't got to them yet.

[gradelstuff]

CALE CALLED ALBERU HYUNG

SWORN BROTHERS. ..!! MY WEAKNESS OMGGGGGGGGGG

And EVERYONE is misunderstanding the situation. Aaaaaa I love reading these political based chapters. 😂

Also Basen is so wholesome...

[hiro-danna]

[naruto1to700]

Chapter 437

[narutocaps]

[opbackgrounds]

Note to all fanfic writers, Franky breaks out the poetry when he gets naked.

[opbackgrounds]

That's quite a way to describe Franky's balls

[opbackgrounds]

For those who may not know, there's a bit of a pun with Franky being constantly referred to as a pervert, which might actually contribute to Oda designing him as a speedos only type of cyborg in the first place. Hentai means change or transform (as Franky has done with his own body) in addition to pervert. This comes up again in future arcs, but obviously doesn't translate very well into English.

[opbackgrounds]

That is a spectacular Luffy face

[opbackgrounds]

Just as Franky sacrificed years of time and energy towards the unification of the Water 7 underground, his minions are sacrificing quite a lot in trying to get him to leave. They freely admit they're kind of stupid and weak on their own, and there's no guarantee that they'll be able to survive without his protection.

Iceburg ends up taking them all under his wing making it a moot point, but right now that's not a guarantee, and yet they're trying to get him to go anyway. It reminds me a little about how Usopp's mom never said a bad word about Yasopp leaving them to pursue the seas. Sometimes there's negative consequences to pursuing one's dreams, but the series always presents it as being worth the cost.

[opbackgrounds]

Imagine how embarrassing Zambai was in this moment, thinking he was some big, bad punk only to get beat up by some no-name dude in a speedo.

[opbackgrounds]

So that's what the kids are calling it these days

[opbackgrounds]

The trappings around this conversation is very silly, but I do appreciate that it's Iceburg that gets to hash this out with Franky. It's closure for the both of them