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tgrailwar-zero · 2 months

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*bows*

Thank you Rikyu for your understanding and please pass along our sincere gratitude to Koma for staying your hand. Our earnest goal right now is to aid the Solar Cell in its fight against the Titan so that the Heavenly Deity need not wake and thus the humanity both within and without the Solar Cell may stay safe. Even if the rage was not our own, we were still the instruments it used to wreck destruction across this burgeoning land and so we pursue that goal to atone. In the name of full transparency, we also hope to reclaim at least the memories of who we were before we were made into a tool and perhaps even find a way to separate back into individual people.

RIKYU: "Very well then. If this 'Titan' is the one that is responsible for snuffing out so many innocent souls, then this 'Titan' will face the 'Blackness' within Rikyu, and we have a common enemy."

RIKYU: "However, the bout is in the morning, so we'd best rest ourselves."

With that, you gently guided by RIKYU back to the streets of the Megalopolis. MUSASHI approached, looking clearly a bit worried.

MUSASHI: "God, there you all are! I could feel my tether to you get real strained- what happened?"

She squinted at you, before sighing.

MUSASHI: "...Okay. We're going back. You've got a 'we just had a harrowing experience and we're mentally exhausted' energy about you, and I wouldn't want to exacerbate it. So let's just… get you back. We can chat about it in the morning."

It wasn't a long walk back to the hotel. The ritzy atmosphere was either relaxing or even more stuffy, depending on your perspective of things. Luckily, MUSASHI remembered the Room number for the key, and stuck close to you as she guided you down the hallway. You stopped at the door as she knocked.

MUSASHI: "Huh? Is Little Miss Empress not here?"

She put her hands on her hips, and then on her swords, as if considering cutting the door open. However, reason kicked in and she simply decided to walk back to the lobby with you to wait.

After a few minutes, you heard the gentle sound of snoring down the hallway and saw three figures approaching.

'LITTLE GUY': "Uooahh… zz…."

NERO: "Ah. You're back. I hope you weren't waiting outside for too long."

MUSASHI: "You two look nice. Well, Rider's dressed all dapper as usual, but you're… phew. Well, I better keep my thoughts to myself."

CONSTANTINE: "Antecessor Nero and I went out to investigate the city with the little one. He fell asleep about halfway through, though."

NERO: "Alas, with the little one in tow, I couldn't engage in some of the more… enticing vices presented by the city. However, it was a fine way of getting a feel for the locale."

CONSTANTINE: "Right. We met someone, 'Duryodhana', was his name. He had apparently met you all earlier in one of the casinos."

NERO: "We began discussing the upcoming Bout. You all were planning on registering, right? That man, 'Duryodhana', claimed that he would be a shoe-in for victory. I disagreed, and Constantinus made a wager before things got out of hand."

CONSTANTINE: "It's a rather simple gamble. If you place second, he promised us an audience with the Pharaoh. If you place first, then he'll grant an audience, and provide us with what he declared is a 'worthwhile prize'. If we don't fulfill either one of those goals, then we'll owe him a favor."

As the RIDER and the CASTER explained themselves, you walked back to the room, NERO fishing a key out from... well, somewhere, and using it to open the door.

MUSASHI: "Ooooh, making bets on the Master's behalf? Rather careless of you, isn't it?"

CONSTANTINE: "It's not ideal, but I figured the odds were in our favor. That, and it was the only way to swiftly de-escalate the argument. If I've overstepped, I can find Duryodhana in the morning and tell him that the deal is off."

He sighed, adjusting the child on his back.

CONSTANTINE: "…I'm going to put this one to bed. You all should rest as well. Nero says there should be enough rooms for everyone, at least with our group split as it is. See you in the morning, Masters."

With that, CONSTANTINE walked up the stairs to the suite, cradling the LITTLE GUY in his arms. You felt the magical 'tug' from his presence lighten slightly, but not go entirely slack. With the type of person your RIDER was, he was most likely finding a good position to keep vigil, either over the room or the building, you weren't sure.

MUSASHI: "That's not a terrible idea. I think I'll just meditate in my Spirit Form, though. Night, Masters! Let's kick some butt tomorrow, okay?"

Like the wind, she vanished. The only one left being the CASTER.

NERO: "…"

The Emperor stared at you for a moment, as if trying to discern something. Whether she found what she was looking for or not, she smiled and lightly clapped her hands together.

NERO: "I'm going to bed. If you require something of me, at least knock first so that I may make myself decent. Or not, I have no shame in my body. Either way... goodnight, my Ensemble. Sweet dreams."

You watched her walk up the steps, claiming a room to herself.

It was quiet now. Really just you and your collective barrage of thoughts. Even with the big day tomorrow, it seemed like there was a lot riding on your shoulders. The Solar Cell, the Void Cell, your past… question… after question… after question. You could feel exhaustion on your shoulders, though it wasn't that deep into the night.

You found your way into a room, and for the first time in what seemed like a long time, had an actually restful night's sleep.

Which was good. Because you felt as if you were going to have a VERY busy few days coming up with the Flaming Bout.

#thgw story #main post #endless whispers #thgw: chapter 6 #i wanted to bookend today with the Main Plot so it's been a pretty hefty day progress-wise #i promise i won't make most sections this dense #but up next: chapter 6 kicks off the flaming bout!

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beanghostprincess · 1 year

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My take on OPLA's "Zoro vs. Mihawk" fight because I love to criticize the things I like

I'm gonna start by saying that I love the live-action. I'm obsessed. The casting is great and the set is stunning. However, despite enjoying OPLA I do have a lot of complaining to do about it because I absolutely love analyzing media and characters. That being said, I don't want this post to make it look like I am disregarding the directors and writers here. They did a good job with what they had but I personally think I would've done it a lot differently.

So... Let's start!

The thing that bothers me the most about episode 5 (episode that I honestly consider to be the worst in a lot of ways and for a lot of reasons) is that they intend to make it look like Zoro has this intense and personal connection with Luffy. A devotion that makes him so damn worried and self-conscious about losing the fight that he starts crying (or at least they tried to make Mackenyu cry? I'm not sure there. But he cries in the manga so, yeah. 'Frustration' perhaps is a better word). And Zoro does feel that devotion towards Luffy from the very beginning. The guy literally changed his life! But that is obvious and visible in the manga/anime because we can see Luffy making promises and being demanding and direct and literally a damn sunshine to Zoro. They have this conversation about him getting back his swords, about being the king of the pirates... There's this connection between them. One that says:

"You'll be my first mate" and "I'd literally give my life for you"

Damn, if there was a trope for love at first sight only for captains and their first mates? They would be the damn blueprint.

But OPLA wasn't able to make them show that connection because most of the scenes are rushed and/or skipped. And I understand. I truly do. It's just a live-action and the manga is long as hell. But the thing is... Don't expect me to believe Zoro's devotion is real if you haven't even shown me how it started. The root of the problem isn't the fight or his speech in episode 5, but the lack of emotional connection in episode 1 that they could've easily fixed by reordering the scenes.

So, regarding everything pre-ep 5: If they had shown us their relationship better, episode 5 wouldn't have felt so... Rushed? Out of character? And I don't mean out of character in a 'Zoro wouldn't say/do this' way (because of course he would, and did canonically) but in a 'OPLA!Zoro wouldn't say/do this because he hasn't experienced the exact same things that manga!Zoro has' way.

Yes, it's a live-action, but as a stand-alone? Zoro's behavior doesn't make any sense. That also happens with Nami, but this post isn't about our weather queen. Not today, at least.

Before I get into the fight I must also say that, even if I appreciated Zoro/Nami's dynamic and scenes, I find them completely unnecessary and useless. Firstly, because those scenes would've been better if they had used them to build their relationship with Luffy and not only between them. Secondly, because the writers do absolutely nothing with them. The relationship is only used as a plot device to foreshadow Arlong Park. And it bothers me because they could've done that without taking scenes from Luffy/Zoro and Luffy/Nami. This also happened because they decided to put so many scenes with the Marine, by the way, but I guess everyone is aware of that already.

The thing about the straw hat pirates is that they're a family. There are different connections/relationships/dynamics between them. But the main focus and reason why they joined is always Luffy and only Luffy. OPLA wanted to make them all a family in the first episodes and share all the important scenes together when actually that doesn't work like that. Everyone in the crew builds different dynamics with Luffy with personal and private scenes, and I think they took that magic away from them in OPLA wanting them all to share the same experiences for no reason. They don't build private connections (besides Nami/Zoro, but that doesn't even work in the end). This is why I like OPLA!Sanji so so much! His scenes with Luffy are immaculate.

Basically: The writers decided that since it's a live-action and most of the viewers will be already OP fans, it doesn't matter if they make Zoro's devotion exist without actually showing it because we already know he's devoted to his captain. So they take that info, make it happen, and they give no explanation to new watchers as to why the hell this dude who is supposed to not trust people easily, suddenly trusts Luffy so much. Even if it's a live-action, you should never take things for granted as a writer.

Now that I've established how it doesn't make sense for Zoro to act the way he does due to the lack of scenes with Luffy pre-episode 5, I'm gonna talk about my overall opinion about the fight itself and Zoro's pretty iconic speech to Luffy.

I'm no expert with fighting scenes but I've watched enough movies and animes (and you don't even need to, to be honest) to know that it is incredibly rushed. There's no tension. And the choreography is so... Dull. The only fight scenes I enjoyed were the ones in episode 1. This, in my opinion, is mostly the director's fault. The shots are either boring or too exaggerated and the whole fight is just not enjoyable to watch. The setting also makes it really empty. Everyone is just... There... Together... Netflix, don't be so scared of putting space between characters, I'm begging you. A bit of theatre directing is what this scene needs.

Also, Sanji isn't there and it bothers me a lot. Like a whole lot. Like a lot lot. And the fact that Nami is there when she shouldn't be (and also holds Usopp's hand? Like girl, chill, you've only interacted twice? They should've added Usopp to that drinking game scene if they wanted them to grow closer like that before the fight. But of course, Usopp is just the comedy relief for Netflix) also bothers me a lot lot lot.

In general, OPLA's shots aren't my cup of tea, and the overuse of comic-like moments dividing the screen made me cringe more than once (the first time was funny. Referencing the manga. But then it gets tiring. Mostly because the shots are just too close to their faces). Also, what's up with the corners being blurry all the time and the shots being extremely close to their faces? I don't know if it's just me but it's uncomfortable to watch.

Leaving that aside, Mackenyu did a great job with the fighting scenes. Love him to death. Kissing him from a distance. Great work.

Now, the thing that bothers me the most...

Zoro's speech.

Not only do they skip the important part where Zoro calls Luffy "The king of the pirates" but they also make it extremely dull and boring. It's not Mackenyu's fault. He's a good actor. However, I do think that this scene didn't need a close approach between the characters.

What this scene needs is passion. Frustration. Tears. Screaming. Relief when Zoro realizes Luffy isn't disappointed. Determination when he decides to keep fighting and training to become the world's greatest swordsman. And I think Mackenyu's performance would've been way better if they had given him the right indications and space between him and Iñaki.

I always say that physical space is great for scenes like this one because it challenges the actor to express their emotions without physical contact. A close and sweet approach is also good, but I think they should've just used that for the scene in episode 6 where Zoro wakes up. Them being physically close then is good, because there's a bond and they want and crave touching each other. However, after losing a fight and almost disappointing his captain? What Zoro needed was to openly cry to the sky and yell at Luffy that he would become the world's greatest swordsman. For himself. For Kuina. And for Luffy, his captain.

It's a very emotional scene and I get that it's complicated to do the same thing the manga does... But it really isn't that hard to give Mackenyu space so he has to yell and be openly frustrated. It seems like he wanted to cry. Like he was trying to cry. But the tears didn't come out because having Iñaki and the others so damn close didn't give him the space he needed to yell his emotions.

On the other hand, even if I don't like this scene and I prefer Luffy and Zoro to not be so close to each other, this would've kind of worked if they had had some connection and scenes pre-episode 5. But they don't. So, yeah, whatever.

Also (and this is just me being me) I wouldn't have used an aerial shot of them for the final scene. Zoro is satisfied now. He faints but he's happy. He proceeds to wake up happy in the next episode. So why not end it with his smiling face as he faints? That's also a recurring topic in the One Piece world! Make it reference Roger and foreshadow Loguetown and Marineford. These directors aren't being creative, let me tell you.

Overall, you can tell that I didn't like how they portrayed this episode, especially this fight/speech. However, before I end this post I want to say that I am aware of how hard it is to make a live-action and it's completely understandable to make scenes shorter and rushed. It's obvious that everyone working on this live-action loves One Piece, and even if I don't like a lot of the things they're doing, that doesn't mean I can't feel the effort and love they put (mostly the actors. The cast is outstanding and extremely sweet!) making this show.

I have more complaints about episode 5 (mostly about Nami's character) but this was just to talk about Zoro and the fight! Let me know in my inbox if you want more of my opinions on OPLA or just want to tell me something! <3

Editing TikTok account where I'm posting my One Piece edits: seraspring

#i spent like an hour making this lmao #i could've written more but my adhd won't let me remember everything that's on my mind and put it into words #i be complaining about opla and the next day i'm like 'me and the bestie!'#i swear i love the live action don't let my criticism fool you #zoro and luffy are married btw it happens in episode 6 #i didn't want my zolu heart to take over the post so i had to hold back #roronoa zoro #monkey d. luffy #zolu #dracule mihawk #opla #one piece #one piece live action

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