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coddda · 7 months ago

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Hiiiiiii. Episode 25/26 lawlight analysis rant thingy here. I don't know how to write an intro for this so let's just get to it LOL

I think one of the reasons that the rain/foot scenes stick out so much (the. Sheer insanity of a Foot Massage Scene in an anime revolving around two guys trying to kill each other aside 💀) is the fact that the anime specifically suffers a bit in terms of adapting a few of the "emotional" moments in death note.

And I don't mean "emotionally impactful" exactly. For example I think the adaptations of scenes like Raye and Naomi's deaths were very impactful and the atmospheres of their final scenes were great, but I mean more from a characterization standpoint (if that makes sense). Being more focused on mind and logic games, Death Note as a whole isn't as invested in individual characters' deeper feelings as it is in its action (which isn't necessarily a criticism per say, it's simply part of the nature of a mystery thriller series). But just because they're fewer and farther between doesn't mean there are none at all. In the manga we do get to see, for example, how much Light actually cared for his family and especially Sayu, and how he actually felt more conflicted and suffered lack of sleep/appetite when he first used the Death Note.

The anime specifically as an adaptation is pretty good at adapting the main mind fuckery and action of Death Note, but its lacking in properly adapting scenes like the ones I mentioned above is a criticism I see somewhat often, and it's pretty fair imo. Compared to all the other adaptations, it certainly seems to fall short on an emotional level: the musical has entire songs going in depth about the characters feelings and relationships, the 2015 jdrama is. Insane and has its emotional moments in spades (because it's a TV drama, which are more focused on portraying emotional conflict and the like), even the 2006 movies has its emotional beats and L Change the WorLd is. Well. Oh Man.

Anime Light to a lot of people is like. Light but he's "already evil" (which I have my own thoughts on but I digress). Light but after using the Death Note for like 2 minutes he's already like "fuck yeah time to kill criminals". Basically the anime doesn't take as much time to delve into his less cynical sides or really delve into his already vague and harder to decipher feelings in general, he is noticeably colder from the get-go here, etc.

But that's part of why I think episode 25 manages to stand out so much tonally (apart from it being, y'know, the episode L literally Dies). I love the episode so much and could probably rant for hours about how much I love the artistic choices made in it but what I'm trying to get at here is that it's one of the very few moments where the show tries to go deeper into specific character's emotions, and one of the very few moments where the show Attempts (emphasis on "attempts" because, well, you'll see in a bit) to get more in-depth into Light's feelings apart from his cynicism/apathy/justice. ness.

L in these two scenes in episode 25 is, well, pretty damn open about how he feels. It's usually interpreted as him knowing that he's going to die, and you can see it. He visibly looks/sounds lost, somber, etc. He never really had much to hide around Light to begin with (since he doesn't really care about hiding himself the same way Light does) but especially not now and it Shows, and I personally thought it was pretty cool to delve into his thoughts/show how he feels this way. The somberness can be felt throughout the entire scene, even people who don't already know the plot of Death Note from the manga could probably tell that he's about to die.

In the manga, once L starts suspecting Misa again and Rem realizes what Light is trying to do, it goes straight to Watari and L's deaths, but the anime instead gives a distinct and unexpected pause in the middle of this where L contemplates his own death. It's fucking great, and the shift from straight action to slower emotional weight makes these scenes stand out a lot, since, like I said, the show usually focuses more on the former. But it's kind of ironic, too.

Not only does the anime open up L's feelings more in these scenes, but it also tries to dig deeper into Light's feelings as well through L. And it's really funny honestly because while, yes, these are the more "emotionally open" scenes of the anime Light still manages to be Incredibly avoidant and contribute almost nothing to the entire ordeal.

L is visibly upset -> "Yeah Ryuzaki, you're not making any sense at all" (Not addressing the obvious conflict from L)

"Tell me, Light. From the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" -> "[The most stale, over-explained, avoidant answer to a "yes/no" question that you could ever hear + blatant attempts to reframe the question]"

(L's half-smile here kills me) "I had a feeling you'd say something like that" -> [Nothing]

"I'm sorry" -> [Nothing]

"It'll be lonely won't it? You and I will be parting ways soon" -> [Nothing]

^ From this point Light continues to say literally Nothing for the rest of the scene. I'm not even joking, from then on the rest of Light's voicelines are reduced to nothing but vague noises of confusion.

Everytime L calls Light out as a person ("Has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" / "I had a feeling you'd say something like that." / "Won't it be lonely?") he doesn't actually acknowledge anything. Out of those three lines, he only answers verbally to if he's ever told the truth, and even then it's the most blatantly people-pleasing answer ever, as it usually is with Light. And I don't think it's because Light just. Doesn't care about any of what L's saying at all, or that he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about (questioning Light's authenticity as a person, saying it would be lonely when they part), instead he's choosing not to acknowledge any of what this means about himself or him and L at all. He's like a fucking wall.

And like, for the truth question in particular, the show makes sure that you know it's not something that Light just. Doesn't care enough about to answer. The hard cuts to silence are a very rare but extremely effective way that the show conveys an extremely important moment (see: Light regaining his memories, Matsuda noticing Light opening the warehouse door before he escapes (not as much of a "direct" cut to silence but still)), and cuts to multiple angles/framings/zooms of the exact same shot are also used for the same purpose (see: Light hugging Misa when she was crying, Matsuda aiming his gun to shoot Light, Light regaining his memories Again). Just like the scene where Light gets his memories back, the moment L's question finishes the show utilizes both. That question cut Deep. There's is a solid Almost 5 seconds of silence before the sound of the rain gradually starts fading back in, and honestly that should be telling enough as is (but of course Light doesn't actually admit that. Or anything at all really, so). Oh also another fun detail! We do not see Light's face At All (except for the shot where you can see his mouth moving but not his eyes), for the Entire time that he's going on his spiel to L. We Will Be Revisiting This Later, by the way. This is not, in fact, the first time you're going to see this detail from Light.

The only sort of reciprocation that we see from Light during Any of these two scenes is when Light dries L's hair while L dries his feet. Biblical meanings/references aside it's interesting because it's the only time he directly does anything "for" L in these scenes, but even then he doesn't try to pass it off as anything meaningful really the same way L does ("You're still soaked", a purely neutral and factual statement. It doesn't Add Anything compared to L's. Sin atonement loneliness grieving stuff. While Light is showing his own reciprocation to this more personal moment he also tries to keep it impersonal enough that it doesn't actually have to mean anything deep). And when L says "I'm sorry" after he once again gets no response from Light. It's also after this that L gets that pained look on his face, like he knows that at this point he's not actually going to get anything meaningful from Light (again, very significant and rare from L in the show. We've seen him in distress (see: when Ukita died, hell, when Watari dies), but even then he mostly manages to keep his usually neutral expression), we never see him "look sad" like he does here):

I just think it's interesting that this is one of the few scenes in this particular adaptation of Death Note where they try to open up the character's thoughts/feeling (especially considering the fact that they. lowkey blunder in adaptations of original scenes from the manga), and L himself is being rather open (not that he ever really tries to hide what he thinks nearly as much as Light), and yet all Light contributes to it in return is like. Actually nothing. Bro fumbled it. There is no resolution to any of this, to any of what L asks at all, to any of the many opportunities for a meaningful conversation, and the only thing even relatively close to an answer that you can get from Light is what you can infer from how he acts in the episode after L dies, where he's just going through the motions, but hardly acting as if he's actually living at all.

(Honestly I think the transition from this scene with the taskforce to the subsequent scene with Misa says enough on its own. Light's expressions and tone says everything:)

(Oh sidenote but. This shit again:

"Light, this is our first date in forever. can't you enjoy yourself a little more?" ('Why don't you seem happy? We can finally be together since L is dead') -> No response, Light instead changing the topic to him wanting to move in with Misa without changing his mannerisms at all

Also there's that one detail again. You pretty much don't see Light's expression when he speaks here at all, except for one shot of his eyes, which is quite literally the exact same shot they used when he "saw" L, just altered for the new setting. You have No idea what he looks like when he's responding to Misa, although it's probably fair to assume that it's the same empty stare he has for the whole Two Shots where you can clearly see his whole expression in the entire scene.

Something something Light Yagami bad at feelings I think you get the point though)

I guess Light's Kind of showing what he's feeling now? He'll admit to himself that it's boring without L, but no more than that. Light never actually admits to anything "significant", and L's dead already anyway, so what would that even do?

And then we get, uh. Basically nothing from Light. For the next 5 Years. Except that he joined the NPA, so, uh, yay? Good job, Light you totally nailed it! Thank you for allowing us as an audience to delve deeper into your inner thoughts and feelings as a character so we can find out more about you as a person! Very helpful! Thank you for not sabotaging one of your few dedicated opportunities to look into yourself as a person and reflect on your relationships with others and being 100% honest with yourself! We stay winning guys.

Anyway, this got way too long for a scene that's over a decade old, and I've probably just said everything that everyone else has already said in this fandom before. But unfortunately this has been living in my head for way too long and I must scream. I just think this episode's neat is all :)

tl;dr Part of the reason why the rain/foot scene (tbh episode 25 in General) stands out so much is because the Death Note anime specifically was a bit robbed in terms of its more emotional character moments compared to the other medias, which makes more somber/introspective scenes like the ones in episode 25 stand out a Lot in comparison. But it's also incredibly ironic because it's one of the few moments where the show (or specifically L) tries to look deeper into Light's character, but because he is so avoidant for the entire duration of these two scenes he adds basically nothing at all. It's almost funny. Mostly sad. It's also very gay. Aand post

Okay actually nevermind one more thing I talked about how the jdrama is supposed to be more emotionally in-depth because it is a TV Drama and just for the record, same thing happens there! I could probably do an entire analysis of the Blue Scene in this context like I did with episode 25 but I'd literally be here forever, so uh, just take this iconic line as my main example:

Same Thing. L's statement "I wish we could have met some other way" is personal. It's his own wish, his own regret that he is expressing to Light. While Light's reply obviously has that same regret implied it's also phrased in a specifically impersonal way. It's closed off. "This is the only way we could have met" it closes off the topic and simply renders L's wish as ultimately futile. Light does not say that he Also wishes he could have met L a different way even if it was likely impossible, instead it's a cold statement of cynical fact.

Idk just. Something something L being able and Willing to be more openly sentimental/emotionally open towards Light/about Light vs. Light's inability to be honest with anyone including himself and his own nature preventing any form of meaningful reciprocation. Something something self-sabotage, y'know the drill. God don't even get me Started on how sincere L's tone is when he says "It'll be lonely won't it?"(at least in the eng dub) in the anime I could talk about his tone in that scene for ages. Also yes all of this relates to L Change the WorLd too by the way. Don't ask how it just does okay.

I do think that scenes like these (rain/foot scene, The Blue Scene. Uh. L Change the WorLd The Novel Adaptation) show, at least in those adaptations, that L does genuinely care for Light, and show that he values him as a friend not just in the mindgame-equal sense but also just like, a more sincere sense you know. Idk if that made any sense and that's a whole other topic for another day but you guys just have to believe me on this one alright please please believe me buries head in hands. Okay post over finally thanks for coming to my tedtalk hope you enjoyed my very-unnecessarily long analysis of the week

#death note #dn #light yagami #l lawliet #lawlight #death note anime #coda analyzes stuff #sorry this is all very scattered and probably doesn't make sense i wrote this on a whim one day and then the post had a mind of its own #this was originally gonna be shorter but then light yagami (derogatory) happened #it was so difficult to avoid going on 27450438 different tangents i love this series btw #you know my post about LCtW parallels with Light post L's death. yeah pretend i copy pasted that whole analysis here too #it also applies and is very relevant #death note multiverse my beloved i will love you forever #i just ran this through a word counter 1K+ word rant about these scenes. in 2024. God i'm Cooked #^ LMAOOOOOOOO (laughs in ~2.5K wordcount weeks later at the time of finally finishing writing this) god I Hate it here #also sorry i havent been posting a lot of art lately i'm busy and i've decided to save up all my Art Energy for lawlight week #so i've just been finishing off and posting analysis that have been floating in my drafts.lawlight stp au parallels/notes are probably next #sorry not sorry </3

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l-in-the-light · 1 month ago

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Chapter 1132 & 1133 commentary

Finally I could catch up with my commentary! I have a looot to say about those chapters, in a slightly different style this time. But first of all, let's do a survey, I'm curious about people's thoughts on this :D

And now we're moving on to the chapters :3

Shanks bragging about Luffy? Cute! But you know what, if I didn't know Shanks, I would buy that. But he's bragging to a kid about Luffy for no reason? Nah. He's ditching responsibility on Luffy here. YES. Shanks decided it's too much pain to refuse the kids so he gives Colin a new target to nag to instead, lol. Yeah, okay, that's the Shanks I know and recognize now, haha. You can choose to believe in Shanks' doting nature here. or you can think, like me, that Shanks basically shoved Collin to Luffy for a change LOL. "Remember him" uhum. I missed this side of Shanks, the walking mischief, lol.

I like how defensive Luffy is about Sunny! He's never gonna make the same mistake he did with Merry when he called them just a ship instead of a crew! Here, Luffy is ready to punch faces for his crewmate, the Sunny :D

A cute moment of girl solidarity (between Nami and Robin), cool to see that in a shonen manga, even if it's brief :)

Gerd seems to have really liked Big Mom and is regretful it ended the way it ended. I wonder what is the unforgivable thing though... semla? Giant warrior dying without any honor? or perhaps breaking the marriage promise (Lola and Loki)? We have a lot of candidates here, but clearly Gerd has one thing in mind in particular, hm.

We also learn that Elbaf consists of three realms: of heaven, of sun and of dead. It's interesting because it can be applied to the One Piece world in general, the highest point The Red Line was the realm of the gods (so kinda heaven), lower one of sun (people worshipping sun god) and of dead (beyond the sea level, as there is literally a whole civilisation under the water. Also fishmen island, located on the bottom of the sea, dreams of surface and being part of the "sun" realm).

Speaking of Elbaf, seems the village changed a bit since Big Mom's times that we saw in the flashback. Now Elbaf is located on the cloud level but it seems it wasn't always like that. Perhaps after whatever disaster Big Mom caused, the Giants decided to move up and seclude themselves from human visitors? It's possible Vegapunk helped them with that too.

It's interesting that the island is called Elbaf, but the country itself is called Warland. It suggests once upon a time there might have been a different country located there (maybe Giants originally did live in the clouds, like in the Jack and the bean stalk fairytale. We did see an enormous bean stalk before!). Yet, there is a god called Elbaf as well, which is kinda confusing, unless it's some sort of God Usopp situation there, lol.

Seems Giants are really big on hospitality. "You guys can have leftovers. The feast is for the Strawhats!". Curious, considering the fact this country seems to be off-limits to humans in general, not counting exceptions like Shanks or Luffy and their crews.

Strawhats reactions to the rainbow bridge are priceless (who can blame them tho? I would react the same way!). Seems indeed anything can be possible in this world, even sailing on rainbow like it's a water highway. Apparently it makes a "kira kira" glittering/sparkling sound, which is a nice little detail. Even Robin is shocked, this is the first time she sees something like that, and she saw and knows sooo much more things than any other Strawhat! The only person unsurprised (but still excited) is Lilith, because as a Vegapunk she visited Elbaf before :)

We finally found out what the sunstone does and why is it so important for Elbaf. Apparently it's based on real life viking device used for navigation. Is it a relic from ancient kingdom (and can Vegapunk recreate it)? Is that why Brook is innocently singing Binks sake here?! maybe not haha but who knows, Brook is a walking mystery!

Elbaf is indeed impressive. It would be so awesome as a video game setting, which you can explore any way you want ❤ That castle looks actually pretty similiar to the lego castle Rodo build huh. It's so nice that Luffy and Usopp got their panels here too, with the callback to their promise; to one day visit the land of the giants. And here they are, merely two years later :D

Everyone's reactions is either impressed/dumbfounded or excited. With two exceptions! Sanji isn't even looking (lol, he's already in his heaven, huh), and Lilith? Lilith is acting proud of herself there, grinning happily. Like I said, it's not her first time in Elbaf and it's likely Vegapunk actually helped with his cloud manufacturing technology on Elbaf before! If that's the case, her proud grin is more than justified here :D

I saw many people really worried that these frames above are foreshadowing the final crew, hinting that Lilith and Bonney are indeed the last Strawhats. Well, if that makes you anxious, then don't worry: they're not the last Strawhats (they're at least not present on 13 Strawhats as cats picture). And if that made you on the contrary happy because you really want Lilith and Bonney to join, then welp, I'm sorry? They're still gonna always be Strawhats friends tho! Bonney actually is likely to be next gen of Strawhats, together with Tama once they both grow up, who knows :D

Let's address this. I know many people reeeeally jumped on the hype train that this is about time flowing differently in Elbaf, but I think the hint as to what it means lies in Little Garden arc actually. Why? Because both times we had a callback to Lous Arnote and that must be related imo. In Little Garden log pose took a year to reset (apparently because of poor magnetic field of the island? Not that it's ever explained about Little Garden in particular though). It's possible on Elbaf it takes *even longer than a year* hence don't linger too long (but also don't regret in case you do :D). Could people get stuck there? Is that why those humans in dead realm can't just leave the island? I'm aware my explanation is way too simple (now log pose has three arrows instead of one, after all), but I kinda like it this way, lol. Time shanenigans though? Uneccessarily complicated imo.

Speaking of Little Garden...

Those beliefs could explain why Loki is kept alive despite posing such a big danger to the world, it means he has divine protection and god decided Loki is "right" (and was right to kill the king). Giants trying to kill Loki are in "the wrong" then and end of the world is supposed to happen. Or are there suddenly exceptions to this Elbaf's rule?

Luffy's reaction in Little Garden makes me think that Luffy has similar reason for striking the deal with Loki now. He dislikes when people are judged by gods and whoever decided Loki's fate at birth must have been a god (who else, really?). Loki being imprisoned is also part of the same reason, I guess. Why wouldn't Luffy want to help him, actually? Though I am curious what exactly Loki promised to give him in exchange for the deed. Maybe it is related to Shanks or maybe to something else, hm.

This promise also gives us a potential time frame limit for this arc. "Don't linger too long" says Louis. Giants really rush for the feast as well, like they're afraid if they don't start fast enough they will run out of time to celebrate with the Strawhats somehow. And then there's Loki who told Luffy to get the key to his chains "till morning of next day" (unofficial translation) / "akatsuki ni" (fancy way of saying "in the event of"; original version). And while I recognize it's just a mistranslated figure of speech, let's not forget Luffy himself isn't well versed in fancy ways of speaking, so he *might* have taken it literally (akatsuki = dawn), like a child would as well that doesn't know of this phrase yet. That could give the arc some sort of direction.

I guess this all possibly points towards Elbaf arc taking place in the span of one day. It might be a giant adventure (because everything is giant and we're in land of giants), but it won't be long. But then Dressrosa took place in span of one day and it was like 100 chapters, so it's worth keeping it in mind too, lol. I'm just saying it's possible the arc will be one day long in universe time, no idea how long it will be in terms of chapters ofc. Elbaf does have a lot of links to Egghead and feels like a complementary arc to it, kinda the same way Zou led to the Whole Cake Island with it's premise of kidnapped Sanji. But Egghead was waaaaay longer than Zou haha (maybe the length proportions will be reversed in this case? :D).

Before I move on to the next chapter, I will do a compilation of Gerd, Rodo and the rest of Giant Pirates, because they deserve some attention too.

Let's start from Gerd. She *clearly* has a thing for humans, lol. She finds them cute, kinda like pets or dolls, and some of the things she says, when you stop and pay attention to it, makes you raise an eyebrow at her, lol. "I'm not like Rodo!" "I don't go around trapping humans in cages!" "He didnt give you any choice when he put you in there!" (unofficial translation, it's worth noting that in official one it's toned down a bit). Excuse me, Gerd...? Did you just suggest that it's alright to trap humans in cages as long as you have permission? 😂

Yeah, don't believe her when she says she's not like Rodo. She totally is and she fawns over humans to the same extent he does, lol. She just remembers not to put them in cages before asking if it's alright with them, lmao (yes, sorry, I really find this remark too funny). Look at how happy she is that she can carry Luffy&co around or stay with them even a tad bit longer, enthusiastically offering her help. She's a fangirl, alright. And what is Rodo if not a fanboy, lol. They kinda deserve each other.

I mean, yes, of course Rodo is way more creepy. He doesn't even try to hide his fanboyism after all, and he doesn't care about consent much in his roleplaying games. He's kinda this reclusive fanboy never leaving his basement, not having any friends (or having only one or two) and spending most of his days immersed in his roleplays 24/7. That's some dedication! In comparison, Gerd is like a closet fangirl, trying to keep it as private and unobvious as possible. But look at her! She's going to Rodo's castle just because she heard he snatched a small ship. Small ship means small humans, of course she wants to see them! Look at how excited she is despite claiming she's only doing her duty. Nah, girl, you're not fooling us. And look at Goldberg and his knowing smile, he *knows* her true reason to go there too.

Of course, despite being so happy to see humans, she wouldn't bond over that with Rodo. That's because Rodo is insufferable with his fanboyism, no brakes, exposing it without any shame. It's like looking at herself in a distorted mirror, it would rub her the wrong way. That's why she insists so much on how different she is from Rodo, because she knows what *boundaries* and *brakes* actually are. But who knows, maybe she is slightly jealous that he can be so open and unrestricted about it. She might complain about him all the time, but it still wouldn't stop her from going to his place, as long as he might have some tiny humans around.

Goldberg is like this friend who sees their two companions dancing obliviously around each other, trying to deny their actual feelings. He even says that Rodo would be happy to be called the disgrace of Elbaf (by Gerd specifically!), because Rodo would probably think it's a compliment, lol. Imagine how fun it must be to sail with him, he would navigate while roleplaying all the time, earning constant hits from Gerd, lol.

For those who remember my theory on pirates and their treasures (pair of characters sharing things/treasures together and being each other's treasures as the result. For example, Nami and Nojiko both treasure Bellemere's tangerines, their bond is also symbolically shown as them sharing twin bracelets, which leads to conclusion that they're also the most important people in the world for each other), well, Rodo and Gerd share some theme like that too, actually! For example, Rodo and Gerd wear same type of shoes and furry accessories on their calves (no one else from Hajrudin's pirates has it!). Also Gerd wears a striped pattern on one of her legs that looks oddly similar to Rodo's striped mantle. They also have really similar passion for humans, which creates a deep bond (even if Gerd dislikes that connection for now). They're definitely coded as characters significant to each other, though I dunno what's the actual nature of their relationship (friends? siblings? lovers?), not that it matters, because they're hilarious together anyway.

They're really quickly growing on me and I wonder which way this little side story will go. Oda writes all of his side characters and develops them even if he has no intention to reveal their full backstory (for example, he designed All of the 85 Big Mom's Children, even though he admitted he will probably not even need it! But all those details and backstories were still created and are kept in his magic notebook). That's why I believe I sniffed out the relationship between Rodo and Gerd accurately, even if I might be misinterpreting some details here and there about it. The hints are definitely there tho.

It was also revealed that Rodo still considers himself part of the New Giant Pirates! Despite disagreeing with Hajrudin and not wanting to serve itty bitty humans, he never *left* the pirate crew, like many people suspected he did! Seems it's actually Hajrudin who wants him out of the crew now, not the other way around, lol. But that's a bit odd, because it's true Rodo was against humans and thought not much of them and refused to serve them as the result. And yet in current timeline he's kinda humans-obsessed all of a sudden??

Who knows, maybe that changed the moment he learned that Gerd likes humans? Maybe he decided to learn to like them because she likes them? He clearly likes Gerd (he even calls her Gerd-taso and acts like a simp lol) so it's not impossible. They just disagree on details (like serving humans or not locking them in cages). Maybe Gerd at first took it on herself to teach Rodo about humans, but it got out of hand and she created a fanboy monster by accident, hahaha.

It's also worth noting that Rodo at first was kinda worried when he realized Strawhats got lost and he thought it will lead to trouble. But then he put them into his lego city anyway. Perhaps he wanted to show them to Gerd, lol. After all she seems to visit him awfully lot and it's always about humans. Damn, he might even keep humans there just so she visits him, like a bait. And it seems to work super duper well! And that phrase "itty bitty humans"? Might have been Gerd's slip of tongue that Rodo caught up on and adopted ever since :D

"Let's get you locked up again before the others catch on" what are you on about, Rodo! They already know?? Or does Gerd and Goldberg not count?! Does it mean he thinks he can bribe them to stay quiet about it?? I mean, I guess I can imagine Goldberg roleplaying together with Rodo for fun, they're probably actually friends. But Gerd?? Was he gonna give her one of the Strawhats to keep forever, a peace offering or a love gift, without realizing That Won't Make Her Happy (I mean, it would make her happy, but she would also feel disgusted, because you don't treat humans like dolls, no matter how adorable they are!).

And yeah, Rodo's Gerd-simping moment was very Sanji-style, "she must be here to save me!". Actually, scratch that, he's worse than Sanji, 100% submissive princess-in-distress, treating Gerd as his hero. Maybe Gerd defended him from some bullies once, when they were both kids, and he wouldn't leave her alone ever since. And since Rodo seems to be always living in his fantasy worlds, he doesn't even realize Gerd doesn't like him or is not trying to compliment him with the words she says, lol. Damn, it's really fun to speculate about those two :D Maybe I'm so into it because I never had the opportunity to analyze arcs chapter by chapter like this and never paid that much attention to side characters before. And Elbaf is more my type of a fun arc than sci-fi world of Egghead was ;)

This scene has such Nami-beating-up-Luffy vibes to it, lol. Even Goldberg joined in. Rodo is definitely insufferable but he's also like, kinda fun. I get it now when Oda said that he always creates characters that he likes, so that in worst case they at least have one fan. All of Oda's characters have so much charm and thought put into them!

Speaking of pairs, Hajrudin and Loki were on my mind lately as well. They share some interesting similarities. Loki has his eyes covered, Hajrudin wears helmet with those protective pieces around his eyes (he had it since Dressrosa actually!), but they kinda obstruct his view? Like, look at Dorry's similar helmet - he has a clear view, so Hajrudin's variation is not a regular thing! I feel like it's showing us the connection between him and Loki (both having obscured eyes). I know the story suggested they're brothers and kinda against each other, but Brogy and Dorry also are "opposing/fighting each other" and yet no one would argue how special their bond is. It might be the same type of thing between Loki and Hajrudin.

Who knows what was Loki's real reason for killing his father? Maybe he did it for his brother somehow. Why did Hajrudin wanted the flame flame fruit in Dressrosa? Was it to free his brother perhaps? Whatever it is, I'm sure their bond will turn out to be important and somewhat explored in this arc (probably not the main focus though, they're just side characters after all? Though Loki did get his own double spread, so who knows, who knows).

Holdem's back! I forgot he existed, ngl, haha. Actually, he probably has no idea that Yamato is on the enemy's side, because when the raid happened, Holdem was in Udon, unaware of Yamato switching sides! Maybe the title of the chapter relates to him as well, he's not threatening Yamato, he might be expecting praise from Kaido's son for not giving up despite Beast Pirates' defeat. But also he's just trying to survive by robbing people. Yamato looks a bit like he's in a pickle, huh. Always having to prove on which side he is and clearing various challenges thrown his way (human children bullies, going against his previous friends), dang.

Oooof, this was like a punch to the guts. But it was needed. This emotional bomb dropped so we can remember and focus on Robin's suffering. Olvia, Clover and Saul all made efforts so Robin can live, but at what price. That life was a pure nightmare for her and we should never forget it.

This is such a powerful moment as well. Can't believe we had to wait so many years to see a scene like this 😭😭

In the couple of last chapters we saw a lot of Robin's reactions, showing surprise and being exicted and happy. It's the first time we ever see her that open with her emotions, just allowing herself to experience things. It's a joy to see and a reminder that she came a long way since Enies Lobby. She's able to act so unrestricted and honest, and it also makes her look younger again.

She's also wearing this cute shirt with crossbones and a heart skull. Showing off that she's a pirate at heart? Or perhaps it's a crossed out heart haha.

This library building looks eerily similar to the island house in One Piece Odyssey! Except that one was half of a ship haha.

A really cute moment. Robin is nervous before meeting Saul again (she says her heart beats really fast, so she's both excited and nervous), but thanks to Saul's little fake show she laughs and says she got nervous for nothing. It's so precious that Saul tried to break the ice, afraid that their meeting will be too awkward otherwise and chose to be so silly about it. Since Robin claimed she stopped feeling nervous, it worked really well to release the tension :D

Also I can't believe the whole scare around Saul "not getting up" was him just roleplaying their first meeting, oh lol. That cliffhanger was worth it, I would happily get fooled again :D This is just so wholesome.

Btw Saul, besides some burn scars, also now has a peg leg.

I also adored that Strawhats decided to accompany Robin, not leaving her even for a moment, taking their duty to protect her seriously. But they're probably just curious as well. Luffy even says he needs to greet Saul and thank him for taking care of his crew, which, to be frank, is such an Ace-like moment?? That's exactly how Ace explained why he wanted to meet Shanks! (just used the word brother instead of crew).

This scene worries me a bit I'm a worry-cat, you should all know it by now, haha. That's because Robin interrupts Saul when he talks about her future (probably wanting to say something like: thanks to their efforts you will finally stop being pursued one day), but Robin is not even interested in hearing about that. I get it, it must be making her sad and she says she doesn't want to talk about sad things anymore, not when she can finally reunite with Saul. But at the same time this dismissal of hers when the talk goes to the topic of her own wellbeing reminds me of Enies Lobby and Robin's self-sacrificing tendencies, you know? Those don't go away just like that and I think they still are lying dormant in Robin. Let's just hope I read a bit too much into that.

As to why I think it was Saul who said the line about Robin's future is because of his speech pattern in the original. Robin uses more refined/less casual language, meanwhile Saul tends to finish his sentences on the "yo" syllabe in this part. He did it even just a frame next to this one as well, so it feels kinda natural it's still him speaking. Though the use of "yo" is kinda nuanced in Japanese, so I might be wrong on that one, keep it in mind :D it could even fit both ways, Saul sharing info Robin didn't have (hence the "yo" to emphasize it) and continuing on with that, or it might be Robin interrupting him by bringing something to his attention she thinks he missed or being slightly pushy in changing the topic (it doesn't suit her too much, but hey, the official translation also seems to suggest this is Robin's line).

Also I just think it would be nice if both Robin and Saul addressed each other with "anta" ❤

Now it's time to cry. I find Robin's line, asking for Saul to praise her, really meaningful. After all, when she was a kid, that was her exact motivation! She learned how to read poneglyphs because she wanted to be praised by the archeologists (and be useful to them), spend more time together with them, but also hoping that her mother would also praise her and take her with her this time. Even when Clover tells Robin to escape she says she would rather die together with them than be alone. The outcome of Ohara was really the worst for Robin who always felt so alone and lost even the hope to ever be with anyone she loved again. Her biggest dream wasn't to be an archeologist because she loved history so much (though yes, she did enjoy it ofc), but it was just to hold her mom's hand and go for a walk together. To live happily with her, like a true family.

Before Olvia died, she did praise Robin for her efforts. Back then I didn't understand it this way and thought it's just an affectionate moment between the two, but it was actually Olvia recognizing what Robin wanted to hear the most :(

Robin had to survive on her very own, which was a nightmare for her already. But Saul repeats the same words to Robin that Olvia did - "Live!" and even gives her hope "You won't be alone, you will meet your comrades!". He knows really well how lonely Robin feels and how much she needs to hear all of that (he might have known her for only a few days, but he really paid attention to her!). He says all of it for her sake. And upon their reunion, he still keeps on doing that actually! Not only praises her for surviving, but also assures her she isn't alone in carrying the will of Ohara.

I think Saul is carrying Olvia's will (besides Ohara's will) here, took over the role of Robin's parent, and damn, he might be doing better job at it than Olvia ever did, no offense to her, but she was the parent who chose her mission over her daughter. It might sound cruel, but she's hardly the first or last parent in OP who did that. Saul, on the other hand, is trying to make things right again, isn't he? He can't fix the whole world so it becomes safe for Robin to live in, but he is still trying to do whatever he can to protect the legacy instead of her, so that one day it can contribute to a better future.

The raw emotion in this scene, my heart! I can't believe people can read this chapter and be like "pfff a reunion with the supposed dead character, what cheap writing". Come on, Robin deserved this moment of happiness. And it's not like it's a deus ex machina or anything, in fact this reunion is pretty bittersweet. Because Robin will have to leave Saul behind again, it's not like he can just travel with the Strawhats from now on. It's nice that Robin will be able to think that Saul is somewhere out there on Elbaf, wishing for her happiness, but it will always stay a long distance bond between them. Their reunion also can't erase all those years of lonely suffering from Robin's life.

Just like Saul became a parent for Robin, Robin thinks of Saul very fondly too. That's the reason why she's smiling even when she isn't happy, it's all because of Saul's words she always carried in her heart. Robin's smiles are often looking a bit forced, but the reason behind is really deep. It makes her recent, very honest smiles all that more precious too.

Did you ever wonder why does Saul love Robin so much? Why did he dedicate everything to her and Olvia, people who were complete strangers to him? He even lost his place in Navy and became a fugitive as the result. Yeah, sure, we can just shrug and say it's because he's such a nice person, but I think there's more to Saul than that. I would call him an accidental hero - he never actually planned to be one and lots of his heroism is rooted in his feeling of guilt (not unlike Olvia who thought she doomed the whole Ohara, huh). He even called it "karma" at one point. I really think Saul is a deeper character than just a simple good-hearted hero and I wonder if we will catch some new side of him now, on Elbaf too :D

Everyone is bawling besides the Roronoa-I-pretend-I-have-a-heart-of-steel-Zoro and I'm-too-old-for-that-Jimbei, and Luffy. Luffy is too busy being genuinely happy and grinning. And looking a tiny bit proud. And hey, he has every right to feel this way! All the way back in Alabasta, it was him who dragged Robin back to safety, saving her life, and accepted her on his crew. The Robin back then wasn't happy to be alive and thought there's no point in trying anymore. But this moment here? Would have never happened if she gave up all the way back then! And this is thanks to Luffy that she didn't.

This is the moment of turning despair upside down. It's a bit like how Kin said it in Wano "Looking back, it's been nothing but peril after peril, but I was fortunate to meet you..." and a moment later he adds "...at my most desperate state". Except Kin thinks it was both Luffy and Law who managed to turn his fate around (after all Law spared him by cutting him to pieces, that was mercy) and showed him that things will get better, something that Kin lost sight of back on Punk Hazard, succumbing to his rage.

Speaking of previous chapter's survey, let's just agree that Robin indeed changed her hair to celebrate meeting Saul. And if her hair cutting has also some other extra reason, I guess we will find out soon-ish (or later-ish).

Finally, I decided to pick my side as to who I think the mysterious guy in Wano's style of hat is. And I think the answer of "it's Yorki, not Shiki" satisfies me the most. We already had one tearful reunion in Elbaf, let's go for another one, Brook deserves it too! Seems like Elbaf attracts wonders, doesn't it.

I have no idea how Yorki could have survived, but if he did, it only makes sense he would be trying to search for Brook and the rest of the crew. He said that he deeply regretted leaving them and promised he will try to meet them again (if he doesn't die). So i think Yorki was searching for them, but couldn't find them. He was also feeling too guilty before to visit Laboon without Brook (Brook was Laboon's favourite person!). That would also explain why Crocus claimed he had a good source about Rumbar Pirates ditching the Grand Line, because indeed, Yorki's group did, together with him! Maybe he even did give up for a while, and only started to search for Brook again only much later. Maybe he spent a lot of time in Wano, because it was a closed off country - very likely place to find someone who vanished from the surface of the earth, right? Who knows, maybe he met Toki at one point and she send him forward to future (otherwise Yorki would be an old geezer by now, right? he seemed younger than Brook, but Brook spent 44 years in Florian Triangle, I think Yorki's hair would be white by now, at the very least).

Anyway, I won't try to sell you any details of how it all worked, because I actually have no idea myself. I have no clue how Yorki survived his sickness. but if he did (and many things point towards that) he would definitely try his best to reunite with Brook again, even if it was based on irrational hope and wishing for a miracle. But then Brook joined Luffy, got a new bounty, and even became a music star with his own concerts, his fame would reach Yorki finally as well. Which is why he finally decided to visit Crocus and Laboon, and they celebrated together and Yorki is probably promising he will go and see Laboon together with Brook again, or something like that :D I wonder how Brook will react... he's slightly insane (among other things) so he might try to flee at first, lol. This also adds a weight to Laboon on that cover page, doing the big surprised face :D

Since we learned lately that Brook is skilled in cutting people's hair it's possible that was his job on Rumber Pirates crew. Is that why Yorki has kept his hair so long? Because he wants for Brook to cut it again for him? :D

Who else might reunite on Elbaf? :D

#one piece #one piece 1132 #one piece 1133 #one piece spoilers #nico robin #saul #hajrudin #loki #elbaf arc #love is a hurricane #rodo #gerd #tearful reunion #Elbaf the tearful reunion arc?? the arc of miracles!#it would be funny if the arc finishes with Strawhats releasing Loki and escaping #leaving chaos behind and for matters to resolve by themselves lol #probably not gonna be the case but would be a nice parallel with the lego city escape :D #sorry that I didn't post much lately been busy :((#one piece chapter commentary

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