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Title: Captain
Series: One Piece #35
Arc: Water Seven #4
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 187
Words: 9K
From Wikipedia:
“The Pirate Abduction Incident”
“My Name Is Franky”
“It’s Decided”
“The Big Argument”
“Luffy vs. Usopp”
“Captain”
“Big Trouble in the Secret Room”
“Warning”
“Luffy vs. Franky”
Luffy reluctantly decides to abandon the ship. Usopp, having grown attached to the Merry, is unwilling to take this course of action and challenges Luffy’s captaincy. Once defeated, Usopp decides to leave the Straw Hats, and the others go searching for a new ship. Meanwhile, the Aqua Laguna, an annual storm that strikes Water Seven, is about to return. To coincide with this Iceburg, the owner of Galley-La, is attacked, and Nico Robin is labeled as the prime suspect. Knowing Robin is a member of the Straw Hats, all of Water Seven turns against them.
I was reading along and things were ok. Unfortunately, it quickly went out of control.
Everyone getting all emotional about the ship needing to be trashed and getting a new one made me roll my eyes a bit and then the “fight” between Luffy and Usopp really made me roll my eyes. Usopp, while never the sharpest tool in the shed, acts downright stupid here. It felt very forced to me.
Then you have the Mayor getting attacked. He claims it was somebody and Robin Nico (one of Luffy’s crew) and so before you can say “boo”, the entire town is convinced that the Straw Hat Gang tried to assassinate their beloved mayor. And the mayor doesn’t do anything about it. Throw in the Frankie Gang for fun too. They stole 2/3rds of the crews money and when the Straw Hats took retribution and destroyed their hideout, Franky gets all butthurt and goes after Luffy. And he’s a cyborg. And there’s some sort of superstorm coming in.
This was only 187 pages but man, does Oda pack in everything that he possibly can. It felt overfull and not well thought out. If Franky is so powerful and so out of control, why haven’t the Shipwrights controlled him before? This is what happens when you think logically and rationally instead of “what sells” like a manga-ka does. I cannot imagine reading this a chapter at a time, it would have driven me nuts. As it is, even reading one tankubon at a time (the book form) is pushing things. Part of me wants to just read about 5 volumes at a go and review them all in one post. If the pacing and storytelling goes on like this volume, that will be something I seriously consider in the upcoming months.
There are certain things I can suspend my disbelief for, but don’t shove 5 improbable things at me all at once and expect me to deal with it. Especially if the improbables center around the established characters. I am not the Red Queen and I do not believe 10 impossible things before breakfast every day.
Now, with all that complaining and whining and hand wringing out of the way, I do think that Oda showed the weight of command here. Luffy had to make a decision about the ship and when one of his crew acted like a baby about it, he had to Captain Up and put the beatdown on Usopp. No good being a pirate captain if you’re going to just let your crew rule by committee. In the future Luffy is going to have to make some really hard decisions and this book showed he was capable of that. He is growing up and becoming the Captain (hence the volume’s title) he is going to need to be. I like that “growing up” aspect of a story and it appeals to me a lot.
★★★☆☆
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
187 pages! I hadn’t been noticing the page counts. I was thinking these were like 30 page single issues.
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Nope, all the manga is around 200 pages.
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Who is the guy with the three traffic cones on his nog?
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He is the new badguy. We’ll see just how long he lasts though…
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Hi there ^^
Ah, I remember, this part of the arc was pretty chaotic in the manga – the anime made this better, I guess they slowed down the tempo a bit (which was a good thing back then).
However, I agree, that this was important to show that this crew really has a captain and his decisions has to be accepted at some point (unless those decisions are stupid as hell like we know him. But I guess the crew knows how to deal with that).
Ah, by the way, at least the point about Franky being too powerful and nobody tried to solve that problem will make sense later – at least as long I remember.
~ Misaki
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Way back I tried to watch the anime and the pink hair of the cabin boy in the early episodes really annoyed me! So I didn’t keep on watching 😀 It is weird how little things like that can affect everything.
Good to know about Franky. With Oda-san I can never tell if he is going to have a plan for what he’s showing or if he’s just winging it!
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Yes, I can understand everyone who didn’t make it through the anime because of this and other things. But I am glad that I managed to continue watching it.
After reading more than 100 volumes of One Piece several times I can say that Oda has a plan for most of the things he’s showing – if not at least he is pretty good in pretending afterwards that he always had a big plan behind everything ^^”
Ah, by the way I’ve got a question because it confused me: You wrote in your review “Robin Nico” – is that the way how she is written in this translation? Cause in my translation it is “Nico Robin” like in Japanese.
~ Misaki
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Once I’m done the manga, I may try the anime again. I’ll have to see if it’s available and in what format by that time.
Hmmm, let me go look. So, I looked at the character page in the beginning of this volume and it is Nico Robin.
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Good luck then, you would have to deal with far more than 1000 episodes even without the filler episodes ^^”
Okay, good to know, it feels strange the other way round.
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Robin is more of first name here in the States than a last name, so that’s probably why I reversed them here.
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But Robin in this case is also the first name. Nico is the last name. In One Piece most translations decide to use the Japanese order for names.
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Ahhh, so my usage was correct then. That makes me feel better.
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A mixed bag but good in the end then!
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Yes, very apt sum up.
Sorry to hear you’re sick. Hope you feel better soon.
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I’m OK thanks Booky, still working anyway, just a cropey cold.
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I can identify with multiple improbable things sent one’s way when reading or watching a show. I don’t like it, and I hold it against the work throughout. I’m down with not explaining some…thing. But, some…things is just a thing with me.
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You’re a more patient man than I then 🙂
Good for you.
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How many volumes are in this series?
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Right now, there are 101 volumes available on Amazon and they show vol 104 coming out in November…
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I thought the manga was complete. Figure I can read the manga rather then watch the anime.
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I was hoping it would wrap up at 100, but no luck w that! 😦
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This was a huge Usopp moment too. I can’t say I rooted for him though but everyone believes in something and some believe in their ship more than others hahaha
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It took me by surprise just how much he took the issue to heart. And to go so far as fighting Luffy after getting the crap beat out of him by the ship wreckers no less. I just shook my head and wondered why he chose THAT moment to get mule headed 😀
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I always thought one piece revolved around some bikini design for some reason. Just shows you i shouldnt think…
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Ha 😀
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