第20回：75巻祭り[ENGLISH ver.]

Didn’t quite expect this, especially not on the heels of Momousagi from Volume 74! In an SBS Oda-sensei introduced us to Chaton, or Brown Pig, another marine whom he considered using as a new admiral but decided against him in favor of Fujitora and Ryokugyu. Oda-sensei also revealed that in addition to the pig (Chaton) and monkey (Kizaru) he was also thinking of using a Japanese water imp or ’kappa’ as the final admiral. The combination of pig, monkey and water imp bring to mind the companions of the monk Xuanzang in the Chinese mythological epic, Record of the Journey West.

Looking at Chaton’s rough sketch his model might have been the real life actor Atsumi Kiyoshi famous for his recurring role in the widely-loved film series, Otoko wa Tsurai yo or It’s Tough Being a Man. Most of their facial features match up, all except Kiyoshi’s highly characteristic chubby cheeks which seem a bit gaunt on Chaton. Could it be someone else? Any ideas? Anyone!? Is there a Japanese film buff in the house!?

Oh, and Oda-sensei teases that there *is* a source of inspiration behind the current line-up of admirals but his lips are sealed. *shakes fist in rage* Very well Oda-sensei, we shall play your game of marines and animal themes and classic tales and such. If you combine the current three admirals with Chaton and Momousagi, that makes for: monkey, bull, tiger, rabbit and pig(or possibly boar). Sounding kind of like the Chinese zodiac, right?

The ages of the Donquixote Family have finally been revealed so it’s time for everyone’s favorite show! That’s right it’s time for, DRAWING WILD CONCLUSIONS!

Back when reading Chapter 682 in Weekly Jump, my eyes stopped on the panel where Vergo called Doflamingo by the nickname, "Dofy." Just a nickname, no ’san’ or anything added to the end. Under most circumstances you can only do that when you’ve gotten to know someone extremely well over many years and, oh yeah, only if you’re older or at least the same age as them.
In some instances this rule is ignored among the Straw Hate Pirates because of how tightly-knit they are. So most of the time, dropping ’san’ or some other honorific title is, well, it’s kind of a big deal.

So far we’ve seen four characters that can call him ’Dofy’: Trebol, Pica, Diamante and Vergo. Their common threads? First, all of them are about the same age as Doflamingo or slightly older. Vergo and Doflamingo are the same age so they might even have been prep school chums (joke). Second, all of them are supreme officers in the Family. This seems to explain why other members older than Doflamingo don’t actually call him ’Dofy’.

Y’see there’s still one detail that needs clearing up: did the humans turned into toys age normally or do they stay the same age as when they were turned? If we assume the baby seen early on in the arc was turned by Sugar *when* it was a baby and then returned to *being* a baby, the answer is no. This means humans or other life forms do not age as toys and Kyros is actually 34! I’m sure Oda-sensei will eventually clear all of this up for us!

…(maybe)

Check out the background music for when Bartolomeo has his conversation with Zoro. It’s totally the emotional piece from the One Piece Movie 9 soundtrack Mattaku!!!! ii jinsei data!!!! used during Hiluluk’s death. Can I just go on record here and say the chances of me being able to watch that emotionally charged scene the same as before this episode are probably shot to sunshine.

The anime-exclusive scenes from episode 654 show Sunny being attacked by a school of fighting fish. Just as the fish are about to start doing some serious damage to the Adam wood-constructed sloop they notice something in the sky that paints terror across their faces, Mingo! Now, in episode 656, it’s made very clear exactly why some of them fear Doflamingo. During Doflamingo’s battle with Law on the bridge to Green Bit, four fighting fish attack the bridge at once only to be *instantly* shredded to bits by the twisted king of Dressrosa.

By the way, totally unrelated to the above observation, this episode potentially helps pin down one of Oda-sensei’s hobbies. Note the wooden horse that Viola rides. After causing the monitor to explode, Viola spurs on the horse and it replies, "Haiyo~!" This is actually the Japanese version of, "Hi-hooo!", as in, "Hi-hooo, Silver!", as famously said on the radio drama, The Lone Ranger. The horse replied the same way in the original manga chapter as well but it was made very obvious in the anime by the elongated shout. Is it possible Oda-sensei took some inspiration from The Lone Ranger in creating this character?