第38回：〝The Sparrow & The Samurai〟

There’s one here that’s easy to spot, ’OSUNDA’ or 押すんだ meaning, "COME ON, PUSH!" But there’s *another* one here that’s pretty hard to see among the angel wing design, ’MAMORU’ or, 守る meaning ’protect’, just as the civilian is shouting about protecting the country.

What on Earth is Kanjuro handling here? Is he just adding Color or Arms Haki to his sword-brush or is his brush able to change into something…else?

Doflamingo mentions that Viola is ’passionate’ which is the par for many women of Dressrosa but I think as the greatest dancer of Dressrosa, and some even say the world, Viola may very well be in a league of her own. In fact, it was even mentioned the very first time she appeared!

And let’s not forget that according to the soldier that greeted Luffy’s team, ’the more beautiful a passionate local woman is, the more likely they are to deal with traitors violently’! Well in this case, the situation is flipped on its head as Viola is the traitor to Doflamingo.

Ready to *passionately* fight for the kingdom, Viola readies a dagger. Wait, what? Where did that dagger come from? Well, considering that the flower which has been in her hair can clearly be seen dropping as she lets her hair down, it seems she was using the dagger as a hair stick, she IS dangerous!

Unfortunately, because of that dropping flower, I don’t think this bodes well for her.

Flowers have been an important symbol of Dressrosa since Luffy first arrived, the most poignant of which being one of the actual symbols of Dressrosa, the sunflower field on Flower Hill. Sooner or later those very same flowers are going to be the downfall of Doflamingo. Why you ask? Well, just look at the top Luffy’s wearing this arc. DO-N!!!

Oda-sensei has been doing a remarkable job with these, each week outdoing the previous! This week was by far my favorite set! Here are two of my favorites!

First we had Marines turning Tontatta in Chapter 718, then in Chapter 731. Now we’ve got Marines turning Tontatta!

Well, that is to say they’re *speaking* like the Tontatta. Isn’t that just adowable?

Luffy specifically told Rebecca his real name and King Riku even announced to the entire country that Luffy is the uniting force behind the team fighting desperately against Donquixote’s forces. So why does Rebecca keep calling him Lucy!? This seems to be setting up some big post-Doflamingo developments.

When Luffy met Rebecca, given his exploits in and outside the ring (not to mention when she awkwardly tried to kill him!) he’s left a huge impression on her *as* Lucy. That is to say, Luffy won over Rebecca (and the colosseum-goers!) as ’Lucy’. Just listen to the people of Dressrosa cheering him on this chapter! They’re not shouting, "Luffy!", they’re cheering on, "Lucy!"

Just as Gyatz says, he’s a ’man in a mask’, not unlike a superhero, and that image inspired the people to stand up and literally push back against Doflamingo’s deadly grip.

Consider that celebrating the ’idea’ and not the ’man’ will allow the people of Dressrosa to immortalize one of their liberators without even garnering any unwanted attention from the Celestial Dragons! When all is said and done, if Luffy succeeds and the entire country is left indebted to pirates, I wouldn’t be surprised if some space was made next to Kyros’ statue.

DO・DO～N! Episode 691 brought us the very first full color scheme for Kanjuro and it’s outstanding. Although this was Kanjuro’s *very first* first full-color appearance, it’s not the first reveal of his voice actor since we (briefly) heard veteran voice actor Takumi Yamazaki-san　performing as Kanjuro in episode 629.

This isn’t Yamazaki-san’s first involvement with One Piece either. In an anime original story from the Alabasta arc, four conmen feigned status as rebel army members to con food and board from the defenseless townspeople of Ido. Yamazaki-san voiced the leader of these conmen, Camus.

Speaking of voices, check out the voice actor for Kanjuro’s sparrow:

’Sokotsuya Higashi Shinagawa-ten’ or "Mr. Rude East Shinagawa-Branch". Who the what!? It’s complicated. When Sanji’s voice actor, Hiroaki Hirata-san, voiced Vivi’s pet Karoo he took on the faux name粗忽屋 or ’sokotsuya’ (meaning ’Mr. Rude’) in the episode credits. Since then, current* voice acting members of the Straw Hat Gang often take on real-life location-based ’branch’ variations of ’sokotsuya’ when performing roles other than the Strawhats. I won’t spoil the identity of ’East Shinagawa-Branch’ but here’s a hint, this actor also voiced a ’mountain bandit’.

*[In the event where voice actors had not yet been cast as crew members, this naming system did not applied to them. One example is Brook’s Cho-san who performed as Barbarossa and Henzo.]

Loved the introduction for Kuween. She first appeared suddenly in the comic so bringing her into the story through an Impel Down-style security room was a needed and exciting addition to the animation! Although very different with respect to location, stylistically it felt reminiscent of the method in which Sentomaru was first introduced to the story.

Just last week we were talking about the ’Sokotsu Gang’ and this week we’ve got another mysterious member performing the role of Mousey! Were you able to pick out who it was?