第64回：Finding Tanaka-san

Oh, hey, is it summertime or something ‘cause it’s not like I could guess from this color spread or anything. Oda-sensei went for a wide-angle shot here making it appear almost as if Luffy’s taking a picture for the official Strawhat Instagram. Now that I think about it, having Luffy around would completely defeat the purpose of a self-stick, wouldn’t it?

However, due to their reflective nature, the shades aren’t hiding his line of sight★

Randolph riding a crane like that reminds me of a (very) old video game which saw players ‘jousting’ atop a flying ostrich. The game would have been popular in Japan when Oda-sensei was thirteen so it’s not impossible to rule it out as a source of inspiration.

Meanwhile, this still unnamed large human-like character driven into the ground reminds me of a certain sculpture from the United States titled ‘The Awakening’ which prominently features partially exposed appendages of a giant attempting to escape from the ground. The actual statue is so large that viewers can climb into the giant’s gaping mouth.

Brulee’s design appear to be Oda-sensei’s take on a traditional European-style witch. Sure, Dr. Kureha was his first attempt at a witch, however, she was *anything* but traditional ^_^; Notice that while she’s quite tall, her torso length doesn’t seem balanced with the length of her legs so…is it possible that her father is a longleg?

What a stunning cover! The colors and use of goldfish remind me of the ‘Art Aquarium’ exhibit on tour around Japan.

Poor kid-Sanji doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere; and what a surprise to find out that he’s a quadruplet!

This flashback scene offers a subtle hint at the core value differences between Sanji and his siblings. Take note of which direction Sanji’s eyebrows curl. His eyebrows curl to his right, the opposite direction of all his known siblings.

Looks like someone has ugly duckling syndrome. Sharp readers may also have noticed that Sanji’s hair is parted on his right in the majority of these flashback scenes, HOWEVER, in the scene where he’s locked away his part is on the reverse side!

So what about his Sanji’s father’s eyebrows?

Close examination of Judge’s eyebrows proved to be…inconclusive at best. Besides a spattering of facial hair, are there any traces of Judge to be found in his son?

When Zoro defeats Peseta, at first glance, I thought this dragon briefly glimpsed during Black Rope Giant Dragon Twister was supposed to be Momonosuke! Careful inspection reveals that the horns are different so while it’s not Momonosuke it seems that Eastern-style dragons in the series have taken on the general design theme of Momonosuke’s dragon form. Maybe we’ll see some more in the future.

Speaking of Peseta, his shoulder-mounted twin canons remind me of when Oda-sensei joked that he was getting shoulder-mounted bazookas when he went in for surgery in 2014. By the way, the ‘peseta’ was the name of Spanish currency until 2002.

One Piece Film: GOLD’s main villlian’s (Tesoro’s) right-hand-man, Tanaka-san, makes his second appearance in the Silver Mine Arc! According to several interviews with Oda-sensei, even *he* isn’t sure what race (or being) Tanaka-san is but that doesn’t mean others like him haven’t appeared in the series!

Take for instance this unnamed character from a crowd scene in Chocolate Town.

His face is cut out of frame but he seems to feature the same large head with a small torso and short appendages. I wonder what they are!