第65回：How Many Licks Does it Take…

Such stuff that dreams are made of! More like ‘nightmares’ with Big Mom’s eldest son, the Minister of Candy, looking like a deranged mash-up of Willy Wonky and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Childcatcher.

Appearances aside his name seems derived from Prospero of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’. Don’t look for hints of the character in him though, the naming seems more like a nod to how similar Prospero’s name sounds like the Japanese onomatopoeia for a ‘slurp’ or licking sound, ‘peropero’.

Like Brulee, Perospero seems to carry some longleg blood. With 84 children and only 43 husbands (lol, ‘only’) it’s possible that Brulee and Perospero might actually share the same father.

While some of Mom’s more recent brood like Purin are quite young, Brulee and Perospero have seen their share of years which should bring to mind an important question, just how old is Big Mom!? If some of her eldest brood look ripe for retirement Mom might easily be over 100 years old. Her corpulent girth would keep her wrinkles at a minimum while her penchant for literally taking bits of souls from the subjects of Totto Land might actually extend her longevity.

If these sharks seem familiar it’s because we glimpsed a very similar breed on this cover of Chapter 703.

If Luffy doesn’t have brain freeze, what does that tell us? Think about it folks.

Right then, let’s look at some of these t-shirts!

Sanji’s wearing the Kingyo (goldfish) brand t-shirt which has popped up before on the cover of Color Walk 4 sported by Zoro and also rarely by crowd characters throughout the series.

Drawing all those goldfish for the Chapter 833 color spread must have reminded Oda-sensei of the elusive brand.

The polar bear is considered by many to be the ‘king of the ice’ and that’s exactly how he’s been portrayed in this color spread!

Woah now, Bessie! Being so caught up in the anime-original arc story I completely neglected to draw attention to the brand new opening ‘We Can!’

Isn’t this a great shot of Robin? I can’t possibly imagine seeing her look this genuinely at peace back when I was reading the Enies Lobby events.

The water gun Luffy’s using here is actually based on the 2015 color cover of Weekly Jump 37+38.

As for the outfits the crew is wearing throughout their sunbathing antics, although perhaps not all identical, they’re *extremely* similar to the swimming outfits from the color spread of Chapter 796!

And WHAT!? Luffy VS Kaidou!? Place your bets on how many more openings we’ll get until something like this actually happens.

The new opening changed ever so slightly this week to reveal the true form of the previously shadowy figure of Edward Weevil, Whitebeard’s…son?

Yeah, I’m not so sure about that family resemblance. Veteran voice actor Kozo Shioya, is lending his talents to One Piece as the voice of Weevil. Some of his other work in One Piece includes the voices of Pappug the starfish and…GENZO!? Really!? You could’ve fooled me!

Thinking back on Weevil’s persona, how did I not see this casting choice coming? A physically imposing and rotund powerhouse with the mind of a child being manipulated by a tiny and (probably?) physically weak individual; it’s a perfect fit for a character that Shioya-san famously voices from another popular series, Dragon Ball’s Majin Buu!

I was wondering who might get the tap for Ryunosuke but nothing could prepare me for when I actually saw the credits! It *can’t* be just a coincidence that Kappei Yamaguchi (who voiced Kanjuro’s sparrow) has a son whose name is, you guessed it, ‘Ryunosuke’ Yamaguchi!!!