第77回：Forgetting the Unforgivable

Did Oda-sensei catch Super Bowl fever? Super Bowl 51’s commercials were featured on a Japanese morning television show -as was Lady Gaga’s performance- so it’s entirely possible! Are you ready for some Pirate League Football!? You can barely make out the word ‘PIRATES’ on Luffy’s pigskin.

Speaking of our captain, at first I was surprised that his jersey wasn’t number fifty-six! A glance at the other players, however, will reveal that their numbers are all variants of birthday-related allusions meaning Luffy’s number represents May 5th.

What are Usopp and Brook scheming in back there? And…is that a sword on Usopp’s back!? The armor is one thing but a weapon has *gotta* be against the rules ^o^

My favorite character here, without question, is Robin. Look how she’s calmly holding a tea cup.

Do not forget this chapter. Burn every panel into your memory. Memories are precious and delicate things after all.

If my predictions are correct, all you need to know about the remaining twists and turns of this rollercoaster arc are alluded to *right* here in this chapter.

To mention just a few: Chocolate Town’s police officer setting off party poppers, Mother Caramel and a certain café, and -above all- this chilling scene of Pudding coldly stating what a hassle it is to erase memories.

Remember this ‘Alice in Wonderland’ quote we discussed in Lecture #72:

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t.”

This quote may accurately describe the dire situation that Whole Cake Island is in! If my predictions are correct, we’ll get to see that Pudding isn’t exaggerating an iota about what a ‘hassle’ it *really* is, not a single bit.

Don’t forget now, ya hear? ;)

Kaido seems to have established himself in or nearby Wano, a country practicing isolationism and strongly based on feudal Japan. In past columns we took note of how the same coniferous trees glimpsed in this scene appear to place Kaido’s Onigashima-like fortress on Wano. If this is indeed Wano, the weather offers a very interesting hint of what we might expect from Wano’s meteorological status!

Japanese people are proud that their geographic position gives them four distinct seasons across their four main –and many smaller- islands throughout the year. Certain islands along the Grand Line are capable of having multiple seasons in a relatively small space and span of time like Rusukaina which has 48 seasons per year. Is it possible that, similar to the island Merveille, Wano is divided into four main islands, based on Japan’s, each with its own season?

From opening to ending frame this episode was pure bliss. A roughly 20-minute expansion on a scene from the manga which saw Chopper treating Zunisha’s wounds, we learned that the treatment was actually quite a fiasco as a powerful storm threatened the safety of everyone on Zou!

The shining stars of this episode were scenes that saw the Strawhats simply being *themselves* in new twists on old character traits and quirks that we’ve come to love through the years.

Zoro’s penchant for getting lost, Nami’s keen weather sense, Franky’s ability to…spit nails!

Over on the analytical end of the spectrum, I couldn’t help but wonder if Nami’s observation of a tiny island on the way to Big Mom’s base was an allusion to an island *within* Mom’s sphere of influence or *on the way* to it. Either way, I smell some filler material on the horizon and if it’s half as enjoyable as this I’m all for it!