第108回：Lufi

It’s the return of MUSHA COLA! This time it’s joined by a new burger brand in the One Piece world, RUM BURGER! I don’t think it’s a play on any particular brand but just a pirate sounding burger joint!

The appearance of horn (or hornlike) objects on their heads tell us that these are Kaidou’s underlings. Look for more of them along this journey!

We’ve seen the Mochi Mochi Fruit and Otama might the Kibi Kibi Fruit user! Is Katakuri’s Mochi Mochi Fruit the more advanced form of her fruit?

While we’re talking about her, Otama’s accent also seems to be from the Tohoku area of Japan so is Luffy currently in the equivalent region of Wano?

Otama calls Luffy by his name using Hiragana. This gives her more of a Japanese flair which suggests she doesn’t entirely understand the concept of outside culture similar to how Fishmen don’t understand the concept of the sun.

There’s a lot going on this chapter but let’s take a moment to enjoy a running theme with Luffy’s outfits ever since he’s entered the New World, the sun.

Notice how his ragtag kimono here is decorated with a simplistic sun theme. This allusion to ‘the sun’ carries over not only from Sunny herself, but Punk Hazard’s ‘Bone Lion’ brand and even into Dressrosa. See what kind of flowers decorate his shirt? Sunflowers!

In fact, this design goes back even farther than the New World, this same design may also be spotted on Luffy in Chapter 547’s colorspread. Whether this is intentional or not we can’t say for sure, but Oda-sensei certainly appears to want to make his main star shine as bright as the sun!

Can we get some love for Zoro’s smile here? Since the time-skip it feels like genuine ‘from the heart’ smiles are a rarity from Luffy’s right-hand man. Zoro’s had sinister or mischievous grins aplenty, but showing us his pearly whites -eyes wide-open with joy- like this feels like it’s been far too long!

Also, check out Hawkins’ ride! At first I thought it was a buff stag but talking with a fan lead me to realize that it may indeed be a Kirin! Look at those legs! Almost feels like a ‘monster’ that you could ‘hunt’!

Another week, another Charlotte family member! This time it’s Dosmarche! Usually we can’t say for certain if it’s a family member or not but this time is different! We’ve heard that Dosmarche is a family member in a previous chapter so we can say for sure that Dosmarche is indeed a member of the Charlotte family! He’s also voiced by Higashishinagawaten Sokotsuya!

Incidently, Charlotte Nusstorte -also speaking for the first time in this episode- is voiced by Nishikobeten Sokotsuya!

Episode 836 brings us to a fully animated Elpaph! It might be tough to see but notice there are some conspicuous vertical lines very far in the background. Those aren’t an artist’s error, the same hints at large objects in the distance are also present in the manga!

And here are four giants as kids whose role in the story is far from over. Be sure to remember these four: Gerth, Hajrudin, Road & Goldberg