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legitimateluffy · 3 years

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One Piece Animation Thesis: Sabaody

One of my favourite arcs not only story wise but production wise! There’s a lot to talk about in this one, but it should be fun and I’ve really been looking forward to it!

The Master Google Doc is found [HERE]

Here are the individual posts that are posted here on Tumblr: [East Blue] [Alabasta] [Skypiea] [Water Seven] [Enies Lobby] [Thriller Bark] [Sabaody] [Impel Down] [Marineford] [Fishman Island] [Punk Hazard] [Dressrosa] [Zou] [Whole Cake Island] [Reverie] [Wano]

Sabaody is a great small arc that is, once again, a pivotal point in the One Piece story. Seems like every arc to One Piece is important. How does Oda do it.

Kazuya Hisada continues his role as character designer for his second arc, which allowed me to find a new character sheet for Luffy in his base form and we can compare how styles and times have changed.

Left is Kizumi, right is Hisada.

Luffy’s look has slowly changed throughout the series, and while watching it, it’s something that is easily not noticed, especially when binge watching. However when you take time to step back and compare designs, the differences are quite noticeable.

Early Luffy’s design had quite short legs and torso, and his features were a lot more exaggerated. His hands and feet were massive, and his hair is thinner with more individual strands of his bangs being shown. Lineart was also thicker, especially with his eye scar being somewhat thicker and more prominent compared to later designs where the line variation is practically non-existent. The straw hat also felt more flat, lacking any type of depth in the brim while also fitting his head more snuggly.

The design used for Sabaody shows Luffy to be taller than his beginner design, however not as tall and lanky as that of the Water Seven-Enies Lobby era. Less hair strands are used for his hair, reducing the number of bangs. His face remains being round, however his smile is not as prominent and exaggerated like it once was. The biggest change I think is definitely how the hat is drawn. The top of the hat doesn’t fit as snuggly as it once did, and the brim begins to have more depth. At this point, the hat is fine however in some instances it can be very overdrawn and bloated and it, quite frankly, looks so awkward and large on his head that it looks absolutely ridiculous.

These are the designs of Luffy from the specials Episode of Nami and Episode of East Blue respectively.

However during this time, Sabaody till Impel Down is an arc that feels quite loose and is a little jarring to the rest of the series. This is definitely not a bad thing and I think is quite welcomed, especially due to One Piece being a long running anime series. Change is necessary otherwise it looks boring, stale and repetitive. That is, when it is executed properly and boy does Sabaody knock it out of the Sabaody park (Haha). Ba Dum Tss. Yeah yeah, look Tuna forced me to put that in so thank him for that. Unfortunately, many believe this arc to be one of the ugliest because of its loose style in places. But this is something that I think greatly enhances and appropriately fits the style of One Piece and Oda’s wacky designs.

This is a plus in my book. Having a good character designer and strong character designs allows animators to be more flexible in what they’re working with. That is why, up to this point, Baron Omatsuri was the best animated thing that Toei had produced at the time in regards to One Piece. So let’s have a look as to who shines as bright as Kizaura’s leg before striking down Zoro’s head.

Naotoshi Shida continues to show off his striking skills, especially with Rayleigh’s striking kick against Kizaru. The camera moves with the character, with incredibly smooth movement and his iconic sharp shading and effects.

Yoshikazu Tomita shows off how powerful his hits and effects hit, making each of his scenes feel incredibly powerful.

This is the last time that Naoki Tate is this prominent in the series with his key animation. His style is absolutely incredible, having very subtle character acting showcasing the absolute terror of the situation. He continues to pop up here and there as the series goes on.

Ryo Onishi makes a great spectacle here, really portraying his character acting in this arc. You can feel exactly how each character is feeling and their thoughts all without even hearing the voices of the characters as well as music placement.

Hiromi Ishigami makes sparse appearances throughout the series, having a similar style to Tate during this period. Subtle movements and pudgy shapes are used to make the character convey their actions.

Ken-ichi Fufisawa makes his characters feel really bouncy. Luffy feels like actual rubber in his cuts by the way he makes the arms flail when stretched.

Kenji Kuroyanagi really knows how to turn and rotate the characters in his scenes. He also makes simple scenes look interesting, with Hancock he makes the whole body move in order for her to pull her arm up. He also knows how to make the camera follow the characters so it always feels like the scene is moving.

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A massive thank you to everyone who has participated and uploaded at Sakugabooru! Without it, I would not have been able to make nearly as much as I have without all the hard work in identifying and tagging animators’ work! Most of the footage used to showcase these animators has come from there! I simply just turned the videos into gifs for an easier showcase.

I would also like to issue a big thank you to Animators Corner! The staff listing really helped me in determining who worked on what episode to identify animators and their works!

#one piece #opgraphics #gif #anime #op animation thesis

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neverwatchedonepiece · 5 years

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635-637: "The Fateful Reunion! Bellamy the Hyena!", "A Super Rookie! Bartolomeo the Cannibal!" and "Big Names Duke it Out! The Heated Block B Battle!"

Luffy’s entire experience of Dressrosa so far.

If I had two words to sum up these episodes, they would be: new characters.

New characters everywhere.

And, if @mrkashkiet is right, some of them should not be immediately written off as battle fodder. I have done my best to keep track of all the new names and faces (let’s face it, Dressrosa has not yet descended into HxH War of Succession level madness).

But I think I have a better handle on the competitors now. Who knew paying close attention would work wonders?

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the influx of new characters is not limited to the Colosseum.

Trafalgar Law: Supplier of Tea and Shade

Yes.

It is the return of Cipher Pol. Except this time, the World Government have unleashed the Big Guns.

The Caesar Handover Team (Law, Robin, Usopp and Caesar) had camped at a pavement cafe near the Long Bridge they must cross to reach Green Bit. They were indulging in a bit of recon because the bridge, to put it mildly, was in a state of disrepair.

A rickey, rusting wreck is what I want to say.

A conveniently chatty waiter was only too happy to furnish them with intel. Apparently, people used to freely cross the bridge two-hundred years ago, but an influx of fighting fish ruined everything. The people tried to reinforce the bridge with iron but it never worked. Yes, people still try to cross. The waiter himself knew people who’d made the attempt. But no one ever came back. (I bet the Smile factory is on Green Bit.)

Caesar and Usopp were not keen on making the crossing. Law told them to pipe down and pulled the “we’re here now, anyway” card. The lack of unrest in Dressrosa was what worried Law. (Sanji noticed that too.) Their king had abdicated suddenly. Why was everyone so calm?

Then something awesome happened.

Robin saw something out the corner of her eye. She cringed, pulled her hat down further over her face. Caesar caught on too.

Three sinister, white-robed, masked people walked down the street like ghosts. They were heading in the direction of the bridge.

It was CP0. According to Robin, they are even deadlier that CP9 and are charged with only the highest level intelligence missions. “When they’re on the move,” Robin said, “nothing good happens.”

Except plot, Robin. Good plot happens.

I mean, come on! First Fujitora is hanging about, supposedly to deal with all the pirates in the Colosseum. Now CP0 have crawled out of the woodwork but they are lurking about the bridge. They are all in on something. They must know or suspect something is going on in Dressrosa. I’ll bet they have intel Luffy and Law don’t.

I wonder if Fujitora wants Luffy to draw out Doflamingo (or at least the proof something is going on). He definitely knows Luffy is behind the beard and he let Luffy go. Why? The plot chickenz.

Zoro , Sanji and Kinemon: Technically All Chasing After Precious Things

Elsewhere on Dressrosa, Zoro, Sanji and Kinemon have all gone their separate, chaotic ways.

Zoro has finally laid hands on Shusui again, but - and I cannot believe I am saying this - a small, thieving, invisible creature *was* behind the disappearance of Zoro’s belongings. And they referred to Zoro as a “human”, which means... I mean, are we really talking fairies here? Why do they need to steal stuff? Are they raising funds for Doflamingo? I have no idea what’s going on. I am at the point of tin-foil hat speculation so I’ll quit before the hat is fully on.

Sanji managed to take out a sniper sixteen metres above ground with one kick. Why the need for a sniper kicking spree? He was being targeted while walking with Violet. I am still suspicious of her. I think she’s in on the whole thing and she is only just beginning to realise that, uh oh, she’s snared a really strong fighter, how do we get out of this one?

Also, Kinemon found himself surrounded by chuckling thugs who threw Kanjuuro’s location in his face. They recognised him by the “top-knot-shaped hat” (lmao). There was a, “If you don’t cooperate, we will kill you and your friend,” moment. Not super interested in this plot point, but looking forward to seeing how Oda weaves it into the wider storyline.

Meanwhile, on The Event Horizon Sunny...

A portal has opened to another dimension.

In the grand scheme of things, everyone who went to Dressrosa got the better end of the bargain because this... this is some weird shit.

(Plus, there was another Momonosuke clue. While Momo was playing at being shogun (and Brook refused, saying he “Only takes orders from Luffy-san”) Dr Chopper observed Momo’s behaviour. Apparently, Momo is putting up a good front, disguising some sort of trauma. What happened to him a Punk Hazard could be a good bet. Maybe there was something else we didn’t get to see.)

Bellamy Is A New Man! Sort of...

Back at the Colosseum, the main event was underway: Block B’s battle! We still haven’t reached the end of it yet but that’s because a lot was happening backstage.

The action picked up where it left off. Luffy’s reunion with Bellamy did not go quite as I expected - in a good way. A lot has happened since Luffy kicked Bellamy’s ass at Jaya. For one, after ridiculing Luffy for his ambition to visit Skypeia, Bellamy made his own trip. He lost his crew in the attempt (I think?) but brought back a huge golden souvenir, which he presented to Doflamingo.

I didn’t quite understand his connection with Doflamingo before. I figured he was part of Doflamingo’s crew and worked exclusively for him. But it turns out Bellamy had his own crew? Maybe they were allied with/working for Doflamingo?

At any rate, since he returned from Skypeia, Bellamy has become a changed man. He has obsessively worked for Doflamingo - who was Bellamy’s pirate hero since he was a kid - in hopes of being promoted to an executive post in the Donquixote family.

That is why he entered the Battle Royale. Not to win the Mera Mera fruit, but for a promotion.

I have the funniest feeling he won’t be getting it.

His spring power is cool, though. Luffy was right. He’s definitely become stronger. The way he took out Abdullah and Jeet was pretty stylish. I also like the character development Bellamy has undergone. Oda has morphed him from a loathsome, one-dimensional mook into someone with ambition who will do anything to achieve his goals. Nice.

Bartolomeo

Now, this guy was a surprise.

When Oda introduced Maynard last episode, I never thought for a minute that the badass Marine who held a knife to a pirate’s throat and took him out so easily would become instant fodder in the very next installment.

That’ll teach me for trying to predict Oda’s intentions.

Bartolomeo acts like an Edgy Edgerson (that’s a bit of an understatement, to be honest) but he does look out for his crew, as all good captains should. The guy who was murked last time by Maynard was part of his crew. Unfortunately for Maynard, Bartolomeo is the revenge type. Maynard was left crumpled in a bloody heap. It was interesting that Maynard had planned to take part in the competition. Was it for intel or were the Marines seriously thinking they were in with a shot at the Mera Mera fruit?

Bartolomeo is also one of the rookies Cavendish loathes. When the commentator introduced him, we learned it only took Bartolomeo a year to become (in)famous in the New World. Apparently, he roasted a crew of pirates and broadcast the footage and bombed some innocent civilians. As you do. He also won the coveted spot of #1 Most Annoying Pirate Who Should Just Go Away (lmao).

This was backed up by the crowd. They booed him like a pantomime villain and pelted him with trash. The bomb prank did nothing to salvage the tatters of his public image. Even Dagama was like, “They hate you so much, brat.”

But Bartolomeo didn’t care. He is super edgy. “Don’t even want them to like me.” (If he met Eustass Kidd, the amount of Edge would reach critical mass and cause some sort of singularity).

I have the feeling Bartolomeo will win this fight.

Why?

He has barely lifted a finger the entire time. When the gong was struck, he lay down like Slaking, took a nap. Then he woke up, pissed in the moat (lmao) and somehow took out Hack the Fishman Karate Master with little effort. He must be a fruit user. I wonder what his power is?

It’s testament to how One Piece stretches the limits of your morality when you find yourself laughing and cheering for a guy who literally roasted his rivals and broadcast the footage over the OP equivalent of YouTube.

And the Award for Most Hostile Leading Question Goes To...

While the fighting was underway, Luffy and Cavendish watched from a balcony. Cavendish gave Lucy the low-down on who the most likely winners would be. Apart from Bartolomeo and Bellamy, there was Elizabello II, his tactician Dagama, Ricky (a mysterious Gladiator), Blue Gilly from the Longarm Tribe, Tank Lepant of Dressrosa, Abdullah and Jeet, and Hack (a Fishman Karate specialist and fan of Jimbei).

Elizabello II, Dagama and Tank teamed up with a cadre of random fodders to protect Elizabello. It turns out Liz has a King’s Punch ability that can take out entire fortresses. The only thing is, it takes ages for it to power up and he can only use it once a day. They must want the Mera Mera Fruit badly, as the restrictions of the King Punch make it pretty damned useless in this context. Even if he did get through to the next round, he might be one-on-one against Jesus Burgess. Burgess does not need to wait an hour to power up a punch. Even if it’s four fighters all in the ring together (I bet Luffy will team up with Rebecca), I don’t see Burgess helping him out.

Blue Gilly is a kick fighter with oddly hypnotic knee pads.

Ricky is a mystery. He is a gladiator other fighters have never seen but some random in the crowd claims he might have once - a warrior who fought with no shield.

The Middle Eastern trope fighters Abdullah and Jeet were taken out by Bellamy, Hack was defeated by Bartolomeo.

All very exciting. I love a Battle Royale.

But most of the action was taking place backstage.

While Luffy and Cavendish watched the battle, a hulking, craggy, mountainous figure approached. I knew he was big because Toei had given him the “Big Guy Clown Shoes” sound effect they use for guys like Moria and Kuma. He had the number 12 tattooed on his forehead. It was Don Chinjao.

He stood beside Luffy and Cavendish and said, “Hey, lovely view we’ve got here. Btw, how is Garp-san doing?”

Luffy, the honest soul, never saw the trap coming. “You know grandpa?”

Uh oh.

Well, the situation escalated hilariously quickly after that.

“Garp was like a real demon to us pirates back then. My wound still hasn’t healed, you know. I need you to pay for what your grandpa did to me. If I’d heard about Garp’s son, Dragon, sooner, you would never have been born.”

Ooft. That’s a heavy grudge.

Of course, Cavendish was like, “WHAT? YOU ARE LUFFY!”

And poor Luffy was still desperately clinging to his Lucy disguise, wondering why everyone was blaming him for things that really were not his fault. “no, really, i misheard. i am lucy, honest.”

“YOU DON’T MISHEAR YOUR OWN NAME!!”

Now both Cavendish and Don Chinjao were steamed. They ended up in a skirmish where Cavendish’s Shiny Sparkly Sword, Durandal, was shown off (to be fair, it does look awesome) and the endurance of Chinjao’s Mighty Skull was tested. Neither were going all out, which was nice.

At any rate, Luffy is now hanging from a window ledge. His promise to Franky is not working out well so far.

Ahhh, that was a good tinkle.

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satoshi-mochida · 5 years

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One Piece: World Seeker will launch for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 15, 2019 in the Americas and Europe, publisher Bandai Namco announced.

Pre-orders will include the following downloadable content: “Strange Island Rocks Mission” (reveals the secrets of the mysterious monster-shaped rocks on the island), “Military Costume,” and “Swimsuit Costume.”

In North America, a “Gum Gum Bundle” will be sold via the Bandai Namco Entertainment Store (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) for $129.99, which includes a copy of One Piece: World Seeker bundled with a Luffy and Devil Fruit figure.

In Europe, a “Pirate King” collector’s edition will also be released and include the following:

A copy of One Piece: World Seeker

The Season Pass

An exclusive 21cm Luffy figurine

A replica of the Gum-Gum devil fruit

The original soundtrack of the game composed by Kohei Tanaka

Here are the latest gameplay details, via Bandai Namco:

As well as seamlessly traversing the world using Luffy’s acrobatic Gum-Gum fruit abilities, we are introduced to Luffy’s two main action modes (Haki). The first, is the strength-based Arm Haki, that focuses on raw power, allowing Luffy to use overwhelming force to defeat his opponents. The second, Observation Haki, which allows Luffy to slow down time as well as improving his sneaking prowess with stealth attacks and the ability to see enemies and more through walls.

The gameplay footage also, provides a first look at the Skill Tree and Crafting/Cooking mechanics. By completing missions and progressing through the game, Luffy will be granted Skill Points that enable players to upgrade his powers and abilities via the Skill Tree to suit their own play style.

Crafting is accessed via Usopp or Franky, two of Luffy’s Straw Hat Pirate Crew, who can use items and materials found by Luffy in the world to create new equipment, while Sanji can cook Lunch Boxes for the rest of the crew, enabling them to explore the islands and gather additional resources for players.

Finally, Luffy’s incredibly powerful Gear Fourth mode is revealed for the first time, giving players access to powerful new combat skills and traversal techniques, abilities that last only for a short time.

Watch the latest trailer below. View the latest screenshots at the gallery.

youtube

#One Piece: World Seeker #One Piece #Bandai Namco #PS4 #Xbox One #Gematsu

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zawazawanightmares · 6 years

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Luffy vs. Cult Classics

This is a conversation between Lost Tapes is the shit and Monkey D. Luffy.

Lost Tapes is the shit: It is a dramatization of if cryptozoological creatures existed in a found footage setting it's a fucking dope TV show from the late 2000's on animal planet.

Monkey D. Luffy: Oh...wow.

Lost Tapes is the shit: It's fucking awesome.

Monkey D. Luffy: Imagine that.

Lost Tapes is the shit: No longer on air though.

Monkey D. Luffy: An entire planet of animals...

Lost Tapes is the shit has left the conversation.

#shamchat #monkey d. luffy #lost tapes

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windrocklibrary · 6 years

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Galemont Talks About: Things That I Recall From E3 Conference (now that they’re over)

These are a collection of things that I mainly remembered the most in regards of the 2018 E3 Conference and my thoughts on it. They’re all a combination of things that I both like and not really like. Either way, all of these are my own opinions and spins on it.

Disclaimer Note #1: Yes, I like video games. No, I don’t/can’t play them or rather to an extent that I can play MAJORITY or ALL of them. Why? Because I’m poor -- so I might as well revel around other people’s emotions and mine (makes me sound like a vampire or something).

Disclaimer Note #2: I won’t include the sideshows or extras (e.g. Nintendo Treehouse). I am going to state things based on the things that are presented at the conferences.

ELECTRONIC ARTS (EA)

Frankly not the most memorable for me. They mentioned not much from EA other than sports games like Fifa, NFL, and NBA (ones I remembered at least), Battlefield V, Command & Conquer Rivals, and Anthem to name a few.

I kind of like how the folks at EA are somewhat self-aware on what they’re doing when talking about Battlefield V, stating that they want to depict their own image of WWII; though that’ll probably start a conversation for some folks I can imagine. It’s a bit of a downer for me considering that people are applauding at the information that there won’t be any lootboxes. Whether or not this will be true is beyond me.

Anthem looks interesting, to say the least. Though it’s such a shame that they didn’t mention, let alone, showed much. So with that being said I can’t say anything and even be very excited about it. We’ll see how it’ll go.

MICROSOFT STUDIOS

Lot’s of games. They showed off first party games like Halo: Infinite, Gears 5, and Forza Horizon 4. Ori and the Will of the Wisp was pretty neat and made me somewhat interested in trying out the Ori series.

The reveal of Devil May Cry 5 and Jump Force was very wild! The rumors that I often hear regarding DMC5 since last years Game Awards were very enticing, it was very cool to see it actually be true on E3.

Seeing Jump Force was surreal, especially when you’re watching Naruto, Goku, Luffy, and Frieza beating up each other in a hyper-realistic depiction of New York City’s Time Square; the shot of Ryuk and Light from Death Note is pretty wild too--would love to see what other Shounen Jump characters to be revealed there.

The trailer for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice looks very slick, kind of expecting it to be shown here especially after the teaser during the Game Awards.

The Amazing Adventures of Captain Spirit looks charming; a story that sets in the same universe of Life is Strange makes it interesting in my book. The game’s also free.

I’m super glad that Studio MDHR is making an expansion for Cuphead! It has always been a dream of mine to for Cuphead to have an expansion of some sort and I’m actually really excited that it’s real! They even made Ms. Chalice a playable character so that’s cool!

The game Cyberpunk 2077 was almost thought to be a myth until now. It’s essentially one of those games where you heard it and you’ll never know when the game will actually be released or revealed again; so seeing it back up again is pretty cool especially with their own flares for an introduction. Hopefully, it won’t go off into dark again.

BETHESDA

What’s the deal with that big dude during the Rage 2 presentation? He was like silent for a straight 15 seconds or something, some said that maybe his prompter bugged out? Who knows. Most of the presentations there were a little awkward, though it’s probably because most of them aren’t exactly used to standing in front of a big crowd or something.

Speaking of awkward, the Andrew W.K. live performance was whacked. He didn’t sound good there if I have to be honest, I don’t think most of the audience were jazzed about it too.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood was interesting, DOOM: Eternal caught me by surprise. Most of the other games shown there were interesting but didn’t really move me a lot.

Frankly speaking though despite the often awkwardness, there were some funny moments as well. Todd Howard’s presentation was a fun one to me; he was very self-aware of the jokes that went all over about him. I’m glad that Fallout 76 was expanded more in this conference because it was showed on Microsoft’s; it’s going to be an online multiplayer experience but apparently, it’s pretty divisive among folks, I personally think it’s neat--the nukes, however, is probably going to be a little sketchy in my opinion.

They also announced Elder Scrolls VI. Well, I say announced, it’s basically a tease; then it’s over.

DEVOLVER DIGITAL

Same thing they did last year: a satirical shitshow that makes fun of the conferences. It’s pretty fun, but admittedly I kind of got bored with it and I just want to see games more than them losing their minds. I say that because most of the jokes they do are basically beating on the same old topics that have been talked by folks for so long. Their conference is basically a self-contained story-arc, this one being the continuation of the previous one and I’m sure they’ll probably continue it next year.

They did show some games. 3 I believe. A battle royale shooter (I think?) called SCUM, a frenetic and comical platform shooter called My Friend Pedro (the one I’m most interested), and something called Meta Wolf Chaos XD which is a remaster of the cult favorite FromSoftware game of the same name. I’ll probably need to look it up on that more, looks fun.

SQUARE ENIX

Not really intrigued with it to be perfectly honest. Some of the things that they showed there have already been shown during the Microsoft conference (Kingdom Hearts 3, Just Cause 4, and Shadow of The Tomb Raider). While they did somewhat expand on it a bit, it kind of lost the impact that I think it could’ve had.

They announced an expansion of sort for Final Fantasy XIV Online along with a crossover with Monster Hunter World, showed Dragon Quest XI, and a new title called Babylon’s Fall by Platinum Games that is basically a teaser. Speaking of teasers, they also teased another new title called The Quiet Man; which admittedly has the strangest trailer.

Somewhat disappointed that they didn’t show anything about Final Fantasy VII Remake. It’s been so long since they announced it and showed a gameplay footage of it. Hopefully, they’re doing alright because the longer it goes on like this, it might become stale.

UBISOFT

The things that they showed there feels rather unsurprising because I kind of expected the things that they would do at the conference.

Kind of happy that they showed their new Just Dance game as their first thing, that way they cut the fluff and make the rest of the show focus on larger titles. There’s also a dude who tripped himself into a television.

Beyond Good and Evil 2 showed a new cinematic trailer, featuring Jade--but evil or something. The presenters said they want to show a gameplay footage but they showed very little. Joseph Gordon Levitt popped in and talked about putting people’s creative work into Beyond Good and Evil 2 (at least, that’s what I recalled)--didn’t really go into details on the incentives though.

For Honor got a new update featuring Chinese warriors into the mix, and they’re making the game available for free to grab for a limited time until June-18-2018.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 was showed again but explained a little more there, it looked interesting despite feeling like another generic rpg shooter. It looked interesting, they mention how they’ll do season updates throughout the year for free and I thought that’s cool. I do hope they’ll do well on this one.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas was showed a bit more again there and good golly they made a surprise with Star Fox crashing the scene, especially making Fox McCloud being playable with his Arwing. Pretty slick. Yves Guillemot even made a surprise by giving Shigeru Miyamoto a gift and I thought that was adorable.

The DLC for Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle that features Donkey Kong was shown there, looks neat but didn’t show much, it was explained in further details during the Nintendo Treehouse though.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey was announced there and it’s surprising to me considering that Origins was out since last year. It looks pretty I’ll say that much. You can also play between two characters in the game: Alexios and Kassandra. It also looks like they’re making the game very action rpg-esque, kind of like Origins.

PC GAMING SHOW

This flipping conference went on for WAY too long. 2 hours for crying out loud! I also fell asleep halfway through or something because many of the things they showed there weren’t fascinating to me.

Satisfactory won the award for the punniest game title.

Lot’s of SEGA games are coming to PC, ones that caught my attention being Shenmue I & II and Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza 0.

Untitled Publisher, a publisher that’s new to me announced 3 new indie games--2 of which I found the most interesting: Bravery Network Online and Overwhelm.

The game Maneater is basically a game about you being a shark and I have an iffy feeling it’ll shed a bad light on sharks for the public (I hope not).

Took so long for them to show Ooblets, a game that I’m very excited for, showed a new trailer though it showed some things. Wished there was more though.

SONY

The conference kicks out with The Last of Us: Part 2. Ellie is pissed as hell and I have no idea why and I’m scared. She also kissed a girl so that’s something. It kind of caught me off guard because I didn’t follow the previous game and its DLCs, so the whole information of Ellie being a lesbian is pretty new.

Resident Evil 2 Remake is revealed and it looks slick. The fact that Capcom released and announced games lately that actually looked cool as heck is wild. Hope it goes well for them in this one as well as DMC5!

This year’s E3 Conference showed off not one, but THREE samurai games; two of which were shown off in Sony’s conference: Ghost of Tsushima and Nioh 2. Not complaining, they all look slick.

Kingdom Hearts 3 also appeared in this year’s E3 Conference not once, but THREE times as well at different conferences. I should’ve mentioned before that every trailer did show something different, with the one in Sony having the most difference. It looks like Kingdom Hearts 3 is going to have Ratatouille and Pirates of the Carribean joining in.

I remember wanting to see more of Death Stranding and know what the heck the game’s about, and they showed some gameplay footage during the presentation. Still have no clue what it’s going to be about though.

There’s a weird looking game called Control, something to do about a girl with a gun who has telekinesis. Looks minimalistic and clean; it might be good too.

Spiderman features a handful of villains beating up on Spidey in the end. It’s a gameplay footage and oddly I don’t feel that intrigued by the trailer for some reason.

NINTENDO

Surprisingly not a lot of big games were announced on Nintendo Direct. I’ll say it here and now that the majority of the Nintendo Direct is mainly for the new Super Smash Bros. Aptly named as Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Needless to say, a lot of people were happy and so was I; though I’m surprised and mildly sad they didn’t show anything about Metroid Prime 4.

The first thing they showed was a mech game called Daemon X Machina. I first thought it was Armored Core, but the surprising part is I somewhat half-correct. The game was actually made by the same people who made Armored Core! Pretty funny to me considering that the design of the mechs in Daemon X Machina and Armored Core looked very similar. The trailer was wicked sick too so I’m sold.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 got a new DLC called Torna: The Golden Country that is available this September, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses is also announced to come out next year. So I’m sure the fans of those series would be very excited.

Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee got a small spotlight there, but it’s mostly on the accessory Pokeball Plus. Turns out, every Pokeball Plus comes with a Mew for free inside; which to me is basically a way to make people want to buy the accessory then (that’s marketing ploy right there). This is interesting to me because it reminds me of the message in the last Let’s Go trailer that mentioned: “you’ll meet a special Pokemon”. This could either mean Mew or something else. So we’ll see.

Fortnite is on Switch, not a surprising thing to me and I think it’s good for the game and the devs who made it. I personally think Epic Games deserve the success with their game in my opinion.

Overcooked 2 is coming soon and now features online co-op which is great! Killer Queen Black looks interesting and my personal favorite Hollow Knight is finally out the day the Direct was on! If you’re into metroidvanias I highly recommend Hollow Knight very easily--the game is generally worth having as well in my opinion.

Super Mario Party was also revealed and I’m genuinely happy; it would feel weird for a Nintendo console to not have a Mario Party game. It also has a Goombah as a playable character there too!

The Direct also bust out a montage of games; the ones that caught my attention were Dragon Ball FighterZ, The World Ends With You, Splatoon 2 Octo-Expansion, Wastelands 2 Directors Cut, Megaman 11, Paladins: Champions of the Realm, Arena of Valor, and Ninjala.

Now for the big one. Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The announcement was great and crazy long, and you can definitely tell that Masahiro Sakurai and the devs were busy when they made this game. It’s essentially a port of the Wii U, but it’s brand new and it adds so many things it might as well be a new game. The game’s biggest feature is the fact that they’re having ALL of the characters throughout the history of Smash Bros. ever; being someone who got introduced to the series since Brawl, seeing Snake and many other old characters was super cool.

They also showed off new characters as well. Princess Daisy is finally in Smash and that was very exciting to me; she’s treated as something called Echo Fighters, which is a fancy term of a character that is a clone but with some variations (other Echo Fighters being Lucina and Dark Pit). They showcased Inkling and what they can do, and in the end, they announced Ridley from Metroid.

END

And thus concludes the many things I found interesting in 2018 E3 Conference. I think this year’s E3 Conference has been rather modest as so many of the games are mainly coming out next year--and these are the ones that are meteoric as well. As to who won E3, well that’s beyond me, especially considering all the factors on what makes someone win E3. If you’re talking about the number of games revealed, I’d say Microsoft. If regarding the games released in 2018, I’d say Nintendo. Either way, I just want to see great games that are fun for people to play with. If the anyone can have a good time and be genuinely happy with a game; then that’s a win in my book.

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xtheoria · 7 years

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With you by my side

So, this is my contribution to the ZoNami Bang! Bang! 2017 by @zonamievents! It’s a collab with the wonderful @jeannetteleven who drew this lovely picture for my story! Enjoy!

With you by my side

Everything hurt. That was the first thing Nami noticed. She felt dizzy and had trouble moving. Only then did she realize that everything around her was pitch-black. The navigator felt how panic started to rise in her chest. Where was she? What had happened? She just couldn't seem to remember... and what was that annoying feeling of somebody poking her arm? "Oi, woman? You dead or what?" Sounded the voice of non other than the infamous swordsman of the Straw Hat Pirates, Roronoa Zoro, in her ears. ~Idiot!~ She thought. ~How dare he sounding so bored and uninterested in my wellbeing when I could very well be on the brink of death!~ The panic she had felt before was suddenly replaced by anger.

Nami's eyes snapped open and she jolted up into a sitting position - and why had she been lying on the ground in the first place? - ready to scold the unsuspecting swordsman for his rude and insensitive behavior when...

"Ouch!" Nami exclaimed and raised a hand to touch her head. It throbbed terribly. "Welcome back to the land of the living!" Zoro even had the nerve to smirk at her! Nami huffed at the man who sat to her right side but decided that finding out about their current situation was more important than to argue with him. She could still raise his debts later. She looked around realizing that they were in some kind of cave. Alone. Great. Raising her head slowly to examine the ceiling of their cavern, Nami noticed a big hole right above her head instead of the anticipated ceiling. She could see the blue sky. "What the hell?" Was her first reaction as the pain slowly subsided. "Yeah well... the ground collapsed when we fought the guys that wanted to rob you and we fell down here..." Zoro had the courtesy to explain. "We fell?" Nami blinked as the memory slowly came back to her. Well, that explained why her body hurt all over. Zoro, who seemed to be perfectly fine, nodded and continued. "I guess the soil was unstable to begin with, so when you electrocuted these guys, the ground wasn't able to absorb your lightning and decomposed or something like that." He shrugged. "Oh, so this is my fault now?" Nami hissed angrily at him. "If you would have taken care of them faster, then we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place!" "WHAT? Don't you dare blaming this on me now, witch! You said, you didn't need my help and would take care of these scumbags yourself!" Zoro shouted back at her, his brow furrowed as he held her angry stare with his good eye. Nami paused at his words as the memory came back. It was true. When they had docked at this island everybody had jumped at the chance to visit the big city after a few weeks of nothing but the sea and little villages that hadn't provided many opportunities for diversion. Only Zoro had been less than enthusiastic about the idea of visiting the marketplace and the adjoining stores (and restaurants as Luffy had emphasized). Zoro had just been about to take a nap in the cool shade of Nami's tangerine trees when the very same woman had kicked him violently in his side, informing him about his 'luck' to go shopping with her. Needless to say that he hadn't agreed right away. But Nami had always had her ways of luring him to go along with her plans. No less than two hits on his head with her - surprisingly strong - fist, a threat to enjoy her newly developed skills with the clima tact and a promise to go find a bar after they were done shopping it had taken her to convince him that her idea was indeed brilliant. But obviously she had overrated her own luck. After dragging him to six stores in a row and loading him with even more bags full of newly purchased clothes, Zoro’s patience had snapped when Nami had been about to enter a lingerie store. They had fought but in the end Nami had agreed to let him wait outside the store for her - even though she really had been looking forward to make him uncomfortable by showing off to him - but she obviously hadn’t had a choice. Big mistake, as it would turn out. Nami had taken her sweet time picking out new underwear and saucy nightgowns, not knowing what to make out of the disappointment she had been feeling about Zoro’s disinterest in watching her try on lingerie for him. Somehow, his behavior had made her lose her good shopping mood. How dare he dismiss her like that anyway? Prepared to give him a piece of her mind, she had left the store without buying anything, only to find her dutiful luggage carrier... gone. Nami had thought she really needed to murder somebody. RIGHT. NOW. In the best case that would have been the idiot swordsman who had dared to wander off and get lost while carrying HER clothes. Nami remembered looking for him, trying to put herself into Zoro’s shoes and figure out which way he would have chosen. Because clearly, he wouldn't have taken the straightest path back to the Sunny, hell would rather freeze over before that happened, Nami had been sure about that. So she had figured taking the opposite direction that was leading out of town onto a hill would be her safest bet. Unfortunately, some street thugs had found her first. Nami had rolled her eyes when these pathetic idiots had tried to surround her, obviously thinking she would be an easy prey for them. She hadn’t been sure if she should be annoyed or thankful for their appearance because no matter where Zoro was hanging about he always miraculously appeared when she was close to danger. As if on cue, Zoro had suddenly showed up, jumping over the line of attackers with an impressive somersault, two swords already drawn and blocking the attack of all six enemies at once. "Just how many of you are charging on one girl?" Zoro had asked, his voice dark and menacing. Nami had felt her heart speed up hearing Zoro use the exact same words he had said when they had first met. Affection had welled up in her chest, thinking that Zoro had used these words on purpose because they meant something when... "How cowardly of you to gang up on one weak girl. I am a better opponent for you!" Nami had felt her left eye twitch and had balled one hand into a fist. ~What? How dare he call me weak!~ Before she could stop herself, she had raised her fist to let it connect with the green-haired head in front of her. Hard. "Oi, oi! What the hell, Nami? What was that for?" He had turned around to her and taken a step in her direction, trying to stare her down. Any other person would probably have backed away from him, scared for their lives but not Nami. She had met his gaze with her own furious stare and had pressed her hands into her hips. She could have sworn Zoro flinched when she had stood up to him. Served him right. "Hey, sword dude! We saw her first! Get in line and you can have her later!" One of the guys had said, resulting in screams of laughter from his friends. Nami had noticed how Zoro had narrowed his eye and how he had gripped his swords tighter. She hadn’t been sure if it was because of how they had been talking about her or because he finally had been fed up with these guys but her own patience had snapped at that moment. Just as Zoro had wanted to turn around to neutralize their enemies, Nami had shoved him away to brush past him. "This is my fight! Stay out of it!" She had shouted at Zoro while assembling her clima tact. Everything had gone downhill from there. She had used her thunderbolt tempo creating an impressive storm cloud to electrify her enemies who hadn’t expected such a forceful attack to strike them from above taking them out all at once. Unfortunately for the navigator and her companion, the ground they had happened to stand on had obviously not been able to withstand the high artificial voltage as it had tried to absorb the strong blow.

Next thing she remembered, Nami had been stumbling and suddenly she had lost her footage, as did Zoro next to her. She had seen him reach for her, trying to wrap himself around her to shield her from crumbling soil and stones but everything had happened so fast that he obviously couldn't protect her entirely when they had finally hit the ground. ~That didn't go so well...~ Nami thought now. Her body ached and her head hurt but she gave Zoro credits for trying. "So either way, your attack was too powerful or we all were too heavy for the ground to bear. We're just lucky that none of these douchebags ended up down here." Zoro continued, calmer than before. Nami sighed. He was right but she'd never admit that to him. "Whatever. We're stuck in here and should start to find a way out of this cave." She tried to change the subject. Then suddenly, something else came to her mind. She looked around before turning back to her companion. "Zoro..." she cooed with an evil smile on her lips, leaning closer to him. She watched as Zoro frowned and instinctively backed away from her ever so slightly. He sensed trouble. "Where are my shopping bags?" she asked innocently, raising one eyebrow. She watched his expression turn from confused to angry before he exclaimed: "What the hell, witch? I was busy trying to save your ass..." "... that didn't need saving to begin with..." "... and all you worry about is your stupid shopping bags? How about... 'thank you Zoro for worrying about me and coming to my rescue'." He tried to mimic her way of speaking but failed miserably. Nami would have laughed at his poor imitation but she was too busy keeping the blush at bay that tried to creep its way up her cheeks. ~He worried about me?~ She couldn't believe her ears but she didn't want to deal with this right now. Ignoring her beating heart, she continued. "So you dropped them before you jumped over the attackers so you could draw you swords..." She scoffed at him but it came out softer than she expected. Zoro just shrugged. And then made the mistake to add: "You didn't need all this crap anyway." Anger flared in Nami as she stumbled to get to her feet, feeling slightly dizzy from going too fast but before Zoro could duck, he felt her fist hit him on his head. Hard. Again. "OI!" He complained before he heard Nami's hiss. She stood before him, her face twisted in pain while her right hand clutched at her left upper arm. "What? What is it, woman?" Nami lifted her hand in front of her face. There was blood smeared all over her fingers and she felt herself begin to panic. "Oh god, oh god, Zoro. I'm bleeding.... I..." she trailed off when she felt a warm hand palm her elbow to guide her to her knees. Zoro’s other hand came to rest on the inside off her upper arm so he could examine the wound. Nami prayed he didn't notice the shiver that ran through her when he touched her. "Relax, Nami. It's just a scratch from our fall." Nami noticed how he called her by her name and not by one of the nicknames he had for her, maybe to soothe her, maybe he didn't even realize it but the tone of his voice immediately calmed her down. "It's not deep. I'm not Chopper but if you ask me, I'd say you don't even need stitches." Nami let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She didn't want to bleed out in this cave with no medical care nearby. She felt Zoro withdraw his hands and immediately missed them on her. ~God, Nami! What's wrong with you today? ~ She scolded herself mentally as her eyes followed the path of Zoro's hands that... wandered to his bandana? Suddenly, his hands were back on her arm and incredulously she watched as he carefully wrapped the wound with the dark green piece of fabric that had adorned Zoro’s own upper arm only seconds before. Nami tensed, given the fact that Zoro used his bandana to patch her up and what the possible indication of that could be. She knew that particular piece of cloth was special to him.

Her head was spinning while the echo of her rapid heartbeat resonated in her ears and she held her breath anxiously, fearing that Zoro might hear it, too. Feeling her stiffen, Zoro stopped focusing on the task at hand to look up into her face and when their eyes met, Nami felt as if time stopped.

She was just wondering if that was really a blush creeping onto Zoro's cheeks or if she was imagining things when Zoro blinked, tying the bandana a little bit too tight around her arm before standing up hastily. "Guess, you won't die from blood loss now, witch." He said casually, turning his back on her. Nami fumed. There she was thinking they had a moment and then that idiot swordsman went and ruined it. She was just about to hit him again when she had another idea to pay him back. “Well, thanks for patching me up then.” Nami mumbled and took in her surroundings to figure out what to do next. They had ended up in a relatively large cave. It was quite dark except for the patch of ground they had landed on, the afternoon sun illuminating her and Zoro.

Behind her companion, Nami could make out a passage that seemed to be slightly leading downwards. It was the only way out of this room and Nami figured it was their safest bet to get out of the cave. Climbing was beyond question, Nami figured the ceiling was 6, maybe 7 meters above them, and they wouldn't be able to reach the hole anyway.

Nami sighed. The shortest way back to her purchases was no option. Not that she believed she would actually get them back. "So, what now? How do you suggest we get out of here?" Zoro wanted to know. Nami felt satisfaction flare up within her considering Zoro obviously trusted her skills enough to come up with a plan. She was just about to tease him for his question when she felt a cold breeze blowing through her hair. Nami shivered slightly to which Zoro raised an eyebrow and asked: "You cold or what?" "Did you not just feel that cool wind?" Zoro just shrugged. "It came from that passageway. What about it?" "It smelled like seawater, you idiot!" Nami explained, annoyed that her nakama was slow on the uptake. "If I'm not mistaken, we shouldn't be too far from the exit if the smell is still so strong!" She watched with amusement as Zoro’s expression turned from confused to understanding before it changed into a smirk. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" He asked before making his way to the passage. He only came a few steps far before he heard Nami clear her throat. Turning around to look at her he saw her still kneeling in the same spot she was in when he was treating her wound. "Come on, woman! Let's get going already!" He exclaimed irritated. "You have to carry me. I can't walk!" With perverse excitement, Nami relished into the pure expression of disbelief on Zoro’s face. "You... what? You can walk just fine!" He shouted, pointing an accusing finger at her. "You didn't seem to have trouble when you were standing to knock me on the head!" "Well, now I do, so you have to carry me!" Zoro crossed his arms in front of his chest before hissing: "Over my dead body!" Inwardly, Nami was delighted. Oh, how she loved messing with her green-haired swordsman. "Zoro..." she purred, leaning forward on her hands into his direction, ignoring the pinch in her left arm. "NO!" "Oh come on! You owe me! You lost my bags after all! Or do you want me to tell Sanji-kun afterwards that you preferred acting like a stupid caveman instead of making sure I'm fine?" She nearly laughed out loud at the way his eyebrow twitched as she mentioned the cook. "You ARE fine, goddammit!" He complained but came over to her anyway to offer her a piggyback ride. She shivered pleasantly when his warm, calloused hands took a firm hold on her naked thighs. "It's your own fault if your cold, running around in that poor excuse of a skirt." He murmured, obviously misinterpreting her shiver. Nami ignored his statement to avoid awkward explanations and wrapped her arms around his neck to keep herself from falling down when Zoro stood up. She extended one arm to point at the passage in front of them. "You have to go this way!" "I know that! It's the only way out of here!" Zoro grunted, annoyed that Nami pointed out the obvious. "One never knows when it comes to you. Just wanted to make sure." She grinned and rested her chin on Zoro's left shoulder as he began to move. She smiled when she felt him tense for a split-second. They followed the path that was slowly but surely leading them downwards into nowhere. After a few meters the light that illuminated the room behind them vanished and everything around them descended into darkness. Nami couldn't see anything anymore and she feared that they only walked deeper into the cave system, despite her initial assumption that the ocean should be close by. She tightened her arms around Zoro's neck, who, instead of teasing her for her discomfort, squeezed her thighs reassuringly. Then, another thought crossed her mind. "How come we didn't run into a wall yet? It's pitch-black in here but I still feel like we already took some turns." She wondered more to herself, however Zoro answered: "Observation Haki helps me to follow the path, I don't need my eyes to find my way around." Silence lay heavy between them but it seemed to speak volumes. "What? What is it, witch? If you have something to say, then out with it!" Zoro shouted exasperated. "Ooooh it's nothing" Nami chanted. "I was just wondering how you can possess this great ability but still get lost all the time. I get the suspicion that you're doing this on purpose." "It doesn't work like a road map, you know." He grunted, earning him nothing but a giggle. "I'll drop you, if you don't shut up" he threatened her, making her laugh even harder. She leaned forward, closer against what she assumed was his ear in the dark and whispered: "I know you won't." He didn't answer to this. Instead, a comfortable silence settled between them as Zoro carried on to lead them out of the cave and Nami found that she quite liked the fact that neither of them seemed to see need to fill that silence with words. She wondered if her seemingly new-found attraction to Zoro was actually something worth pursuing. For a while, they just enjoyed being together like that. Well, Nami tried to at least but these warm, calloused hands on her thighs made it hard to concentrate. How they would feel all over her body... "Do you really mean that?" Zoro's words echoed from the narrow walls that surrounded them, effectively breaking the silence and making Nami swallow hard, desperately trying to figure out if she accidentally spoke her last thought aloud. "What?" Was her short-cut and, admittedly, not very intelligent answer as she tried franticly to come up with an explanation. "That you think it's a great ability to use my Haki like that?" He explained obviously unaware of her inner turmoil. Letting out an anxious breath she didn't know she was holding, Nami took a moment to ponder on his question. "Well, it is pretty awesome considering how you could use it in battle or in a situation like this." She replied seriously. For her to obviously praise his skills like that was new and Zoro seemed to feel like that, too, if the way his hands twitched nervously was any indicator. "It's not that special given we're in the New World and all... it's like everybody here is able to use Haki to some extent...." He trailed off, making Nami frown. Since when was he, Roronoa Zoro, the infamous pirate hunter, modest about his abilities? She really wanted to come back with a witty remark. Make him squirm and feel uncomfortable because that's what they did all the time... then she remembered the dull throbbing pain in her arm and the way Zoro had bandaged the wound with his bandana ever so gently... And suddenly she didn't want to disturb the serious moment between them by teasing him. These moments were already rare as it were. "Doesn't make it any less cool that you can use it, too." Nami was sure that she could almost see him beam at her words as he straightened his back. And he had any right to be proud, Nami thought. She'd kill to have a skill as awesome and useful as Haki, seriously. "What are you talking about?" Oh. Apparently, that thought she HAD spoken aloud. Well... shit. “Your weather magic is quite some skill, if you ask me. And I have first-hand experience with that.” Zoro pointed out. Nami was ready to open her mouth to inform him that, in fact, she wasn’t using some kind of weird magic, thank you very much.

But she didn’t feel like fighting with him right now. “Thanks.... I guess.” She answered somewhat lamely and suddenly the previously comfortable silence felt incredibly awkward. Nami just didn’t know how take him complimenting her.

Zoro must have felt it, too. “Witch” He said, in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood, fondness and amusement evident in his voice.

“Idiot” she answered him affectionately. “Oi, no need to insult me...” Zoro complained but Nami interrupted him.

“Look, Zoro! I think I can see some light there. This must be the exit!” And really, only a short while later, they stepped outside the cave.

Nami hopped of Zoro’s back, ignoring his murmuring about how she could indeed walk just fine and glanced around to see if she could locate their current position. They stood on a small strip of rocky land, a stony beach of only a few meters width before it led into the ocean with a steep cliff in their backs.

“Well isn’t this just great!” Nami muttered under her breath as she felt a familiar tingle all over her skin.

“What’s wrong now? It looks like over there is a way that leads up the cliff. I'd say this is our way out of here.” He pointed to the left to a small path that wormed its way up the stone wall.

“I agree but we should hurry, there’s some heavy rain coming soon.” Nami explained as Zoro frowned. “Rain? The sky’s all clear and...” And just as he was saying these words, he felt the first raindrops as it slowly started to drizzle. Looking up, he could indeed see that the sky was covered by thick clouds.

“And you keep saying you have no skill whatsoever...” He mumbled and turned to the left. Maybe they made it up the cliff and to a safer position before they ended up completely drenched.

"Let's get going then!" Zoro exclaimed but only came a couple of steps far before he noticed that Nami wasn’t following. As he turned around to look for her, he spotted her several meters away from him, climbing a big rock close to the cliff.

“Oi, Nami!” He called, “What are you doing? The way is over here. I seriously don’t know why everybody insists that I have no sense of direction!”

Nami didn’t even flinch at his voice. She stood up on the rock before stretching herself as far up as she could to get to something above her head, just out of her reach. An abandoned bird’s nest was sitting on a small ledge.

The navigator of the Straw Hats had detected it while taking in here surroundings, a faint sparkle catching her eye and Nami had smelt treasure.

Extending her arm to grab the object that looked suspiciously like a pearl necklace, the last thing Nami felt was how she lost her footage on the increasingly moist boulder.

A curt shriek escaped her mouth and she squeezed her eyes shut, already expecting to face plant onto the ground but the impact never came and she felt one cheek bump into a muscled chest as strong arms caught her to stop her from falling.

Zoro slowly set her down, an exasperated look on his face. “There’s treasure!” Nami tried to justify her actions to which Zoro only lifted an eyebrow before letting out an annoyed sigh.

“You’re hopeless, woman!” He muttered but pulled himself up on the rock Nami fell off, only to reach for the necklace with barely any effort. Instead of grabbing it, however, he took hold of the ledge to raise himself some more.

“Look what we got here!” He proclaimed, his voice all but oozing with smugness. Nami suddenly became giddy with anticipation because it couldn’t be, could it?

“There’s a gap in the stone wall and it looks like something’s in there!” Zoro explained since Nami obviously couldn’t see that.

The navigator watched Zoro lean up even more, reaching inside the gap only to produce a wooden chest. Taking it under one arm, he jumped down to set the chest safely to the ground but Nami just whipped it out of his hands and yanked the lid open.

“Oh my god!” she breathed, eyes shining with delight as she took in the jewels and gold coins that filled the chest. “It’s a treasure and it’s all mine!” she chanted happily and hugged the crate. She would take her sweet time counting it’s worth later.

Zoro peered over her shoulder to see for himself. “Actually, it belongs to whoever hid it up there.” He deadpanned, amused by Nami’s antics.

“We are pirates, Zoro! If we find treasure we keep it, duh!” Nami rolled her eyes at her companion because, really, how could he not understand that?

"That's even better than shopping and it more than compensates what I spend on my lost purchases!" Nami called out delighted. “Good for you, I might even refrain from charging you!” She winked at him and closed the chest to shove it into Zoro’s arms.

“Oi, oi! Why do I have to carry the chest if it’s YOUR treasure?” Zoro complained weakly as Nami started to head for the path Zoro had wanted to take all along.

“Come on, now! We really should get out of here and find the others before this drizzle turns into a full-blown storm! And we still need to find you that bar I promised you!”

When Zoro finally started to tag along, Nami threw him blinding smile. “Now Zoro, there are definitely benefits in having you by my side!” she cooed. “Maybe we should get lost together more often!”

So, this is it! I hope you enjoyed it. Check out Jeannette’s drawing as well! Thanks for reading!

#zonami bang! bang!#zonami #zoroxnami #namixzoro #zona #swordgust

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akatsuki3519 · 7 years

Note

Your top 5: favourite 'One Piece' characters, least favourite 'One Piece' characters, anime guys, anime guys that you would date (:P ;)), waifus, favourite opening songs, favourite anime endings, manga, favourite non-anime shows and favourite anime!!! That's quite a list!! Obviously, please feel free to pick the ones that interest you the most!! :D If I think of any more....I'll be sure to put them in your ask box!! ;)

Thanks so much for these, they’re great!!

Favourite One Piece characters: (I have SO MANY, but I think this is accurate! :P)1) Roronoa Zoro2) Monkey D. Luffy3) Trafalgar Law4) Jinbe - if he doesn’t join the crew I’m gonna riot, he’s just the best:’)5) Donquixote Rocinante/Corazon

Least favourite One Piece characters:1) Blackbeard/Teach - one of my least favourite anime characters EVER, I can’tstand him!! I can’t wait to see him get his ass kicked…2) Akainu/Sakazuki - I hate him too, for obvious (spoiler filled) reasons…3) Trebol - he’s so annoying… >.4) Charloss - I wanted to just say the Celestial Dragons as a whole (except onefamily who shall remain nameless because massive spoilers) but that’s kinda cheating, so I picked my most hated one >:(5) Hody Jones (I just mildly dislike him lol)

Anime guys:1) Killua Zoldyck (Hunter x Hunter)2) Yuuri Katsuki (Yuri on Ice)3) Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass)4) Makoto Tachibana (Free!)5) Rin Okumura (Ao no Exorcist)

Anime guys you would date: (this one was actually REALLY difficult, I changed my mind so many times and had to discount some of my faves for various reasons XD)1) Kiyoshi Teppei (Kuroko no Basuke) - he’s an actual angel 2) Trafalgar Law (One Piece) - okay, so he’s kind gruff and messed up but he’s actually a great person, even if he won’t admit it… :’) I was gonna say Roci but I figured Doffy would likely kill me so maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea lol3) Asahi Azumane (Haikyuu!!)4) Shizuo Heiwajima (Durarara!!)5) Sakuragi Rokurouta (Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin) - a bit of acurveball perhaps, I haven’t seen this show in quite a while and rarely talkabout it (partially because although it’s excellent, it’s very graphic and Ifound it very hard to watch), but I remember loving this character so much,he’s such a sweetheart and really looks out for the younger kids in the show

Waifu’s:1) Yona (Akatsuki no Yona)2) Nico Robin (One Piece)3) Celty (Durarara!!)4) Bishamon (Noragami)5) Machi (Hunter x Hunter)

Favourite opening songs: (okay so for both OP’sand ED’s, I took into account the video for the OP/ED as well as the song,otherwise it would have taken me days to decide!! >.1) Death Parade OP (Flyers by Bradio) - so, SO catchy! 2) One Piece OP 16 (Hands Up by Kota Shinzato) - the song never fails to cheerme up and the footage in the OP is excellent too (and spoiler free! :P)! I haveto mention that this is tied with OP 14 (Fight Together) though… sorry I knowthat’s cheating! XD I prefer the video of OP 14 (has spoilers though) but thesong of OP 16 so they kinda add up to me loving them both the same in the end!3) Haikyuu!! OP 4 (Fly High!! by Burnout Syndromes) - love the song and it’svisually STUNNING as well, the camera angles are phenomenal!! 4) FMA: B OP 5 (Rain by SID) - again, love the song and video 5) Kuroshitsuji Book of Circus OP (Enamel by SID) - and again, love the songand video! I particularly love how the credits are incorporated into the OPtoo!!

Honorable mentions: I feel the need to say I adore all the Durarara!! OP’s, bothNoragami OP’s, Akatsuki no Yona OP 1 and Naruto Shippuuden OP 6, I feel reallybad I couldn’t include them!! >.

Favourite ending songs: 1) Bungou Stray Dogs ED 1 (Namae Wo Yobu Yo by Luck Life) - beautiful melody and beautiful animation 2) FMA:B ED 2 (Let It All Out by Miho Fukuhara) - one of my all time faves!3) Parasyte ED (It’s the Right Time by Daichi Miura) - beautiful, beautiful song!4) Aldnoah.Zero ED 1 (A/Z by Hiroyuki Sawano, vocals by Mizuki) - I love all the music in Aldnoah.Zero, it’s composed by Hiroyuki Sawano after all :P5) Battery ED 2 (Wakamono no Subete by anderlust) - stunning ED… not so good show lol… this one JUST won out over Tokyo Ghoul ED 2 due to the video being gorgeous

Honorable mentions: Baccano! ED, Rainbow ED (first time I heard Galneryus and was blown away by the vocal range), Haikyuu!! ED 3, SnK ED 1, Kuroshitsuji ED 2, Higurashi ED 2, HxH ED 5, Durarara!! ED 2

Manga: (I’m excluding HxH because I’ve only read/amreading the Dark Continent arc in the manga lol)1) Akatsuki no Yona2) Noragami3) Ao no Exorcist4) Rurouni Kenshin5) Kuroshitsuji

Favourite non-anime shows:1) Dexter - still haven’t finished it, oops…2) Masterchef - I’m obsessed with food/cooking programmes in general lol3) Daredevil - I really enjoyed the first season a lot! 4) Casualty - haven’t watched it in a few months… >.5) Game of Thrones - I’m only on like season 4 but I quite enjoy it tbh lol

I don’t watch much TV at all but I’m probably forgettingsomething… I also really liked Doctor Who when David Tennant was the doctor, notso much now though

Favourite anime: (I’ll probably change my mindtomorrow but anyway :P)1) Hunter x Hunter - this is definitely no. 1 anyway 2) FMA/FMA: Brotherhood - can’t decide, sorry… T.T3) One Piece4) Code Geass5) Kuroko no Basuke

Guilty pleasure anime! :P (one you sent me after this message! i.e. shows I liked that a lot of people didn’t. Therearen’t many of these tbh because I’m very selective with the shows I choose towatch, so I’m also gonna include ones I’m embarrassed I liked lol…)1) Sword Art Online - I really liked the first half a lot, and I also thoughtthat scene in the parking lot near the end was really good lol. I definitelydidn’t hate the second half of the series as much as some people… 2) Black Bullet - I really enjoyed this one okay lol3) Highschool of the Dead - listen, Ecchi aside, I thought this show was prettygood… the Ecchi was SO unnecessary though, it really annoyed me, it wouldhave been a great show without it!4) Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo ‘Shounen Tanteidan’ Yori - okay, so I gave this a 6 and gave it a pretty hard time when I reviewed it, my main thought after the last ep being ‘what was the point in that??’, HOWEVER… I really enjoyed and looked forward to it every week? So I dunno this is a weird one for me lol5) Kuroshitsuji II - PLEASE DON’T DISOWN ME GUYS I’M SORRY! XD This season was objectively awful, but I didn’t hate it for some reason…? I mean I definitely didn’t love it either lol… but I don’t think I had as strong a hate for it as the rest of the fandom… it was a really messed up season though, Alois creeped me out big time…

Favourite anime endings: (the other one you sent me after this message!)1) Code Geass (R2) - there’s a S3 coming out so I guess you could discount this as the ending of the series now lol… but it was fantastic T.T AND I don’t think I had it spoiled for me beforehand! Massive plus! :P2) Kimi no Na wa - is this cheating? >.3) Hunter x Hunter (2011) - Yes, there are some loose ends (that are continued in the manga), but I think even as a stand alone show the ending was very satisfactory, I loved it!4) FMA: Brotherhood - just a really satisfying and complete ending! 5) Clannad: After Story - I was just so relieved it ended the way it did, I couldn’t have handled it otherwise haha… T.T

Honorable mentions: ACCA, Shouwa Genroku, Angel Beats!

And that’s it!! :D Thanks somuch for these they were such great asks!!

#under the cut because I rambled big time lol... ^^"#thanks so much again for these!! <3 #I hope I didn't accidentally miss any... >.<#ask replies #tag replies

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your-iron-lung · 7 years

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Mixed Up 14 | (I Don’t Need You To) Set Me Free) |

Chapter Word Count: 2448

Pairings: Zoro/Sanji

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Chapter Warning: Strong Language

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Next Chapter: 15

Zoro stared, unmoving, into the cab of her car. He examined it, searched it with his eyes for anything hidden that might later come to harm him, but could only see the large, leather handbag that rested between the front seats.

He sniffled from the cold, then nodded his head towards the bag.

"What's in that?"

"A gun," Robin said, smile unwavering. "Sig Sauer. It's not for you, though."

Her words did little to ease his mind, but he found that to be believable; she didn't seem the type to try and deceive him that way. If she were going to shoot him, she'd be honest about it, at least.

Or, that's what he liked to think, anyway.

Still he hesitated, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he weighed his options.

He had no idea what she wanted from him or what would happen to him if he got in the car. There was no way of knowing- not until he did, a thought that chilled him more fiercely than the night air did. Stepping closer to the car, he put a hand to the hood and used it to balance himself as he stuck his head inside to see if there was anyone hidden in the backseat.

Ignoring the way the cold metal of the car stung his hand, he saw that there was no one else inside. It was just him and Robin- and whatever she wanted from him.

"Please don't make me ask twice, Bodyguard."

Her voice was quiet but stern, forcefully imploring him to heed her words and enter the vehicle. Chewing on the inside of his mouth, Zoro met her cool, calculating eyes with his own, trying his damndest to judge whether or not this was a situation he could escape should it turn sour.

He couldn't think of one, but got in the car anyway.

Despite how uncomfortable the situation was, he found that the atmosphere within the car was the exact opposite. It was warm; almost inviting, even, as the heat seeped gently through the vents directed at him. The seat itself was even heated, and was soft as he sat himself upon it. Classical music was softly playing on the radio as he closed the door and Robin began to drive.

Neither of them spoke immediately until Zoro turned to her and asked, "Where're we going?"

"Home," she said with a calculated air of ambiguity.

Puzzled, Zoro frowned.

"Yours or mine?" he asked slowly, trying to relax into the fine leather seating as she drove, picking up speed as they slowly made their way out of the downtown area. "And why?"

"Yours," Robin said with an easy smile. "I'm afraid I wasn't entirely honest when I said there wasn't anything for you in the bag."

At that, Zoro tensed and immediately went on the defensive, pushing his entire form against the door and keeping his hand on the handle in case he needed to evacuate, glad at least that he was smart enough to not have buckled in. To his annoyance, she laughed at his behaviour and gestured towards the bag.

"I invite you to find out for yourself what it is, Bodyguard."

"I have a name," Zoro snapped as he stared at the bag with trepidation. "Don't guess that matters to you, though."

Robin didn't reply; just kept smiling.

Staring at the bag, he wondered what could be inside it that she wanted him to see and why she was offering it to him so freely if her pistol was in there, too. Curiosity getting the best of him, he quickly reached out and snatcheed the bag into his lap before she could make a grab for it herself. She laughed softly, but he ignored it as he hesitantly stuck his hand inside.

He felt the grip of her gun as he searched the handbags contents, passing over small things he felt weren't important until he finally took hold of what else was inside. Confused, he pulled it out and stared at the VHS tape that was in his hand.

"What's this?" he asked, ignoring the way his heart rate perked up, feeling as though he might've already known the answer.

"Unedited footage of tonight's showing," she said simply.

Frowning, he looked from the tape to Robin.

"It was you who edited it?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Yes," she replied with a smile, never taking her eyes off the road.

Zoro stared at the cassette in his hand, unable to understand what the fuck was happening. They fell into silence as he tried to decipher the information that had just been thrust upon him.

So, Robin had edited the tape, but why? What'd she stand to gain from saving their asses like that?

"Why?" he asked slowly, vocalizing his thoughts as he turned the tape over in his hands. "Why would you go behind your boss like that?"

"He's not my boss," she said sharply, turning to give him a quick glare. "We are business partners."

"Alright, fine, whatever you want to call it," Zoro returned, placing the tape on his lap to keep himself from fidgeting with it too much. "That doesn't answer my question."

Robin didn't reply immediately as she directed her car onto the highway, her face briefly illuminated by a passing car, revealing a troubled, saddened expression.

"Because I owed someone a favor," she said at last, speaking softly.

"Who?" he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Luffy."

Upon hearing the mention of his name, Zoro froze in his seat completely.

Luffy.

Luffy was involved.

How? How did she know him?

"How the fuck do you know Luffy?" Zoro growled lowly, suddenly angry that she knew who Luffy was, immediately protective of the friend he hadn't seen or heard from in two years.

"Calm down, Bodyguard," she said, speaking evenly, yet unable to keep the melancholy out of her voice. "He helped me out of some very dangerous situations in the past. I owe him to do the same for his bassist."

Zoro's brow was furrowed tensely as he processed what she'd said, wondering what sort of situations she could have possibly been in that merited Luffy's help, or even why Luffy had helped her in the first place.

"What sort of situation?" Zoro asked slowly, and was unsurprised when Robin didn't answer, keeping her slim lips sealed on the matter.

"Whatever," he mumbled, feeling the exhaustions of the day catching up to him as he yawned.

Understanding now that he was out of harm's way, he found himself unknowingly relaxing into the comforts of the luxury car.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence as Zoro fought off his urge to fall asleep and attempted to process all that had happened to him in just a few short hours. He didn't bother asking how Robin knew where he lived, plenty aware of her resourcefulness when it came to trivial things like that. The VHS tape sat heavily in his lap, reminding him to be distrustful of Robin, knowing who she was. She had lied to her partner, after all, what was there to keep her from lying to Zoro now?

Wary and tired, Zoro cast his thoughts aside when they finally reached his apartment complex, turning in and driving slowly around to the front of his building where she stopped the car and gave him an expectant look.

Opening the door and stepping out, he held the tape in his hand and was unsure of what to do with it. It was stupid of him, he knew, to offer it back to her, but he did so anyway.

She laughed when she realized what he was doing and shook her head, saying, "Keep it, Bodyguard; it's a gift."

Zoro didn't thank her; didn't say anything more to her as he closed the door and watched her drive off, still completely at a loss with how to comprehend everything. Shaking his head slightly, he turned to head into his building and was surprised to see Sanji there, smoking on the sidewalk, staring at him.

They stood at odds for a moment, each of them staring at the other in surprise before Sanji broke out into a relieved grin, laughing nervously as Zoro began to approach him.

"That wasn't Usopp's car," Sanji finally commented as soon as Zoro was close enough to have a conversation, but to his annoyance, Zoro kept going and went straight for the stairs. "Oi! Where're you going? I waited out here for you for hours; I want to know what happened!"

"I didn't tell you to do that," Zoro grumbled irritably, already halfway up the first set of stairs. "And I need a beer. A lot of them."

Sanji could hear the exhaustion in Zoro's voice as he dropped his cigarette and snuffed it out with his shoe, halfway regretting what he was about to say, but saying it anyway.

"I have beer," he said casually, prompting Zoro to pause in his ascent. "Import. If you want it, you have to tell me what happened."

From up above, he could hear the punk sigh and grinned when he started to come back down, the thick soles of his boots creating deep, thumping noises that echoed off the surrounding walls of the breezeway.

"Beer first," Zoro said sternly, following after Sanji as he let them into his apartment. "Talk second."

"Me Tarzan, you Jane," Sanji mimicked, lowering the pitch of his voice to match Zoro, who ignored him and went straight for the chef's couch.

As he dropped himself heavily upon it, rolling his head back onto the supporting cushion, Sanji went to get the beer he kept stored in his fridge. He contemplated how many to bring, having seen Zoro drink before, and ended up grabbing two six packs, the glasses jingling against one another as he withdrew them. Coming back into the living room, he set the beer on the coffee table before the punk and sat down at the other end, popping open a beer for himself and his guest.

With a great, exaggerated groan of effort, Zoro sat up and took the beer, downing the entire thing in one quick swig. Disgusted, Sanji pulled a face that reflected his opinion but said nothing as Zoro went for his second beer, which he finished as quickly as his first.

When he went for a third, Sanji stopped him from drinking it all down in one go and again asked Zoro to tell him about what had transpired after he'd gone.

Despite how all Zoro wanted to do at that exact moment was drink and fall asleep, he explained in his own, drawn out fashion, about how both he and Usopp had been called into Crocodile's office, likening it to being called into the principal's office when he was in school.

"Usopp nearly pissed himself," he recalled with a laugh, taking a deep sip of beer. "Honestly it was pretty funny."

He continued telling the story, expressing confusion when he got to the part about Robin helping them, which, for some reason, delighted Sanji immensely.

"I knew such a beautiful woman couldn't be as evil as you made her out to be!" he said joyfully, making Zoro frown deeply.

"She didn't do it for you, idiot."

Rather than tell him about Luffy, Zoro left it at that and sat back again now that Sanji had been brought up to speed on the situation.

"So the mob won't be coming after me," Sanji said thoughtfully, staring at the VHS tape Zoro had told him about, now resting on the table amidst a plethora of empty beer bottles. "That's good."

When he turned back to Zoro to reaffirm his positive thinking, he found that the man had fallen asleep.

Sanji scowled and tsk'd his behaviour, but let him be. Standing up, he made to return the few remaining beers Zoro hadn't drunk to the fridge and then went back into the living room to stare and deliberate on what he should do with him.

He didn't mind if Zoro stayed over, and actually found that he kind of wanted him to, for whatever protective reasoning his mind was trying to convince him of. He looked worn out and vulnerable, having dealt with so much on his behalf. It was the least he could've done, but then he thought of Chopper, alone and untended in Zoro's apartment and knew he couldn't let him stay.

Zoro was snoring lightly in his seat as Sanji made a decision and went to shake him awake. The punk woke up with a slight snort and blearily looked at Sanji who gave him an apologetic shrug.

"Go take care of your dog," Sanji said. "He's been waiting for you longer than I have."

"How sweet." Zoro yawned and stretched before clumsily grabbing for his tape, knocking over a few empty bottles before he clutched it and coming to a stand, heading to the door. He paused as he opened it, turning back to Sanji to say, "Don't be late tomorrow, asshole."

"What?" Sanji said, confused as he began to clean up the bottles. "Late for what?"

"Your first lesson, idiot," Zoro said with a slightly drunken smirk before leaving.

Sanji gaped after him.

After all that had happened, after everything they had been through that night, Zoro had remembered that Sanji was to have his first music lesson the next day, even when he himself had forgotten. It was, honestly, the last thing on his mind, and now it had been brought to the front.

But beyond that, he realized a little uneasily that it must've been something Zoro was looking forward to, if he'd remembered it coming out of the art show. Somehow, the fact that he was to be teaching Sanji the next day had been a prominent thought in the punk's mind as he was subjected to the consequences of having snuck him into the show. He didn't know what that meant as he dropped the bottles into his recycling bin, and found a weird heaviness manifest itself in his chest.

"Shit," he mumbled to himself as he stood alone in his kitchen, frowning at the feeling before retiring to his room for the night, suddenly nervous for a reason that was not yet apparent to him about how the next day would unfold.

Zoro was, evidently, excited about it; Sanji found that he was, now, almost regretting his decision to sign himself up for lessons just to spite the man.

However, there was also a feeling of mutual excitement hidden below his apprehension; a feeling he did not, and would not, acknowledge.

#zosan fanfic #zosan fanfiction #zosan #zoro/sanji #one piece fanfiction #one piece #punk au #modern day au #slow burn #mixed up

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christianworldf · 6 years

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New Post has been published on Christian Worldview Institute

New Post has been published on https://christianworldviewinstitute.com/bible-prophecies/end-time-events/end-time-topics/mark-of-the-beast/jesus-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

Jesus and the Mark of the Beast

Did Jesus say anything about the Mark of the Beast? Here is wisdom, the secret wisdom of Jesus! Hidden in the sermon on the mount is a vital clue in understanding Bible prophecy. A search for the secret meaning of 666, reveals an amazing correlation between the four gospels and the last book of the Bible.

Please write to my email address on the ‘About’ section of this channel (found next to “business enquiries”).

What is “A Voice in the Desert”?

A Voice in the Desert is anonymous. Its purpose is to point people to the message, rather than the messenger. Most modern day prophets promote themselves more than the teachings of Jesus and the true message of Revelation. A Voice in the Desert challenges that error and more. Some of the things you hear on this channel may be difficult to understand, and may offend you. The goal, however, is to sweep away dogmas and traditions to reveal what Jesus actually taught.

If the message in this video had an impact on you, then please subscribe to stay up to date with more videos [https://goo.gl/EFxRCR].

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firehawk12 · 7 years

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Hot Docs 2017

I didn’t expect to watch as many films as I did during the festival, but the student pass certainly helped encourage watching films that I may have otherwise simply passed on otherwise. This is a couple of weeks late, but here are the films I watched in chronological order of screening date.

Raise Your Arms and Twist��— Documentary of NMB48

As someone who follows Japanese culture mostly through the lens of it’s otaku fair — anime, manga, jdrama, and variety shows — it’s almost impossible to avoid the AKB phenomenon. Artificially constructed or not, the influence of this idol franchise simply branches out to other forms of entertainment, making them synonymous with Japanese popular culture.

The NMB documentary is in an interesting look at the idol industry because of both its subject matter and the behind the scenes production issues. There have been several varnished AKB documentaries that have been released previously (at least two have been fan-subbed and are available in places where you would watch fan-subbed content), but there is something interesting about following what amounts to the “farm team” in NMB. Whether this depiction of NMB is true or not, the film wants us to believe that of the four main AKB groups, NMB is the least popular — and that even the popularity of the star of NMB pales in comparison to the regular AKB members. The fact that the film is directed by Toda Yoshihisa, who is a legitimate filmmaker, and not by an insider (for example, the HKT48 documentary was directed by a former member and present manager Rino Sashihara) allows for a unique perspective to the film that makes it more than just a marketing tool.

Yes, the film is promotional — there are countless clips of concert performances, perhaps in an attempt to try to push album sales — but there the film shows some of the less glamorous aspects of being an idol, even for one of the biggest idol franchises/factories in Japan. A couple of stories emerge to help paint an interesting picture of being a member of NMB. Ayaka Okita’s struggle to be given the opportunity to appear in one of “senbatsu” songs (what I take to be the Japanese idol equivalent of summer song), only to be told that she has “behavioral problems” that prevent her from being selected. Ririka Suto, whose Nietzsche-filled monologues frame the film for the audience, reveals to the audience that the idols themselves see their role is constructed, that they have no opportunity to self-actualization because they must perform and conform to the roles assigned to them. We also get to see Sayaka Yamamoto, the captain of NMB and the group’s most popular member, toil in the relative obscurity of sister group AKB’s shadow. We also get to see one of the least popular members, Saki Kono, eventually give up her career as an idol when she realizes that she will never have any fans. The documentary provides a very broad spectrum of the idol experience, exposing it to the audience warts and all. That’s not to say that the girls don’t know what they’re getting into — when the film follows Fuuko Yagura, we see that she wants to be an idol because she sees it as a way to earn an income to help support her family.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this documentary, but it gave me a glimpse into a world that I’ve been curious about but haven’t had the chance to access on my own.

Also, I still can’t get this song out of my head. Durian as a metaphor for love that goes beyond physical appearance, who would have thought?

youtube

Tokyo Idols

I was a bit surprised that there were two idol documentaries at Hot Docs this year, but this film ended up being a nice companion piece to the NMB documentary. Tokyo Idols follows the smaller, lesser known, underground idol groups that dot Japan. There are several idols that are documented for the film, but the film’s primary subject is Rio Hiiragi, an Akihabara idol who struggles to get mainstream attention.

Unlike the girls at NMB, Rio has to do everything on her own. In that respect, watching her basically hustle to get fans, I’m reminded of the Western phenomenon of “Twitch stars” (or even Instagram stars), where people have to continually grind out content to keep viewers happy and subscribed to their feeds. One of Rio’s stunts to try to drum up more fans was to tour Japan on a bike, while constantly livestreaming in order to keep her “home” fans updated. It’s not just about looking pretty, because based on the work that Rio puts into her career, it’s very much about her personality and drive as well.

Indeed, the film also follows several fans — including Rio’s fan club — and you see how these people have essentially placed all their hopes and dreams on the success of the girl that they are choosing to follow. It’s both innocent and also somewhat sad, since for these (mostly) male fans, they’re treating these idols as surrogate daughters or sisters to dote on. Rio’s main fan admits becoming an idol fan because he sees her as a second chance — he might not be able to live out his dreams, but maybe he can help Rio achieve her dreams. There’s an implicit understanding that the relationship they have with her will always be platonic — in a Q&A with the director after the screening, she spoke about an incident when a fan tried to pursue a romantic relationship with Rio and how her fan club had to essentially restrain him from coming to any of her shows.

The documentary also provides some more social context to explain the idol phenomenon, it’s suggested that it grew out of the economic recession and people’s desire to try to find something positive in their lives. The film also critiques it examining the model of femininity the idol industry projects to society. It actually reminded me a lot of the controversy surrounding the notion of the beauty pageant in the West, and how commentators have suggested that perhaps a contest where women are judged on their appearance may help project negative expectations of femininity into society as a whole.

One thing that isn’t really discussed in this film is the actual “profession” itself. Since Rio and the girls featured in this documentary are essentially independent, it’s not clear if they write their own songs or choreograph their own dances. In the climax of the film, Rio gets a measure of success when she is discovered by music producer Hyadain who writes a song for her:

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But there’s no real indication of where her previous songs come from. I can’t imagine that all of these girls write their own songs, so it would have been interesting to see what it takes to actually perform as an idol.

Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent

Although not part of the festival, I watched it in the same week and it IS a documentary, so… I’m going to count it!

I’ve been moderately interested in modern cuisine ever since I started watching various cooking competition shows. I’m not really qualified to make any judgments about food — I think deconstructed dishes are asinine and I was glad that in a Q&A after the film, Tower himself was fed up with the smears and dabs that you see in fine dining restaurants now — but it was interesting to see where the biggest part phenomenon of modern cuisine came from.

Although the origins are contentious, the film suggests that Tower is the first chef to really celebrate local ingredients. So while he is classically trained, he took his skill and applied it to fresh Californian ingredients rather than simply dole out the same old French and English dishes cooked with frozen ingredients that were expected of chefs at the time. The legacy of that simple revelation can be felt today, as even Chinese cuisine is being reinvented by Chinese chefs with Western training who want to feature Chinese ingredients.

The film also tries to be a biography of the man himself, but it is mostly a surface examination of his life. We get an understanding of his troubled childhood and how he found refuge in food, but for a man who famously dropped off the face of the Earth after restaurant failed, the film almost chooses not to explore this troubled time in his life. Instead, the film simply jumps forward to the time when he randomly came back onto the scene by taking over Tavern on the Green, the famous Central Park restaurant that has struggled to be relevant in the face of the contemporary restaurant scene.

I appreciated the film for enlightening me on a subject I have an interest in, but I’m also not sure if this wouldn’t have just been better off as a TV special or an episode of Bourdain’s show instead.

Living The Game

Admittedly, my initial interest in the film was based on the still above, making the assumption that the film would be about Daigo Umehara. I wanted to get a glimpse of the Japanese competitive gaming scene, but also get a glimpse into the life of a man who is fairly reserved in the public appearances that I’ve seen him participate in.

So at first I was disappointed when I saw that other players were profiled in the film — this includes Luffy, Justin Wong, and Gamerbee — but my doubts were quashed when I saw his footage of Momochi and his girlfriend/partner ChocoBlanka. That’s not to say the other stories weren’t interesting — we get to see Luffy try to juggle his life as an officer worker after winning Evo 2014, Gamerbee giving us a glimpse into his life and the troubled relationship he had with his absent father, and of course Justin Wong’s story (which has already been covered in greater detail in another documentary The King of Chinatown) and his infamous loss to Daigo.

But Takao Gotsu crafted an arc with Momochi. Perhaps it was easier to follow a Japanese player over the course of a year that led to Momochi being the focus of the film, but whatever the reason, it’s clear that he saw some interesting human drama in the brief glimpses of Momochi’s private life that are on display. We see Momochi evolve from a short-tempered, extremely serious player whose dedication is rewarded by the infamous win at Evo 2015, to a humbled man who loses the Capcom Cup title by the end of the year. In his loss, he learns that trying to chase down Daigo shouldn’t be his focus, and begins to focus on the relationship he has with ChocoBlanka — we see a scene where he yells at her and makes her cry because she isn’t properly executing her moves in a practice game of Street Fighter, before getting a scene where he publicly proposes to her and becomes a supportive husband.

Daigo serves mostly to provide context for Momochi’s arc. Daigo is the wall that Momochi must climb, but he can never quite make it over. So while we get some glimpses into Daigo’s life, we don’t really learn anything about him. He practices a lot at home, he practices in an arcade, he practices in a game room with other Japanese players… and that’s about it. But that’s fine, because Daigo serves to make Momochi’s story more interesting. Yes, it’s a film about the Fighting Game Community, but in this documentary you can see a bit of Moby Dick, as Momochi continually tries to catch the white whale that is Daigo. Thankfully, we see that he has a happier ending after he learns to let go of his ambitions and become a better person instead.

(The relationship between the two, even though it’s not hostile, reminds me very much of the big conflict in The King of Kong between Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell)

Ramen Heads

I was sold on this film based on a mild interest in the process of making ramen. The film itself admits that it’s a simple dish — born out of post-war poverty — that is made complex due to the particularities of each chef. The comparisons to Jiro Dreams of Sushi are perhaps unavoidable, since part of the film features Osamu Tomita, one of the best ramen chefs in Japan. We get to see his entire process, starting with his work in his prep kitchen in creating the broth and noodles, and ending with how he “plates” each bowl of ramen for the customer. We also get brief snippets of his life outside of the restaurant, with an explanation of his first apprenticeship and a look at his family life. But while Jiro was focused on trying to explore the man behind the food, Ramen Heads only makes perfunctory gestures toward trying to discover Tomita’s philosophy.

Admittedly, perhaps one reason for that difference in portrayal is due to Tomita’s age. He doesn’t have a complicated relationship with a son who is constantly living in his shadow, for one, and neither does he have a (comparatively) hard past to reminisce on. To make up for that though, the film compensates by giving audiences much more context about ramen as a uniquely Japanese cuisine.

The director and crew travel across Japan, finding chefs who are famous for other types of ramen. For most of these chefs, there’s a dedication to the craft that one might expect, but for me the surprise was the oldest chef who didn’t look at ramen as some kind of art. He treated his work as a business and just wanted to sell as many bowls as he can in order to make a living, which is something that can be a bit lost when it comes to cuisine-based documentaries.

The film ends with Tomita teaming up with two other ramen chefs to make the “ultimate” bowl of ramen, and we’re given the impression that it’s a special sight to see the three of them work together. This part was a bit lost on me, but seeing the reactions of some patrons to seeing them together in one place was enough to sell the importance of the moment for me.

It was interesting watching this after the Jeremiah Tower biopic, because I think this is probably more what I was looking for — yes, some insight on the man cooking the food is important, but some emphasis on the food itself is important too.

Hobbyhorse Revolution

The programmers mentioned that theme of this year’s selections was obsession, and of the films that I’ve seen, I think this film fits the bill the best. It reminds me of a contemporary version of Trekkies, a documentary that followed the lives of various people obsessed with Star Trek and the influence that their fanaticism had on their lives (I still remember the woman who chose to wore her Star Trek uniform to jury duty).

The subjects of the documentary treat their hobbyhorses much in the same way that the Trekkies treated Star Trek — it’s something that allows them to escape, however momentarily, the painful aspects of their lives and be consumed in a subject that has strictly defined rules and a seemingly open and welcoming community. For example, one of the girls in the film was bullied and sought solace in horse riding, but when her horse died, she discovered the hobbyhorse and used that to help cope with her depression instead.

The interesting thing is that, at least at the time of this writing, the media seemed to have picked up stories of the popularity of the hobbyhorse in Finland. I’m not sure if this documentary is responsible, or if it just became an interesting news story for people to talk about, but with more than ten thousand practitioners in Finland, it’s certainly more than just a passing fad. That’s probably the one criticism I have of the film — that there isn’t any examination as to why girls in Finland have embraced the hobbyhorse, and in particular, hobbyhorse competitions. It is apparently a uniquely Finnish phenomenon, but it’s something that isn’t addressed in a meaningful manner.

The Silent Teacher

The film is an exploration of the process of donating a body to medical research in Taiwan. We see how these cadavers, referred to as “teachers” (laoshi) by the medical students, are treated — starting with the embalming processes all the way through to cremation after the students are finished studying the body.

It’s an interesting cultural document, since donating bodies to science is an issue surrounding death that is rarely addressed (even in North America, there are many drives to try to get people to become organ donors, but not that many to get people to donate their bodies to universities to be dissected and studied). We also get to see how the family of the donated body copes with delaying putting their loved one to rest, as they must wait a year before the body can even be used in a classroom and then another year before the body is returned to them after cremation. That the family is Catholic also adds a unique dimension to the process of grief, as we see a combination of Catholic and Chinese rituals to help the family process the nature of death.

Sunday Beauty Queen

One of the issues I remember reading about during my time teaching in Women’s Studies is the problematic nature of modern feminism in the current economic client. While women in First World countries are given more rights and are encouraged to enter the workforce, a gap is left in the homes of families with dependents. This is true in Canada, where many of my students had Filipino nannies who took care of them while their parents were out of the home, and it’s certainly true in Asia as well, as more affluent nations import Filipino women to run their households.

This film follows the life of Filipino women in Hong Kong, and the difficult life that they lead as they slave away for their employers. While some of these workers are treated with some form of respect and dignity, it’s clear that many are not — they are expected to live in the home of their employer, and in many cases, forced to sleep in whatever spare space is available. One worker relates a story about how her employer forcibly cut off her hair because she refused to pay for a trip to the salon, while another is fired simply for missing their curfew. We see one of these women eat her dinner, but tucked away in a different room than the family, because the “help” doesn’t share the table with her employers.Their jobs are precarious, because they can get fired for any reason, and if they lose their jobs they must find another employer within 14 days or face deportation.

While they slave away for the entire week, Sundays are their day off. It’s on these days that these women choose to become beauty queens, entering pageants organized by Leo, a domestic worker who has been in Hong Kong for over two decades. We see these pageants are more than just a contest between women, but as the one day a week that these women who are isolated by the difficult nature of their jobs are able to become a part of a shared community. Yes, the pageants they are competing in may be trivial, but it’s a day in their dreary week where they are allowed to focus on themselves and be with friends.

Admittedly, the Chinese employers that do appear on film are thoughtful about the nature of the relationship they have with their Filipino employees. Reminiscent of the reality of illegal immigrant workers in the United States, one Chinese employer acknowledges that Filipino workers are a big factor in keeping Hong Kong a functioning society.

The film also doesn’t shy away from the economic realities of the situation. Many of the women documented in the film are college graduates who might otherwise be white collar professionals in the Philippines. But when they can make twice as much money living in Hong Kong as a nanny than they would as a teacher, nurse, programmer, etc. back home, the choice isn’t that hard to make. We also get to see these women bond with their charges, taking the children under their care to school and making them meals, while their own children are left at home with relatives. While mothers anywhere else might have a tearful moment sending their child off for the first day of school, these women can only send their own children off to school through a shaky Skype connection.

The film is very much about trying to find dignity in a series of indignities, and the strength that these women have to have in order to find a way to live their lives in Hong Kong and raise their families back home.

32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide

This film follows Hope Litoff as she struggles to make sense of her sister’s suicide by going through her possessions many years later. What begins as a project that is presumably meant to allow Hope to finally come to term with why her sister Ruth committed suicide slowly spirals out of control as Hope becomes consumed with reliving Ruth’s life.

It’s at this point that the documentary turns its lens on the documentarian, and Hope becomes the subject of the film. We see her obsession with her sister made manifest through the ways she handles her sister’s possessions, culminating with a scene where she papers the walls of a room with the pages of her sister’s day planner. More frighteningly, we see the psychological toll the project takes on her as she dives deeper into her sister’s life, resulting in a scene in which she films herself breaking her many years of sobriety with a shot of vodka.

While this project may have started as a documentary about Ruth Litoff and her troubled life, it quickly evolves into a film about processing grief and how one must learn how to let go of a loved one let it destroy your life. Thankfully, Hope learns this lesson, as she checks into rehab and ends the film by honoring her sister’s memory with an exhibition of her photography at Bellevue Hospital.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World

The festival ended with a free screening of the Canadian audience award winner, which turned out to be a crowd pleasing film about the influence of Native musicians on the American Rock music. The film starts with Link Wray, going through the many sounds that Native musicians introduced to Rock, and how many early musicians had to hide or deny their Native heritage due to the institutionalized racism of the time. We get to see many other musicians, including Jimi Hendrix and the influence that his grandmother had on his music and the way he presented himself on stage, and Randy Castillo, suggesting that his heavy metal drumming was inspired by his childhood experiences.

There’s not much to say about the film itself. It’s a documentary that serves to educate audiences about an aspect of music history that is ignored, doing so in quite an entertaining manner. The directors suggested that they had hours of footage that they cut for time that they could use, and I could certainly see this film expanded with a sequel or through a television series.

There were many films that I wish I could have seen, but Netflix picked up a couple of them which saved me a trip to the cinema — Chasing Coral and Joshua — and I’m looking forward to watching them when they’re available.

#hotdocs #documentary #film #review #film review #2017

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