Rant is rant...

[poet_at_heart]

On the bus today, I realized something about One Piece. I never read it because of Monkey D. Luffy. I read it because of the silliness, the amazing backstories and everything around the main character. But his goals and such things never really interested me.

When he helped Vivi out in Alabasta, I was more interested in Vivi herself, her country and the fights the other Straw Hats fought. I loved the arc with Kalgara and Montblanc Noland up in the sky, such amazing friendship and touching scenes, I really felt the characters in that story. I never really felt for Lu's backstory, though. Sure I wonder who the h*ck his mother is and how she met Dragon. But that's not really about Lu.

Since he didn't have an interesting backstory, no death and so, in the beginning, I just let him run free and didn't think too much about him. But then, when the crew was split up and he headed for Marieford, my interest started to drop. Not all the fun side characters disappeared, I got new loves in Jinbe and Iva, but when even the interesting Impel Down was left behind and everything started being about Lu running across that battle field to save Ace, my interest for One Piece almost died.

And then, Ace died instead. I'll be honest, I didn't really care for him, he was just a character with no real substance for me who floated around in the OP-universe. Then, his backstory came around and I cried. He had overcome so much and fought his way through, struggling with doubts about himself and his place in the world. Nowadays, he's a really interesting character to me.

But not his little brother. His backstory, in my opinion, doesn't feel real. Like Oda came up with it after some time into the series, just to give Luffy some sadness and tie in Ace better.

Now I'll tell you what really bugs me: the fact that Lu has such a sad backstory. Earlier, I could excuse his behavior with the fact that he didn't have the kind of sad past like the others. He didn't have to overcome death and such things, he just sailed on, determined to give Shanks his hat and become the Pirate King and kick the ass of anyone who hurts his or their own nakama.

Shouldn't we have seen some kind of reaction to Sabo's death? Is this why Lu is still the same old, even after Ace's death? For some reason, that doesn't sit well with me, doesn't feel really right. But on the other hand, this is Monkey D. Luffy, the frigging rubber-ball of all time. Give him meat and he survives anything.

Sorry if I couldn't come to any conclusion in this rant, I just had to rant D: Any thoughts?

Comments

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

He may not be the smartest dude on the Grand Line, but I am absolutely amazed at what he has accomplished throughout One Piece's insanely looooooong history. For starters, he assembled a crew all by himself, with his own efforts.

It's no wonder he's one of my favorite male characters.

[greensan.livejournal.com]

I don't say the things he has accomplished is small, he has turned the whole world upside down! Enies Lobby, Arlongs Parc, Alabasta. The dude's amazing.

But, his backstory... Feels like it doesn't belong with him. More like it's Ace's.

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about his parents.

Then again, I've wondered the same about Zoro and Sanji's, even if it has no relevance to the plot whatsoever...>___>;

[greensan.livejournal.com]

Yes, it would be very interesting to hear about their parents. Maybe some of them are inside Caibou's swamp/body/squick?

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

This was something that bothered me too. I love Luffy's personality, but after the war it seems a bit tacky that he's still the way he is. You'd expect him to mature at least a little bit after that kind of traumatizing experience. The kid had the guy die in his arms (I still think it was stupid how it all happened). Again, I adore Luffy's personality, but from a storyteller's perspective I have to admit that I see little growth from Luffy as a character. To me, it basically seems like that entire issue really didn't matter end(except making Luffy more of a dramatic character/give him an excuse to have that stupid scar on his chest). Same for Sabo's death too for that matter, though I expect he's still alive and will be Ace 1.5 in the future. Anyway sorry about all that, I think I got into a bit of a rant myself.

[greensan.livejournal.com]

I wanted to hear other's thoughts, so it's totally OK!

And yeah, Sabo is probably alive. Though Lu doesn't know that. Then again, if Luffy in the past handled death like that, then maybe Sabo's "death" is Oda's way of excusing Lu's reaction to Ace's death?

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

I don't think so, I think Sabo is going to be a replacement character for Ace if anything. The way he was brought in and such is a little out of place to me. Like he was suddenly messhed in. I'm guessing he could have been created from earlier concepts of Ace back in his earlier planning stages when he was Lang. (You could even notice the similarities in their attire.)

[greensan.livejournal.com]

Oh, didn't know those details... And yes, probably D:

IMO, that whole backstory feels like it's Ace's, as I said in my rant. it doesn't fit with my image of Lu. Which makes his current actions even more irritating. *ranting again*

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

I feel it's both their past. They shared the pain and grew up together(though there was a lot of Ace's viewpoint on things with the Sabo crap and haki, which seems a little pointless now given that Ace is in fact deceased so further development on his character is a bit dumb at this point). In the end though I think it was poorly played out. Emotional, yes, Oda is a master at emotions, but in the end I find that the flash back served little use given that Ace is dead. The only real use of it seems to add drama to Luffy's character and introduce Sabo and Dadan. This is however just my opinion.

[greensan.livejournal.com]

And I respect it and see much truth in it too... Had the flashback been before Ace dying, I would have felt MUCH more for him.

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Also I think that Luffy recovered all too fast for through very poor plot devices. He was smacked by Jimbei and was basically told 'stfu, you still have your friends' Luffy: 'Holy crap! You're right!'. That's all well and dandy...but the kid just lost his brother, the guy died in Luffy's arms for crying out loud. Yeah, I understand that the plot needs to move on, but still, that's a bit much.

[greensan.livejournal.com]

*nods* Couldn't have said it better myself. And now how he runs around, thinking that the palace reminds him of Impel Down... It's almost squicky DX

What mental condition is he in!?

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

O_o; .........Shouldn't that disturb him a little bit? Given that he went though hell in that place?

[greensan.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY! http://mangastream.com/read/one_piece/68833748/16

But nooo, he just thinks about food. A little bit disturbing.

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

.______. ....................

[vtm577.livejournal.com]

Sorry...But that is a little bit beyond dumb. Happy-fun-time doesn't really trump that kind of trauma. It's nice that Luffy isn't overly serious, an overly serious Luffy would be terrible for the series. But in this case you'd expect him to be at least a tiny bit more serious. It's kind of like everything he went through at Impel and Maineford has been swept under the carpet. Sorry, but you can't really do that, that's bad story telling. It's now a part of Luffy. It's kind of like Maineford and Ace really didn't matter all that much. (More than likely this is true, but it comes across as a little immature on Oda's part.) Right after the flashback bits there almost seemed to be an effort to hide the Maineford issue under a carpet. Even after the time skip if you take a good look at it. Unfortunately, as crappy as it was, it was a pretty damn big event to Luffy, he should at least take a little something away from it. Also, on to Fishman Island, okay, I'm not really impressed. Neptune looks like a hairier version of Disney's King Trident from the little mermaid, his daughter looks a little much like Nami(a whinier crybaby Nami).