English Professor’s Thoughts on the Arabasta Saga of One Piece (spoilers for Arabasta Saga)

welcome to my channel on the best of fantasy today I will be sharing my thoughts on The arabasta Saga of One Piece including the following arcs reverse Mountain whiskey Peak little garden drum Island and of course arabasta itself and I am not really sure is it arabasta or alabasta in the version that I'm reading it says alasa with an L I know that in Japanese the r and the L kind of get uh P together there's not much distinction there uh so I don't know with the character Zoro as well it was written Zolo I don't know which it is and perhaps because ambiguity is a theme in one piece that I'm picking up on maybe it doesn't even matter if I say arabasta or alabasta but if you you feel like letting me know your preference in the comments feel free I'm going to say arabasta though partially because I feel like the culture of arabasta is in fact based on Arabia so it would kind of make sense to have an R there but I am open to whatever people prefer uh but that's what I'll go with for now and also just so you know I am only reading the manga I am not watching the anime as of this point anyway maybe I'll try it out at some point I do think I'll probably try the liveaction uh one Piece Film that was recently uh made I I I hear good things about it so I'm just curious um but uh let's see uh but do foret forgive me because I am reading the manga only my pronunciations may be off again if you want to correct me in the comments feel free um but just know that I have not actually heard any of these names I'm also trying not to look up things because I'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers so I do appreciate you making an effort to avoid spoilers in the comments I've only finished at this point uh through the arabasta Saga so that said oh man there's so much to talk about here in in this Saga uh initial thoughts are that this reminds me in some ways tonally it's very different but in some ways it does remind me of the premise of guler's travels and I know that uh people mentioned in the comments in my previous video that uh there is a strong influence here from Journey to the West uh which is a very important text it's been translated here in the west uh as monkey and that is something I think I will probably try to read someday just because of its vast influence on many other stories also by the way while I'm on that topic of people leaving comments I really want to thank everybody from the one piece Community who uh not just checked out the video but you guys left some amazing supportive wonderful encouraging comments and I just want to express my appre appreciation for that uh that's incredible I had no idea there would be this kind of response uh to my initial video and I just really floored frankly by the kindness and and the generosity I think it really speaks well of a fandom uh when people reach out and with kindness uh and it's great uh I think that says a lot about one piece perhaps as well but anyway I was talking about G's travels uh which is a uh 18th century uh text by Jonathan Swift in which the main character Gulliver goes to various different islands around the world and encounters uh very different creatures uh some humanoid some not um but various uh uh race is and and learns a few things in the process uh now it is tonally as I said very different uh it's a lot more pessimistic than one piece it's one piece is joyful uh it's exuberant it's fun whereas I think Go's travels it's fair to say is fairly gloomy especially as it ends uh but there are some interesting parallels thematically speaking uh there are some things in guler's travels about um colonialism and its impact on Native peoples about greed uh about politics and there's a kind of very cynical take on many things including politics and other professions like medicine where there there are people taking advantage of other people there's corruption um there's a lot of really cool themes in there it's basically an exploration of humanity and I feel like there's a lot of that going on in one piece as well but in again in a more positive way in a more exuberant way uh so I just thought I'd throw that out there because there is the the exploration theme which really seems to be uh the uh guiding thing here in in one piece that we are exploring these different places now that we're on the grand line speaking of which this whole thing starts with reverse Mountain we make it to the Grand line and there the our our initial encounter is with laboon the whale and inside laboon of course there's crocus whom our our crew the straw hat crew they meet uh and it's a really wonderful little uh very short uh Arc here within arabasta and I I love some of the things that come up for me at least one of the things that I feel this reminds me of very obviously is the story of Jonah and the whale because our heroes end up inside of laboon and Jonah and the whale is a story it's a biblical story where the prophet Jonah ends up inside a whale because he refuses to preach a message of mercy and Grace and forgiveness uh to the wicked City I think city of uh Nineveh I believe it is at any rate uh these themes of forgiveness and grace are part of the original story and I also feel that there may be a bit of a nod to Moby Dick the idea of obsession in the in the uh novel by Melville you have Moby Dick uh and being chased by Ahab the character who's obsessed with catching this whale uh so in this little Arc though what you have is devotion you have loyalty with labon's absolute utter Devotion to his friends the Pirates who have possibly abandoned him possibly we're not we're not sure at this point I'm sure we'll find out what happened to these uh these Pirates uh who have gone off on their Adventure Quest whatever it might be but uh also loyalty on the part of crocus to laboon who is caring for him and so you have this theme of friendship which is huge in here lots of stuff being foreshadowed I think in regard to loyalty and devotion and friendship uh so that is really just wonderful and we're introduced to also to the characters Mr nine and M Wednesday um and the latter taking on a whole lot of significance throughout this Arc as she turns out to be princess Vivy but that's later on when we learn that but we have to proceed to Whiskey Peak uh where we first meet the the really on a larger scale the Baroque Works where we find out who these villains are and there's some really cool highlights here there's some fun stuff like the for example I I'm a kind of I have a very juvenile sense of humor so I was amused by the book bombs of Mr five also significantly we meet um the person who turns out to be igaram and of course Vivy although they're first introduced to us as Mr 8 and Wednesday uh but we have some great stuff going on and this moment one thing that I noticed is Luffy and Zoro getting into a fight um and they do seem to have a kind of a wonderful brotherly relationship here where they're not going to hesitate to get at each other's throats uh and I love that uh they just Luffy just Dives in with this uh actually ill-founded assumption that Zoro had uh been mean to their hosts um and that also I think is an important theme with Luffy just diving in without thinking that's going to come up again here and I do feel like this part of that I alluded to the morality uh that Luffy is going to be learning in the course I I assume of this whole Adventure uh so that's an important moment I felt was that m understanding that was caused by Luffy being a little too precipitous in that moment U of course he was upset because he was thinking that zorao was mean to their hosts who were actually villains U so things had to get explained to him another important thing that comes up here is Vivy and who explains all about um arabasta and crocodile we learned the name crocodile here who is one of the uh seven pirate Warlords or whatever it might be I might have that slightly off um but is a very powerful individual who is manipulating things off in arabasta fomenting a essentially Civil War uh between those loyal to the king and the rebels we'll get into that later um but that is introduced we also meet some characters like Miz all Sunday WHo immediately seems like a very mysterious figure which side is she on she seems to be working with the baroke works so one of the villains uh but she also oddly helps the straw hat crew by with the the Eternal pose to help them on their way so not quite trusting her really at this point at all um seems villainous overall but there's some mysterious element to her uh which I find intriguing um but there's a theme going on here I think in regard to not just miss all Sunday but to a lot of things and that is the theme of uncertainty things being more complex than just the surface level being more nuanced than just good versus evil and you can see that with for example in a minor way Luffy's precipitous and and attacking Zoro uh not understanding that things are more complex and it appears on the surface and that applies to characters as well like Vivi who was Wednesday and uh igaram who was Mr 8 as it turns out they're not as villainous as we first thought uh so that's a theme that keeps coming up here I I think what Oda is doing in here in the series as I see it at this point is pretty cool actually regarding this theme of uncertainty and things not being exactly what you at first assume and we live in a world today where a lot of times uh people want to categorize people want to label people want to say that's good that's bad these are the people who agree with me good these are people who don't bad and uh life is more complex than that and I love that one piece is taking on this theme when we move on to little garden we can see more of that but also some other cool themes that I think are really intrinsic to one piece and I love what Oda is doing here is where we meet not only a bunch of big old dinosaurs I love the chaos of this I mean every island having some different real world Inspirations uh and you can clearly see in Dory and brgy uh a kind of Norris inspired theme going on here they are warriors of el bef so this island little garden is not their native home they're from El bef which is somewhere else I don't know much about it um but it is a place that celebrates heroicness heroism of a certain brand which feels very Norris to me and I love how Usopp particularly finds this notion very attractive that Usopp is very drawn to The Bravery of these individuals their dedication to honor and glory and that is very appealing for a character like Usopp who's going through his own journey of finding his own bravery which again as I said in the last video I find this very compelling I love this aspect of Usopp who really I feel like if we're all going to be honest with ourselves we probably see a lot of usop in ourselves uh and finding that place where we can be brave in the moment where we're our biggest instinct is to run away uh so he really loves these two Giants and and their dedication their absolute Devotion to honor and glory and that is a very Norse thing there's a kind of a warrior code here uh Pagan Germanic warrior code of giving ones all uh and they are fighting over what it turns out to be a quarrel over whose fish was bigger which turns out to be kind of a trivial thing um so I feel like this is again a fairly nuanced exploration of what you could see as simply wow glory and honor and all that but I I feel like Oda actually is is is exploring this from both sides because there is a harmful side to this as well you know when is where is the line that you can cross where Devotion to a cause or to a code of honor is a good thing but if you take that too far you can actually be destructive and that is something that he's exploring a lot in this series and it's really cool to have it encapsulated here in these two giants but this is something again it's very Norse all this stuff about friendship and loyalty and sacrifice these are all themes that are going to come up again and again it's ambiguous uh you can take these things to far when does devotion become Insanity in other words and this goes back to the nor sagas I don't know how many sagas uh Oda has read or if this was deliberate on his part but it really reminded me of the nor sagas and also the Eda the Eda describes you probably have heard of Valhalla uh in this place where all these Warriors go they were taken by the valkyrie because they died in battle they're called the AAR and these Warriors they fight all day long and then they Feast at night and then of course they they might die but they come back the next day and start the cycle all over again very much reminding me of the quarrel the ongoing quarrel between Dory and bragi and their just dedication their love of this uh of all of this quarreling and fighting and everything this this ideal is encapsulated in an Old English poem as well called The Battle of Malden it describes a fight between a uh group of Vikings that had come to raid and some local Englishmen and the Englishmen were losing this battle very badly their lord Burno had been killed in the course of the battle his head was chopped off and the warriors were going down and they knew they were going to die they could have run away but there's a group of them just staying to fight to the last to either avenge their lord or die in the process of trying and one of the Warriors says in the poem at least probably not in real life but in the poem one of the Warriors says which in Modern English that's old English in Modern English means something like our purpose shall be the harder or the firmer our hearts shall be the Keener our courage shall be greater as our strength lessens and this is the warrior code that we're seeing played out here with Dory and bragi uh really great stuff I think it's not something that would be foreign to Japanese culture obviously as well you have the samurai uh I read the Manga vag Vagabond which really portrays this heroic code uh beautifully as well so you can see that same devotion that same Devotion to the the way of the sword right uh and so it's something that he could have easily gotten from Japanese culture as well but yeah we learned more about the baroke works here with Mr three and his waxy ways uh also little shout out to Sanji and this the the snail phone that's not what it's called but I can't remember what it's called but he he has this moment of cleverness there almost accidental cleverness but I love how in this Saga Sanji is increasingly seen as a kind of a clever guy clever player as it were uh also you can see the budding friendship with Vivy uh some really heartwarming moments between her and and the crew and but also some tensions here and there as well and again that is reflected mirrored in the relationship between Dory and brogie also love love love the sacrifice of Dory and brogie at the end of this little Arc and how they make make the way open for the straw hat crew and how their weapons are broken there at the end which I think signals something that is a big change in their relationship that they have realized that this these hundred years uh this Century of quarreling is a bit silly perhaps and they can't even remember what it was about and as it turns out we see in a flashback it's about whose fish was bigger uh and that is also by the way interestingly mirrored in the quarrel between Sanji and Zoro who are fighting about whose meat is bigger who d dinosaur that they caught is bigger it's a pretty clever Echo there of the quarrel between Dory and brogy suggesting that maybe there's a bit of futility to this uh that sometimes it's better to be more humble and understanding of one another and then of course we leave drum Island and the first thing that happens really is that Nami Falls sick and this is a a cause of deep concern and we really see the devotion of the crew to her she is one of the straw hat crew she is one of the family and Luffy is of course Very distressed as is everyone else but he he rushes to fight uh because he is very concerned about her and but he is checked in a Moment In This Moment by Vivi and he has to learn that your first response isn't always to use your fists that sometimes you have to ask for help and I really love that moment I feel like this is one of these important little moments to point to if we're looking at Luffy as a character and where he's coming from and where he's going what he's learning uh it's just a beautiful moment with a bit of humility where he apologizes uh for being too precipitous there and of course we meet the villain wapple uh the pirate who turns out to be a deposed King who wants his kingdom back and I love the contrast between wle in this drum island arc the contrast between wle and the character Dalton who used to be wael's chief um military guy I forget the exact title but it's a really great dichotomy there that's set up between an individual W in wole who is very self-serving who views government as a way to enrich himself and you have Dalton who is a true servant of the people who views the a nation as a a communal thing as a place where people should be helping one another where those in power have a duty to help those that they are serving so the difference between ruling to enrich oneself and ruling to be a servant a servant leader really great theme there and that is also I think picked up on with Princess Vivy and her vision for arabasta and her father as well uh the king uh so that's that's I think a theme that is definitely deliberately being put forward here maybe even foreshadowed in drum Island for what's going to happen with arabasta uh but yeah that's a great little contrast there what is a just Society that's a question that is being asked I think here in the manga do we just accept greed as the way of things and that people are always going to have people on the top and the rest of the the the Schmucks under them or do we try for a better Society uh and this is in encapsulated in the idea that you have these 20 doctors who are uh essentially forced by the system to serve those in power where the rest of the society gets neglected this is pretty relevant to modern society in fact uh this is something you could talk about in terms of health care today in many places uh I think it's a really kind of fun and like this the the the tone of one piece is always going to be fun but there is a serious exploration of something important going on in the real world there as well uh and the crew itself is looking for a doctor now that's you know tied into this whole little Arc very beautifully I think uh so in this uh particular Arc we do meet very interesting contrasting people again in herook the doctor the quack as everyone dismisses him he's the dreamer okay and then you also have the Witch uh kuraha I'm not sure if I'm saying any of these names right I do apologize if I'm butchering them but she is the the the realist um and I love the contrast that Oda sets up between these two especially as both are Mentor figures for Chopper uh who serves as a great figure for exploring the idea many ideas that we've been talking about like sacrifice and friendship uh the pursuit of ideals uh but also uh what it means to pursue a dream and this is there's some beautiful moments in this Arc as well for example I loved how there was that one moment with the snowbirds in the cannon and that is what defeats uh wole in the moment when he's about to blast Luffy uh I love that he was defeated by something as little and and beautiful as these snowbirds also favorite moment in this Arc and one of my my favorite moments in the entire uh uh one piece so far is definitely the cherry blossoms in the snow what a wonderful thing and of course when you think about the rich symbolism of cherry blossoms around the world but probably particularly in Japan cherry blossoms are an obvious symbol of Life of spring of renewal but also because they're so ephemeral they're so fleeting they also are a symbol at the same time of death you have life and death you have Beauty and sorrow you have vibrancy but that vibrancy is so brief very poignant I really love that moment and and it isn't exactly real cherry blossoms but you have the Fulfillment of this guy's dreams hero look the the quack doctor the one who's dismissed by everybody as the Impractical dreamer and you have the realization of his dream which makes the world even if it's brief a more beautiful place I love that especially in the context of One Piece being all about the relentless pursuit of dreams all of our characters all the straw hat crew they all have their dreams I talked about this in my last video uh well just it's beautiful it's something that I relate to as a writer uh as as a human being and I'm sure many people find it very resonating this idea of pursuing one's dreams no matter no matter how silly they might seem to other people and the realization of them makes the world a beautiful place even if it's just for a little while I also love the idea in this little Arc of finding friendship in the character of Chopper who is clearly an outsider in Chopper you have an other someone who is regarded as a monster and it is within a few uh individual's ability to see that individual not as a monster but as a person and this is crucial this is a beautiful part of One Piece as well the fellowship rests on this notion of friendship of recognizing oneself in the other of seeing the humanity in each other and I just love that I love that Chopper gets to join the crew um and I love that he gets to pursue his dream a dream that was instilled in him by hok and that it it tears him apart a little bit though because he he has his loyalty to his home and to his friends there but he also has this dream of going out and seeing the world and he has his new friends uh to do that with so I love that that I love that it is not just an easy decision for him as well that is painful that he has to be pushed along the way by Kura and her Antics pretending to be mad at him and all of that that's a great reverse psychology is something that is used really well in one piece I have noticed uh where characters have to pretend to be mad at somebody in order to give them that little kick in the pants that gets them going uh really great stuff also uh I think it was cool that we saw for the first time and we I think we only learn this later but the character Ace comes up I believe in in in drum Island at the end um who also interesting has a d uh in his name uh the initial D uh and it turns out that he is Luffy's brother also someone who has some of the devil fruit in his case he has the the the flame stuff going on I forget what his fruit is called there's so many so many devil fruits uh in this Saga which is fine with me you know it's not something I'm ever going to really keep track of uh I'm not going to be that kind of a reader where I'm able to name Who's got what fruit I have a good idea of what they can do with it at least U but that's as far as I'm going to go but also who else has a D in their name is revealed very interesting go D Roger this is something that's pointed out uh at the end of this Arc by krua who when she sees the wanted poster of Luffy makes this connection for us so now I'm wondering uh is gold Roger in some way shape or form related to Luffy uh that's an interesting little you know uh Easter egg that's probably going to leave something bigger uh down the road and I feel like the introduction of Ace as a character is no accident as well almost in really at the same time so interesting stuff going on there I'll see where that goes maybe I'm on the wrong trail but I feel like it was there was a signpost there that you should be paying attention to perhaps and then we finally get to arabasta itself which is probably my favorite Arc uh so far in that I've read I'm sure there'll be great ones to come uh but here you have a nation divided you have the Rebels versus the king you have a charlatan uh a populist in the figure of crocodile who's manipulating the people very cynically he's not just taking advantage of people but he's actively causing this division within them by being deceptive uh and manipulating the weather and making it rain one place and dry in another and using his his ability uh to create uh sand and all of that uh and again I really feel that this IDE a of division between people uh that is based on misunderstanding and that is sometimes inflamed by individuals who are trying to empower themselves through hate this is very relevant to the real world folks uh you can look at Time After Time After Time in human history and even in the present world where people have tried to empower themselves through these kinds of methods uh it's a script for a dictator hate is a way of pointing out a scapegoat and grabbing power some really great uh flamboyant wonderful characters introduced here as well you have Mr 2 Bon clay uh that who was encountered and initially is kind of a friend even though he's he's working for the bad guys he there is a moment there friendship there which actually is important for later on and I love the ambiguity again ambiguity is huge here guys and you can see in the character himself Mr two who has the male Mr 2 but he also has the bong clay so it's the female character characters uh who work for this organization that have the names from the days of the week so this character is both male and female is ambiguous is nonbinary the iffiness as it's called in the translation I read the iffiness of this character I think is important and the complexity of this character something I really appreciated uh so really great stuff also love the moment uh when the characters as a result of encountering uh this uh dodgy character Mr Mr to Bon clay also are forced to put the the bands the bandages on their arm actually it's the left arm isn't it yeah left arm and I think it's the forearm but we later we learned later on that they this is actually a um a trick within a trick because they have the mark inside there as well which has significance it's the mark that is on uh on Chopper's hat um it is also you could see it as the crossbones on a pirate flag uh pirate flags being really important as well I forgot to mention earlier that moment with uh Luffy and the flag in the drum island arc and the symbolism of the flag and and what he insists that this flag means is the pursuit of one's dreams is uh something that is unbeatable is something to do with the human Spirit itself that is it is symbolic of all of that so it's wonderful that that is the mark that they have on their forearms and yeah uh this is a really fantastic uh just crazy I mean lots of action lots of of of chaos lots of fights going on uh but amidst all that I think there's some great moments as well um and you have like uh more ambiguity here in the character of um smoker uh smoker is an interesting character when we first met him you know he set up as kind of a villain but he has that brief moment where he encounters the little girl who accidentally bumps into him and Spills her ice cream on him and he's you know he has his oops my my pants ate your ice cream and gives her some money and you realize this gu this guy's not an unambiguous bad guy here he has a heart he he's somebody maybe he's devoted to Justice uh but he has a heart and you see it play out really beautifully in this Arc in the character of smoker I really like how he comes to understand the straw hat crew they're not bad people and that he gives them opportunities even helps them there's that moment when he's in in the uh in the behind the bars with them and I feel like he's going to be an interesting character to watch in the future because of that uh because of his lexity and that goes for his assistant as well um I'm forgetting her name but I'll get back to her in a moment um but yeah some really really cool stuff here uh with kza more ambiguity K is a character very sympathetic uh and and you've got his father there he's broken with his father he's broken with the King he wants what's best for his country uh he believes some of the lies uh that have been told that have been propagated by crocodile but he's not a character you ever hate uh you're kind of rooting for him at the same time uh and he has this wonderful friendship with Vivie that's really important um so I kind of love his place in the story just so many great shout outs I could be making here uh Sanji has his moments of cleverness uh you have this fantastic moment with Zoro fighting Mr Number One Mr one and having to get to that place within himself where he can cut steel I love the character of Zoro just great stuff cool epic stuff with him also Nami and Usopp uh you know being Innovative and clever and trying their best even though they're not as superpowered as the rest of the crew doing what they can to help out taking on people with devil fruit Powers even in the process some really great cleverness there and then you have pel pel the character the guy from arasa the Falcon guy the Falcon being an important symbol there um of uh their culture uh of their sense of themselves but his sacrifice what an incredible moment what great stuff and I actually thought oh maybe characters can die in one piece uh when he takes the bomb up into the air and Kaboom and it turned out that he wasn't dead you get the little bit of a hint more than a hint really it's fairly obvious that he somehow survived this which I don't know how I feel about that I I I thought he was a cool character so I'm not upset that he's back but at the same time I thought oh wow that makes it even more compelling that actually this guy died in making the sacrifice what a again SA sacrifice big theme going on here but I'm okay that he's back um you know I I thought he was a cool character so uh I don't know if I'm just going to assume that no one dies in one piece maybe I will find out that someone will and it'll Hit me hard if it does happen um but yeah I love the moment from pel there and all the fight how can I not mention the fights plural because there's three of them Luffy loses the first two fights with crocodile he actually loses but it says something about his determination uh his devotion his friend ship because he does this for his friends he does this for Vivi especially his loyalty and there's even some wonderful comedic stuff worked into his fights which I actually really was laughing hard at um with like when he has the water and a bit of it starts bouting out of his wounded belly button and and just just some really fun stuff uh in the process I mean what a no wonder he's such a beloved character his loyalty his Devotion to his friends his goofiness his understanding of people in spite of seeming like a bit Aus he really understands people beautifully he has a beautiful understanding of his fellow people and maybe this is part of why Miz all Sunday saves his life at that point which I thought okay what is going on with this character miss all Sunday what what is this because she seems like she's very much one of the bad guys she's crocodiles henchman right hand whatever you want right hand good pun there right with her her ability um so literally his right hand um but yeah she's just like what okay so wait why is she saving Luffy uh and of course in the end she turns out to be a stow away wanting to join the crew what is this so I feel like there's going to be more of Nico Robin I believe is is is her actual name that she is named Nico Robin and this is an identity that she wants to keep hidden I believe uh so there's going to be some backstory or other I'm sure on the way maybe in the next Arc about Nico Robin SL all Sunday and I'm very curious to see where that goes uh but yeah just so many great moments here crocodile is defeated and exposed he is demoted or his his uh his privileges are taken away he's arrested or whatever Cobra's Kingdom King Cobra's kingdom is restored and you have this beautiful moment of the fairwell that Vivy during her speech makes to her friends the straw hat crew just that was my probably uh most emotional moment for me in this Saga a bit like the the Nami moment in the East blue Saga when she asked Luffy for help this was the uh most emotional moment for me with Vivi obviously torn between her duty to her Homeland and and her vision that she wants to this place to be and her her her ties to her new friends and it's such a beautiful dilemma that I found myself very moved by it as well um so just great stuff but I think there's a lesson in there too that even though you you may not always be physically present with your friends that does not in any way shape or form diminish the friendship that that beauty will always be there that that will always be part of your life and so yeah that's the note I guess I would like to finish on here with my thoughts on The arabasta Saga of One Piece which I thoroughly enjoyed uh you can consider me uh I hope you will consider me one of the crew that I am now completely invested in in one piece I'm excited to see where this goes I I love this storytelling I think there's some really beautiful profound truths being explored in the midst of this fun wonderful crazy story so I am on board and that is it for me for now until next time

Channel: Philip Chase

Views: 53,683

Keywords: One Piece, Manga, Oda, Arabasta Saga

Id: TVcq5OxUA34

Length: 35min 22sec (2122 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 13 2024