I won't make a comment about One Piece here. As for Steven Universe, I do like it and enjoy it. Still pretty flawed writing and animation-wise. I don't mind the subversions and LGBT material, given how much the latter is necessary. The writing was not great, just good. Like I wouldn't put in the level of okay or mediocre. I would never put in the level of GF or OTGW. Yeah, those two series spoiled me about the writing level in western animation side of things. While lots of stuff fighting about in anime and manga, western animation sticks out like a sore thumb when it comes to writing.
One by One: The Strawhats' journey reimagined as Gems with all the known problems of Homeworld and lots of worldbuilding.
Note that it's the journey the Strawhats are taking reimagined. For example, in canon, Sanji was in the Arlong arc. However, he's not present in this fic's reimagining of the Arlong arc. Instead, Nami actively participated in the battle.
Now the Strawhats are Gems now. Some of them were appropriate (Luffy - Diamond, Nami - Goldstone), even characters who had yet to make a full appearance and contact with the Strawhats (Smoker - Smoky Quartz). Now, do you remember how literally every Strawhat has a personal death? Not here. Technically, this version of Luffy lost GARP instead. I mean Homeworld is already shattering lower gems without a thought.
For the record, the worldbuilding here is fantastic. To be honest, I want to know more about Gems than the alternate Earth we got. Sometimes the slice of life factor got boring to me. A good slice of life like Barakamon is good about making it look like reality while keeping it fictional. Like daily life tended to be boring as hell.
Kuina was reimagined as a legend inspiring Zoro. That was an awesome retelling!
The fic also made Rose Quartz the equivalent of Gol D. Roger, therefore, Steven was Ace!
Just be thankful that Steven won't die on this one. Because Luffy never met Steven.
I think this fic bestowed to the theory Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond to some degree. Like she's not Pink Diamond, just Pink Diamond the Lesser. Luffy is White Diamond the Lesser. Rose Quartz's skillset stuck out to me a lot because I seriously don't think she's a Quartz in any way. I thought she was a Diamond...just not Pink Diamond actually.
Homeworld acts as the World Government. Seriously, all of the Strawhats hate the Homeworld here, especially Nami. They are slowing but surely moving away from the stereotypes they were designed to do.
I wonder how the Crystal Gems and those on Earth reflect on these space pirates.
All of these guys have dreams that do not fit their gem. Sanji, a jet (a spy type), was a cook first and foremost. Luffy's dream was to be free and have no desire to rule over anyone, being the laissez-faire captain he always was.
If anything else, these guys would shake the Homeworld's strict caste system to its core.
Zoro was a Bloodstone, a typical cheap soldier. This guy aimed to be the universe' greatest swordsman. His infamy will grow and you know it (Zoro was one of the Worst Generation/11 Supernovas after all). Zoro's infamy as a swordsman and his desire to be the universe's strongest will undermine Homeworld's carefully crafted caste, about how the lesser caste being disposable and interchangeable. Zoro, a fucking cheap soldier, is regarded infamously as a deadly swordsman who is slowly but surely standing toe to toe with the swordsmen of the universe.
Luffy may be a Diamond but he never actually ordered anyone around unless it's necessary. Think Zoro pointing out he cannot be too benevolent to Usopp's return to the crew; he must put his foot down until Usopp apologized instead of groveling. His fellow Strawhats followed him, not because he's a Diamond, because it's their choice. He may insist they join them yet he will only select them. They are pretty self-sufficient and did not need him to run things. All Luffy wanted, just like Rose Diamond, is to be free. This was Luffy's primary motivation to become Pirate King.
The Funimation dub better reached Punk Hazard or the first half of Dressrosa at this rate. The small voyages did little to help because it doesn't satisfy people much. Release Collections than Voyages, please. You'll catch up to the anime which is WCI right now, the climatic wedding. The manga is at the start of the Reverie arc right now. The episodes are at your disposal. Just dub them, please. Matthew Mercer, you are going to be there a lot more due to Law's presence for three arcs in the New World era so far.
Listen, I get the criticism against the animation in the New World era. Anime or at least the television ones were cheaply produced. Look no further than Pokeani itself or even Digimon. Like I get adaptation issues but I think animation is the least of the problems. It's not like a One Piece movie where it has access to loads of money. Just look at how fluid the fights were in the movie in comparison to recent anime episodes.
I mentioned One Piece before in my previous posts and briefly on Zosan.
Due to the nature of Oda's deliberate choice for lack of endgames in comparison to his fellow former Big Three's, shipping is free. Everyone in the fandom can ship whatever and whoever they want. For the most part, everyone gets along. People can ship Zosan and get along with ZoLu, Sanlu, and Sanami fans. People can ship LawLu and LuHan while others can ship AceLu and Luffy with his harem anytime.
How I wish others take this fandom's advice? Or even the Pokeani fandom's advice? Certainly, there will be people out there who would not like a certain ship or try to ship sink it, arguing petty reasons despite the work itself did not dismantle the shipping in any shape or form or the fact it's just fucking shipping. There was a small burst of Wishfulshipping haters, arguing about the age when nobody literally did not care. The Pokeani itself has so many hints towards the actual shipping of Wishful that it's hard to even understand their thought process. It's a fictional ship for god's sake. Hancock is fucking thirty-ish and she's in love with a teen who is going to turn twenty soon and you don't see fans chewing LuHan out for having that. I don't ship Zosan just for having the same age.
I ship Zosan because it's a trust-based relationship. I have a thing for that which is why Klance appealed to me. Zosan and Klance have the archetypal pairing: two arguing persons who seemingly clashed yet has so many similarities with an incredible sense of teamwork and unity. They didn't fight because they have too many differences or too many similarities.
I'm digressing.
Let's head to the recs, shall we?
The lot is IC, just in case you didn't know.
I wonder how will be Bartolomeo's react to this marriage. Joyful because two members of the Strawhats officially tied the knot. I'm imagining a lot of tears and snot.
threesipsmore: I wholly recommend her works. Simple, evocative short works. Below are my favorites.
The Dinner Suit - Sanji's a bit tired of weddings, having narrowly avoided one himself not too long ago. However, if plunging his poor soul into another soul will appease their current situation, then he'll suck it up and play along.
Little Minds - Bonney leaves Zoro and Sanji seven years younger, and the Strawhats struggle to remedy the situation.
Between You and I and Hereafter - There are a very select few things he deems to remember from the Kamabakka Kingdom, mostly pertaining to legs- his legs, to be exact. But sometimes when Zoro's lifting weights or Zoro's napping out on the deck or Zoro's just anything, Sanji remembers a few more select things that he'd rather forget.
where the sun goes to die - They hit the Deadened Sea around nighttime, a place where morning knows no sun. In the utter darkness of that sea, their ship loses power. Sanji comes to know the crew through the intricacies of their faces, from the sightless touch here and there, a brush of fingers over bolts and antlers and crooked jaws.
Stormbird by Judin - The Straw Hats' first landing in the New World is on Arashi Island, where it looks like they'll be spending a fun week attending the local festival and making new friends. Until they spot a strange pirate ship in the harbor, and Sanji starts behaving oddly. The Straw Hats become entangled with the mysterious Gently Pirates, a crew that harbor many secrets, and whose captain is a man out of Sanji's past who has the power to tear the Straw Hat crew apart.
Review: This is like one of the well-written OP movies with an endgame Zosan of course. Each Strawhat was given an important role in the plot and the OC's are magnificent. What I love most about this fic, aside from the Zosan, was the examination of internalized homophobia. Sanji has a heavy case of this and feared that the reveal of his bisexuality would hurt the crew and break it apart because Zoro, in his eyes, never returned his feelings and cannot stand him.
donutsandcoffee: one-shots that were comedic and manage the tone well. The syntax is amazing.
Prison Blues - Zoro gets lost, Sanji gets captured by the marines, the Strawhats break into the ship's prison, and they all escape with a bang. Not exactly in that order, much to the confusion of Sanji's cellmates.
The Not-So-Romantic Tale of the Swordsman and the Cook - ...as witnessed, told and suffered through by the Bravest Warrior of the Sea, Usopp. Sanji loves Zoro, Zoro loves Sanji. They were also, somehow, obliviously, infuriatingly, in an unrequited love with each other. Usopp thinks he can do something about it. He really should have had more self-preservation instinct than that.
migratory animals - Sanji is carefully placing a cherry on top of the ice screen, his hands nimble, soft, almost--gentle. But all Zoro sees is the way the hems of his pants are still soaked in blood from the earlier skirmish with a marine ship, red seeping into the cracks of the floorboard, splattering across the kitchen floor in a slow drip, drip, drip. Zoro stares, fascinated. He can't bring himself to look away. (or, Zoro and Sanji--terrible monsters, in love)
Rewind (Be Kind) - What should be a run-of-the-mill skirmish with a devil fruit user turned Sanji into an eight-year-old, and the Strawhats are suddenly faced with a version of Sanji they have never met before: a Sanji before the Strawhats, before the floating restaurant, but after--something. Zoro observes, learns, relearns.
come on, come on (turn a little faster) - The one where everyone thinks they're dating, Sanji is oblivious, and Zoro takes everything in stride. Sometimes a love story can go in reverse.
it's a long way forward - Because the universe hates him out of all the weird Devil Fruits out there, Sanji gets hit by one that's absolutely laughable. Of course. A Devil Fruit power that doesn't allow you to smile? What kind of shitty, ridiculous power is that? It's funny until it isn't.
come back by smileysoul - Sanji's convictions have ended up harming the crew more than he expected. Zoro can't stand the way the cook seems to slowly lose himself after this. Can he manage to bring him back? (Zosan and rated M for further chapters, just in case)
Review: I really like this fic a lot. What I like most is the progression of their relationship. Starting out from a relatively healthy rivalry to a somewhat unhealthy relationship where they hide their insecurities, never talk it out, assumptions, misunderstandings... to a healthy romantic and sexual relationship where they talk their insecurities and personal stuff together as a couple. The Strawhats were relevant in this fic, just like the fics above. I find it amusing that all the Strawhats are gossipers and matchmakers of the Zosan couple although they stopped interfering partway into the second arc - admittedly, they probably did not expect the love factor involved but they were right about the physical attraction/UST. While Luffy was not part of the matchmaking even accidentally, he nudged them along to just talk because even he was aware of their relationship. Remember Luffy may be dumb but when it comes to the matter of the heart, he is perceptive. Out of all the long fics of Zosan, this is perhaps my favorites. Short stories are currently battling it out in the above fics.
This is a headcanon.
So everyone knows Sanji was sent to Momoiro Island or Kamabakka Island ruled by Ivanhov of the Revolutionaries.
Now, people are allowed to run free with headcanons. As long as they don't confuse it as canon. Do I have to point you to this again?! Modern trends in fandom are stupid beyond belief and I just wanted fandom to resume normally. This is a headcanon: Zoro's parents or ancestry was Wano-born, Adrien is bisexual. This is canon: Sanji does not like his Vinsmoke surname, Chopper likes sweets.
Back to the topic, due to the fact, Sanji was sent there in the first place and made friends with the people there. He gotta be exposed to the culture and the LGBT people over there. Some people certainly identify themselves as women like Caroline.
Some people would be uncomfortable just how ugly these guys might be portrayed... Like I understand that. But look at it from a Japanese perspective since from actual Japanese okamas, they are depicted with heavy makeup and no shaving apparently with beards.
And that's all I'm gonna say on the matter. I get people are saying outside of the Japanese sphere but okamas in Japan have similar facial markings and heavy make-up. Maybe I'm not the makeup type at all since I prefer to use concealer the most and carry around anything to keep me secured from potential
Zoro would take it easy if he had been there. Obviously, he would know there had always been people like this and it's their decision, not nature's.
Sanji would obviously have to know that. I don't think he's homophobic or anything like that. He's the type to not care about sexual preferences and sex lives, especially the latter. I don't want to know my brother's sex life as long as they consent and it's their thing. You know he has two years with only LGBT lot for company, some of them might be pretty explicit about their sex lives. Sanji might as well be a booth for these guys to talk about their sex lives. He has two years worth living there to know the sex lives and the mechanics of gay sex.
I'm not even getting to that headcanon, am I?
Two things come out of this island for Sanji according to headcanons.
Sanji is having a sexuality crisis. Bisexuality is usually the choice here. Or an exception(s) among men (ie. Zoro, Luffy, Usopp, etc. depending on who you ship Sanji with).
Or Sanji is genderfluid.
Either one or both is fine. An addendum could be internalized homophobia or the fact he had to deal with the fact he's genderfluid or loving a man he had been fucking for some time now. Regardless of Sanji calling it Hell, he still made friends there. I have a headcanon Adrien is bi. And you don't see messing with canon in any way possible.
Seriously, Lukanette and Lukadrien are pretty popular thereof the introduction of Luka. There were possible hints of an LGBT character popping up in ML soon. We don't know who but fans are guessing Luka.
I'm digressing again.
What not helped was how comfortable Sanji is in Nami's body. It just drives fuel to genderfluid Sanji. Certainly, he's pervy and I will hit any guy who tries to do things to my body. I will hit them until they learn never ever to do that again. Look I don't mind being pampered by Sanji with all those delicious new recipes he cooked up.
Honestly, I'll feel more comfortable with Zoro's harsh treatment on a regular basis than having a guy whining and pampering me every step of the way. At least these two won't use domestic violence.
I wonder who built the ship. The fanboys aren't shipwrights. I'm sure they have a doctor, a chef, a musician, and a captain on board at least. They explicitly said they did not have a navigator which is both funny and awesome they are this far into the New World, a more turbulent sea than Paradise. They might not have a shipwright though. I do think they have someone on board that worked as an adequate shipwright/engineer though.
There might be the possibility that with the money they earned from robbing and pillaging villages (which is an irony because the Strawhats hate needless violence and bullying of any type. Sure they are the type of 'live and let live' but because of their friendliness, they made friends and inevitably made enemies with that dictatorship or someone ruling over that place). Because Zambai got a job and formed a company of his own, he has no need to go out of his way to rob them.
All in all, it seemed like the ship might be a Galley-La built with the designs regarding the Strawhats. Franky didn't raise much of a fuss either.
Bartolomeo said woodcrafter... But to have something that survives not just Paradise but also the New World is something the Galley-La or any good shipwright would build. Of course, you need a good navigator to go with it. Foxy definitely have the crew needed to even to Paradise and even the New World.
Merry's Going Merry was not compatible with Paradise partway through. Franky's Thousand Sunny is definitely great, given the Adam Wood. The Going Merry is the type of boat for leisure in the Blues. Think of it more like a yacht without all the luxuries, not fishermen's or Marine.
I think Bartolomeo know about the Adam Wood and of course know the Thousand Sunny was made of the same wood. But I don't think he or his crew have the money for Adam Wood. All he wanted was to meet Luffy.
He and his crew are probably crying about the recent upgrade to the Strawhats. At this point, we have yet to see the Straw Hat Grand Fleet put to use and will definitely be used in the Wano arc.
I have a suspicion of this for some time. I trusted my guts instinct about the suspicions and proved me right. I know my narrative shit and I was right again!
I don't know. I have this feeling that Rose Quartz was Pink Diamond in some shape or form like I read a fic that had Rose Quartz as Pink Diamond the Lesser. I don't know the circumstances and I know those circumstances were difficult. I just know something was up with the two identities.
It opened a whole new can of worms. The show does a good job with gray morality and realism. There is some stuff that is not quite well such as a continuous tension and awful size compositions and scenes and probably the Steven Bombs. I hate the Steven Bombs so much; are you trying to be Netflix? Because most of the time, it felt like SU wants to be on Netflix and not on CN. Even Korra and ATLA and other shows managed to work a week to week basis. The OP anime caught up to the manga which is why the audience has to wait two weeks for another episode. We're in the beginnings of the climatic wedding now! There are scenes that are just shot reverse shots and it got dull composition-wise. Even low-quality with not too much money anime did more composition better than this. I really hate the inconsistent sizes of characters. Please decide on a size and be consistent with it. Just be consistent with the animation period. Anime, which is low-cost, is consistent.
Anyway, yes, this opened problems about Steven's mom, Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond. What is her reasoning in purposely ignoring her subject's concern? What could she have done had she stayed Pink Diamond? Would she still meet Greg as Pink?
