Hello and welcome to the Grandline Review Your Source for everything one piece. Last week we kept off a huge saga by returning to Water Seven, and this week we're stepping into something very unique on the zombie-infested island of Thriller Bark. Thriller Bark is the 18th arc in the series, consisting of 48 manga chapters and 45 anime episodes, and it's important to note that the saga is entirely standalone and not necessarily part of a greater saga, which I think is the first time this has happened in the series since the individual stories of East Blue, but even then you could say that they were building up their own East Blue saga. In any case Thriller Bark is a bold departure from everything we knew in the world of one piece, immediately assaulting us from all angles with horror tropes, although they do all have their own nice personal odour spin on them. And one of the most prominent examples of this is none other than our next crew member, Brooke. So it feels really weird to be saying that because we just came out of a very hard-fought saga, where we gained a crew member and very very almost lost two other crew members. But the ease at which Brooke appears in the story and the immediate acceptance of Lucie's invitation is very refreshing to see after all of that. And when you really think about it, why wouldn't Brooke instantly accept Lucie's offer? It's not as if he has anything better to do, just wandering around in the fog of the florean triangle. I mean, I guess there is the matter of his soul and shadow, which does stop him from leaving, but we will get to that. But while we're still on Brooke, I want to mention that he has one of the most heartbreaking back stories in the series, and yeah, look, I probably would say that with every flashback I mention in these reviews, but I really can't emphasize enough that Brooke's story just wrecked me emotionally. And not even so much because it broke or the Rumba Pirates actually, but more because of that damn adorable baby whale, LeBoon. Anything involving this little guy was just heart-wrenching, although the Rumba Pirates have their moments as well. The scene where they're all dying one by one while playing LeBoon's favorite song hits so incredibly hard, and having Brooke constantly commenting that they've become a quartet, a trio, a duet, and finally a solo is fantastic, albeit super painful writing. But Brooke himself is generally a delightful character. I don't think his drugs land as well with a Western audience because they lose a lot of their linguistic umphint translation, but I do really love the fact that Brooke is a character who at times can outweigh it even Frankie, and adds very nicely to the crazy dynamic of the straw hats. In regards to Thriller Barker's location, I love the concept, and I often forget this, but Thriller Barker's the world's largest pirate ship, and it is pretty much comprised of an actual island that floated into the grand line all the way from West Blue. So the setting is really cool and the spooky motif works quite well. One thing that sets us apart from just about any other in the series is the sheer amount of detail put into every conceivable character and location. Nothing is flat on this ship, every piece of architecture, landscape, and incidental characters are heavily textured. To the point where it makes me feel very sorry for Oda's drawing assistance. I mean especially for all of the zombies because there are a crap ton of them in this arc, and maintaining continuity for each individual one must have been an absolute pain. But despite the beautiful minute detail this arc provides, the aesthetic really doesn't gel that well with me. I've never really been a huge fan of Gothic stylization, and Thriller Bark certainly didn't convert me into one. As much as I appreciate the different aesthetic at times, it just doesn't feel like the world of one piece to me, which isn't to say that I just want to see the same thing done over and over again, not at all. I will praise Oda till the end of time for taking risks and changing up the style of the world, it's just that I don't think this one paid off quite as well as some of the others have. And to me this is echoed strongly in the primary antagonist of the arc. I know a lot of you out there love Gecko Moria and good on you. You certainly is Aya, let's call him a unique character, not at all your typical antagonist. However to me, he just looks like what would happen if you stuck a flustered vampire penis onto the body of a poorly proportioned Gothic doll. And yeah, I've never really been able to get over his design. There are a lot of characters in the series whose initial designs do less than wow me. The most prominent example of which is Usop, but you know what, I also quite dislike Jim Bay's design when it was first revealed, as well as saying Goku and pretty much every navy admiral with the exception of Fujitora. And in the large majority of cases, those characters end up wearing those designs exceptionally well and really proving themselves through their actions and characterisation within the story. Gecko Moria does not do that, at least not for me. He is the man who actively claims he will become Pirate King without lifting a finger. It's a unique way to go about things I guess, but the fact that he avoids fighting for his own dream as much as physically possible really doesn't endeare him to me at all. Now this trait of his does become much more forgivable when we do learn of his history with Kaido and how Moria lost his entire crew, but honestly knowing this just makes me desperately long to see the Gecko Moria of the past, rather than this husk of a man that he has become by the time the straw hats meet him. Seriously, I would be super keen for a short Moria story detailing his badass younger years, but for now just get him out of my manga. And his immediate underlings do very little to add interest to the antagonist of this art. Dr. Hogueback is entirely forgettable, although I do have to admit that Sindri and her uttered disdain of plates is legitimately hilarious. Absalom on the other hand is a pretty hideously designed character whose claim to fame in the series is sexually assaulting Nami while she was bathing. And apart from that seriously all he does during this arc is try to capture Nami again and again and again. And then again like four damn times. His actions and motivations get really old really quickly. Thankfully we do have some redemption for the bad guys coming in the form of Perona. The only one of the mysterious four whose design isn't a complete zombie shitfest. And her devil fruit ability is extraordinarily fascinating and powerful. I mean this ghost princess took out Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Frankie with her negative hollows and provided one of the coolest fights in the entire arc against Usop. So yeah, Perona was a very worthwhile character and I'm glad that Oda had the sense to send her away and make her relevant elsewhere. Which just so happens by the hand of Bathole Mucuma, whose appearance on Thriller Bark was an incredible twist. As a villain GecoMoria didn't make me feel much but he was still a warlord of the sea. So when a second warlord showed up it gave me a genuine sense of oh shit because the straw hats just were not equipped to deal with the two of them. And here I'd like to give a rare and special shout out to the anime for beautifully presenting the conflict between Zoro and Kumo. Those scenes were glorious to watch as is the phenomenal moment where we see Zoro bathed in blood, standing proudly and claiming that nothing happened after absorbing all of Luffy's pain and fatigue. I was a proud Zoro fan by prior to this event but this once again signaled to me exactly why this man is the unofficial vice captain. You all know it although I will say that this arc did a lot of justice to the straw hats as a group primarily through their fight against doors. These chapters alone make Thriller Bark worth slogging through to me because the teamwork and choreography illustrated between our crew members is completely unrivaled in the series. It seems really bizarre to think about but although enough we don't usually get to see the crew working together. There's generally more of an individual focus put on each character but after seeing how they dealt with those that makes me quite sad because as a collective they are glorious. Unfortunately the required time investment to get to this point in the arc is pretty huge. During every read through and watch through I've ever done of this arc I found that the beginning is extraordinarily slow with entirely too much wandering around the island. This arc really doesn't kick into gear for me until the straw hats begin fighting oars and by that point the arc is almost over. The one thing I will certainly praise this arc for is that it contributes a surprising amount to building the one-piece world. The very existence of Gecko Moria serves to hype up the Emperor Kaido, Lola's presence in the Viviakarchi gives Nami eventually contributes in a huge way to dealing with the Emperor Big Mom and just what the hell was that creature featured at the end of the arc. I love that we did not solve the mystery of the Florian Triangle and this hanging thread adds a huge amount of intrigue to the world of one piece. When everything is said and done I feel like Thrillerbark gets an unnecessarily bad rap from the one-piece community myself included. It is an enjoyable story when you're going through it but when you compare it to almost any other arc in the series Thrillerbark is just kind of meh which isn't to say it's a bad arc it's just nowhere near the best that this series can do. And that pretty much does it for Thrillerbark. Next week things are getting very exciting because we have finally reached the halfway point of the Grand Line and we are going to tackle one of the most shocking events in the entire series with Sabadee Akapelago. If you enjoyed this video then feel free to like, favorite or subscribe and please do comment with your thoughts on Thrillerbark. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.