You can watch my next One Piece review (Marineford) RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+): www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr To follow the readthroughs on stream, you can follow me on Twitch here: www.twitch.tv/Aleczandxr/ Link to AJ's Discord server: discord.gg/Ekhz7PNuJd CURRENT TWITCH SCHEDULE: Mondays @ 10am EST: A Blind Playthrough of Outer Wilds Wednesdays @ 10am EST: Naruto Readthrough (Sometimes - check Discord) Fridays @ 10:30am EST: SOME FRIDAYS, I do full One Piece reading streams as well. Check Discord for updates/details. Sundays @ 11am EST: Vinland Saga S2 anime reactions & One Piece Chapter reads

Buggy embodies the quote "fake it until you make it"

It's Buggy's circus we're just living in it

I am very glad you remembered that Sakazuki is the same man who ordered the civilian ships to be destroyed at Ohara. Not many people remember that.

AJ's probably the only One Piece reviewer whose Fishman Island analysis I'm looking forward to.

For the "boss" name, the term Ace uses for Jinbei in Japanese is "oyabun", which is a title used for yakuza leaders. That's kind of a theme with Jinbei, he's modeled after the romanticized image of an honorable yakuza boss. It's also a thing in his pirate epithet. The word "Kaikyo" would normally mean "strait" or "channel", but a kanji has been switched out (海侠 instead of 海峡). The kanji thus inserted (侠, kyou, "chivalry") is one that's usually found in an honorific used for high-ranking yakuza members (任侠, ninkyou). It's a pun that doesn't really translate. Translations people have made of this include "Knight of the Sea" and "Yakuza of the Sea" - the Finnish manga localization went with "Godfather of the Seas". Viz uses "First Son of the Sea", for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. #AJPiece

*** Spoiler Warming *** I can’t believe how accurate some of AJ’s predications are. He’s legit predicting monumental moments and then follows up with “but idk” haha

One of my favorite parts of this arc is hannyibals speech to luffy about how even if its unintended luffys ambition and selfishness could inadvertently cause people to suffer terribly and that at the end of the day Luffy is conducting a massive jailbreak with some of the worlds worst people in tow. Luffy is unintentionally a hero but it was cool to see him challenged with the idea that he may become closer to a villain than a hero if he's not careful about his way if thinking.

Minor correction for 1:24:30 Crocodile wanted to be Pirate King. It's Mr 1 that wanted to be a hero

#AJPiece Something interesting to me about Ace during this arc (especially when taking other arcs into context) is the fact that we don’t see him resist any part of both being in impel down and being led to his execution until he learns how close luffy is to him. In particular when he’s trying to get away he’s not running to get out of the the prison, he’s running to go further INTO it because luffy is down on level 6. He doesn’t care about his own life, all he’s worried about is making sure his little brother doesn’t die for him and that makes some feel all types of emotions.

#AJPiece To further the date's inferno parallels, Buggy acts as a reluctant Vergil to Luffy's Dante since Buggy explains how Impel Down works and helps guide him.

#AJPiece One thing I love about Oda's writing is that he understands his characters so well that a simple meeting can be used to introduce such an important villain like Blackbeard. His introduction in Skypeia us so impactful and only gains weight as the series continues. And yet that simple introduction established the core of who Blackbeard is and his eventual relationship with Luffy in only a few panels. How both are so similar and yet so fundamentally different at the same time. Loving your analysis series and can't wait for the Marineford review.

out of all the arcs Impel down has to be the best to binge in the series. each level they progress you just want to see more and then you get to the climatic final escape and you just cant stop watching. Oda was really in his creative prime with this.

Without spoiling anything, the synchronization of this title with the new development in the manga is beautiful

40:15 The word used by Ace is "Oyabun" which is how you address a yakuza boss, that's why it's translated as such, but Oya means parent. And on that note, from Sabaody, Sentomaru addresses Kizaru as Ojiki. Oji means "uncle" and depending on the kanji could be younger or older than the parent he is brother of, but both are pronounced the same way. Ojisan (oji with the "-san" honorific), is the normal way to address your uncle, and it also means "middle age man". The -ki honorific, once a great symbol of respect, usually used among Samurai, is out of use, archaic, except for Sumo-related environments, and Sentomaru very much resembles a sumo wrestler. But Okiji (with the kanji for "uncle who's younger than my parent" for oji) is also a general, second-in-command, even, within the Yakuza, the "younger brother" of the Oyabun. Tha Yakuza is full of old/archaic Japanese terminologies, and even rituals, like the Sakazuki, where the young pledge shares a cup of Sake with the Oyabun (the boss, yes, but also the Oya, the parent of the Yakuza clan) and joins the family as his son, or kobun. There are other versions of Sakazuki, like among equals symbolizing brotherhood, for instance, but currently, the Sakazuki-goto (Oyabun and Kobun) is the most practiced. Sorry for the ramble, I just love this kind of stuff, as this now "mafia customs and monikers" all come from Japanese traditions that they keep alive. the -bun and -ki honorifics, the virtually dead word Oya (that's genderless and has mostly been replaced by To and Ka, father and mother), or the Sakazuki that now can only be seen in extremely traditional contexts

I love that due to current circumstances in the manga this video is going to blast on the algorithm and my dude has no idea why

I'm very happy AJ seems to have not been spoiled about this next arc, barely anyone even goes into the story without knowing key moments of it. It's going to be really satisfying for him.

Amazing review as always. What I also loved about this arc is how Magellan soundly defeated Blackbeard and his whole crew. If it weren't for Shiryu, they'd be toast.

#AJPiece Now AJ knows why Bon Clay is universally loved by One Piece fans. Just wanted to add that I was guilty of viewing all fishmen in One Piece as a purely antagonistic group. Because of Arlong Park, I wasn't exactly given a good first impression but everything changed by Sabaody and in Impel Down, with the introduction of Jinbe, things become more nuanced as his motive for rejecting the upcoming war shows how the fishmen race has been abandoned by the World Government - not only in their direct oppression through the marines rounding them up as slaves for the World Nobles but also in how, even in actions that are meant to protect the general public, how fishmen are impacted is never given any consideration.

Coby swore he would become an admiral in the Navy. But, after what we've seen in Saboady, it's not clear that they can act under their own will.

#AJPiece, there's a popular (or at least, widely known) theory that Crocodile is actually a woman, and that she had Iva transform her into a man so she could be strong enough to become a Shichibukai or something. There's a funny subvariant of this theory that Crocodile is actually Luffy's mom. I am not kidding.

Thank you for wanting to talk about Usopp and Moria!!! One's my favorite strawhat and the other is probably my favorite villain second to Blackbeard so I really appreciate that you not only like them too but are considering talking about them more. Moria gets so much hate but he's really a great character when you look into him!!

SPOILERS Title is pretty well-timed considering the recent chapter.

Skypiea is my favourite arc, Impel Down is my second favourite. Glad to see you so enthusiastic about both.

#AJPIECE Something i really like about Iva's quote on Miracles is that they don't happen just because you wish they did, Miracles happens through sheer will and never abandoning And like you said it speaks a lot about Luffy as a character One example i can think of is his fight against Aokiji Luffy knew very well he was no match for him but still decided to fight him, to protect his friends and see the extent of his abilities/strength i guess But that determination to face Aokiji is also the reason why a crew with less than 300millions of bounty were able to escape an admiral By pushing Aokiji to fight him in a duel, he was stuck in a situation where he couldn't pursue the rest of the crew without breaking his honor because the terms of the fight were that of a 1v1 And from here we go from justifying the survival by ''plot convenience'' to an actual driving force that Luffy creates The story progressing thanks to the characters and not the plot making them progress unnaturally if that makes sense

Now that I've heard "Snake Transponder" I now want the Boa sisters to have their own custom snake phones lol

Let’s go!!!! I’ve been so excited for this one❤

I love that Impel Down is a jrpg recruiting people as we go

I finally had time to watch the video! I had so much fun listening to you talking about this arc again. Thank you for the video !

Yessir! I‘ve been rewatching the Amazon Lily video today when I got the twitch notification that you’re live. I was hoping this will be uploaded today

You ask so many great questions that hopefully by the time you become week to week those questions will be getting answered

Good video! Gonna check out the previous ones!

Love your content! Keep it up!

9:15 I want to point out that usopp does still call himself captain when he's leading people

Excited to listen to this tonight as I train. Thanks friend.

i have been waiting for SO LONG i can't wait to get through this

Greatest timing. I love him too!

I love how you don’t make quick topics, you delve deep into characters and chapters and whatnot, and I love it.

#AJPiece Magellen's constant diarrhea is a simple reference to the demon belphagor who represents the sin of sloth. In almost all of his depictions, belphagor is shown to constantly be on a toilet. Also i don't know if anybody mentioned this during alabasta, but mr. 2 bon clay's name follows both naming conventions that baroque works had. Men would have numbers and women would have days, bon clay being a reference to festivals and days of celebration. That and his clone-clone fruit powers makes for a very fun way to break and play around with gender

The Fishman Island streams have been really great, opening my eyes and allowing me to enjoy the arc more than ever before.

I can’t belive buggy being amazing and t-bone we’re both brought up in a review this time of all time

Finally Impel Down. This has to be one of my favourite arcs in one piece and it is also the arc that i have the most childhood memories from.

cool review on my favourite one piece arc

This is beautiful

#AJpiece the best description of the difference between Luffy and Blackbeard ive heard is that - Luffy wants to become the Pirate King and BB wants to be the Pirate King Journey vs. Destination. A lot Luffy revolves how certain things should be done, best exampeled in the SH talk with Rayleigh in Sabaody. Luffy's actions and beliefe inform his progress and current goals. For BB, the end justify the means, the goals informs the actions

#AJPiece I'm so glad you enjoyed this arc, it's one of my favourites in the series and you read it right around my birthday so I'm super grateful for that! I love how this arc handles reintroducing and recontextualising characters in a different light. I think that one of Oda's greatest strengths as a writer is writing these "payoff" arcs which reward the viewer for caring about these characters that he brings back and shows off in a different light. Getting to see characters like Crocodile, Jimbei and Buggy in the same room as Luffy doesn't just feel like fanservice which I think is a really impressive feat. The fact that you managed to talk in such depth about Buggy and Mr 2 Bon Clay's sacrifice demonstrates how even a more minor character can get emotional and thematic depth later in the story. Buggy goes from a low ranking pirate into this messiac revolutionary to the Impel Down prisoners, it really demonstrates how far we've come in the world with Luffy and how much worldbuilding went into making these moments hit hard. Luffy started floating aimlessly in a boat and now he's the mastermind behind a giant jailbreak from the most dangerous prison in the world.

Man it makes me so hyped to hear you talk about these arcs that I wanna read One piece for a third time XD

I found your channel because I recently finished Impel Down and loved buggy so much that I wanted to find if more people liked him like me. Loved the review and you deep thoughs. Great quality and content!! Special mencion to Bon Clay 😭😭

So perfect timing.

i appreciate the Buggy hype and he gets even better in recent chapters I'm sure you'll love the development there

#AJPiece I fnally caught up to your most recent video after binge watching this series. I LOVE the energy and insight you bring but you keep impressing me with the amount of depth you go into each subject. Thank you for that. Finally someone who can describe themes and characters i love most of all. I only have one question, does one piece get overwhelming? not length wise but the amount of different stories that are taking place.

You're catching up to me, I reckon I will pick the anime up again to finish arcs before the manga review!!

So there's several things that were talked about in this video that you hit on that were interesting. You mention how this chapter is very heavy about the politics of the good and evil of the One Piece world and it's real world counter parts. I just wanted to say on this how truly amazing it is how much politics Oda can weave into a story and not make it heavy handed if you don't want it to. Next you mention about how New Kamabakka Kingdom was nice to see from Oda. What's crazy is this arc came out 15 years ago so Oda if anything was ahead of the trend of accepting people who transition. You also mentioned he didn't handle it well before that. But the first time we meet Mr 2 was in 2000 in the manga. And although not the best representation I think Oda did well for that time. Lastly you mention Buggy constantly falling up and possibly becoming Pirate King. It's kinda funny because that's one of the biggest meme conspiracies in the One Piece community.

I think after you finish Marineford you should definitely read One Piece Episode A by Boichi to get more background on how Ace ended up with Whitebeard. It's amazing and I think you will enjoy it greatly!

Really enjoyed. Can't wait til Marineford's video.

Perfect title. Sold immediately.

Reading recent chapter, watching this feels different now

#AJPiece Firstly, I wanna say I’ve been a very long time fan of the channel, especially your Hunter x Hunter and Haikyu videos. Always a pleasure to see a new video pop up on my feed. I’m gonna upgrade my Patron tier next payday so I can get early access to your One Piece reviews because for the first time since you’ve started this series I’m finally caught up to where you are. One Piece has been what I’d call a pleasant surprise for me. I never planned on reading it, but a friend passed away who loved OP and your series reviews so in his honor, I’d like to share his love for your videos and One Piece. We bonded a lot discussing your takes on HxH over the past few years and it’s a small but nonetheless important part of my memory of him. Thanks for that. I’m really excited to be caught up to you - I’ve been anticipating this video a lot since I caught up to Amazon Lily a short time after you posted your review of that arc. One thing I’ve really grown to love about One Piece is the way Oda takes the time to explore so many different ideas. Sometimes it feels like it’s at the expense of efficiency in his storytelling, but I think One Piece fans really value Oda’s sort of meandering style of writing. He explores so many ideas and rarely forgets them, for example the Laboon connection to Brook. This results in so many engaging plot lines and hooks that always seem to coalesce in exciting ways. Impel Down is a another example of these ideas that have been cooking for hundreds of chapters coming together in insane ways. My question(s) for you is/are, do you think Oda sacrifices efficient storytelling for the sake of over-exploring ideas or do you like his willingness to take time to expand on his ideas as he sees fit? Do you think this could eventually become too much down the line and result in a climax being bogged down by too many moving parts? Would you rather Oda get more to the point in some cases or are you happy to just be along for the ride in general? Thanks so much for the content! Always a pleasure. ALSO MR 2 BON CLAY THE UNDISPUTED GOAT

FINALLY!!

About the Iva, Croc interaction, you should look up the croccomom theory

#AJPiece Concerning whether Ace deserves to be in Impel Down, truthfully, we don't know if he might have done something while he's a pirate that could have, even by our standards, received a death sentence. We don't think he has, because we know who he is, because we've read his cover stories and because we know what type of pirate Whitebeard is. But it's not inconceivable that he had attacked a marine base similar to Luffy and Enies Lobby and with how volatile his fruit powers are, he almost certainly would have killed someone in that case. The point I'm trying to make is that we don't know if Ace have actually done something that warrants imprisonment and execution (I don't believe anyone deserves to be imprisoned in a place like Impel Down, though), but the reasons we're given is "because he's part of White Beards crew" and "Because of his parentage" doesn't. Sorry, I just thought the statements you made on the topic seemed to lack that distinction and I felt it was important to include in the discussion about justice.

Wow. You really blazed through the saga.

#AJPiece Now that a bunch of arcs have passed since you were last asked this - do you still think Oda's biggest strength is payoffs? Also as a bonus, since you've now read the beginnings of each of the big 3, how would you compare their styles early on?

Video dropped with perfect timing

#AJPiece I really respect Boa. Despite her hatred of men, she was able to stand strong in a prison filled with prisoners and guards. Also, her scene with luffy when he said "thank you," in Japanese, he pronounced it "a-ri-ga-to-u," but Boa saw it as "a-i-shi-te-ru," which is "I love you," but only that word is saved for someone you deeply love.

Ngl, but as an absolute water 7 saga fan I'd love a spandam video.

#AJPiece I don't know if it's been mentioned, but it's been pointed out how Luffy having his lifespan reduced is a recurring thing throughout the story. He gets 10 years off his lifespan through this treatment, but it's also implied he loses a bit through Gear 2, and especially at the end of the Moria arc when he's so beaten up Zorro almost dies taking his injuries.Because of that, there's been theories that Luffy will die an early death at the end of the series, just like Roger at the start.

Mark my words, Buggy will be the pirate king

Since u were wearing a chika sweatshirt, can we see a love is war video soon. Love ur vids

bugi goat for so many reasons :)))) cant wait for u to catch up to us

If you want the story of how whitebeard and ace met, their is a spin-off manga about that

please put more live reaction clips from key moments

Never seen your channel before, but you like one piece, are analytical, have the offspring merch, while xenoblade music plays. LET'S GO DUDEEE

Last time he has an increase on his list of One Piece characters, he says, no AJ, no it's not. By the end, you're gonna have a top 50 list of characters

Ahh Buggy D. Clown…. He’s the reverse of How Gravity works. Unlike most, when Buggy Falls, he Falls Upward.

I like to see Luffy and Blackbeard as representative of the two ways I play through an rpg. Either I just run head first through the story, no research. Just figure things out as I go, do the side quests that are on the way and being under leveled for every boss battle. Or I do my research on the game, check for every treasure pick out the best equipment, not minding how long it takes, power leveling to the point that I know I will easily win the boss battle.

Love the chika sweatshirt

#AJPiece I'd like to know your theorys about Crocodille's "weakness" or past, if you have any. Since Iva is the one who knows something about him it could have to do with his gender, or body, it could also have to do with his devil fruit or even the revolutionary army

Since this video will be in the Post-War video I believe? How does Marineford + Post-War if you consider them one cohesive story stack up to other shonen arcs or arcs in general that you've experienced? #AJPiece

6:45 I'm kinda glad AJ forgot this bit about Sabondy.

1:24:16 ah yes the origins of the greatest theory in all of One Piece

I know I was kinda' inflammatory with my comment last time and I still feel bad about that comment. Just wanted to apologize and cute Meruem plush! Thanks for the Impel Down review!

Impel Down is so great I mean we get reintroduced to all these dope characters again Bon Clay who's MVP with Buggy who starts his journey towards becoming PK for real. Then Croco Boi with Daz Bones then new peeps Magellan with such a wicked DF that Mr. 3 counters so cool to see different DFs match up like that. Plus Ivankov the Queen out here with Jinbei first son of the sea whooping ass in a prison break 👏 Not to mention all the parallels to Buddhist hell/Dantes Inferno so much going plus to top it off BB and crew show up which almost ends in death xD

#AJPiece I hope you're not making the mistake of thinking that all Pirates in this series are good. Hannyabal is not confused or indoctrinated. He's speaking the truth. Pirates are terrible and wreak absolute havoc on civilians. Not all Pirates are Luffy and his gang. The government is 100% justified in locking up pirates. Regardless of how justified we think Luffy is he's still causing problems for ordinary people just living their lives by interfering with the Government.

its just going to get better after this

I am so glad that no one spoiled one piece for AJ, it actually shows you how good Oda is at making us clueless while reading.

16:41 trust me it gets even better.

The only man to ever read one piece without getting the marineford death(s) spoilers

#AJPiece I noticed early on in Impel Down the uncanny comparisons between Usopp and Buggy. Buggy's a fun dark mirror to Usopp and it makes you think of how different Usopp's journey could have been, had he eaten a devil fruit like Buggy had, albeit accidentally. This also made me think about the rest of the Newkama and how similar they are to the missing Straw Hats. Mr.2 Bonclay is an inverse Sanji in the way his adherence to his ideals often led him to make rash decisions. Daz Bones (Mr.1) seems a bit humbled by Zoro since we last saw him. Even when he was heading to take over that ship, I was thinking of Zoro and how his fight with Mihawk humbled him. Ivan reminds me of Chopper in a backalley doctor sort of way and also they're pride in who they are regardless what others think of them, mind you Ivan's got years of honing his/her pride on Chopper. Jinbei's resourcefulness, utility, and empathy reminds me of Frankie. Even reminds of Tom, the fishman who raised him. Even Mr.3's utility and straight-man attitude reminds me of Nami with how he banks off of Buggy and Luffy. Robin's Newkama respect is a bit harder to pin down though, right now, Ace is in a very similar disposition mentally and physically with her when she was in Enies Lobby. I don't have a comparison for Brook other than maybe the primary antagonist of this ark, Megellan, and his devil fruit's downside of giving him the runs compared to Brook's not having much of an upside (as far as we know this far). Still, I thought I'd get these thoughts down. But overall, I could feel the spirit of the other Straw Hats, even if they weren't there with Luffy.

definitely should have been reading it in color

1:24:45 The birth of the crocomom theory

Buggy is so ascended that him having the D initial has almost become a Mandela effect. Buggy D. Clown

You keep saying Ace’s imprisonment was unlawful but I just can’t understand how you came to that conclusion. Despite our friendly view of him he’s like literally still a pirate, and a subordinate of an emperor at that lol?

Buggy in the flesh

I always remember ImpelDown as my favorite part of the One Piece, along with MarineFord. Though these were last arcs before timeskip, and my own enjoyment of the series slowly fizzled out after the timeskip.

Reminder: Magellan has diarheaa because he likes the taste of the poison he creates. If he didn't eat poison Luffy and the rest would be dead.

Wild to see bts merch in a one piece video

I love buggy as well

#AJPiece Your mention of Hannyabal (?) brought something to mind. He essentially said "you pirates are ruining this - the ONLY safety and security we can know - and you don't even care! THAT'S why i hate you and won't surrender!" I might be wrong, but it seems very telling, especially considering that we hear this and get this insight only when Luffy does. It leads me to believe that many more people of the world - pirates and navy alike - are aware of the flaws and problems with the current world order than we first thought, BUT we seem to only gain these insights as Luffy does. As if we, the audience, are made to be as naive as Luffy is and we come to grow out of that naiveté with him, at his pace. This seems to keep happening in the series in the way that many things and people are fantastical and whimsical and even silly, but every arc the seriousness of all this seemingly lighthearted world is revealed to us as it is revealed to Luffy (I.e., flashbacks and back stories of characters as far back as Syrup Village seem to do this consistently, with Hachi and Cammie in Sabaody Archipelago being most recent example). No grand question, just a speculation and wanted to know your thoughts. Thank you for the content, I appreciate you.

lmao its a miracle he doesn't get spoiled "hires dozens of mods to check any form of communication" lmao