Media One Piece (spoilers!)

While I’m not sure exactly how long Wano will last, Oda said himself that Wano was in it’s final stretch. That most likely means this is the last act.

I'm not sure I necessarily agree with that!! Wano is following traditional Japanese plays pretty closely, where there are five acts. Act 3 usually ends with a tragedy and act 4 is the climax. Surprised Act 3 didn't end with the end of Oden's flashback, but guess we'll see.
 
"act 3 will end with the death of oden in his flashback!"
"act 3 will end with luffy discovering the defeated scabbards!"
"act 3 will just...end at some point?"

gee i wonder what big tragedy could possibly take place at this point that could make for a fitting climax of the wano story

i know that it's not a hot take to go around the internet parroting morj's predictions but i wholeheartedly believe that wano will prove to be super boring if that whole theory doesn't end up taking place and i am all for this story turning into the most exciting and chaotic mess it can
 
While I’m not sure exactly how long Wano will last, Oda said himself that Wano was in it’s final stretch. That most likely means this is the last act.

Yeah I don't buy the theories about there being a 4th Act; the arc can just end in the current Act, hopefully later in the year since Oda also said that Shanks would make his move this year. While I normally don't take his words at face value since he's bad at giving estimates, I can't imagine that the climax of this arc will continue into 2022. I do worry that some of the fights will be mostly off-paneled, though.
 
I hope Wano ends around Summer 2021 with about 120 chapters, kind of similar to how it started in Summer 2018. Either way, I hope we find out which four to five remaining arcs we're getting soon. If so, the only five arc locations I can think of existing after Wano are Elbaf, (possibly) Pirate Island, Mary Geoise, Lodestar Island, and Laugh Tale. Am I missing any?
 
prediction:

the clouds gathering is a sign that Dragon and the Revolutionary Army / some segment of it are on their way to intervene. The way they are shown far in the distance makes it unlikely to me that it's something being engineered by Big Mom or Kaido, and it would pay off the CP0 randomly being in Wano as well (a shadow war happening underneath as the rookies and yonkos clash on top). It's not the wildest theory ever, but I will still be pretty hyped if it ends up coming true since I haven't seen anyone else talking about it.

These fights have been really hype but I do wish they were paced just a bit slower. Which is paradoxical bc its great to have all these moments one after another as a weekly reader, but I wish certain characters got a bit more time to shine. Like Kidd versus Big Mom, or even Zoro's Asura move could have used a lot more buildup / release. Also whether or not Orochi is really dead now it's really stupid the way Oda has treated his character and Kanjuro's. Really little to no dramatic tension at this point and Orochi's transformation was wasted spectacularly lol, feels like Oda forgot he didnt kill him properly and brought him back just to get pwned again.
 
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I don't think any revolutionary army/world govt interference will happen in this war, besides maybe CP0 but I believe they have different goals to be here and probably won't bother getting into the main battle. I think all participants of the war are already here (besides maybe like Tenguyama coming to wherever Oniigashima lands and give Zoro the Nidai). My only gripes so far with this arc are
  • Kiku and Kanjuro fight offscreened, so we have no idea how Kiku actually fights or what the sword does, or even what "lingering snow" refers to. With the scabbards separating now, maybe we'll get a new fight for Kiku to showcase that
  • Human form Kaido vs scabbards offscreened, which was annoying because I wanted to see that fight dearly, specially after Ashura Doji slashed Jack so it would've given a much better idea of the difference between Jack and Kaido. Ashura Doji alone was able to match Jack, but all the scabbards combined dropped vs Kaido and it would've been great to actually see that happen
  • KIDD HAS DONE NOTHING except throwing Big Mom in the air. He slammed Kaido once which did nothing basically, and that's all Kidd has done so far. Can he coat his scrap in Haki? Can he damage Big Mom or Kaido in any way?? So far he's the only one among the 5 on the roof who hasn't shown any ability to do damage to the Yonkos.
I think the next chapter will have some of Kaido and Luffy to showcase more of the new CoC application, and then shift somewhere else. I wouldn't mind if we move to whatever Sanji is doing, or whatever Hawkins is doing, or the Jinbe fight of which we've only seen 1 or 2 panels so far, but I really wish we get to see Kidd and Killer fight Big Mom cos there's beef between them as well (Kidd sank a number of Big Mom's ships a while back).

With Law and Zoro going downstairs now and Perospero looking to gang up on Marco, maybe we'll see some action of those 2 events combined.

Wonder what the identity of Who's Who is cos Oda teased that a lot but now it's soooo far in the background now I wonder how it'll actually play out and how relevant it will be.

Everyone's initial thoughts for the arc was that it'll be a 5 act arc just like the traditional Kabuki plays, but I see many people wondering if there is even enough left in the arc, and enough time left, for 2 more acts in this arc. Luffy has figured out some way to damage Kaido, and we're very deep in the war, so it makes on wonder what else can happen to fill up 2 more acts in this. Also, Oda said this year Shanks will make some move, so either it'll be something quick enough for a mini-arc between the acts (if we still do have 5 acts), or we won't get 5 acts and we'll see Shanks some time after this arc.
 
I personally enjoyed the development in Big Mom's character that happened this chapter. Though the whole O-Lin development was pretty cringe in the beginning, just pulling the super-overdone amnesia plotline out of nowhere, I think Big Mom revealing that she has a soft spot for under 10 kids and people who show kindness to her in a moment of weakness makes perfect sense, considering her orphanage backstory + her general manic/unpredictable behaviors. Some people say its contradictory, considering she kills her own kids and was just fine with momo being executed, but I would just point to the fact that Momo to her is just an enemy of the person she had aligned with, not someone who had explicitly given her kindness, and as far as I have seen she has only ever been hostile towards her kids when they were over 10 and/or when she was going hunger crazy. She has a very twisted sense of what 'love' is, and showing that she is not only capable of dispensing real, supportive attention sometimes and distorted, twisted 'love' other times highlights her emotional mania.

Not only this, I also think this chapter establishing she has some sense of moral code while clearly maintaining that she is an antagonist gives her much-needed depth that I felt like Oda was trying to give in Whole Cake Island but kind of failed at. Honestly excited that she's moving in a direction where she's not just Big Meme and actually isn't a one note Hunger Pangs villain. In general, Whole Cake Island was pretty meh/bad as an arc, and I desperately wanted more development for this Yonkou, which she finally is receiving in Wano.

So yeah. I overall enjoyed this chapter and hope it continues in a non-cheap way. The only way this could go bad is if Tama somehow convinced Big Mom to ally completely with the samurai/strawhats - that would be disastrous narratively, just completely deflating the stakes. I don't think Oda will do this, however - it seems much more likely it will become a 3 way battle royale, with Beast Pirates vs. BM + her small crew vs. straw hats + samurai, all fighting each other, especially since Perospero clearly wants to head in this direction.
 
Since the chapter hasn't officially released yet, I'll put my thoughts in hide tags as well
I find it completely believable that Big Mom would help Tama because of what happened in the amnesia storyline. My only issue is "sometimes she's nice to kids under 10" - why sometimes? why 10? I'm just worried this will somehow come into play later and it won't be a guarantee because now we have a "maybe" in Big Mom's behavior that isn't related to food.

I would also prefer, like mentioned in the above post, that Big Mom doesn't completely side with the raid army and this is a sort of a one-off just for Tama. For all the talk of "pirates always betray" if this is what it takes for Big Mom to completely switch sides I'll be very disappointed.

Wonder if Law and Zoro went to the same room that Law sent the scabbards to earlier, cos then they might run into Orochi and Zoro might have some revenge for Yasuie.

Also, normally I find youtuber theories pretty bleh (for all the enthusiasm of Tekking I find his theories mostly bizarre and stretched), here's one that is mostly plausible and the youtuber rarely posts videos that aren't chapter reviews so it's even better. It's based on the events of chapter 1010 so spoilers if you haven't read that !_!
 
Wait, the chapter notes also mention that Big Mom ditched Zeus in favor of a different lightning Homie. Does this mean Nami will get Zeus back?
 
Wait, the chapter notes also mention that Big Mom ditched Zeus in favor of a different lightning Homie. Does this mean Nami will get Zeus back?
basically 100% guaranteed at this point lol. Nami already mentioned earlier on that she needed a stronger shock to hurt Ulti

Also sad my theory didnt pan out, but oh well ;_;
 
i see a lot of talk about Big Mom maybe betraying Kaido because of Tama and nothing about how Luffy is somehow now able to stand with and potentially 1v1 Kaido so quickly after clearly being out of his element the first time they danced. Ok i get this new powerup with advanced Conq Haki but am i the only one feeling like this is far too soon or na?
 
I feel like they'll go even-ish for some time but soon the difference in level will begin to show as Kaido has a much longer experience using this, while Luffy was still not able to consistently use Ryou but now has to apply that principal to CoC which he has never used like this before. Kaido, even after being surprise attacked by scabbards and beating them, has also taken way less damage than Luffy.

I think there will be some pause to the battle caused by either someone interfering or maybe Kaido just sends Luffy flying off the island. I would really love to see that actually, Luffy having to try and get back on the island which I think should be moving at a decent pace. They should be above land soon too. The roof could also just collapse and Kaido and Luffy end up in different sections, in which case it would be absolutely hilarious to have Orochi run into Kaido.
 
chapters 1011-1013 has seriously been one of my favorite short stretches of wano so far. after spending a lot of time going through the standard action formula and hitting all of the necessary and predictable story beats, we finally got twist after twist and unexpected moments with tons of story impact and stakes just keep on rising higher and higher in ways i never would have predicted.

i don't want matchups to be set, i don't want 1v1 fights to be solidified or the plot to "explain" how luffy can actually beat kaido like he said he would, i want the story to devolve into absolute and complete chaos and bring back the high stakes where it's genuinely hard to know or expect what will happen. i miss whole cake island when the fanbase really had no idea where things could actually go or how things could get resolved, wano has so much potential to deliver on that feeling even more and more rather than just giving us our standard shonen fight setup as usual. i'm ready to shut down all my expectations and predictions for the future just so i can be surprised more and more by all of the insanity that's been going on.

will probably edit in or post again with some more detailed thoughts later, i have an absolute fuckton of specific things to say about big mom, luffy, kid, etc. but i didn't bother to write them a couple weeks ago when they were more relevant. either way i've been overwhelmingly pleased with the last month of story and regardless of what direction things go in i have absolute faith that it's going to deliver on every exciting front it needs to.
 
While I would've liked to actually see the difference between Luffy's and Kaido's use of CoC, this abrupt panel at the end is also quite good. Zeus got too many panels so I'm really hoping that pays off in some way (one theory I heard is that Zeus himself is gone but his "will" will continue to live on in Hera).

When Shinobu said they had made contact with Kinemon (when Yamato was leaving with the Momonosuke doll), anyone know how they made contact? I don't remember them having any secret ways of making contact, and Kinemon didn't mention any such thing when the scabbards were separating, so I wonder if it's a trap which would be very opportune right as Yamato is leaving them.
 
Honestly Wano might be a top 5 arc right now. The last stretch of chapters have been absolutely insane. Zoro getting Conquerer's, Luffy exchanging blows with Kaido. The fact that you can coat yourself with Conquerer's Haki changes everything. When that new piece chapter drops, you already know it's gonna be a good day!!
I have a lot more to say on Wano I just don't know where to start haha. One Piece is my favorite series of all time and I feel like no other series has such amazing and consistent characterization. I love every single straw hat.

My top 5 arcs atm would probably be:
1. Water Seven / Ennies Lobby
2. Impel Down / Marineford
3. Alabasta
4. Arlong Park
5. Wano

Besides filler it's hard to truly call any of the arcs bad. Would like to give honorable mentions to Skypeia, Whole Cake Island, Sabaody / Return to Sabaody.

Top 3 favorite moments in the series so far:
1. Luffy putting his hat on Nami in Arlong Park
2. Robin "I Want To Live"
3. Luffy defending the flag in Drum Island

Not to discredit countless other amazing moments.

Top 5 favorite characters would probably be something like:
1. Luffy
2. Usopp
3. Zoro
4. Robin
5. Kozuki Oden

Also a huge fan of Trafalgar Law, Crocodile, Nami, etc. Super excited for the next chapters. There's just so many mysteries left to be revealed. What happened in the Void Century? What is the will of D.? How will the revolutionary army come in to play, will Dragon fight Imu? Shoutout to the goat Eiichiro Oda
 
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alright here's my thoughts on 1011-1013!
i absolutely adored the entire "mothering" moment. for some background, i actually really liked the o-lin plotline, because i think that big mom is a great character when they really play as heavily as they can into her whole overgrown child thing. o-lin was an opportunity to further examine her childish and idealistic self before she had been more corrupted by streusen's influence and show some idea of who she might be at her core. i thought it was a fantastic exploration of her character and showed a very interesting side of her.

now that she's recognized and is actually outright willing to help tama, that entire plot has actually finally gotten its payoff and purpose. we got the reveal that she's actually quite friendly to a notable member of the opposing side and is very much willing to help her solely as thanks and appreciation for the help she was given way back in the day. it was genuinely kind of heartwarming and completely in-character for her to act this way, as her willingness to support tama still came from her own fundamental selfishness of looking out for herself and being willing to help those who helped her. i think the parallels to luffy were incredibly obvious, the guy who went and took down an entire country and demolished its overbearing ruler just because some girl he met decided to buy him lunch, and it really helped to flesh out her character more in a nuanced way as yet another dark reflection of the protagonist we're oh-so familiar with.

fundamentally though, the thing i love about this plotline is that it adds so much chaos and unpredictability to a story that would otherwise be playing it fairly by-the-numbers. two big established enemies for the supernovas to defeat, a bunch of smaller fights for the rest of the straw hat crew and their alliance to take on, everyone gets their 1v1, expected standard stuff. but all of the sudden we have that enemy alliance potentially splitting up and having serious infighting which can lead to basically anything.

despite all that, this clearly wasn't exactly going to make it much easier for the straw hats. sure page one got taken out, but we have to remember that at her core, big mom still had an insane grudge against luffy for everything that he did to her since fishman island, and that there was absolutely zero chance of her ever becoming anything of an ally figure just because she had a soft spot for the little girl on their team. i was glad to see the next chapters absolutely confirm this fact so people would stop complaining, but overall, i think the chaos and unpredictability of fighting two overpowered enemies who can't even get along is a lot more exciting than just sticking them on a picture-perfect team to be defeated together.

i genuinely did not expect big mom to turn on tama so quickly, but again, i think it was completely in character for her given her aggressively controlling nature and severe abandonment issues and i'm glad that she did so they could really showcase what a truly villainous person she is despite any redeeming qualities that may seem to appear on the surface. overall i am a huge fan of how big mom has been handled as part of the enemy alliance and i'm very glad that they did such a good job of playing up some of her more honorable and potentially redeeming qualities while still fundamentally showing us that, at her core, she is a selfish person who's ability to help others just stems from being an extension of looking out for herself and her controlling nature will always drive her to do genuinely awful things. so much of how she's been acting reminds me of a much more unhinged and immoral version of luffy, which i think is the absolutely perfect angle to portray her from.
luffy was never going to defeat kaido in this fight. i've thought it since dozens of chapters ago and i'm shocked that it finally happened so suddenly and out of nowhere. not enough had gone wrong during the onigashima raid in a series where any plan that can go wrong will go wrong, and the notion that luffy would suddenly become strong enough to take down an emperor just because he had his fun little training arc where he learned some new tricks was absolutely absurd when that sure as hell didn't work way back against crocodile. and just like against crocodile, two defeats and an eventual triumph seemed like the obvious structure for this battle to take considering the immense gap that needed to be overcome.

despite my adamance in this belief, i actually had myself doubting the certainty of it when 1012 was released. zoro and sanji showed their absolute faith in luffy's ability to win, and as a general rule of one piece, faith like that is never proven wrong. i remember back when fans had no idea if luffy was even going to defeat katakuri or if the point of that story was to have him take a major loss and grow from the experience, but as soon as sanji expressed his absolute certainty that luffy would win, i knew that there was no chance of him ever being proven wrong and that luffy would do his thing and pull off the impossible. and now here we have zoro and sanji doing the same thing, is this going to just be a long and grueling fight with some intense struggle where luffy still manages to come out on top in the end?

and of course one chapter later, oda breaks his rule and luffy is sent flying unconscious. and i really can't downplay the severity of this moment, it feels like actual uncharted territory for the story. because not only were the straw hats' faith in luffy shown to be actually misplaced, kaido explicitly makes a dramatic speech about exactly this idea, the fact that they will never give up in his ability to win unless they were to outright see his severed head right before their eyes. and all of the sudden luffy's defeat may not just be a moment for some extra drama for him to inevitably come back from, but rather an unfired chekhov's gun where the crew's reaction to finding out that everything has gone wrong could be a major plot point. i would be extremely disappointed if the crew doesn't get the chance to find out about this and we don't get the chance to explore and play up this drama because it presents such a unique opportunity, and i don't think that kaido's speech will mean nothing here as it could be a sign for things to turn far far worse in the near future.
everyone seems to be trashing on kid underperforming these days. i'm here to tell you that i am not jumping onto that bandwagon just because he's gone a few handfuls of chapters without any impressive showings. no, i was already on that bandwagon since all the way back in sabaody. i've always held luffy on an extremely high pedestal of a paragon of drive to the point of insanity and an unparalleled ability to accomplish the impossible. i never believed in this notion that any of his "rivals" in sabaody would ever be able to match his ability to single-handedly change the world and make an unbelievable splash, especially compared to someone like blackbeard who was far more of a threat and interesting themetic contrast. kid, by comparison, was just some dude who managed to rack up a higher bounty because he brutalized civilians while luffy didn't. to me, if there was ever a purpose to kid's character, it was not that he was being set up to be another future emperor of the new generation alongside our big protagonsit, but just another character to showcase how short everyone else would inevitably fall compared to luffy's ability to singlehandedly change the world. kid recognizing luffy's insanity and willingness to do things that even he would never consider by punching a celestial dragon certainly helped to reinforce this expectation in my mind.

and despite that, i think it's obvious that there are still unplayed cards left in oda's hand for him. his prevalence in the arc is clearly no accident, he's clearly going to do something that will showcase him as a notable threat and a worthwhile part of the arc's story. something big from him is definitely coming, even if i have my doubts about him being able to reach emperor-level notoriety by the end of this whole story as opposed to just being another footnote on history like capone bege did, ultimately important to the story's plot but still deeply overshadowed by luffy's greatness in the eyes of the world.

honestly i don't think he stands a chance against big mom and i really don't hope that this ends up being the final matchup for him. luffy defeating kaido and kid defeating big mom just feels like such an inelegant solution to this whole idea of "wow we have two emperors who need to fall and this kid guy really hasn't done much even though he feels like he should be important". there has been absolutely no build-up of a significant relationship or grudge between them, the fight holds no emotional weight, and seeing kid suddenly prove himself to be emperor level in combat after the story taking so little time to actually try and build him up to actually reaching and earning that point would just feel incredibly forced and anti-climactic. luffy has still called his shot against big mom and claimed he would be the one to defeat her all the way back in whole cake island, and after everything he went through with all of the insane struggles of that intense story, it would be a shame to see it essentially amount to nothing just to give kid something to do for basically just powerscaling reasons.

overall i had absolutely no idea how kid could ever be built up in the story as a notable and worthwhile threat in a way that would be satisfying and not just a drop-in-the-mud "oh he beat big mom that's cool i guess". then mr. morj posted his theory video about the future of kid's character arc and i thought what the hell, i can subscribe to this idea. it's definitely pretty crazy but i think it would ultimately set up his character as a luffy-tier threat to the world in a way that feels genuinely natural and definitely feels like it'd allow him to live up to the hype that the story has been building for him rather than just my idea that his purpose is ultimately just to be another rookie set to fall short compared to luffy's accomplishments. it's hard to expect that this will definitively happen, but if it did i think it'd be extremely happy with his character arc coming from a guy who thought that any purpose he could have in the story compared to crashing and burning would be ultimately disappointing.
god it would be so awesome if it failed. nami and usopp already lost their hyped-up and set up matchups to fucking big mom, that's a huge fucking blow against the idea that this is the final battle. we have way too many unresolved plot threads that would probably take like another hundred chapters to actually fully get their closure on. and while it could surely take place over the course of a long-extended onigashima battle that just exists on that next-level immense scale, i think there is plenty of room in the story for everything to go wrong here and a new fight on the wano mainland after kaido has fully invaded it to take place. we are clearly nowhere near the climax of the story and we're still waiting on the act 3 tragedy to take place, so things are wide open for a major defeat to occur and while it's not the only path forward for things to be resolved with the adequate amount of expected drama, i sure think it would be one of the most exciting and emotionally-impactful ones.

but even if it doesn't, big mom turning into this force of unpredictable chaos is enough to satisfy me with a story that is clearly no longer going to go in just the easy and expected direction and has plenty of potential to surprise us with all kinds of off-the-rails twists throughout the journey. whatever happens i'm overjoyed with how things have been going and i have absolute faith in oda's ability to deliver on everything he needs to correctly.
1014 is probably the most excited i've been for a new chapter in a long time so here's hoping it really delivers on the potential drama of the ongoing luffy plotline. hope you enjoyed reading, i had a lot of fun writing this all out since things have been just so insane lately!
 
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Since Zeus joined Nami for good in the form of a mace, is he considered a separate crewmate or part of Nami's equipment? If he's treated as equipment, I wonder if it's like Sunny's situation, considering the ship is also sentient. It seems that we're also getting Yamato in the crew at this point, but we don't actually know until after this arc is over, whether it lasts 130 or 150 chapters.
 
So I started watching the anime a few weeks ago and I’ve really enjoyed it for the most part so far!

Just finished the Drum Island arc though and I have to say it was kind of weak I think when compared to what immediately came before it. I was really invested in the whole conflict with Baroque Works and I thought finding a doctor for Nami’s illness would only be like a one or two episode deal. But it turned out to be its whole thing that lasted awhile and in my opinion didn’t have great pacing or introduce really compelling characters like, say, a lot of the stuff that happened in East Blue. Is this a common sentiment amongst fans?

Right now with where I’m at the crew is on the way to Alabasta with Chopper in tow and I’m happy that we’re finally back it seems to taking down Baroque Works. Even if I don’t really care for Chopper all that much so far it seems like he’s here to stay and I guess it makes sense to dedicate a lot of episodes to his backstory and such if he’s going to be a permanent member of the crew but… yeah what I’m trying to say basically is that for almost the entirety of Drum Island I was like “come on let’s get this over with so we can see what happens in Alabasta” and I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way
 
Just finished the Drum Island arc though and I have to say it was kind of weak I think when compared to what immediately came before it. I was really invested in the whole conflict with Baroque Works and I thought finding a doctor for Nami’s illness would only be like a one or two episode deal. But it turned out to be its whole thing that lasted awhile and in my opinion didn’t have great pacing or introduce really compelling characters like, say, a lot of the stuff that happened in East Blue. Is this a common sentiment amongst fans?
You get a new crew member in that arc and also some exposition and details that may seem minor at the moment but are pretty significant in the overall world and in some later arcs (not gonna say how late). I think both of those things do warrant the time spent here, but I understand that at the current moment it may seem the momentum kinda slowed down from being focused towards Alabasta. Be patient and have faith in Oda (although you're watching so have faith in the speed up option too)
 
So I started watching the anime a few weeks ago and I’ve really enjoyed it for the most part so far!

Just finished the Drum Island arc though and I have to say it was kind of weak I think when compared to what immediately came before it. I was really invested in the whole conflict with Baroque Works and I thought finding a doctor for Nami’s illness would only be like a one or two episode deal. But it turned out to be its whole thing that lasted awhile and in my opinion didn’t have great pacing or introduce really compelling characters like, say, a lot of the stuff that happened in East Blue. Is this a common sentiment amongst fans?

Right now with where I’m at the crew is on the way to Alabasta with Chopper in tow and I’m happy that we’re finally back it seems to taking down Baroque Works. Even if I don’t really care for Chopper all that much so far it seems like he’s here to stay and I guess it makes sense to dedicate a lot of episodes to his backstory and such if he’s going to be a permanent member of the crew but… yeah what I’m trying to say basically is that for almost the entirety of Drum Island I was like “come on let’s get this over with so we can see what happens in Alabasta” and I was wondering if anyone else felt the same way
Yes this is true in the manga too. Kureha and Dalton are interesting enough but Wapol is pretty flat as villains go. It's just an average arc coming between several really good ones, so it suffers in comparison. Could have cut 5 or 6 chapters for pacing and it'd be better.
 
Drum is one of my favorite arcs. Chopper's backstory and the ending with the flowers really sell it for me. There's a reason it got made into a movie. Wapol is a very quaint villain but I always found him entertaining. Im surprised you found it underwhelming compared to Little Garden.
 
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