This episode seemed to go very quick and end on yet another new character cliffhanger. Lots of characters all the time, I wonder how this is sustainable, and how many of these characters are recurring versus being single or double episodes only. I know Koby will come back eventually, and Buggy, but there are just so many people to keep up with. It’s a very diverse and well constructed world, to be fair, they all make sense and add depth to the show. There is also a lot of background world building, like are witch hags a real thing? I also am more and more curious about Shanks, is he still around, why is he so famous?
Usopp is kind of a lackluster character but I think that is another example of how great this world building is, he is a very realistic character and I have encountered similar people before. He is immature and hangs out with much younger people because they are too inexperienced to understand better and they are impressed by him. The children are even sort of skeptical of Usopp but they still go along with his ideas because they feel cool hanging out with an older kid or young adult or whatever Usopp is. Of course, some of his lack of development is because he has been missing his father since childhood and I think this is another valid issue for the show to explore.
I enjoy that Luffy & crew keep fruit on the ship to avoid scurvy, and again Luffy is always hungry, looking for meat this time because he is protein deficient after being on the sea with nothing but fruit for so long. This demonstrates that the show is pretty well thought out and not just handwaving a lot of the gritty realism of pirate life.
My last thought is just how did this mansion get built on this island? There aren’t that many people, but someone had to harvest all these resources and have engineers & architects and such to build such a high quality house, so did they bring a construction crew on a huge ship full of building materials? There is also a full staff which is ultimately the sign of real money because a one-time cost to hire a crew is one thing, but to be able to afford an on-going staff of security & probably butlers & chefs and more, presumably without bringing in any new income after the death of the parents, is truly a giant fortune.
Labour is not cheap, even if they are paying cheap wages, but these employees seem competent which means they could likely find well paying work off the island but still they stay. I wonder how much of their wages get put back into the small local economy on the island or if they are taking leaves to visit other destinations to regularly spend their savings. Do they all live in the big house or what? Another note to think about later after seeing more episodes, I do hope this type of stuff gets revealed on the show and it isn’t just handwaved.