 Hello, and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. All of a sudden you've made this channel sound so much more refined than I ever could. No, I'm a terrible actor. You don't need to be good at acting, you're English, you have the accent to you, you don't understand what you were born with. I just talk and people think I'm good at things. Exactly, you sound refined, hurrah. Alright, hello and welcome to World of One Piece, the series where you all get to take a break from my opinions and look at somebody else's experience with the series. Today we are featuring someone with an absurdly charming accent by the name of Oscar. Welcome to the channel, Oscar. Hello there. Now, tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? How old are you? What do you do for a living? Get down to it. Who is the real Oscar? I am 19 from England and I'm a student studying engineering, a bit of a nerd really, at university in Southampton. Sorry, I'm just looking up where that is on a map. In the south, centre of the south. Yeah, you definitely are down south, my friend. I'm from the posh south. Very good, not too far out of London. So, Oscar, how did you first become aware of One Piece? It was through my friend who introduced me to anime, told me about The Big Three, thought the other two were a bit crap to be honest, so One Piece just took an instant liking to it, especially Zorro, and it all sort of started from there. Very good, just curiously, what didn't you like about Naruto and Bleach? Well, I thought Bleach was just a bit not really much going on other than just they fought a bit and somebody got hurt. And Naruto, they just stayed in the same village doing nothing really the whole time, whereas One Piece, they travel around the world and have an end goal and there's a big adventure. Yeah, Naruto has an interesting formula about it. They start in the village, they go on a mission into the forest, then they come back to the village, go into the forest again, then back to the village, and yeah, it gets a bit boring. Yeah, that's about what it seemed like. So how old were you when you became aware of One Piece? I think I was 16, about three years ago. Very, very cool. And what is it that initially kept you invested in the series? I like the fact that it sort of had a long-term plan, like felt like they had a very specific end goal. It was all about the kind of adventure of getting there along the way. I just thought it was good fun. It is indeed good fun, and where are you up to in the series currently? I'm completely caught up in both the anime and the manga. Completely caught up, good man. What do you think about current events in the older Huano? I'm really looking forward to Huano. I thought Whole Cake Island was probably the best post-time skip arc. I just didn't really like Big Mum very much. Some look forward to Huano because it looks like an infinitely cooler place. And can I just say thank you for calling her Big Mum. I have a lot of trouble saying Big Mum because I want to say it as Big Mum, you know, in the American sort of way, but it's so nice to hear someone who says it as Mum. I will never say Big Mum. No, your posh accent does not allow for it. I should never say it again, really. Absolutely not. You've already tarnished your voice by saying it once. I avoid American accents at all costs. I would, but I grew up watching too much American television, so I just say some things in an American way without really knowing. It's very annoying. You've infected yourself. Yeah, I'm infected with America. Aren't we all? I want to go back to something. You said our Whole Cake Island was the best post-time skip arc in your opinion. That's a very interesting opinion. I don't know many people who would say that. I think it was pretty fantastic, but a lot of people got very tired of it, I think. What did you really love about it? I think I really liked Luffy Against Category. That was just an awesome fight all round. I liked the whole story with Sanji and his backstory, and sort of leading up to the wedding was interesting as well. A lot of cool stuff happened, basically, that I didn't think had really happened in the previous few arcs. Yeah, I agree with you completely there, especially with Luffy vs. Karakuri. It's bizarre to think that a series that had almost reached 900 chapters could keep topping itself in terms of fights, but that's probably my favorite fight in the series. Yeah, and that was where I'd co-opt the anime for the second time, and had to read ahead on the manga, so I got it in the manga rather than the shitty anime. That's fantastic. And speaking of, you're all caught up in the anime. I am almost all caught up. What do you think of the state of the anime so far? What can I say? There are cool bits, and I like bits of it, but it's so slow. I think I only keep watching it for nostalgia's sake, because that's how I started watching the series. Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how I feel about it as well. It is painfully slow. It makes 20 minutes feel like about an hour. Yeah, and it's not even 20 minutes of new content, rather it's probably about five minutes. Maybe five? Yeah, I'm glad we agree. But let's put the shitty anime to the side. Who is your favorite character in the series? I think it has to be Zoro, although I'm a big lore fan as well. Interesting. So what is it about Zoro that gets to you, or is he just that cool in the same way that he gets me? I like the fact he uses swords, and he's like the second member of the crew, but also he just looks so cool. Can't not love him. I completely agree. Would you like lore for the same reason, because he uses a sword and just looks cool? Pretty much, it's hard to deny that. Certainly is. Not counting Whole Cake Island, what would be your favorite post timeskip arc? It would have to be Dressrosa, although I was on the anime only really at the time, so that sort of made it slightly shitter. Yeah, that sounds absolutely abysmal. Like it was difficult in the manga reading that week to week for two years, but watching it, I can't even fathom it. And I caught up midway through, so I went from binge watching everything in a matter of weeks for each arc, and then suddenly it was having to wait a week for each new episode, so I just said screw it and went on to the manga. Good, good, yeah. I wish more anime watchers would do exactly that. It's the way forward. It is, and it's the way to discover the true amazingness of One Piece. It is. I've actually just recently bought about half of the manga series, and I'm on water seven rereading all the way through it, and it's so much better. Oh, wonderful. Yeah, I do that at least once a year. In fact, my wife is getting quite angry at me because a lot of our shelves are just taken up with purely One Piece. Those are the best kinds of shelves. What should be angry at? I agree completely, but she hasn't started reading One Piece yet. One day she'll understand, I'm sure. You need to get her to read it. It's disgraceful for you. She's not one of the fans. It is, yeah, but you know, she's busy becoming a doctor and using a musical at the moment, so she has no time. Who needs spare time? She does desperately. Fair point. So, moving on, who would be your least favorite character then? That's a tough one because my least favorite straw hat would be Usopp, but my least favorite current character, the sort of big major character would be Big Mom. Least favorite character of all time, probably Gekko Moria, because he's just hateful. All right, well, let's go through those one by one. What don't you like about Usopp? He's just sort of the least badass out of the straw hats. He's, I don't dislike him. I like him. He's just the least amazing. Has he grown on you since you started the series? He has a bit. He's, he definitely is in water seven where he had the fight against Luffy is where I really started to like him. Before that, he was just a bit sort of a comedy character. Yeah, it helps when you see him get serious and have some driving force about him rather than just, you know, saying I'm too scared for this island illness or being a coward in general. Yeah, it was good to see him actually have some character development. That it was. And Big Mom, what don't you like about her? I'm quite intrigued by this one. See, I think it's because I was watching the anime at the time when I got to Whole Cake Island and her voice in the anime is just horrendous. It's so horrible. And I'd ma ma ma ma ma ma. Exactly. It's I hate it, but I don't really like a character anyway because it's a bit sort of seems a bit too comical and not in the usual one piece way, just in a bad way. Can you give a more specific example of that? I feel like she's she's not kind of serious enough and when she is, it just seems to be her on some mindless kind of rampage. Like she doesn't seem very smart to me either. Like she just seems to either be in her own kind of deluded world or on some kind of rampage. That is correct. Yes. That's what I really like about her though and that she kind of lives within her own world and she just happens to be strong enough to enforce that onto other people. I find her quite fascinating, but yeah, I can see your perspective for sure. Yeah, I can see why you would like it. I just personally it doesn't really ring with me. All right. Well, let's go to something that does ring with me. Gekko Moria, please shit all over him. Do I need to? I think we all know he's shit. His power could have been amazing, but he just didn't use it. He's a lazy, fat shit who hardly fights and he just looks so terrible. He just he's Oda could have done so much better with him. In every respect, yeah. I do kind of enjoy the psychology behind what he does because of, you know, his tragedy at the hands of Kaido, but it just could have been done so much better and more aesthetically pleasing. Yeah. And I think even with his kind of bad character design, we saw in Marineford, where I think Doflamingo went after him. We saw, you know, he can be good and can be used well, but in Thriller Bark, he was just so terrible. Let's move on. Let's move swiftly on from him. Swiftly on, very swiftly. What devil fruit would you most like to have and why? Well, that's a good question. I think my answer would probably be the cop-out answer and I like Ace's fruit slash Sabo's fruit because it's just so cool. Sabo and Ace are the same character, so you can just say Ace. They pretty much are, but I think it's just the coolest fruit, I think visually or possibly Marco's fruit because again, that's basically Ace's fruit, but better. Yeah, except Marco's flames can't actually be used for damage, but I think it does look a lot cooler, the old Phoenix fruit. Yeah, I like the kind of the blue aesthetic, which one thing the anime obviously did better because you don't get the color in the manga, but I think it just looked beautiful. There were some really fantastic scenes in Marineford with Marco fighting Kizaru, I think it was, though like when the anime wants to do well, it can do pretty fantastically very much. So, so you seem to enjoy the flames, the aesthetic of the flames, would that be correct? They do, I'm a sucker for a good flame. All right, that's pretty cool. I don't think anyone's chosen Alogia yet in my interviews, so that is a nice first. But they're so cool, why would you not choose one? They're so cool, but in the current state of one piece, they're not that great. They're probably actually the bottom in the rankings because, you know, you can just hit Alogia user with Haki and what are they gonna do? Yeah, that's a good point. I just, I'm thinking more about that they're cooler and they look better, and I can show off with them. I see, I see what your minds are. In which case, which island in the Grand Line would you most like to visit? Uh, that's a good question. Probably not alabaster because it's too hot. I think water seven, actually, because, well, I'm doing engineering at university and it's the land of shipbuilding and building things, so how could I say no? That seems perfect. Yes, would you become a carpenter at Galelar? I think I would, although I am an electronic engineer, so. Oh, it sounds like you've got a leg up on them. I have, I'm just a futuristic version of Galelar. You're kind of like Frankie, really. That's true, actually. I am basically Frankie, Frankie but less American. I'd be Frankie when he fills himself up with tea. Yeah, that was actually one thing I really enjoyed that the anime did because that did not happen in the manga. So, gentlemen Frankie, well done, Toei, well done. Oh, I thought that was in the manga, so I haven't got to that point, but I liked that. It was very funny. There was a whole bunch of stuff that the anime added in to create some filler episodes for the straw hats being separated. That was definitely one of them. Yeah, I liked the separation things. I don't know how much of it was the manga or the anime, but I found them quite enjoyable. An awful lot of it was actually the anime, so that's a very good sign for Toei. Some of it was quite enjoyable. I wasn't maybe 100% convinced with putting Zoro in the kumusi suit. I think, yeah, it was kind of funny, but pointless at the same time. Yeah, which is, I guess, the goal of filler. That's a good point. All right, what would be your most memorable moment in the series, Oscar? Another good question. I think it's between the Silent Goodbye from Alabaster. I thought that was one of the coolest parts. And probably two more. Either Robin saying, I want to live and probably return to Shabandi, because that was pretty cool. All very standard choices, I would say. Yeah, the Silent Goodbye in Alabaster is one of the most iconic images in the series, as is Robin's, I want to live. So let's talk about the one that maybe isn't. Return to Somebody, that's how I pronounce it. I think, I don't know, I think it's, I don't know how they say it in the anime, but... Neither do I, because I don't watch the anime enough, but a lot of people have pointed out on my arc reviews that it's pronounced Shabandi, and I don't see the H. I think it's translated as like Sabaldi or something, but they say it like Shabandi in the anime, but it doesn't really matter. Ah, you make a YouTube video for 15,000 viewers, you'll discover it. That's a good point. The YouTube community aren't very forgiving. No, not at all. Yeah, talk to me about the Return to Somebody. Why does it stick out to you? It was kind of refreshing, because we got to see all the kind of cool character designs, and it showed us, you know, all their work had paid off. I thought it was just a really cool kind of arc that set up what should have been a really good Fishman Island arc, but we all know how that turned out. You know, not terrible in retrospect, but it wasn't exactly what we'd been building up to. Yeah, it felt a tiny bit of forgettable bit of a letdown. Yeah, we had two pretty terrible villains, and not so great side characters either. No, I just didn't like Shirahoshi especially. She was just such a whiny character. So you didn't like the crying? Yeah, I used to be like that. I appreciate Shirahoshi more in retrospect, but I was definitely on the hate bandwagon at the time. Maybe she's better when you don't have to spend about 40 episodes listening to her crying. Oh yeah, look, I agree with you there. I went through Fishman Island recently, getting screencaps for the channel, and there was an awful lot of that. In fact, I think my entire Shirahoshi folder is her crying. That doesn't surprise me, but it was, I think the whole arc was a little bit forgettable, so I haven't quite remembered how much crying there was. There was a lot, but in Shirahoshi's defense, she did kind of be pretty awesome right at the climax of everything. How do you feel about her being the ancient weapon, Poseidon? Uh, I'm not so sure, because we haven't really found much out about it. I'll probably reserve judgment for when it's actually used as a big part of the story. Very good. That's nice and fair of you. I always give it a chance to see how it goes. All right, now it is time for one piece trivia. You've had a bit of this on the reverie, so I know you're quite good at the old trivia, but this is structured a little bit differently. Are you ready? I was born ready. That's what I thought. Essentially, I have three easy questions for you. They are worth one point each. Then I have two medium questions for you. They are worth two points each. And I have one hard question for you. It is worth three points. All right. Starting with the easy questions. What is Chopper's full name? That would be Tony Tony Chopper. That would be correct for one point. Who was the last of the four emperors to be formally introduced in the story? That's Kaido. That is definitely Kaido. Another point, sir. Why, thank you. What was the first island visited by the Straw Hats in the Grand Line? Uh, hang on. I definitely remember this. Really? It doesn't sound like you do. Just trying to think. Oh, it was Whiskey Peak. Whiskey Peak is indeed correct. So off to a very good start. Three out of three. Let's move to the medium questions. Madame Charlie is the younger sister of which fish man? Oh, this is a question from Fish Man Island. I might not remember this. It is. That arc you didn't pay attention to. That would be, it's going to be my downfall. Um, I'm going to have a wild guess, uh, King Neptune. Is incorrect. Madame Charlie is actually the younger sister of Arlong. Ah, right. How many days did Ace fight against Jinbei before they both collapsed from exhaustion? I think that was five days. And you would think right. Well done. Lovely. Currently you are sitting on five out of a total seven points. We will move on to the hard question. I'm scared. For three points, what is the name of Cavendish's horse? I have no idea. Oh no. It was Farul. Still doesn't ring a bell. That's all right. That's why it's a hard question. So congratulations. You got five out of ten. That is a pass mark. Why thank you. In universities anyway. Yep. P's get degrees. Never have true words been said. And I have one final question for you Oscar. And that is what is the one piece? See it's hard not to say buggy because he is the one piece. So you're saying buggy. Yeah I'm afraid so. Oh this meme is infesting these interviews on. They thought they would. You are not the first person to have said that. And you probably wouldn't have liked it. I didn't think I would be. In any case, yeah. I would quite like an eventuality where buggy ends up being the pirate king. I'm not sure about the one piece though. I think you'll definitely be important in the later stages of one piece. But I can't see him actually being the pirate king. We shall see. At least a yonko right? Oh yeah. Yonko that's guaranteed. Yeah it's pretty much a foregone conclusion. In any case, thank you very very much for sharing your perspective Oscar. It's been an absolute pleasure not talking to myself for a change. That's okay. It was my pleasure too. And if you'd like to be featured on the next world of one piece then all you need to do is become a grand line review patron. Upon becoming a patron of any tier, your name automatically goes into the draw to become my next guest. And very very importantly, your name then stays in the draw for all subsequent episodes throughout your tenure as a patron. With that said I'd like to thank Oscar once more for being an amazing guest and I look forward to interviewing our next lucky individual soon. This has been the Grand Line Review. We'll see you next time.