User blog:DancePowderer/The Fall of the House of Newgate

I just watched episode 485. Whitebeard is now dead in the anime. While I didn't find it as dramatic as Ace's death, I found it just as sad. There are a few things I'd like to critique about the episode. The one thing that I didn't like that much was that Whitebeard gave his last speech after he was attacked by the Blackbeard Pirates. It was more dramatic in the manga for him to deliver his last words sort of as a battle cry. When he gave the speech in the manga before getting mutilated, he went out with more of a bang that way. Aside from that, I thought it was beautiful. I especially liked the shot where it shows each Blackbeard Pirate charging toward him in some way. I liked the pale, almost-black-and-white-but-not-quite look it had to it. I'm glad they got the numbers at the end right, in regard to how many times he was stabbed or shot, I like attention to detail. I sort of had an anecdotal idea cross my mind during the scene where Whitebeard was being shot. Most of the gunshot wounds probably came from Blackbeard and his crew. They shot him a lot.

For those of you who caught the title, good job, it's from Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. At first I was thinking of putting a serious, non-allusory title, but I wanted to lighten the mood a little, if only for myself. Another thing about the episode that I thought was rather poetic and linguistically clever was when the seagull's feather landed on Luffy when Newgate was talking about inheriting Roger's will. All they had to do was show Luffy when he was saying that for the reference to be obvious, but the gull feather was a nice, albeit material touch. For those who don't get it, gull sounds like Gol. This is chapter 576 all over again. This may sound cliche, but there is a lot that can be taken from Whitebeard. Remember his respect toward those with the guts to stand up to him. Remember his attitudes from the old days of piracy. Remember his undying love and commitment to the family he painstakingly made for himself. Remember his undying will to see things through to the end. Remember his ability to rock the world to its very core. Remember Edward Newgate.

Here's to you, pops.