Just look at this shit! He’s so nice with it. “I taught you to live in the moment, didn’t I?!” and in the moment he’s a marine and Kuzan’s a pirate. And that throw is low key what it feels like to hit a move on a fellow brown belt.
“Oh but he let Ace die”
Ace didn’t ask for help. If he did there’s a solid chance it’s a different story.
“He’s part of a corrupt system”
He knows how giga evil Imu is and knows nobody else is going to protect the marines
I’m into it. Marx would be disappointed in me
I get it, I really like Garp too as a character, but that doesn’t mean he’s a great person or made great choices (kind of like Harald).
“He’s part of a corrupt system”
The system isn’t corrupted, it’s working exactly as intended. Other than Kobi, Garp has been in God valley, he knows exactly what he’s protecting.
He sometimes mutters something disrespectful about the celestial dragons under his breath (while fighting in their military) and that makes it okay? No, that makes him a hypocrite.
He rejected his promotion, because the top brass are all fascists who take orders directly from the rich ruling class? Well, great, now he can take orders from those fascists instead. The ones who don’t care about this level of moralist self delusion. More hypocrisy.
protect the marines
That’s the usual explanation and I’m not buying it. He’s not protecting the marines from Imu at all. Nor from anyone else. At Marineford, Luffy had to disrupt everything, Kobi had to stand up to Akainu, Shanks had to show up, all to do Garps job, the only thing justifying his crime of being a stormtrooper: supposedly protecting the other stormtroopers. And even that he failed to do. No wait, he didn’t, because you have to actually try to fail. They died like flies right in front of him in a pointless battle that was already over and had been unjust and evil from the beginning. And he just stood there. He would have let Kobi die too, if it wasn’t for shanks.
At Hachinosu, he only “protected” a handful of his hand picked unit, who were only in danger in the first place, because of him. When he told them to leave him behind, that wasn’t a grand gesture of sacrifice, it was an accurate self assessment of his own moral worth and strategic value: near zero.
Also, even if he were protecting them in a meaningful way (which he never did in any scene throughout the whole story): Marines shouldn’t be protected, they should be fought. They can get protection after they frag their officers and desert to dragons revolutionaries. Remember all the slaves in the giant slave camps on all those mega bridges? Explain to them how protecting the guards of Auschwitz actually takes priority over joining the revolution. All I’m hearing from some fans is:“The Wehrmacht officers did nothing wrong, only Hitler (Imu) was evil.”
Garp didn’t do anything to stop or slow or in any way hinder the genocide at God valley. Or the ones before that. He even expressed how little he cared about those regularly reccuring extermination festivals.
His only saving grace is, that he doesn’t seem to have actively participated to a great extend in any particularly horrible atrocity. And he’s Luffy’s gramps and most importantly, he protected Ace from a worldwide man hunt. And he’s kind of charming and funny. There, I said it. It’s not like it’s lost on me, so I get where you’re coming from. (Even though he’s a horrible guardian.)
So yeah, as a mere reluctant “follower”, he doesn’t get the 🧱. I don’t believe in punishment for revenge or something like that and if he just retires after everything, he’s not a threat (I’d prefer that over him dying in a dramatic self sacrifice for the next generation or whatever, but it seems to be going that way). For now, he’s just barely of the hook, as long as he doesn’t actively hinder dragon or the revolution in the future.
He rejected his promotion, because the top brass are all fascists who take orders directly from the rich ruling class? Well, great, now he can take orders from those fascists instead.
Oh fuck
He would have let Kobi die too, if it wasn’t for shanks.
Oh fuck
At Hachinosu, he only “protected” a handful of his hand picked unit, who were only in danger in the first place, because of him.
They volunteered to go there to protect Kobi. That seems like the artist actualizing the premise of Garp’s character. So they were in danger because of him pointing to justice they believed in, not that they got placed in needless danger. Without a critique of power, he finally demonstrates, perhaps even with post-Marineford regret, that he wants to protect other marines (other named characters critical to the plot that is).
Explain to them how protecting the guards of Auschwitz actually takes priority over joining the revolution.
Lil Kobi living under Alvida seems like he had a perfectly rational understanding of pirates being assholes. So wanting to not let others do what she did was a worthy reason to join. I doubt too many of them start with the understanding of the celestial dragons nor the slavery inherent. Maybe, if you include the tribute they likely had to pay to the WG they would put 2 and 2 together, but many places seemed more imminently afraid of pirates. It is a limitation of the world building in my eyes.
If Dragon’s revolutionaries ever get characterized as having many ex military types who reject slavery and subjugation then we have a party and a hole in Garp’s character.
But as I try to tease apart the world building, the character as written, and his failings I’ve been convinced. Actually it is easy to hate Garp for doing so little to help the Marines he supposedly sticks around to protect in Marineford and being passive in garnering influence for the dream he supposedly carries. He deserves every bit of slander Mihawk gets for spawn camping the East Blue instead of going out and chasing his dream
They volunteered to go there to protect Kobi.
Yes, true…
It is a limitation of the world building in my eye
Yes, I feel like word would get around from marines being slave camp guards, rounding up the slaves and helping to wipe out entire islands just so the celestials can hunt people for sport every few years for hundreds of years. There could be entire mythologies around all of that.
Nevertheless, the marines not knowing makes it tragic, but it’s still necessary to fight them. Protecting them while knowing the truth is still reactionary. Btw Garp knows, so did he tell Kobi? He has enough of a platform and reputation, that could have told the whole world.
It is easy to hate Garp
I still like the writing though. Having complex characters is great.
being passive in garnering influence for the dream he supposedly carries
Thanks, I actually didn’t think of it as his dream before (because he mostly didn’t act like he had a dream), but it’s true.
he finally demonstrates, perhaps even with post-Marineford regret, that he wants to protect other marines
Maybe, we’ll see more of this. I’d like to see him involved in a split between the progressive /reformist marines and a loyalist faction. In real revolutions, it’s really important to have this split and have part of the military desert and join. So I appreciate that being set up. I’d prefer to see a real split over the marines being cleanly reformed as a whole.
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
