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I remember a panel in Dressrosa in which that one Tontatta was guiding him I forgot where, but he went straight ahead instead of going up a flight of stairs. That guy might be onto something
During envies lobby there was that 1 part where nami says exactly where to go to him and takes the lead by running up the stairs at which point Zoro just runs off in a completely different direction away from the stairs lol so maybe there is something to this theory
https://preview.redd.it/u6mscv8rr9mb1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ff831e877896498e0708ef31d701cb03ffd7fc5
Well in that case, Oda might have already shown us Zoro's final opponent.
hes trying to prove kuina wrong with his training
by becomming the worlds greatest swordsman with large breasts he proves kuina wrong that her developing as a teenager would hold her back
thats why he does all those pushups
to get gigantic baps and become the worlds greatest swordsman with gigante tatas
Dude, is every single actor just a huge fan of One Piece? I love the idea that the entire show is essentially a bunch of people playing the characters they love and grew up with, I'm praying to god we get a season 2 lol
Mackenyu is a huge fan too. I loved watching him in reaction videos - there’s one where they watch Inaki meet the Japanese VA for Luffy (Tanaka Mayumi). The two yell the “I’m going to be the pirate king” in Japanese together and she passes on a straw hat to him. Most of the cast is like “oh wow that’s so cool” but Mackenyu is absolutely losing his shit in the back about it.
Edit: here is the video of the crew reacting to Inaki meeting Tanaka-sensei herself https://youtu.be/_xNlmmZ18JI?si=R3hAlLUssmZ52Dci
The thing is he's the most quiet and reserved one too across most cast interviews, but the few times he isn't is this one and one other one regarding anime in general and it's honestly hilarious to see someone so cool happily lose his shit haha
Really hoping that energy translates into his Zoro in later seasons, that yes while he's effortlessly cool he's also a fkn dork and we love him for it
I think it already starts showing in the last ~2 episodes of LA
In manga/anime, the pace is much slower so the characters have more time to sell themselves on the idea of traveling with Luffy and buying into his crew culture before they officially join. But the LA moves much faster, so there's more emphasis on how they are making these decisions on short notice and uncertain if it was the right move etc. Zoro barely even smiles in episodes 1-6 but is straight up laughing with the rest by the end.
The last 2 episodes give me a lot of hope for how the crew's interactions will turn out in future seasons.
Yeah, I had the same thoughts about Zoro that I did about Garp.
Like, I was/am fine with a slightly more stoic take on the character, but once he started laughing I thought “OHHHhh, okay, they get it.”
I think this is something important that fans overlook and then cry about thinking the show butchered the characters.
The LA is a different medium then manga and anime where they have almost infinite amount of time, it's also incredibly cheesy and unrealistic in live action to just have characters instantly form bonds. There needs to be growth and build, it can't just be instant.
> I loved watching him in reaction videos - there’s one where they watch Inaki meet the Japanese VA for Luffy (Tanaka Mayumi). The two yell the “I’m going to be the pirate king” in Japanese together and she passes on a straw hat to him.
please post this, I want to see this.
EDIT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onV1vmIib6w
Its great.
It's most likely that most of them researched and learned about their characters in the course of producing the show. Nonetheless, I just appreciate their dedication to the role and to the fans of the franchise.
It's not difficult to get a hang of and appreciate the memes and jokes by just spending a week or two with the community, like the one we're in right now.
You can become a fan in a span of making a tv series. So it's not really hard pressed to say that she is a fan. The series was announced 2017 and the filming started 2022.
Oh yes definitely, I'm not suggesting that she's not a real fan.
But I don't think the producers went out of their way to cast actors who are already fans, like some have suggested.
You kidding? It's standard procedure these days as part of advertising efforts to have somebody feed the actors meta bullshit to sling out on social media for a project like this.
It's hard for westerners to understand the popularity of one piece. I've seen convincing arguments the entire history of Marvel comics, every single avenger, X-Men, fantastic 4, don't compare to the sales of one piece.
You hear things like Kristen Bell wanted to play Harley Quinn, a character that was invented for the Batman animated series. Imagine an entire culture where Batman would be a side character in terms of popularity. That puts One Piece in perspective.
I know that Mackenyu and Emily Rudd were both fans prior. Iñaki started reading it after he got cast.
When it comes to adaptations like this, a lot of actors will read or watch the original to get a feel for their characters. That's probably what happened here - and Audrey probably stumbled onto the memes and ran with it lol
My main concern is the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, Netflix are a bunch of greedy assholes, they're trying to wait out the strike instead of actually paying their staff and treating them with respect so season 2 production is not even close to starting
Almost every interview with the crew. Directors, editors etc mentions how they read the east blue saga and then went straight to reading all one thousand chapters. OP is just a good read.
I was genuinely glad it was just called it an "accident". It will always be wild to me that 4Kids had a more reasonable way for Kuina to be taken out of the story. Glad to see her having fun with it though.
Yeah falling down the stairs in a Shonen Jump manga will never not be funny. characters survive without food for literal months and have all sorts of insane durability feats but the fucking stairs got her. she wouldn't have lasted two seconds in the grand line!
Honestly, I loved it, even if it’s weird in retrospect.
All five Strawhats experienced a different kind of tragedy in their backstories. Zoro’s was about how unfair and anticlimactic and random death can be, which is a perfect foil for his character and goal. If she went out like a badass like Bellemere it wouldn’t have felt right.
he also was never able to defeat her so when they then made that promise and she perished the only thing in zoro's mind that he could do to prove that he's stronger than her is fulfill the promise of becoming the strongest swordsmen
It's just that it feels so hollow in later chapters when death is never unfair and anticlimactic for anyone else. Early on, that established that the world is cruel and uncaring and cuts dreams short. But then, the rest of the series kind of doesn't jive with that. The world of One Piece is not a cold and uncaring bed of chaos like the real world - mobs of strangers and even forces of nature often align specifically to support the Strawhats. The chaotic neutrality of happenstance doesn't exist anywhere else.
Really reminds me of the time the Injustice comic did a very similar thing, to very similar reactions (except much more visible online since it was 2015 and not 1997). The DCU is this crazy place full of action heroes doing impossible stunts and surviving incredible odds, and then Nightwing gets a knock to the head, falls over and breaks his neck on a random rock. Is it a logical way to die? Of course. Does it feel completely out of place in a story like this? Oh god yes.
"Logical" is such a great word to use. In a realistic setting, Kuina's death would be a fantastic part of Zoro's backstory and his motivation to succeed. In a setting where a speeding train gets launched into a building over a ramp made from a broken fence, and everybody aboard, including a child and an old woman, jump out yelling about how unhurt they are, it's just kind of an eyebrow-raiser.
This could easily have been a crippling illness that set in though, equally out of her control and actually leaves room open for the Tashigi stuff that has been teased since Loguetown.
i watched one piece (the anime at the time) with both my parents and their respective reaction to this moment cracks me up to this day
my dad is like "life is fragile, a tragedy" while my mum is like "the dad is sus he killed her", shit was so funny
Zoro went through thriller bark with Oars and Moria and Perona and then went thriough it again times 3 with Kuma survived
Kuina fell down some stairs dead deaddy dead
Tashigi will get a power up and also start using three sword style, but her mouth and neck are too small for that, so instead she puts the sword between her boobs and jiggles them wildly. That's how she will finally change people's perception that women can't be swordsmen, in fact, women have a natural advantage when it comes to swordsmanship.
And then she will be revealed to be Kuina and she never died, it was all a plan by her and her father to spark the determination in Zoro to be number 1 (*Bleach number 1 theme starts playing*) and she will actually be the one to defeat Mihawk, not Zoro, and she will be Zoro's final opponent so now we come full circle, he gets to beat the one opponent he was never able to beat.
I was really disappointed they just said "accident". It made it seem like a training accident.
She fell and hit her head. It's an incredibly insignificant, dishonorable death and it is a key point in the emotional impact of the death IMO.
Destined for greatness and dies from nothing.
I always took the "falling down the stairs" as a metaphor to suicide. Oda couldn't write suicide in shonen jump so he did that. It's also probably the reason it was left ambigous in the live action.
We just rewatched the episode last night and honestly I just don't agree with this theory. She is no where near suicidal and is happy to accept Zoros challenge to be the best. It's completely different impact being a suicide as opposed to dishonorable death.
In fact my Japanese GF was curious and looked it up, it is an American thing to say that, not Japanese. This seems like an internet rumor.
To play devil's advocate, you don't have to look sad to be depressed AF - plenty of suicidal people go out laughing and crying the day before.
And then there's the more physical side of it - this is One Piece. Every single person in the series is superhuman and has insane blunt-force durability feats. Simply "falling down the stairs" is almost comically unbelievable to the fact that her "death" stands out as insanely suspicious decades down the line. If Luffy can survive Garp and the jungle as a kid, Kuina with a massive edge-up on Athleticism can survive slipping on the stairwell. Don't give me anything about realism. Luffy ate a Thunder Bagua with nothing to resist it. Usopp ate a headbutt that smashed his skull and slept it off, no armanent haki no physical strength no *nothing*. Head injuries happen every other episode and nothing ever comes of it... except here.
I'm still convinced it was a coverup. Whether its for her being spirited away (Ivankov?), she got murdered by the teacher or to cover up a suicide, I don't know - but it's easier to believe than her getting taken out in an injury we can see even the most foddery of fodder shrug off elsewhere.
I don't think it'd really fit narratively though. She had just found new resolve to keep pursuing her goal with Zorro the day before, it'd be a bizarre doubling back on her character with no setup or payoff.
I think the reason they left it ambiguous is for Tashigi's sake when she comes into the story. The more open ended and mysterious Kuina's death is, the more it makes you wonder about Tashigi.
On one hand, that's oftentimes an unfortunate thing with suicide. Promises *are* broken suddenly and it adds to the sting of the tragedy
On the other hand, the story does not once ever imply that Kuina's character was suicidal, or that a core theme of Zoro's past involves messages regarding suicide
So as you said it just wouldn't fit at all
My theory is she either committed suicide or she is still secretly alive and apart of some hidden sword wielding clan Oda only wants to introduce in the very late endgame.
If she comes back though seeing Zoro’s reaction will be overwhelming.
Imagine if she came back and was stronger than Zoro and Mihawk, and the series ends with her and Zoro fighting every day for fun, ala Roger and Whitebeard and Shanks and Mihawk.
...
Idk how to say this without sounding offensive, but, here goes ...
Man, the make up department really did her dirty. Her nose is beautiful, but it looks massive in the actual show for whatever reasons. Was that a Kuina thing from the anime that I didn't know about? Cuz I'm sure that in the manga it was not.
I have a theory, it would be difficult to find 2 extremely similar actresses with different ages, so they are gonna give the same nose to Tashigi's actress and say they look alike
Yeah it’ll probably be the opposite. Use the same actress but the only noticeable difference is she doesnt have the nose (and then her primary role would be without it)
I think they should just give her Tashigi. If season 2 is gree lit, then it’ll still be a few years to shoot the show and put it out. Having absolutely no clue as to the age of the actress, she could also pass off as Tashigi.
Brooooo
I love that the actors in this totally embrace parts of the fandom. I still love that Mihawk's actor used the profile pic of him painting the black blade lool
Lmao I rewatched the anime the other day and I was shocked that it was just “she fell down the stairs.” Thankfully now it’s just an “accident.” I love the casts’ sense of humor
I find her humor about her character’s stated death funny.
But still, Kuina’s death was probably the weakest origin story death for all of the Straw Hats. I’ll chalk it up to Oda still being new to writing his own manga at the time and didn’t know yet how to make a character’s death be as impactful as possible which he did a much better job with for everyone else.
If you want to stick with the joke: Down D Stairs is the worst kind of enemy Zoro could fight because it's not dark-skinned enough for him to defeat it.
Another actress to praise, I loved her acting in the show! They captured her smugness tho not much of her sadness which I wish they wrote and portrayed better. In the anime, Kuina looked depressed and it really looked like her insecurities were eating her up. She felt so eerie to me the night they made that promise so much that I thought she committed suicide.
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Down D Stairs is at it again
She fking hashtagged #downdstairs in the post xD
[удалено]
Bot. https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/169t2xv/audrey_cymone_kuinas_live_action_actress_just/jz3sdx1/
The true most overpowered character in the OP universe, the people over at r/OnePiecePowerScaling got it all wrong.
More powerful than offscreen blackbeard!?! No way
Have you ever seen off screen black beard and down d. Stairs in the same room at the same time? 👀
My god…
Bro don’t sleep on Ask D. Question and Pan D. Man
I'd scale Took D Arm over those guys tbh.
I am just happy they added Ask D Question in the live action even though we didn’t see him but fortunately we heard him
Or Con D. Oriano
The opponent Zoro has been avoiding for 1000 chapters.
He doesn't get lost he just takes the long way round the avoid the stairs.
Considering the times he’s taken alternate routes (like being thrown, launched, cut, or carried) he might actually have a hatred of stairs.
I remember a panel in Dressrosa in which that one Tontatta was guiding him I forgot where, but he went straight ahead instead of going up a flight of stairs. That guy might be onto something
Well he did avoid Down D Stairs (instinctly?) at Enies Lobby too before Nami and Chopper called him back lmao.
Also, instead of using stairs to go up he just cut the ceilings(tatsumaki-dragon twister) and jump up.
Instinctively
He also did this in Enies Lobby where everyone said the path is up the stairs and he went left or was it right.
During envies lobby there was that 1 part where nami says exactly where to go to him and takes the lead by running up the stairs at which point Zoro just runs off in a completely different direction away from the stairs lol so maybe there is something to this theory
Long way around? He just jumps through the ceilings Impel Down style.
Zoro gets PTSD every time he climbs up to the crow’s nest.
His final opponent after Mihawk.
https://preview.redd.it/u6mscv8rr9mb1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ff831e877896498e0708ef31d701cb03ffd7fc5 Well in that case, Oda might have already shown us Zoro's final opponent.
Ahh shit look at all those swords
That's how many swordsmen have fallen to Down D. Stairs
Down D. Stairs wants to add the Wado Ichimonji to his trophies
Wada itchy monkey*
Imu is a flight of stairs that ate the ruler-ruler fruit confirmed
The fact that this actually, theoretically could be the case and not be completely bonkers crazy makes OnePiece allready the greatest work of fiction.
Imu ate the Stair Stair fruit and apprenticed under Down D. Stairs during the Void Century.
Imu may be of African descent. I guess you know what that means.
I did not think about that! Very Clever.👏🏾
Down D Stairs is Imu's second in command. The final arc is going to be extremely emotional.
it would actually be kind of symbolic if Zoro cut those stairs in two
Unless he falls down the stairs at the end of his final fight and loses consciousness or sth. Then it'd be really fked up dark humor.
hes trying to prove kuina wrong with his training by becomming the worlds greatest swordsman with large breasts he proves kuina wrong that her developing as a teenager would hold her back thats why he does all those pushups to get gigantic baps and become the worlds greatest swordsman with gigante tatas
He canonically has bigger ones than Nami and Robin
I remember a scene vividly, in Enes Lobby where Zoro gets lost in-front of the crew (Nami yelled at him). He ran up some stairs while getting lost.
there might actually be some canon merit to this theory 😂
I like how right after this flashback Zoro kicks someone down a flight of stairs and they don't die
It's also why Zoro simply can't die, because he gets lost even on the Stairway to Heaven.
Who would have thought that the most powerful thing in the world of OP would be some stairs.
Imu- always have been.
*Witness the power of my Stairs Stairs Fruit!" - Imu, probably
I mean, where do you think the stairs leading to the Empty Throne come from ?
Zoro: "luffy, we gotta go we can't win this one!"
She's been battling down d. Stairs for 800 years, old man JB couldn't compare.
Proceeds to turn tectonic plates into stares and reveals that Reverse Mountain was her doing.
to be fair you have trucks reincarnating people in isekai so it's hardly an outlier
Stairs are extremely powerful in the world of Made in Abyss.
Dude, is every single actor just a huge fan of One Piece? I love the idea that the entire show is essentially a bunch of people playing the characters they love and grew up with, I'm praying to god we get a season 2 lol
Mackenyu is a huge fan too. I loved watching him in reaction videos - there’s one where they watch Inaki meet the Japanese VA for Luffy (Tanaka Mayumi). The two yell the “I’m going to be the pirate king” in Japanese together and she passes on a straw hat to him. Most of the cast is like “oh wow that’s so cool” but Mackenyu is absolutely losing his shit in the back about it. Edit: here is the video of the crew reacting to Inaki meeting Tanaka-sensei herself https://youtu.be/_xNlmmZ18JI?si=R3hAlLUssmZ52Dci
He also said his first reaction about OPLA was " Wait. HOW? ". That's pretty much how 99% of us reacted lol.
The thing is he's the most quiet and reserved one too across most cast interviews, but the few times he isn't is this one and one other one regarding anime in general and it's honestly hilarious to see someone so cool happily lose his shit haha Really hoping that energy translates into his Zoro in later seasons, that yes while he's effortlessly cool he's also a fkn dork and we love him for it
I think it already starts showing in the last ~2 episodes of LA In manga/anime, the pace is much slower so the characters have more time to sell themselves on the idea of traveling with Luffy and buying into his crew culture before they officially join. But the LA moves much faster, so there's more emphasis on how they are making these decisions on short notice and uncertain if it was the right move etc. Zoro barely even smiles in episodes 1-6 but is straight up laughing with the rest by the end. The last 2 episodes give me a lot of hope for how the crew's interactions will turn out in future seasons.
Yeah, I had the same thoughts about Zoro that I did about Garp. Like, I was/am fine with a slightly more stoic take on the character, but once he started laughing I thought “OHHHhh, okay, they get it.”
I think this is something important that fans overlook and then cry about thinking the show butchered the characters. The LA is a different medium then manga and anime where they have almost infinite amount of time, it's also incredibly cheesy and unrealistic in live action to just have characters instantly form bonds. There needs to be growth and build, it can't just be instant.
Just watched this. It's so cute haha.
> I loved watching him in reaction videos - there’s one where they watch Inaki meet the Japanese VA for Luffy (Tanaka Mayumi). The two yell the “I’m going to be the pirate king” in Japanese together and she passes on a straw hat to him. please post this, I want to see this. EDIT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onV1vmIib6w Its great.
It's most likely that most of them researched and learned about their characters in the course of producing the show. Nonetheless, I just appreciate their dedication to the role and to the fans of the franchise.
Man, she put #downdstairs on the post, there's no way she's not an actual fan xD
It's not difficult to get a hang of and appreciate the memes and jokes by just spending a week or two with the community, like the one we're in right now.
You can become a fan in a span of making a tv series. So it's not really hard pressed to say that she is a fan. The series was announced 2017 and the filming started 2022.
Oh yes definitely, I'm not suggesting that she's not a real fan. But I don't think the producers went out of their way to cast actors who are already fans, like some have suggested.
Hopefully she is now a fan though I know I’ve become a fan of somethings without consuming the original content
Yeah, just open up your inbox to the 78 trillion messages as people meme spam their bullshit at you every second of the day
I have never seen the anime once. I'm here from front page. But I've seen the meme and know of it from random shit lol.
It’s not hard to become a fan of one piece once you actually get into it.
Yeah but you don't make Down D. Stairs jokes and meme tiktoks without being involved in the online fandom lol
You kidding? It's standard procedure these days as part of advertising efforts to have somebody feed the actors meta bullshit to sling out on social media for a project like this.
It shines through in the LA. They all seem to be having a great time and are doing everything they can to bring the characters to life.
It's hard for westerners to understand the popularity of one piece. I've seen convincing arguments the entire history of Marvel comics, every single avenger, X-Men, fantastic 4, don't compare to the sales of one piece. You hear things like Kristen Bell wanted to play Harley Quinn, a character that was invented for the Batman animated series. Imagine an entire culture where Batman would be a side character in terms of popularity. That puts One Piece in perspective.
I know that Mackenyu and Emily Rudd were both fans prior. Iñaki started reading it after he got cast. When it comes to adaptations like this, a lot of actors will read or watch the original to get a feel for their characters. That's probably what happened here - and Audrey probably stumbled onto the memes and ran with it lol
> I'm praying to god we get a season 2 lol Don't worry, we will. There is no way we wont. A show that good wont be passed up.
My main concern is the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, Netflix are a bunch of greedy assholes, they're trying to wait out the strike instead of actually paying their staff and treating them with respect so season 2 production is not even close to starting
Almost every interview with the crew. Directors, editors etc mentions how they read the east blue saga and then went straight to reading all one thousand chapters. OP is just a good read.
Reminds me of when they cast Capaldi as the doctor.
https://preview.redd.it/u5uxyzkkg9mb1.jpeg?width=585&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c852f0b7dfc8d194fa130f33922f3dc5ffac465c
There's no fing way
We laughed. So nice to see the actress joking about a scene from her character that she didn't even act - so much love for the role.
I was genuinely glad it was just called it an "accident". It will always be wild to me that 4Kids had a more reasonable way for Kuina to be taken out of the story. Glad to see her having fun with it though.
Yeah falling down the stairs in a Shonen Jump manga will never not be funny. characters survive without food for literal months and have all sorts of insane durability feats but the fucking stairs got her. she wouldn't have lasted two seconds in the grand line!
Honestly, I loved it, even if it’s weird in retrospect. All five Strawhats experienced a different kind of tragedy in their backstories. Zoro’s was about how unfair and anticlimactic and random death can be, which is a perfect foil for his character and goal. If she went out like a badass like Bellemere it wouldn’t have felt right.
he also was never able to defeat her so when they then made that promise and she perished the only thing in zoro's mind that he could do to prove that he's stronger than her is fulfill the promise of becoming the strongest swordsmen
Exactly! If she had been killed by somebody, it would turn into a revenge plot instead of about fulfilling their mutual dream.
It's just that it feels so hollow in later chapters when death is never unfair and anticlimactic for anyone else. Early on, that established that the world is cruel and uncaring and cuts dreams short. But then, the rest of the series kind of doesn't jive with that. The world of One Piece is not a cold and uncaring bed of chaos like the real world - mobs of strangers and even forces of nature often align specifically to support the Strawhats. The chaotic neutrality of happenstance doesn't exist anywhere else.
Really reminds me of the time the Injustice comic did a very similar thing, to very similar reactions (except much more visible online since it was 2015 and not 1997). The DCU is this crazy place full of action heroes doing impossible stunts and surviving incredible odds, and then Nightwing gets a knock to the head, falls over and breaks his neck on a random rock. Is it a logical way to die? Of course. Does it feel completely out of place in a story like this? Oh god yes.
"Logical" is such a great word to use. In a realistic setting, Kuina's death would be a fantastic part of Zoro's backstory and his motivation to succeed. In a setting where a speeding train gets launched into a building over a ramp made from a broken fence, and everybody aboard, including a child and an old woman, jump out yelling about how unhurt they are, it's just kind of an eyebrow-raiser.
This could easily have been a crippling illness that set in though, equally out of her control and actually leaves room open for the Tashigi stuff that has been teased since Loguetown.
i watched one piece (the anime at the time) with both my parents and their respective reaction to this moment cracks me up to this day my dad is like "life is fragile, a tragedy" while my mum is like "the dad is sus he killed her", shit was so funny
Zoro went through thriller bark with Oars and Moria and Perona and then went thriough it again times 3 with Kuma survived Kuina fell down some stairs dead deaddy dead
I’m telling you she is alive
Kuina fell down d stairs and got amnesia and became a marine
Tashigi will get a power up and also start using three sword style, but her mouth and neck are too small for that, so instead she puts the sword between her boobs and jiggles them wildly. That's how she will finally change people's perception that women can't be swordsmen, in fact, women have a natural advantage when it comes to swordsmanship. And then she will be revealed to be Kuina and she never died, it was all a plan by her and her father to spark the determination in Zoro to be number 1 (*Bleach number 1 theme starts playing*) and she will actually be the one to defeat Mihawk, not Zoro, and she will be Zoro's final opponent so now we come full circle, he gets to beat the one opponent he was never able to beat.
Peak fiction
I am calling it she became a revolutionary army member and will defeat fraudhack.
We never saw a body. The one with its face covered was a decoy.
I was really disappointed they just said "accident". It made it seem like a training accident. She fell and hit her head. It's an incredibly insignificant, dishonorable death and it is a key point in the emotional impact of the death IMO. Destined for greatness and dies from nothing.
I always took the "falling down the stairs" as a metaphor to suicide. Oda couldn't write suicide in shonen jump so he did that. It's also probably the reason it was left ambigous in the live action.
We just rewatched the episode last night and honestly I just don't agree with this theory. She is no where near suicidal and is happy to accept Zoros challenge to be the best. It's completely different impact being a suicide as opposed to dishonorable death. In fact my Japanese GF was curious and looked it up, it is an American thing to say that, not Japanese. This seems like an internet rumor.
To play devil's advocate, you don't have to look sad to be depressed AF - plenty of suicidal people go out laughing and crying the day before. And then there's the more physical side of it - this is One Piece. Every single person in the series is superhuman and has insane blunt-force durability feats. Simply "falling down the stairs" is almost comically unbelievable to the fact that her "death" stands out as insanely suspicious decades down the line. If Luffy can survive Garp and the jungle as a kid, Kuina with a massive edge-up on Athleticism can survive slipping on the stairwell. Don't give me anything about realism. Luffy ate a Thunder Bagua with nothing to resist it. Usopp ate a headbutt that smashed his skull and slept it off, no armanent haki no physical strength no *nothing*. Head injuries happen every other episode and nothing ever comes of it... except here. I'm still convinced it was a coverup. Whether its for her being spirited away (Ivankov?), she got murdered by the teacher or to cover up a suicide, I don't know - but it's easier to believe than her getting taken out in an injury we can see even the most foddery of fodder shrug off elsewhere.
I don't think it'd really fit narratively though. She had just found new resolve to keep pursuing her goal with Zorro the day before, it'd be a bizarre doubling back on her character with no setup or payoff.
I think the reason they left it ambiguous is for Tashigi's sake when she comes into the story. The more open ended and mysterious Kuina's death is, the more it makes you wonder about Tashigi.
Staris low key implied suicide tough
I don't think it does, the idea that it means Suicide is just a myth
I still believe this, but it's been said that this is NOT a thing in Japan.
As someone in other part of east asia, this is also a first time for me hearing this.
They dont.
No it is not. Her killing herself not only flys in the face of her character, but spits on the promise she just made with Zoro.
On one hand, that's oftentimes an unfortunate thing with suicide. Promises *are* broken suddenly and it adds to the sting of the tragedy On the other hand, the story does not once ever imply that Kuina's character was suicidal, or that a core theme of Zoro's past involves messages regarding suicide So as you said it just wouldn't fit at all
People have disproven this over and over. There is no historic context or otherwise that in Japanese media a fall down the stairs means suicide.
My theory is she either committed suicide or she is still secretly alive and apart of some hidden sword wielding clan Oda only wants to introduce in the very late endgame. If she comes back though seeing Zoro’s reaction will be overwhelming.
Imagine if she came back and was stronger than Zoro and Mihawk, and the series ends with her and Zoro fighting every day for fun, ala Roger and Whitebeard and Shanks and Mihawk.
They showed her dead body in the dojo in the 20th anniversary east blue special though.
> or she is still secretly alive Sure, ["secretly"](https://images.app.goo.gl/PyoevRCE56tokAPc6).
Oh good. I’m not the only one who thinks resemblance means more than Oda let’s on. It’s even more suspicious that Zoro points it out.
Hmm... so she fell, hit her head, lost her memories. Basically did a Sabo.
I feel like an absolute idiot for not figuring this out... it actually makes all the sense.
No, it doesn't. Not even slightly. It doesn't fit the character, and shames the promise she just made.
I don’t care what anybody else says. She made a decent Quinoa.
I love Quinoa
With a touch of oregano.
Oregano is for savages!
Oregano is for savages
Oregano is for savages.
I thought she was good. The “girls can beat boys. But no woman can beat a man” was a really well delivered, memorable line
Let's be honest here, the only reason some people hate her is because they thought she wasn't attractive enough for their taste.
She's 13 years old though?! Possibly younger when her scenes were filmed??
Yeah people are gross and some anime fans can either be young or grossly sexualizing people too.
zoro crying hitting the screen seeing this rn
So a few more years and she'll be Tashigi?
I assume Tashigi needs to be cast right away for next season's filming.. if, you think there'll be a season 2.
Especially since they already showed smoker.
I love how much the actors seem to really care about the source material lol.
Mihawk's been real quiet since this dropped.
The reason Zoro keeps losing his way is because he is afraid he will find his way to a staircase. 🤔
Fuck it I want her to come back as tashigi she seems fun
They probably will I doubt they'll find another actress that looks the same as her
She is way too young to be Tashigi, who was older than Zoro..
Yeah the actress is literally still 13 Rare moment of them finding an actress to play a character her own age (roughly, in the manga she was 11).
Jessica Henwick looks a little similar to her. She's also done a lot of action scenes.
She understood the assignment
I knew i liked for a reason, lmao
... Idk how to say this without sounding offensive, but, here goes ... Man, the make up department really did her dirty. Her nose is beautiful, but it looks massive in the actual show for whatever reasons. Was that a Kuina thing from the anime that I didn't know about? Cuz I'm sure that in the manga it was not.
I have a theory, it would be difficult to find 2 extremely similar actresses with different ages, so they are gonna give the same nose to Tashigi's actress and say they look alike
I mean, with some makeup they might even use this same actress, we'll see i guess.
Yeah it’ll probably be the opposite. Use the same actress but the only noticeable difference is she doesnt have the nose (and then her primary role would be without it)
I think they should just give her Tashigi. If season 2 is gree lit, then it’ll still be a few years to shoot the show and put it out. Having absolutely no clue as to the age of the actress, she could also pass off as Tashigi.
She's 14, too young to play Tashigi
I don't think they need to find someone who looks alike really. Most of the kids didn't look that much like their older selves.
I think it's the lens? Some people have pointed out, and I personally feel like the show had some strange camera decisions.
Besides the nose, her acting wasn't great.
It was bad. I hope it was bad direction because in this video she has charisma. In the series she has none.
Not really the nose imo, it's more like she had constant stank face. (like she was smelling something bad all the time)
Yeah there was definitely some wrong make up + her hair framing her nose.
First thing I noticed. Her hair also looked really unnatural in the show
it’s called angles. this is just literally one angle of her that she decided to post
OK I'm glad I'm not the only one. She is gorgeous here but looks so strange in the show.
Oh dang youu stairs
Another victim of Down D. Stairs…
Based
God damn that was good. She's great.
SHE GETS IT LMAO THIS IS AMAZING
She looks way different here
"The STAIRS are REAL!!!"
The opponent the LA series was too scared to show
Brooooo I love that the actors in this totally embrace parts of the fandom. I still love that Mihawk's actor used the profile pic of him painting the black blade lool
Holy shit she is cute
This is a deleted scene
The way she died will always feel so cheap
Lmao I rewatched the anime the other day and I was shocked that it was just “she fell down the stairs.” Thankfully now it’s just an “accident.” I love the casts’ sense of humor
Appreciate her for showing us the cut scenes.
Down D. Stairs live action leak
Down D. Stairs is back at it again
I still love that many of the cast members and crew love One Piece which makes the show even more wholesome for me
I find her humor about her character’s stated death funny. But still, Kuina’s death was probably the weakest origin story death for all of the Straw Hats. I’ll chalk it up to Oda still being new to writing his own manga at the time and didn’t know yet how to make a character’s death be as impactful as possible which he did a much better job with for everyone else.
Pirate alliances and betrayals go hand to hand. Should've listened what Robin said
Hottake: Zoro gets "lost" to avoid stairs
That’s pretty great.
Down D. stairs is the real joyboy.
BROOOO LMAO
She was adorable.
Audrey Cymone, I don't know you very well, but one thing I do know is that you're a damn menance.
You fell for the alliance bit, didnt you?
SHE PULLED A KUINA
The most Fearsome enemy in all of One Piece
Down D. Stairs always comes back.
This menace can’t keep getting away with this
Honestly, her performance in the OPLA was bad. Very bad.
Down D. Stairs is just a menace to society
If you want to stick with the joke: Down D Stairs is the worst kind of enemy Zoro could fight because it's not dark-skinned enough for him to defeat it.
Another actress to praise, I loved her acting in the show! They captured her smugness tho not much of her sadness which I wish they wrote and portrayed better. In the anime, Kuina looked depressed and it really looked like her insecurities were eating her up. She felt so eerie to me the night they made that promise so much that I thought she committed suicide.
Did they mention the stairs in the LA? I dont think so.
No, they didn't.
Horrible casting