The Ballad of Brave Sir Robin

Gotta love the trollaciousness of the minstrels who are supposedly Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot’s staunches supporters!

The Ballad of Brave Sir Robin

Bravely bold Sir Robin rode forth from Camelot.
He was not afraid to die, O brave Sir Robin!
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin!

He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp,
Or to have his eyes gouged out, and his elbows broken;
To have his kneecaps split, and his body burned away;
And his limbs all hacked and mangled, brave Sir Robin!

His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burned off
And his pen–

(Sir Robin: That’s – that’s, uh – that’s enough music for now, lads.)

Upon meeting the dreadful Three-Headed Knight:

Three-Headed Knight: What do you want?
Minstrel: [singing] To fight! To figh-
Sir Robin: Shut up!

And after, umm, skilfully avoiding the Three-Headed Knight:

Brave Sir Robin ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin!

Which is apparently continued all the way to when Sir Robin regroups with King Arthur:

He is packing it in and packing it up
And sneaking away and buggering up
And chickening out and p*ssing off home,
Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge…

Script and images here, including Sir Robin’s responses to the minstrels.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail full film here, via AoSHQ.

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And One Piece not only tributes the Three-Headed Knight:

But even provides a wholly possible (yet somehow even more absurd) explanation for the three heads, one body thing:

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My Python-esque take on a Malaysian news item at here.

Whitebeard’s Prodigal Son

From One Piece manga chapters 562 and 563:

See One Piece Wikia for the context.

From the Bible:

The Parable of the Lost Son

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” – Luke 15:11-32

An interesting comparison: In the Bible it is the younger son who wrongs the father and is forgiven, which causes the older son to be angry at this perceived favouritism. While Squad is angry because of the perceived favouritism that Whitebeard shows Ace, and is the one who commits the wrong but is forgiven by the (adopted) father.

One Piece Opening 12 – Kaze O Sagashite

This is the current opening sequence for the One Piece Anime, beginning from Episode 426.

I find this song extremely catchy. The visuals match very well too, especially at the sentimental bridge:

Animated gif of part of the sequence from the song bridge:

1. 

Lyrics from One Piece Wikia (which also explains the scenes shown, for those unfamiliar with One Piece):

Zoro vs Mr. 1 – Two Unusual Sword Fighting Styles, The Battle Play by Play

This is one of the more interesting sword fights in One Piece so far. (The other one is Zoro vs Kaku, which I intend to cover too some time.)

Roronoa Zoro is a member of the Straw Hat crew. He is second only to the captain, Luffy, in raw power and combat skill. As you can see from the following image and his ‘pirate flag‘, Zoro is a master of Santoryu – three sword style. (See also The Katana’s Name is Sogeking! for a related post!)

His opponent is Daz Bones, code name Mr. 1. His entire body has the properties of solid steel, and not just steel, but steel blades.

Due to the fact that his very limbs are his weapons, Mr. 1 doesn’t fight like a traditional swordsman so much as an ‘unarmed’ martial artist – using kicks, hand strikes and Capoeira/acrobatic spins to engage the opponent.

Pit these two very unconventional swordfighting styles against one another, and you have a unique matchup, which I present to you along with play by play narration below the fold!

One Piece’s Brook – 45 Degrees!

The Straw Hat Pirates’ newest member, Brook the skeleton has a silly act that cracks Usopp, Chopper and everyone else up:

Uhh, I don’t get it…….

Well, no fear! The One Piece Encyclopedia is here to help!

The Katana’s Name is Sogeking!

Oh no! Due to a mishap, the wrists of Zoro and Sogeking (Usopp’s alter ego) are cuffed together!

The only way to unlock the unbreakable handcuffs is with a key, held by one of the enemies – but not those they are facing now!

How will they adapt to this difficult situation? Zoro has an idea!