LuNa analysis: “Saving the girl,” when does it matter?

 Original post: September, 2019

This little analysis and its NaLu version were supposed to be one single post. But, I decided to divde them for there’s a lot to cover, and doing things this way makes it easier to shorten the content

With that out of the way, let us begin!

As explained in the other analysis, when a story develops a bond organically, “saving the girl” doesn’t mean she owes her savior a relationship. True chemistry doesn’t occur because of favors done. That’s like a basic unspoken rule

Going from “saving the girl” to “impregnating the girl” without proper development, or meaningful and engaging moments, is a proof of lazy writing…

But, rescuing a love interest is an legitimate story-telling tool. So when does “saving the girl” matters for the growth of a potent relationship?

First, we have to address why the shipping mindset doesn’t work here. To keep things brief, what some readers could find compelling, characters in the story may not find truly moving. Some fans enjoy cool, stylish, and tough characters so much that they end up overhyping every action they take or every interaction the have with others. Even when the story doesn’t hype anything at all.

Example, women who would like to have a good-looking man complimenting them 24/7 may find similar actions incredibly thoughtful and meaningful, even if the story doesn’t take such behaviors seriously (to the point of using them as jokes/gags) or characters don’t see those showings as something significant enough to warrant a serious response.

Readers with this kind of casual mentality are prone to overhyping any and all rescue scene that features their favorite characters despite such instances lacking actual weight or true relevance to any sort of real development

So, some conditions for a moment to be relevant are the characters and the story considering those interactions as impactful, and having those moments pay off. Only the author’s works are allowed, as most if not all that comes from directors or writers of the anime adaptation bears no real weight on the source material

Now, such moments have to offer a substantial contribution to the relationship between the characters and leave an impact powerful enough to compel characters in more ways than one

The moment I would like to break down is not one single scene, but rather the context behind the series of events leading us from this…

…to this:

So, Luffy confronts Nami right after she hits her lowest point. At this moment, he stops her from stabbing herself while cursing Arlong, and then Nami does something she hasn’t done in years: she decides to open herself to Luffy and rely on him for help.

To understand the true weight of the moments that followed, we have to put everything into context.

After Arlong murdered her adoptive mother and took over her village, Nami made it her mission to save her home…

…she on her own choose to isolate herself while closing her heart, supressing the feelings and emotions that may get in the way of her goal back then: saving her village from a terrible tyrant

As we analyzed in other posts, becoming fond of Luffy and his crew wasn’t enough for her to break out of that self-imposed isolation.

However, the challange Luffy undertook by himself, and part of the emotional narrative driving this arc, was reaching out to Nami. He knew he won’t leave without her, and he knew she was his companion and navigator no matter what she said.

It was when her oppressor Arlong robbed her of all hope for salvation, when she was finally broken by her own powerlessness and despair.

At this moment Luffy arrives with no knowledge of her current situation nor her backstory with her personal oppresor nor what did Arlong did to leave her in that state… even he admits he doesn’t know what’s going on. But, after Luffy actively sought to break through Nami’s defenses, and Nami herself seeing she had no way out, she took a huge gamble

She finally opened her heart to Luffy, and did what she haven’t done in years: she choose to rely on someone else, to put her faith on Luffy. His response is something we analyzed over and over in this blog:

Answering with a pretty iconic gesture meant to provide the relief and hope she needed, and reaffirming he would help her, Luffy confronted Nami’s oppresor as retaliation for making her suffer, and ended up destroying all the traces of the past that was holding her back both physically and emotionally (after getting a small glimpse of what she went through).

Why is Luffy rescuing Nami relevant to their position as potent relationship?

As noted by some readers, the moment she asked Luffy to save her was the first time she opened her heart to someone else. When she decided to emotionally rely on Luffy…

…she found the courage to stand up to the person who treated her as a slave for many years and threatend her home and family. At the end her faith got rewarded

This experience left an impact on Nami with a power that readers can perceive from time to time if they look closely in the author’s works in other arcs.

Even when giving into fear and despair during Luffy’s first battle against Enel, Nami found the courage to face the big bad after another “pass of the hat.”

A gesture which was reminiscent of the first time Luffy provided her with the emotional comfort that allowed her to confront Arlong, and served a similar purpose here. Luffy reassured Nami that she, as a companion of the future PK, had no reason to be so scared. And that was enough for her to stand up to Enel even during Luffy’s absence.

We know that Nami took this to heart, for she would later declare with confidence, to a high-ranking member of one of the most dangerous pirate crews of the world. how Luffy being the future PK guaranteed their victory

During Water 7, she showed some serious drive and determination to save Robin. But, as soon as she got to Luffy, she poured her heart to Luffy, and freely expressed how she truly felt.

Their experience in Arlong Park, which includes the first time she opened to him, made Luffy her emotional anchor.

Something that we also see in the manga version of the Zou arc. As soon as she hears the rest of the crew arrived, she displays great joy…

…but as soon as she has the chance, she seeks comfort and relief in her captain; she once again openly expresses her anguish to him.

Everything comes back to those moments at Arlong Park. The time when she opened her heart to Luffy. The emotional chemistry that became the foundation of their bond.

So, in the framework of this series, when does “saving the girl” truly matters to any potent relationship? First of all, It has nothing to do with overhyped jokes and gags nor about explicit “romance” nor lovey-dovey stuff based on filler.

It matters when it leaves an impact powerful enough to make a emotional connection grow steadily, and when it spawns dozens of meaningful moments contributing to a consistent bonding. A piece of poetry that writes itself