The sea shanty “Binks Sake” from One Piece can make the whole team work if played in the right context. I especially liked Brook, the musician of the straw hat team sings and plays on it. Nothing in One Piece is as simple as it seems thanks to the complex construction of the world of Eiichiro Oda. The song “Bink’s Sake” contains deeper comments about the life of a pirate both in the world of One Piece and beyond.
“Bink’s Sake” is a pirate anthem whose origins date back to ancient pirates such as the Lumbar Pirates and the pirate team of Shank. The song is mostly used during the holidays to cheer people up, but its most famous appearance in the series occurs a few minutes before Brooke’s death, when the lumbar pirates collapse one by one until Brooke is left alone.
Essay
The composition “Bink’s Sake” was completed long before Brook’s first appearance. While coming up with the concept and design for Brook, Oda asked respected anime composer and colleague Kohei Tanaka (best known for his compositions for Gunbuster and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) to start writing the melody for “Bink’s Sake”.
Oda then told Tanaka that the song should be finished “in about a year”, but the progress in One Piece is difficult to predict, and it so happened that the premiere of the song will take place only five years after Tanaka completed it. In an interview about the writing process, Tanaka stated that his goal was to make “Bink’s Sake” both carefree and sad. The emotional mood is often conveyed by the instruments used to perform the song: the song becomes more like a ballad when it is performed on the violin, and more optimistic when it is performed on the piano.
Meaning
There are several differences between the Japanese and English translations of “Bink’s Sake”. For example, Japanese “sake” can refer to any type of alcohol. A more accurate translation of “Bink’s Sake” into English may be something like “Bink’s Brew” or “Bink’s Booze”. The lyrics of the song are made in the style of traditional sea shanties and include many metaphors about the sea and the weather. “For the Sake of Bink” is usually included in scenes to emphasize the greatness of the ideals of the straw hat.
Singers are supposed to be naively optimistic, like a pirate going on a trip: “The wind that blows/where, who knows?/The waves will be our guide.” The absent-minded attitude towards the waves is very similar to Luffy’s attitude towards danger. The pirates’ gleeful ignorance is what makes them strong, after all, “if [they] let the winds of fear blow/ then the end is near for us.” A key component of success is courage in the face of uncertainty. The song seems to emphasize the qualities of the Pirate King, and these qualities definitely apply to Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates. The song also mentions the sunrise and sunset of the sun and moon, as they are associated with the rise and fall of ocean waves. The ever-changing landscape of pirates repeats itself from day to day. The pirate is happily involved in the cycle and is optimistic about the future.
Future
“Bink’s Sake” will continue to be one of the most recognizable and emotionally significant songs in the whole One Piece. The composer Takahata always has fans who sing along to numerous songs “Yohohoho hohohoho”. On the other hand, “For the Sake of Bink” has not appeared much screen time in the anime since the 380th episode, except for the Brooke theme.
There are arguments in favor of the fact that “For the Sake of Bink” is banal and repeats itself, and it should be abandoned. The world of One Piece may need new songs to reflect an environment that is becoming more violent with each chapter. “Bink’s Sake” ignites the flame of passion for endless adventures. It has a lighthearted charm, and the banal repetitiveness goes well with these earlier One Piece episodes. Even if One Piece changes, “Bink’s Sake” will remain a great song.
