One Piece General Discussion

[XandorXerxes]

Managed to accidentally kill my own post, so trying for a second time.

I recently picked up One Piece again after a recommendation forever ago by Tony. Before I had gotten to the Don Krieg / Sanji part of the story, then put it down. A few weeks ago I picked it back up again, and about a week ago I finished it. After mulling over it for about a week, I thought I'd give my general impressions just to see what you guys had to say about it.

Story wise:

I like the mangaka's stories. He writes well, and overall I liked the arcs a lot. The only one I didn't care for so much was the Sky Island / Skypiea arc, but that could be from my natural reaction anytime a manga or anime references "God." Maybe it's just me, but I've found that 90% of the time the manga / anime just crashes and burns whenever it tries to be metaphysically relevant, and fortunately for my taste in One Piece Oda did a well enough job steering away from that.

Unfortunately I think if I read One Piece chapter to chapter I would go insane.

The Desert arc was probably my favorite, and despite my original misgivings about the Thriller Bark arc I ended up liking where it went. I was especially glad to see each of the characters being relevant, and not just Luffy going up and soloing the big bad guy by himself.

As much as I liked the general story around the rescue Robin arc, I didn't like the villains at all - and not in a good way. The real reason behind my dislike for them, I believe, is actually applicable to the entire manga. Thus, my next part.

Dislikes:

Glossing over things. This is really prevalent in two areas: villains and powerups. Take for example, the aforementioned "Rescue Robin" arc. The bad guys (mostly) all used a particular method of fighting, which was never really explained why or how it worked. Oda left it as "this is this and it's why they can do this awesome stuff." In the long run, not important for the story at all. If I was reading chapter to chapter though, I would have been pulling my hair out in frustration - especially when Luffy eventually used what one of the bad guys thought was one of their techniques.

Powerups are constantly happening. I can only assume that everyone is training hard in their spare time, but by the end of the manga I wasn't really minding that people just seemed powered up because it kept constantly happening with no explanation. It was just assumed as part of the story, and once it was assumed so many times I just stopped questioning it. Again, doesn't really detract from the overall arc, it's just a nitpicky thing that I noticed. It's especially noticable for me with Zoro, because he's just a human. I know the whole "light speed" thing was brought up on the Bleach boards, and I honestly didn't really mind it, but it's a perfect example of what I'm trying to say - just when did he go from getting stomped by Arlong up to suddenly dodging super fast attacks by one of the 7 government-sponsored pirates? It's just a leap that's not explained. Again, doesn't take away from the story, just a nit-picky thing.

I've already written a novel, so I'll leave it just as those general comments on the series. There are a few other comments I would like to talk about eventually (such as Robin's being underpowered for her abilities, or his general stance towards females especially in regards to power) but I'll leave those for another day / discussion.

Oh yeah, one last dislike:

Usopp... obviously.

[Apoo]

Glad you picked up on OP again. About the power-ups, yeah they're unexplained. It's understood that they train in their spare time, but most of the time they actually grow in the battle themselves. I wouldn't really call it a power-up thought, I just call it getting stronger. Maybe the distinction isn't too noticeable, but in my mind a power up is some sort of technique or state that the character enters in which he/she gets stronger for an undefined period of time. The Kyubi in Naruto as well as the CS, Any release past shikai (since Shikai it's really the start-up powerup) in Bleach, the SS in DBZ. In OP, the only one I can really think so is Luffy's gears, and perhaps nightmare moria (NM luffy too, but that was just a joke character).

[Ph03]

Luffys Gears are explained...
The CP9 skills are sort off explained. They trained their body's , one thing is done by stepping allot very fast in the air etc,...

Theres allot more explaining than in other mangas imo .

[Kraker2k]

One Piece isn't really about the little details on how each move works. Yeah it would be nice if we were told how and when people got these power ups from but in the end OP is about the grand scheme of things, stopping on small things like Luffy training to use the Gears would probably detract from the overall experience.

[Planeswalker]

^ yup yup~ how boring are training chapters in manga? I cant stand reading them in Bleach, Naruto, Reborn ect.. training chapters and usually you dont even see the end result until the big fight. So why not skip straight to the big fight and explain how the skills were developed along the way. I like that strategy.

[dragonfrost]

uMMMMMMMMM i like how oda hints at all the skills before he makes them skills tho


....... giant gold ball became gear 3

sea train became and swamp guy gear 2

6 hand oct became zoro technique

and so one and so forth

[9tailedgenie]

^i dont really understand the seatrain became and swampguy thing... but i understand your gear three. hm i only noticed the zoro copying the oct's technique.

[dragonfrost]

uMMMMMMMMMM

gear 2 works just like a steam engine works, and luffy only comes up with the idea after seeing how the sea train works. The swamp guys punch form skipea arc is similar to jet pistil.


nami copys the cp9 girls move

ussop steals the dial technology for his own use

[Planeswalker]

Im not too convinced about the steam engine bit...it seems like a nice idea, but for him to come up with and pretty much master it in a few hours is eh unlikely.

EDIT: Also did Luffy see Gedatsu's punches? I thought Chopper was the only person who met him.

[Apoo]

Originally Posted by Planeswalker

^ yup yup~ how boring are training chapters in manga? I cant stand reading them in Bleach, Naruto, Reborn ect.. training chapters and usually you dont even see the end result until the big fight. So why not skip straight to the big fight and explain how the skills were developed along the way. I like that strategy.

Read HxH, you will love training chapters.

[XandorXerxes]

Originally Posted by Tony

Read HxH, you will love training chapters.

I don't know about loving them, but I certainly enjoyed HxH as well.

My complaint wasn't really even "training chapters are necessary!" it was more of a "Oh look. Now they are THIS strong, or they have THIS power." The way the manga has worked, especially the last few arcs, is that everyone is stronger than before (thus they are a threat!) but at the same time Luffy and crew are just strong enough to beat them. Heck, sometimes they AREN'T strong enough to win, but they get some boost mid-fight that gives it to them. Again, this isn't much of a complaint as it still makes for a good read, but it would be nice if Oda would make a fight that was more of an intelligence fight (similar to the one against the cheating pirates when playing the betting game for crew members) in a more serious plot development. If the crew is going to the island of mermaids, then this could easily be done.

[Apoo]

Most fights through the whole series WERE intelligence/situation fights. Luffy having to fight crock with the water, winning against Enel because of the rubber in his body. Really, the only 'power-ups' as per say in the whole story that I've noticed are the gears. Zoro gets stronger too, but wouldn't you say that as a swordsman, his skill level should increase with each passing fight? Ussop and Nami don't get stronger physically at all, their weapons and the way they use them get better. Sanji's flame technique is sort of a power-up, but nothing too blatant imo. Besides from the gears, only Monster Chopper is really a blatant power-up.

I don't know about loving them, but I certainly enjoyed HxH as well.

I loved any training chapters in HxH since those chapters we got to know more about nen and how it works. The fighting system is just too detailed and complex in HxH, so those chapters are great there imo. I really enjoyed the Knuckle-Gon training.

[9tailedgenie]

why can't ussop fight like he fought luffy for going marry. he has so much potenial.

[Kraker2k]

Originally Posted by 9tailedgenie

why can't ussop fight like he fought luffy for going marry. he has so much potenial.

That fight was planned out by Ussop, he knew the various weaknesses of Luffy and he exploited them.

In a random fight Ussop has to make up stuff on the spot as he has no brute power to rely on as the others.

[9tailedgenie]

^ but he showed no fear. he knew the strength of luffy but yet he still fought. while he was injured too.

[Planeswalker]

^ He had a reason to fight though. A very emotional reason. Emotions can turn even the most cowardly character into a fighting machine. Its like when someone has pushed you so far that you dont give a shit how strong they are you go for a hit anyway.

[9tailedgenie]

^ that's called potential

[Planeswalker]

^ And it takes something to bring out potential. Having it doesnt mean your badass. It means with work/the right motivation you might be.

[9tailedgenie]

^ yeah, back to square one, that's what i meant. ussuop has that

[CosomTheLyricis]

anyone know which chp luffy meets his brother ace