Just take the whole March off. It's the busiest for me anyway. He deserves it
Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !
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I'm just really looking forward to the chapter 1000 color spread
That's a milestone
we can expect to get chapter 1000 this year, right?
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You would expect it normally, but this uncommon breaks ugh.
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@vlad:
we can expect to get chapter 1000 this year, right?
I would hope so but probably not with all these breaks
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That's 28 chapters in 42 weeks remaining in this year, and with 5 already out that would be 33. Last 4 or 5 years had like 37 or 38 chapters each.
Really wouldn't mind if the year came to an end with big 1000 and Oda took more free time than usual.
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I was hoping Luffy would finally meet Dragon in chapter 1000 but that doesn't seem very likely at this point. I hope the chapter is at least Dragon related. Its about time we learn more about him.
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Its about time we learn more about him.
You can say this about so many different One Piece characters. If every other major milestone chapter is to go by, it won't live up to the fans hype.
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I bring up Dragon because he first made his appearance in chapter 100 and that was pretty damn hype. Finally seeing him in action in chapter 1000 would be perfect.
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I still don't see any in story indicators or patterns for Oda purposely making every 100th or 50th chapter more special than the others. Outside of a cover or colorspread, which aren't in story, I don't see the effort to make a benchmark chapter.
I can't see someone reminding Oda that ch 1000 is coming. So, it doesn't matter what he's currently doing, he has to make sure to enter _________. Or even if he's trying to make sure ______ makes it into a certain chapter. That would mean that he can end it at chapter 1100 if he wanted to. This thought caters to the earlier notion made about Oda possibly ending the manga around 1190 (597x2=1194, so 1190 would be the assumed estimate). What is special about the number 597 or even any number around 1190? Are these numbers that can be traced back to form some kind of pattern?
Oda has proven over and over again that he goes by plot points and not years in real life or chapter count.
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I bring up Dragon because he first made his appearance in chapter 100 and that was pretty damn hype. Finally seeing him in action in chapter 1000 would be perfect.
I still don't see any in story indicators or patterns for Oda purposely making every 100th or 50th chapter more special than the others. Outside of a cover or colorspread, which aren't in story, I don't see the effort to make a benchmark chapter.
I can't see someone reminding Oda that ch 1000 is coming. So, it doesn't matter what he's currently doing, he has to make sure to enter _________. Or even if he's trying to make sure ______ makes it into a certain chapter. That would mean that he can end it at chapter 1100 if he wanted to. This thought caters to the earlier notion made about Oda possibly ending the manga around 1190 (597x2=1194, so 1190 would be the assumed estimate). What is special about the number 597 or even any number around 1190? Are these numbers that can be traced back to form some kind of pattern?
Oda has proven over and over again that he goes by plot points and not years in real life or chapter count.
I guess chapter 100 is the exception. If there was to be another, 1000 seems likely, but it seems just as likely to not be.
edit: I've heard rumors that there was pressure to get the Straw Hats headed to the Grand Line by 100, which necessitated the removal of Daddy Masterson, but they could easily be made up.
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oda made it so that we entered the grand line in chapter 100
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I guess chapter 100 is the exception. If there was to be another, 1000 seems likely, but it seems just as likely to not be.
edit: I've heard rumors that there was pressure to get the Straw Hats headed to the Grand Line by 100, which necessitated the removal of Daddy Masterson, but they could easily be made up.
I remember someone bringing up the Masterson point before, but having no source. It probably is true tho, idk.
oda made it so that we entered the grand line in chapter 100
Nah, I remember it being 101 or 102
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NOT the case. That came up in an ancient SBS near the start which gives people the wrong idea.
He's a couple chapters ahead of the reader, but that's because of the logistics of sending something to the printer, having it printed, then shipped to stores and held until release day. He, and most of the Jump creators, are pretty much always just making the edge of their deadlines. That's why if they get sick near the end of the week and can't finish their chapter, there's often not even time to change notice in the TOC, because the covers and color pages get printed in advance..
There is no buffer. Something that had no continuity and that was just weekly gags like Kochekame might have had a couple rainy day chapters stockpiled just in case, (and given Koche never missed a chapter in 40 years, almost certainly the case there) but no, they are not sitting on a pile of chapters. Thats why the end of the concert story in MHA that one time was pencil sketches for half of it… they did two chapters that week and just didn't finish in time.
Oda probably has a small stockpile of random color spreads drawn or sketched out (but not colored) since those can go anywhere, which is why there was a random Fishman Island spread two years after that arc ended, but not entire chapters.
Even with series like HunterXHunter which takes multi-year long breaks, you can tell Togashi has no buffer past the first couple when it starts because the art always goes to crap before he stops again. Berserk is the only exception I can think of because you can see the effort in that art and Muira is clearly actually working during his breaks, he just needs 6-8 weeks per chapter so they stockpile till they have three or four of those.
I believe the "myth" is also related to Bakuman's depiction of Jump.
IIrc, when a series starts it has 4 chapters ready and completed. This giving more time for the authors to really get those first chapters and details right with no pressure and grab the reader, and then setting the tempo for the next chapters schedule. By the time your fourth or fith chapter is completed, Jump is publishing the first.
On a side-note: I don't recall seeing or hearing about a series whith a special break on it's first year, so I'd hazzard that they really end up using that one-maybe-two initial chapter leeway during that time.
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So i bring this discussion up every now and again, but with people bringing up Luffy meeting Dragon soon i just wanted to talk about it. Even moreso these days I really am thinking Vegapunk/Kuma and the Revo's are central to the next arc. So many plotlines are starting that seemingly have nothing to do with Wano are brewing. And tbh, I dont think Kuma/Vegapunk and this new Sabo plot are Final War related, theres way too much set up there to throw this in the mix, but anyway
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Vegapunk has been consistenly set up and hinted at for years now. First in Water 7 for the Kairoseki boats, then Thriller Bark/Sabaody for the Pacifista, Sentoumaru and the Science Division, Marineford for the Pacifista army, Punk Hazard for Ceasar and his relationship with Vegapunk, the island and giantification, WCI with Germa and Judge, and now Wano with Orochi wanting him (though he certainly wont have him)
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Massive connections to CP-0, who has appeared in every arc since Dressrosa, save for Zou. Its clear they not only guard the Tenryuubito, but probably him as well.
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Caesar consistently being a character up until WCI. Judge, Caesar and Vegapunk being some sort of science trio back in the day. Both Caesar and Judge are MIA, and I currently belidve they will show up next in a Vegapunk arc.
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Kuma and Bonney's whole arc. Kuma being essentially "dead" since the War due to Vegapunk. Even if Sabo rescues him, its likely he cant save him without Vegapunk reversing the process, if he even can. Both Kuma and Bonney have untold history together. Why did Kuma sacrifice himself for the WG?
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Similarly, the Revo's are now interlocked in this plot. Its clear Sabo and his commanders want to rescue Kuma, though something happened at the Reverie and it also involves the Nefeltari family. This could also be where Vivi comes back.
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Smoker and Tashigi havent been seen in 300 chapters, which is the longest stretch of time they have been missing from the manga. They asre also the only Marines who have not been sighted during the Reverie, indicating they are probably still with Vegapunk to watch the giant kids heal or return to normal.
Theres just so much here that seems not "final arc/war" related. Maybe the Nefeltari plotline if it has to do with Pluton or Im, but everything else does not seem central to the void century, One Piece, Laugh Tale or the final war.
This is why I truly think we have a major arc coming after Wano regarding this, and it seems that this and Elbaf will be central to at least setting up the final war. We may see the SSG in action, but maybe they arent taken out until the final war. Same with many other factors in this story. I think by the end of the arc, Luffy will meet Dragon once the issue here has been resolved.
Now people may argue this seems "unecessary", but this is the same man who teased Impel Down once and used the location 150 chapters later in another plotline. All of this has been coming together so much its practically on the nose.
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@vlad:
we can expect to get chapter 1000 this year, right?
Not before December.Perhaps they will end the year with chapter 1000.
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On top of this, I personally cant see us going from Wano straight to Elbaf. While Wano has been set up for 300+ chapters through other arcs, Vegapunk, the Revo's, CP-0, Kuma and more has been up as well the same way, just a "lesser" extent because they werent central to the plot yet. Personally I think:
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Vegapunk (to tie up Kuma, Bonnie, Revos, Vegapunk, CP-0 and more before they are pertanent in the final war): WCI island sized arc.
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Elbaf (tie up Giants, Big Mom, 4th poneglyph, Urogue and Enel possibly and Usopps main arcs most likely): WCI sized arc
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Lodestar (perhaps a final confrontation with Kid or something; i feel like there has to be an end to the supernova plotline and it wont happen until after Bonnie/Urogue have their moments, plus Kid is the main rival. I also think its critical. the strawhats reach this island for the sake of the adventure. Its important we get that milestone). Zou-sized arc.
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Final War/New Marine Ford, Mariejois, Fishman Island, God Valley, Laugh Tale (however this clusterfuck gets resolved lol): 200+ chapter blowout. No joke, this will take longer than Oda intends.
I think there need be a "few more" arcs before the end to make the adventure feel more cohesive, especially if Jinbe or some other person joins after Wano. We've been on the Wano train and these 2 Yonko for so long I think many of us forget they arent the only characters thar need their plots resolved. We cant just go straight to the EoS with that in mind. It also doesnt even include a plethora of storylines that have nothing to do the end. Namely Crocodile returning (though that may tie into Vivi folding back in the story), or Impel downs escapees have not yet been addressed. Enel? Maybe on Elbaf or something ridiculous, idk. All of the underworld emperors. Sure Oda has focused on Morgans, but what, if small, roles will the remaining play. 3 of them havent done a thing.
I think the first 3 I mentioned will happen, they are essential to the story. There may be some smaller additions, like God Valley or Beehive or some other location, but who knows how Oda tackles them.
Ok time to shut up again
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Your forgetting about Crocodile and Gecko Moria's reentering the story and hopefully getting a flashback
though I wouldn't be surprised if Gecko reappeared this arc since we know he has beef with kaido
And Doflamingo is def breaking out of impel down, I highly suspect him and Croc will have a showdown since that was foreshadowed at Marine Ford
EDIT: Oh yeah at some point the other level six prisoners that escaped have to come into the fold too…. so yeah there's that
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Greg, just how much of Stampede hints at secrets that most viewers haven’t even picked up on yet? On my first viewing, I peeped:
- Diable Jambe is fire Haki — lending credence to Fire Luffy
- Urouge is the strongest Supernova aside from Luffy
- Sabo is a killer
- Robin is still suspect
- Law is a marine… why would Buggy +200 pirates be running security and go after him specifically?
But upon rewatching, I noticed another interesting tidbit… Morgans says something very peculiar when the Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale is revealed:
“An Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale?! A scoop like this could flip the world upside down!”
This entirely may be literal. Roger has said this phrasing, as well as Whitebeard AND now Toki!
There’s also Luffy’s “I’m all fired up!”
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Your forgetting about Crocodile and Gecko Moria's reentering the story and hopefully getting a flashback
though I wouldn't be surprised if Gecko reappeared this arc since we know he has beef with kaido
And Doflamingo is def breaking out of impel down, I highly suspect him and Croc will have a showdown since that was foreshadowed at Marine Ford
EDIT: Oh yeah at some point the other level six prisoners that escaped have to come into the fold too…. so yeah there's that
Oh trust me i know, its part of the whole thing where i cant sometimes even process how Oda is going to finish it all or tie it all together. But in Oda I trust so
Greg, just how much of Stampede hints at secrets that most viewers haven’t even picked up on yet? On my first viewing, I peeped:
- Diable Jambe is Haki
- Urouge is the strongest Supernova aside from Luffy
- Sabo is a killer
- Robin is still suspect
But upon rewatching, I noticed another interesting tidbit… Morgans says something very peculiar when the Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale is revealed:
“An Eternal Pose to Laugh Tale?! A scoop like this could flip the world upside down!”
This entirely may be literal. Roger has said this phrasing, as well as Whitebeard AND now Toki!
On your Robin bit, I do feel like she has more of a role to play with the Revo's and possibly even CP-0. Its why i feel like her "6th person" chapter never came about. Same with Chopper, but at thos point idek if the story has room for personal Strawhat content right now. Maybe after we finish wano it gets a tad bit more personal again. As far as I can tell, Nami, Sanji, and now Zoro have gotten some pretty personal arcs in the form of Fishman Island, WCI and Wano respectively, as if Oda is using the new world arcs to call back or even flesh out strawhats. Usopp will clearly have this in Elbaf, but I wonder about Chopper/Robin/Franky/Brook. An argument can be 100% made for Choppers "arc" being Punk Hazard, in a way, but idk.
This is also why i think a Vegapunk arc is likely. It will have heavy ties to Franky being his inspiration to essentially become a pacifista and learn from Vegapunk in a way. And if the Revo's and CP-0 are involved like the Reverie hinted at, then Robin should be too.
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@Gia:
Oh trust me i know, its part of the whole thing where i cant sometimes even process how Oda is going to finish it all or tie it all together. But in Oda I trust so
Yeah the five years thing is bogus, I know Oda means it but the man just can’t help himself
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Yeah the five years thing is bogus, I know Oda means it but the man just can’t help himself
I personally think its part of his motivation to make himself believe he only has a certain amount left to go. That is the big problem with big stories, you have to end it big and it takes a decent percentage of your massive story to even do that properly without rushing. And I dont think Oda is one to rush really, except for Fishman Island, but even that story isnt over.
Biggest example is GRRM and A Song of Ice and Fire. The man is struggling to tie together his 100+ plotlines together in 2 more books. You could think about it simplistically and assume that 5 of 7 books is 70% of his story, so he has 30% left in his last 2 books (just by mathing it). BUT, we all know books 6 and 7 will be 1500+ pages each in order to resolve his massive plot problem, tacked onto a story that is 4200 pages long in 5 books. See how the math changes? That ups 30% to 40%. And thats assuming he doesnt flip and add an 8th book or something crazy. Its also preestablished logic from many fans who know how he writes and how fast he moves the plot.
Apply that logic to One Piece. People can take his 80%/5 year comments literally and assume the manga has 200 chapters left in the end, or you can understand that while Oda believes he is at the 80% mark, he may spend 500 chapters post-Wano trying to tie up every lose end his story has. Oda may have a better plan than GRRM, but he also is forced to tackle his story on a weekly basis incrementally, not on a 2000 page manuscript that can take years. For the record, I dont think Oda and One Piece have 500+ chapters left, but I do think it will be well over 200, and we have a plethora of arcs and plotlines to still cover, regardless of what Oda thinks he will manage to finish in a 5 year span.
You can even think about this logically too. Wano itself is shaping to be a ~120-140 chapter arc, the biggest in One Piece. It has the biggest cast of characters present in an arc this far in the series. Add Whole Cake Island to that. Hell, add Zou. Make it an even 100 additional chapters. So from Zou to the hypothetical end of Wano, there will have been a 240 chapter stretch of manga covering Minks, Samurai, and 2 Yonko. But how can any of this, any of it at all, compare to:
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2 additional Yonko with vastly more important relevance to Luffy and the story
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Revolutionaries
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Marines
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CP-0
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Vegapunk and his science division
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The entire world government
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The myriad of character plotlines and characters that have nothing to do with Wano (Kuma, Sabo, Hancock, Bonney, Urogue, Vivi, Im, Akainu, Shanks, Blackbeard, blah, blah ,blah).
How can a 240 chapter span of story even compare to whats coming? This is what i try and ask people. Theres no way Oda rushes the climax hes been patiently striving towards, and that climax is going to be HUGE, let alone set up in a hundred different ways before we get to it, likelt through other, future arcs.
Edit: Just compare it something way simpler like Naruto. Kishimoto spent essentially 30% of the whole manga doing the final arc lol. Nearly 300 chapters of war and conflict that was just get his story to end. This is why many grandiose stories stuggle to end well, if they end at all. Imo, and as sad as this sounds, One Piece will only be as good as its ending. No matter how good the journey was, the destination and payoff will define how you enjoy the previous 1000+ chapters. Look at Game of Thrones as a show. Its extremely hard to even rewatch the first few seasons, as perfect as they were, now the ending was deemed horrible by most.
For all of our sakes, Id rather this story last 1500 chapters and 12 more years if it meant neatly tying everything up with a grandiose and masterful conclusion.
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Problem with GRRM is that… He's a slacker.
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Lol i know, but same difference. Oda is not one to rush is his story, and now that he finally is at a point where hes addressing concepts he introduced a chunk into his story (Yonko, Revos, Vegapunk, Pacifista, Etc), it WILL take some time to address it all.
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Greg, just how much of Stampede hints at secrets that most viewers haven’t even picked up on yet? On my first viewing, I peeped:
- Diable Jambe is fire Haki — lending credence to Fire Luffy
- Urouge is the strongest Supernova aside from Luffy
- Sabo is a killer
- Robin is still suspect
- Law is a marine… why would Buggy +200 pirates be running security and go after him specifically?
Wait whats this now? Ever since Sandersonia was using fire like Sanji that didn't burn her but did burn her sister I figured it had to be Haki related. What did the movie touch on? I buy all of Finimations stuff, anyone know if they released Stampede yet?
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Problem with GRRM is that… He's a slacker.
No, he just made his story too complicated and wrote himself into a corner… and lost all mojo to tell it when it became clear the show was going to beat him to the ending. You look at his decades of work and he was always productive and prolific, the first three books all came out two years apart, but the scope of GoT just got away from him. Heck, books 4 and 5 were originally just going to be a timeskip. (the problem he ran into then being that catching folks back up after such a skip was bulky and awkward.) Plus, he's been in that world for 25 years now, of course he's tired of it.
Something that long and dense takes the time it takes. THAT said, we're approaching 9 years since the last book, and I think that's past the upper limit of what's fair to the audience in an ongoing narrative. If each book actually ended it wouldn't matter that there were that many years between volumes, but...
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You look at his decades of work and he was always productive and prolific
That. I take a glance at his blog every now and then and the guy's always doing stuff, from conventions to interviews to publishing to managing a bookstore. A lot of it GoT related, too. It's only the writing of the last books that apparently never happens.
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Who wouldn't lose the will to finish it after another form of media gave away the story.
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Not only gave away, but twisted and dumbed down the characters so much that
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Heh. Here's to hoping Oda doesn't decide he wants to spend the next 10 years detailing every mook of every pirate crew and kingdom on every island instead of writing the next Straw Hat arc.
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Heh. Here's to hoping Oda doesn't decide he wants to spend the next 10 years detailing every mook of every pirate crew and kingdom on every island instead of writing the next Straw Hat arc.
Honestly it bothers me when people say this. The world doesnt revolve around the strawhats. Stories dont HAVE to be personal every arc. In fact, its made me appreciate every post-timeskip arc more and more. What you are remembering is how "most" pre-timeskip arcs revolved around the new member. It became personal because it was personal to the crew. Not every arc can be this personal. It makes the world feel that much smaller.
Also, Oda has been introducing characters and plotlines for years. Finally he's addressing them. Dont be surprised if future arcs still do this. Yes, they probably will get deeply personal by the end, but even Laugh Tale or The Final War is likely about issues way bigger than any personal problem the Strawhat crew has.
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Your forgetting about Crocodile and Gecko Moria's reentering the story and hopefully getting a flashback
though I wouldn't be surprised if Gecko reappeared this arc since we know he has beef with kaido
And Doflamingo is def breaking out of impel down, I highly suspect him and Croc will have a showdown since that was foreshadowed at Marine Ford
EDIT: Oh yeah at some point the other level six prisoners that escaped have to come into the fold too…. so yeah there's that
At this point I start to feel that Oda mentioned level six prisoners just to allow Toei to have their unlimited supply of new villains for every movie / filler arcs.
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@Gia:
Honestly it bothers me when people say this. The world doesnt revolve around the strawhats. Stories dont HAVE to be personal every arc. In fact, its made me appreciate every post-timeskip arc more and more. What you are remembering is how "most" pre-timeskip arcs revolved around the new member. It became personal because it was personal to the crew. Not every arc can be this personal. It makes the world feel that much smaller.
Also, Oda has been introducing characters and plotlines for years. Finally he's addressing them. Dont be surprised if future arcs still do this. Yes, they probably will get deeply personal by the end, but even Laugh Tale or The Final War is likely about issues way bigger than any personal problem the Strawhat crew has.
The world doesn't revolve around them, but the actual plot does. There's not as much demand for those tertiary characters like there is for the actual protagonist group. Sure the world is richer and everyone appreciates that, but arcs that did it best are Zou and Whole Cake where the story is still focused on one or more Straw Hats. Compare to Dressrosa and Wano where they sometimes just come off as happening to be there. When the story goes week by week, you kinda have your priority interests after a couple decades. Like sometimes you just have to go "just get to the point already Oda", not everyone is invested in this Wano revolution.
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The world doesn't revolve around them, but the actual plot does. There's not as much demand for those tertiary characters like there is for the actual protagonist group. Sure the world is richer and everyone appreciates that, but arcs that did it best are Zou and Whole Cake where the story is still focused on one or more Straw Hats. Compare to Dressrosa and Wano where they sometimes just come off as happening to be there. When the story goes week by week, you kinda have your priority interests after a couple decades. Like sometimes you just have to go "just get to the point already Oda", not everyone is invested in this Wano revolution.
Uh, the plot revolves around these characters that oda shifted the focus towards too. As he previously stated, not everything revolves around the Strawhats. There's really no point in neglecting these characters and giving unnecessary screentime to the strawhats just to satisfy a couple of fans.
It's not easy to balance the screentime of all these characters and imo Oda is doing it well enough. He's had to cut corners with a lot of stuff already, like the fights. A little less screentime for the crew is a sacrifice we can easily deal with.
It's not like the SH's aren't doing anything at all. They've all gotten their own specific plotlines that flow into the story of Wano and that happened in Dressrosa too.
You may not be invested in the story of Wano, but that's a personal problem.
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At this point I start to feel that Oda mentioned level six prisoners just to allow Toei to have their unlimited supply of new villains for every movie / filler arcs.
I don't think Oda writes story plot points to help anime filler, it may seem like it's been a long time since we initially heard of the other level six prisoners and still haven't seen them but he mentioned Vega Punk at Thriller Bark and we still haven't met him yet and thriller bark was waaaay before Marine Ford, so I still expect we'll get the level six prisoner arc, I just have no idea when that will happen, it probably will happen in some random island pit stop the straw hats go to that they weren't expecting, like a drum island and punk hazard, you know Oda has to have some island we don't know about left in the mix, it can't all be laid out ahead of us, he's got to throw a surprise in there, it just wouldn't be Oda if he didn't
Also how long do you guys think till we get to the fights in Wano, I mean in Water Seven had the whole island raid that took like dozens of chapters before we even get to the one on one fights, do you think there will be something before the fights or is Oda just jumping right in
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Uh, the plot revolves around these characters that oda shifted the focus towards too. As he previously stated, not everything revolves around the Strawhats. There's really no point in neglecting these characters and giving unnecessary screentime to the strawhats just to satisfy a couple of fans.
The plot is about a boy becoming pirate king. Meaning it's about Luffy and his crew. It's always been that. Adding a bunch of subplots doesn't erase that. There's nothing wrong with giving these other characters focus, but after so many years of sidelining the crew you're kinda taken out of the journey for long arcs where you may or may not actually care about the locals and their problems. It's not a couple of fans, it's a valid large complaint about the series post-timeskip.
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This post is deleted!
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If I can chime in to add that, I believe it's important to step back and remember the sheer scope of the story thus far. We've been with most of the crew for 23 years and 900+ chapters.
Letting Zoro, Nami or Usopp take a backseat for an arc or two doesn't affect much when the scope has only grown and grown. It keeps the character dynamic fresh for the longtime readers who are used to seeing the crew doing what they normally do on each island.The current saga has been ambitious in crafting a longer set-up and payoff than we've ever seen in the story before. From Punk Hazard to Wano is nearly 300 chapters of tackling two Emperors at the same time while also sprinkling breadcrumbs for the final arc.
The Straw Hats are still the focus of the plot as they are the ones leading the change that is making waves in the New World. The cast of side characters is just much, much bigger than previous sagas. -
The plot is about a boy becoming pirate king. Meaning it's about Luffy and his crew. It's always been that. Adding a bunch of subplots doesn't erase that. There's nothing wrong with giving these other characters focus, but after so many years of sidelining the crew you're kinda taken out of the journey for long arcs where you may or may not actually care about the locals and their problems. It's not a couple of fans, it's a valid large complaint about the series post-timeskip.
Luffy becoming the PK isn't the plot. A plot is a sequence of interconnected events that make up a story. The journey to Luffy becoming the PK doesn't hinge on the strawhats other than him getting an overexcessive amount of screentime.
Whether you care about the locals or not has nothing to do with their importance in the narrative. This Kaido story has been building up since the beginning of the new world. It makes perfect sense to give more attention to things connected to this storyline, especially since it's the climax.
The only reason the strawhat's feel sidelined to you is because we're past the point where their personal conflicts are the driving force of the story. This isn't something that happened post skip, it happed pre-skip. You seem to be forgetting that the SH's were absent from Amazon lily, Impel down, Marineford, and most of post-marineford. That's 4 major story arcs in a row where they weren't important pre-skip.
Now that that's over Oda is focusing more on giving resolutions to things he's been building up for years and the main plotline itself. Even then he still managed to give Sanji the WCI arc. The SH's are still important, but they're are a lot of other important characters that need the attention.
Officially, Oda has only stated that Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are the core of One Piece. He hasn't neglected those 3 characters at all. They're the only strawhat's he has guaranteed to always give special focus to.
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I think the problem many people have is that the "strawhat crew" storyline and "the rest of the world" storyline are current too separated from each other. It's hard to get invested in minor characters in Wano when you know there are many bigger, more interesting events going on all over the world.
Hopefully that will change after Wano, and we can have new arcs that deal with Vegapunk, the revo, the marines, WG etc. directly and not just 20+ chapters of adventure with new fodders and villains on Elbaf.
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@Gia:
Honestly it bothers me when people say this. The world doesnt revolve around the strawhats. Stories dont HAVE to be personal every arc.
They don't indeed and that wasn't the point of my comment ; we were discussing how the next Game of Thrones book has been 9 years in the making and doesn't look like it'll be written anytime soon. It's like if Oda would shift his focus and publish databook after databook, draw a detailed map of the world, create magazine stories with side characters… but cease writing One Piece at all. It's not happening despite the manga being in its 23rd year and I'm really thankful for that ; I will be content with One Piece however the story is written, as long as I'm lucky enough to read it to its end.
And for the record, New World arcs are indeed richer from all their added characters and plotlines. It makes them frustratingly overcrowded at times, but the big picture is worth it so I'm not complaining about that.
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I don't think Oda writes story plot points to help anime filler, it may seem like it's been a long time since we initially heard of the other level six prisoners and still haven't seen them but he mentioned Vega Punk at Thriller Bark and we still haven't met him yet and thriller bark was waaaay before Marine Ford, so I still expect we'll get the level six prisoner arc, I just have no idea when that will happen, it probably will happen in some random island pit stop the straw hats go to that they weren't expecting, like a drum island and punk hazard, you know Oda has to have some island we don't know about left in the mix, it can't all be laid out ahead of us, he's got to throw a surprise in there, it just wouldn't be Oda if he didn't
Also how long do you guys think till we get to the fights in Wano, I mean in Water Seven had the whole island raid that took like dozens of chapters before we even get to the one on one fights, do you think there will be something before the fights or is Oda just jumping right in
Yeah I agree some of them may appear in the story at some point. I doubt they'll become major arc villains though. It'd be weird to see Luffy struggling against these characters after he has defeated Kaido and Big Mom (team effort or not).
It's not Oda's fault, but personally I just find the level 6 prisoner concept less and less interesting after so many of them are introduced and defeated in non-canon materials (power-wise I don't think any other prisoner could have been more dangerous than Douglas Bullet, who's already defeated anyway).
My guess is that the prisoners may serve as minor villains for less powerful strawhat or as fodders to be defeated by the marines new weapon etc. and nothing more.
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Luffy becoming the PK isn't the plot. A plot is a sequence of interconnected events that make up a story. The journey to Luffy becoming the PK doesn't hinge on the strawhats other than him getting an overexcessive amount of screentime.
Whether you care about the locals or not has nothing to do with their importance in the narrative. This Kaido story has been building up since the beginning of the new world. It makes perfect sense to give more attention to things connected to this storyline, especially since it's the climax.
The only reason the strawhat's feel sidelined to you is because we're past the point where their personal conflicts are the driving force of the story. This isn't something that happened post skip, it happed pre-skip. You seem to be forgetting that the SH's were absent from Amazon lily, Impel down, Marineford, and most of post-marineford. That's 4 major story arcs in a row where they weren't important pre-skip.
Now that that's over Oda is focusing more on giving resolutions to things he's been building up for years and the main plotline itself. Even then he still managed to give Sanji the WCI arc. The SH's are still important, but they're are a lot of other important characters that need the attention.
Officially, Oda has only stated that Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are the core of One Piece. He hasn't neglected those 3 characters at all. They're the only strawhat's he has guaranteed to always give special focus to.
Luffy becoming PK is absolutely the plot. Most everything done so far has been toward that one way or another. Even the current arc will result in furthering that goal by obtaining another road poneglyph. And with a pirate king there is obviously a crew, a set of individuals who follow Luffy and make names of their own. They don't need the same amount of screentime, but they need more than what they've been getting. Very few of them have any notable feats and accomplishments since the timeskip.
Yes, Kaido has been an ongoing thing. Doesn't mean the crew has to play backseat to virtually everyone else. That's why I liked the beginning of act 2, we saw them actually doing stuff. Robin snooping, Nami zapping Orochi, Zoro in general, Sanji donning the suit, Chopper leading a charge into the prison, etc. None of this involves personal conflicts (except Sanji, but that was more handled in Whole Cake). That's not always necessary like it was in Whole Cake where Sanji and Jinbe got some great stuff. And while they were away during the war arcs, that was the point. We got bits of what they were doing, we were made to miss them, and it led to a lot of progress for them as a crew. It doesn't serve any strong purpose now.
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I'm not sure Luffy's crew getting more focus would get the story to the point faster as most of them aren't really tied to "one piece". Their purpose is to spice the story up with their own dreams so the story isn't all about Luffy and becoming "pirate king". So if you want more of them just say that. It's perfectly valid but I think focusing more on them will not get the story to the point faster. Quite the opposite actually.
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Silly question, but did this Douglas Bullett character appear in Roger's flashback?
Oda is still putting little appearences of Shiki in the story, even him being more of a movie character, so I thought he could put a Douglas easter egg too. But haven't seen anyone comment on that -
@Gia:
Honestly it bothers me when people say this. The world doesnt revolve around the strawhats. Stories dont HAVE to be personal every arc. In fact, its made me appreciate every post-timeskip arc more and more. What you are remembering is how "most" pre-timeskip arcs revolved around the new member. It became personal because it was personal to the crew. Not every arc can be this personal. It makes the world feel that much smaller.
Also, Oda has been introducing characters and plotlines for years. Finally he's addressing them. Dont be surprised if future arcs still do this. Yes, they probably will get deeply personal by the end, but even Laugh Tale or The Final War is likely about issues way bigger than any personal problem the Strawhat crew has.
But without characters you care about, wheres the story? If a story isn't "personal", why is it interesting? Why is the "world feeling big" and "adressing plotlines" more valuable than emotionally engaging stories with characters you are invested in?
If worldbuilding, lore, adressing lingering questions/mysteries and "the bigger picture" are the most important facets of One Piece, theres ultimately no reason to read anything beyond the Wikia.But this is a fundamental schism in the fandom, which I am increasingly aware of. People seem to not just consume One Piece in different ways, with differing expectations and wants, but stories in general.
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My thoughts after reading this discussion.
I think what's setting the difference betwen Paradise and New World, in terms of strawhats importance vs world importance, is the overarching plot lines. They're a slow burner, and they've burned a bit slower in the second half, imo.
Vivi was always with the Straw Hats since we met her, Momo, another royalty that befriended the straw hats and asked for their help, was in and out of the story since he appeared. Appeared at Punk Hazard, went away halfway through Dressrosa, came back in Zou and went to Wano while Luffy went to Whole Cake. Only some days/weeks for the characters but alot of time for us, and that takes a toll.
And in the first part we were reading smaller stories with pieces of the big story, now we're reading the big story while the little pieces mixed in are also the big story. It's a different scope for sure.I usually find at least a couple of great gags or characters interactions in each chapter, like I always did, but I'm missing some classics. It makes sense for the Straw Hats to do the unthinkable and slipt the crew during this part of the story, grave times ask for grave measures, but that means we haven't seen Zoro and Sanji butt heads in a long time, or Usopp bullshiting Chopper. And sure it's gonna be great when it finally happens again but until then there's no denying that something's missing.
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@Daz:
But this is a fundamental schism in the fandom, which I am increasingly aware of. People seem to not just consume One Piece in different ways, with differing expectations and wants, but stories in general.
I've said this a couple times but check the Marvel movies thread, it's full of people who say the movies need to take themselves more seriously like Infinty war or Winter Soldier and not make so many jokes and make be more grounded in reality so the stakes feel real, and others say the exact opposite, they should be fun and lighthearted like Avengers and Guardians of the galaxy
also in one of the gaming threads just recently there was a big discussion over what makes an Open World video game good, with one of the people sighting metal gear solid 5 as the perfect version and another as the Witcher 3 and they argued for pages about why one was better than the other but to me it just seemed to come down to opinion
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Wait whats this now? Ever since Sandersonia was using fire like Sanji that didn't burn her but did burn her sister I figured it had to be Haki related. What did the movie touch on? I buy all of Finimations stuff, anyone know if they released Stampede yet?
Exactly! It’s wild that no one is discussing this… Smoker confirms this in his fight with Sanji, meaning that Sanji was the first Haki user on the Straw Hat Crew. Or maybe Zoro if we count Shishi Son Son.
It’s available to stream in the US on Amazon Prime :)
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Exactly! It’s wild that no one is discussing this… Smoker confirms this in his fight with Sanji, meaning that Sanji was the first Haki user on the Straw Hat Crew. Or maybe Zoro if we count Shishi Son Son.
It’s available to stream in the US on Amazon Prime :)
Wow! How cool is that? Thanks for responding. I mean of course "anime" and all that jazz but it's been hinted at several times in the actual story and an SBS so there is no way that isn't exactly what it is. Too many characters were pulling off similar techniques for it to not be some universal appliance of Haki.
I definitely count Zoro first but it's wild to think that both of them unlocked it before Luffy. And while I'm certainly sure Sanji didn't know exactly what he was performing with the the diable jambe technique, it's interesting to think about that technique possibly being the result of the crews encounter with Aokiji.
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I don't watch the anime and I know they are told some things in advance but haven't they also contradicted the manga other times as well? I'd hesitate to believe anything that is not confirmed in the manga.