How do you feel about how Dressrosa has been adapted thus far?

[Davis-Lightheart]

I honestly believe that while the anime has had it's ups and downs, Dressrosa has definitely been one of the better adapted arcs thus far. Part of it is mostly because Oda has left a lot of room for the animators and storyboarders to expand material in a reasonable fashion. It could still be better; the animation could be more consistent, and the story direction could be as well. But that's not likely going to happen with Toei still at the reigns. All the same, I feel like the best directors have really found a way to shine in this arc when it comes to using implied filler and taking advantage of their skills to provide great animation. Yes, there are still bad episodes, but I feel that the worst episodes are the fault of bad people instead of just being limited to one chapter, because I feel there is enough content in this arc for one chapter (sometimes half) pacing for once, unlike arcs like Punk Hazard or Fishman Island. Such as episode 649; that episode could have reasonably done within one chapter if properly expanded instead of how haphazardly it was done. Thankfully, for me, episodes like this have been the exception instead of the norm.

So overall, Dressrosa has been pretty good for me. How about you guys?

[MasterKingJC]

I'm personally enjoying it more than when I was reading the chapters initially last year. Maybe it's because I care more about the new characters introduced in Dressrosa than I did for the ones in FI and PH. Maybe it's because they're actually expanding on details Oda glazed over in the manga.

There hasn't been a really bad episode so far, which is surprising and somewhat hopeful.

[Machineman]

So far I feel that it's been even better then the manga especially for block B & C fights thanks to strong directing & fleshing out of details Oda decided to glaze over.

- the epic clash of haki was even more epic in the anime.

[Vectorkov]

I feel Dressrosa has been adapted better than other New World arcs, but I also think Dressrosa has better source material. I can't wait to go back and marathon the entire arc

[Dahaka. 0]

lifeless city killed the first few episodes for me

the rest is as usual, dragged and ugly. block b and Otsuka episode were only good eps, the rest was meh with just one or two good scenes per ep.

Man I'm fine if anime has meh art or meh animation or meh pacing. But OP has all that and it is just unbearable.

[Davis-Lightheart]

@Dahaka.:

lifeless city killed the first few episodes for me

the rest is as usual, dragged and ugly. block b and Otsuka episode were only good eps, the rest was meh with just one or two good scenes per ep.

Man I'm fine if anime has meh art or meh animation or meh pacing. But OP has all that and it is just unbearable.

I don't know man, I feel like the art has gained a little bit of consistency lately. I mean, yes it's consistently in the "eh" area, but I don't find it that bad these days.

And I feel like Dressrosa warrants dragging with how much Oda skips in this arc. Block D for instance is something that needed some expansion for sure, along with the Giolla scenes.

[o-chan]

My whole issue is that even in the source material I've been slightly underwhelmed with the entire New World arc. There was something about the pre-Timeskip structure in terms of how the crew came together and how major events built up gradually that seems kind of lost with the timeskip. In terms of the anime while the show has always had a more simplified style it had tighter sense of animation direction overall and utilized it's talent well. Then in the last 5 years or so Toei started to stretch themselves really thin across the board and focused more on quantity (the number of shows they were animating) rather than quality and being really cheap about it. This became really evident during Impel Down where the more talented staff was being phased out of the series and Kazuya Hisada officially became the character designer. While Hisada stuck closer to the manga designs it seems like others who were responsible for the overall direction of the series were inconsistent in how to creatively fully utilize the staff they had on hand. As a result you would have some episodes that were good, many that were average, a quite a few that were blah this culminating in how Fishman Island was handled. It does seem that there was a few changes for the better starting with Punk Hazard but instead it comes off more like damage control and attempting to ration the staff they have on hand than an effort to improve the overall quality of the product. Dressrosa has been much better at this but I'm always reminded of the contrast when I watch the Crunchyroll stream and a Toonami episode on the same night. It's just very telling when episodes done close to a decade ago hold up better than the current episodes.

[Davis-Lightheart]

@o-chan:

My whole issue is that even in the source material I've been slightly underwhelmed with the entire New World arc. There was something about the pre-Timeskip structure in terms of how the crew came together and how major events built up gradually that seems kind of lost with the timeskip. In terms of the anime while the show has always had a more simplified style it had tighter sense of animation direction overall and utilized it's talent well. Then in the last 5 years or so Toei started to stretch themselves really thin across the board and focused more on quantity (the number of shows they were animating) rather than quality and being really cheap about it. This became really evident during Impel Down where the more talented staff was being phased out of the series and Kazuya Hisada officially became the character designer. While Hisada stuck closer to the manga designs it seems like others who were responsible for the overall direction of the series were inconsistent in how to creatively fully utilize the staff they had on hand. As a result you would have some episodes that were good, many that were average, a quite a few that were blah this culminating in how Fishman Island was handled. It does seem that there was a few changes for the better starting with Punk Hazard but instead it comes off more like damage control and attempting to ration the staff they have on hand than an effort to improve the overall quality of the product. Dressrosa has been much better at this but I'm always reminded of the contrast when I watch the Crunchyroll stream and a Toonami episode on the same night. It's just very telling when episodes done close to a decade ago hold up better than the current episodes.

Oh yeah, I definitely agree with you there. While I am definitely enjoying the content provided by Dressrosa, I do notice how the quality of animation per episode has become increasingly inconsistent. How many shows are Toei working on right now? I know Toriko ended, and Sailor Moon is only bi-weekly, so it must be on a less demanding schedule. Dragonball Z Kai is just a hackjob that barely takes a full team to make. So what else do Toei have going on now?

[Kirk]

anime being better than manga chapters
shows you how far the manga has fallen
:ninja:

[Mr. Luffy]

Okay, the big thing I noticed about the last few months of the Dressrosa arc is that the series is finally starting to add substantial filler to the series. None of it in necessary, surely, but it does add to the existing content well enough. It also provides more context compared to the more typically annoying filler of characters having stretched out walking/running animation cycles or having comic relief characters pop up out of nowhere, like an emcee adlibbing comedy bits to pad out frequent dead spots in the main act. Punk Hazard showed some signs of this welcome trend (i.e. Brook fighting the torso, Franky flying away), but it's been practiced to greater lengths in Dressrosa.

I personally don't think it's because Dressrosa is "better." First off, the anime is not that far in (not even half way). Second, the pacing is pretty much the same 1 chapter per episode. I think, as above, the filler is better handled though not perfect–some of the filler is naturally pretty lame-ass. Unavoidable. In addition, this arc seems to have had better luck in terms of its production staff in visually adding and extra dimension to the source material--collosseum fights typically work very well when adapted to animation and the manga offered a very rich assortment of fighters to expand upon.

Recently, I've seen a lot of complaints about the hectic nature the series fights in the manga and that certain aspects "need" to be expanded on. I don't fully agree. First off, not much has changed in Oda's pacing since Enies Lobby. Characters being defeated off-panel? No different than Sanji being defeated by Califa off-panel, or Franky & Robin defeating the Zombie Generals off-panel or Brook being defeated off-panel in his first bout against Ryuuma. Jora transforming Nami & Co on the Thousand Sunny off-panel in the manga, for example, is no different than Sanji being transformed with the Soap power off-panel in Enies Lobby.

The rapid change in perspectives after the crew splits? Again, very commonplace in the Thriller Bark and Enies Lobby Arcs

It seems that the series spent so much time focusing on Luffy after the crew was scattered by Kuma pre-timeskip that people forget that Oda doesn't like dragging out his fights. He seems to prefer moving the story along and a brisk pace over bogging down the momentum of the story by focusing on every single clash that comes up or for that matter every single exchange for the 10+ characters involved. Amazon Lily and Impel Down didn't have much of that since there was really only Luffy and the villains to focus on the whole way, simplifying the story structure. Once the Strawhats come back (all nine of them) it becomes much more difficult to maintain traditional focus, leading to more frequent shifts in focus and character actions.

I understand why some might not care for this approach, particularly in Dressrosa which might have a record in alternating character POVs and some of the briskest pacing yet seen in the manga, but I did not find it a problem or confusing at all. All that really needed to be shown or depicted was shown and I personally like Oda's minimalistic approach in these later chapters. Seeing Maynard take out Bartolomeo's henchman and being taken out himself in striking off-panel moments provides much more mystery and imagination of what could have happened than having every single character action spelled out and spoon-fed to the audience. Sometimes it's nice when the author trusts the readers to do their own thinking and drawing their own conclusions as the story unfolds.

Lastly, I don't agree this makes the anime better than the manga due to how the anime adaptation has been handling the content. It virtually has to pad out this content. Not so much so it "makes more sense" but because the 1:1 pacing makes it practically a necessity to storyboarders and directors who want to make an One Piece episode worth a damn. Otherwise, these episodes tend to be faithful in a flat and drawn out way since the animation team isn't allowed to burn through two chapters worth of content. Unless the direction is outstanding, they're typically too faithful, faithful to a fault.

[Kujo Jotaro]

I was certainly amused to see a scene during one of the episodes where an entire half of the audience residing in the Colosseum was animated and put on display for all to see. With many shonen series that have a tournament arc, you tend to see the same oft repeated close-up shot of a portion of the crowd with never-changing shocked or amused expressions, with only the most basic of lip movements as animation.

Cheeky animators sometimes even flip this portion to make it appear different, which really riles me up, but I digress.

Dressrosa has really drawn me in. I watched the animated version beforehand, which drew me to read the original comic interpretation to make personal crib notes. Due to the pacing of the animation, I've found myself switching to the manga entirely for now, but I am fascinated with the Dressrosa arc. If all else fails, resort to the tournament formula – No complaints here, as I love fighting scenes and tournament arcs.

It seems Toei Animation have upped their game. Some of the animation from a certain point back in the day, I want to say around Skypiea, was truly diabolical. You'd see so many awful animation errors and mistakes, and I've not had a glaring error catch my eye during Dressrosa once so far. Due to Luffy's face being masked with that artificial beard, I've found myself focusing on other characters a lot more. Bellamy, who was part of a pivotal emotional moment once upon a time, looked especially manic and menacing, for one.

I'll stop talking about the Colosseum now, promise. The story is idiot-proof in terms of adaptation, frankly speaking.

The voice acting has been of a professional quality, which I believe has been superior even during the frugally animated years, and the animation has truly captured what it might be like to live in Dressrosa. It has brought that world to life successfully, as I've found myself wondering how I'd react if I was confronted by a stuffed doll claiming to be a jealous ex-lover.

Admittedly, I smirked at the storyline of "living toys" at first, but when you immerse yourself into it, it's no different than a Twilight Zone scenario and a positive display of Oda's latent creativity. As a standout figure for the world outside of the Colosseum, I found myself becoming sympathetic towards "Soldier" -- I'm unsure of who the voice actor is, but he has captured the stoic, hardy nature of a tin soldier with the vulnerability of something that was once human.

Soldier is clumsy, awkward, has a terrible sense of humour -- Yet, you can hear the sorrow behind it all. This is something you have to imagine as vividly as possible when you read a manga, and I was surprised they didn't give him a goofy, high-pitched sort of voice.

I suppose they'll try that one when they get around to dubbing it in English.