The Whole Cake Island Whole Arc Discussion Thread - Reviews for Totland

[Dahaka. 0]

I look at the cake plotline from a little bit different perspective. While everyone wants the cake to create consequences, I feel the cake was a consequence in itself, one that had to happen in order to keep Sanji in character. It's not that Oda wanted Sanji to make a cake to cause something. He HAD to have Sanji make a cake, because this is what kind of person Sanji is. No matter if it's friend of foe, or how dire the situation is, Sanji won't walk away from a hungry person. The final page of 902 really makes me feel that was Oda's train of thought all along.

It might seem like a rehash of what we had on Baratie, but I think the whole point was to tackle this familiar part of Sanji's character and then push it to the very limit. Making a cake was basically meant to prove that he has complete freedom in exercising his own will, to be who he is. He was thought to feed those who are hungry, so if BM wants to eat, and she will eat only a cake, then he's going to make her a goddamn cake, even if there's hell all around. That is a kind of person he was raised to be and walking away from it would be an admission of defeat.

[Kdom]

@Blissed:

Well that's all I've been arguing :sad:

Saying it served no purpose, that it at no point ever saved the Straw Hats, is completely different from stating the cake didn't live up to one's expectations, or that the payoff wasn't sufficient, which is absolutely fair.

The thing is that those high expectations didn’t come out of nowhere. Oda kinda promise us those but failed to deliver them in the end.
Agreeing with access post 100%, i won’t repeat what he told. Personnaly I hated the fight between Sanji and Luffy. Otherwise aside from Sanji things the arc was not that bad, there was some beautiful chapters. The strawhat had all their moments to shine (except for Chopper unfortunatly).
Big mum family was rather intrresting and i’m curious to see the part 2 of vs Mum battle

[uniaka ikuzakas]

This post is deleted!

[blastpoke]

I think one of the things that long running manga is that it will shows both the author's strengths and weakness. All authors run out of ideas at some point. It is when you run out of idea, what is your default story solution and formula?

Whole Cake Island and Dressrosa show that some of his present day stuff are recycle too much from his previous arcs but weaker.
Most anime/manga shows usually fall off after time-skip a little bit or a lot depending on author. I use to get hype for timeskip but seeing what happen to series after it happen. I don't care about it as much. (The only ones that I thought were just as strong after timeskip are Jo Jo Bizarre Adventure and Dragon Ball)

Oda still is very good at world building and for the most part still very good at flashback. (Even thought WCI arc's flashback are so average.)

His arcs are just too long now. (If you didn't like that arc, you could always look forward to the next one but now you have to wait at least 50 to 100 chapters before he started a new one) Did we really need 78 chapters for WCI(This could of been a way shorter arc) or 102 chapters for Dressrosa(This could of been broken up to 2 arcs like how Water7 and Enies Lobby was)?
An arc should be less than 40 chapters but a saga could be over 100 chapters. He has huge pacing issues once it goes beyond 50 chapters for an arc. Having 1 or two small arc before the giant one are good for a series.

[Lord Monkey D.]

Maybe I could make a longer post later but I just say this arc was one of Odas best and easily the best arc of the new world.

The biggest thing holding it from a higher rating would be a few things like the Vinsmokes bar Judge not really being all that interesting, good or whatever and some stuff I could mention later besides the fact out of everyone Chopper got the raw end all things considered I mean he did stuff but not a moment to call his own unlike Nami or Brooke.

But even then I enjoyed alot more:
The fights, Brooke finally having moments all to him self, the Charlottes them selves, Pudding if not the best princess character in the series (I know some one will say something but if Big Mom is the ruler and Queen of Totland that would make Pudding a Princess :P) Sanji and character moments.

[Monkey King]

Underrated Incredibly Fucked Up If You Think About It Moment:

A horrified Judge faced by imminent death, surrounded by his emotionless laughing also doomed sons who are literally incapable of processing the situation.
"Why are you laughing???"

[Sugeeking]

I think the only serious complaint I have about this arc is the rinse and repeat tactics of creating a cliffhanger and solving it in the first few pages of the following chapter. Like the intention here is obvious but it got repetitive and overused in the second half of the arc.

Other than that… yeah, I like this arc. Quite a lot, actually. It was about as visually quirky and imaginative as I could expect from an Oda at the top of his form, there was a constant and surrounding sense of threat (many people where underwhelmed by this though... I guess I could keep my suspension of disbelief intact) both from the plot and narrative factors themselves and in the way Oda built such threats. Particularly, the use of songs was a quite brilliant way to escalate tension and I'm kind of sad that this is over.

On the other hand... that was an interesting amount of characters. Most of them at the very least entertaining to watch, a lot of them actually compelling. Something I liked so much about this arc is that it actually took an active effort to show the villain side in a different way than usual. Like how for instance Oda spent panels on the concerns and doubts of Perospero about Big Mom, instead of simply reducing the character to a threat or a confronting force. The narrative made both the Straw Hats and allies and the enemies feel like they had agency, genuine motivations and development, emotional weight and relevant ties. Maybe I'm overselling this but it was so refreshing to observe the enemies in such a close and introspective way.

So yeah, it was quite cool. Not among my top favorites, but there's more than enough that stands out, and I enjoy its general vibes and got really invested in a lot of its moments. The best long arc of the New World so far to me.

[shadyagent]

I m not done with my reread but I went from Arabasta to whole cake island within 2 weeks but one thing I d like to ask, could it be that Oda's artwork got worse not in the sense of style and ideas but rahter technique? I m reading the HQ release on itunes (1400x2100px) and to me it seems Dress Rosa e.g. was way cleaner and less shakier. Currently at I m the part where every on is captured (vol 83/84)