@Dranza:
I wish I would jump on my computer to articulate my points better, i usually do it through my phone so sometimes don't feel like elaborating in detail.
But, for the most part I agree with all your points. Big Mom is the final battle/obstacle and Katakuri should serve his purpose in allowing Luffy to take a long hard look at himself (what better place to do that than the mirror world where your reflections can't escape you) and take inspiration from a similar styled combatant who is very well seasoned. He needs to up his game and I think there's unanimity from readers when it comes to that aspect of his growth.
Agreed. And I still think it's cool to have a mirror fight in a mirror world. I didn't even notice that until somebody brought it up in the last chapter thread or two. I only hope that Katakuri eventually shows some unique attacks of his own. Well, he already kind of has with jellybean sniping and weapon conjuring, but I want to see things like that in this battle.
I don't necessarily mind if people dislike a character but to say he's not a memorable character simply because he's not quirky enough (yet) doesn't sit well with me, once he starts getting hurt by Luffy and respects him more his truer colours will come to the forefront and I truly believe that, one thing Oda is good at is making his characters memorable in some shape or form.
Well, Rob Lucci exists to challenge your belief in Oda. I like Lucci's design, Devil Fruit, and fighting style by the way. As well as his pigeon ventriloquist quirk. But once he started talking… Wow, he became bland meathead assassin with a bloodlust. He had an awesome fight against Luffy, but personality-wise, he's almost at the bottom of One Piece antagonists for me.
I don't dislike Katakuri. He is definitely not a bad character that offends me in any way. I'm merely... indifferent. Or bored by him. His actions are cool, but the character himself could be more entertaining. And it's not even that he doesn't have a funny quirk or two (although it would help a little bit). That would not suddenly give him depth or a strikingly unique appearance as a character.
I look at Katakuri and, honestly, he looks like a fanfiction character to me. I know that sounds too rude and exaggerated, but try to think of Katakuri's traits and put them on paper. His attire and design consists of face scars like Heath Ledger's Joker, black leather pants and jacket showing off his buff chest, spiky arm and leg bands, cowboy spurs on his boots, skull tattoos, a scare masking his face, short spiky hair, and a tall stature with ripped muscles. He is the most competent member of his crew that stays level-headed without ever expressing emotion or a unique manner of speaking or acting. His powers consist of hax abilities without much thematic consistency like jellybean sniping, conjuring objects like earplugs and weapons, special Observation Haki that lets him see five seconds into the future, and mochi powers that act as a superior counterpart of the protagonist's powers without seemingly having any flaws or buffers (aside from Crocodile's water weakness that Luffy can't even exploit unless water pours into the Mirror World). Thus making Katakuri a "Dark Luffy", not unlike other overrated fan-favorite villain characters that are dark versions of the protagonist like Venom and Carnage for Spider-Man, Reverse-Flash for Flash, or Shadow and Infinite for Sonic the Hedgehog. And, mind you, I like all of those characters. I don't mean to say they're bad or that any of Katakuri's traits on their own are bad But when put together for little rhyme or reason besides wanting to look "cool" and "badass" on a surface level, they're silly, cliche, and so oversaturated among fandom popularity.
If you told me that an author as fun and creative as Oda was going to make a character like Katakuri even a chapter before he first debuted in Chapter 860, I would probably laugh in your face at how frankly juvenile that kind of character sounds like. But here we are. You can't make a character that sounds so hilariously "edgy" in a cliche way unless you deliberately tried to. And maybe Oda did, which would be... I don't know lol. I just expect more from Oda than this. It's perfectly fine to like Katakuri, but I hope I'm making some kind of understandable point here. This is the same guy who's trying to prop up Blackbeard as this series' most likely final villain in contrast to the likes of Madara in Naruto and Aizen in Bleach. I'm surprised that Katakuri doesn't have cheese powers instead of kochi powers because of how cheesy a character he is to me.
He's definitely not as bland as the Vinsmokes that's too much of an exaggeration because you don't get more bland than that, I'm sorry lol.
To Germa's credit, as bland as they are, I will at least praise them design-wise. Making them mercenaries for hire on an exiled from the sea they originally ruled onto a floating kingdom sailing on top of giant snails where the head family are a group of gadget-reliant genetically empowered super sentai-esque super villains is FREAKING AWESOME. It's the personality that counts the most, I know. And Sanji's second flashback is easily one of or maybe even the worst in the series barring Vivi's and maybe how short Zoro and Usopp's were. But when I saw that Volume 84 cover of the Vinsmokes donning different colors in their attire and hair like the Power Rangers, I had the geekiest grin on my face. Oda did good there and actually put some real fun creativity there.
But yeah, I can get if comparing Katakuri to the Vinsmokes is too harsh. Especially when Reiju and Sanji's mother supposed to be put next to mentors like Hililuk and Tom, and all three brothers having the same "personality" of being uppity apathetic jerks.
I personally can't wait to see how this whole cake thing will be delivered and the troubles Sanji and co face to make it happen, he will get his ultimate moment to shine this arc and his line of "the face of true sweetness" or whatever I think when Big Mom eats that cake and her face fills with delight that's basically what he means.
Yes. No poison or sleeping pills. Only pure unadulterated greatness enveloping her tastebuds. The perfect way to prove the Vinsmokes wrong about normal humans being inefficient and royals being too good to serve others.
I also agree that Luffy and Big Mom HAVE TO settle this with due respect for one another but not to the point where they become friends or some shit, more like when I catch you next time out on sea we shall settle this once and for all so at least then we can resolve her story arc in elbaf or something after Wano is done and dusted. There are still a lot of plot points to go over like Mother Carmel that need addressing and I don't see that happening in this arc for some reason.
They don't need to become friends. I don't really care for that happening either. Big Mom's done too much to get a slap on the wrist like Bon Clay, Robin and Franky. But even if she does not become friends with Luffy, I do expect Big Mom to perhaps change for the better once she learns that Carmel is a fraud, which would crush her dreams similar to the other antagonists Luffy defeats. This family is messed up to the point that some type of payoff is needed in how their issues get solved.
Nothing exists; even if something exists, nothing can be known about it. Even if something can be known about it,
