Wano Country Arc by Panel Time

King Cannon

Now that Wano has ended and many people have voiced their pros and cons about the arc, I thought this would be an interesting thing to post here, because it gives an idea about where Oda concentrated his writing and drawing efforts while he developed this particular storyline.

THE TOP 50 CHARACTERS IN ALL OF WANO WITH THE MOST APPEARANCES

Monkey D. Luffy - 1689
Kaido - 989
Roronoa Zoro - 922
Kin'emon - 684
Kozuki Momonosuke - 674
Sanji - 573
O-Kiku - 484
Yamato - 479
Charlotte Linlin (Big Mom) - 471
Kozuki Oden - 458
Nami - 453
Kawamatsu - 431
Queen - 421
Trafalgar D. Water Law - 407
O-Tama - 400
Kozuki Hiyori - 357
Raizo - 353
Nico Robin - 345
Eustass Kid - 340
Kurozumi Orochi - 339
Usopp - 330
Denjiro - 320
Tony Tony Chopper - 319
Shinobu - 306
Franky - 305
Inuarashi - 302
Hyogoro - 285
Nekomamushi - 271
Ashura Doji - 270
King - 268
Kurozumi Kanjuro - 258
Napoleon - 253
Brook - 223
Komachiyo - 190
Jinbe - 188
Basil Hawkins - 187
Killer - 185
Marco - 169
Ulti - 149
Izo - 145
O-Toko - 144
X Drake - 142
Shimotsuki Yasuie - 141
Kozuki Sukiyaki - 131
Black Maria - 119
Thousand Sunny - 118
Sasaki - 118
Scratchmen Apoo - 117
Page One - 116
Zeus - 112
***RUNNER-UPS:***
Onimaru - 107
Who's Who - 105
Carrot - 104
Kozuki Toki - 103
Gol D. Roger - 96
Jack - 95
Prometheus - 82
Gama Pyonnosuke - 82 
Aramaki (Ryokugyu) - 80
O-Tsuru - 79
Fukurokuju - 78
(Eye-Scar CP0 Member) - 76
Speed - 74
Edward Newgate (Whitebeard) - 74
Babanuki - 66

The methodology is all explained in the reddit thread. Credit to Chris_Mic: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/wvkjan/a_comprehensive_breakdown_of_wanos_panels/

Personally, I was surprised about how well Kiku ranked, and that Aramaki managed to get that high despite being in just 3 or so chapters, to the point of surpassing Fukurokuju.

UPDATE:

I also found this quite old list from the now defunct Oro Jackson that includes panel time from chapters 1 to 908. If anyone wants to do the math with how it adds up with the above, be my guest.

Monkey D. Luffy - 15147
Nami - 7302
Sanji - 6636
Usopp - 6552
Roronoa Zoro - 6307
Tony Tony Chopper - 4638
Nico Robin - 3566
Franky - 2966
Brook - 1968
Nefertari Vivi - 1588
Trafalgar Law - 1476
Jinbe - 1084
Donquixote Doflamingo - 1031
Portgas D. Ace - 856
Crocodile - 830
Rob Lucci - 795
Buggy - 772
Charlotte Linlin - 660
Bentham - 656
Caesar Clown - 646
Kin'emon - 625
Kyros - 607
Enel - 600
Kaku - 589
Rebecca - 550
Carrot - 549
Smoker - 529
Arlong - 527
Charlotte Katakuri - 517
Hatchan/Iceburg - 508
Tashigi - 493
Kalifa - 483
Paulie - 468
Sabo - 425
Wiper - 422
Oars - 406
Galdino - 405
Hody Jones - 403
Shirahoshi - 400
Capone Bege - 394
Blueno - 385
Edward Newgate - 384
Charlotte Pudding - 376
Keimi - 373
Spandam - 369
Emporio Ivankov - 360
Pedro - 357
Don Krieg - 354
Gan Fall - 348
Boa Hancock/ Bartolomeo - 347

From here: https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/ae53et/top_50_characters_with_most_manga_panels_time/

Riddler

I think I'm most surprised about Hiyori's ranking, higher than Robin, Kid and Orochi. It didn't feel like she had much of a presence outside of Act 2 and the tail end of the raid.

Daz

Surprised to see O-Kiku so high, I don't feel that amount of panels translated into as much of a memorable presence as say, Yamato.
It still amazes me that all but 3 Strawhats are outdone by a flashback-only character, and that 6 of them are outdone by Kawamatsu and Raizou (oof, poor Brook).

I'd be curious how things would shake out if it was purely panels highlighting the character specifically, i.e. no group shots.

kouch_lee

Well, Kiku was present on act 1 (the whole thing with the Sumo guy and all that), was part of the Oden prison rescue and, during the raid, she had the most back and forth with Kanjuro (twice). Overall, the Udon mine participants got a boost in panel time compared to others, like look at Kawamatsu's panel time even though most consider him to be the least fleshed out of all the scabbards.

Page One being so low even though he was the only Tobi Roppo allowed to make an appearance before Onigashima is rough. . .but even rougher is Who's who's panel time being the lowest of the bunch. Highest bounty, biggest lore dump, implied to be calamity-worthy...and yet, there he is. He deserved better.

King Cannon

Even if he already had the Zou arc as a "spotlight", it's still insane how underutilized Jack was.

King Cannon

Added another panel research that involved characters panels outside the Wano Arc.

It really shows how the original East Blue crew is very far ahead of the rest of the crew, but not that far from each other save for protagonist Luffy. Zoro and Sanji have both crossed the 7000 mark with Wano alone. Usopp is almost there. And Nami is closing on 8000.

At this rate, Luffy will reach 20.000 panels before anyone else reaches 10.000

UPDATE: The full list of characters. Reminder that there might be mistakes due to the sheer load of characters.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190831062125/https://orojackson.com/threads/character-panel-time.32475/

Riddler

Wow, really impressive work from that Wado guy. He sadly doesn't seem to be active on here, though.

black-leg jex

Kiku doesn't surprise me. Of all the scabbards she easily had the second most precence after Kinemon. She's the first one Luffy meets, she's involved in both Chopper and Luffy's story in act 2, she's the one who squares up to Kanjuro (twice) and of course she's in every scene with the other scabbards in act 3. She only dropped off in presence towards the end after Kanjuro is taken out, but her uncocious body is still shown a bunch with Usopp.

Cockycent

Out of all the Scabbards, Kin and Raizo were my favorites. Denjiro had one of my favorite moments. I look at the potential of Raizo and Kiku and see opportunity for growth which would be more based on preference than something that would serve the story.

I don't want to beat down on Momo more than I already have. I love BM and Kaido. I wish Oda would have done a little better earlier to make me a Kaido fan, but I became one anyway, so it's all good. Some of my favorite moments from him come from

his little brother relationship with BM
being an involved and hands off parent
how down to Earth he is - Ulti telling him to get it together and Kaido responding "I know, I know", he was down to drink with Sasaki
his relationship with King wasn't perfect, but the moment King gave him the sword to cut Orochi, I got chills. Reminded me of the moment that hooked me onto OP. Zoro slashing Morgan and saying "no sweat, Captain".

So many characters would have come off better for me just by having more interactions with each other and fleshing out some of those bonds. You can't really do that so much in a war tho...

Part of why suspending most of the war to spend 2 and 3 quarters worth of chapters on Supernova vs BM/Kaido was so egregious. This isn't a final fight. Matter of fact, none of the final fights had begun yet.

King Cannon

@Cockycent Supernovas vs. Emperor was easily the most well-received part of the raid. It was the ONE moment people were legitimately looking forward to since it was the culmination of the plot that started in Punk Hazard with Luffy, Law and Kid trying to make their moves.

If anything, the Samurai took too much screentime because half of them ended up dead or a dying burden to other characters like Usopp, while the rest wandered around aimlessly. Only Inuarashi and Nekomamushi took down relevant fighters and concluded the loose ends of Zou and Whole Cake.

We didn't even get a resolution to Kiku and Izo, and those are the most popular of the samurai.

Cockycent

@King-Cannon Kaido vs the Scabbards was 15 chapters. Not a single one of those chapters completely focus on that fight and suspend the rest of the story.

Roof Piece did and it was not justified. Roof Piece was not a final fight. The most final fights did was take up a chapter or less.

The Supernova changing the pirate world goes back to Sabaody. I just can't rock with the logic that if most people like something, I should just ignore how tacky or wasteful it is to the story.

That whole montage ended up with nobody winning or losing. It actually provided inconsistencies where Zoro has to take this Mink Senzu Bean juice.

I can go down the line of issues

Mink milk
King spending a large amount of time off panel fighting Marco and could have built more for his character
no one won or lost, just previewed their capabilities/tacky fan service for power scalers to debate
Oda has never ignored the rest of the story for a useless fight for that long before
Interrupted the flow of the remainder of the story to point where Oda has to take even longer to set up the fights below. 2.75 chapters devoted to nothing but an intermission fight. A break before the real fights are positioned.

Suffering through that weekly was not easy. Oda is better tan this.

Robby

Yamato was in the top 8 and wasn't even IN the first 2 years of the arc. And would probably be close to Kin and Momo if that was left out.

All that time and development and energy for.... an off-camera course correction complete change of stated goal lack of farewell. Ugh.

Just leave hijm out entirely and we could have been spared two years of ugly gender debates and had another 500 panels for other characters. An average chapter is roughly 80-100 panels so that's 5 or 6 whole chapters worth of content that could have gone to literally anything else.

Cockycent

I don't like either character, but Shinobu having less appearances, but packing more heart than Hiyori is telling. Speaks more to panel or chapter count not really meaning much when characters with less carry more impact.

danie

@Cockycent You picked a funny comparison. I really don't remember any impactful scene with Shinobu outside the Oden boiling. Hiyori on the other hand(among other impactful scenes since her introduction) had the honor of ending the arc with a "beautiful" line that I don't think I'll be forgetting.

Cockycent

@danie Shinobu got to interact with way more characters while Hiyoru was isolated to a few.

Her goofiness with Nami, Momo and Yamato and her serious moments in the flashback. Shinobu served multiple purpose and got to show multiple sides of herself.

Hiyori was mostly female character in need of help or object of beauty for most of her appearances.

Shinobu just got way more and within less appearances which emphasizes that sentiment.

IAmTheMilkman

A couple slight surprises in the Wano panel time, but I'm far more shocked by the panel time from chapter 1 to 908. Vivi at number 10 with 1588!! Wow, she really did earn her status as former (honorary? current but not traveling with?) crew member. I always thought of her as having earned it, but I didn't expect that much panel time. Law on her heels with 1476, but that's not surprising; Law's felt the most like a crew member without actually being a crew member, and that's even with being the captain of his own crew and his rivalry with Luffy and Kid. Jinbe's the only on-the-ship Straw Hat behind those two. Not bad!

danie

@Cockycent Oh don't get me wrong. I definitely liked Shinobu more than I did Hiyori, but I don't feel that she left more of an impact than Hiyori did. I thought that's what you were referring to.