So, I guess I'm (almost) up to date now. I just need to re-read chapters 390-392, which are the "new" ones, right?

This arc is the wordiest arc ever, I knew that, but around chapter 370 it spirals out of control. Chapters 388 and 389 in particular are literally insane, but the thing is, they're not exceptions to the rule, just exaggerated versions of what Togashi has been doing for such a big part of the Boat Trip Arc. And this is what I had feared the most: the monologues, both internal or in dialogue form ALL circle around "who is using what ability and to what end". And this is where characters are murdered. They are no longer characters, they become avatars of Togashi's monumental ego. It's him grabbing you by the neck and shouting in your ear "see? see? I'm so smart! in every situation I cover all the scenarios someone might ponder about and I don't just make characters magically come to the right sollution!". Problem with that, as I said, is that characters stop being characters. Second problem. . .is that 90% of the times, Togashi told us beforehand what really happened: who did it, how, and why. So when we go through, literally, 40+ pages of nothing but text of people having their takes on what happened. . .it gets exhausting.

The other thing is, there should be at least a modicum of action. Of movement. Togashi likes action scenes, he's even kind of good at drawing them. The Chimera Ant arc is proof. You can't just leave everything to tell, you have to show. You have the Spiders just talking. you have mafia guys acting all cocky to their faces and the spiders are like "let's partake in some talking, yes". It gets to a point where my senses become numb and I crave something else.

Again, the arc ain't as bad as I thought it'd be, and I wanna see where it goes. . .but will it be told entirely through text? All of it? New chapters seem to have a slight more variety to them and are not entirely relegated to insanely long winded (and, let's face it and be honest, mostly inane and inconsequential) monologues, so maybe I can hope a bit. But I won't lie, the last couple of chapters have been the very definition of rough, and I would never, ever go through them again.

For the record, I'm not saying no character has any personality anymore. Tserriednich is most definitely an intriguing character, he is menacing but he's not a mindless villain, he's a perfectionist, he's chill, but we also know he's sick in the head and that, combined with his super creepy nen beast, translates into a constant feeling of danger around him. He's definitely a highlight right now.

These group of guards being introduced to give further depth to Tserriednich is ok on its own, nothing wrong with that. As I said, my main problem lies in how they circle around issues in a way too similar to dozens of other characters. As someone said, that is the mark of them being competent at their work and their way of covering all bases, but I would welcome some variety that's not just super subtle and language-adjacent.

This bring me to my main issue, which is that it gets tiresome. I like my comic books to have cool shit in them, and Togashi is very much capable of providing that and crafting exciting scenarios. That's why it's kind of a bummer to me, personally, to see him comiting to these long form "let's analyze this situation" dialogue / monologue chapters 90% of the time, which I'm sure add depth and even flavour to the current conflict, but push aside the visual stimulation, the action and the violence happening around the ship (which Togashi keeps talking about but is sadly not yet translated into panel form). I say this cause, believe or not, I think Togashi is actualy a pretty talented artist, which was super evident during the Chimera Ant arc, so not seeing more of that in exchange for the other stuff is a detriment for me.

I'll keep reading it cause it is an interesting scenario with the potential to blow up spectacularly, my main concern is, will it blow up? And I don't mean will it literally blow up as some people are speculating this arc will end, with a bomb going off and killing 95% of the cast, but blow up in a blaze of fights, kills, chaos and nen abilities being used left right and center.

If anyone wants to know where those weird ass lyrics are coming from:

Edit: This "new" forum makes me feel so old. It's too complex for me.

@Daz I re-read PH relatively recently, and I think we can label it the LAST Straw Hat centric arc of the series,at least up until now. Even with Law in there, it's still mostly the Strawhats interacting and doing their thingie. A lot of this SH moments won't be talked about because they are not "huge", but I was surprised, for example, about how much Brook is just in there doing his thing for a sizable chunk of the arc and I was like "Brook is kinda cool, isn't he?". There's a lot of that during the arc, and it's nice (as long as you can tolerate Sanji at his absolute worst). Chopper and Nami are really invested in the drama, too. Even Usopp gets his "don't disrespect my captain, assholes!" moment.

As you say, though, 50 chapters is overkill for what the arc ultimately is. Law stealing the fight from Smoker AND curing the kids with his "magic" instead of letting Chopper shine leaves this huge sour aftertaste. Zoro vs. Monet sucks ass and is Oda doubling down on his own Problematic Road (which seems to have been toned down at least during Wano). Another thing that doesn't sit well with me is that Oda seemed to get a kick out of disrespecting Nico Robin like crazy: she was the only one to contribute NOTHING to the big dragon fight (Usopp got to lend Zoro a trampoline!) and then was caught off guard by Monet and...that was it. Her fight with Black Maria giving her like 2 new forms + Fishman Karate looks like an apology for doing her so dirty during PH and Dressrosa, and I really appreciate that it happened. . .but, seriously, she's supposed to be on the upper echelons of the SH fighters, that respect should've been always there.

The kids are ok, Kinemon got one of the best introductions in the entire series (seriously, they had to collect his body parts one at a time, and when he's finally reassembled he proceeds to cut a giant explosion - how cool is that?), Brownbeard was surprisingly effective as a character no one expected anything from and Caesar is a great villain. Needed more fire side of the island, though.

@Riccardo said in Chapter 1080: The Hero of Legend:

@crlsdc

I keep getting surprised by the collective memory of this community. For those who, like me, had no idea who he is talking about. Elmy is one of the allies of Whitebeard during Marineford;

And she seems to have this unclarified ability. I really never saw it before. Great catch, though I actually don't think it's the same ability.

Fantastic memory right there. It could very well be a case of overlapping powers, like just this chapter we got an island fruit which seems to be an upgraded stone-assimilation fruit.

My question regarding the golem powers is. . .are Prince Grus' posse all golems, or coated in "golem power"? I mean, one of them got their head chopped off, it makes sense for a golem to recover from that, but a guy covered in clay should not be able to. . .

So is this a Charlotte Cracker situation, where he is permanently maintaining a construct, even on his everyday life? Prince Grus has 3 golems around him 24/7?

I liked this chapter, btw, quite a lot! Apparently, Oda stated in 1999 (that's 24 years ago. . .): "In the final saga, I'll focus on not only Straw Hats but also on *events happening in the whole world" (quoted from sandman's twitter account, credit where its due). So, this whole switch around was something he had in mind from the get go, I guess?

Once a week or so I watch movies with a friend of mine, and we have this stupid running joke of "and now this house/castle/Great Wall of China/wathever is gonna turn into a giant Mecha!", which has only become a reality once (Batman Ninja).

Of course, Dandadan is the manga where they suddenly turn a house into a giant Mecha to fight an alien kaiju. Thank you, Dandadan.

Wait, what is this Punk Hazard appreciation doing in here? Wasn't the consensus that it sucks?

(I'm a PH apologist myself).

Also, what Ivotas said - WCI is so much fun precisely because of the adventuring on strange, fairytale-esque lands. In fact, I could've had even more of that and less Germa (even though the Germa brought their own brand of weird with the snail-lego-castle, that was cool).

Man, WCI is good. Talking trees, rivers of juice, King Kong Big Mom, the mirror world, chess piece soldiers, candy stairs, shouting giraffe juice, people stuck in books, talking doors, musical numbers, Big News, tart battleships and tart tanks with sentient, dumb as hell cannonballs that can be fooled into changing trajectories...We were eating so good and yet most didn't appreciate it.

This. This is the ONE thing about Dandadan I could do without. The whole "every single lady falls for the mundane, nerdy looking protagonist", harem manga shtick.

NOW - I'm ready for the author to spin that come next week and I'll gladly shut my mouth, but considering he's already done it twice, I will not be holding my breath.

@andre said in Greg: Teacher of SUPER " OP " course !:

@kouch_lee I actually meant water7/envies lobby, lol.

Oh, so I went into an ID rant for nothing. Well, that is embarrassing...

...Ennies Lobby DOES get shit around here, you're absolutely right. I need to re-read it some day, I know I don't dislike it, but I'm a bigger fan of the Water7 part.

@Daz What can I say, you didn't write any lies in there. WCI's writing IS wonky. To me, though, WCI is an arc I "vibe" with, where I let myself go for a ride, and it is a great ride. Questionable writing choices often lead to genuinely good moments. All the contrivances you just mentioned (even though eggplant guy falling asleep on Sanji's bed is so stupid it ends up being funny) are definitely eyebrow raising, but they lead to Sanji shedding a tear in the rain as he finds Mummified Luffy waiting for him at the spot he said he would wait for him, and then Luffy finding the messed up bento box delicious cause Sanji cooked it, which also just happens to be the "usual" meal Sanji crafts for the crew. All that is heartwarming, it's a nice, warm blanket on a winter's night.

Sanji's threats are nullified too easily, but that leads to Reiju becoming a gasp character of her own, and at that moment Sanji can leave, he knows it, but he makes excuses cause he doesn't wanna leave and let people die because of that choice, even if those people are his shitty family. If we're to buy the whole "Sanji is the kindest human being in the planet bar none!" theme which is on its own already questionable (the guy that wanted nothing to do with the Punk Hazard kids until Nami begged him to protect them is THE kindest in the galaxy?), that moment is necessary to hammer that point home. Even the shittiest family in the planet he cannot let die! Of course, it all goes down smoother thanks to Reiju being one of the ones left to die, and she's retconned into being nice (she clearly put explossive bracelets on him, Oda decided those were fake after the fact. I'm sure of it).

I'm not saying to embrace bad writing if it leads to good stuff (I didn't like Sanji beating Luffy up...but damn if that wasn't nicely drawn), but I'm making that compromise here and there if I feel the payoff is worth it. BTW, I know I'm making this compromise cause this is One Piece. I would be much less lenient with, say, Hunter x Hunter or Naruto or Bleach. Hypocritical, I know.

The Katakuri fight has the problem you mentioned which kind of alligns with Zoro vs. King - this guy has a weakness, gotta find it, it's crucial! But, meanwhile, let me just hit him harder. Oh look, it works.

It's actually more nuanced than that (Zoro notices how King works and addapts to that...WHILE just hitting him harder and harder cause he learnt CoC coating while fighting, and Luffy does notice he has to circumvent Katakuris insane CoO...while developing an insane CoO of his own to counter Katakuris', instead of using distractions and the like), but yeah, it goes into meatheaded territory which. . .has always kind of been Oda's thing? Punch harder until you win?

On the other hand, the visual presentation of the fight is quite possibly the best in the series, and on re-read I even came to appreciate that moment where Luffy runs away, but ends up realizing he has to go back and defeat Katakuri if he wants to be a top dog. Kind of a Goku moment, yes, but I can roll with that.

As for the murder attempt...I got nothing. I can make a headcannon that they go with it because Big Mom is deep down a rotten apple...but so is Bege, who literally shot Pekoms and left him to die not once, but TWICE. We've come to love Bege cause he's possibly the best supernova out there,
but part of the appeal is that he's kind of evil, and the plan is evil, and the SH's know. There's no gray morality here, the SH's are good guys and have always been, so that was kinda weird...

...but it lead to the plan failing spectacularly, which was tons of fun.

Sanji just wanting to cook the most delicious cake ever doesn't need to link into his "I'll never let anyone starve!" motive, it can just be his pride as a cook. And while I know Greg was disappointed in how that went (no multiple BM sons working together to make the cake with their specialities, which is sadly wasted potential), I actually like some of the stuff that went with that, like the Nova Castello running over Oven followed by Sanji keeping a gargantuan sized cake on one leg while doing Geppou with the other. That's a fantastic visual.

And Big Mom eating the cake? That chapter is one of the best in the entire series, even if it ends with a fake cliffhanger. That's the first time I've seen a sequence choreographed to the lyrics of a song in written format. That chapter, the final chapter you just mentioned and the one during the wedding where I think there's barely any dialogue are Oda doing experiments and succeeding marvelously...and then not doing them again for ¿4 years? (Well, Gear 5 is experimental, so there's that).

Pedro IS boring. Nothing else to add here.

Sanji having awakened genes is terrible, but hey, his mom's sacrifice gave him that but not being a sociopath, which tells us that "genetic engineering is good if it gives you super strength, so maybe that Judge fella was onto something, wasn't he?", but it's not all bad cause it also says "but genetic engineering to take people's emotions away from them so they can murder without feeling remorse, that's kinda messed up, Judge!". It's a genuinely bad development. I remember the crazy theories that what Sanji awoke were actually Lunarian genes on his mom's end and as preposterous as that sounds...it would've been 10 times better than what we got. That coupled with the Germas being COOL as you mentioned makes me wonder what goes through Oda's head sometimes.

Like, does he think the reader's favorite moment is when the Vinsmokes save Sanji and Luffy and start kicking Big Mom's kids around, or when they are getting gunned down with anti-Germa bullets a couple chapters afterwards? Cause I know which moment is my favorite...but which one is SUPPOSED to be our favorite? Do we say "take that stupid Vinsmokes" or do we say "oh, no, they have anti-Germa bullets, the Vinsmokes will be hurt!"? This week, should we go "Damn you Gastino, let Katakuri decimate these assholes!" or should we go "thank god Gastino was there to save the Germa!"?

I got no conclusion here, sorry. Just those scattered thoughts.

@pariston_hill That was, precisely, the final destination of my train of thought. I just didn't wanna say it out loud.

Thank you.

If anyone wants to know where those weird ass lyrics are coming from:

Edit: This "new" forum makes me feel so old. It's too complex for me.

For anyone interested, One Piece Film Red is available on Amazon Prime. Also if anyone is interested, at least in my region it had Spanish and, shockingly, Catalan dub options (+ japanese).

And, again, if anyone is interested. . .watching it for the first (and I think last) time, I found it pretty mediocre. Kudos for trying something different with the songs (some of which are actually pretty good + they are quite varied) and they did try to flesh out Uta as the central character and driving force of the movie.

But man, 2 hours of this movie was kinda rough to get through. The animation, designs, direction, "camera" work. . .it's all really cheap. The "big" action beats don't land (plus, not a fan of the whole "big enemy so everyone can do 1 attack in a void-like scenery", which is eerily similar to Stampede), and even with all the care put into Uta, something was missing. Or lacking. I don't know.

The same day I watched Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, and even if flawed (and it IS flawed), it feels like a proper movie? The action is spectacular? There's tons of attention to detail and little character quirks that give it life? There's some genuinely funny moments? Here, I'm struggling to think of a single moment where I went "ok, that was good".

It's not a trully terrible movie, but it's really, really mediocre. Maybe I should just stop trying to enjoy One Piece movies, cause the last 3-4 are absolutely NOT doing it for me.

They could've left it as "Freaks Out", but wathever. It's not a meme movie, btw. It has some outrageous stuff, but it's also serious. At times, even a bit mean spirited. Kind of like a f*cked up Xmen.

Honestly? I recommend it. I liked it, a lot.

@Riccardo said in Chapter 1080: The Hero of Legend:

@crlsdc

I keep getting surprised by the collective memory of this community. For those who, like me, had no idea who he is talking about. Elmy is one of the allies of Whitebeard during Marineford;

And she seems to have this unclarified ability. I really never saw it before. Great catch, though I actually don't think it's the same ability.

Fantastic memory right there. It could very well be a case of overlapping powers, like just this chapter we got an island fruit which seems to be an upgraded stone-assimilation fruit.

My question regarding the golem powers is. . .are Prince Grus' posse all golems, or coated in "golem power"? I mean, one of them got their head chopped off, it makes sense for a golem to recover from that, but a guy covered in clay should not be able to. . .

So is this a Charlotte Cracker situation, where he is permanently maintaining a construct, even on his everyday life? Prince Grus has 3 golems around him 24/7?

I liked this chapter, btw, quite a lot! Apparently, Oda stated in 1999 (that's 24 years ago. . .): "In the final saga, I'll focus on not only Straw Hats but also on *events happening in the whole world" (quoted from sandman's twitter account, credit where its due). So, this whole switch around was something he had in mind from the get go, I guess?

I wanted them to win the first round against these 4 enemies, specially considering there're apparently a shit ton of them coming.
Aira needs a comeback, or at least show something that hits a bit harder before being out of comission.

(That being said, they are doing well)

I'm guessing Krillin did not fight the mecha-bee in the movie, right?

New arc is indeed a retelling of the Super Hero movie. Even though I still haven't watched it, this was all in the trailers. I feel like I should just track the movie at this point...

The devil from movie 2, Giran, General Rildo. C'mon, do it.

I just bought Darkest Dungeon for 2 euros and 14 cents for the ps4. And holy shit, what a game. It stresses the f*ck out of me (as it does all the heroes in my "company") and I'm terrible at it even though I'm playing in Radiant difficulty (easy setting, basically), but it's one of those games where everytime I look at the clock I go "what? I've been playing for 3 hours straight? Impossible!". It's been quite some time since a game felt like this.

BTW, apparently it was well known that this was just going to be a 3 chapter prequel mini-arc.

And next, apparently. . .is indeed the adaptation of the Super Hero movie. I think?