Ah, I finished the arc some 3-4 days ago.
I don't know what to make of it!
It had some really good highs, and some really bad lows.
Some parts were prime One Piece, and others were Naruto Shippuden tier.
Basically, it's the type of arc that is saved solely by it's overall narrative structure. Like most One Piece arcs, Dressrosa is a mini-epic; it contains a wide scope/scale (in this case, the numerous characters of many different factions), and features a very methodical buildup to in order to set up a large and long climax, complete with a fully developed resolution.
So it felt like a great story. But the execution of it wasn't very good.
Too many brain-turn off moments:
- We had Law having batshit insane stamina after dying god knows how many times. It got annoying to be honest, because I had to turn my brain off, which I hate doing, and which I don't normally have to do for One Piece that often.
- I have to assume Doflamingo did not want to kill Law. I mean seriously, how hard is it to kill him? Aim at his head! Or use your fucking devil fruit. If Doffy wasn't trying to kill Law, then I'll redact disavow this statement.
- The birdcage had to have killed people right? It would have been such a tone setter for the new world to get some legit civilian deaths going on in the present. It would greatly increase the emotional weight Oda was going for, without really hurting his no death rule (since those characters aren't named).
Borderline plotholes:
- Mansherry's dandelions didn't touch Dofflamingo?
- We had Doflamingo's devil fruit almost create a plothole in a way (he could have beaten Luffy and Law with mini-birdcages, if it's that powerful). Could have killed Law with it instead of using a fucking bb gun, ROFL
Contrived plotlines
- The arc did a bad job of setting up for Luffy to defeat Doffy; when watching the arc, I feel like it should have been the arc where Luffy defers and lets someone else beat the villain. Unlike other arcs where Luffy saves the day, it didn't feel right in this case. At least, let it be a tag battle royale where Luffy, Law, Kyros, etc. gang up Doflamingo. That would be fitting for the arc, given the colloseum setting.
- The actual panic that people had over the birdcage was cool, but similar to the previous point, I didn't like how Zoro and Kinnemon were doing that when their pushing didn't make a difference (I think). Given how Luffy proclaimed he only needed one more strike on Doffy, I don't see why Zoro and Kinnemon and Robin or whoever else was free couldn't try to attack Doffy.
- It's fine that Fujitora wanted to leave it to the pirates in order to make a point; that's fine. But I feel like he should have at least made it easier somehow. Things got dire. But I won't consider this a major problem. It could be fixed by simply showing the dialogue and thoughts of Fujitora more.
Story Development Issues
***And among other things, the Tontattas and Rebecca/Kyros/Riku weren't as gripping. Even the Rebecca flashback wasn't that great, which was the first time I didn't get invested in a flashback since like, Zoro's flashback in East Blue? Something was off with them. I don't know why. Maybe it's cause Leo was too one note, and we didn't see much of the other Tontattas talk that much? So that naturally made it feel less engaging?
***And Rebecca was also off. Vivi was much better as a character. Maybe it's a screentime thing? Oda's pacing and chapter content in new world has made it so that characters don't have much of an opportunity to show who they are as people; all we see is their loud, flamboyant personalities. I think that's why Rebecca feels so empty. Her dialogue was too "plot-heavy" - basically, we rarely had scenes of her talking or reacting to something that didn't immediately revolve around her wanting to attack Doflamingo. We never saw her personality or behavior or traits like we did with Vivi, or hell, even Shirahoshi.
***I felt that Luffy's fleet was entertaining, and is an example of how Oda is a legit writer (other mangakas would have introduced Luffy's fleet in much more contrived, last minute fashion). But even then, Oda didn't do it perfectly; their screentime wasn't really organized well; the Hakuba scenes with Cavendish could have been shorter, and we didn't really even need an in-depth showcase of the attacks of some of the characters, since, by the time they might appear again, the significance of their skillset would have vanished from our minds.
***Robin. She seems way to passive post-timeskip. There's a fine line between placing more trust in her crewmates, and then flatout just letting things happen to you. Having the old tontatta peek up in her breasts without her reacting, getting turned into a toy, getting saved by Cavendish, not actually fighting anybody on her own like the rest of her crew on the island did, let alone beating someone, etc. Her devil fruit is unique, and I feel like at the very least, she should have played the Sanji type role in this arc. I mean after all, she can sprout eyes, ears, etc. That's pretty useful for stealth… and as the Skypeia fight showed, her powers are also cool in combat. So I find it disappointing.
***Straw Hats and Pacing. Oda's pacing also hurts the Strawhats too. Oda should have spent at least 1 or 2 chapters more of the crew on the ship before they entered Dressrosa, just to establish some more character moments. The whole entire show was already on crack in Punk Hazard, so there really should have been a slowed down pace before heading into Dressrosa for some breathing room. For some reason, I didn't feel the strawhats in this arc. Something was off, even before Sanji left. Maybe it was the lack of breathing room? I guess thats why you need some cool down chapters on the ship. I think making the arc take place on 1 day also hurt it as well. Skypeia, Alabasta, and CP9 all took place throughout multiple days during the body of the story. But pretty much the whole meat of Dressrosa was in one sitting, and for that, I think it hurt Oda's ability to make things work.
The usual "strawhats are here to save the day" hype speech also didn't connect with me in this arc.
I marathoned it (I never read it as it was being published weekly), and that didn't fix it's issues.
HIGHS
- Sabo? I liked Sabo in the arc, everything about it. The legend of Chapter 731.
- I liked the literary qualities of it - Dofflamingo pulling the strings, literally and figuratively, and the other parallels.
- It still had a good beginning-end structure, something One Piece never fails deliver. No anti-climactic or disappointing ending to be found here.
- The designs.
- Bartolomeo. He was great, I love him.
- Usopp had some cool moments.
- The cinematography was nice (Law vs Fujitora vs Doflamingo standing on the pillars was a pretty hype moment, haha)
Overall? 7.0/10. The arc wasn't bad (outside of Law vs Doffy), but it had too much of it that was shallow and underwhelming or even disappointing.
Again, the arc was carried by having a competent plot structure and by hitting the essential points (Doffy was a good villain who wasn't a retread, and brought some literary value to the table, the emotional stakes were sufficient enough, and it had multiple good surprise moments and cliffhangers). As a result, I'd still take multiple Dressrosa Arcs over the average arcs of other shows (Naruto Part 2, post SS Bleach, etc.).
One Piece doesn't really have any truly bad arcs in my opinion (because again, they usually hit the essential points for making a decent story, and they usually do a decent job at avoiding too many asspulls/brain dead moments), but Dressorsa might be one of the weaker One Piece arcs, ranking closer to the bottom for me.