Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Other than that thriller bark shade you the man cloud.
Sanji "The GoAT" vinsmoke
Good ol skypiea
#Carrot4Nakama
#TeamBlackbeard
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One Piece Manga |OT2| Four Emperors, One King, All Blue
- Thread starter Cloud Strife
- Start date
- Status
Sanji "The GoAT" vinsmoke
Good ol skypiea
#Carrot4Nakama
#TeamBlackbeard
SolVanderlyn
Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
Fair enough, it did drag a bit with Luffy's recovery and all. I loved how he had a "crew" of former villains, it was like his own Suicide Squad, lol.
I greatly approve of this list.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
Blackbeard is best villain easy.
Cloud Strife
Member
OH SHIT
I should have put long ring island instead. I take it back :3
Thanks boss. This arc has made me appreciate Sanji a lot more.
Mhmm, cannot wait for his backstory and the reveal of his plan
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Lol that works although you guys are going to hate it when the straw hats vs red hair pirates throwdown in a Davy back
Imperial Bishop
Banned
Sanji's okama story ran during Impel Down, so no wonder Blackleg doesn't like it. 
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Hmm? Okama story what's that?Sanji's okama story ran during Impel Down, so no wonder Blackleg doesn't like it.
Imperial Bishop
Banned
Hmm? Okama story what's that?
How can you forget Sanji's best moment pre-timeskip?
gundamkyoukai
Member
I would think Dragon would know who luffy friends are if he did that .
Also robin was with him for 2 years plus Sabo would be there .
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
What is this? When did this happen. That's duvalHow can you forget Sanji's best moment pre-timeskip?
gundamkyoukai
Member
Forget to do my list
Fav arc - Enies Lobby
Fav saga - Summit War
Fav SH - Luffy
Fav Villain - BB
Fav arc - Enies Lobby
Fav saga - Summit War
Fav SH - Luffy
Fav Villain - BB
AgentLampshade
Member
Crocodile needs more love in here. He was the first guy to straight up win a fight against Luffy.
AgentLampshade
Member
Huh. I always forget about Smoker. Though that fight was interrupted, whereas Croco-boy left him for dead.
Omnistalgic
Member
mostly agreed, but Luffy is really funny sometimes and him and Ussop together is special.
Boa > Carrot too...
MrSaturn99
Member
It was in Viz's translation too. For once, it wasn't Stream, haha.
It's shocking to me personally since Viz never would've let that slide not even ten years ago.
Glad to see so many responded!
Just getting into Water 7 now.
Skypiea was a lot of fun since it was one of the arcs I had next to no idea of the events of. It was nice seeing this whole adventure that wasn't really related to all the World Government stuff as much as I do like that. Really liked the whole flashback with Norland and the payoff with everything. Enel was an interesting opponent too. I love that face Luffy does when someone's abilities have utterly no effect on him.
It's also curious since it's the first time I can recall them actually acting like Pirates with wanting to steal the gold. Given how things seem to be now, I wouldn't expect to see another adventure quite like this but it would still be nice.
I do sort of feel some things go on a little longer than they need to, but this isn't always the case. The stuff with Foxy for instance though it was still a fun enough breather after Skypiea and before we head into Water 7. Akoji certainly leaves quite the impression, though I was aware of what he could do. He also foreshadows how serious things are going to get.
I liked seeing Haki foreshadowed with Mantra, which I assume is the Observation type? The explanation for it also made me realize this was what Zoro did without realizing at the end of his fight with Mr. 1. There's Shanks too of course. I do wonder if he had Haki planned from the start.
Anyway, little over 500 chapters left to go. It's sort of weird to think that Water 7 was actually somewhat early into the story in the grand scheme of things. I only really know some of the Enies Lobby parts of this whole thing so seeing everyone before their cover is blown should be curious.
Just getting into Water 7 now.
Skypiea was a lot of fun since it was one of the arcs I had next to no idea of the events of. It was nice seeing this whole adventure that wasn't really related to all the World Government stuff as much as I do like that. Really liked the whole flashback with Norland and the payoff with everything. Enel was an interesting opponent too. I love that face Luffy does when someone's abilities have utterly no effect on him.
It's also curious since it's the first time I can recall them actually acting like Pirates with wanting to steal the gold. Given how things seem to be now, I wouldn't expect to see another adventure quite like this but it would still be nice.
I do sort of feel some things go on a little longer than they need to, but this isn't always the case. The stuff with Foxy for instance though it was still a fun enough breather after Skypiea and before we head into Water 7. Akoji certainly leaves quite the impression, though I was aware of what he could do. He also foreshadows how serious things are going to get.
I liked seeing Haki foreshadowed with Mantra, which I assume is the Observation type? The explanation for it also made me realize this was what Zoro did without realizing at the end of his fight with Mr. 1. There's Shanks too of course. I do wonder if he had Haki planned from the start.
Anyway, little over 500 chapters left to go. It's sort of weird to think that Water 7 was actually somewhat early into the story in the grand scheme of things. I only really know some of the Enies Lobby parts of this whole thing so seeing everyone before their cover is blown should be curious.
Favorite Saga: Water Seven
Favorite Arc: Alabasta
Favorite Strawhat: Sanji
Favorite non-strawhat: Portgeas D. Ace
Favorite villain: Crocodile
Favorite Quote: "When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease?" No...
There are a lot of other moments in OP that elevate it to greatness but I especially like that quote, though I'm partial to Zoro's at the end of TB.
Favorite Arc: Alabasta
Favorite Strawhat: Sanji
Favorite non-strawhat: Portgeas D. Ace
Favorite villain: Crocodile
Favorite Quote: "When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease?" No...
There are a lot of other moments in OP that elevate it to greatness but I especially like that quote, though I'm partial to Zoro's at the end of TB.
Rumblebones
Banned
Considering One Piece is such a massive story told over sagas, I've broken down my answers with that distinction in mind.
My favourite saga is the Alabasta Saga.
One Piece is overall fantastic, but the Alabasta Saga in particular was such a fun, sprawling adventure that introduced The Grand Line in such a big way and took us to so many amazing places like Reverse Mountain (where it officially started), Whisky Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island, and of course Alabasta. All these places were so different but told amazingly funny and touching stories and introduced many interesting characters I came to love. I love the East Blue saga that preceded this one, but the Alabasta Saga was when things really clicked for me.
My least favourite saga would be the Fisherman Island Saga.
I found this one particularly disappointing because it was the first one post the timeskip and the series has felt different ever since. I don't like how often the Straw Hats split up. It feels disjointed. And after two years waiting for them to reconnect following their split up on Saboady Archipelago, I wanted the crew back together, and I wanted them to stay that way. I didn't want them to split up again and spend large parts of the saga apart. It also didn't help that aside from a few hype moments, like when the SHP revealed their new moves and Luffy used Haoshoku Haki, the fights were pretty boring and the villains weren't very compelling either.
Favourite arc has to the be - undoubtedly - the Thriller Bark arc.
I feel this arc deserves so much more love and recognition than it gets. To me, it remains the single most One Piece-y arc to date. It was hysterically funny at times, it had a lot of laughs as well as a lot of truly touching and heartbreaking moments. Gekko Moriah was a really fun villain with a sympathetic background, motivations and cool abilities. This arc gave us zombies. It gave us BROOK and his badass swordplay, it gave us really cool fights and moments like the SHP vs Oars, Nightmare Luffy vs Oars, - THIS ARC GAVE US NIGHTMARE LUFFY - Zoro vs Ryuuma, Sanji getting mad at Absalom, Usopp trolling the shit of Perona with his fake ass hammers, Kuma showing up to fight the SHP, Sanji and Zoro both stepping up to take on Luffy's pain, and to top it all off it gave us Binks' Sake. There's so much this arc had to give and it remains my favourite for that reason. What I also absolutely adore about this arc is that it is the perfect length. Thriller Bark does not drag. With so many of One Piece's arcs, I feel there's a point where the pacing slows too much for my liking, but Thriller Bark is so perfectly paced and so digestible that I challenged anyone to name an arc in One Piece that is easier to rewatch. I could turn on Thriller Bark now and marathon through it and feel entertained and engaged the whole time. Because it's the best.
Least favourite arc would probably be the Skypiea Arc.
The Sky Island Saga as a whole had a pretty great start with the story of Montblanc Noland, the introduction of Blackbeard, and the way Luffy beat Bellamy. Once they actually got to Skypiea however, I didn't think it was that great. With the exception of Enel, I didn't really care much for the villains or other characters introduced. Not to be misunderstood, it was a good arc and I liked it, I just didn't like it as much as others and feel overall my lack of strong feelings over this earns it the distinction of my least favourite arc.
Favourite character is a tough one. There isn't a single One Piece character I dislike, and if I had to pick one I like the most, it wouldn't be by a huge margin to the runners up, but for now, I'll go with Sanji.
Of all the Straw Hats, I find his fighting style to be the coolest. The fact he is so hilariously cheesy and corny yet thinks so highly of himself often times has me in tears just from laughing. He's probably the funniest SHP after Luffy and Brook. His sense of chivalry and the fact he's passionate about food and cooking for the hungry and just sees fighting as a means to an end also help to make him more interesting to me than most other characters. Also, his dynamic with Zoro is the best and one of my favourite parts about One Piece in general.
My favourite villain is quite easy.
It's Blackbeard. How can there be any other? It's not that One Piece is lacking for great villains; Arlong, Crocodile, Enel, Spandam, Moriah, Caesar Clown and Doflamingo are all good to great villains, but the one topping my list has to be Blackbeard. No villain in One Piece is as charismatic as Blackbeard. They don't have his mystique, they don't have his back story, they don't have his philosophical nature that makes simultaneously agreeable and detestable. And unlike the other villains, Blackbeard shares several similarities with Luffy such as his ambition to come Pirate King and outlook on dreams.
From the moment he was introduced and had that encounter with the Straw Hats during which Luffy was so unusually quiet to now, Blackbeard has only grown more and more interesting as a character, and while there is no doubt of his villainy, the fact it's hard to dislike him is part of what makes him such a good villain, because in many ways, he feels like a Luffy that went down the wrong path.
My favourite saga is the Alabasta Saga.
One Piece is overall fantastic, but the Alabasta Saga in particular was such a fun, sprawling adventure that introduced The Grand Line in such a big way and took us to so many amazing places like Reverse Mountain (where it officially started), Whisky Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island, and of course Alabasta. All these places were so different but told amazingly funny and touching stories and introduced many interesting characters I came to love. I love the East Blue saga that preceded this one, but the Alabasta Saga was when things really clicked for me.
My least favourite saga would be the Fisherman Island Saga.
I found this one particularly disappointing because it was the first one post the timeskip and the series has felt different ever since. I don't like how often the Straw Hats split up. It feels disjointed. And after two years waiting for them to reconnect following their split up on Saboady Archipelago, I wanted the crew back together, and I wanted them to stay that way. I didn't want them to split up again and spend large parts of the saga apart. It also didn't help that aside from a few hype moments, like when the SHP revealed their new moves and Luffy used Haoshoku Haki, the fights were pretty boring and the villains weren't very compelling either.
Favourite arc has to the be - undoubtedly - the Thriller Bark arc.
I feel this arc deserves so much more love and recognition than it gets. To me, it remains the single most One Piece-y arc to date. It was hysterically funny at times, it had a lot of laughs as well as a lot of truly touching and heartbreaking moments. Gekko Moriah was a really fun villain with a sympathetic background, motivations and cool abilities. This arc gave us zombies. It gave us BROOK and his badass swordplay, it gave us really cool fights and moments like the SHP vs Oars, Nightmare Luffy vs Oars, - THIS ARC GAVE US NIGHTMARE LUFFY - Zoro vs Ryuuma, Sanji getting mad at Absalom, Usopp trolling the shit of Perona with his fake ass hammers, Kuma showing up to fight the SHP, Sanji and Zoro both stepping up to take on Luffy's pain, and to top it all off it gave us Binks' Sake. There's so much this arc had to give and it remains my favourite for that reason. What I also absolutely adore about this arc is that it is the perfect length. Thriller Bark does not drag. With so many of One Piece's arcs, I feel there's a point where the pacing slows too much for my liking, but Thriller Bark is so perfectly paced and so digestible that I challenged anyone to name an arc in One Piece that is easier to rewatch. I could turn on Thriller Bark now and marathon through it and feel entertained and engaged the whole time. Because it's the best.
Least favourite arc would probably be the Skypiea Arc.
The Sky Island Saga as a whole had a pretty great start with the story of Montblanc Noland, the introduction of Blackbeard, and the way Luffy beat Bellamy. Once they actually got to Skypiea however, I didn't think it was that great. With the exception of Enel, I didn't really care much for the villains or other characters introduced. Not to be misunderstood, it was a good arc and I liked it, I just didn't like it as much as others and feel overall my lack of strong feelings over this earns it the distinction of my least favourite arc.
Favourite character is a tough one. There isn't a single One Piece character I dislike, and if I had to pick one I like the most, it wouldn't be by a huge margin to the runners up, but for now, I'll go with Sanji.
Of all the Straw Hats, I find his fighting style to be the coolest. The fact he is so hilariously cheesy and corny yet thinks so highly of himself often times has me in tears just from laughing. He's probably the funniest SHP after Luffy and Brook. His sense of chivalry and the fact he's passionate about food and cooking for the hungry and just sees fighting as a means to an end also help to make him more interesting to me than most other characters. Also, his dynamic with Zoro is the best and one of my favourite parts about One Piece in general.
My favourite villain is quite easy.
It's Blackbeard. How can there be any other? It's not that One Piece is lacking for great villains; Arlong, Crocodile, Enel, Spandam, Moriah, Caesar Clown and Doflamingo are all good to great villains, but the one topping my list has to be Blackbeard. No villain in One Piece is as charismatic as Blackbeard. They don't have his mystique, they don't have his back story, they don't have his philosophical nature that makes simultaneously agreeable and detestable. And unlike the other villains, Blackbeard shares several similarities with Luffy such as his ambition to come Pirate King and outlook on dreams.
From the moment he was introduced and had that encounter with the Straw Hats during which Luffy was so unusually quiet to now, Blackbeard has only grown more and more interesting as a character, and while there is no doubt of his villainy, the fact it's hard to dislike him is part of what makes him such a good villain, because in many ways, he feels like a Luffy that went down the wrong path.
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Rumble bones..are you me? Sanji,thriller bark,blackbeard...good shit
After reading that thriller bark writeup..pulls out dvd
After reading that thriller bark writeup..pulls out dvd
Rumblebones
Banned
My man.
I'm rewatching Thriller Bark this weekend. Just talking about it makes me nostalgic. I'm nostalgic for pre-skip One Piece in general but TB was the last time I felt SHP were well and truly together on a fun adventure.
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
This man gets it!!! TB is the most sleeper on arc of the series.
-Everyone got shine
-showed the strawhats teamwork several times(come on 600,000,000 beri jackpot was ace)
-like you said the fights ooo they were so good
-comedy was off the charts
-moriah great villain cool fruit
-ive could go on for days
I'm curious to read Thriller Bark again. I followed it for a while but lost track as it went on for the short time I was following One Piece.
I am a tad concerned about the talk about prior to the time skip. I haven't read much at all of the current stuff aside from the most recent chapters with Sanji. Like I'm completely clueless as to what's going on with Luffy and the others other than that they're trying to get to Sanji.
Also, when does the anime start declining exactly? Looking at earlier episodes a bit I do like the style which seems rather different from the current one. Part of it is that some character designs seem way different like Shanks, though that might just be time from when he gave Luffy the hat. Dude's neck is super thick now compared to before though.
I am a tad concerned about the talk about prior to the time skip. I haven't read much at all of the current stuff aside from the most recent chapters with Sanji. Like I'm completely clueless as to what's going on with Luffy and the others other than that they're trying to get to Sanji.
Also, when does the anime start declining exactly? Looking at earlier episodes a bit I do like the style which seems rather different from the current one. Part of it is that some character designs seem way different like Shanks, though that might just be time from when he gave Luffy the hat. Dude's neck is super thick now compared to before though.
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
I've been on a high with the timeskip since punk hazard so I probably can't help you here.
But as far as the anime. Soon as you hit the timeskip it goes south like really bad.
Omnistalgic
Member
Thriller barc, like fishmen island felt like filler. There was no believable sense of danger until Moria was defeated and Kuma showed up.
Nightmare Luffy was ridiculous, and funny, but there's but so much humor I can take. I couldn't wait for the arc to be over and for OP go get "real" again. Dunno what you guys are talking about, arc was super boring IMO. The "teamwork" ending did not erase a bad arc.
Moria and his stupid power was just unghh...
Nightmare Luffy was ridiculous, and funny, but there's but so much humor I can take. I couldn't wait for the arc to be over and for OP go get "real" again. Dunno what you guys are talking about, arc was super boring IMO. The "teamwork" ending did not erase a bad arc.
Moria and his stupid power was just unghh...
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
Never have you been so wrong Omni I'm disappointed
The entire crew gets curbstomped in the first five episodes of Thriller Bark. Luffy can't even touch Moria and the regular scrub zombies kidnap or defeat almost every member. None of them outside of Usopp can do anything against Perona. The ones without their shadows are forced to stay there possibly forever trying to hunt down their dopplegangers.
Blackleg-sanji1
Banned
They quite literally barely made it. Before the sun rose.
I always felt the animation started declining sometime after Saboady Archipelago and it's especially noticeable when comparing the key frames and lines during the Alabasta Saga to the currently running arc, Zou. The last 'high' I experienced was probably on Saboady, but for consistency TB's Oars fight is just ridiculously good, to the extent I was wondering why use their budget on this and not...something else. There are some splotches of good animation nowadays when you pass by 10-20 episodes, so there's that!
You'll notice after the Time skip the art turns a lot more...I'm actually not sure what to call it, less detailed.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
What did you think of Bellamy, Blackbeard, and Mocktown? This is important.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
I love Thriller Bark beyond the sexual harassment of my girl Nami. Gross.
I love every arc except Fishman Island. Easily the weakest to me.
I love every arc except Fishman Island. Easily the weakest to me.
Favorite Arc: Sabaody. Fantastic pacing. Introduced some of the best characters in the series. Set up and conclusion to the arc was amazing.
Least Favorite Arc: Fishman Island. Would have been better if it was cut in half, it had no business going as long as it did.
Favorite Strawhat that's not Zoro: Luffy. One of the GOAT main characters in shonen
Favorite non-Straw Hat: Can't decide between Bartolomeo and Garp. Loved Bartolomeo. He was one of the best parts in an ok arc. Garp is Garp.
Least favorite: Rebecca. Ugh
Favorite villain: Akainu. Blackbeard is probably the more intriguing villain, but I like my villains to be downright frightening and ruthless. Akainu since his introduction has been one of the most menacing villains I've ever seen in a shonen...and he gets shit DONE.
Least favorite villain: I guess Hody. I get why he turned out the way he did but he was just more boring Arlong.
Least Favorite Arc: Fishman Island. Would have been better if it was cut in half, it had no business going as long as it did.
Favorite Strawhat that's not Zoro: Luffy. One of the GOAT main characters in shonen
Favorite non-Straw Hat: Can't decide between Bartolomeo and Garp. Loved Bartolomeo. He was one of the best parts in an ok arc. Garp is Garp.
Least favorite: Rebecca. Ugh
Favorite villain: Akainu. Blackbeard is probably the more intriguing villain, but I like my villains to be downright frightening and ruthless. Akainu since his introduction has been one of the most menacing villains I've ever seen in a shonen...and he gets shit DONE.
Least favorite villain: I guess Hody. I get why he turned out the way he did but he was just more boring Arlong.
Cloud Strife
Member
Opposite for me, loved Fisher Tiger and Otohime's backstory (one of the series' best in world building).
I'm gonna go through Thriller Bark again...I don't get all the praise it gets but I guess it's been a while
Rumblebones
Banned
Another underrated aspect of Thriller Bark: the anime adaptation looked amazing. The style of animation and in particular use of colours were just perfect. I can't get enough of rewatching my favourite scenes.
You should watch it again. I dunno if you were binge reading/watching to catch up at the time, but you're definitely wrong about there being no sense of danger, and subjective as it may be, I find it really doubtful you can really think of the arc as boring considering it's so short by One Piece standards yet crammed so much awesome stuff in it.
Can't imagine how it could feel like filler or "not real One Piece" either when it introduced Brook, introduced Moriah who would show up again later, foreshadowed Kaido and the connection to Big Mom through Lola, set up Zoro and his new sword Shisui connection to Wano no Kuni and Kine'mon, and introduced Kuma who confirmed Blackbeard as one of the new Shichibukai and whose connection to Dragon is first hinted at. You could argue it was mostly a set up arc, and that'd be accurate, but a lot of what it set up paid off pretty nicely.
You should watch it again. I dunno if you were binge reading/watching to catch up at the time, but you're definitely wrong about there being no sense of danger, and subjective as it may be, I find it really doubtful you can really think of the arc as boring considering it's so short by One Piece standards yet crammed so much awesome stuff in it.
Can't imagine how it could feel like filler or "not real One Piece" either when it introduced Brook, introduced Moriah who would show up again later, foreshadowed Kaido and the connection to Big Mom through Lola, set up Zoro and his new sword Shisui connection to Wano no Kuni and Kine'mon, and introduced Kuma who confirmed Blackbeard as one of the new Shichibukai and whose connection to Dragon is first hinted at. You could argue it was mostly a set up arc, and that'd be accurate, but a lot of what it set up paid off pretty nicely.
Omnistalgic
Member
lol I'll go back and re read it maybe, but I remember some silly salt thing with the sun, and time running out and it was just incredibly non believable to me, like you knew everyone was getting out of there in some heroic fashion, that's the feelings I remember at least. Just felt like a long Halloween episode.
In the sand kingdom arc (arabasta?)Croc was winning majority of the arc, and when Luffy and co. did something good, he countered. Of course you know Luffy will win in the end, but he lost, twice! And it genuinely felt like the crew were oppressed in dire straights.
Never felt any of that in thriller barc, it was just funny.
Omnistalgic
Member
Well aren't you proving my point? If it was all a set up arc nothing actually happened in the arc lol, not until Zoro's amazing moment anyway. and I don't think it's paid off because it wasn't presented in an interesting way to begin with.
Even brook is introduced in a lighthearted manner with joking overtones. He's a musician made of bones, what he immediately even brought to the crew wasn't even apparent outside of comical release. Nami's back story meant something, she was stabbing her arm off! Sanji backstory, Usopp, etc...everyone felt much more "important" for lack of a better term, and I just wasn't feeling brook. The laboon stuff helped, but he just doesn't feel that important or interesting to me, never have. Still seems to be mostly for comedy and I would rather Boa or Carrot be part of the crew personally.
You guys are picking a weird arc to defend, at lot of people didn't like it.
It's sort of funny, but the way they introduce Kaku you'd probably think of him as the first candidate for their shipwright prior to the reveal. It's interesting seeing them prior to that as well.
I feel like I've generally heard good things aside from a number of comments about Fishman Island being pretty weak.
This does seem to be the consensus.
I remember seeing some stuff from Sabaody that was super detailed randomly but it generally looked okay there. It did seem like some of the stuff from Marineford was off. A scene I watched with Shanks had him looking very odd to me, but I wasn't sure if maybe Oda's design had just changed a bit as well.
I really liked that whole section overall. Bellamy was fun in the sense that you knew as soon as he actually took Luffy on he was going to get smashed, which was satisfying as hell to see. I did sort of wonder if he was perhaps like Crocodile seems to be in that he might have had dreams at one point, but got them crushed and turned all cynical with how he seemed to need to bring other people.
What I didn't realize about Blackbeard was that he had been referenced as early as Drum Island. I recalled Ace mentioning him once they met him, but had no recollection of him being mentioned that far back. His interactions with Luffy are certainly interesting and before they reveal who he is you do get the impression that there is something more to him.
That this seemingly goofy sort of guy is actually this dude who has been causing all these problems was a nicely done reveal I felt. Even here you get the impression that he's the kind of guy who is going to come up in a big way later on and I dig that sort of thing. His whole crew feels like a dark reflection of the Strawhats too.
I feel like I've generally heard good things aside from a number of comments about Fishman Island being pretty weak.
This does seem to be the consensus.
I remember seeing some stuff from Sabaody that was super detailed randomly but it generally looked okay there. It did seem like some of the stuff from Marineford was off. A scene I watched with Shanks had him looking very odd to me, but I wasn't sure if maybe Oda's design had just changed a bit as well.
I really liked that whole section overall. Bellamy was fun in the sense that you knew as soon as he actually took Luffy on he was going to get smashed, which was satisfying as hell to see. I did sort of wonder if he was perhaps like Crocodile seems to be in that he might have had dreams at one point, but got them crushed and turned all cynical with how he seemed to need to bring other people.
What I didn't realize about Blackbeard was that he had been referenced as early as Drum Island. I recalled Ace mentioning him once they met him, but had no recollection of him being mentioned that far back. His interactions with Luffy are certainly interesting and before they reveal who he is you do get the impression that there is something more to him.
That this seemingly goofy sort of guy is actually this dude who has been causing all these problems was a nicely done reveal I felt. Even here you get the impression that he's the kind of guy who is going to come up in a big way later on and I dig that sort of thing. His whole crew feels like a dark reflection of the Strawhats too.
Ganzlinger
Member
Favorite Saga: Water Seven/Enies Lobby
Favorite Strawhat (and character): Sanji
Favorite non-strawhat: Boa Hancock
Favorite villain: Crocodile
Least favorite villain: Spandam, Arlong or Hody.
Favorite Quote: "When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? (...) No... people die when they are forgotten!" - Dr. Hiluluk
Second favorite quote: "Pirates are evil? The Marines are righteous? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history! Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right! This very place is neutral ground! Justice will prevail, you say? But of course it will! Whoever wins this war becomes justice!" - Doflamingo
Favorite Strawhat (and character): Sanji
Favorite non-strawhat: Boa Hancock
Favorite villain: Crocodile
Least favorite villain: Spandam, Arlong or Hody.
Favorite Quote: "When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? (...) No... people die when they are forgotten!" - Dr. Hiluluk
Second favorite quote: "Pirates are evil? The Marines are righteous? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history! Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right! This very place is neutral ground! Justice will prevail, you say? But of course it will! Whoever wins this war becomes justice!" - Doflamingo
Omnistalgic
Member
bravo
Rumblebones
Banned
Not at all. The fact Thriller Bark set up so much important stuff means it really can't feel like filler. I just listed a number of developments that happened in that arc. A lot happened considered how short it was.
If you have a problem with too much humour, or the concept of a musician being important to Luffy or pirate crews in general, then I don't think you get One Piece as well as you might think. It's a crazy adventure first and foremost. It deals with some serious themes every now and then, but at its core it's meant to be pure, unadulterated fun and adventure - which is what Thriller Bark is.
The only people I can recall not liking Thriller Bark on the few occasions I've talked about with other fans, were the type of fans that mostly preferred reading One Piece for the fights and hype. I think TB delivers generously on both considering its short length, but apparently it doesn't for some.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
My take on Thriller Bark is that it's a lighthearted arc to set up the GOAT One Piece arc and that's it. Its purpose is similar to Davy Back Fight as far as I'm concerned.
It's more like Skypeia then, sets up a bunch of stuff that becomes super relevant later on.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
What does Thriller Bark set up exactly besides Lola and how does that make any more special than any other One Piece arc. Cobra and Vivi are going to Reverie. Oh gosh, Alabasta is like Skypiea! Super relevant for later! Wiper will be there - good thing Oda thought of this when he did Drum Island! Skypiea!
The only thing relevant about Thriller Bark is Lola and her vivre card. Maybe Perona, but all she did was badger Zoro when he trained with Mihawk. That's all I can think of. By comparison, Skypiea hints at haki, that Roger used Ponyglyphs to get to Raftel, that Sanji is "from" North Blue and more while having a well told story of Noreland's family. Thriller Bark has none of this, much less a well told generational story. It's One Piece at its most simple - get their shadows before dawn.
It's more like Davy Back Fight: a lighthearted arc meant to give the story a dose of comedy before real shit happens. It's a filler arc that just happens to have Lola in it and Kuma decided to drop. I don't even remember much about Lola besides that she had her shadow stolen and gave Nami a vivre card. Lola being relevant during Whole Cake Island doesn't make Thriller Bark relevant. It just makes Lola relevant. As much as I have fun with it, nothing about it makes it above Davy Back Fight tier. Even Davy Back Fight has Robin being frozen by Aokiji. That doesn't make it special.
Opposite for me, loved Fisher Tiger and Otohime's backstory (one of the series' best in world building).
I'm gonna go through Thriller Bark again...I don't get all the praise it gets but I guess it's been a while
My man. I loved the entire backstory there. Oda did a pretty damn good job with racial politics, racial inequality, and overall sociopolitical themes that made that arc fill richer and deeper than your standard shonen arc. All the meh fights, crying helpless princess syndrome, and Sanji nosebleeds were simply filler to me.
Fisher Tiger is one of my favorite characters for how multi-faceted he was. Oda could have made him a Mary Sue special flower type given his hype, but he didn't. It was powerful seeing a good guy like that die with so much regret and pain because even he couldn't overcome his bias. I even liked Hody and his crew for what they represented. They were simply products of their environments and nothing more. There are so many assholes like them in the world today who have nothing done to them personally, but still seek to cause pain and suffering "just because". Sometimes that's all the motivation needed and I'm happy we didn't get some tragic backstory like where he was touched inappropriately as a kid by some human or anything like that.
Cindi Mayweather
Member
Honestly, even if Fishman Island is my least favorite arc, I still loved it. To me personally, arguing what the worst arc in One Piece is like arguing what the worst season of The Wire is. Sure, we'll all have our own opinions with common answers being 2, 4, or 5 but it's still the fucking Wire in the end.
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