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[JonnyDBrit]

Well, since I brought it up, I felt like the Whitebeard Arc was where things particularly began to go overboard, maybe Impel Down just before that. It's a part of a series of Luffy-centric arcs that have a lot of small battles in quick succession, and simultaneously there's not much room to quickly throw in a filler arc (though if one wants to extend this argument back to Water 7/Enies Lobby, that makes sense on the same reasoning). The easiest solution to keep the anime behind the manga then is to stretch and pad it all out to hell, maybe hire out a bunch of other studios or freelancing animators while senior staff focus on overanimating brief bursts to amaze everyone.

God, sometimes it feels like whiplash to watch the anime shift gears.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

While most ppl dipped out after thriller bark, I made it to episode 516 before hating it. 517 onward is so hit or miss(90% miss) it's not even funny

 

[Ray Down]

Break week makes us thirsty ;-;

 

[Lightning_Roller]

I'm gonna stay in here for a bit, I actually miss this place.


*Sits down in giant bean bag.*

 

[Brazil]

Thriller Bark was definitely when things slowed down for the anime, but shit really only took a nosedive after the time skip. I had actually followed the anime primarily up until then, reading the manga as I went by. I endured throughout Punk Hazard and had a hard time with Dressrosa, and finally gave up when the most recent OP started and it was shitty.

 

[Ray Down]

Been trying to get my friend into the manga but with no success, need to get him off the anime before Dressrosa.

He's using the English dub.

 

[Nicolada]

I've managed to get two people to read through One Piece (post-timeskip) and they both marathoned it in like a week. I have never gotten an anime viewer to switch to the manga, they are beyond stubborn.

 

[LotusHD]

I've managed to get two people to read through One Piece (post-timeskip) and they both marathoned it in like a week. I have never gotten an anime viewer to switch to the manga, they are beyond stubborn.

They have to do it on their own like I did.

 

[NSESN]

It took 2 years until my older brother started reading. When I first suggested he made the mistake of watching the anime first so he hated it.

 

[Man God]

Been trying to get my friend into the manga but with no success, need to get him off the anime before Dressrosa.

He's using the English dub.

Dub is in the middle of Fishman Island...it's also a really good dub that has improved some of the parts I don't like when I originally saw the anime such as Marineford.

 

[Ray Down]

They have to do it on their own like I did.

When you gave up?

 

[LotusHD]

When you gave up?

Fishman Island arc, that was the first arc I read. I don't think it was a pacing issue for me just yet though. More like I had finally become so impatient that I just had to know what was going to happen next. Then as we all know, once you starting reading a manga for something, you'll never quit it. (Unless it's that cooking manga SnS )

---

Guys, I finally got my friend to read One Piece. Been trying to convince him for nearly two years now. He's nearly at the emotional climax (I think this is the right phrase) of the Arlong Arc, where Luffy gives Nami his hat before going off to kick Arlong's ass.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I await the day Luffy beats Akainu until he's coughing up teeth. Then proceeds to make him go from snaggletooth to gums in five seconds flat.

Akainu will be redeemed - you are barking at the wrong tree.

 

[Euphony]

Guys, I finally got my friend to read One Piece. Been trying to convince him for nearly two years now. He's nearly at the emotional climax (I think this is the right phrase) of the Arlong Arc, where Luffy gives Nami his hat before going off to kick Arlong's ass.

The whole second half of Arlong Park made me fall in love with the series and caused me to go on long binge watches of the anime. Hopefully it has a similar effect on your friend.

Oddly enough One Piece was one of the last animes I sat down and watched. Ever since switching to reading it at the start of Dressrosa, I haven't watched any other anime even though I have had an interest in some. It's just much more convenient for me to read instead of watch in general.

 

[Ray Down]

In no worlds can Akainu ever be redeemed.

 

[LotusHD]

Akainu will be redeemed - you are barking at the wrong tree.

This isn't Naruto. We have a selfish protagonist who holds grudges, Akainu will get his.

The whole second half of Arlong Park made me fall in love with the series and caused me to go on long binge watches of the anime. Hopefully it has a similar effect on your friend.

Oddly enough One Piece was one of the last animes I sat down and watched. Ever since switching to reading it at the start of Dressrosa, I haven't watched any other anime even though I have had an interest in some. It's just much more convenient for me to read instead of watch in general.

I still watch stuff, but lately, I've been too lazy to actually watch older anime that I know is good. Nowadays I just watch new stuff, hoping that it is actually good.

 

[Ray Down]

Kishimoto would redeem Akainu in a sec.

 

[AgentLampshade]

The anime got bad as soon as I caught up and started weekly viewings. It's unbearably slow.

 

[KidA Seven]

Toei confounds the mind with what they don't bother to animate at this.

Cover pages, nope, try to make some extended story out of Cross Epoch...nope!

I really don't give a shit about crossovers, but no cover page episodes make me sad. I wanted to see the reactions to the new bounties. I'm hoping the stories of these new cover pages with the fleet get animated.

Actually, I have no idea why I said I'm hoping. They're not going to do shit.

 

[cw_sasuke]

This isn't Naruto. We have a selfish protagonist who holds grudges, Akainu will get his.

I didnt say anything about Luffy forgiving Akainu killing Ace.
Waiting for Akainus backstory.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Akainu will be redeemed - you are barking at the wrong tree.

Like hell he'll be redeemed. That monster believes in killing innocent people that are even vaguely related to a criminal. I want that bastard to suffer horribly for his final moments.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Like hell he'll be redeemed. That monster believes in killing innocent people that are even vaguely related to a criminal. I want that bastard to suffer horribly for his final moments.

lol Pirates arent innocent, they are the criminals in this world.
And yeah sometime there is collateral damage if you wanna take out high priority targets - you know greater good yadyada...

 

[B-Dubs]

lol Pirates arent innocent, they are the criminals in this world.
And yeah sometime there is collateral damage if you wanna take out high priority targets - you know greater good yadyada...

And when he killed the innocent Ohara survivors? That guy is not getting redeemed.

 

[Puruzi]

Wow there's actually an Akainu defense force

 

[Veelk]

Akainu is not getting redeemed, because you can't redeem someone from heroism.

The biggest narrative sin that Oda has committed in the entirety of his OP run is that Akainu is not the main character.

Akainu is the hero OP needs.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Wow there's actually an Akainu defense force

To be honest all i meant there is likely more to him and Oda will show it.
Its easy to shit on Akainu but i dont wanna see the Bodycount of other Pirates Luffy and Strawhats worked with over the years...Ceasar, Kid, Bege, WB etc.

At the end of the day Marines vs. Pirate is a war...and they have been plenty of innocents killed on both sides. Im interested to see how Akainu became the Akainu we know.

And when he killed the innocent Ohara survivors? That guy is not getting redeemed.

Nobody is perfect

 

[Ray Down]

And when he killed the innocent Ohara survivors? That guy is not getting redeemed.

Especially when written by Oda.

 

[Veelk]

Especially when written by Oda.

Yeah, but maybe instead Luffy will save his life so Luffy can hold the moral high ground over the genocidal maniac.

That's as good, right?

 

[Majukun]

Wow there's actually an Akainu defense force

in a onepiece forum i used way back, like,around the marineford saga, the mods and the admin were all full marine sympathizers, as in,during the war they were actively cheering on for the marines

had an heated argument once or twice with a mod that insisted that the mugiwara escaped from enies lobby thanks to aokiji..basically saying that enes lobby was a "self inflicted loss" for the merines

another funny moment was when,in the arc of two episodes, said mod said that it was stupid on oda's part to show marines trying to get ace and luffy using normal bullets,since it was basically just fan service and the marines looked bad..and then got amped up when some pirates tried to shoot down akainu with the same results.

 

[Big One]

Akainu isn't getting "redeemed" though I do think it's likely he'll get a really solid backstory similar to Doflamingo. Doflamingo's backstory didn't "redeem" him, it just gave us more insight into his character and that's all I want out of Akainu. Akainu believes in absolute justice and law, and Luffy believes in freedom to do whatever the hell he wants, so of course their ideals will clash as well as the fact that Luffy holds grudges against people that hurt or kill his friends.

As for them actually erasing history, I think the fear from the World Government here is that the True History being revealed to the public can absolutely destroy the foundation of the World Government itself and therefor create a world in chaos. The World Government values it's "peace" it has, even if it comes at a price of being ran by a bunch of selfish pricks like the Celestial Dragons.

 

[Ray Down]

Akainu isn't getting "redeemed" though I do think it's likely he'll get a really solid backstory similar to Doflamingo. Doflamingo's backstory didn't "redeem" him, it just gave us more insight into his character and that's all I want out of Akainu. Akainu believes in absolute justice and law, and Luffy believes in freedom to do whatever the hell he wants, so of course their ideals will clash as well as the fact that Luffy holds grudges against people that hurt or kill his friends.

This will be all he will get.

Redemption is only reversed for Pudding!

 

[Lunar15]

I don't know if characters ever fully get "redeemed". They just show up again and sometimes end up helping Luffy due to mutual interests.

Like Crocodile. Is he redeemed for what he did to Alabasta just because he joined Whitebeard's War to kill whitebeard? Not really. It's not quite like Piccolo in DBZ who goes from being an enemy to literally taking care of Goku's children.

There is a weird moral grayness that does sometimes shock me with One Piece. Sure, it's tropey to have villians show up again as allies, but I think Oda's done a pretty good job of making sense of it in his world. Blackbeard's a good example of this: on Jaya it was shown that he has the same idea of "what it means to be a pirate" as Luffy. But he's going about it in ways that Luffy would never, ever agree with.

Point is, it wouldn't surprise me to see Akainu "aid" Luffy in some weird way. They have a mutual enemy in Blackbeard, and it could be that Akainu intervenes in a fight between the two. Or that could go the other way, Blackbeard could intervene in a fight between Akainu and Luffy, even though he's just as irredeemable.

 

[Big One]

This will be all he will get.

Redemption is only reversed for Pudding!

Joy Boy actually did a pretty interesting theory on Pudding that makes a lot of sense. Basically the gist of it is that Pudding's true goal is parallel to Sanji's goal of protecting Zeff and his friends: She's actually trying to protect Lola's (and now Chiffon's) life from Big Mom and is using her close relationship with Big Mom to erase her memories everytime she finds out Lola's location.

 

[cw_sasuke]

I don't know if characters ever fully get "redeemed". They just show up again and sometimes end up helping Luffy due to mutual interests.

Like Crocodile. Is he redeemed for what he did to Alabasta just because he joined Whitebeard's War to kill whitebeard? Not really. It's not quite like Piccolo in DBZ who goes from being an enemy to literally taking care of Goku's children.

There is a weird moral grayness that does sometimes shock me with One Piece. Sure, it's tropey to have villians show up again as allies, but I think Oda's done a pretty good job of making sense of it in his world. Blackbeard's a good example of this: on Jaya it was shown that he has the same idea of "what it means to be a pirate" as Luffy. But he's going about it in ways that Luffy would never, ever agree with.

Point is, it wouldn't surprise me to see Akainu "aid" Luffy in some weird way. They have a mutual enemy in Blackbeard, and it could be that Akainu intervenes in a fight between the two. Or that could go the other way, Blackbeard could intervene in a fight between Akainu and Luffy, even though he's just as irredeemable.

Thats pretty much what i meant...dude killed Ace obv. he wont be attending Boas and Luffys Wedding - but i think there will be some kind of redemption.

Luffw, WB, Shanks, Big Mom, Blackbeard etc. are all willing to go out to protect what they care about same for Akainu. He will do anything to protect his form of justice.

Akainu hates Pirates like Blackbeard and we also have seen him having issues with the chain of command and how the WG handles things. I expect him to switch sides near the end.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

I don't think that happens unless it turns out Kizaru was the secret most evil marine guy ever.

And even then probably not.

 

[Ray Down]

I don't know if characters ever fully get "redeemed". They just show up again and sometimes end up helping Luffy due to mutual interests.

Like Crocodile. Is he redeemed for what he did to Alabasta just because he joined Whitebeard's War to kill whitebeard? Not really. It's not quite like Piccolo in DBZ who goes from being an enemy to literally taking care of Goku's children.

Croc isn't redeemed, he only worked with Luffy for his own sakes and Luffy just need help. I would say Mister 3 is closer to get redemption.

Joy Boy actually did a pretty interesting theory on Pudding that makes a lot of sense. Basically the gist of it is that Pudding's true goal is parallel to Sanji's goal of protecting Zeff and his friends: She's actually trying to protect Lola's (and now Chiffon's) life from Big Mom and is using her close relationship with Big Mom to erase her memories everytime she finds out Lola's location.

I mean I can see it happening, seeing how Lola has to be connected to Pudding in some form or fashion.

 

[Big One]

I mean I can see it happening, seeing how Lola has to be connected to Pudding in some form or fashion.

Basically it explains her strange flip-floppy behavior and her little flashback she had of Lola several chapters ago. It's obvious she envies Lola and loves her a lot, despite a lot of the other Big Mom crew treating her like a freak and Big Mom herself treating her like a doll, she clearly loves Lola and most likely Chiffon as well (since her and Lola are twins). Big Mom not being able to track Lola down is an even bigger question due to her large information network and the amount of resources she has at her disposal.

Though since Chiffon is w/ Bege this most likely means Pudding ain't going to actually be able to catch her, so it'll be interesting to see if Sanji substitutes Chiffon's role in baking the cake.

 

[Jay RaR]

Wow there's actually an Akainu defense force

People love to hate on [cool] bad guys, just like Blackbeard.

another funny moment was when,in the arc of two episodes, said mod said that it was stupid on oda's part to show marines trying to get ace and luffy using normal bullets,since it was basically just fan service and the marines looked bad..and then got amped up when some pirates tried to shoot down akainu with the same results.

Speaking of that, why aren't Haki bullets or Sea Stone bullets the norm yet? Melee weapons as well. Is technology that far behind or is that stuff too expensive to produce?

 

[Ogodei]

People love to hate on [cool] bad guys, just like Blackbeard.



Speaking of that, why aren't Haki bullets or Sea Stone bullets the norm yet? Melee weapons as well. Is technology that far behind or is that stuff too expensive to produce?

It's a rare, expensive material. Smoker's Kairoseki-tipped staff was as rare in the East Blue as Devil Fruits themselves. It was slightly more common in Paradise, but the only time we've seen it used sort of "en masse" was with the Marine ships used to navigate the Calm Belt: they had to have the base of their hulls coated with Seastone in order to deter the Sea Kings.

 

[Ray Down]

Sanji has to substitute or just be a part of it with Chiffon and Pudding.

Can't make a best cake without him!

Plus maybe that line about Sanji showing a few things to her will come into play:

 

[Majukun]

People love to hate on [cool] bad guys, just like Blackbeard.



Speaking of that, why aren't Haki bullets or Sea Stone bullets the norm yet? Melee weapons as well. Is technology that far behind or is that stuff too expensive to produce?

stuff is really rare and expenive and it's generally used more for handcuffs , jail bars and for the bottom of marine ships to survive the calm belt...giving everyone kairoseki bullets would basically mean buning money and the big guys can probably just coat haki in bullets much like the kuja coat their arrows

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

lol Pirates arent innocent, they are the criminals in this world.
And yeah sometime there is collateral damage if you wanna take out high priority targets - you know greater good yadyada...

I think that what makes Akainu worse than the pirates he targets is that his job is to protect people. It's one thing if outlaws kill innocent people - but it's another if law enforcement officials, who are expected to dedicate their lives to protecting civilians, do the same. And it's even worse in Akainu's case because he didn't kill the people of Ohara for any "greater good", because we know from the scene between the Elder Stars and Clover (plus the whole government plot to get Pluton in the present day) that the government isn't even primarily afraid of the ancient weapons being recreated; they're just afraid of people finding out about whatever happened in the blank century.

So Akainu straight up just murdered a boatload of people who he should have been defending because the Elder Stars are too cowardly to let people research history, and for no other reason. That combined with him attacking his own troops at Marineford is what cements him as the most morally corrupt character in One Piece, really. I'm sure we'll get some kind of explanation as to why he is the way he is but I think he's definitely beyond redemption.

 

[Ogodei]

I think that what makes Akainu worse than the pirates he targets is that his job is to protect people. It's one thing if outlaws kill innocent people - but it's another if law enforcement officials, who are expected to dedicate their lives to protecting civilians, do the same. And it's even worse in Akainu's case because he didn't kill the people of Ohara for any "greater good", because we know from the scene between the Elder Stars and Clover (plus the whole government plot to get Pluton in the present day) that the government isn't even primarily afraid of the ancient weapons being recreated; they're just afraid of people finding out about whatever happened in the blank century.

So Akainu straight up just murdered a boatload of people who he should have been defending because the Elder Stars are too cowardly to let people research history, and for no other reason. That combined with him attacking his own troops at Marineford is what cements him as the most morally corrupt character in One Piece, really. I'm sure we'll get some kind of explanation as to why he is the way he is but I think he's definitely beyond redemption.

He got a bit of complexity after Dressrosa. Before that his position could be summed up as "government is always right" and taking that to a logical extreme (Anything that has a chance of posing a threat to government authority must be disposed of with extreme prejudice), but after Dressrosa we saw that he does have a will of his own: he disagrees with the Gorosei on the Warlord position.

So it's more that he believes that the authority of the government should be preserved at any cost, because a world where the government is respected is a more peaceful world (rather than a world where people get it in their head that standing up to the G-man is okay).

 

[Red Fire]

I think that what makes Akainu worse than the pirates he targets is that his job is to protect people. It's one thing if outlaws kill innocent people - but it's another if law enforcement officials, who are expected to dedicate their lives to protecting civilians, do the same. And it's even worse in Akainu's case because he didn't kill the people of Ohara for any "greater good", because we know from the scene between the Elder Stars and Clover (plus the whole government plot to get Pluton in the present day) that the government isn't even primarily afraid of the ancient weapons being recreated; they're just afraid of people finding out about whatever happened in the blank century.

So Akainu straight up just murdered a boatload of people who he should have been defending because the Elder Stars are too cowardly to let people research history, and for no other reason. That combined with him attacking his own troops at Marineford is what cements him as the most morally corrupt character in One Piece, really. I'm sure we'll get some kind of explanation as to why he is the way he is but I think he's definitely beyond redemption.

Agreed. Fuck Akainu. I hope Sabo kicks his ass to the bottom of the ocean.

 

[Ray Down]

Sabo ain't fighting Akainu alone, maybe a team up with him and Luffy.

 

[Lightning_Roller]

I know pirates are terrible in the world, but Akainu isn't any better. He is a soulless piece of shit and I want to see him die miserable.

 

[Ray Down]

Nah he's going to die in prison like Arlong and the likes of Dofla.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

You don't think Doflamingo is going to get Aizened out of prison later?

 

[Ray Down]

He might, but I don't see him being Croc and still being out there out and about.

 

[unknownstranger]

It's a rare, expensive material. Smoker's Kairoseki-tipped staff was as rare in the East Blue as Devil Fruits themselves. It was slightly more common in Paradise, but the only time we've seen it used sort of "en masse" was with the Marine ships used to navigate the Calm Belt: they had to have the base of their hulls coated with Seastone in order to deter the Sea Kings.

Doflamingo had a huge factory made of Seastone, although he's probably one of the richest people in the world outside of Celestial Dragons.