Yup, some of the problems I figured he'd have.
Also, with it being a long-running shonen, they've talked about any of the shows like that, where friend a says "HEY CHECK OUT THIS COOL SERIES I FOUND WITH A BAJILLION EPISODES" you: "ok i'll give it a watch" you to friend a: "when does this get good" friend a: "YOU JUST GOTTA WAIT UNTIL THE THING HAPPENS AT EPISODE __"
At least Pat and Woolie went through it with Naruto and Bleach, Pat went through it with One Piece (which he admits is good, too bad anime pacing and quality are awful now) and they don't want to keep falling into that trap.