One Piece (stretchy pirate manga by Eiichiro Oda)

[Mister Six]

I'm currently somewhere around issue 200 (just wrapped up the war in Alabasta, with Luffy and gang escaping the Navy with a little surprise help) and am absolutely in love with this series. It's incredible how it finds its tone and range right from the very beginning, and just keeps getting better and more assured - none of the early doors awkwardness that so many comics suffer from.

There are occasional moments when the art throws me - sometimes the panel-to-panel storytelling isn't as clear as I'd like - but this is basically a 10/10 work, and I only worry that it'll spoil all other manga for me, if not all other comics.

[Mister Six]

After a stop-start period of reading, I'm on chapter 386 - somewhere towards the end (although how far is difficult to tell in these decompressed, fight-focused manga series) of the arc that sees the gang on board a runaway train (trying to be vague there).

The Skypiea arc was a definite low point - way too much time spent on side characters with no reason to give a damn about any of them. The Alabasta arc sensibly had us give a toss about Vivi first, so we'd be invested in the civil war; nothing similar done here, so all the time spent on the rebels just felt like an intrusion into my fun time with the Straw Hat crew.

But! Things improved massively after that, with a hilarious little story involving a piratical sports competition followed by this much more successful "epic" arc about Robin and sinister goings-on in an ersatz Venice. Oda is just so good at creating hundreds of absurd characters and then lacing many of them - often the ones you wouldn't expect! - with real pathos, it makes things nicely unpredictable, even if you know it's all going to end more or less happily. Mrs Six says this arc is where One Piece really finds its footing (about 15 years in, by my calculations!) so I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here.

[letsgobrian]

Skypiea is definitely the arc I need to revisit, as it was running in the manga at the time I was getting into the anime, then by the time the anime got to it, I was more focussed on reading the current chapters of the manga.

And it's likely to be extremely relevant to the current arc and the overall finale of the series.

[Mister Six]

Ooh, hopefully I didn't skim over anything important, then. Although I suppose they'll recap anything necessary, given how long ago it was.

Currently reading the ghost island story, which is a hoot. Oda's obviously having a whale of a time trying a more Tim Burtony style for the various ghouls, and the new characters are as hilarious as ever. Looks like the series has settled into alternating between epic stories and comedy arcs, which suits me although I'd be happy with just the comedies, to be honest.

EDIT: Even though the Water 7 arc was thrilling, and the stakes so vast it's hard to imagine where the series can go from here.

[robotam]

I think Skypeia drags a bit in the middle when they introduce the trials and the survival game and everything that just shuffles people around until they are at the right place for the climax.

But it has so much good stuff. I love how much of that arc is just about exploring. The conclusion is one of the most emotional; with the flashback, the bell and Cricket seeing Luffy's shadow. Also it does seem to get more relevant as the story progresses.

Water 7 is great and I like that even though the stakes do get raised more as the story goes on, characters will bring up the events of Eneis Lobby as a big deal when talking about the Strawhats.

[Mister Six]

I'm now at the start of Volume 80, which marks the end of the Dressrosa saga. Yes, it sort of falls into the same formula each time - the heroes land at a place, explore, get split up, caper around, meet some allies with tragic backstories, come together for a climactic showdown with the big baddy that goes on for ages until finally Luffy steps in and finishes things - but the devil is in the details, and all the gags, characters and variations make almost every storyline worthwhile for me.

So far almost every arc has been gold to me, whether it's a little comedy one like the Thriller Bark/ghost story yarn, or absurdly epic like Marineford - which also

Spoiler alert

subverts the formula above pretty spectacularly.

[close]

The latter has been the peak so far for me, although I imagine it was a total drag to read over the course of 20 years or however long it took. Hoovered up feverishly over a couple of days, though, it's unbeatable.

Also, big shout out to the couple of pages that climaxed with this, which I think made me laugh more than any other One Piece panel (it'll mean nothing without context, of course). Buggy's expressions during a couple of bits of the Impel Down arc are in close second and third place.



The only flat note for me was the Fish-Man Island arc, which makes the Skypiea mistake of concentrating too much on a fairly dull villain and too many boring supporting characters. But it was still better than that story, because at least the supporting characters were usually in the vicinity of the Straw Hat crew.

So yeah, I bloody love it. And of course, I'll have to fork out a couple of quid to Viz/Shonen to read it after this month. Ya got me, you bastards!

[madhair60]

ugh maybe I'll go back to it. I dunno. The formulaic stories really rubbed me the wrong way

[Mister Six]

Sanji is a character with lots of peaks and valleys. Whole Cake Island, the (relatively) recent Sanji-focused arc that made Kankurette quit, is actually one of my favourites. The most excited I've been reading One Piece is in that arc when there is a meeting to formulate an extremely dangerous plan and Luffy just starts giggling because he's got a great idea of how he can do his part in a funny way. It's also an arc where Nami gets to shine.

After taking a break for six months or so, I got back into it last month and am a little way past this part. I'm very happy to say that Luffy's idea lived up to the build-up, and that the series is still going great guns. I was a bit worried that it might take a downturn, with Kankurette jumping off here, but no - it's still a joy to read each new chapter. I don't mind Sanji's characterisation either, and while it's been great seeing him in a more serious, romantic role, I won't be too upset by him reverting to his usual ways afterwards.

I wouldn't say that it's been that notable an arc for Nami though. For me, the surprise MVP has been Brook, who's finally justifying his place on the team, not just by coming through where it counts (rather than just being a semi-background comedy character as he often is) but also by being really, really funny. This couple of panels in particular absolutely cracked me up (although of course, context is everything):



I wish they'd do something similar to justify Franky. Him and Brook both feel like they joined a little too late to be part of the iconic crew, and haven't been given enough to do. At least Brook also has some mysterious backstory, probably involving the D. initial that has yet to be explained.

Speaking of explanations, the only time I'm not enjoying myself is whenever we get to the important arc information stuff about poneglif stones and all that extremely boring jazz. I know it's the reason why anyone is doing anything, but it's all so abstract (less so now we know their purpose, admittedly) and boring. I can feel my eyes glazing over and I have to consciously focus and re-read pages to ensure I actually take in the information. Which I then immediately forget.

I feel similarly about those pages that introduce six or seven wacky new characters who'll either never be seen again after twenty chapters or so, or else return years down the line in an important role that will leave me furrowing my brow. This panel is, as the kids say, a mood:

[Kankurette]

Is Nico Robin up to much? She was my favourite Strawhat.

[letsgobrian]

Is Nico Robin up to much? She was my favourite Strawhat.

Spoiler alert

Not much yet in the current arc, but in the last one she defended Sanji's honour from a giant spider woman and found the Ancient Weapon Pluton.

[close]

[Mister Six]

She's offscreen for most of this Whole Cake Island story, along with Usopp and Franky. To be honest I'm not missing them all that much, but I reckon I'll change my tune once they're back.

I feel like Franky's been a bit short-changed, really. Him and Brook both came a little late to the action and were kind of gimmicky one-note characters, but Brook's been given a bunch of opportunities to steal the show in this arc, and I hope Franky will be given the same chance in the future.

Been a while since they've given Nami a really good storyline too, actually, I think. I guess she got to look after the kids in the one with the laboratory.

[letsgobrian]

Franky's obscenely long fight with Senor Pink (lasting over a year) was both his peak in terms of story presence, and also the point at which Oda starts to severely shorten the length of individual fights. Which means anyone who isn't Luffy starts to get less panel time if they aren't the focus of the arc.

This has accelerated in the current Final Saga where nearly every chapter now has a world shaking revelation, and we're constantly leaping around the world to check in on non-Straw Hat characters.

Though despite its success, they still won't let it step away so long that a collected volume won't have at least one chapter with Luffy in it.

[Dayraven]

Franky's obscenely long fight with Senor Pink (lasting over a year)

Guessing it probably felt a bit less stretched in the manga, but Dressrosa in the anime had a real issue with running so many plot threads at once that by the time the cutting between scenes and establishing what was going on was done there was no time for any thread to actually advance.

[Mister Six]

The advantage of coming to this series 25 years late is that you can just rocket through all this stuff. I don't remember the Senor Pink battle lasting that long, but that's probably because I can blitz 10 chapters in one sitting if I'm sufficiently engaged. Surely it wasn't 50 chapters long though?! Or was it intercut with other Dressrosa business?

My only problem with Dressrosa was that I kept losing track of the E-list characters, and it was hard to know which ones I was supposed to care about and which ones were just there to make the fight scenes a bit more exciting. Some bloke died (?) and Luffy got angry, and I had no idea who he was, except maybe he was from the Skypiea arc (aka my second-least-favourite arc)?

[Kankurette]

Being cigs about Luffy, Zoro and Sanji is one reason why I quit. Robin, Usopp and Nami are my favourite Strawhats (I'd say Jinbei but I can't remember if he is one or if it was temporary).

[Dayraven]

Robin, Usopp and Nami

Ah, the "have at least heard of common sense" gang.

Jinbei is a permanent member after being a temporary follower earlier.

[Mister Six]

Yeah, he's been building up to it and looks to have just joined at the bit of Whole Cake Island I'm at now. Jinbei's kind of boring, character-wise, but it's always nice when he pops up and has everyone's back.

I love Luffy, but I understand why people won't if they don't dig his one note.

[robotam]

I wouldn't say that it's been that notable an arc for Nami though.

I really enjoyed all the early stuff where she uses the Vivre Card to be a tyrant.


The current arc seems to be at the point where we get a sad back story, which are always good fun

[Mister Six]

I really enjoyed all the early stuff where she uses the Vivre Card to be a tyrant.

Huh, you know somehow that didn't really register at all. I think there was just too much going on. I liked her pulling that move on Big Mom's daft cloud at the end of the arc though.

I'm reading the Reverie section now, and the shift in pacing is really striking - it's suddenly incredibly densely packed, with a lot of (understandable) recap infodumps. Feels like Oda definitely knows where he's going from here and is getting an entire army of ducks in a row.