Manga One Piece Manga [Warning: Spoilers]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Tatsubei Yagyu'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][COLOR="Navy"]You hate Caimie's lips? :O

They're like Nojiko's! They're sooo cute! D:[/COLOR][/FONT][/QUOTE]

I actually don't mind them much anymore. It's just that Nojiko obviously wears lipstick. Camie looks like she has a mouth inside her mouth.

As for the current story, People were talking about how Law (one of the new kids) looked a bit like Gin. I doubt it's a very close relationship if there is one.

I personally want to see how Sanji reacts to Jewelry Bonney. A cute girl who gorges herself and undoubtedly wastes food? This should be fun.

[Magus]

So I've been giving One Piece an actual fair chance lately, and turns out that it's not as bad as I usually made it out to be. I've never been much of a fan of pirates (Pirates of the Carribbean being the only exception.)

I've only made it to chapter 14-16, I think. Luffy beating Buggy the clown. As I've said, it's not as bad as I made it out to be, but I'm not exactly seeing what's so great about it either.

Characters, I've chuckled here and there, and the favorite so far is Zoro/Zolo. Luffy is more tolerable than another main character (Naruto) but he's still on the annoying side.

And one thing I don't think I'll ever care for is the artwork. I'll take great artwork with nice character models over quirky-ness any day.

[The Spectacular Professor]

[quote name='Phenom']So I've been giving One Piece an actual fair chance lately, and turns out that it's not as bad as I usually made it out to be. I've never been much of a fan of pirates (Pirates of the Carribbean being the only exception.)

I've only made it to chapter 14-16, I think. Luffy beating Buggy the clown. As I've said, it's not as bad as I made it out to be, but I'm not exactly seeing what's so great about it either.

Characters, I've chuckled here and there, and the favorite so far is Zoro/Zolo. Luffy is more tolerable than another main character (Naruto) but he's still on the annoying side.

And one thing I don't think I'll ever care for is the artwork. I'll take great artwork with nice character models over quirky-ness any day.[/QUOTE]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Glad to see you give it a shot, man. I'm gonna go ahead and suggest you finish the Arlong arc before deciding on a final verdict about whether to drop it or not, but that's just me.

Luffy can be pretty annoying when he wants to be, but overall he's more likeable than Naruto to say the least and in his better moments he can be incredibly awesome.

As for the artwork, it gets much better, but in the meantime you may find you either stop noticing or it kind of grows on you. Later on, the super-deformity kind of evens out and the characters start to look normal.[/FONT]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]I am disappointed there are few One Piece fans here >.>; I loves it.[/COLOR]

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=#35160f][SIZE="1"][FONT="Trebuchet MS"][quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]I am disappointed there are few One Piece fans here >.>; I loves it.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

You're not alone, the last chapters have just been so epic to the point that discussing them would cause one's head to explode.

However, Impel Down looks gorgeous [/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Magus]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]I am disappointed there are few One Piece fans here >.>; I loves it.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]

I can't really say much when I'm so far behind lol. Heck, I'm still sulking about this artwork.

Just got on chapter 24 though.

Edit: Chapters 24-36 were actually pretty good. Comical, probably a bit too comical. I have an issue when anime/manga focuses so much on comedy and little action. But I did like the little snippet between Zolo and Nami. The whole oil on the slope. That was funny.

Luffy's a lot more tolerable now.

I'm not sure if I really care for Usopp (sp?) or not. I know the 3 kiddy's are fairly annoying.

Not sure if I'd actually be willing to watch this on tv though. Seeing some of this stuff on the big screen would probably annoy me.

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503f86]Yeah, I know what you mean ^_^; It's always unfortunate that the chapters seem so short whenyou read through. Whenever I get to the end there's always that "...No! Need more!" moment, heh. Same with the anime, too. The last few episodes have been incredible.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503f86]It does look pretty impressive, does Impel. I'm just amazed at how many characters Oda hasn't forgotten about in his story. [spoiler]Watching the Marines all gather at Mariejois was like slowly opening a can of awesome right in front of my eyes.[/spoiler][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503f86]EDIT: Oops, didn't see Magus' post.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503f86]Yeah, you are way, way, into the early days of the manga there :P I had real reservations about the art style when I first started it too, and I think it really comes into its own during the Arlong arc; each backstory you see gives that extra bit of impetus to be interested in the characterm and I have to admit Usopp is still probably my least favourite crew member. He gets much better when he actually does something, though. He's overshadowed by Luffy and Zoro quite a lot on the Kuro arc.[/COLOR]

[Magus]

I'm up to chapter 69 and I can now say that I am sold. Artwork set aside, some of these characters are really good. Zoro, Sanji, and that hawk man guy (forgot his name that quick). I've even come to like Luffy's wacky attitude.

Nami hasn't done much for me to care much for her, but she is a fairly decent character though. I just might try watching this on the big screen one more time. But then again, I am skeptical about the anime version. I am 1 for 4 when converting from manga to anime. Death Note's 2nd half killed the whole experience for me. Bleach's dull fighting sequence's and crappy animation practically ruined the whole experience, and Naruto's pacing and crappy crappy animation was too much to bare. (Black Lagoon is the only successful manga-to-anime adaption so far.)

How's the fighting in the anime version? None of the characters I've seen so far seems to be overpowered, so I'm not expecting anything Rurouni Kenshin-like, but I'd say I am expecting something similar to like Naruto's fights. Probably not as fast-paced as the fighting, but something much more intense. Bleach's fights lacks both fast pace and intensity. Naruto's fights lacks intensity. (I know, there are some intense moments in Naruto.)

I have seen quite a few flashback chapters. And while I know they are there for character development, I've developed the tendency to try to skip them as much as possible. I'm sick of flashbacks.

I think I can stop reading Naruto now and just stick with Bleach and One Piece. (Probably go back to Black Lagoon since I missed the last 2 episodes.)

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]The anime gets much better as the animation improves. It becomes much more mature, so gradually you don't really notice it. Certainly by the time you're into the 200s it's pretty hard to fault on a quality basis. The only thing that drastically changes is the quality of Chopper and how well the overblown reactions work; sometimes in the anime they're a bit too extreme to be funny. There are one or two duff moments, though, but if you're into it then you don't really notice too much. but then, it depends how fussy you are :P

The fights are generally very smoothly done, and it follows the manga more or less exactly (aside from altering a frame or two in some places to be slightly less brutal, but they're still pretty damn intense). The best thing for me about the anime is the accompanying music, though. It's very high quality in comparison to a lot of other animes and really just helps build up the dramatic atmosphere.

Flashbacks are a given though, unfortunately. When you're into a main arc they don't happen nearly as often as other series, but there's an almost unforgivable sequence of six in a row during one of the highest-emotion arcs in the anime later on, as they were close to the manga releases at the time and needed some filler >.>;[/COLOR]

[Magus]

I'm up to chapter 101, and I found another favorite character. Smoker. [spoiler]A big guy like him, you'd think he'd get pissed off at the little girl for wasting ice cream on him. But he gave her money... awww, lol. [/spoiler]

Hmm.. Even though I like it, I didn't really care much for that whole bit with Arlong. (Does that make any sense? lol) And while I don't mind it because a lot of these fights are pretty good, but this series seems to be plagued by making fights longer than it needs to be.

In any case, I don't know which came out first, this or Bleach, but both series has a knack for throwing comedy out at the right, but awkward moments, or comedy in serious situations. (Manga-wise, that is. Anime seemed to have stolen Bleach's comedic moments.)

edit: [quote name='Solo']The fights are generally very smoothly done, and it follows the manga more or less exactly (aside from altering a frame or two in some places to be slightly less brutal, but they're still pretty damn intense). The best thing for me about the anime is the accompanying music, though. It's very high quality in comparison to a lot of other animes and really just helps build up the dramatic atmosphere.[/quote]
That's good to hear. I'm a sucker for high quality animation. And I suppose I already know the answer since it's shonen, but is the artwork consistent? Normally long running series artwork, or characters tend to look really hideous in one or two episodes, and then they're drawn really well in another two episodes. I can put that aside, sort of. This is so I wouldn't get my hopes up. (A lot of people claimed that _____ series has great animation/artwork... and then the big disappointment.)

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503f86]Smoker! He's up in my favourite character list too, hehe.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503f86]With regard to fight length, they are pretty long in One Piece, and certainly later into the story they only get longer, especially in the anime. You can start to get a bit tired of the way they're structured from time to time, but generally they maintain your interest because the characters are always developing at the same time. It doesn't tend to suffer from the same sort of problems as Naruto does with always winning with a Rasengan or whatever, though.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503f86][quote name='Magus']And I suppose I already know the answer since it's shonen, but is the artwork consistent?[/quote]It does vary from episode to episode, but you can see where they've paid extra to amp up the animation in certain sections. Because it's a relatively simplistic style there's not too much to go wrong, so I don't tend to notice it myself, and normally I'm quite hot on stuff like that. Digimon was particularly awful at times.[/COLOR]

[Magus]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]Flashbacks are a given though, unfortunately. When you're into a main arc they don't happen nearly as often as other series, but there's an almost unforgivable sequence of six in a row during one of the highest-emotion arcs in the anime later on, as they were close to the manga releases at the time and needed some filler >.>;[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
I see what you meant here. OMG 3-4 (maybe 5) chapters of flashbacks. Are you kidding me? While I didn't read them, it was still a chore to click through them. In any case, I'm up to 153. Chopper is decent, but I'm not really fond of him either. [spoiler]Mr. 3's hairstyle is the weirdest I've ever seen in anime history thus far.[/spoiler]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Oh, that wasn't even the one I meant :P The one I was referring to was in the anime much later on, but yeah, they still happen >.>;

Haha, it makes you wonder whether his hairstyle or his rank came first.[/COLOR]

[Magus]

Just got done reading ch. 216. It's become quite addicting now. Perhaps even moreso than when I first start out reading Bleach. While not my favorites Usopp and Chopper are still pretty good characters. Nami has become a favorite.

You know the friendship theme has been done to death, and quite honestly, I'm sick of it, but seeing it here, I don't know, it feels more refreshing than tiring for some reason. Perhaps it's done right, or maybe it's the whole quirk-ish nature of everything.

I don't like Crocodile, but he was some guy. He's not as sly as [spoiler]Aizen[/spoiler], but he's still a sly one nevertheless. Zoro and Luffy keeps on becoming more and more impressive with each fight, although, Luffy's fights are hysterical. But I have to admit, the boy is a fighting genius.

In any case, this just might be even better than Bleach. The only thing that's really wrong here besides the weird character design is the freakishly long flashbacks.

[size=1]I really should start doing my homework.[/size]

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Yeah, Crocodile really impressed me when I got to his section. I love villains [spoiler]that have seem to have a back-up plan for everything[/spoiler]. It's so much better than seeing the cliche of those who put all their eggs in one basket, heh.

I think the thing about the friendship in One Piece is that they do actually look like and do things as friends (especially fight and take the piss out of each other), as opposed to a lot of manga where they just happen to be together and don't share as much of a personal connection.[/COLOR]

[Magus]

I have a question. So far everyone I've seen with some form of devil fruit power has eaten only one fruit. Has there been anyone introduced that have eaten more than one?

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503f86]No. According to Oda in one of his Q and A sessions in the manga volumes, if you eat a second one you'll die. I think o_o;

EDIT: Ah, it's actually mentioned later in the story.
[/COLOR]

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Yeah, it's during a conference with the Big Bads of Water 7/Enies Lobby. I won't mention any names, since that would be some major spoilers, but basically eating two causes the "sea devils" inside to fight for dominance, which kills the host violently.

Or maybe it's a chemical reaction. Oda's never very clear on how plausible his mythology is. There's usually two sides to every phenomenon.[/FONT]

[Magus]

I see. I suppose I'll see it eventually.

In any case, I was plagued with more flashbacks... This one was even longer than the previous set. Waipa is a good character, although I really would've liked to see him and Zoro finish that fight.

Eneru (sp?) was fairly annoying with the constant laughing before his trash talking. I can see that in animated form. [spoiler]So mantra is suppose to give people a Kenshin-like ability, predict the opponents moves...[/spoiler] Interesting.

I suppose I've read enough so far. Favorite character(s)? [strike]Chapters[/strike]Arc(s)? Fight(s)?

From what I've read the main cast is pretty good, but my favorite out the bunch is Zoro. A guy like that should not be showing those type of reactions (which are priceless) the way he do. I also like the way he fights, but then again, I'm always for the swordsman.

Arc, I'll say the Alabasta (sp?), I think that's it. The one where Crocodile was in. I'll tie fights in here as well. All the fights have been good so far, but I the better fights have been in this arc with Zoro and what's his name, [spoiler]the guy's body turns into blades[/spoiler] being my favorite. [spoiler]Zoro going through the process of cutting through everthing..[/spoiler]

Edit: Found my first hated character. I forgot his name that quick, but he use that Namu Namu stuff. While interesting, I didn't really care for that whole Davy Jones game. And even though pirates are suppose to be dishonorable, I just hated their methods of cheating and whatnot.

[Solo Tremaine]

[COLOR=#503F86]Yeah, Zoro is my favourite character too, but to be honest I like the ideals of all of them, save for Usopp who tends to grate after a while [spoiler](but has one of the best fights in the story later on)[/spoiler]. [spoiler]Robin[/spoiler] isn't given much to do, unfortunately. She's really more interesting as a villain than [spoiler]a member of the Straw Hats[/spoiler], but is quite nice to have around as the 'real' straight guy.

As for arcs... definitely once they're into the Grand Line. I think Alabasta was probably the most exciting as I remember, for all that happened and the real sense of urgency that was built up over it. Nothing has *quite* topped it yet, but other arcs are more dramatic in different ways. Generally it's always kept interesting, so I've not had any reason to doubt it so far.

One thing Oda is very good at doing is not forgetting what he's written; everything seems to happen for a reason and looking at the plot as a whole, looking at the characters, their relationships and the main events and how they all link together, it's incredibly well-structured. It'll take till later to see just how much attention he pays to his own story, but it's really refreshing.

Do you mean Foxy, out of interest? Yeah, he's annoying. It's one thing to have a character you're not meant to like, but another to have a character you just don't want to see in the story.[/COLOR]

[Magus]

[quote name='Solo Tremaine'][COLOR=#503F86]Do you mean Foxy, out of interest? Yeah, he's annoying. It's one thing to have a character you're not meant to like, but another to have a character you just don't want to see in the story.[/COLOR][/QUOTE]
Yessir, Foxy, man I can't stand that guy.

[spoiler]Just how much gold did they take? To take 300 mil worth of gold to exchange, and still have gold on the ship...[/spoiler] I suppose this is where I sometimes get tired of Luffy at. His careless, while funny at times can get a little bit tiresome. I'm glad he's confident in his abilities, but to be so upfront about the money and whatnot... Just asking people to come after you. (That type of stupidity is something I don't really like in characters.)

Chapter 332 was interesting. [spoiler]Luffy vs Usopp. Battle for the ship. I suppose I can understand the feelings that was going on here. Seeing how the ship to Usopp (or would it be the crew in general?)[/spoiler] is like a car to a man. I'm the type to get rid of the old and get with the new. Of course if there are some good things worth salvaging then by all means... I was actually a little shocked that Usopp was actually able to keep up for the time that he did.

In any case, I'm up to ch 335 and the [spoiler]carpenters[/spoiler] are really interesting, and it's funny that you mentioned [spoiler]Robin. Ever since she's been missing, it's tying into what, what's his name, Aoikoji (sp?) said, but looks like it's happening in a different manner. [/spoiler]I wonder how long will it take for the crew to realize that? So is this arc mainly about [spoiler]Robin, and well this Frankie[/spoiler] person? Maybe that's asking too much lol.

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Latest chapter:

[spoiler]Holy crap, has Buggy always been this awesome and I just never noticed?[/spoiler][/FONT]

[Ikillion]

[FONT="Trebuchet MS"][COLOR="Black"][SIZE="1"][quote name='Ace'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]
[spoiler]Holy crap, has Buggy always been this awesome and I just never noticed?[/spoiler][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Pretty much, why else would fans want him back so badly? He did do a good rawket panch though.

At this point I will do just about anything to see crocodile again though. Please make it happen Oda, I'll do just about anything. [/SIZE][/COLOR][/FONT]

[Magus]

This keeps on getting more and more interesting. More comparisons before I get into the good stuff.

Another thing that I've noticed that One Piece does fairly well is keep you intrigued. The slow down moments (not counting the flashbacks since I don't read them.) keeps you entertained by the craziness that's going on within the crew, or bringing in new characters, or giving explanations about even more (new) powerful characters. Bleach does this to an extent, but their slow down moments tends to be pretty boring once it gets dragged out for too long. You're left begging for something to jump off. Naruto's snags are even more drastic because things get even more stupid with there focus on ONE character for so long till you get fed up with it. (or come close to it.)

With that being said, I'm now at ch. 499. [spoiler]Getting to the Supernovas (it's Sephiroth's attack... It'd kill me if there was a character like him in this.)[/spoiler] and whatnot. [spoiler]Of all the people from the Arlong crew the octopus comes back.[/spoiler] Oh well. It fits seeing how he is quite the friendly guy lol.

Take it back a bit. [spoiler]Brooke[/spoiler] is an idiot. (Funny type way) I don't know how many of you watch or know of Jeff Dunham, but he ([spoiler]Brooke[/spoiler]) reminds me of the puppet, Achmed the dead terrorist... [size=1](Achmen/man....? "shrugs")[/size] And I can just picture his voice sounding the same way. Having an Arabic accent and everything.

[spoiler]Thriller Bark[/spoiler] was very interesting. I almost died laughing seeing [spoiler]Sanji as a zombie dog-ish penguin type thing.[/spoiler] If word got out that Luffy defeated [spoiler]Gecko Moria, would that make his bounty go up even higher? Being a former shichibukai and whatnot[/spoiler]. I also need an explanation, sort of... [spoiler]Kuma guy took all of the pain and suffering from Luffy and put it in Zoro. It was said that he can die.[/spoiler] I can understand why he didn't die, but what was the point of that?

[spoiler]Nightmare Luffy was interesting.[/spoiler]

I don't know why I'm just now noticing it... Well, I really started noticing it around the end of Water 7 / Enies Lobby, but Luffy is starting to remind me a lot like Goku. [spoiler](With these 2nd and 3rd Gears and stuff.)[/spoiler] And then the stretching before the fights. The huge appetite. Stupidity.... Wonders if there's an inspiration [size=1](man, why don't that sound like it's a word? inspire...)[/size] somewhere.

[The Spectacular Professor]

[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]Yeah, Oda was a huge Dragonball fan as a kid. It tends to show a lot when it comes to main characters.

As for [spoiler]defeating Moria,[/spoiler] The World Government has apparently decided that since no one from outside the two crews and [spoiler]Kuma,[/spoiler] they can hush it up to some extent. [spoiler]so far, Luffy's bounty has stayed the same since then and Moria remains a Shichibukai.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I think the thing with Zoro taking all of Luffy's pain from the previous fight was just Oda's way of showing us how devoted Luffy's crew is. Zoro was willing to die right there rather than continue himself and rob his captain of his dream.[/spoiler][/FONT]