|
Renoistic posted:I'll give the manga a shot, but I might as well stick with the anime for a little while longer. I just got to the part where you meet the descendants of the creators for the first time, and they did pretty much every single thing that would piss Luffy off. This could get good... But seriously - the random pirate's collar exploded, then he was shot twice for good measure, and he's STILL not dead? I thought it was bad enough when Kuma didn't manage to kill a single person! The villains in this show are starting to become borderline pathetic. If you are expecting anyone to actually die in One Piece you are watching the wrong show.
|
![]() |
|
![]()
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 21:07 |
|
Plenty of characters die in One Piece if you pretend cover arcs all take place in the afterlife
|
![]() |
|
My favorite non-death in One Piece was the hawk guy who bravely sacrificed himself to save the city by flying away while carrying the bomb. Only to somehow be perfectly fine a few episodes later.
|
![]() |
|
That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. If you don't want any deaths in your comic, then don't do the heroic sacrifice thing over and over! It just waters everything down and destroys any remaining tension by rendering any sacrifice free from any consequences. One of my "favorites" is the heroic sacrifice made by Sodom and Gomorrah. Chopper even goes "he's blind!" at one point, before the creatures finally go down in a hail of cannon fire. A couple of episodes later they're both fine. Or Sanji's sacrifice when he saves Usopp from Enel before being fried himself. He even gets a cool last line! Zoro having to experience all of Luffy's pain and anguish while already beaten to a pulp and actually surviving when surrounded by pools of his own blood bordered on self parody. Maybe it was? I don't know anymore. It's not really badass when he pulls that poo poo every arc. EDIT: For some reason I've never had a problem with Usopp getting ground to paste. Probably because they never imply he actually dies, as far as I can remember. Poor guy just get beat up a lot. My favorite example is when he gets hit by the enormous baseball bat in Alabasta, fractures like every bone in his body, and still stands up and delivers a heartfelt speech, before taking down the enemies together with Chopper. It's one of my favorite scenes in the manga and anime, actually. Renoistic fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Aug 22, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Renoistic posted:If you don't want any deaths in your comic, then don't do the heroic sacrifice thing over and over! It just waters everything down and destroys any remaining tension. While I can certainly see where you're coming from with that line of reasoning I disagree, and I imagine a lot of other people do too given the continued popularity of One Piece and how hype a lot of fans still are for Zoro's antics each arc to continue your final example. It continues to be badass regardless of the actual risk of death for many, perhaps because we recognize going in that it's just being done for the sake of fun and that death isn't actually on the table. Or maybe it works specifically for One Piece because they're still risking the death of a dream even if they're not risking actual death? Death of a dream is given a lot more weight in-universe than death of the body. Personally I think it's just because that kind of thing is inherently cool regardless of whether someone dies or not. Having someone die afterwards, and stay dead, obviously lends something more emotional weight and I don't think it always works (the Alabasta guard guy being the best example of when it doesn't in my opinion), but I find it hits a lot more often with Oda than it doesn't. Also, I was the one who bought ![]()
|
![]() |
|
Just got to ep 398 and I have to admit the whole build-up to the auction house fight worked really well! Decent pacing, some goofy humour, deplorable villains, a PISSED Luffy, and a whole bunch of new characters! And also a really sad not-death. Poor Hachin ![]() EDIT: Law's power is... quite something. Renoistic fucked around with this message at 12:38 on Aug 22, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Renoistic posted:EDIT: Law's power is... quite something. One of my favorite parts of the Sabaody arc was trying to figure out what the hell everyone's powers were. On the subject of deaths, I think it's more about the symbolic sacrifice than the mortal threat. My wife cries at almost all of the "deaths"...I remember she cried when Pell blew up, and was pretty happy when he came back. I think what gets her is the fact that these people are either giving up their dream to let someone else continue theirs, or are willing to die to see their dream through. From that perspective, it doesn't matter if they actually die or not. They've already shown the content of their character, and that's what's moving. I mean, my wife even cried a few episodes back when the random G5 mooks toss Tashigi through the door and get gassed. It's pretty clear she doesn't care about their deaths (or even if they ARE dead) because she didn't cry when Smiley blew up the boat or Shinokuni first started killing people, but rather what they were willing to do that leads to it. (I don't mean to by all MAI WAIFU but she's pretty traditional Japanese and helps me understand some of the cultural perspectives on One Piece.)
|
![]() |
|
I had never really thought about it that way. Along those same lines I would be heartbroken if we never got to see Mr. 2 again.
|
![]() |
|
It's true, it's super moving and relieving to see some of the people come back. But I wish just once in a while, there was some committal to people dying. The Sodom and Gomorrah thing - he should have stayed blind. Pell - he should have died. Or at the very least been somehow injured. At least a leg. That bomb was designed to take out a city. I never expected ![]() The scene with the G5 people dying in it was stupid so I guess I didn't care about them. I was getting sick of their Captain-chans and their complete incompetence. As well as baffled at what Tashigi planned to do by not running as fast as she could. Was cheering for them going to do anything? Really? And that crocodile dude took a gun point blank to the face from super assassins. Then he took an explosion to the face. WHY IS HE STILL CARRYING EVERYONE!? There is no tension. No one can even get injured. Except Zoro missing an eye. I would like to see Mr. 2 again. (S)He didn't die on screen, so it would be forgivable if someone (Maybe Blackbeard) or something saved him/her. Also, related, I am tired of Cesar's ultimate death weapon being useless. What happened to good ole carbon monoxide? Or really anything? Obviously not as fun and interesting, but you've got cyborgs and video chat (during a time when people still travel by boat and compass), I think you can make a better bomb.
|
![]() |
|
Just watched the tenth movie "Strong World" and it was a fun ride! Lots of fun monster designs, short and good fights, nice animation,some drama and lots of humor. My biggest complaints are the obnoxious Nami fanservice (which lets up after half the movie or so) and how "off" Nami's face looks. Everyone else looks fine but Nami's face is almost unrecognizable at some points which was really distracting. Also, even if Nami is the big focus and has a couple of important scenes, it felt like both women in the crew barely do anything in the movie except getting saved by the guys or a giant electric duck. Other than that it was a great One Piece movie and much more enjoyable than I expected - those two hours went by in an instant! The crew look really snazzy in formal wear and should dress like that more often, BTW. EDIT: Just read that the movie was written by Oda himself, which makes sense. The crew really feel "in character" and there are some neat callbacks to the first arc. Renoistic fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Aug 22, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Renoistic posted:both women in the crew barely do anything Man, this is one of my big gripes with One Piece. I want to like Robin SO MUCH, but it feels like the whole series is working against me. The crew really badly needs a full-on intellectual to play off of sometimes, but Robin's really just around to spew exposition, give people a literal hand with their problems, and be the hot librarian when Nami's not jiggling around. She gets some great lines, but hell, so does everyone else. Robin was so interesting when she was Crocodile's partner in Baroque Works, when she first joined the crew and tried to fit in, and when she got her ONE GOOD FIGHT way back on Skypeia. Water 7 turned her into too much of a damsel in distress, and I am sorry but her backstory is so unbelievably tragic it wraps all the way back around to hilarious. Seems like after that, she's just filling in the plot holes with her tits out. I know One Piece isn't exactly progressive with it's portrayal of women (and no, I don't think we should get into it), and it doesn't really help that she is (one of?) the least popular crew member(s), but loving come on. She has a huge amount of room for character growth and her power is insane, fully deserving of a major fight as opposed to forever strangling nameless mooks.
|
![]() |
|
It really would have been great to see Robin get mind-switched with someone in this arc, like with Zoro
|
![]() |
|
Zombie Samurai posted:Man, this is one of my big gripes with One Piece. I want to like Robin SO MUCH, but it feels like the whole series is working against me. The crew really badly needs a full-on intellectual to play off of sometimes, but Robin's really just around to spew exposition, give people a literal hand with their problems, and be the hot librarian when Nami's not jiggling around. She gets some great lines, but hell, so does everyone else. Robin has probably killed more people than the rest of the crew combined. She breaks entire platoons' backs/necks simultaneously all the time and it is just lame by this point. I just watched Z and I liked it overall. Kinda fleshed out some plot after the two year vacation time. It also made Kizaru actually look on par fighting wise to the other former admirals.
|
![]() |
|
Robin has had literally one major solo fight that focused on her abilities to their fullest. And that was in Skypiea. It is also one of my favorite fights of the series. Since then she's not really had a chance to go bananas like she did, and that's a shame. "Killing" grunts doesn't count.
|
![]() |
|
I think one of the best things we got out of film Z were those scenes with Kizaru. Z Calling him out on relying too much on his devil fruit power, and then catching him stone cold after a teleport in the first scene was absolutely beautiful, as was the look on Kizaru's face. You can definitely see a little more lurking behind that lax demeanor
|
![]() |
|
Captain Invictus posted:Robin has had literally one major solo fight that focused on her abilities to their fullest. And that was in Skypiea. It is also one of my favorite fights of the series. Since then she's not really had a chance to go bananas like she did, and that's a shame. Yeah, killing grunts is sweet and all, but Nami was taking out trained Marine soldiers with zero sweat back in Arlong Park, and Luffy can KO an entire army literally by thinking at them hard enough. Plus Robin is an utter bitch to play as in Pirate Warriors. Basically what I'm saying is Sanji and Ace are the best.
|
![]() |
|
Prison Warden posted:Basically what I'm saying is Sanji and Ace are the best. I stopped liking Sanji ever since the start of the training arc, but he's slowly regaining my affection. I actually really like Robin. Most people I talk to seem to yell "WHY?!" when I mention this, so I feel like she's not very popular with most people. And honestly, I think her power is overpowered for what it should do. It seems better suited for a porno (yet surprisingly often under-utilized in this capacity on the internet) than a battle. If they damage any of her flower limbs, doesn't she take damage? Like when she somehow walled off the palace during Alabasta, until someone actually tried stabbing her; didn't it cut her? Those massive limbs she spawns and stomps on thousands of swords with, that's got to really hurt. And how does she control all those limbs? Legs made from thousands of smaller legs, bending the right legs in the right way to bend them like realistic legs seems near impossible. Wouldn't it be better to just make straight columns? And how she control the limbs outside her field of view so well? But other than her power, I do like her. It's nice to see an intelligent, in-control woman in the series. Her and Zoro (and maybe Nami and Sanji) are basically the only ones fit to be on that ship.
|
![]() |
|
Prison Warden posted:Ace are the best. ![]()
|
![]() |
|
Shadow0 posted:But other than her power, I do like her. It's nice to see an intelligent, in-control woman in the series. Her and Zoro (and maybe Nami and Sanji) are basically the only ones fit to be on that ship. I'm trying to figure out why you don't think the others are fit to be on the ship and even just using the criteria you listed (intelligence & self control) even your own list is pretty contradictory and suspect given that neither Zoro, Sanji or even really Nami are models of self control in general but especially not when placed around strong opponents, booze or when tired (Zoro), women or transgender folk (Sanji) or money in Nami's case. Even in general Nami loses her temper over pretty minor things regularly and Zoro and Sanji squabble over stupid poo poo. Zoro is also averagely intelligent at best and has the most hosed up sense of direction ever, Sanji refuses to fight, or even really doubt women regardless of how extreme the circumstances and Nami has a tendency to cowardice when facing what she perceives as strong opponents.
|
![]() |
|
I think the only one I am not sure of as far as crew deserving to be there is Brooks. Only so much ![]() Chopper is probably one of the more useful crew members and is always forgotten it seems.
|
![]() |
|
Your view of Brook implies that someone can only be useful if they're a good fighter, which is just silly. Brook's coolest moment so far has been giving a giant finger to the World Government by revealing that Luffy is still alive and declaring he'll be the next Pirate King at the end of his Shabondy concert before skedaddling while they were unable to stop him due to the fans love of him. He's saved multiple crew members due to his knowledge and skill during Thriller Bark using salt and swordplay, he's shown to be at least as useful as any but the monster trio during a fight in Fishman Island, his soul can exit his body at will and he can play a much bigger support role directly in battle than Sanji (Sanji's support role being his battle recipes in case you're wondering) or possibly even Usopp thanks to his music - there's plenty of cool things about Brook. And I'm not sure how you can complain about him being a coward in most situations but completely overlook that exact same trait in Chopper, Usopp and Nami who have all been doing exactly the same thing with far longer, and do it to a bigger degree because while Brook is scared of ghosts and such for comedic effect he still steps up quicker to fight in every instance that I recall. I don't recall Brook trying to hide inside the Franky Tank during the Fishman Island brawl like Nami, Chopper and Usopp all did for instance, and he contributed more to than Nami or Robin since neither got an individual fight that I remember. tsob fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Crazyeyes posted:I think the only one I am not sure of as far as crew deserving to be there is Brooks. Only so much Yo did you forget about that part where Brook can control people's minds
|
![]() |
|
tsob posted:Your view of Brook implies that someone can only be useful if they're a good fighter, which is just silly. Brook's coolest moment so far has been giving a giant finger to the World Government by revealing that Luffy is still alive and declaring he'll be the next Pirate King at the end of his Shabondy concert before skedaddling while they were unable to stop him due to the fans love of him. He's saved multiple crew members due to his knowledge and skill during Thriller Bark using salt and swordplay, he's shown to be at least as useful as any but the monster trio during a fight in Fishman Island, his soul can exit his body at will and he can play a much bigger support role directly in battle than Sanji (Sanji's support role being his battle recipes in case you're wondering) or possibly even Usopp thanks to his music - there's plenty of cool things about Brook. I didn't say that only fighters are useful. I said that's pretty much all he has and even that is somewhat poor in comparison to the actual muscle if the crew. Nami is a navigator and can predict the weather. This is a fairly valuable skill when in a boat at sea all the time. Chopper is a trained doctor and has saved the crew on countless occasions and has an unequivocally important support role. Ussop is a coward by his nature but i believe his skills of planning and the seemingly unending assortment of pop-greens makes him somewhat useful when he isn't pissing himself with fear. He has won all his fights with intelligence and trickery. That is a good thing. Brooks can become a ghost and that is swell, but hasn't shown to be particularly useful. I will grant you his advanced age makes him something of a font of knowledge, but that is debatably useful as robin has much more current info usually from her time with the revolutionaries. Senor Candle posted:Yo did you forget about that part where Brook can control people's minds The hell you say? You mean when he played the music and everyone hallucinated? Crazyeyes fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Crazyeyes posted:
Crazyeyes posted:
Yeah. Also the part where he played music and put all those people to sleep? I'm kinda joking when I say mind control but he can cause people to hallucinate and forget where they are or what they are doing. Brook also beat one of the roided out fishmen by himself.
|
![]() |
|
Crazyeyes posted:I didn't say that only fighters are useful. I said that's pretty much all he has and even that is somewhat poor in comparison to the actual muscle if the crew. Crazyeyes posted:Brooks can become a ghost and that is swell, but hasn't shown to be particularly useful. He's the ship's musician, which considering their love of parties is a useful skill - just not a compulsory one. He appears to be a stronger fighter than Nami and Usopp at the very least and has several odd-ball skills related to being already dead and a musician. We just haven't seen much from them yet because basically none of the crew have gotten a chance to show off their powers post time-skip and the only combat the crew was in between Thriller Bark and the time-skip involved them losing dramatically in order for the time-skip to be justified. Really I'd say he's made more of a showing in combat already than either Chopper or Robin personally, and considering how tenuous Robin's role as "archeologist/info-dump" is, I'd say he's shown more vital skills than her too. Her skills may tie in to the void century and poneglphys, but they've yet to be really important so her skills have yet to be really important. I don't mean to imply that I have a problem with either of them being on the crew by the way, I love every member of the Strawhats personally, just that Chopper's role as a doctor is only important in curing Nami in his own arc and hasn't really played a major part since, nor has he gotten any hugely impressive fights (not counting Monster Point, since he wasn't in control) and Robin suffers from "woman in shonen" syndrome even harder than Nami. Chopper's role as a doctor, Nami's as navigator etc. sound impressive and compulsory, but only really play extremely minor roles in the actual story. You can say it's unequivocally important but Luffy (and thus, to a large degree, the story itself) would argue and has argued that a ship's musician is the most important role. Chopper may have patched up the crew after a big fight on multiple occasions, but by the same token Brook directly saved their lives multiple times either by his knowledge regarding zombies or his own skill with a sword multiple times in Thriller Bark alone. He didn't do anything majorly impressive in any of the later arcs, but then, really, who did? tsob fucked around with this message at 20:46 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
I can't believe someone would think the second most important crew position was of little use. Luffy was looking for a musician even before a cook. Edit: Let's not forget the obligatory rose from the dead, draws a crowd, and walks on water points. Gyges fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
I've always liked Robin. She's a pretty dark side that the rest of the crew doesn't, after all her years doing whatever she could to survive. She's quiet, stays in the background most of the time, and is the most intelligent of the group - but she's also a killer. It's been a while but I'm pretty sure the big guy from Skypiea and Spandam hasn't shown up after Robin broke their necks/spines (something the rest of the crew didn't see her do). Her ability is by far the most frightening among the crew if you ask me and it's a little irksome that she has been relegated to fighting nameless mooks, listening in with an extra ear, or saving people from falling since the W7 arc. I guess she's in dire need of an upgrade (that doesn't involve flying...). She's also involved with one of the more interesting plot points (the missing days in history) but the author doesn't seem willing to go there. When the crew finally meet someone who knows something he's all "Do you REALLY want to know?" and Robin says no because apparently it would be cheating to have someone just tell her the secret that was important enough to kill everyone on her island for ![]() EDIT: VVV Of course. How silly of me to think a broken spine would kill him ![]() EDIT2: Then again, broken necks and spines are never a big deal in anime. I remember one scene in Trigun where major pacifist Vash almost absent-mindedly snaps some guys neck, and the guy is perfectly fine moments later. I think a lot of manga/anime writers confuse neck-snapping with sleeper holds. Renoistic fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
Spandam showed up in a cover arc. He was in a hospital.
|
![]() |
|
Gyges posted:I can't believe someone would think the second most important crew position was of little use. Luffy was looking for a musician even before a cook. You're forgetting "has an afro just like the real black Jesus."
|
![]() |
|
At this point, Robin is basically a key the crew drags along to unlock Poneglyph plot points and whatever the hell is on Raftel.
|
![]() |
|
Renoistic posted:She's also involved with one of the more interesting plot points (the missing days in history) I wish they would elaborate on some of the backstory more, the fruits, ancient weapons, the D. name, Luffy's dad and a hell of a lot more are really interesting but we seem to only get small bits here and there that only make things more mysterious. On another note, is this a good power/strength ranking list: 1. Luffy 2. Zoro 3. Sanji 4. Franky 5. Robin 6. Brook 7. Chopper 8. Usopp 9. Nami
|
![]() |
|
Renoistic posted:She's also involved with one of the more interesting plot points (the missing days in history) but the author doesn't seem willing to go there. When the crew finally meet someone who knows something he's all "Do you REALLY want to know?" and Robin says no because apparently it would be cheating to have someone just tell her the secret that was important enough to kill everyone on her island for To be fair, Rayleigh did preface his offer with a little speech about context and the possibility that she'd reach a different conclusion than they did. It was more than enough of a handwave to believably have her turn down the information in my opinion. ArcaneTree posted:On another note, is this a good power/strength ranking list: I'd argue that you need two different lists. One for power and one for strength. For example, power wise Chopper and Robin are at least just slightly under the Monster Trio. At the same time strength wise Robin's down by Nami and Chopper is either at the bottom or beneath Franky depending on which point he's rocking. Gyges fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Aug 23, 2013 |
![]() |
|
ArcaneTree posted:On another note, is this a good power/strength ranking list: This would be my list as well, but it feels more like an assumption because there hasn't really been serious threat to pair people off against and confirm. Everyone has big room-clearing attacks now, and the fights on Fishman Island were just showcases for their new powers. I don't really remember the Thriller Bark fights besides the samurai and Perona/Usopp, either. That means there hasn't been a solid set of individual battles since...Enies Lobby? Jesus. EDIT: Since people are always talking about the monster trio, I tend to think of the rankings as sets of three. Luffy/Zoro/Sanji are always going to take on the big guys. Franky/Robin/Brook can split the other major threats in close fights. And Chopper/Usopp/Nami get reserved for the surprising underdog victories where they have to dig down deep for their FIGHTING SPIRIT. So, heavyweights/middleweights/underdogs. The order isn't so important beyond that. Too Shy Guy fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Aug 24, 2013 |
![]() |
|
I still enjoy the end of W7 before Enies Lobby, the confrontation between Luffy and Usopp. The guy really underestimates himself and I'd really put him up there with the monster trio. He held his own against Luffy pretty well and Luffy wasn't loving around.
|
![]() |
|
I don't know, while Luffy wasn't loving around Usopp wasn't doing much more than delaying him. Once Luffy got through all his poo poo he went down fast and hard. Usopp is certainly more equipped to deal with him at this stage with the various pop-greens and the possibility of having sea-stone weaponry, but then, Luffy is a lot stronger now-a-days too. I'd still say he'd have more of a chance against Luffy now than in the past, especially if he does find some sea-stone weapons, but I wouldn't say he was a huge threat at the same time. Then again, they're both kind of glass cannons in the fight against each other. Luffy can put Usopp down with one hit, just as soon as he can manage to get through to him but Usopp could potentially put him down with one hit too if he has sea-stone weaponry.
|
![]() |
|
Sekkira posted:I still enjoy the end of W7 before Enies Lobby, the confrontation between Luffy and Usopp. The guy really underestimates himself and I'd really put him up there with the monster trio. He held his own against Luffy pretty well and Luffy wasn't loving around. He could become a major threat if he just started using his dials more. If nothing else, he could use the dials for protection. Heh, he could have a major support role by absorbing attacks with the dials and passing them around to crew members who have the power to use them without breaking their arms. EDIT: And sea stone weapons, sure.
|
![]() |
|
Gyges posted:I'd argue that you need two different lists. One for power and one for strength. For example, power wise Chopper and Robin are at least just slightly under the Monster Trio. At the same time strength wise Robin's down by Nami and Chopper is either at the bottom or beneath Franky depending on which point he's rocking. I guess I should have said overall combat ability, if you factor everything in like intelligence/strength/abilities. Zombie Samurai posted:Since people are always talking about the monster trio, I tend to think of the rankings as sets of three. Luffy/Zoro/Sanji are always going to take on the big guys. Franky/Robin/Brook can split the other major threats in close fights. And Chopper/Usopp/Nami get reserved for the surprising underdog victories where they have to dig down deep for their FIGHTING SPIRIT. So, heavyweights/middleweights/underdogs. The order isn't so important beyond that. I know Usopp, Chopper and Nami refer to themselves as the "Weakling Trio" in the show but were Luffy, Zoro and Sanji ever refereed to as the "Monster Trio" or is that a fan term?
|
![]() |
|
Pretty sure it's a fan term because Nami refers to them as monsters.
|
![]() |
|
I'm almost certain that Usopp/Nami use the term Monster Trio in conversation. Edit: Doing more research on this than is reasonable, the term is used by Nami in chapter 455. ![]() In the Alabasta arc she mentions that the three of them are stronger than a monster after they beat up a giant lizard thingy. Somwhere between the two I'm pretty sure it was "coined". Gyges fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Aug 24, 2013 |
![]() |
|
![]()
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 21:07 |
|
Usopp or Nami have used Monster Trio before. e: should have refreshed before posting ![]()
|
![]() |