People comparing Enies Lobby to Wano and saying it's the same thing with tension because there's no deaths don't fucking get it.
Enies Lobby had tension because we fucking cared about Robin and getting her out of that shit show of a life she had. Even if Oda didn't kill anybody, there was still tension that Robin could be taken, she was getting closer to the gate all time, one of the hypest scenes is Usopp sniping the bridge from far away when there was no one free to help her.
Now, it's true that i think Oda believes the audience cares about Tama, Momo, The Scabbards and the citizens of Wano because of the ground work he did over 100 chapters. But i'm gonna be honest, i really don't care about them that much, it doesn't even come close to how much i cared about Robin back there.
It's that simple why i was so much more emotionally invested there and not now.
Hi. Well you should have been more emotionally invested in Enies Lobby, because that was the focus of the whole struggle. It was a crew that was falling about. The struggles were more emotional and designed that way. Wano is more comparable to Alabasta. The heros trying to save a country they like and Luffy gets to fight a strong bad guy.
For tension, you ignored the Straw Hats. Oda may want people to care about the Scabbards, Tama, etc, but they aren't the whole focus. Did you care about Dock 1, The Franky Family, Kokuro, Chimney, and Yokozuna in EL?
Luffy was drowning, Zoro had all of his bones broken, Sanji was trapped by a woman, Nami was begging for her life, Usop was helpless, Chopper used a new power up that accomplished nothing, Jinbe was being pushed back, and The Franky Shogun actually took damage.
The Strawhats have not had an easy time. Robin is still being hunted. Big Mom wants Robin. CP0 are in active pursuit. Compare BM and CP0 to Spandem...
Onigashima could blow up for 2 separate reasons and the WG is waiting on the shore. There is tension.
Maybe the difference is that during Ennies Lobby you weren't overanalyzing every chapter with a community online.
I'm a lurker and never post, but I still think conversation is good. But we can't deny that most of us consume current One Piece differently than we did the pre-TS. That doesn't mean criticism isn't valid, but I feel like people rarely acknowledge the difference in the way they read or watched pre vs post TS.