Character Discussion Why aren’t One Piece villains as iconic and memorable as Naruto/DBZ villains?

[Shiroyru]

Croc has never looked mid till we saw his level surpassed at Marineford

Alabasta Croc looked like a bitch who didn’t know how to take a hit

 

[BoaHancocksHusband]

I think Crocodile looked even better at Marineford. He rocks the Anti-Hero role, is out there scolding everyone and is consistently getting in the admirals ways when no other character can.

He's no longer the boss but he's honestly the coolest character in Marineford for me.

Top 5 Def

I feel bad for Moria

A cool villain dragged down by a horrid arc

 

[Buusatan94]

Resurrection of F was shameless fanservice, but Frieza was really cool in the ToP

I liked Hit because he had a unique fighting style and put the cast in their place after they steamrolled through the rest of Universe 6.

Zamasu was mid.

Jiren really grew on me. He felt boring and Kaido-esque at the beginning, but I liked the direction they went with him and his philosophy about strength and friendship later in the ToP. Even though the show is aimed for 8 year olds, they still made their “meathead” villain into a far more interesting character than Crydo lol.

Moro had a cool design and somewhat interesting abilities, but that’s about it. Moro and Gas just feel like filler meant to delay Goku surpassing Beerus in the manga (he should have surpassed Beerus in the ToP like he was implied to in the manga, but Toyotaro knows Beerus will become another Krillin/Tien/Yamcha the moment Goku surpasses him, so Beerus’s power level keeps on getting retconned)

I actually enjoyed Moro, at least when he had a goat appearance, before the final battle shenanigans.

He wasn't that charismatic but he was truly threatening and serious, and also his main strength was his intelligence and cunning with him constantly outsmarting the Z-Fighters, having backup plans and growing stronger too upon hearing that Goku and Vegeta were training for a rematch against him. He was more similar to King Piccolo than other antagonists, which was a good point to me.

 

[mly90]

This is fucking aura

No One Piece villain has ever matched this page, to this day.

Goated

 

[tomasturbado]

I liked Kaido considering his role in the story was never as big as someone like Teach.

Personally I have never considered Teach as a big villain, just an opportunist. Specially because in OP world there are many villains having entire countries fucked up for years.

How many times did Teach meet luffy, 2? And they never fought or directly attack each other, that's not how villains work.

This is fucking aura

No One Piece villain has ever matched this page, to this day.

Luffy has allways been the chosen one, Oda was pretty explicit since chapter 1

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

Top 5 Def

I feel bad for Moria

A cool villain dragged down by a horrid arc

TB is a top 5 worst arc for me but I'll agree, Moria's been pretty interesting every since Marineford ended.

 

[Shiroyru]

It's funny, I'm the opposite. I liked him a lot more going into it and the more we learned, the worse Jiren became. He was introduced around the same time as Kata and had the same aura as him, which was wild.

Moro was all over the place in a bad way, like Buu. He went from a goat grandpa to a weird Cell/Cooler love child.

It really robbed him of an identity IMO. Goku pulling out a perfect susano'o doesn't help that arc either

I thought it was cool how Jiren’s traumatic backstory led him to the conclusion that friends and family are a liability rather than a source of strength, which greatly juxtaposed with Goku and his friends being his greatest source of strength. Jiren honestly has a better backstory than every OP villain except maybe Doffy

 

[Buusatan94]

This is fucking aura

No One Piece villain has ever matched this page, to this day.

Which is a shame, and one of One Piece's problems that no antagonist has reached the level of threat to Luffy, and aura that Crocodile had in Alabasta.

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

I thought it was cool how Jiren’s traumatic backstory led him to the conclusion that friends and family are a liability rather than a source of strength, which greatly juxtaposed with Goku and his friends being his greatest source of strength. Jiren honestly has a better backstory than every OP villain except maybe Doffy

I'm gonna be honest, all's I remember is three sentences on Jiren's backstory and we don't even know who killed his master and friends or if he avenged them.

 

[Shiroyru]

I actually enjoyed Moro, at least when he had a goat appearance, before the final battle shenanigans.

He wasn't that charismatic but he was truly threatening and serious, and also his main strength was his intelligence and cunning with him constantly outsmarting the Z-Fighters, having backup plans and growing stronger too upon hearing that Goku and Vegeta were training for a rematch against him. He was more similar to King Piccolo than other antagonists, which was a good point to me.

Toyotaro making MUI Goku fodder to Beerus honestly kinda ruined the arc for me. Made it feel like we were taking a step backward rather than a step forward. If he really didn’t want Goku surpassing Beerus yet, make UI Omen the only form Goku could consistently tap into and save mastering MUI for later

 

[ZenZu]

In every way imaginable, I think Crocodile hit the mark as a villain. Crocodile made the Shichibukai what they are, to the fandom.

Enel was great. Rob Lucci was great.

Oda creates elite villains, the issue in terms of reaching icon status is he's not afraid to clown them, and they are basically just waiting for Luffy to clap them like Gauntlet was saying earlier in this thread. Their story is on pause until Luffy runs into them and ends shortly after.

 

[Shiroyru]

I'm gonna be honest, all's I remember is three sentences on Jiren's backstory and we don't even know who killed his master and friends or if he avenged them.

Because it didn’t matter who killed his friends, all that mattered is the effect it had on Jiren. Longer backstory =\= better backstory

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

Enel was great.

He's such a forgotten character, honestly. Enel might be the scariest antagonist in his own arc, reviving himself and that "Fear is God" line are legit better than anything from the Gorosei or Kaido/Linlin.

 

[ZenZu]

Which is a shame, and one of One Piece's problems that no antagonist has reached the level of threat to Luffy, and aura that Crocodile had in Alabasta.

Only Admirals have. Aokiji's introduction, Kizaru on saboady, and Akainu on MF. Luffy was absolutely helpless, but they weren't the traditional arc enemies to be defeated, so I see what you mean.

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

Because it didn’t matter who killed his friends, all that mattered is the effect it had on Jiren. Longer backstory =\= better backstory

A little more context than a netflix movie description isn't asking for a long backstory. I still wouldn't call that a short one lol. Jiren felt like he had a generic motivation slapped onto him

 

[Shiroyru]

He's such a forgotten character, honestly. Enel might be the scariest antagonist in his own arc, reviving himself and that "Fear is God" line are legit better than anything from the Gorosei or Kaido/Linlin.

It’s too bad that this -100000 aura moment is all that people remember of him

 

[Johnny B. Decent]

Lucci should have stayed mute with Hattori speaking for him.

 

[mly90]

Another iconic goat

 

[TheAncientCenturion]

It’s too bad that this -100000 aura moment is all that people remember of him

Ngl, I forgot that existed.

 

[Shiroyru]

A little more context than a netflix movie description isn't asking for a long backstory. I still wouldn't call that a short one lol. Jiren felt like he had a generic motivation slapped onto him

You’re focusing too much on the specifics. The name of his parents’ killer and what he looked like are totally irrelevant. The only way it would be relevant is if Jiren hadn’t yet beaten him, which would be pretty nonsensical because then why not recruit him to the ToP? All we need to know is why Jiren’s the way he is, and his backstory explained that to us