Controversial When did One Piece jump the shark?

[Buusatan94]

What is the moment, the arc, where One Piece really lost its charm and way as a story, and started to become the shadow of its former self it is today?

For me the Tamatebakko explosion is the point from which I started to become increasingly baffled and frustrated with the manga's story and writing of its characters, especially with the awful wedding cake chase and Luffy vs Katakuri, and other plot armor shenagans. I liked the first half of WCI well enough but despised the second half.

If not that then it was Wano arc with Oden's flashback, and especially the Onigashima raid with all of the horrible reasons we know.

 

[moreha9685]

Wano was the tipping point, but there's been cracks in each post-ts arc, starting with FMI's nosebleed gag and bad pacing in the second half, then PH's pacing and mysteries for mysteries' sake (paper message to Chopper) + horrible treatment of Smoker & Tashigi, DR's own pacing and treatment of Sabo, Revs, and Robin, leading to WCI's second half with dumb Kaiju BM running around endlessly.

 

[Yoho]

It hasn't for me

Not to say there hasn't been questionable moments or arcs that I didn't quite like there definitely as been

Long ring, Marine Ford, fishman island just to name a few

And while Wano did have its bad moments it also had more then its fair share of great moments

Sanji awakening his germa genes
Yamato going toe to toe with Kaido even if barely

The culmination of Momonosuke development after 4 or 5 arcs from the bratty kid to the man he was supposed to be

Yusie's sacrifice, Zoro vs Killer

And the emergence of g5

We also learned that pluton was located in wano and that the old wano was under water which we learned in egghead that the entire world flooded

Speaking of egghead that arc was also amazing and tho I think oda should of left the main villains Saturn, Kizaru, cp0 and York and left the other gorosei out of it, it was still an outstanding arc, the Kuma flashback, Bonney truly beginning to understand her abilities, and the possibility of Bonney becoming a strawhat apprentice is extreme high

And tnh I didn't expect to like Elbaf as much as I do, because giants suck this as been a fantastic arc with arguably the best string of flashbacks in the series, and the god knights are an awesome group especially Gunko

One piece hasn't lost its story oda just stopped focusing on the strawhats like he did pre time skip

Pre time skip was to develop the strawhats post skip is to fully flush out the world they live in

 

[vikas]

For me upto FI it was okay after that it was just me hoping and making excuses for the series.
Theory crafting to make it seem good... But things were shit.

 

[nik87]

When plot armor started to intervene way too much.

 

[Zenos7]

What is the moment, the arc, where One Piece really lost its charm and way as a story, and started to become the shadow of its former self it is today?

For me the Tamatebakko explosion is the point from which I started to become increasingly baffled and frustrated with the manga's story and writing of its characters, especially with the awful wedding cake chase and Luffy vs Katakuri, and other plot armor shenagans. I liked the first half of WCI well enough but despised the second half.

If not that then it was Wano arc with Oden's flashback, and especially the Onigashima raid with all of the horrible reasons we know.

oof, for me it was much earlier. FMI was a complete letdown and i was close to dropping the series towards the end of DR due to its horrendous pacing. The grand fleet hyped me up enough to stick around, and now i just read the series like i have read bleach in the past. for shits and giggles

 

[Loki D. Terror]

Post skip for most part is not as good as pre skip.

But egghead was good minus ending imo.

And elbaph is very good. It rivals pre skip imo. The recent FB has been epic.

 

[Buusatan94]

oof, for me it was much earlier. FMI was a complete letdown and i was close to dropping the series towards the end of DR due to its horrendous pacing. The grand fleet hyped me up enough to stick around, and now i just read the series like i have read bleach in the past. for shits and giggles

Yeah the cracks were already showing in the early NW arcs, I wasn't too fond of FMI and I had many problems with PH and Dressrosa but the hype was still enough to make up for them to an extent. It's often later that we realize the early signs that a story is starting to lose its way.

 

[Kumathegoat]

It hasn't for me

Not to say there hasn't been questionable moments or arcs that I didn't quite like there definitely as been

Long ring, Marine Ford, fishman island just to name a few

And while Wano did have its bad moments it also had more then its fair share of great moments

Sanji awakening his germa genes
Yamato going toe to toe with Kaido even if barely

The culmination of Momonosuke development after 4 or 5 arcs from the bratty kid to the man he was supposed to be

Yusie's sacrifice, Zoro vs Killer

And the emergence of g5

We also learned that pluton was located in wano and that the old wano was under water which we learned in egghead that the entire world flooded

Speaking of egghead that arc was also amazing and tho I think oda should of left the main villains Saturn, Kizaru, cp0 and York and left the other gorosei out of it, it was still an outstanding arc, the Kuma flashback, Bonney truly beginning to understand her abilities, and the possibility of Bonney becoming a strawhat apprentice is extreme high

And tnh I didn't expect to like Elbaf as much as I do, because giants suck this as been a fantastic arc with arguably the best string of flashbacks in the series, and the god knights are an awesome group especially Gunko

One piece hasn't lost its story oda just stopped focusing on the strawhats like he did pre time skip

Pre time skip was to develop the strawhats post skip is to fully flush out the world they live in

I agree with you.

One Piece has not lost its charm.

It is just a manga, and a good one.

It has problems, but I am still curious to read how it will end

 

[kumae]

Nika revelation + other things like wano ending since there manga has been a really let down

 

[DenifClock]

It didn't

 

[Kizaruber Eats]

Wano was the tipping point, but there's been cracks in each post-ts arc, starting with FMI's nosebleed gag and bad pacing in the second half, then PH's pacing and mysteries for mysteries' sake (paper message to Chopper) + horrible treatment of Smoker & Tashigi, DR's own pacing and treatment of Sabo, Revs, and Robin, leading to WCI's second half with dumb Kaiju BM running around endlessly.

Exactly this. At this point its jumped the Jinbei (and Jinbei is a huge part of the problem too) and it's gone into outer space whereas the shark is now jumping over a pyramid of other sharks.

 

[Bisoromi Bear]

What is the moment, the arc, where One Piece really lost its charm and way as a story, and started to become the shadow of its former self it is today?

For me the Tamatebakko explosion is the point from which I started to become increasingly baffled and frustrated with the manga's story and writing of its characters, especially with the awful wedding cake chase and Luffy vs Katakuri, and other plot armor shenagans. I liked the first half of WCI well enough but despised the second half.

If not that then it was Wano arc with Oden's flashback, and especially the Onigashima raid with all of the horrible reasons we know.

Actually it began in east blue, gradually and nearly invisible but became worse slowly but surely.
This is the case with many stories, perhaps with most stories. What sets one piece apart from most other stories is its enormous length. As long as a story gets the chance to progress and find a natural end within a reasonable timeframe, the decline is barely noticeable.

My favourite example of this may be Avatar. Over the span of its 3 books, the series progresses and declines at the same time. While it's climax is obviously the fight against the Fire Lord, the most densely packed arc is book 2 but I'm almost willing to say that book 1 is the best arc because it serves as an exposition of the characters, their motivations and the world they live in.

Avatar feels like a constellation of stars or planets, slowly beginning to move into their places in book 1 and beginning to glow, reaching the constellation towards the end of book 2 with their brightness increasing, beginning to leave the constellation in book 3 but their light shining brighter now than ever before obscures this fact.

Only for the stars to finally part ways in the very end of book 3.
There is no way for the stars to return to the constellation, the comics feel like additional background material, Legend of Korra has near completely lost the spark that made avatar so great.
Had the creators been given the chance to make a book 4, I'm frankly not sure it would have lived up to expectations. It might have become stale, avatar might have quickly outstayed its welcome.
In hindsight, the series ended at just the right moment.

This is what One Piece is lacking, a reasonable time frame in which the story is told, a clear roadmap the author actually sticks to.
So many manga and anime eventually lose their spark or go nowhere, or even worse, are never finished.
The issue lies within the industry that prioritizes profits over a good story, audiences are tied to their IPs by means of fanservice and cheap&easy satisfaction through generating intense but empty emotions.

 

[Monster Zoro's Tesla Supplier]

Nika revelation + other things like wano ending since there manga has been a really let down

this

 

[ShinichiMugi]

I remember that the moment where i lost all hopes that there was any consequences in this manga was when in Punk Hazard,the marines who sacrificied theirselves for Tashigi some chapters earlier,taking the Cesar Clown's gas,was revealed alive some chapters later. In that moment i said "not even some fodders can die!" lol
About the jumping shark,i guess there is not a precise moment,but after the timeskip Oda just changed One Piece in a way that its not always satisying,because there are too many mysteres,too many filler chapters,and too much Luffy-centrism,and all these flaws maybe were there before,but with the post-timeskip they got worse. But,i think that Elbaph is actually a good arc,and i even liked the God Valley part altough it has its flaws

 

[Roo]

i don’t think it has yet, it’s just gotten boring

 

[Kizaruber Eats]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Piratefolk/comments/1qpatbh

Post automatically merged: Jan 28, 2026

https://www.reddit.com/r/Piratefolk/comments/1qozf35

 

[BlackLegFring]

It’s the Nika reveal. I don’t see “jump the shark” as just poor writing. It’s a ridiculous event for the sake of trying to keep things fresh.

That’s the moment Oda decided to ignore all that was already established in the series and introduce a “god-related” power up so that he could give Luffy a new form for the sake of tired old shounen tropes. It’s just worse because it came so late in the game when his contemporaries had already done similar things, so it just tastes even more sour.

 

[Djordje]

Dont know for me Dressrosa and WHole cake island are my favorite arcs and Elbaf seems to be great too.

 

[Kizaruber Eats]

I had a vent/rage session with AI, you guys might like what I discussed with it lol:


The "Psychopathic" Narrative of Modern One Piece

The series has fundamentally shifted from a story of rebellion to one of Authoritarian Worship and Moral Dissonance. Below is the dissection of the specific narrative failures.

1. The Oden Psychopathy (Tonal Dissonance & Dehumanization)

• The "Hate Crime" Pun: Oda named a character after a stew specifically to set up a 20-year pun about him being boiled alive. This mirrors the logic of dehumanizing propaganda. Forcing the reader to chant "Oden wouldn't be Oden if it wasn't boiled!" while a man physically melts in 700°C oil is deranged. It asks the audience to view a war crime as a "delicious" brand identity.
• Torture as a Game Show: The "Hour of Legends" gamified agony. It turned a Berserk-level snuff film (visceral skin destruction, organ failure) into a Shonen hype challenge with a countdown clock. This turns the audience into voyeurs, prioritizing "coolness" over the horror of the event.
• The "Watsuki Tribute" (Predator as Hero): Oden’s introduction involves kidnapping married women to form a harem, triggering a war with their families. The narrative frames this not as abduction, but as "Charisma" (implying the women "wanted it"). This validation of predatory entitlement is a sickening parallel to Oda’s mentor, Nobuhiro Watsuki, framing abuse as "Chad behavior."

2. The "Gary Stu" Black Hole (Warping the World)

• Roger on his Knees: The Pirate King—the ultimate symbol of freedom—was humiliated, begging on his knees to "borrow" Oden. This scene stripped Roger of his aura solely to prop up Oden’s importance.
• Whitebeard Broken: Whitebeard, a man defined by his strict code and protection of family, allowed Oden to act like a reckless tourist, endangering the crew and breaking the internal logic of the Whitebeard Pirates.
• Luffy Lobotomized (OOC): Luffy, who famously sleeps through backstories (Nami, Jimbei) and ignores the past, was written Out-Of-Character to weep for Oden. He was utilized as a "paid actor" to gaslight the audience into caring for a character they never met.
• Kaido Nerfed: The "World's Strongest Creature" was not allowed a clean win. Oda introduced the "Old Hag" distraction so Oden could die thinking he was stronger, sacrificing the villain’s threat level to protect the hero's ego.

3. The Hypocrite Saint (Moral Bankruptcy)

• The "Gap Year" Abandonment: Oden abandoned his duties as Shogun to party with Roger for years, ignoring the smoke and suffering of his own people.
• The "Naked Dance" Failure: Upon returning, instead of fighting Kaido (when the Beast Pirates were weaker), Oden danced naked for 5 years to "save hostages." This incompetence handed Wano over to Orochi to be turned into a weapons factory.
• Zero Accountability: Despite being the architect of Wano's ruin, the Scabbards and citizens worship him as a flawless god. The narrative refuses to acknowledge his negligence, framing it instead as "noble sacrifice."

4. God Valley & The "Class Traitor" Roger

• Defending Slavers: The God Valley flashback revealed that Roger and Garp teamed up to fight the Rocks Pirates. Crucially, this battle took place during a Celestial Dragon Genocide Tournament.
• The Outcome: Regardless of whether Rocks was "evil," Roger’s victory ensured the survival of the Celestial Dragons and the preservation of the status quo. The narrative frames this as a "Legendary Team-Up," glazing over the fact that Roger acted as an unpaid bodyguard for the worst slave-owners in history, allowing them to escape and continue their rule.

5. Koby’s Post-Egghead Delusion (Fascist Enabler)

• The Context: Dr. Vegapunk broadcast the truth to the world: The World Government is using Ancient Weapons to sink the planet.
• The Reaction: Knowing his own bosses are committing global genocide, Koby’s resolve is "I have to stop Luffy!"
• The Insanity: Instead of targeting the Five Elders (who are literally drowning the world), Koby targets Nika (the Warrior of Liberation). He represents the ultimate failure of "Marine Justice"—he is so obsessed with "Order" that he would rather let the world drown than let a pirate save it.

Summary
The narrative has traded emotional honesty for "Glaze," prioritizing the aesthetic of "Great Men" over basic morality.

• It asks you to cheer for Roger defending slave masters.
• It asks you to cheer for Oden kidnapping women and dying for a pun.
• It asks you to cheer for Koby arresting the savior while the world sinks.

But Odas angels will tell you to drop the series, you can't read or stop reading, to fuck off or off yourself (the most extreme ones I've seen I mean ) etc rather than ever admit any of this is true nor actually admit they think Oda is infallible and so is OP.