General & Others Are we expecting too much from a Shonen series?
Some people expect way too much. But with Oda and One Piece it’s normal to have higher expectations.
I’m reading Black Clover rn and Inlove the straightforward intense pacing. And It’s predictable but not in a bad way
For One Piece I can’t predict shit. Like Yamato ? Dont fooking know,wano fight ? Idk
It would be very vague and not as precise as other shonens, it’s more subtle and unpredictable for the big stuff and big theories
I’m reading Black Clover rn and Inlove the straightforward intense pacing. And It’s predictable but not in a bad way
For One Piece I can’t predict shit. Like Yamato ? Dont fooking know,wano fight ? Idk
It would be very vague and not as precise as other shonens, it’s more subtle and unpredictable for the big stuff and big theories
That depends on what the series does.
Demon Slayer: Follows an enemy of the week style and every demon being beaten the same way. Therefore, we expect other battles to be similar.
One Piece: gives lots of build up to something that usually blows people's minds. Nowadays when there is build up, the pay off is underwhelming and that's only because of what Oda has conditioned us to expect before hand.
Demon Slayer: Follows an enemy of the week style and every demon being beaten the same way. Therefore, we expect other battles to be similar.
One Piece: gives lots of build up to something that usually blows people's minds. Nowadays when there is build up, the pay off is underwhelming and that's only because of what Oda has conditioned us to expect before hand.
Haven’t we always? None of us would be on this forum or others like it if we didn’t want to overanalyze the shit out of every minute detail of what amounts to a comic book for teenage boys. As long as you learn after a point that Oda’s not necessarily interested in touching on certain, more mature issues (even though he tackles class warfare, fighting against oppressive government tyrants, and testing the limits of human capabilities in pretty much every single arc), it’s a lot easier to enjoy the story for what it really is.
I preferred him as the man-of-action pre TS. Stepping up to face Whitebeard without fear and blowing holes in him. Talking Squardo into stabbing his own father with $mooth talk. Shit talking Whitebeard so hard that ace threw away the entire war just to try and get one sucker punch in.
Vice Admiral Sakazuki was also gloriously horrifying in the one panel we got of him at Ohara.
Fleet Admiral Sakazuki has mostly just shouted at the wall. Most recently he got so butthurt about the Warlords and Rox that he just seems dejected and defeated lol.
Vice Admiral Sakazuki was also gloriously horrifying in the one panel we got of him at Ohara.
Fleet Admiral Sakazuki has mostly just shouted at the wall. Most recently he got so butthurt about the Warlords and Rox that he just seems dejected and defeated lol.
First and foremost, I want to have fun reading One Piece. If it can do that, I'm satisfied. And should the series get boring for me, I'll just take a break and come back.
That said, there's nothing wrong with going above and beyond what's expected of it. And it's done so, otherwise it wouldn't be the highest selling manga of all time, and nearly 100 volumes in.
That said, there's nothing wrong with going above and beyond what's expected of it. And it's done so, otherwise it wouldn't be the highest selling manga of all time, and nearly 100 volumes in.
This wholeheartedly. I can acknowledge that the story, characters, plotlines etc. are not always perfect, but no other manga to this date has ever given me joy like OP has, and just the anticipation for more in creating the ultimate adventure story that I can always come back to. A lot of this is a testament to how Oda keeps things interesting through plotlines, characters and more. The lore building is impeccable. Hell, here's just a taste of what we still have that I can think of (which attributes to the fact that series likely has a ways to go before we reach a conclusion):
I. Characters
- Kaido's past/Rocks history/relationship with Big mom
- Remaining Rocks Pirates, if they are still alive
- Numbers, Yamato, the potential "Ace"
- Further exposition of BMs children at Wano (powers, personalities, etc)
- Vegapunk, his Special Science Group (SSG) and their goals, personalities, etc (I'm sure they are crazy as fuck)
- Kuma's goals, motivations, etc.
- Bonney and her relationship to Kuma
- Dragon's goals and personal motivations. Why did he not follow in Garp's footsteps. What was their fallout?
- Further characterization of the RA Commanders
- Reveals and personalities of CP-0 and its members
- Ryokugyu and his reveal
- Other Marine figures, formal introductions for Chaton/Momosagi. Other "Zodiac" Vice Admirals if they exist.
- Kong and his role in the World Government, other WG members. The hierarchy of the WG.
- History behind the Gorosei and their personalities, powers, goals, etc.
- Literally everything about Im
- Blackbeard, his end goals, full crew powers, personalities, history, and his 10th Titanic Captain.
- Shanks, his end goals, enigmatic personality, etc. His crews personalities, relationships, strengths.
- End goals for the Supernova
- Function/goals behind the Strawhat Fleet (their "major incident")
- End goals/plotlines from "Friendly" marines such as Koby, Smoker/Tashigi, Aokiji
- End goal/plotlines of every former Shichibukai (Buggy, Mihawk, Hancock, Weevil, Kuma)
- End goal/plotlines of every former villain (Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Moria, Doflamingo, Katakuri) if they factor into the remaining story
- End goal/plotlines to extraneous characters/groups like the Underworld or the Level 6 Escapees still at large.
II. Locations (if we actually get them or just lore dumps)
- Nature of Pirate Island (Beehive) and it possibly giving some further background on Blackbeard, Davy Back Fights, possibly Underworld related. May or may not be significant in the end. We received the same kind of random introduction to WCI from FI about BM, its so its possible the Strawhats visit this location as a small/large arc.
- Vegapunk's Facility/Island/Emerald City (if we actually get to see it), it has been teased several times by Smoker, Fuji, etc.
- Elbaf and its gigantic tree has surely been teased. Strongly agreed that it may have ties to sky islands, the moon, other islands, etc due to this tree and its size.
- God Valley and its significance to Rocks (and why Roger/Garp were also there at the time). Shanks being the same age as the incident is peculiar. Buggy possibly too.
- Lodestar being the last geographical island on Grand Line
- Laugh Tale being the final island in general and obvious reasons why we need to see it
- New Marineford/Mariejois as potential locations. Its very possible that the Final War takes place between these 2 locations and Fishman island for theorized reasons.
III. Plotlines
- How every notable faction mentioned either collides or concedes at the above locations or new locations. This includes how Luffy will surpass the 4 Yonko (+their end goals), fates of every character, significance of many others, etc. Wano's War, the Final War, etc.
- Plot relevance of King's (and Tengu's?) apparently extinct species
- The Last Road Poneglyph and its location
- How the Moon factors into the plot
- Origins of species/the world (the Moon lore sort of touches on this at least for the winged people with Enel)
- Origin/Nature of Devil Fruits
- Joy Boy, Rocks and Im, the 3 most enigmatic characters we have in the series we have thus far and their goals (dead or alive)
- Sunlight Tree Eve and FI's dependence on hiding under the sea (and its eventual destruction)
- The WG's National Treasure
- All 10 (for now) Strawhat dreams, EoS fates.
- Ancient Weapons and their usage
- One Piece
- True History
Just things I can think of right now. There's definitely more, with One Piece there is ALWAYS more lol, even things that don't exist yet. Hell, the National Treasure was only teased by Dressrosa and Im/Rocks/God Valley have only been things the last 80 chapters or so.
I. Characters
- Kaido's past/Rocks history/relationship with Big mom
- Remaining Rocks Pirates, if they are still alive
- Numbers, Yamato, the potential "Ace"
- Further exposition of BMs children at Wano (powers, personalities, etc)
- Vegapunk, his Special Science Group (SSG) and their goals, personalities, etc (I'm sure they are crazy as fuck)
- Kuma's goals, motivations, etc.
- Bonney and her relationship to Kuma
- Dragon's goals and personal motivations. Why did he not follow in Garp's footsteps. What was their fallout?
- Further characterization of the RA Commanders
- Reveals and personalities of CP-0 and its members
- Ryokugyu and his reveal
- Other Marine figures, formal introductions for Chaton/Momosagi. Other "Zodiac" Vice Admirals if they exist.
- Kong and his role in the World Government, other WG members. The hierarchy of the WG.
- History behind the Gorosei and their personalities, powers, goals, etc.
- Literally everything about Im
- Blackbeard, his end goals, full crew powers, personalities, history, and his 10th Titanic Captain.
- Shanks, his end goals, enigmatic personality, etc. His crews personalities, relationships, strengths.
- End goals for the Supernova
- Function/goals behind the Strawhat Fleet (their "major incident")
- End goals/plotlines from "Friendly" marines such as Koby, Smoker/Tashigi, Aokiji
- End goal/plotlines of every former Shichibukai (Buggy, Mihawk, Hancock, Weevil, Kuma)
- End goal/plotlines of every former villain (Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Moria, Doflamingo, Katakuri) if they factor into the remaining story
- End goal/plotlines to extraneous characters/groups like the Underworld or the Level 6 Escapees still at large.
II. Locations (if we actually get them or just lore dumps)
- Nature of Pirate Island (Beehive) and it possibly giving some further background on Blackbeard, Davy Back Fights, possibly Underworld related. May or may not be significant in the end. We received the same kind of random introduction to WCI from FI about BM, its so its possible the Strawhats visit this location as a small/large arc.
- Vegapunk's Facility/Island/Emerald City (if we actually get to see it), it has been teased several times by Smoker, Fuji, etc.
- Elbaf and its gigantic tree has surely been teased. Strongly agreed that it may have ties to sky islands, the moon, other islands, etc due to this tree and its size.
- God Valley and its significance to Rocks (and why Roger/Garp were also there at the time). Shanks being the same age as the incident is peculiar. Buggy possibly too.
- Lodestar being the last geographical island on Grand Line
- Laugh Tale being the final island in general and obvious reasons why we need to see it
- New Marineford/Mariejois as potential locations. Its very possible that the Final War takes place between these 2 locations and Fishman island for theorized reasons.
III. Plotlines
- How every notable faction mentioned either collides or concedes at the above locations or new locations. This includes how Luffy will surpass the 4 Yonko (+their end goals), fates of every character, significance of many others, etc. Wano's War, the Final War, etc.
- Plot relevance of King's (and Tengu's?) apparently extinct species
- The Last Road Poneglyph and its location
- How the Moon factors into the plot
- Origins of species/the world (the Moon lore sort of touches on this at least for the winged people with Enel)
- Origin/Nature of Devil Fruits
- Joy Boy, Rocks and Im, the 3 most enigmatic characters we have in the series we have thus far and their goals (dead or alive)
- Sunlight Tree Eve and FI's dependence on hiding under the sea (and its eventual destruction)
- The WG's National Treasure
- All 10 (for now) Strawhat dreams, EoS fates.
- Ancient Weapons and their usage
- One Piece
- True History
Just things I can think of right now. There's definitely more, with One Piece there is ALWAYS more lol, even things that don't exist yet. Hell, the National Treasure was only teased by Dressrosa and Im/Rocks/God Valley have only been things the last 80 chapters or so.
Last edited:
*Other manga that is heavily focus on action and power structure*
People: OMG, I ship this character with this character, pacing is bad, manga drawing is bad, fanservice too much, etc...
*Oda said that One Piece is not a heavy Shonen manga*
People: OMG, how strong is this character? Is this character stronger than the other character? Power level is everything, etc...
Me:
People: OMG, I ship this character with this character, pacing is bad, manga drawing is bad, fanservice too much, etc...
*Oda said that One Piece is not a heavy Shonen manga*
People: OMG, how strong is this character? Is this character stronger than the other character? Power level is everything, etc...
Me:
For me, there are only two sets of expectations when it comes to One Piece.
I) The expectations that were set by previous arcs.
I have noticed that the most consistently objective critics of One Piece (which would include myself) all enjoy and praise Pre-TS One Piece. We all lament the fact that the quality of One Piece has dropped.
This is where most of the disappointment comes from. After all, if we all disliked Pre-TS OP as much as we do Post-TS then we would not still be here, would we?
One cannot be disappointed by something that was always subpar.
For an analogy, if I go into a McDonald’s that I regularly go to with the intent of ordering a Happy Meal and I get served a Happy Meal, I am obviously going to be happy. I got what I went in for based on my previous experience and got exactly what I expected.
However, if I go into a 5 Star restaurant that I have been to before and order a 12oz steak burger with sautéed onions and a platter of crispy steak chips but I instead get a Happy Meal then you can bet that I am going to be incredibly disappointed.
II) The very basic expectation of a story being objectively functional.
This is the bare minimum expectation I have for any serious story from any type of media.
This consists of very simple things like “Are the characters’ actions consistent based on their established personalities.” or “Did this character’s actions and presence deliver on their established lore and hype”.
Post-TS One Piece is even failing on the most basic of story telling principles. It says a lot between the narrative quality of Pre-TS vs Post-TS when the old gen Warlord antagonists are universally far more popular and undeniably objectively better than what should be their superiors in the Yonko antagonists.
I) The expectations that were set by previous arcs.
I have noticed that the most consistently objective critics of One Piece (which would include myself) all enjoy and praise Pre-TS One Piece. We all lament the fact that the quality of One Piece has dropped.
This is where most of the disappointment comes from. After all, if we all disliked Pre-TS OP as much as we do Post-TS then we would not still be here, would we?
One cannot be disappointed by something that was always subpar.
For an analogy, if I go into a McDonald’s that I regularly go to with the intent of ordering a Happy Meal and I get served a Happy Meal, I am obviously going to be happy. I got what I went in for based on my previous experience and got exactly what I expected.
However, if I go into a 5 Star restaurant that I have been to before and order a 12oz steak burger with sautéed onions and a platter of crispy steak chips but I instead get a Happy Meal then you can bet that I am going to be incredibly disappointed.
II) The very basic expectation of a story being objectively functional.
This is the bare minimum expectation I have for any serious story from any type of media.
This consists of very simple things like “Are the characters’ actions consistent based on their established personalities.” or “Did this character’s actions and presence deliver on their established lore and hype”.
Post-TS One Piece is even failing on the most basic of story telling principles. It says a lot between the narrative quality of Pre-TS vs Post-TS when the old gen Warlord antagonists are universally far more popular and undeniably objectively better than what should be their superiors in the Yonko antagonists.