General & Others Oda's interview regarding G5
- Thread starter lee33
- Start date
I am kind of disappointed by Oda's statement here. Of course, as a Zoro (who would be considered as an edgy character by the OP community standard) fan, I am biased. But I still feel most people should be disappointed by this.
One Piece is a goofy manga, I know that and I love that. I still enjoy Zoro getting lost or Luffy doing dumb things. But that goofiness should not extend to fights. Specially the MC boss fights. Those fights are set up with a lot of emotion and anger behind it. These fights are not meant to be a place of shenanigans. A guy who wants to enslave an entire country to make weapons is not someone you have a gag fight with. Also, IRL people don't fight because they are happy, they fight because they are angry, you don't laugh like a maniac and pop your eyes out when you're angry. One Piece has also followed that same with fights, they are serious.
I can take few gags during the fight, in fact it is needed to lighten up the mood a little bit when the fight gets too dark. But making G5 all about gags/shenanigans was very bad. A powerup designed to elicit gags is not going to make those fights more enjoyable, it is going to make a fight fought for serious reasons look silly. Rather Oda needs to condense Luffy fights into fewer full chapters with "edgyness" it deserves.
Also, it is the "edgy" things about the fights that are most memorable. People won't remember Luffy's eyes popping out, but they will remember Luffy punching Kaido with conquerer's Haki. When I look back at Enies Lobby Zoro fight, I tend to remember him slicing the tower in half more than I do of him wielding Ussop as a sword. Or in Arlong Park, Luffy destroying Nami's room is more memorable than Luffy biting Arlong. It is true for most Manga. Piccolo, Vegeta and Frieza made DB/DBZ so much more memorable than Buu ever did (in my opinion) and they totally had edgy fights. And I doubt people remember Naruto spamming sexy jutsu or farting during fights. Gags are not memorable most of the time. Oda knows it very well too.
Anyway, this just speaks to me that I shouldn't expect much content from Zoro going forward, because he is inherently edgy. I am also going to keep my expectation of Zoro vs. Mihawk very low.
It is also very sad that the majority of community is cheering this. Well...fine. Let's compromise Oda: You can give Luffy, Sanji and Kid/Law fights with lots of gags and you can extend them 50 chapters. But keep Zoro's fights edgy (few gags would be fine) even if that means you are only going to draw 5 pages of his fights.
One Piece is a goofy manga, I know that and I love that. I still enjoy Zoro getting lost or Luffy doing dumb things. But that goofiness should not extend to fights. Specially the MC boss fights. Those fights are set up with a lot of emotion and anger behind it. These fights are not meant to be a place of shenanigans. A guy who wants to enslave an entire country to make weapons is not someone you have a gag fight with. Also, IRL people don't fight because they are happy, they fight because they are angry, you don't laugh like a maniac and pop your eyes out when you're angry. One Piece has also followed that same with fights, they are serious.
I can take few gags during the fight, in fact it is needed to lighten up the mood a little bit when the fight gets too dark. But making G5 all about gags/shenanigans was very bad. A powerup designed to elicit gags is not going to make those fights more enjoyable, it is going to make a fight fought for serious reasons look silly. Rather Oda needs to condense Luffy fights into fewer full chapters with "edgyness" it deserves.
Also, it is the "edgy" things about the fights that are most memorable. People won't remember Luffy's eyes popping out, but they will remember Luffy punching Kaido with conquerer's Haki. When I look back at Enies Lobby Zoro fight, I tend to remember him slicing the tower in half more than I do of him wielding Ussop as a sword. Or in Arlong Park, Luffy destroying Nami's room is more memorable than Luffy biting Arlong. It is true for most Manga. Piccolo, Vegeta and Frieza made DB/DBZ so much more memorable than Buu ever did (in my opinion) and they totally had edgy fights. And I doubt people remember Naruto spamming sexy jutsu or farting during fights. Gags are not memorable most of the time. Oda knows it very well too.
Anyway, this just speaks to me that I shouldn't expect much content from Zoro going forward, because he is inherently edgy. I am also going to keep my expectation of Zoro vs. Mihawk very low.
It is also very sad that the majority of community is cheering this. Well...fine. Let's compromise Oda: You can give Luffy, Sanji and Kid/Law fights with lots of gags and you can extend them 50 chapters. But keep Zoro's fights edgy (few gags would be fine) even if that means you are only going to draw 5 pages of his fights.
There’s a big difference between Luffy being goofy and extending that goofiness to the antagonist as well. One is balanced and the other isn’t.
Kuro, Arlong, Crocodile & Enel weren’t having eyes pop out of their head every 2 seconds. Neither were the spectators having eye popping shenanigans.
Could you imagine all the Skypieans praying to god to save them, but with their eyes popping out and going “eh?!?!” every time they see Luffy?
Or maybe Kobra and Robin in the underground chamber having their eyes pop out every time Luffy hits Crocodile, with Crocodile also doing the same thing?
Wanting balance is not edgy.
Kuro, Arlong, Crocodile & Enel weren’t having eyes pop out of their head every 2 seconds. Neither were the spectators having eye popping shenanigans.
Could you imagine all the Skypieans praying to god to save them, but with their eyes popping out and going “eh?!?!” every time they see Luffy?
Or maybe Kobra and Robin in the underground chamber having their eyes pop out every time Luffy hits Crocodile, with Crocodile also doing the same thing?
Wanting balance is not edgy.
It was for the majority of the final round of their fight, and that is indeed a problem. The balance was completely turned on its head.
The very fact that it was immediately toned down right before the end says it all. Even Oda on some level realized how off-putting it would be to still have Luffy laughing like a maniac and “having fun” for the final clash of the battle.
Just going back to the prior arcs’ main antagonist fights shows that the few gags always occur in the 1st or 2nd rounds of the battle when the opponents are just getting to know each other, but the final leg of the battle has always been the most serious and rightfully so because all the pain caused by the antagonist is being answered for…and that’s no laughing matter.
That’s the thing though. Isn’t it still a “goofy pirate manga?” It shouldn’t be a problem if that continued to the end right?
The fact that it had to be toned down for the ending and you seemingly agree with that should show you the problem people had with it.
Balance is key. If a new power is going to upset that balance, then it just shouldn’t be introduced in the first place. Gear 5 can still work well without it extending to other people. That’s the point.
The very fact that it was immediately toned down right before the end says it all. Even Oda on some level realized how off-putting it would be to still have Luffy laughing like a maniac and “having fun” for the final clash of the battle.
Just going back to the prior arcs’ main antagonist fights shows that the few gags always occur in the 1st or 2nd rounds of the battle when the opponents are just getting to know each other, but the final leg of the battle has always been the most serious and rightfully so because all the pain caused by the antagonist is being answered for…and that’s no laughing matter.
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That’s the thing though. Isn’t it still a “goofy pirate manga?” It shouldn’t be a problem if that continued to the end right?
The fact that it had to be toned down for the ending and you seemingly agree with that should show you the problem people had with it.
Balance is key. If a new power is going to upset that balance, then it just shouldn’t be introduced in the first place. Gear 5 can still work well without it extending to other people. That’s the point.
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The fights of Solo leveling is not bad because of edginess though imo? It's due to lack of challenge the MC get from the fight. An enemy can provide challenge to the MC regarding strength, speed, manuver or battle IQ, or emotion, or some character core values or ideologies. None of that happens after Sung Jin Woo vs Igris. Igris provided a challenge of strength. After that? Zero. That's why it's so bad. It's my opinion of it.
Imo Luffy vs Kaidou butchered the stakes and tension. Heavily. Kaidou made people into slaves. This was not emphasized by Kaidou's actions, or Luffy's emotions. If Luffy use his Toon Force to partially rips out the spine of dragon Kaidou, making Kaidou release deathly scream, blood and bones being yanked out from the dragon's muscle, THEN Luffy can maniacally said "Must be fun for you, making children into slaves. BUT NOW, are you having fun, Kaidou?" and it will not reduce the tension even if it's gonna be edgy imo. Since it portrays the chaotic emotional state Luffy suffered after Kaidou's actions, and it also portrays Luffy's action as a respond. Something like that maybe.
Imo Luffy vs Kaidou butchered the stakes and tension. Heavily. Kaidou made people into slaves. This was not emphasized by Kaidou's actions, or Luffy's emotions. If Luffy use his Toon Force to partially rips out the spine of dragon Kaidou, making Kaidou release deathly scream, blood and bones being yanked out from the dragon's muscle, THEN Luffy can maniacally said "Must be fun for you, making children into slaves. BUT NOW, are you having fun, Kaidou?" and it will not reduce the tension even if it's gonna be edgy imo. Since it portrays the chaotic emotional state Luffy suffered after Kaidou's actions, and it also portrays Luffy's action as a respond. Something like that maybe.
