Its my fav arc in terms of what one piece is. You know, we have great adventure(whole setup about sky island, how to go there, treasure map etc), mystery of world(god, angels, enels DF, mantra etc...pretty much this was he arc which made me think okay one piece DF, species are going to be key to solving many things as a reader), past(shandora noland), importance with one piece plot(Rogers message and shandora ancient kingdom link). I wish more arcs to be like this....but we will never have...definitely not with how the story is now.
I’ve thought about it, and while of course I’m sure many people have widely differing opinions as to why arcs resonate with them more or resonate with them less, I get the feeling that a big reason that the Skypiea arc may resonate with some people less relates to how nobody from Skypiea ends up joining Luffy and the others on the crew, and may result in feeling more distant in that respect despite the very interesting location and lore offered in it and world building resulting from that.
It’s a rather long arc that comes right after the semi-frequent streak of people joining as very close nakama one after another, and I suppose this was the arc that somewhat started to noticeably break up that streak. That may be partially why the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arcs had more power lended to them seeing as how they both basically focus on the personal character developments of Usopp, Robin, and Franky in particular, with Robin arguably feeling more distant from readers to begin with during the Skypiea arc in spite of her having helped out and her fight with Yama.
There’s character and tragedy explored with Noland and Kalgara’s past, though of course, they can’t join the crew and display a close kinship with the crew, a crew I’m sure many had grown quite attached to at this point otherwise, seeing as how they’ve both been dead for hundreds of years, which also gives a difference in regards to how distant some readers may feel they are from characters seeing as how previous told backstories usually took place about 10 to 20 years ago, as opposed to 400.
In regards to other people liking the Skypiea arc a lot and it resonating with them already, then it makes me wonder if people would like it even more and if it would resonate with them more had it played out that someone from the arc like Wyper had been focused on more on a personal level and had joined the crew.
If most of the New World arcs resonate with people less in the respect of Luffy’s crew not just having less main recruits, but also having less focus in general in the respect of raising more focus on the worldbuilding itself, then that would probably be a point relevant to here as well.
It’s a rather long arc that comes right after the semi-frequent streak of people joining as very close nakama one after another, and I suppose this was the arc that somewhat started to noticeably break up that streak. That may be partially why the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arcs had more power lended to them seeing as how they both basically focus on the personal character developments of Usopp, Robin, and Franky in particular, with Robin arguably feeling more distant from readers to begin with during the Skypiea arc in spite of her having helped out and her fight with Yama.
There’s character and tragedy explored with Noland and Kalgara’s past, though of course, they can’t join the crew and display a close kinship with the crew, a crew I’m sure many had grown quite attached to at this point otherwise, seeing as how they’ve both been dead for hundreds of years, which also gives a difference in regards to how distant some readers may feel they are from characters seeing as how previous told backstories usually took place about 10 to 20 years ago, as opposed to 400.
In regards to other people liking the Skypiea arc a lot and it resonating with them already, then it makes me wonder if people would like it even more and if it would resonate with them more had it played out that someone from the arc like Wyper had been focused on more on a personal level and had joined the crew.
If most of the New World arcs resonate with people less in the respect of Luffy’s crew not just having less main recruits, but also having less focus in general in the respect of raising more focus on the worldbuilding itself, then that would probably be a point relevant to here as well.
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Skypea is one of those that gets better the more you rewatch it. The arcs before and after made you very interested from the get go because of the stakes they had.
Alabasta, there was build up, first time they took on a Warlord, you have this small group trying to prevent a civil war.
Water 7, friction within the group, Robin leaving, Ussop leaving, assassinations, it was like everything was falling apart, this led to the great anticipation of the next Arc.
Enies Lobby, strawhats vs the world, hell the train ride there was exciting. The conclusion even better.
Skypea was self-contained, with the exception of Enel I don't even remember the other villains. Back story was awesome, Luffy vs Enel was hilarious, that nod at the end of Gol D. Roger was intriguing but other than that I enjoyed the other arcs alot more.
Alabasta, there was build up, first time they took on a Warlord, you have this small group trying to prevent a civil war.
Water 7, friction within the group, Robin leaving, Ussop leaving, assassinations, it was like everything was falling apart, this led to the great anticipation of the next Arc.
Enies Lobby, strawhats vs the world, hell the train ride there was exciting. The conclusion even better.
Skypea was self-contained, with the exception of Enel I don't even remember the other villains. Back story was awesome, Luffy vs Enel was hilarious, that nod at the end of Gol D. Roger was intriguing but other than that I enjoyed the other arcs alot more.
I can understand the point of it feeling more like it was meant to be a self-contained fun adventure, in spite of aspects such as discovering Oden’s message and stopping the 400 year war. I suppose it remains to be seen as to how much of a direct impact it will have considering how Enel has amassed an army on the moon after Luffy beat him down, as in if the post-Laugh Tale war will get so grand-scale, that even Enel couldn’t ignore it.
At first I did not enjoy it because It felt disconnected to the main plot and too long (DR really takes the crown)
The anime ironically makes that arc really enjoyable for several reasons:
-Toei actually put a lot of budget in that arc and its nice to look at.
-The pace is actually tolerable because of the filler arcs that preceded it.
-The Straw Hats were still the main characters. Tons of fun and hilarious crew interactions non stop.
- Gedatsu is the epitome of One Piece comedy. I have seen stupid characters but he takes it to another level in a good way.
- Good supporting cast without kicking out the crew out of the spotlight (looking at you TS)
-Great colors, high quality animation, and voices make world building and adventure better than the manga.
The anime ironically makes that arc really enjoyable for several reasons:
-Toei actually put a lot of budget in that arc and its nice to look at.
-The pace is actually tolerable because of the filler arcs that preceded it.
-The Straw Hats were still the main characters. Tons of fun and hilarious crew interactions non stop.
- Gedatsu is the epitome of One Piece comedy. I have seen stupid characters but he takes it to another level in a good way.
- Good supporting cast without kicking out the crew out of the spotlight (looking at you TS)
-Great colors, high quality animation, and voices make world building and adventure better than the manga.
B
Gedatsu cracks me up every time. Like, how does one even come up with such a character who forgets how to do the most normal things?!
And he is in Alabasta curtently. So, he is the the first person from Skypiea to show up in the blue seas. I'm hoping that Enel will come back at some point in the story, on whichever side he may be then.
And he is in Alabasta curtently. So, he is the the first person from Skypiea to show up in the blue seas. I'm hoping that Enel will come back at some point in the story, on whichever side he may be then.
Touched on this earlier, but now that I think about it, Jaya along with Skypiea were probably the first arcs to specifically focus on the universe around the Straw Hats, whereas previous arcs focused relatively more on the Straw Hats themselves. It introduces the main pirate antagonist to Luffy in the form of Blackbeard, it introduces two Warlords that would arguably have the most significant confrontations with Luffy, it introduces what was thought to be the highest ranking officials in the form of the Five Elders, the then strongest man in the world in the form of Whitebeard, and of course the lore from Skypiea and Enel going to the Moon. In that respect, I suppose universe-developing fans have been given more than character-developing fans as of late.
Skypeia/Jaya are good. I actually love Jaya and early Skypeia. The focus was on adventure, exploration, romance. The conclusion and the flashback are also very strong. Enel vs Luffy was really fun, both in intensity and laughs, and the Noland/Kalgara flashback is still one of the better flashback of the series.
Where the arc falters is in its middle section. It is a long stretch of fights between or against characters we don’t have much investment on at the time. And goes on for what feels like forever. Though despite that, there’s nothing really bad here, just a slow section to an otherwise good arc.
Where the arc falters is in its middle section. It is a long stretch of fights between or against characters we don’t have much investment on at the time. And goes on for what feels like forever. Though despite that, there’s nothing really bad here, just a slow section to an otherwise good arc.