Top 11 Complaints List! Because why not?
11. Luffy defeating Kaido with a punch...after Oda specifically said it'd be really disappointing if Luffy just defeated Kaido with a punch.
I don't seriously mind this. And I actually kind of find it morbidly funny in a way, which is why it's so low on the list.
But, it is mildly concerning. I mean...Oda's said the same thing about the One Piece Treasure ending up being "the friends we made along the way". If Oda can just get "lazy" and end Kaido with just a punch...who says he CAN'T do the same thing when he reveals the One Piece Treasure? The One Piece Treasure COULD be something that he's said was really disappointing. And that would be...disappointing. Obviously.
10. Ditching the log poses.
This is a REALLY minor quibble. But, it's kind of a shame that log poses really don't seem to matter anymore in the story.
They were such a iconic and unique piece of the early days of the story, it's kind of a shame that they don't matter anymore. At all.
I feel like Oda could have really built up to something with this. Like maybe going from one island to another with the same exact log pose the entire length of the Grand Line could have charged up the log pose to "upgrade" it into a key to getting into Laugh Tale? But...tis not to be.
Once Oda introduced Vivre Cards as another way to find people and places on the Grand Line, the writing was pretty much on the wall. Introducing Eternal Poses that always lead you to the same place just feels like it's missing the point. And recently, the Strawhats have just been along the ride, with fate determining where they go by running into random people.
Still, I kind of miss log poses. Shame they got written out of the story.
9. Pell saying there's only 5 Devil Fruits capable of flight.
This is a really minor one. But, this is a example of Oda just kind of messing up and not being able to fix it. I mean, it's probably what he originally intended, so that not too many people in the story would have access to the "overpowered" ability of flight. It's not Oda's fault that the manga's gone on WAY longer than anyone imagined.
But, this alone kind of proves that not even Oda plans absolutely everything out perfectly. And that's kind of a shame.
8. Sidelining certain characters for literally decades.
It's just a little annoying when Oda doesn't show what's going on with certain characters for a while. Mind, there's no real helping this. And it kind of makes sense not to focus on EVERYONE all the time.
It's just that we can go years or even decades without touching on certain characters or plotlines. Like Smoker or Enel.
I'd say it's also one of this manga's strengths that Oda CAN actually get away with this. That we still care about these characters and that we still remember them, even if they haven't shown up in years. And it can actually make these characters showing up again kind of a event, like with Gin and Don Krieg. But, it's also a weakness. It's this low for a reason, it's not really a big deal. But, it is a minor annoyance.
7. Relying a bit too much on SBS answers.
I'll admit, I might be jumping the gun a little bit on this. There's still time to touch on a few things I'll bring up in the manga proper.
But, I feel like sometimes Oda uses the SBS sections as a bit of a storytelling crutch. To kind of scaffold over some cracks in the wall of the story, as it were. Like all the backstories we just don't get around to. Or fixing a few plot holes here and there.
This also goes for glossing over some plot points in general. Like actually showing Koby's growth as a Marine. Or Zoro's ancestry. Or Kidd's backstory. Or all the sword lore stuff. The entire Meito system kind of feels like a afterthought, sometimes.
Kizaru giving Luffy the food on Egghead is probably the biggest one. And honestly, I wonder if Oda just forgot to sneak in ONE panel in the actual manga hinting about that. That's really all it would have taken. One panel or even one line.
I am glad he does these. It really fleshes out the world. It helps give the world a depth that few other manga are capable of. It's just that sometimes he puts things in a SBS that really probably should be brought up in the main story. Sometimes it crosses a line, and that's when I have a problem with it.
6. Leaving some obvious crewmates behind.
I'm getting a little sick of Oda setting up certain characters to join the Strawhats...only to leave them behind, with fans upset.
I'm mostly talking about Carrot with this one. But, Yamato's a pretty obvious example, too. I don't care what people think, I MISS CARROT! I think she was pretty cute. And this crew could use a few more girls around. Sure, Carrot was mostly a "tourist". She didn't have much of a role on the crew, I'll admit that much. But, still she had interesting powers and a fun personality. I liked how she gave Chopper someone like him to hang out with. And she was with the Strawhats for SO LONG...if only because Wano was also SO LONG. I would have rather had Carrot join the crew than Jinbe, let's put it like that.
Mostly, I guess I just want Oda to stop Strawhat-baiting us. The crew is probably full. Stop getting our hopes up for more main characters. Maybe we'll get ONE last "guest" on the Sunny. But, I doubt anyone new is going to join the crew full-time. Not even Loki.
I'm sure Oda has his reasons for leaving the characters behind that he did. But, I'd be lying if it didn't get on my nerves, sometimes.
5*. Sanji's Raid Suit Arc ending during Wano.
There's a bit of a asterix with this one. Because the whole "Evil Sanji" thing COULD come back into the manga at some point in the future. But, for right now, it looks like that particular story is most likely over.
And if it is...it feels like it ended in a kind of anticlimactic way. For me, at least. If you're going to tease that a major character is going to end up turning "evil"...I feel like you kind of have to follow through on that. Instead, we kind of got some hints about what it'd be like maybe possible perhaps if Sanji thought about turning a little mean, hypothetically. It kind of feels like Oda chickened out a little.
And, to be fair, it's not like I WANT Sanji to turn evil. I don't WANT him to embrace his Germa roots or anything. But...I don't really feel like it was necessary to draw out this plotline as long as they did. You could excise this entire subplot from the manga and not really lose anything.
It just kind of feels like a waste of potential, really.
4*. Introducing Haki.
Again, there's a bit of a asterix with this one. Because, I think the general idea of Haki is fine. But, it's kind of become a bit of a crutch as time goes on. It's the execution and lack of clarity that I have problems with.
I think it makes all the sense in the world to introduce a "simpler" power system to complement Devil Fruits. A more "traditional" Shonen battle manga power system. Something that kind of evens the playing field for people without Devil Fruits, so that you can have more variety in your battles.
The problem is, it's kind of become a "try a little harder, and you can win" system. "Try hard, to punch hard". It's become a little TOO important to the story, in my eyes. It's almost become broken. So much so, that I kind of feel like Haki now needs a counter itself, when before Haki was the counter designed to help balance Devil Fruits. We now need some way to counter the power system that was designed to counter another power system. Oda overcorrected here.
And to be fair, I do think it's possible that Oda's actually in the middle of introducing a "third system" right now. The Abyss Marks could potentially be a way to counter Haki. And I wouldn't mind a "weapons triangle" like setup, where Haki beats Devil Fruits, Abyss beats Haki, and Devil Fruits can beat Abyss. It doesn't quite seem that's the way Oda's going with it, but I can hope. And the Abyss Marks aren't even the first time we've seen powers like this in the story. There's the All-Seeing Eye Face-Charms of the Marys on Wano, and Miss Goldenweek's Color Trap powers. Oda seems to be building up some sort of "Symbol Magic" system. So, hopefully that helps counter how overpowered Haki has become.
But, right now, you NEED Haki to be a big player in the story. Devil Fruits are more optional. And the problem is, frankly, Devil Fruits are just more FUN than Haki is. Haki's kind of boring, because it's kind of DESIGNED to be basic. But, it's taken up more and more of the focus as the story has gone on. As it stands, I would have liked Haki to have a few other wrinkles added to it, to make it more interesting.
3. Splitting up the Strawhats after Dressrosa.
I kind of understand what Oda was thinking with this one. "Oh, if I split up the Strawhats for a prolonged amount of time, I can basically cover TWO arcs at once! I'll save SO MUCH TIME that way".
I can understand how being able to cut between two different ongoing stories might be appealing to Oda. But...it didn't seem to work.
It just gave the Strawhats who weren't with Luffy even LESS screen-time and chances to shine than usual. And we didn't really cover any more ground with them split up than we would have if they were all together. And Oda really didn't do anything interesting with the setup. Except MAYBE setting up Sanji leaving the crew during Whole Cake, but that could have happened without everyone else being split up too.
And when they finally reunited, I didn't feel like it was this huge, big event, after years of them being separated. It didn't feel like a big emotional moment of these friends finally getting to see each other again, after so long apart. It just felt like...finally...y'know? I was just relieved that this plotline was over. Not excited that it was finally coming to a head.
I don't know. I just feel like it didn't do much for the story. And maybe the story would have been better off if it had never happened. At least then, maybe we would have gotten more character moments with some of these characters.
2. Hody Jones.
Here's the thing. One Piece has a LOT of memorable villains. Arguably most arcs have pretty decent and interesting villains that help keep the story moving. In my opinion, Hody Jones is maybe the ONLY villain in this story who just doesn't work.
...Yes, even Foxy works better than Hody, in my eyes. Even Vander Decken works better.
Because here's the problem. Oda clearly had a message he wanted to convey with Hody. The problem is that Hody does not work in the context of the current story. The message that Oda wanted to get across to the audience in the real world, does NOT work in the context of One Piece's world. This is a metaphor that only (barely) works on one level, instead on all the levels it was intended to. Oda messed up on this one.
On paper, Hody is actually a somewhat interesting villain. He's literally "The Shadow of Arlong". He's the result of Arlong's beliefs that Humans and Fishmen can never live together. He is the consequence of Arlong's actions. And the entire twist with Hody is that...no Human has ever done anything to him, personally. All of Hody's hatred comes from the stories he's been told. Things that have happened to other people, in the past. He's full of hate, because those who helped raise him instilled that hate into him. The entire point of Hody Jones, is that sometimes we have to forgive or forget. Or else the cycle of hatred will never end. The cycle of hatred and grudges will just carry on forever, trying to balance the scales, that can never be balanced for the people who were actually harmed. So, sometimes, we just need to forgive wrongs that were done in the past, and move on with our lives.
...The problem is, that message is nonsense. At least in terms of where we are in the current story.
The problem with Hody Jones is...Hody Jones has too much of a good point.
Currently, where we are in the story right now, slavery still exists in this world. Fishmen are STILL being enslaved. Discrimination against Fishmen is still actively a major issue.
You can't say that a villain who's whole motivation is that he hates a group of people for hurting HIS people is wrong...when that harm is still actively happening!
It doesn't MATTER if no Human has ever hurt Hody. Because EMPATHY is a thing! Hody might not have been personally hurt by any Humans. But, he knows other people who HAVE been hurt. He knows other families who HAVE been torn apart by a family member getting captured and enslaved. Friends, his own family, and even his own ruler have all probably been hurt by the actions of the Humans.
Making it so no Human has ever hurt Hody personally doesn't make him look crazy...it makes him look KIND!
In my opinion, Hody Jones COULD have been a pretty great villain...in a SEQUEL series to One Piece. Say we flash forward, 50 to 100 years. Slavery is abolished. The Fishmen are able to live side by side with Humans in peace on the surface. Everything's going pretty well. And then enters this guy who opens up a bunch of old wounds from the past. Someone who reminds the Fishmen that, hey, the Humans never FORMALLLY apologized for enslaving them. Did the Humans REALLY do enough to make amends for hundreds of years of bigotry? Bringing up a lot of old hurt, which has mostly healed by now. Feigning to care about getting "justice" for his people, decades after anyone who could even remember the dark days of slavery is long dead, and with the only people he's "punishing" never having hurt anyone. Someone who refuses to let go of the past and move on. Someone who really tests our new heroes and their new world, by showing us just how far they've really grown since Luffy's time. THAT version of Hody Jones could have been GREAT!
But, as it stands, Hody's disappointing. Partially because the twist with him comes FAR too late into the arc. And partially because he just comes across like the Arlong we have at home. It's frustrating. Hody COULD have been great, in another context. But, as it stand...Hody just came into the story too early.
1. Wano's Multiple "Acts".
...Wano was SO LONG, you guys. I honestly don't even want another arc that's 150 chapters-plus, ever again. Even the Final-Final Arc. No matter what kind of epic Oda has planned. That's how deep Wano scarred me.
And it's hard to say exactly how the best way would be to make Wano shorter. You could cut down on the characters. You could cut down on the side-plots. You could just streamline a few things. You could make the Raid a little bit smaller scope. Maybe make the Oden flashback a little shorter.
But, I think maybe a small change that might make a big difference is just doing away with the framing sequence of Wano being a multi-act "Kabuki play".
I can't be sure, but personally, I wonder if Oda was trying to mimic the "rhythm and flow" of a traditional play, in some way. So, Wano got even longer, because he was trying to mimic that particular style. Maybe if that wasn't in the back of his head, maybe things wouldn't have gotten as dragged out for as long as they were.Oda seemed to want Wano to be this grand epic. So, he broke this story into multiple arcs, so that it would feel more grand an epic. But, instead, Wano just ended up feeling sluggish and bloated, at least to me.
Without the multiple "Act" structure, Wano could be paced more like a traditional arc. And maybe that alone could have cut down it's length.
I kind of have to applaud Oda for trying something a little different. Maybe even something a little more "artistically ambitious" in it's own way. But...I just don't think it worked, if that's even what he was going for. I'm honestly not familiar with Kabuki plays or any sort of traditional Japanese theater. So, I can't really say if this succeeded or failed or if it was even attempted. But, as it stands, I think the "Act" structure didn't really add anything to the Wano arc. And I have a feeling it might be one of the reasons Wano got so bloated. Maybe changing that wouldn't have changed Wano in any major way. But, I like to think it would have had a knock-on effect on the arc.
