Originally posted by Bentley
Dofflamingo is no Admiral.
Indeed. Whitebeard would probably one shot him and certainly beat him. But Whitebeard is one man who can't do everything. Marco, Jozu, and Vista all had their hands full. The point is that if Doffy actively opposed them with all of his might be could have easily changed the course of the conflict.
Originally posted by AuraAngel
Indeed. Whitebeard would probably one shot him and certainly beat him. But Whitebeard is one man who can't do everything. Marco, Jozu, and Vista all had their hands full. The point is that if Doffy actively opposed them with all of his might be could have easily changed the course of the conflict.
Heck, what if he put up a bird cage?
Originally posted by AuraAngel
Mihawk would probably have cut it. To see if he could.
They're on the same side, though.
This arc has been quite the ride. A lot of ups and downs. Keeps it from being as good as something like Water 7/Eneis Lobby but has a lot more going for it than, say, Skypeia.
Yea, more than Skypeia, though pacing wise.... 90 chapters is a bit much!
There's some good stuff, but it needs a hacksaw taken to it's subplots, and to some of the battles (like, remove 80% of all 'run around trying to get somewhere' stuff!).
Doesn't mean Mihawk wouldn't try. And yeah there needed to be cuts but when you're one of the most successful comic authors of all time that means you get a lot of leeway.
I am satisfied with the Doflamingo fight. Kinda felt like a Bleach fight for a little bit but Oda makes it work most of the time.
Whew, glad we got a proper clash there, when Luffy said he'd end it in one blow I'd thought it'd be too easy, but he had to survive a bit to get to that point.
I'd say... it's a pretty good fight. Not as good as the Croc battle, but a solid battle.
Took too long to get to the fight, and it did another one of those 'pause the fights for awhile to spend a couple chapters building tension,' but the fight itself wasn't bad.
Indeed. In terms of tension building Birdcage wasn't as effective as the search for the bomb in Alabasta or looking for Robin's key while the buster call is about to happen.
By the way, shot in the dark, the other admiral recruited by the Marines is a spy from Dragon and the Revolutionary army. With Kuma as a cyborg it is possible that Dragon needed a new inside man and this Green Bull would be in a good place. I say this because one fan in the SBS speculated that Fujitora and the other Admiral were based on a folklore where they served as enemies to Momotaro, some guy that befriended a monkey(Kizaru), dog(Akainu), and pheasant(Aokiji). Since Fujitora has also displayed anti-government tendencies(particularly by wanting to end the Shichibukai), Green Bull might be similar.
But this is all conjecture for a character who has only been mentioned once.
Originally posted by AuraAngel
Mihawk would probably have cut it. To see if he could.This arc has been quite the ride. A lot of ups and downs. Keeps it from being as good as something like Water 7/Eneis Lobby but has a lot more going for it than, say, Skypeia.
For me this one still compares with Arabasta, which is pretty good all in all, Ennies Lobby remains the best one of the series followed by Impel Down.
I like the supporting cast of this arc better than Arabasta, but I think the secondary villains weren't as engaging (the lack of Sanji is also sad) and Doflamingo's motivation wasn't as far reaching as Crocodile's.
My favorites are Alabasta(usually my go to pick), Enies Lobby/Water 7, Marineford.
Obviously I don't think this arc is as good as Alabasta but it was easily the best since the timeskip. I liked the supporting cast of Alabasta more than you did and yeah it helps that Croc's crew are way cooler. So I guess compared to the really big arcs this one comes in second to last(still way above Skypeia). 7/10.
Also it is interesting that you rate Impel Down so high Bentley. Is it because you are French? mmm
Alabasta as a big arc did have the problem of Drum Island being dropped in the middle, right after we'd had some officer agent buildup, but the finale was definitely solid.
Enies Lobby/Water 7 was the best arc period. Even it's 'running to get in location' bit was better than others, as it wasn't so much 'running to get there,' as 'one person against a small army.'
I do feel the East Blue saga was still the best, because it managed to have awesome stories that had good pacing too, Arlong Park most of all, but the restaurant story wasn't bad either. And at that point, it regularly felt like Luffy could be threatened or hurt (in large part because of how used his weakness was, but still).
Eh most arcs don't start properly til they're at the place so Drum Island and Little Garden are their own little things. 😛
Dunno if it is empirically the best. The weakspot of Enies Lobby/Water 7 is the villains. CP9 was fine but Spandem took the Buster Call and turned it into a punchline by accidentally initiating it. And while Alabasta had Pell and the child, no one dying to the Buster Call was very very stupid since it decimated an entire island. Other minor things like the power ups make the fights less interesting to me, whereas Alabasta had all of the characters with fights that were a little different.
Originally posted by AuraAngel
Eh most arcs don't start properly til they're at the place so Drum Island and Little Garden are their own little things. 😛
Still, it messes up the flow. Not Little Garden- since that had a Baroque attack, but a fairly big big chunk being an unrelated story, in the middle of an arc, doesn't work for me.
And I think *most* arcs could use some trimming.
Heck, I give Thriller Bark props for at least being relatively short.
Dunno if it is empirically the best. The weakspot of Enies Lobby/Water 7 is the villains. CP9 was fine but Spandem took the Buster Call and turned it into a punchline by accidentally initiating it.
Entirely fitting for OP, I feel.
And while Alabasta had Pell and the child, no one dying to the Buster Call was very very stupid since it decimated an entire island. Other minor things like the power ups make the fights less interesting to me, whereas Alabasta had all of the characters with fights that were a little different.
Hm, I felt the power-ups were unique enough at that point to be interesting.
Yeah but you like FT's pacing and that shit is down right break neck speed compared to the moderately fast Naruto, let alone One Piece. 😛
Eh the powerups were unique but not particularly foreshadowed in any capacity. Sanji, Nami, and particularly Luffy are the worst in that regard. And while the fights are fun, they do get kinda samey since it boils down to "beat the guy, get the key, test the key, move along". Small points that could have made them interesting(Sanji vs a lady, Usopp and Zoro handcuffed) are quickly dropped to make way for the the status quo. Added onto that is that the bad guys, while having different unique abilities, primarily used a lot of the same moves as each other.
Compared to Alabasta. Chopper and Usopp were fighting as a team(unique), Sanji had to resort to tricks to beat Bon Clay, Nami's fight was all about figuring out a new weapon, and Zoro/Luffy was about overcoming a challenge(cutting steal and hitting sand). Simple but neat.
But opinions are opinions man. Ma'am. Whichever.
Originally posted by AuraAngel
Also it is interesting that you rate Impel Down so high Bentley. Is it because you are French? mmm
There are only two issues with Impel Down, which are the relatively weak villains (Magellan aside) and the lack of most of the Strawhat crew (but thanks to their absence the story isn't all cluttered). For the rest, it has a literal all-star cast of supporting characters, one of the most unique settings on the series and it changes the "Luffy beats a big baddie" formula that was established so far. I like the fact that it has dire odds and that not only Luffy risks defeat but he's actually beaten in several ways and still manages to move forward.
Of course, it is less about the battles and more about the adventure, but to me this is the one arc that pulls it off without suffering from the uneven pace.
Edit: Next chapter Moriah sneaks in and kidnaps Doflamingo 😈