Toon Zone Talkback - "One Piece": Straw Hats off to Third and Fourth Voyage

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LADY 3MO

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This is the talkback thread for "One Piece": Straw Hats off to Third and Fourth Voyage.


A small correction James...episode 53 is considered the end of season one, despite a new opening in episode 48.

Anyway, since James didn't have much criticism, I guess I'll mention one aspect of the show that's been bothering me: the boss battles. At the end of most major arcs, Luffy fights the leader of a major threatening group, and said leader uses multiple new attacks and/or weapons to fight, each one more powerful than the last. And then there's the ridiculous amount of side commentary from the spectators. Granted, I understand that this is pretty typical with Shonen Jump titles...but it still gets annoying. And from what I understand, this "shonen fluff" continues throughout the series (though I can't say for sure, since I haven't seen it).

But yeah, otherwise I agree with James on this review. It's definitely good storytelling...I just feel it's a bit cliche with the fights.
 
Ooh la la. "Magnum opus of Eastern anime"? What a love letter to the series.

These episodes are actually what made me pick up One Piece. Prior, I had little interest in it. It's one of those titles in which you can tell how much heart the creator put into it. Eiichiro Oda's the type of guy who seems like he absolutely loves his job. It's a real shame that the first company that got its hanRAB on One Piece didn't feel the same way.
 
In later story arcs it's usually the case that Luffy is fighting the big bad while the others fight compatable oponents. Though that's not always the case. And sometimes they even team up to fight the big bad together.

That said...

THIS ladies and gentlemen is where One Piece becomes One Piece. The earlier stories are good but I tend to get bored watching them but the last part of the Barate arc is when I started really getting into the show and once Arlong hit I was awestruck and never really went back. While it has it's moments of dull shonen fluff One Piece continues to surprise me with each story arc offering what I feel I can't find in other shounen series.

It's not without it's problems but I love it to bits and if the Arlong arc does not sell you this series, probably nothing will. While other arcs are better IMO the storytelling is top notch and the drama runs deep and feels real.

Once you hit Logue Town you begin to understand that One Piece while being much about the characters is also about the ever expanding story they're caught up in. Where each new adventure adRAB to the grand world they live in and the adventure truly begins.
 
Well, the thing is it just wouldn't be right if anyone else fought the main villain. All of Luffy's boss battles have all had meaning. With Morgan, he fought to win over Zoro, with Kuro Usopp, with Arlong Nami, not to mention the deeply rooted philosophical differences. At the end of the day, Luffy's the captain and as such represents the crew through his actions, and knocking down the toughest of foes is the only way to get noticed. Again, Arlong wouldn't mean what it is suppose to if Nami defeated Arlong. Hell, it wouldn't even be as entertaining!

One Piece does begin to take deeper story root from here on, though. With the upcoming seven voyages the stage is set for the rest of the series. If Season One was about getting on the map, Season Two is about getting the World to notice.
 
Actually if Nami could have defeated Arlong that would have been interesting but she couldn't, she had to rely on Luffy and the others to take down Arlong Park and that's where much of the emotion comes from.

Season 2 isn't about getting the world to notice. Season 2 is about helping a new companion save her kingdom.

Actually none of the seasons is about getting the world to notice. Luffy doesn't really care about that IMO. He thinks it's cool that he gets a bounty but not for reasons of wanting to be noticed. Nothing is more important to him than protecting his crew and finding One Piece but he gets easily sidetracked by temptations of a new adventure even if it wont get him closer to his goal.
 
I mean from Oda's POV. In the first season the Straw Hat's hit the map, in the second the world begins to notice (or at least the government).
 
Again, I don't consider that to be the case. The government was taking an interest in Monkey D. Luffy before the end of the first season. In the second season the government did barely anything only Smoker, Tashigi and some loyal troops of their own were looking for Luffy and that wasn't because the government wanted them to that was more so Smoker not content with Luffy getting away.

The world government doesn't really take notice of the Straw Hats until Water 7 or slightly before that. Only at the end of season 2 does the government actually try to get Luffy and his crew. So in that sense it could be a build up to getting noticed but since that's at the end it's not really building to that. It's building towarRAB the defeat of Crocodile and saving Alabasta.

I don't believe it was Oda's goal to set up events to get the straw hats noticed by the government in season 2 or even beyond that point but then again I'm not going to claim to know what goes on in Oda's head... nobody should. He's thought so many steps ahead... its rediculous.
 
I wouldn't say it was his sole intent, but the way things panned out it certainly made a big fuss in the government when the gang saved Alabasta. But it was those next two big events that got the entire world looking at the Straw Hats, not that it was their intent.
 
So if anything Oda was building a story to get the straw hats noticed by the world and the government in Water 7 and the Archepelago (sp?) where the anime is now.

Now steering back to the topic.

One thing I really love about the end of the first season is we have the first major villian comeback and as Buggy is one of my favorites I was thrilled to see him seek out his revenge on Luffy at first through burabling mishaps and eventually he actually catches him making Buggy seem like much more of a threat than he was in his initial story arc.

Also Smoker's first apperance like any of his apperances is made of awesome and win along with the awkward tension between Zoro and Tashigi due to her reserabling someone dear to him.
 
All I know is that Oda knows how the series is going to end, but at the same time I know that he didn't originally plan for there to be more than one Devil Fruit. So I think there's no partcular order of how the ideas come about.
 
Well, that might've just been something that changed between his prototypes of Romance Dawn and the series proper. If Oda changes stuff on the fly (which is typically hard to tell) then it's probably because he's inspired. I mean, look at Chopper for instance!


But yes, on topic...much love for James' love. I could never in a million years write such a great review for such a great series!
 
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