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An Open Letter to Rym and Scott: One Piece
Dear Rym and Scott,
I have been listening to your show for some time now and while I found every episode I listened to very entertaining, there is a topic that came up recently on two separate occasions I have to disagree with the two of you. I for my part am of the opinion that One Piece is a very good series and far from "crap". Don't get me wrong, I respect your opinion and your right to pronounce it but I cannot see how you came to that conclusion.
Actually, I don't see the two of you being fans of any series that runs this long. Not that you two wouldn't be able to handle it, but I wouldn't think that the two of you would want to spend so much effort on a single series. However, One Piece has so many assets I think you guys might like and haven't yet seen or become aware of.
I have been breeding about this a little and while I would be fully prepared to write down a laundry list of good aspects of the series, I decided against it as these things are normally just tedious and tend to make the recipient even more disgruntled about the topic. Instead I am going to ask you to read the Little-Garden arc (chapters 115 to 129, approx. 300 pages) as I believe it contains most of the good assets of the series and would be highly entertaining to you.
I hope you think about it and If you have trouble to find it or don't want to spend money on it, I would gladly provide you with scanlations. In any case I would like to hear more about how you guys formed your opinion on the series.
Sincerely, chaosof99.
I have been listening to your show for some time now and while I found every episode I listened to very entertaining, there is a topic that came up recently on two separate occasions I have to disagree with the two of you. I for my part am of the opinion that One Piece is a very good series and far from "crap". Don't get me wrong, I respect your opinion and your right to pronounce it but I cannot see how you came to that conclusion.
Actually, I don't see the two of you being fans of any series that runs this long. Not that you two wouldn't be able to handle it, but I wouldn't think that the two of you would want to spend so much effort on a single series. However, One Piece has so many assets I think you guys might like and haven't yet seen or become aware of.
I have been breeding about this a little and while I would be fully prepared to write down a laundry list of good aspects of the series, I decided against it as these things are normally just tedious and tend to make the recipient even more disgruntled about the topic. Instead I am going to ask you to read the Little-Garden arc (chapters 115 to 129, approx. 300 pages) as I believe it contains most of the good assets of the series and would be highly entertaining to you.
I hope you think about it and If you have trouble to find it or don't want to spend money on it, I would gladly provide you with scanlations. In any case I would like to hear more about how you guys formed your opinion on the series.
Sincerely, chaosof99.
Comments
However, prior to reading volume 11 there was a fight with a fish man. This fight spanned at least three volumes. I don't care if the manga itself is many many volumes. I care that most of those volumes are boring and pointless fights. No fight should take more than a couple chapters. You have the good guys come in with some attacks, then have the bad guy own them all, then have a new gum gum move and the good guys win.
One Piece is awesome, but 2/3 of it is just fighting that doesn't advance the plot, nor is it interesting in any way. If they just shortened the fights to reasonable lengths, I'd still be reading and watching One Piece.
Naruto, Bleach, and other shonen fighting manga/anime all have this same problem. The first 4 episodes of Naruto were awesome. It was a hilarious ninja school with awesome characters. When I got to episode 13 I realized that the fight that just ended had lasted about 8 episodes. 8 episodes of "haha, I will use this super secret technique", "no, I will use this super secret technique, hahaha!". Yeah, that doesn't advance the plot, nor is it funny. Naruto should have stuck with the funny ninja school that it started with. Once they start getting into tournaments, it's game over.
In general, popular shonen fightings shows tend to have amazing characters, above average animation/art and pretty interesting plots that I would like to follow. However, all of them also have pointless fighting that lasts forever. If they would just make the fights quick and dirty instead of expanding them pointlessly, I'd be a super fan of all of those shows.
Honestly, everyone is allowed to have one or two shonen fighting anime before they realize they are all completely the same. (Mine was Flame of recca and I casually watched Dragon ball back in the day). Shonen fighting shows are generally all flash and not a lot of substance and as you get older it becomes harder and harder to watch a show that runs over 50 eps and doesn't actually get anywhere. So enjoy One piece now and know that you will get tons of enjoyment out of it, but eventually you'll move to another shonen fighting show and realize that your watching the same thing over again with just a slightly different premise. Nothing wrong with liking One-piece but this type of show is aimed at a younger demographic and doesn't hold up well once you've seen a few of them or watched other genre works.
The real problem with One Piece is that they take a great setting and great characters, and then do nothing with them for the majority of their screentime. Waiting out a non-advancing, slow show for the few gems of plot or character development hidden in the fragments is not a good use of my or anyone's time. ^_~
For example, the story I proposed for you to read includes a fight that involves 10 characters and lasts for 4 chapters, in which we experience the setup, we can see what the two new villains that were introduced in this chapters are worth in combat, we see new techniques of other characters and is concluded by analyzing the situation.
Anyway, I think Scott exaggerates a little in his post. The fishmen fight lasts for about 13 chapters (about a volume and a half) which includes multiple fights between different characters. It is hard say that this is story development, I give you that, but this part is not completely pointless as there is a chapter of character development, when one of the characters realizes that he will have to do more than just distract opponents for a little while to be useful to the crew.
As I experienced it I would say that Oda actually implements the story into the fights very well as he uses characters that aren't in a fight to advance the plot and the fishmen fight is probably the part of the series that goes the longest without story development.
Back when I tried to watch DragonBall the two episodes I saw involved watching two characters put on their "Oh mans, I'm passing a huge turd" face while guys watching made comments about how each character was raising their power.
Yeah, I want to watch two guys build balls of light between their legs for a few episodes before something happens. Uh, no.
I like TV shows that are serial in nature but I expect something to be resolved in every episode. Look at Lost, they essentially took their shows and broke them in the middle so that the end of ep 2 is the first half of ep 3. This forces you to keep watching because the problem that is brought out in the end of an episode is answered in the beginning half of the next episode. Comic books also work that way.
The only kind of fighting that is entertaining to watch is the kind of fighting you see in a Jackie Chan movie. It's like a comedic ballet. There is no announcing of techniques. People just fight, and watching them fight alone is entertaining. The art of the choreography itself is what makes watching the fight enjoyable. In a shonen fighting show, it's less like watching a fighting game and more like watching a Japanese RPG. There's no choreography at all. Everyone just chooses a special technique when it becomes their turn.
This style of fighting requires much less animation in anime and much easier drawing in manga. It also allows the fights to last an incredibly long time. It's also mindless and the exact opposite of entertainment as far as I am concerned. It is in fact, painful for me to sit through this kind of fighting. I can't even bring myself to play through a Japanese style RPG these days because the combat is so inane. There's no way you can expect me to watch that kind of fighting and not even be in control of it.
For an example of a good fight in anime, look at the first episode of Cowboy Bebop. Now there's a fuckin' fight. Flipping over tables, kicking punching. No announcing of techniques. No moments wasted. Just pure actiony goodness. Imagine if Cowboy Bebop was done Naruto style. You see Spike on the left and the bad guy on the right. The bad guy announced loudly "I will use bloody eye!" then a sailor moon transormation happens where he uses the bloody eye. He grunts at Spike for a few seconds, then cut to Spikes crazy reaction shot for a few seconds. Spike stands there thinking for awhile. Then says, "haha! tricky kung-fu kick!" and kicks the guy in the face with a panning still shot + sound effect + speed lines. Another minute of grunting and talking, etc.
Saying that one shonen fighting show does fights better than another shonen fighting show is like saying World of Warcraft does grinding better than any other MMORPG. WoW does do grinding better than any other MMORGP, but the problem is that there is grinding in the first place!
Also, less than half of an episode per fight, no long fights, and continuous plot or character movement. Then there's season two, which is amazing.
One Piece has character named Nico Robin who ate a Devil fruit granting here the ability to duplicate her body parts and grow them on objects or people within a certain distance from her. Usually she uses this ability to spy (putting an eye somewhere) or in combat to restrain people or directly break their bones using additional arms. At one point (chapter 453, I looked it up) she is on a bridge that is about to collapse. To safe herself, she sprouts about a hundred arms from her back and forms wings which allow her to fly for about 5 seconds.
I would also like to mention that the problem with anime dragging a story, especially fights out, is composed of both the facts that manga is a far more compact medium than TV and taking more time in a TV series normally creates more ad space. This is also part of the reason filler episodes exist.
In any case I prefer the manga of any anime series if its the original just because it is less time consuming.
taking more time in a TV series normally creates more ad space.That doesn't excuse a bad show or make a bad show somehow better.
This is also part of the reason filler episodes exist.Filler episodes are bullshit. They're the hallmark of bad shows. "Tournament Arc" my ass.
I agree with the opinion comment as well.
Personally I liked One Piece at the beginning. I see this as one of the many series that could be 52 episodes of greatness instead of hundreds of bullshit.
eps. 1 - 13: Good beginning. The crew mates gather in this block
eps. 13 - 26: Get close to the area of one piece
eps 27 - 39: Lots of adventure and plot tying.
eps. 40 - 52: Lots of focus on the end of goal. Good ending.
All the while with awesome action that doesn't take 5 episodes to finish and you have a good condensed One Piece. This can apply to Inuyasha, Naruto, Bleach (Even though I like Bleach but still it's so damn long) or any other long shonen anime I'm forgetting.
@ Viga, yes, Eyeshield 21 is a rugby sports manga afaik.