Did you like Skypeia?

[Warmmedown]

Until Marineford, this was always my favourite arc. The sense of mystery behind "mantra", the extent of God/Enel's power, the poneglyphs and history of the island, was only ever matched by the second half of the Water 7 arc, when Cutty Flam's identity and CP9 were revealed. Enel was the closest to Freeza that One Piece has ever had; the complete feeling of dread and futility that he put the strawhats through has never since been matched by any individual character.

On top of that you had:

- Wiper, who was possibly the most badass single arc protagonist (in a Zoro-esque kind of way)

- Robin's best fight in the series, along with one of Chopper's best

- Norland and Calgara's bromance

- Some of the funniest sequences and moments in the series (Luffy's singing, Zoro and the Southbird, Usopp's crew falling down the waterfall)

Yet, it's far from uncommon to see people express strong dislike for the arc, even going as far recommending that readers/viewers skip it. If you're one of those people: why?

:dawae
holy shit that's cute, in a paedo way

 

[Captain Cadaver]

In my opinion, it was the worst pre-timeskip arc. I've already gone into detail why in the Arc Review/Rating thread, so to make a quick summary it had poor pacing, the plot armour of everyone surviving Enel's attacks and ruining his prediction made him seem ridiculously incompetent and Luffy only beating Enel due to a DF immunity was fairly cheap. It also felt very out of place in the story for both not being used to flesh out Robin's character and the increase in scale it caused being a detriment for the following arc due to actually being too grand an increase. It's hard to see a bunch of assassins who transform into animals as a step up from a "God" who could wipe out entire islands and oneshot everyone other than Luffy.

 

[Papasmurf]

The arc is fillerish, dragged out crap. It literally felt like Part 1's Dressroza if anything.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Enel got stomped by Luffy, first thing they met. Maybe to the other crew-members, but I'd say Crocodile or even from what little I've seen of Doflamingo they fit that description much better.

 

[Pocket-God]

I liked the Skypeia arc

 

[Warmmedown]

I guess it is true that Luffy being able to kick Enel's ass quite quickly isn't very Freeza-esque, but for the majority of the arc there was still a tremendous feeling of dread, which still was great at the time. The way that it was dragged out due to the crew being separated and therefore more vulnerable just added to that for me.

I'd agree with it being a buzzkill for everyone to survive the arc, but really that can be said for every single arc in One Piece, aside from Marineford.

 

[ahill1]

My only complaint about the arc, which made me really annoyed at the time btw, was everyone surviving Eneru's attack at the end. Other than that, I found it an enjoyable arc with a good sense of mystery behind it all, and the way the Java arc connected with the Skypiea arc with Norland's story introducced in the Java arc by the crew reading that book was also a good insight. Not to mention that we have had good flashbacks with good fresh characters like Norland and Calgary and how that influenced the whole story of Skypiea. Good fights as well, like Luffy vs Wiper and Zoro vs Braham. The plot didn't subvert that much compared to the other ones --> with Luffy's crew being at the end the only hope of an entire population -- saving such island from destruction -- party at the end with everyone happy at the crew --- which sometimes turns me off, but it's still somewhat okay I guess.

If not everyone had survived at the end (even that angel's father survived upon receiving an El Thor, which is mind boggling), then it'd be a pretty good arc to me, but I guess the plot-armor is kind of necessary for the vibe Oda wants to give to his story, and the vibe Oda wished to give to the arc at the end of it (with everyone partying and happy) wouldn't fit with everyone dead, dunno.

 

[sei'taer]

Originally i hated it. It's a very cool arc on re-read however.

Also the last good Robin fight in the series.

 

[Symbiote]

Originally i hated it. It's a very cool arc on re-read however.

I agree with this. The only downside to this arc for me is that at times it felt like it dragged shit on for way too long at times.