New One Piece's main problems

[ahill1]

So, I think that most agree that there was a drop in quality in OP post Time-Skip. We could dissect arc by arc and comment on its problems, but I feel the main problem overall is the writing growing stale and predictable. There's a nice formula already used on previous arc that we pick on, killing a bit the originality every new island and adventures were supposed to have. There seems to be a problem regarding innovation in regards to the structure of new arcs.

How many times have we seen Luffy's crew setting foot on an island, seeing something is wrong with it and reuniting a bunch of rebels that added to the cause? How many times have we seen Luffy losing the first fights only for him to be back stronger afterwards and end up squeezing out a win? What about enemies that are set for certain crew characters to face?

So that's the main problem imo. The structure of each arc seems to be stuck, adding little variety to things that could be explored in an innovative manner. This lack of innovation also stands true to the characters, that seems to undergo little to no development. Usopp has trained his ass off in an island full of wild animals and yet is whining at every difficult situation. Luffy is still as happy go looking and careless as ever, without thinking at the consequences of his actions.

Looking at Wano now... We've pretty much a similar initial development as Dressrosa. Many potential allies that are little by little gathered as a means to add to the coup, like in Dressrosa, in which we saw how many people were reprimanded by Doflamingo, adding to his downfall. There is no much variety.

These are one of the reasons that arcs like Impel Down or Marineford were such a hit. They seemed to stray a little from the overly predictable structure carved on most arcs. It has worked very well for Alabasta, CP9... But when the same structure gets overused, there's little to look up for besides the battles with the new more threatening enemies.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I'd agree that staleness and repetitiveness are amongst the main problems, primarily when it comes to characters remaining static and not developing beyond the status-quo (Luffy still making the same dumb decisions even after Ace's death was supposed to act as a turning point for him, Sanji being a jobber even in his own arc, Brook using the "panties" joke several dozen times when it stopped being funny after the first 3, etc.), along with repeating Shonen cliches that are even more obvious than prior to the timeskip such as the egregious amount of plot armour the Straw Hats have and asspulled power ups such as Gear 4th that retroactively damage previous arcs such as Fishman Island (why didn't Luffy use it to destroy the Noah?).

I'm not sure whether to blame Oda or Jump more for the static characters, since this does seem like a marketing ploy for new fans to be eased into the series when being forced to start hundreds of chapters into it. That still doesn't excuse the execution, however, as there are plenty of long-running Shonen that still put in the effort to have their characters grow such as Hunter X Hunter, Dragon Ball and even Part 2 Naruto.

In terms of repetitiveness, there's also that the cast has become far too large and many personalities being far too similar to allow many to stand out anymore. It's very much a similar case to Part 2 Naruto or the later arcs of DBZ - having too many irrelevant characters and not doing much for them to do more than fade into the background after their purpose has been fulfilled. Yet another reason why Fullmetal Alchemist is still the best action/adventure Shonen; it actually bothered to utilise the bulk of its cast well and found new things for them to do after their initial purpose was fulfilled.

Another major flaw would be the focus on mystery bait that leads to poor pacing. Plenty of important details could've been revealed already such as the many events at the Reverie, yet important events that don't concern Luffy are usually skipped over and infodumped later to hide details for the endgame, rather than revealing them naturally when appropriate. Due to this, many arcs seem lacking when only adding a small piece to the bigger picture such as Skypiea only having something wider to it in the finale or (more recently) a lot of Fishman Island and Dressrosa just being an excuse to hype up the Straw Hats by extending a plot that could've been trimmed down to a third of its total length.

 

[ahill1]

The pacing is indeed something that shouldn't go without a mention as a negative concerning current OP. While one could point out that such is the impression we get from having one chapter a week, there're many plot points that could be trimmed down to half the amount spent to dive on it, like you said.

It might be only me, but it'd be also cool if we had some conflicts revolving around other abilities from the crew that doesn't end up solely on battles. While it might be asking too much since OP is a Shonen manga, having a plot point revolving around a disease in which Chopper would have to put his medicine expertise to the test would be nice, for instance.

Mystery bait concerning death from main characters is also something that gets under my skin, especially when the chapter ends on a cliffhanger related to what happened to X character. Law vs Doffy as an example... Guy was cut from all his body, shot, used his vital energy to employ a large room and still didn't stop... Still was pulling off things at the end. The lengths that the plot armor will take some characters to just kills any potential mystery we were supposed to have when such character is in "danger".

 

[Captain Cadaver]

While one could point out that such is the impression we get from having one chapter a week

I'd definitely argue against that line of thinking. I'd say it'd probably feel even worse when reading an arc such as Dressrosa in bulk.

It might be only me, but it'd be also cool if we had some conflicts revolving around other abilities from the crew that doesn't end up solely on battles. While it might be asking too much since OP is a Shonen manga, having a plot point revolving around a disease in which Chopper would have to put his medicine expertise to the test would be nice, for instance.

I wouldn't say it's too much to ask of a Shonen with the right creativity. For instance, Jump is well known for having serialised both JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Hunter X Hunter, both series well known for alternating between typical battles and less physical cases of problem solving when it comes to their plots (particularly in Parts 3,4 and 6 of JoJo as well as the Hunter Exam, Yorknew and Chimera Ant Arcs of HxH).

 

[ahill1]

That's true. I guess one could point out to Sanji's cake controlling Big Mom as an example, but eh.

I'd like for this new arc to subvert expectations and have someone else taking the spotlight, like Law or Zoro, with this new sword. But that's probably hoping too much.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

It's definitely hoping for too much with Oda's priorities, given how he shafted characters who should've been the central part of their arc such as Law in Dressrosa or Sanji in WCI in favour of having Luffy hog all the glory.

When Gohan taking the lead in the Cell Games seems innovative by comparison, you know something's wrong with your story structure.

 

[Boo Brand Milk]