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- Nov 19, 2020
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My buddy is watching One Piece for the first time and every week we get through a series of episodes/chapters. He watches while I re-read the manga alongside him, which leads to some interesting discussing between the differences that I didn't even realize (And sometimes we just get stuff dead wrong WHOOPS).
This week we have FINALLY arrived at the Grand Line, and discussed the following:
I also put a tl;dr at the bottom of this post for those of you who aren't into reading walls of text!
Reverse Mountain
For reference, I read the manga while he watches the anime and we discuss the similarities/differences along the way... This is the first time there's really been a big discrepancy.
Unfortunately for the anime Reverse Mountain is weird because there is a filler arc that leads into it. You miss out on a lot of intensity that the manga brings building up to climbing the *Mystery Mountain*, and upon skipping the filler you go from leaving Loguetown straight into the Straw Hats going down the mountain towards Laboon. He was... Confused, and the impact was a bit lost.
He HATES Luffy. And as such, he was frustrated that the entire Reverse Mountain Arc even happened in the first place. Had Luffy just NOT punched Laboon, then they would've sailed right by peacefully and the series of events wouldn't have mattered. He got really stuck on this, and it killed the arc for him a bit.
With that, he just didn't even understand Luffy attacking Laboon at the end of the arc. I try to explain my thoughts on it, and I think he's finally starting to understand how Luffy functions, but he said while watching it he was just CONFUSED.
He did enjoy the world building and he is liking how animals are getting more and more incorporated into the world. Chou Chou, Laboon, Seagulls delivering mail, Snail phones. It's all very fantasy and, while ridiculous, he does seem to be liking it.
Whiskey Peak
He loves Zoro, and as such, loved him going HAM on all the townspeople and once again showing his strength and whit.
He DID NOT enjoy the Luffy vs. Zoro fight. We both agreed that it felt a little bit like fan service, and it was a bit out of character for Luffy to just want to KILL one of his crewmates.
He doesn't love power levels, so he did have some issues with the Baroque Works numbering system, but he does like the fact that these arcs are less episodic, and that the story is being built up throughout multiple arcs.
He didn't love Igarams character, and enjoyed the unexpected surprise of him being NUKED IMMEDIATELY and "Dying" (Boy is he going to be disappointed).
He liked Miss All Sundays character from the little bit we saw from her, thought it was interesting that she blew up Igaram, but also found it a bit conflicting that she would kill him so quickly but do nothing to the Straw Hats. He hated that Luffy destroyed the Eternal Pose (Who could have guessed he would hate that?)
Koby-Meppo
We didn't talk a ton about this side story, but he enjoyed the character development from Helmeppo more than he expected, but didn't really feel anything change in Koby. He was also a bit confused on what in the world Garp even saw in the two of them in the first place.
Finishing Thoughts
While he may have complained about a lot of things, he said that he genuinely enjoyed these arcs, and he really likes the less episodic direction that the story telling is taking. He didn't expect the Grand Line to be filled with islands of just... people, and he likes that it appears that each island has its own theme both politically and thematically. He likes the plotline of the civil war in Alabasta, and is excited to see where that goes to.
tl;dr Reverse Mountain put a bad taste in his mouth, but he loves that the story and arcs are becoming less episodic.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Let here em! I would love to get a discussion going. I know he can have some hot takes, but I also think it's those thoughts that lead to the best discussions between us. I would love to get some other points of view because, while I love One Piece, I am FAR from being an expert on the series.
This week we have FINALLY arrived at the Grand Line, and discussed the following:
- Reverse Mountain
- Whiskey Peak
- Koby-Meppo Sidestory
I also put a tl;dr at the bottom of this post for those of you who aren't into reading walls of text!
Reverse Mountain
For reference, I read the manga while he watches the anime and we discuss the similarities/differences along the way... This is the first time there's really been a big discrepancy.
Unfortunately for the anime Reverse Mountain is weird because there is a filler arc that leads into it. You miss out on a lot of intensity that the manga brings building up to climbing the *Mystery Mountain*, and upon skipping the filler you go from leaving Loguetown straight into the Straw Hats going down the mountain towards Laboon. He was... Confused, and the impact was a bit lost.
He HATES Luffy. And as such, he was frustrated that the entire Reverse Mountain Arc even happened in the first place. Had Luffy just NOT punched Laboon, then they would've sailed right by peacefully and the series of events wouldn't have mattered. He got really stuck on this, and it killed the arc for him a bit.
With that, he just didn't even understand Luffy attacking Laboon at the end of the arc. I try to explain my thoughts on it, and I think he's finally starting to understand how Luffy functions, but he said while watching it he was just CONFUSED.
He did enjoy the world building and he is liking how animals are getting more and more incorporated into the world. Chou Chou, Laboon, Seagulls delivering mail, Snail phones. It's all very fantasy and, while ridiculous, he does seem to be liking it.
Whiskey Peak
He loves Zoro, and as such, loved him going HAM on all the townspeople and once again showing his strength and whit.
He DID NOT enjoy the Luffy vs. Zoro fight. We both agreed that it felt a little bit like fan service, and it was a bit out of character for Luffy to just want to KILL one of his crewmates.
He doesn't love power levels, so he did have some issues with the Baroque Works numbering system, but he does like the fact that these arcs are less episodic, and that the story is being built up throughout multiple arcs.
He didn't love Igarams character, and enjoyed the unexpected surprise of him being NUKED IMMEDIATELY and "Dying" (Boy is he going to be disappointed).
He liked Miss All Sundays character from the little bit we saw from her, thought it was interesting that she blew up Igaram, but also found it a bit conflicting that she would kill him so quickly but do nothing to the Straw Hats. He hated that Luffy destroyed the Eternal Pose (Who could have guessed he would hate that?)
Koby-Meppo
We didn't talk a ton about this side story, but he enjoyed the character development from Helmeppo more than he expected, but didn't really feel anything change in Koby. He was also a bit confused on what in the world Garp even saw in the two of them in the first place.
Finishing Thoughts
While he may have complained about a lot of things, he said that he genuinely enjoyed these arcs, and he really likes the less episodic direction that the story telling is taking. He didn't expect the Grand Line to be filled with islands of just... people, and he likes that it appears that each island has its own theme both politically and thematically. He likes the plotline of the civil war in Alabasta, and is excited to see where that goes to.
tl;dr Reverse Mountain put a bad taste in his mouth, but he loves that the story and arcs are becoming less episodic.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Let here em! I would love to get a discussion going. I know he can have some hot takes, but I also think it's those thoughts that lead to the best discussions between us. I would love to get some other points of view because, while I love One Piece, I am FAR from being an expert on the series.
