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Why are One Piece fights becoming boring?
Topic Started: May 8 2015, 11:42 AM (288 Views)
Commander Neg
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There was a time when fights in One Piece were filled with creativity and suspense and wonderment and all sort of goodies.

What did the great fights of One Piece (Luffy vs. Crocodile, Zoro vs. Daz Bones) have that has been missing recently? Well, I'm going to go with limitation.

Its a curious fact, but a fact all the same, that a fictional world seems most interesting not when its balls out crazy but when its rules are just as limited and consistent as our own. Things can't just happen because you want them to.

Logias have laws that make them Logia, Zoans have laws that make them Zoan, Paramecia had laws that made them Paramecia.... and if you sometimes had those laws cross and wash over each other because of an established exception to those laws (like Mythical Zoans having Paramecia and/or Logia properties because they're mythical creatures), than that made the whole thing that much more creative and fun.

Now I will grant that we don't know an awful lot about Paramecia DF's Awakening or whatever, but based on what Doflamingo implied and showed this chapter, it seems like another excuse to remove limitation and just let everything go... and mark my words, the more limitations we remove the more boring these fights are going to become.

Awakened Zoans was a great idea because Zoans are a very restricted DF type to begin with. Doing it with a DF type as versatile as Paramecia (and potentially, Logia) though and I predict chaos and ass pulls and cats up trees and all sort of other bad things.

This is to say nothing of power-up overload where you just keep inventing new power-ups and enhancements and ways of fighting without even exploring what you just made.... Toriko is famous for this.

Anyway, these are just my musings. I'm not as outraged at this as I was outraged at Haki, but I don't like the look of it. Thoughts?
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Rakiyo
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they wanted to be artists they would just be artists. Oda is skilled enough to just be an artist if he really wanted. He could just join with another author and do all the art as there are many mangaka duos with 1 artist and 1 author. No one becomes a manga author because they like art they do it because they like manga.

The reason some series get drawn out is due to editors and fans demanding an author keep producing a series. One Piece is the most popular series of all time, even if Oda did something insane that readers don't like there is still going to be a demand for the product. It is difficult having a hit manga because you feel pressure to finish the story while at the same time pressure to continue indefinitely and give fans what they want. There is no guarantee if you start a new manga that you will be successful in the future. I don't think that Oda should end the series or that One Piece has gotten boring but it is just an example.

It is very difficult for an author to just quit and start a new series which is likely what it takes to really get them to be creative again. Atleast for One Piece the story and world is created in such a way where every arc/island can take on a new genre or feel.

With something like Naruto it was incredibly limited with it being set in a world of ninjas where in interviews Kishi would talk about wanting to make a gangster manga and he even has one shots from before naruto on that topic but he was handcuffed by his existing universe and forced to continue. Even now he is doing spin offs and working on movies where he can't be allowed to start a new project.

In a shonen manga you have to progress the story and show development of characters. That means they need to get power ups. There is really no example I can think of where characters don't get power ups as the story progresses even in U.S. comics this is the case except they have the luxury of killing characters or doing reboots and an interconnected universe which manga doesn't have the luxury of. It is just kind of an obvious thing where over time you start to reach a peak in terms of power/capability where if a character is capable of everything they all start to become indistinguishable or unique and the fights are boring. I mean in dragonball you can only have a beam battle so many times before it gets stale.

I'm personally not really worried about One Piece...yet. Gear 4 was very unique and even if this fight hasn't been an epic 1v1 showdown that people wanted if you wait until the end and reread the entire fight through it is going to be much better because that is just Oda's style where things always are better in retrospect when you can read them back to back instead of week to week.

Also you mention the crocodile fight or Zoro vs. Mr.1 but Lucci fight had tons of power ups and was great. I liked Oars/Moria fight as well and I imagine I will like this fight once it is over and I can put the entire thing in perspective.
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Konan
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I understand your concern for One piece going down the slippery slope of shonen however I'm suprised this didn't happen sooner. especially with how long the series has ran.

I have faith in oda that he'll still make it entertaining
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Gunslinger
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every arc in One Piece has a very different genre, feel, environment, and sometimes it even has its own fighting system. The potential is definitely there.
Edited by Gunslinger, May 8 2015, 01:53 PM.
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Rakiyo
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Yes but Oda can't just end an arc and then decide that Luffy becomes a girl and changes the setting to the wild west instead of pirates because that would be more creative and is what he wants to do. (JoJo actually did both of these things).

The same way Marvel comics can make Spider-Man hispanic or Captain America black or make anyone Thor or kill anyone or reboot the Universe multiple times to keep things fresh these are all challenges manga authors have to find a way to get around while being stuck with the limitations of their existing universe and characters. The same way you say that limitations require creativity is true but it only works up to a point where once you hit that point you have to introduce a new power up or system or idea to expand beyond that to avoid falling into stagnation.

Well I guess he could do something radical, but at that point you really couldn't call it one piece anymore it would just be a new manga series. I personally hope we see Oda accelerate the pace and finish the series within a few years. Dressrosa certainly did not need to go so long, and while it is one of Oda's strengths it is also a weakness where he gets really side tracked from moving the plot along with developing and introducing side characters where he could certainly tell the same story in a more direct and efficient way.

The dramatic flashback part of every arc is something I've come to dread even for characters I like because at this point Oda relies on it too much and it is hard to come up with a unique backstory especially when he does it for multiple characters throughout the arc. Law really never even needed his flashback he was already a sympathetic and developed character, but as much as I like Oda you can see some of his habits and flaws that obviously these things become more apparent to readers and lead to greater frustration because the first time you read it is amazing but by the 10th time it gets rather old.
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Frosty
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I'm actually excited, I've always felt that the one piece fights were never as good as its other shonen counterparts (Toriko and bleach to name a few ) but with this new idea implemented, I am legimetely excited for what's about to happen.
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Tetsuo
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After 10 plus years I feel like one piece has done a wonderful job at the pacing of battles and abilities.

I'm sure the awakening will merely be another facet of battle to look forward to
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