One Piece lackluster

[Zeke365]

Is it more is One Piece kind of lacking like all the new episodes seem more of filler episodes, not say there bad but they lack the brilliance they once had. Second I watched up episodes 1-206 which are awesome by the way but when I got the new episodes it seemed like they changed the personality of Sanji and Zorro a little bit, now it feels like I m watching a sitcom rather then a action adventure series. Not sure if this has concerned you or not? That or I m getting tried of it.

[Nate]

Well yeah of course their personalities are different, it's like 300 episodes from where you watched to the newest episodes. It's called growth and character development. It's not a good thing if a character is exactly the same from episode 1 to episode 500.

And One Piece has always been goofy man, what are you talking about? I haven't seen the most recent episodes but wacky stuff has always been part of the show so I'm not sure what your criticism is about "feels like a sitcom," and how is that even any different from say, the Baratie arc where they spend a couple of episodes just sitting around a restaurant?

I don't know if the recent episodes are filler or not. They might be, because this is a long-running shounen anime based on a manga, so there's going to be filler, like the Apis arc, the Ocean's Dream arc, or even the G8 arc (although the G8 arc was really good for filler). If they're filler, then yeah, they're probably lackluster. If not, hey, maybe it's just a lousy arc. I know I thought some of Skypeia was kinda dull (though the fight with Enel is great).

[Cat96]

To be honest, I've only seen part of the Water 7 arc as of right now. This arc has such long recaps, its annoying. The filler episodes, while annoying, were entertaining. I loved the omakes at the end of each filler episode during this particular set of filler episodes SPOILER: Highlight text to read: My favorite was the one about who would be the most powerful as a middle-aged woman. Clearly Nami wins. xD I doubt I'll ever be able to watch all of it. What other arcs are good?

[SisterHipster]

Funny thing is I stopped at Skypeia. I saw some 2 year time skips...:sigh: Looks disappointing to me.

[goldenspines]

*cracks her knuckles*

There are three types of One Piece fans. But before we get to that, let me explain filler in One Piece (and other long anime) and why it's not always a bad thing (except in Bleach XP)

First off, for educational purposes.

What is filler in anime? Most anime are based off a manga. In the case of an anime being made after the manga is finished, there will be no filler (usually). But in the case of One Piece, which is still ongoing in the manga, filler needs to be made. Basically, it's original content usually directly inspired by the mangaka (if the anime directors are smart).

Why do we need filler? Because anime episodes come out faster than manga chapters do and can cover more ground. And do you know what happens if the anime catches up to the manga? They have two choices. 1) Put the show on hold and wait for the mangaka to come out with more content or 2) Make up their own stuff that may deter from the upcoming story (see: the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime).
Both of those choices are not good, so instead, the creators of the One Piece anime hang back a while in the story, slow it down slightly and add filler if they need to as to not get too close to jumping ahead of the story in the manga.

Thankfully, One Piece is fairly easy to make filler for regarding its format (traveling from island to island). You will only notice some more filler later on in the series because that's when they started catching up too close to the manga.

BONUS: Recaps are added for the sake of the actual intended audience of One Piece, who does not marathon it, but watches it weekly on TV. By audience, I mean children from ages 4-13. Recaps are actually quite useful in really long anime like One Piece. But, I mean, if you're marathoning it, you can just skip the recap episodes. XD;


So back to the OP's comments, I've watched probably too many sitcoms, and One Piece is nothing like them. What One Piece is, though, is a journey. And a tough one at that. Which is one of the sad reasons I have a hard time recommending it to anyone. I've been reading the manga almost since it started getting published in the US (back when Shounen Jump was a printed thing in the US) and watching the anime since around episode 150-ish was airing in Japan (2002-ish?).
I've been on this journey for most of my life.
I mean, looking at the first episode compared to the most recent (674 as of today), you will see MASSIVE changes, of course. In production quality, mainly, but also in character development, both personality and visually. There were battles won, battles lost, tears shed and even Luffy, who once considered himself to be the strongest (and we all knew it to be true, too!), strong enough to protect his crew, his family, was beaten to the ground with harsh reality and had his crew taken from him. Life is not all fun and games. It won't go easy on you. But you have to still move forward with the hope that things will get better, because they will.

So then there's the two year time skip thing too that you'll hear about; a seemingly easy "character development" cop out, except it isn't, thankfully. Luffy and his crew already learned the lessons they needed before the time skip, they just needed time alone to accept them and be able to move forward. Everyone needs times to themselves when they've been broken in order to put the pieces back together and comes out a stronger person because of it.
Plus, everyone changes when they grow and learn new things in life, especially when they are still young! New experiences and circumstances affect how you act and how you think. Even a year from now, you will be a different person from what you are now and that's a great thing. It's wonderful to grow and learn new things and to be able to accomplish things you couldn't even dream of trying a few years back.

But if you were looking for a boring anime with no character growth, One Piece is not the anime for you. XP I jest, but seriously, I can be here until the cows come home telling you that the One Piece journey is worth it, but if you're not liking it, then don't watch it. Watch something else that can inspire you and lift your spirits. No one will fault you for getting tired of a show. *shrugs* People have different interests and that's the great thing about anime, there are so many titles to chose from.


Either that, or y'all are just too impatient and just need to find a more fast paced anime. XD There are plenty of them, though, so don't worry.
I remember the days when we had to download the video and the subs separately (no streaming) and hope both of them worked together to actually watch an episode of anime outside of Japan (unless you wanted to pay through your nose for importing). And if your sub file got corrupted, well, hope you knew Japanese. XP
Now I really am dating myself, though.


P.S. The three types of One Piece fans are those who love the manga, but are too impatient for the anime, those who enjoy the anime but haven't really read the manga ( and that is a-okay with them), and those who prefer the manga, but will watch the anime just to see their favorite parts come to life.

[SisterHipster]

Nah, I just think they went way too fanservicey after the 2 year time skip and I won't watch it. Besides, I thought their are way too many episodes to watch for just one series. That would be a thank you to Toonami for interrupting my love for the series and then haven't hardly watched it for like~ 4 years not counting a couple of guy friends I ended up watching it with one day on a college campus.

[Nate]

Now I really am dating myself, though.

I dated myself once, it didn't work out so well. I was just too demanding for my tastes and I always wanted to watch TV or play video games instead of taking myself out somewhere nice.

[goldenspines]

Nah, I just think they went way too fanservicey after the 2 year time skip and I won't watch it. Besides, I thought their are way too many episodes to watch for just one series. That would be a thank you to Toonami for interrupting my love for the series and then haven't hardly watched it for like~ 4 years not counting a couple of guy friends I ended up watching it with one day on a college campus.

Okay cool. I can respect people not watching a show because it contains content they don't agree with/don't like/etc. I have never seen any fanservice in One Piece, though, but I suspect we have varying definitions. Somewhat scantly clad female pirates in One Piece, yes. Fanservice that objectifies women/men as sexual objects with no human value? No.
There are shows out there that use the latter, but One Piece is not one of them.

Plus, not everyone will like epics, so that's cool too. That's why there are only a few anime series that exceed the 26 episode mark or even the 52 mark. The selected few that are longer are fairly popular, though (Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball, Fairy Tail), but still others never get to the level of followers that those do either (Hitman Reborn, Detective Conan, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Fist of the North Star, the list goes on)

Then there are some anime that should have been longer (RIP Giant Robo).

But yeah, anyway, since you haven't seen One Piece in 4 years, it probably wasn't for you. Hopefully you've found stuff to watch that you can enjoy more and that inspires you. ^_^

[Nate]

I think she means how Nami went from wearing an actual shirt to just kinda wearing a bikini top and she is um...well-gifted, to put it delicately. I mean I don't really see a problem with it but I understand it would bother some people.

[Mullet Death]

*Cracks fingers for keyboard warrior prep*

What arc of One Piece are you currently watching? The Long Ring Long Land arc or whatever it's called with the Foxy Pirates? That arc is very silly, but I thought it was great nonetheless. *shrugs* Also, I'm not sure what you mean by sitcom, unless you really are just referring to this particular arc, and incidentally Sanji and Zoro refusing to get along is a very long-running gag. Yes, there are many silly things in the show, but there are plenty of serious or even teary-eyed or all-out-balling moments in the show as well, sometimes all in the same episode. One Piece is very "broad" as Mike McFarland describes it in the Funimation dub's audio commentaries. There's so much material and so many characters and so many things going on; there's drama, adventure, action and those big, over-the-top Shonen Jump fights, and yes, comedy, and more. It even lifts me up spiritually sometimes, in a way that take a very long post to attempt to explain. It's nothing like a sitcom lol.

In any case, I really think you should just stick it out and keep watching if you think you have the stamina, and I would say that to anyone who would try to tackle the series. Anyone who loves animation and can stomach extremely long shows should watch One Piece. I don't like to hype shows or use trite words like "epic," but if any series is worthy of being called an epic adventure, then it would definitely be One Piece.

Is it perfect? The stereotypical "No, but nothing is" answer applies here. There's arguably more fan service past the time skip (at least in the form of Nami rarely wearing a shirt over her top; overall the show is rather tame in that regard in my opinion), the pacing is slow and seems to slow down in the later arcs, and there are huge recaps every episode (though admittedly, they are definitely NEEDED in this series, and that becomes irrelevant if you're watching on the DVDs and using the "marathon" feature). Then there's those things in the franchise that broke my suspension of disbelief, some of which are spoilers, so I won't mention most of them. One example that particularly rustled my jimmies was in the recent (for me) Fishman Island arc, where Sanji's SPOILER: Highlight text to read: life was literally, physically endangered because he was getting a nosebleed because he was aroused by the mermaids. It had serious music and everything. (For the record, as far as I know, it's not possible to get a nosebleed from being aroused like this anime trope.) I was dumbfounded by the stupidity of it all.

None of the series' flaws are reason enough to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I can truthfully say that there hasn't been a single episode I genuinely disliked; they all have something going for them. (Even those first few couple episodes, which I didn't like art first, have grown on me.) One Piece is freaking awesome. Again, I don't like hyping it, lest someone new to it try it out and be disappointed, but.. It can keep going for over another ten years as far as I'm concerned, and by all accounts, it probably will. Viva la ワンピース！ :p