My best friend died last week. He introduced me to One Piece like 15 or so years ago and we'd both been weekly readers since. We both followed yours and TNM's review of the series and thoroughly enjoyed your videos. As you were catching up we'd always text one another to let the other know that you had dropped a new video and we'd watch and just talk about what a joy it was to experience OP through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. I want to thank you deeply for that. He loved seeing new people discover and fall in love with the story he'd been following for close to 20 years. It hurts a lot knowing that he won't be there to see the end but I appreciate so much that you allowed him to sort of experience the whole thing with fresh eyes. Thank you Merphy.
I hope you post this to oda. It would be nice to hear that now that he's getting all the hate or people who work for him are about one piece live action. Its just another way to experience the story and I hope or wish your friend had an idea of how it ends...we are all on the journey together and as luffy said, it wouldn't be fun to know the shortcut answer...and hxh said...its about the journey.
The "He laughed" panel made me feel so many emotions, it's was like I understood what the One Piece was but I couldn't put it into words and Roger's laughter hid an unspoken tragedy that made my eyes watery
The slow build up to Luffy being revealed as the Hero of Liberation, Joyboy, by constantly doing things to liberate people. Everybody calls that a “twist,” but it’s really just an affirmation of who Luffy is.
Intentional or not he just does it as a byproduct of his actions. He didn't need any other reason t fight Enel other then he hurt his friends. That spiraled into the freeing of an entire oppressed nation on the brink of genocide. It really is the person he's always been.
This^^!!! Im glad someone gets it. I cant tell you how much it irritates me that people complain calling this a “retcon” or a “reincarnation” that has caused luffy to be “destined” to win his fights.
@@Aether-wd6wn but that's _exactly_ what it is, though. Doesnt matter whether its good or not, its plain to see the original intent of the fruit was _not_ to be a Mythical Zoan...
@@frenchynoob this is true. What i meant to say was ppl calling it a bad retcon, like a series hurting one. My bad for neglecting that. But yeah retcons are everywhere, it’s unreasonable for people to come at every single one. Almost EVERY series author changes their mind about something, even if its just one small thing in the early parts of the story when all the planning and mapping out is still happening
Favorite part of Wano hands down was all the reunions. Sanji and Zoro on that panel together was immaculate, Kid and Luffy seeing each other for the first time since Sabaody, Marco coming back to help Luffy.
Luffy and Zoro's reunion is the best of these, hands down. It's a perfect "show, don't tell" moment. You can tell just how deeply these two care about each other. The normally stoic Zoro displays such pure, unbridled joy and Luffy tackle-hugged Zoro the exact same way he did to Sabo when he realized his long-thought-dead brother was alive after all.
Beware of that contest winner reply if it wasn't obvious. 99.9% sure it's a scam. I've now had one of those exact same types of contests winner scam replies on three separate one piece videos.
Tama was such an interesting character to follow. Seeing a small child suffer and struggle, but ultimately be the bane of the beast pirates was so fulfilling.
Ms. Merphy, you my favorite book reviewer. Dropped this right when I needed to get some studying and college work done. You are amazing. Glad to run back through and see just how bleak it was, and how the chaos of the strawhats become the eye of the storm.
The SMILEs reveal is the highlight of the arc for me, since it is Oda's specialty: small pieces and clues culminating in a reveal that in retrospect makes a lot of sense.
@FlyFoxZone 03 indeed. I diss oda whenever he makes sh*t, but i do praise him at times where he's cookin real good. But at least oda is back on track on egg head island arc if you're still following OP manga.
@@skreyao4898yeah agreed wano for me is 7/10 at best.There are so many reasons I am disappointed with wano like. -this arc is dragged too long. -there is not much tension even though we fight against the strongest pirate and two yonkou. -yamato is cringe with the Oden thing even though I like her backstory. -too many fake deaths. -big mom feels like a joke in this arc. -ending feels too rushed. I right now literally convince that op fans will hype anything that oda does like he is a god.btw egghead arc are peak and I'm glad oda finally comeback with some good shit rn.
I’m so early so I wanna say Wano has soo many good moments, best parts are odens flash back, the surroundings, episode - 1015/chapter 1000.. can’t wait for this next arc
I've always thought Zoro was an unwilling Conqueror he's the kind of guy that's either all or nothing, so when he got a cursed blade that was used to cut Kaido and tame it, was taught by the world's strongest swordman, scarred Kaido and blocked conquest of the sea even after Kaido acknowledge him as a conqueror he doesn't own it at first because I believe in Zoros eyes he wouldn't call himself a conqueror until he completes his dream which is why his unlocking of it was my favorite
I get the feeling that we won’t return to Wano to open the borders and get Pluton. We haven’t revisited an island before. (except for the return to Sabaody) The border’s being opened might be something Momo decides on his own, and when Yamato sets out to sea, it’ll be with Pluton, eventually meeting back up with the Straw Hats with it.
No I think we will bc it's the final arc, or to say it will come back to them (island is a ship after all). Madam Shirley had a vision of Luffy back in fishmen island. I get a feeling there will eventually be a timeskip but not now.
Alternatively, it might be Blackbeard that goes to Wano for Pluton assuming Caribou is his contact, leading to a confrontation that Yamato loses and realizes her efforts alone aren't enough.
I think my biggest problem with the arc was how disjointed the raid fights felt. Everything leading up to the raid felt concrete and planned out but when we got there the 6x a chapter perspective jumping really pulled me out
My favourite moment for Wano might seem strange but it was actually the page turn to Oden dancing in the street. I've never quite experienced such disappointment before from a panel before, like true gut wrenching anger and pain. Perfectly done imo
I’m grateful for Liam leading me onto your channel. Thank you for your exploration of this arc. Despite it being longer than Dressrosa, it felt more condensed. I think that birdcage part did it for me. The Act structure of Wano helped too. Definitely agree that the arc felt rushed at the end, after the big fight was done it was time to move on I guess? But I like your idea of revisiting ideas later on, that makes a lot of sense!
To me it feels like Oda overestimated what he'd be able to do with the medium when he decided to take on Wano. There are too many named characters and even after writing Big Mom's extended crew out of the arc it was still biting off way more than the story could chew. It's just the reality of writing for a comic book, it takes a lot of time to intertwine all these story threads and with a limited lifespan you can only give those threads so much love before you have to move on. Oda lamented in the SBS that there were characters he wanted to expand upon, but did not find the space for. Wano has some high highs, and some big let-downs at the same time. I hope that he and the editors learned from it and decide on a more intimate story centered around the main cast for the next island they land on.
I'm not mad at Wano, and i think we got a ton from the small bits of the strongest creature in the world's background. He's a byproduct of the evil of the world government. From the vodka kingdom selling him to have a seat at the table to his relationship with king stemming from being experimented on. To give away his entire story during this arc probably would have given away the end game and that's why we'll probably get his full backstory once rocks is fully revealed
It’s more on the line that Kaido saw it unfair that the strong should be forced to do anything and strived to make a kingdom where the strong rules. Which is his ideal of what freedom should be.
It felt to me that Oda had planned for a few more chapters for Yamato's motivations, Hiyori's and somewhat Momo's closure with/against Orochi and maybe even some more info about Kaido, but he had a time limit to finish Wano's arc taking into consideration the hiatus and the fact that he was going to/is getting additional help from famous magakas, who probably have their own stuff to do.
Alternatively, it might be Blackbeard that goes to Wano for Pluton assuming Caribou is his contact, leading to a confrontation that Yamato loses and realizes her efforts alone aren't enough.
I loved Wano. There are obviously unfinished elements and unanswered questions like Kaido's relation to Rocks (which seems to be what is missing in his character), the grim reaper that appeared before Zoro (which probably is going to be a power-up for the future, Zoro visiting Ryuma (probably a flashback in the next big fight), and some more stuff like that. However, I do feel like it works as a whole package and that it explores a lot of themes in a great way. All of the scabbards serve to explore another component of loyalty, every strawhat (except Brook and Usopp get to shine, which isn't that surprising since Brook just got MVP at WCI and Usopp probably is going to shine in Elbaf or the final saga), the Oden flashback was vital to Wano while also giving us a bunch of mindblowing reveals, and both villains are taken down in a satisfying manner that puts respect on the Yonko name. Could it have been handled better? Probably. The ending seems to have been rushed for Film Red, but we have been getting flashbacks for the stuff that was missing so I won't complain. I feel like this arc will age better when we have gotten answers for some of the questions raised here and we have seen Wano countries' true role in the story (since some elements definitely are coming back). It's like I always say, a story is more satisfying when you don't get 15 pages at a time and instead experience it all in one go. After finishing WCI, I was a bit worried how Oda would handle Sanji and the raid suit, Big Mom as a secondary villain, and some other stuff but he delivered so I'll put my faith in him. It did also introduce Kozuki Momonosuke, one of the best characters in the entire franchise, and I'll always be thankful for the way that his arc was executed. He is probably in my 5 characters in the entire story so that should tell you how much his story resonated with me. I also find the very concept of arc reviews to be somewhat problematic since that assumes that everything will be answered in the arc. An arc is really nothing. It's just an arbitrary designation on a part of a story and not everything will be dealt with in that timespan. Kaido's backstory is heavily tied to Rocks and we aren't ready to hear about him yet, Zoro's connection with the grim reaper is probably setup for the future and the black blade thing will be something to signify him becoming a master swordsman rather than being answered in Wano etc. Keeping lists of stuff missed in Wano is problematic as there never was any guarantee that these things would be answered here and not be used for the future. Oda could randomly drop a chapter that answers half of the stuff that this reactive community has written down because a lot of this might be used in the future. This happened with Robin (someone's who's full backstory we didn't know until Enies Lobby), this happened with Fishman island (which was delayed a lot since it happened 300 chapters after the Strawhats decided to go there), this happened with Arlong (who didn't have a lot of depth until we found out his full backstory, when we were ready in the story), this happened with Ashura as we only now found out what it was, and this will happen with future things.
Zoro visiting Ryuma in the afterlife feels like a stretch because I'm pretty sure Oda said he wouldn't be dealing with anything or anyone in the afterlife
@@melissateodola1887 Never said afterlife. I said that Oda could flash back to Zoro visting Ryuma, which implies his grave. If I say that I'm going to visit my grandpa, it doesn't mean I'm commiting suicide to see him in the afterlife, it's just a common expression for visiting someone's grave.
I would totally recommend to read and review the spinoff for Ace and his journey if haven't done it. There's a novel and also the manga adaption for it!
"You had the wrong expectations and that's on you" comes up all the time, particularly in manga communities, but I don't find that line of thinking to be particularly productive. Expectations don't exist in a vacuum, they exist because of what is set up in the story. If you asked these same people if they expect Luffy to find the One Piece by the end of the story, I'm sure even THEY would say "yes".
I heard there were people straight gassing wano in wci. Like saying it would make marineford cute and stuff. That’s a very different level of expectations
@@TheRockerX that’s my point tho. People had crazy expectations from that. I didn’t even know that until a month ago in the last reverie. That’s maybe why I have a different outlook on wano than most
@@TheRockerX but that wasn't for wano that was said years ago and clearly about the last war not wano it clear that oda meant when he brings all his characters back into the story for one last big fight . But everyone just assumed it was wano .
Toon piece is my favorite part in the series like it was something magical in my 10 yrs of reading I have never felt anything like while reading one piece . I will never forget chapter 1044
“He just laughed.” Whenever it goes through my mind, it always hits that same chord that it did the day I read it. Beyond that, Oden holding up the vassals, Luffy finally defeating Kaido, and ESPECIALLY Big Mom’s final speech before getting beaten. I re-read those last two multiple times when they happened because of how incredible they were. Truly amazing. For disappointments, I do want to know a little more about Kaido, particularly about his obsession with death. Also Yamato- as every other One Piece fan is upset about. :/
For me, personally, Wano topped Enies Lobby as my favorite One Piece arc of all time...at least for now, with more arcs to go in the final saga. First of all, I thought Kaido having a "Magikarp evolving into Gyarados" kind of Devil Fruit was really cool, and since I'm a sucker for this kind of Japanese mythology AND dragons in general, he's easily my favorite villain. Secondly, the reunions were great. I especially loved the Zoro and Sanji one where they stepped in for Toko. Now that was pretty epic. And let's not forget that scene where Zoro saved Hiyori right in front of Sanji. Easily one of the funniest things I've seen in the series. Sanji's reaction still cracks me up to this day. I also quite enjoyed Luffy and Kid's reunion and constant bickering throughout the entire arc. And of course who can forget about Jinbe reuniting with the Straw Hats and officially becoming a part of the crew? Or Marco and Izo (RIP) coming to help Luffy and the Red Scabbards? Epic moments right there! Oden's flashback might be my favorite flashback in One Piece so far. I mean, dude, I've wanted to know about Roger's journey to Laughtale, and seeing all of that was really amazing! And since Toki is from the Void Century, that could be hinting at a Void Century flashback when Luffy does reach Laughtale eventually. (Much like how a lack of Kaido flashbacks could be hinting at a Rocks flashback sometime down the line.) We know how much Oda loves to play the long game here. While the raid is both a hit (Demon form Robin and Gear 5 Sun God Nika Luffy) and a miss (Orochi taking too long to die and Yamato not really doing anything), the hits, to me, outweigh the misses. Even if the end of Wano did feel a bit rushed, one has to remember that the arc had been going on for the last five years. So I have to imagine that Oda wanted to be done with it ASAP. And given the most recent chapter, it's not hard to see why.
Honestly completely agree. Not nearly as bad as many people make it out to be since there’s moments that are the best in the series. A lot-if not all-of your criticisms and praise resonates with me, especially since I caught up during Wano as well (albeit more towards the start of the Onigashima raid). I also agree with your statement of Wano not being done. It just feels like there’s a lot of stuff that’s yet to be realized in Wano that Oda usually is better at completing. I’m trusting in Oda (who’ve we’ve all ready for 1000+ chapters) to build upon it later, but in the worst case scenario he doesn’t (he isn’t perfect after all), this was still a solid arc with many minor flaws hat build up.
I just recently found this channel and have already fallen in love with the video and the atmosphere, thank you for your work. And as for Wano, as in all arches, there are always pros and cons, but I'm glad that Oda - Sensei was able to implement the arch that he had planned for a long time, she showed a lot and the samurai theme itself always likes. I hope that there will be similar arches in other works that will not let you down. Thanks for the video :D
My favorite part of wano has to either be Zoro's fight with King (flashbacks included) because it gave us a lot of info and made Kaido more human. It showed Kaido as an up and comer and then we finish with zoro doing his badass zoro thing, or Queen's dance routine (If you haven't watched the anime version, do it.). Least favorite thing would either be the lack of Denjiro after they went to Onigashima or not giving us Zoro visiting Ryuuma's grave after everything was over.
Objectively wano may not be the best in OP, but its definitely up there with my favourite arcs. Loved reading it week to week with the fandom, through its highs n lows. The highs of wano to me are just untouched. Loved this arc😭
I feel like I loved it and didn’t have any complaints. Until I heard other people’s complaints and found that I agree with many of them. Kinda sad about it. I feel like I would have been ignorant of the imperfections if I hadn’t heard those complaints.
@@keenancookson8641 Wano is such a massive arc. You can't blame Oda for messing up or falling short on some stuff here and there. Unless you wanna see Wano last for 6 years instead 😆. While I agree with some complaints, i feel like some are just butthurt over their theories not coming true or jumping the gun early on before Oda could even explain properly. Cause you can't get the whole context in just one chapter per week.
If you don't focus on fights in Wano but just on the story telling, it could have been the greatest arc of the series. It's just so creative and so incredible! In my opinion Water 7 and Ennies Lobby are still the greatest arcs so far because they have everything you want in great story with the right pacing.
@@D__634 Honestly the pacing in Wano as well as how much stuff crammed into it was one of the best and worst things about it. Can you imagine the nightmare of tying everything up? And from time to time we also go back outside of Wano to see what's happening which kinda ruins the pacing too.
I do agree that they could have done a whole lot more with Big Mom during Wano. I've thought that if BM isn't dead, she'll reappear when the Straw Hats go to Elbaf, and that could be the final showdown with Big Mom. If yaknow she's not completely melted under Wano.
Loved 90-95% of Wano. Reading it week to week was fun and engaging. It’s just that 5-10% that I didn’t love was really disappointing and was mostly how some plot points were either dropped or concluded. It just shows how sticking the landing really matters.
I love the mug, I just love it. I do agree on a lot of things that didn't get used for redundant, now seeing the later patchwork makes me not love the ending of wano, but I stillll love wano as a whole, as well as the act, where act 3 feels like a whole different story from the arc as
I am at the same boat as you, Wano was a great Arc with an extremely rushed ending, for me Kaido fight was perfectly paced except again the ending. I was super sour about the ending and leftover plot points until I read the last chapter(1059) which gave me hope. To me, it seems Oda rushed the ending of Wano but he is going to close off many plot points in flashbacks like the Yamato reason to stay.
I’m really excited for the what’s to come in the next arc. It’s the first time since entering the New World where we don’t know where we’re heading next. I really hope the next cover page story shows us where Law and Kid end up. Since they’ve all taken different routes out of Wano we won’t be seeing them again until they all reach the end of the New World. So I hope we get to see at least a bit of their journey from here on.
I've been reading One Piece weekly for 8 years. Wano has been by far my favorite arc in the series. Makes me sad seeing people not have the same experience 1. fav scene - G5 Luffy 2. fav parts - Odens flashback, lore dumps/revelations 3. disappointments - not much. probably kin'emon "dying" lol but I don't care much about the fake out deaths
My only down side is that the straw hats fights seemed rushed. However the raid was great with so many reveals and moments. I hope the anime flesh the fights out a little bit longer like they did with the red scabbards vs kaido.
Same bro, personally, Wano is the best arc. It has ups and down, but the highs are so high and epic. Like there's no other moment than can top the panel of roger's laugh and G5..
Coming into Wano, I was expecting to see Awakened Zoans to be portrayed. We saw awakened for Paramecia from Doflamingo and Katakuri. And instead of an awakening of Zoan users such as from King or Queen or even Kaido.... we got one from Luffy. And while that is technically a mythical zoan.... I would have expected at least 1 awakened devil fruit user in a Yonko Pirate crew that is composed of lots of Zoan Devil Fruit users.
Yesss this made me think that kaido never truly went all out because i was expecting him to awaken the whole time so when he was defeated it was probably the most unsatisfactory victory in anime
Well this is a small bit of information in the Road of Laugh vol.4 tale information(it’s like a very small note) but apparently the down side to Zoan awakening is that their is a 50/50 chance that the Zoan DF could overtake the users making them more or less like the jailer beast from Impel Down. They still be strong but they just be basic beasts. This also explained why Kaido was asking Luffy who he was making sure that he wasn’t overtaken from the transformation which also nullify the aspect that Luffy is being control by his fruit.
Hey if oda builds up expectations in his readers with all these hints and then doesn't follow through, it's not your fault for thinking you'd be getting more. He's the one who put the expectations into the readers. It's not like you were expecting things for no reason
True but you shouldn’t be mad at the author does something that you didn’t had in mind. Don’t demand people to die when it’s the author decision, don’t force character to fight someone when their is a bigger task to handle or think their useless if they don’t win the way you want.
Nope, as a reader tou have the right to complain if the Author truly blue balled you. He literally rushed the wano act 3 , dumbed down the villains, plus the allies got some stupid unconvincing power ups, villain backstory are halfbaked and oda left us with more questions than answers.
@@skreyao4898 I do not agree with you at all, especially the villains part. Kaidos backstory for example might not be as extensive as doffys but have you even tried to understand what has been presented ? Sure Oda could’ve done some stuff better but I feel like you’re being disingenuous. Hell I’ve seen your other comment about luffys power up and that was ridiculous 😭
Our expectations do not exist in a vacuum. We expected a lot from one of our favorite authors, because he so often delivers. We expected more because this was the biggest finale in an over 1000 chapters and it was fumbled. I don't buy into this theory that editorial was hounding him to wrap it up, it seems largely motivated in its inception to push disappointment off the creator we love onto some nameless staffers. Not to say editorial is blameless, but It seems much more likely they didn't question set up early in the arc that inevitably divided focus or went nowhere. Even an older editor was likely Oda's junior and read One Piece growing up. It's hard to express when you think something is not working in a relationship like that; not as drastic, but in a similar fashion to much of Jack Kirby's late period works. Only speculating, but if any outside force compelled him to rush the ending, my money is on Kentaro Miura's death. While Miura was a generation older, their both old guard in the industry that have worked on their singular fantasy epic for decades. The reality that Miura will never pen the end of his life's work is pretty stark wakeup call. In his month off much was made of Oda streamlining the remainder of the series, setting deadlines and sticking to them. The last stretch of chapters have convinced me that that time was not wasted. I was a bit crestfallen at the conclusion of Wano, but since they've left the island he's been in rare form. Even down to the paneling, top of mind, this last stretch is the best his composition has consistently been post timeskip. Still capturing moments with crowded panels that are a part of the series charm, without teetering over to cluttered. How Wano wrapped had me worried that the series might also fumble its conclusion but the output since has quelled that concern.
i m so happy we already got additional info on wano immediatly. The Yamato flashback really helped put the ending of wano in context) and i m sure there are several more of those lined up before Wano 2 Samurai Boogaloo
I completely agree with you, we're coming back to Wano at some point to reopen the borders, deal with Pluton, etc. And at that point everything will be fully resolved in a satisfying way. Heck we might have another round with Big Mom and Kaido because I just cant believe that they're dead right now. God i hope my expectations arent too high lol.
Odens flashback is not only my favorite part of Wano, but one of my favorite sections of the entire story so far. Other than that, I echo pretty much all your sentiments about Wano. Solid A-tier arc with numerous S-tier moments. It might change with a re-read sometime in the future though
Also, quick, if Big Mom isn't there, Law and Kid help Luffy fight Kaido, potentially Luffy doesn't even figure out Conqueror's Haki, and DEFINITELY no Gear 5. Plus, what was her purpose, how about Law and Kid awakening, how about the start of other methods to reading poneglyphs other than just Robin (3-eyed tribe), how about Zeus now officially with Nami, I mean her showcase of her devil fruit is amazing. The scene where she applied her soul to her bones to heal themselves and sing out Mama! Are you kidding me!? 🐐🐐🐐
"He laughed" brings tears to my eyes just looking at it. One of the best moments in my 20 years of consuming the media of One Piece. Also, the Yasuie death and aftermath is so well done. The righteous anger of Zoro seems to just radiate off the page when he learns the secret of SMILE.
My favorite part was Kaido being a dragon. Reading those panels are etched into my brain. My least favorite part was the straw hats fights. They seemed way too scattered and rather quick for how long the story was. I was really hoping this could be an enis lobby part 2 with each straw hat getting their own fight and really showing the entire crew at a new level of combat but I don’t think that quite happened.
One more thing I like to mention is the Kabuki structure. Everyone was so dead set on Wano using the structure, but haven't seen any OP you tubers talk about it. I saw an amazing twitter thread that addressed this and showed that it did in fact operate under the kabuki structure. It was just in a more unorthodox way. Also, according to the thread, kabuki plays have abrupt endings that are fast. So, if this is the case, Oda may have had a reason for making the and of the arc so short.
Most of your criticism is valid. But as you said yourself that it is mostly comes from the raid. I think it is also the curse of catching up. Ofcourse every reader has 2-3 things in every arc that he doesn't like but by reading week to week and reading problems of other readers, it adds to frustration. Wano has highest highs as you mentioned. Fake out deaths and BM pirates are my major criticism. Regarding your point of lack of focus on Strawhats is also valid. But Oda put himself in lose lose situation by having that major of cast. Doesn't matter if you give more focus to Strawhats or Vassals, it will always be underwhelming. That's why Marineford and Dressrosa worked well. As in Dressrosa half of the crew is absent to give focus to Grand Fleet and in Marineford where Impel Down escapees which are strawhats equivalent for that arc have one objective. Also, it would be nice if Ashura Doji died after seeing the defeat of Kaido.
Luffy already put his flag down in a couple of places, Wano is not the first. He marked Fishman Island as his territory and took down big mom’s flag. And don’t forget when you first enter the grand line you’ll see a giant whale with the strawhat’s mark.
I believe Toki wasn't looking for Oden (otherwise she wouldn't have attempted to time travel at the beach before they met). She was interested in either the present time or 1 year after, but changed her mind due to how much that time period meant to her (she married, had two kids, and return to the place her ancestors were from). Regarding the "1 year after": It is a theory of mine that we are getting a "natural" time skip (organic passage of time) since that would result in both Luffy's 20 birthday and the 25th anniversary of Roger's death.
Man, I love Vagabond, but its been such a long time since I read it that I've forgotten it Another thing that was left abruptly for me was Zoro's meeting with Grim Reaper For what I loved- Sun God Nika's appearance Disappointment- I really wanted Luffy to fight Big Mom and Zoro to defeat Kaido. Zoro hasnt had a super cool moment for a while but even in Wano he didnt get to do something amazing and we all thought it would be his arc. With Ryuma connection it would've been more poetic if he saved Wano from the dragon
I have a lot of favourite parts in Wano Arc, but I have one favourite panel which really high panel for me in this arc. It's not some fighting panel, not plot or history reveal panel. It's the panel where you see how much the boys grow and how long and big journey they come. It's when Jinbei, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy are relaxing and chilling while watching how Momo, Yamato and Scabbars fighting Admiral. This panel made me happy, proud and exciting for future events. I was staring 5-10 minutes when it came and still time to time I open this panel and fell happiness.
I think Kidd getting what he wanted was the Road Poneglyph. Seems like it was confirmed at the end of Wano that he has two of them now. Could be something else too though The only thing we know about Croco-boys background is that he’s actually Croco-mom.
My favorite points about Wano: -Oden/Roger/Whiteboard backstory -Luffy/Kid/Law fighting together -Toki's Blank Century Revelation -Pluton & Wano's Walls -The Scabbards opening up Kaido's old scar with Oden's technique -Luffy declaring himself as Pirate King to two emperors (also ignoring them as he walked to Kinemon) -Luffy's gear fifth -Luffy's Prison fight (poison part) -sanji's body enhancement during the raid & his turmoil -robin's devil form My least favourite points about Wano: -Sanji's perv scenes (again...) -dead but not really dead (I cried when Kinemon "died" only to find out he was already in half) -when did they die??? (Ashura, izo etc deaths were so rushed and had lesser impact than Kinemon and kiku's fake death scenes) -agree with Kaido's lack of backstory (he doesn't feel as compelling as other villains) -why is big mom even there -carrot losing over candy guy in like one panel and never again -greenbull came and was like "the vibes are not great" and dipped?????
The big mom inclusion still left a bitter taste. I think oda wrote himself into a corner with her. I feel like he didnt have an established plan for her in the main plot hence his left with no other choice but to bring her to wano and just lean on the RoX reunion with kaidou and retrieval of zeus for it to make sense and just feed her to law and kidd. I think that was odas best option for big mom rather than have her be a bystander in succeeding arcs . It was imperative to really deal with kaido amd bigmom before final saga wherein the focus now shifts to the most important yonkos shanks and bb. As someone who is a fan of big mom i was fairly disappointed how she was handled but i guess oda really didnt account for her until it was time to giver her moment. All other yonkos have a clear purpose of the story. WB re affirming the existence of OP. Kaido being luffys stepping stone to be a yonko. Shanks and BB as the final saga main figures. Big mom was just a bystander.
As someone who watched all her reviews up to this point. Idk what happened, maybe the fanbase influenced Merphy's opinion, but despite some criticisms remaining the same (bad use of Big Mom's crew and too many fake-out deaths) the rest just seems completely out of nowhere. Too rushed? Spotlight in the wrong places? She never mentioned any of these criticisms earlier. But also her evaluation of the arc seems very weird. Like she's complaining about Oda not revealing Toki's past, or about Aramaki; some things that will clearly be explored later. She never complained about that, that's like complaining about Kuzan's first appearance (which she got excited for). I love her reviews, I just felt this was different from the others. Very weird.
I think straw hats will return to take Yamato to the war or Yamato with the samurai comes to attend the war under straw hats' flag. Come to think of it, Luffy's fleet is made of; 1. Alabasta Alliance, Rebels (Ofc they will help after sabo-vivi incident) 2. Fishmen alliance 3. Minks 4. Wano
I was looking forward to a fleshed out post arc wrap up, and the end of wano definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. That said, I was ready to get back to the sea with our crew, so I'm not TOO mad at the rapid departure.
Luffy laughing manically while in Gear 5 after he sends back Kaidos Blast Breath is definitely my most favorite panel in Wano. Also Sanjis dialog in 1031, where he asked himself what Luffy would need in his Crew and later asking Zoro to put him down if needed. My biggest disappointments are Izous and Ashuras deaths as well as Yamato not joining. At no point in time ,until it was confirmed, was i ever thinking that these two died at those moments. But as with many other scenes so far, the Anime did a much better job with Ashuras death, so i hope Izous will get a similar treatment. The thing with Yamato isn't so much about her not joining (not anymore at least), but the way Oda handled the whole situation. Yamato states multiple times that she leaves Wano with Luffy, introduces herself to the crew as a new member, then we get a "fake" reason why she stays and finally have her real reason in a flashback. While it makes kind of sense story wise, i can't come up with any good reason why we couldn't have had that flashback just before she explains herself to Momonuske. Well, at least it leaves room for speculation on who'll fill the spot as the 10th member when Luffy fights Blackbeard.
It's my favorite arc, but it has a lot of smaller issues. It has my favourite fights and HYPE moments (so many I loved). My biggest disappointment was kin'emon and how he was handled honestly. I think generally how oda handled wano country characters was rough around the edges. There were exceptions of course. My favourite scene/reveal was probably Gear 5, chapter 1043(?). Kaido is probably my favourite villain. I loved how big mom was handled personally, a lot of people hate the amnesia stuff and how she was built in. I for one loved it as it shows big mom's child like persona on the screen once again. She's super fascinating, glad we got that. I was really satisfied overall with the arc's ending, despite it feeling rather fast paced, some say rushed, which fair enough, oda definitely did. Here is my thoughts about the general reception. I think most disappointment from some of the fans (trying not to generalise) stems from setting own expectations with headcanon rather than letting it play out. I've seen this a lot in the past few years since actively reading the series. People will call every latest arc the best or the worst, they try to make their opinions overly dramatic for the sake of it. Happened with punk hazard, dressrosa, zou, whole cake island and now wano. But since the community increased in numbers its just gotten more louder, wouldn't give all that too much attention in the future if I were you. Anyway that sums up my thoughts. Great video, lots of things you've mentioned made me remember some great scenes even before onigashima.
my favorite part of wano was the reveal of advanced conquerors haki. i always thought it was the coolest power but it had the worst utility… i’m glad it’s extremely important now
the most disappointing part to me was how quickly the tension in 1043 was. i was excited to see kaido catching (fodder) bodies and being threatening again… wish it lasted another chapter or two
I believe we'll see Kaido return a shell of his former self at one point, as well as Big Mom return (perhaps at Elbaf) looking for revenge against Law, Kidd, and Luffy.
One of my favorite Wano scenes is when Killer takes out Hawkins. They both know that Hawkins has a voodoo doll of Kid and Hawkins is trying to use Killers bond with his captain against him. But then Killer uses that same close bond, knowing to cut off the arm Kid already lost, defeating Hawkins while reflecting insignificant damage into Kid. And the little panel where Kids prosthetic arm pops off is a nice little cherry on top
Hawkins with his Jojo power is so rediculously OP that he needs to activately tell his opponents the nature of how to defeat him on a case-by-case basis that it deflates a lot of the tension with him. It would've been great if he did not give away who's souls he had so something involving deception could've been the fight, and calling his bluff. It's still fine, but it could've been so much better... also Killer has little to indicate how strong he is.
To me it feels rushed after the break Oda took, before that I was mostly okay with how things played out although I do believe that there is some very valid criticism(like deaths). At the end of they day I believe Oda tried to go so big that it backfired a little and having the film red pressure ended up messing his plans
Having not finished it yet in the anime but knowing what happens in the Manga. Just hearing you talk about the major scenes that took place and how massive Wano was and what all Oda had to get done for this to be a complete story let alone good, I have to say it goes at the bottom of S tier and can rise up with everything that comes after it. Can't wait for Wano 2 electric boogaloo.
So crazy how much I wanted from Kaido. Never liked a villain so much just off the prospect that they were much deeper than what was being shown. GODDDD!!!!!! Still a great arc.
ngl, If it wasn't for the Ace flashback, I feel like Yamato could've been completely removed from Wano and it would've flown better. Probably my hottest take on the matter.
A bit cruel but I felt this from our first encounter with her (completely biased bc I wasn't caught up and got annoyed with fans obsession. Made me dislike them and feel annoyed 😅) mostly bc it felt like it took away from my favorite characters meaningful backstory with ace *table flips* that is my whole biased reason. For me I don't need them to go into the next arc to feel they had meaning or to like their existence, so taking out my bias I do feel that she did have meaning in being there it was just more for Momo then the crew. At the same time I agree she could of been cut a bit more and that time given to the straw hats.
I think Oda was just distracting with the Yonko's Power, so much so that we didn't notice that they are absolutely incompetent, these two are so incompetent they make Buggy look genius.
One of the best fights in this arc for me was Law and Kid vs. Big Mom. It pushes both of them to higher heights and the moment of her defeat was EPIC. Other moments that Ioved were: - Jimbei’s return - Luffy’ promise to Kin’emon - Gear 5!!!! - Orochi getting what he deserves - Sanji getting emasculated by Zoro 😂 There’s so much more! Wano challenges so many of the characters in creative ways and I think, as a whole, it works as the climax Oda intended, even if he didn’t follow through with everything he set up.
I still get major Goku and Piccolo vs. Raditz vibes from that fight. Two people who on their own have no chance in taking out an opponent way beyond their strength are able to do so through ingenuity, teamwork, and strategizing. I still think the fruit awakening is a bit hokey and out-of-nowhere, but in the end it led to some really stunning moments, so I can't complain too much. Piccolo DID pull the Makankosappo out of nowhere as well, after all...
Favorite part was the panel where Luffy knew about green bull and saying na Momo got this . In contrast to sabody island where they were completely wiped out by single admiral. That was a yonko level flex as excepted of a yonko .
Favorite part..... that is rough... I caught up just as the Raid was starting so hard to separate out what is from the binge and what feelings are from being at week to week, plus this arc had so many epic moments. Though the two that just always stick in my head for how hard they hit me at the time are Jimbei officially and finally joining the crew, and "He laughed." Disappointments..... I really do not have any, I loved this arc, and the few things that I would have liked to see are things that can still be addressed later on, like more on Kaido's backstory, who Yamato's mom is, etc...
I would love for you to rereview the Reverie Arc, Levely Arc. There are a couple things you missed to talk about, and One thing in particular. There's a moment where we see the kings and queens at the meeting and Shirahoshi is about to be enslaved by our most hated celestial dragon, only to be saved by another celestial dragon... The same celestial dragon from Fishman Island that the queen saved all those years ago.. And, I think that its a bit surprising that you never talked about a moment like that when it meant the queens actions impacted such an evil person. I'd also love to hear you talk about the connection between this and Fishman Island, Thank you!
Cliche as it may be, the Oden flashback and Gear 5th reveal I think are the definitive moments of the arc, but one that isn't one of my top favorites but is still underrated IMO is Killer VS Hawkins, I love Oda's ability to make great moments out of characters I previously didn't care too much for and that chapter has stuck in my mind a lot more than I expected it to
What held this arc back for me is how Oda handles death. Asura's and Izo's death was not impactful because we don't know if they actually died or not. Kinemon and other scabbards seemed like they would die but didn't. I can't be bothered to care about characters survival if I don't know if a "death" I'm seeing is real or not.
Oden's flash back was my favourite part of the arc. Getting an insane amount of inside on Rodger and the impact the two Yonkos had on him.
my fav stretch of chapters ever. Odens flashback is untouched
....insight*
I kinda wish we hadn't heard about Oden's life back in Zou though. It would have been even more surprising that way
I couldn't believe 25 years later I got to see Roger in action. Hell a more than a panel???? I was heaven! Ore no All Blue!!!!!
Yeah
My best friend died last week. He introduced me to One Piece like 15 or so years ago and we'd both been weekly readers since. We both followed yours and TNM's review of the series and thoroughly enjoyed your videos. As you were catching up we'd always text one another to let the other know that you had dropped a new video and we'd watch and just talk about what a joy it was to experience OP through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time. I want to thank you deeply for that. He loved seeing new people discover and fall in love with the story he'd been following for close to 20 years. It hurts a lot knowing that he won't be there to see the end but I appreciate so much that you allowed him to sort of experience the whole thing with fresh eyes. Thank you Merphy.
Sending prayers Casey. 🙏
I hope you post this to oda. It would be nice to hear that now that he's getting all the hate or people who work for him are about one piece live action. Its just another way to experience the story and I hope or wish your friend had an idea of how it ends...we are all on the journey together and as luffy said, it wouldn't be fun to know the shortcut answer...and hxh said...its about the journey.
The "He laughed" panel made me feel so many emotions, it's was like I understood what the One Piece was but I couldn't put it into words and Roger's laughter hid an unspoken tragedy that made my eyes watery
The panel where Roger laughed seeing the One Piece and Gear 5 will forever be in my top manga panels.
The slow build up to Luffy being revealed as the Hero of Liberation, Joyboy, by constantly doing things to liberate people. Everybody calls that a “twist,” but it’s really just an affirmation of who Luffy is.
Intentional or not he just does it as a byproduct of his actions. He didn't need any other reason t fight Enel other then he hurt his friends. That spiraled into the freeing of an entire oppressed nation on the brink of genocide. It really is the person he's always been.
This^^!!! Im glad someone gets it. I cant tell you how much it irritates me that people complain calling this a “retcon” or a “reincarnation” that has caused luffy to be “destined” to win his fights.
very well said
@@Aether-wd6wn but that's _exactly_ what it is, though. Doesnt matter whether its good or not, its plain to see the original intent of the fruit was _not_ to be a Mythical Zoan...
@@frenchynoob this is true. What i meant to say was ppl calling it a bad retcon, like a series hurting one. My bad for neglecting that. But yeah retcons are everywhere, it’s unreasonable for people to come at every single one. Almost EVERY series author changes their mind about something, even if its just one small thing in the early parts of the story when all the planning and mapping out is still happening
Favorite part of Wano hands down was all the reunions. Sanji and Zoro on that panel together was immaculate, Kid and Luffy seeing each other for the first time since Sabaody, Marco coming back to help Luffy.
Can you believe it was 6 years in real time Zoro and Sanji were separate?
Luffy and Zoro's reunion is the best of these, hands down. It's a perfect "show, don't tell" moment. You can tell just how deeply these two care about each other. The normally stoic Zoro displays such pure, unbridled joy and Luffy tackle-hugged Zoro the exact same way he did to Sabo when he realized his long-thought-dead brother was alive after all.
@@brianyaniro5086 crazy level of patience to have that much time apart with the group.
@@flakjackson3609 definitely, I still prefer the Zoro and Sanji one because it had been forever and they are right back to yapping at each other.
Beware of that contest winner reply if it wasn't obvious. 99.9% sure it's a scam. I've now had one of those exact same types of contests winner scam replies on three separate one piece videos.
Tama was such an interesting character to follow. Seeing a small child suffer and struggle, but ultimately be the bane of the beast pirates was so fulfilling.
Ms. Merphy, you my favorite book reviewer. Dropped this right when I needed to get some studying and college work done. You are amazing. Glad to run back through and see just how bleak it was, and how the chaos of the strawhats become the eye of the storm.
The SMILEs reveal is the highlight of the arc for me, since it is Oda's specialty: small pieces and clues culminating in a reveal that in retrospect makes a lot of sense.
Honestly, I'm just happy that Oda was FINALLY able to realize the arc which he'd planned for so many decades ago
and it was completely trash.
ending was rushed and has so many stupid power ups and the villains are dumb down.
@FlyFoxZone 03 indeed. I diss oda whenever he makes sh*t, but i do praise him at times where he's cookin real good.
But at least oda is back on track on egg head island arc if you're still following OP manga.
@@skreyao4898yeah agreed wano for me is 7/10 at best.There are so many reasons I am disappointed with wano like.
-this arc is dragged too long.
-there is not much tension even though we fight against the strongest pirate and two yonkou.
-yamato is cringe with the Oden thing even though I like her backstory.
-too many fake deaths.
-big mom feels like a joke in this arc.
-ending feels too rushed.
I right now literally convince that op fans will hype anything that oda does like he is a god.btw egghead arc are peak and I'm glad oda finally comeback with some good shit rn.
@@kozulgaming7349Nah. 7/10 is still good. Not disappointing.
@@skreyao4898Nah. You're toxic
I love that little detail in the thumbnail of putting "The good" above Luffers and Momo and "The bad" above Big Mom and Kaido
I’m so early so I wanna say Wano has soo many good moments, best parts are odens flash back, the surroundings, episode - 1015/chapter 1000.. can’t wait for this next arc
I've always thought Zoro was an unwilling Conqueror he's the kind of guy that's either all or nothing, so when he got a cursed blade that was used to cut Kaido and tame it, was taught by the world's strongest swordman, scarred Kaido and blocked conquest of the sea even after Kaido acknowledge him as a conqueror he doesn't own it at first because I believe in Zoros eyes he wouldn't call himself a conqueror until he completes his dream which is why his unlocking of it was my favorite
He actually exhibit conqueror's potential way earlier than Luffy at Enies Lobby.
Eye*
He's a conqueror since he was a kid. He wants to conquer all swordsman as the Strongest Swordsman. It's no surprise he has it too.
I get the feeling that we won’t return to Wano to open the borders and get Pluton. We haven’t revisited an island before. (except for the return to Sabaody)
The border’s being opened might be something Momo decides on his own, and when Yamato sets out to sea, it’ll be with Pluton, eventually meeting back up with the Straw Hats with it.
Great call
So we will return is what you're saying it just wont be with the straw hats which I still think is totally fine.
They returned to Water 7
No I think we will bc it's the final arc, or to say it will come back to them (island is a ship after all). Madam Shirley had a vision of Luffy back in fishmen island. I get a feeling there will eventually be a timeskip but not now.
Alternatively, it might be Blackbeard that goes to Wano for Pluton assuming Caribou is his contact, leading to a confrontation that Yamato loses and realizes her efforts alone aren't enough.
I think my biggest problem with the arc was how disjointed the raid fights felt. Everything leading up to the raid felt concrete and planned out but when we got there the 6x a chapter perspective jumping really pulled me out
For me it was the fact that there were no awakening on an emperor crew that makes 0 sense to me
@@watchbloodsunvendetta1447 kaido had one
He did not. He's not confirmed to have it, best he did was show a pseudo-awakening when he got drunk. @@gamingparadise3390
My favourite moment for Wano might seem strange but it was actually the page turn to Oden dancing in the street. I've never quite experienced such disappointment before from a panel before, like true gut wrenching anger and pain. Perfectly done imo
Love the coffee mug! And we definitely need more sock puppet videos, maybe a Stormlight Archive or Mistborn summary ??
Lies of Socke Lamora!
@@isopodshuffle that would be amazing!
I’m grateful for Liam leading me onto your channel. Thank you for your exploration of this arc. Despite it being longer than Dressrosa, it felt more condensed. I think that birdcage part did it for me. The Act structure of Wano helped too. Definitely agree that the arc felt rushed at the end, after the big fight was done it was time to move on I guess? But I like your idea of revisiting ideas later on, that makes a lot of sense!
I WAS WAITING YOUR WANO REVIEW !
To me it feels like Oda overestimated what he'd be able to do with the medium when he decided to take on Wano. There are too many named characters and even after writing Big Mom's extended crew out of the arc it was still biting off way more than the story could chew. It's just the reality of writing for a comic book, it takes a lot of time to intertwine all these story threads and with a limited lifespan you can only give those threads so much love before you have to move on. Oda lamented in the SBS that there were characters he wanted to expand upon, but did not find the space for.
Wano has some high highs, and some big let-downs at the same time. I hope that he and the editors learned from it and decide on a more intimate story centered around the main cast for the next island they land on.
I'm not mad at Wano, and i think we got a ton from the small bits of the strongest creature in the world's background. He's a byproduct of the evil of the world government. From the vodka kingdom selling him to have a seat at the table to his relationship with king stemming from being experimented on. To give away his entire story during this arc probably would have given away the end game and that's why we'll probably get his full backstory once rocks is fully revealed
It’s more on the line that Kaido saw it unfair that the strong should be forced to do anything and strived to make a kingdom where the strong rules. Which is his ideal of what freedom should be.
It felt to me that Oda had planned for a few more chapters for Yamato's motivations, Hiyori's and somewhat Momo's closure with/against Orochi and maybe even some more info about Kaido, but he had a time limit to finish Wano's arc taking into consideration the hiatus and the fact that he was going to/is getting additional help from famous magakas, who probably have their own stuff to do.
Alternatively, it might be Blackbeard that goes to Wano for Pluton assuming Caribou is his contact, leading to a confrontation that Yamato loses and realizes her efforts alone aren't enough.
I loved the reunion of Luffy and Zoro, that felt like a such a relief and joyous occasion to them both and to me.
I loved Wano. There are obviously unfinished elements and unanswered questions like Kaido's relation to Rocks (which seems to be what is missing in his character), the grim reaper that appeared before Zoro (which probably is going to be a power-up for the future, Zoro visiting Ryuma (probably a flashback in the next big fight), and some more stuff like that. However, I do feel like it works as a whole package and that it explores a lot of themes in a great way. All of the scabbards serve to explore another component of loyalty, every strawhat (except Brook and Usopp get to shine, which isn't that surprising since Brook just got MVP at WCI and Usopp probably is going to shine in Elbaf or the final saga), the Oden flashback was vital to Wano while also giving us a bunch of mindblowing reveals, and both villains are taken down in a satisfying manner that puts respect on the Yonko name. Could it have been handled better? Probably. The ending seems to have been rushed for Film Red, but we have been getting flashbacks for the stuff that was missing so I won't complain. I feel like this arc will age better when we have gotten answers for some of the questions raised here and we have seen Wano countries' true role in the story (since some elements definitely are coming back). It's like I always say, a story is more satisfying when you don't get 15 pages at a time and instead experience it all in one go. After finishing WCI, I was a bit worried how Oda would handle Sanji and the raid suit, Big Mom as a secondary villain, and some other stuff but he delivered so I'll put my faith in him.
It did also introduce Kozuki Momonosuke, one of the best characters in the entire franchise, and I'll always be thankful for the way that his arc was executed. He is probably in my 5 characters in the entire story so that should tell you how much his story resonated with me.
I also find the very concept of arc reviews to be somewhat problematic since that assumes that everything will be answered in the arc. An arc is really nothing. It's just an arbitrary designation on a part of a story and not everything will be dealt with in that timespan. Kaido's backstory is heavily tied to Rocks and we aren't ready to hear about him yet, Zoro's connection with the grim reaper is probably setup for the future and the black blade thing will be something to signify him becoming a master swordsman rather than being answered in Wano etc. Keeping lists of stuff missed in Wano is problematic as there never was any guarantee that these things would be answered here and not be used for the future. Oda could randomly drop a chapter that answers half of the stuff that this reactive community has written down because a lot of this might be used in the future. This happened with Robin (someone's who's full backstory we didn't know until Enies Lobby), this happened with Fishman island (which was delayed a lot since it happened 300 chapters after the Strawhats decided to go there), this happened with Arlong (who didn't have a lot of depth until we found out his full backstory, when we were ready in the story), this happened with Ashura as we only now found out what it was, and this will happen with future things.
Zoro visiting Ryuma in the afterlife feels like a stretch because I'm pretty sure Oda said he wouldn't be dealing with anything or anyone in the afterlife
@@melissateodola1887 Never said afterlife. I said that Oda could flash back to Zoro visting Ryuma, which implies his grave. If I say that I'm going to visit my grandpa, it doesn't mean I'm commiting suicide to see him in the afterlife, it's just a common expression for visiting someone's grave.
Best comment
Totally agree on the built-up parts (acts 1 and 2) being phenomenal, but the raid part not quite living up to the setup.
Robin power up and transformation was so good I enjoyed her fight a lot. Showing how much of a menace she is and she can handle herself
I would totally recommend to read and review the spinoff for Ace and his journey if haven't done it. There's a novel and also the manga adaption for it!
True, true 😏👊💪👍
"You had the wrong expectations and that's on you" comes up all the time, particularly in manga communities, but I don't find that line of thinking to be particularly productive. Expectations don't exist in a vacuum, they exist because of what is set up in the story. If you asked these same people if they expect Luffy to find the One Piece by the end of the story, I'm sure even THEY would say "yes".
I heard there were people straight gassing wano in wci. Like saying it would make marineford cute and stuff. That’s a very different level of expectations
See but even "getting the One Piece" is an assumption for Luffy because we don't know what it is. So many assumptions.
@@travisealy3512 that "make Marineford look cute" quote was from one of Oda's editors, hence people's expectations.
@@TheRockerX that’s my point tho. People had crazy expectations from that. I didn’t even know that until a month ago in the last reverie. That’s maybe why I have a different outlook on wano than most
@@TheRockerX but that wasn't for wano that was said years ago and clearly about the last war not wano it clear that oda meant when he brings all his characters back into the story for one last big fight . But everyone just assumed it was wano .
Toon piece is my favorite part in the series like it was something magical in my 10 yrs of reading I have never felt anything like while reading one piece .
I will never forget chapter 1044
“He just laughed.” Whenever it goes through my mind, it always hits that same chord that it did the day I read it. Beyond that, Oden holding up the vassals, Luffy finally defeating Kaido, and ESPECIALLY Big Mom’s final speech before getting beaten. I re-read those last two multiple times when they happened because of how incredible they were. Truly amazing.
For disappointments, I do want to know a little more about Kaido, particularly about his obsession with death. Also Yamato- as every other One Piece fan is upset about. :/
Wano is the arc that feels dragged out and rushed at the same time.
I wish he put more history of ryuuma in there and Zoro stuff
@@user-og9nl5mt1bThat's one of the biggest criticisms for this arc. But still good
For me, personally, Wano topped Enies Lobby as my favorite One Piece arc of all time...at least for now, with more arcs to go in the final saga.
First of all, I thought Kaido having a "Magikarp evolving into Gyarados" kind of Devil Fruit was really cool, and since I'm a sucker for this kind of Japanese mythology AND dragons in general, he's easily my favorite villain.
Secondly, the reunions were great. I especially loved the Zoro and Sanji one where they stepped in for Toko. Now that was pretty epic. And let's not forget that scene where Zoro saved Hiyori right in front of Sanji. Easily one of the funniest things I've seen in the series. Sanji's reaction still cracks me up to this day. I also quite enjoyed Luffy and Kid's reunion and constant bickering throughout the entire arc. And of course who can forget about Jinbe reuniting with the Straw Hats and officially becoming a part of the crew? Or Marco and Izo (RIP) coming to help Luffy and the Red Scabbards? Epic moments right there!
Oden's flashback might be my favorite flashback in One Piece so far. I mean, dude, I've wanted to know about Roger's journey to Laughtale, and seeing all of that was really amazing! And since Toki is from the Void Century, that could be hinting at a Void Century flashback when Luffy does reach Laughtale eventually. (Much like how a lack of Kaido flashbacks could be hinting at a Rocks flashback sometime down the line.) We know how much Oda loves to play the long game here.
While the raid is both a hit (Demon form Robin and Gear 5 Sun God Nika Luffy) and a miss (Orochi taking too long to die and Yamato not really doing anything), the hits, to me, outweigh the misses.
Even if the end of Wano did feel a bit rushed, one has to remember that the arc had been going on for the last five years. So I have to imagine that Oda wanted to be done with it ASAP. And given the most recent chapter, it's not hard to see why.
My favorite part of Wano is of course the zunisha monologue with luffy's smile. The hype!
Honestly completely agree. Not nearly as bad as many people make it out to be since there’s moments that are the best in the series.
A lot-if not all-of your criticisms and praise resonates with me, especially since I caught up during Wano as well (albeit more towards the start of the Onigashima raid).
I also agree with your statement of Wano not being done. It just feels like there’s a lot of stuff that’s yet to be realized in Wano that Oda usually is better at completing. I’m trusting in Oda (who’ve we’ve all ready for 1000+ chapters) to build upon it later, but in the worst case scenario he doesn’t (he isn’t perfect after all), this was still a solid arc with many minor flaws hat build up.
When I saw Roger laughing scene in the anime, I immediately started laughing too. And crying too at the same time. I'll never forget this feeling.
dayumm okie, this was well needed
wano arc was thebest,
oda showing off his 20 years experience on this arc
ty for putting this together
I just recently found this channel and have already fallen in love with the video and the atmosphere, thank you for your work. And as for Wano, as in all arches, there are always pros and cons, but I'm glad that Oda - Sensei was able to implement the arch that he had planned for a long time, she showed a lot and the samurai theme itself always likes. I hope that there will be similar arches in other works that will not let you down. Thanks for the video :D
My favorite part of wano has to either be Zoro's fight with King (flashbacks included) because it gave us a lot of info and made Kaido more human. It showed Kaido as an up and comer and then we finish with zoro doing his badass zoro thing, or Queen's dance routine (If you haven't watched the anime version, do it.).
Least favorite thing would either be the lack of Denjiro after they went to Onigashima or not giving us Zoro visiting Ryuuma's grave after everything was over.
Objectively wano may not be the best in OP, but its definitely up there with my favourite arcs. Loved reading it week to week with the fandom, through its highs n lows. The highs of wano to me are just untouched. Loved this arc😭
Same 👍
I feel like I loved it and didn’t have any complaints. Until I heard other people’s complaints and found that I agree with many of them. Kinda sad about it. I feel like I would have been ignorant of the imperfections if I hadn’t heard those complaints.
@@keenancookson8641 Wano is such a massive arc. You can't blame Oda for messing up or falling short on some stuff here and there. Unless you wanna see Wano last for 6 years instead 😆. While I agree with some complaints, i feel like some are just butthurt over their theories not coming true or jumping the gun early on before Oda could even explain properly. Cause you can't get the whole context in just one chapter per week.
If you don't focus on fights in Wano but just on the story telling, it could have been the greatest arc of the series. It's just so creative and so incredible!
In my opinion Water 7 and Ennies Lobby are still the greatest arcs so far because they have everything you want in great story with the right pacing.
@@D__634 Honestly the pacing in Wano as well as how much stuff crammed into it was one of the best and worst things about it. Can you imagine the nightmare of tying everything up? And from time to time we also go back outside of Wano to see what's happening which kinda ruins the pacing too.
I do agree that they could have done a whole lot more with Big Mom during Wano. I've thought that if BM isn't dead, she'll reappear when the Straw Hats go to Elbaf, and that could be the final showdown with Big Mom. If yaknow she's not completely melted under Wano.
i like reviews like this whos a book worm with intelligent take and whats missing that we can look forward to in the future.
Yeah... Rocks flashback. Holding that storyline could be why we didn't get a complete kaido flashback
Loved 90-95% of Wano. Reading it week to week was fun and engaging. It’s just that 5-10% that I didn’t love was really disappointing and was mostly how some plot points were either dropped or concluded. It just shows how sticking the landing really matters.
Great video. Loved the honesty on display
I love the mug, I just love it. I do agree on a lot of things that didn't get used for redundant, now seeing the later patchwork makes me not love the ending of wano, but I stillll love wano as a whole, as well as the act, where act 3 feels like a whole different story from the arc as
I am at the same boat as you, Wano was a great Arc with an extremely rushed ending, for me Kaido fight was perfectly paced except again the ending. I was super sour about the ending and leftover plot points until I read the last chapter(1059) which gave me hope. To me, it seems Oda rushed the ending of Wano but he is going to close off many plot points in flashbacks like the Yamato reason to stay.
I’m really excited for the what’s to come in the next arc.
It’s the first time since entering the New World where we don’t know where we’re heading next.
I really hope the next cover page story shows us where Law and Kid end up. Since they’ve all taken different routes out of Wano we won’t be seeing them again until they all reach the end of the New World. So I hope we get to see at least a bit of their journey from here on.
I've been reading One Piece weekly for 8 years. Wano has been by far my favorite arc in the series. Makes me sad seeing people not have the same experience
1. fav scene - G5 Luffy
2. fav parts - Odens flashback, lore dumps/revelations
3. disappointments - not much. probably kin'emon "dying" lol but I don't care much about the fake out deaths
The only reason I'm not mad at Kin's fake death is because of the scenes he gets with his wife at the end.
@@ThyFloorestFloor Yes, 1 Tiny panel shoved to the side of the page. They didnt even share 1 line of dialogue. Totally worth it
@@TuskyBaby It was a good panel.
My only down side is that the straw hats fights seemed rushed. However the raid was great with so many reveals and moments. I hope the anime flesh the fights out a little bit longer like they did with the red scabbards vs kaido.
Same bro, personally, Wano is the best arc. It has ups and down, but the highs are so high and epic. Like there's no other moment than can top the panel of roger's laugh and G5..
Coming into Wano, I was expecting to see Awakened Zoans to be portrayed.
We saw awakened for Paramecia from Doflamingo and Katakuri. And instead of an awakening of Zoan users such as from King or Queen or even Kaido.... we got one from Luffy. And while that is technically a mythical zoan.... I would have expected at least 1 awakened devil fruit user in a Yonko Pirate crew that is composed of lots of Zoan Devil Fruit users.
Nah, why would the leaders have abilities their subordinates showcased hundreds of chapters ago.
Kiado just not on that Impel Down guards' level.
Yesss this made me think that kaido never truly went all out because i was expecting him to awaken the whole time so when he was defeated it was probably the most unsatisfactory victory in anime
Well this is a small bit of information in the Road of Laugh vol.4 tale information(it’s like a very small note) but apparently the down side to Zoan awakening is that their is a 50/50 chance that the Zoan DF could overtake the users making them more or less like the jailer beast from Impel Down. They still be strong but they just be basic beasts. This also explained why Kaido was asking Luffy who he was making sure that he wasn’t overtaken from the transformation which also nullify the aspect that Luffy is being control by his fruit.
I love how Merphy called Vegapunk per "Vagabond" with a straight face
Hey if oda builds up expectations in his readers with all these hints and then doesn't follow through, it's not your fault for thinking you'd be getting more. He's the one who put the expectations into the readers. It's not like you were expecting things for no reason
True but you shouldn’t be mad at the author does something that you didn’t had in mind. Don’t demand people to die when it’s the author decision, don’t force character to fight someone when their is a bigger task to handle or think their useless if they don’t win the way you want.
Nope, as a reader tou have the right to complain if the Author truly blue balled you. He literally rushed the wano act 3 , dumbed down the villains, plus the allies got some stupid unconvincing power ups, villain backstory are halfbaked and oda left us with more questions than answers.
@@skreyao4898 I do not agree with you at all, especially the villains part. Kaidos backstory for example might not be as extensive as doffys but have you even tried to understand what has been presented ? Sure Oda could’ve done some stuff better but I feel like you’re being disingenuous. Hell I’ve seen your other comment about luffys power up and that was ridiculous 😭
Our expectations do not exist in a vacuum. We expected a lot from one of our favorite authors, because he so often delivers.
We expected more because this was the biggest finale in an over 1000 chapters and it was fumbled.
I don't buy into this theory that editorial was hounding him to wrap it up, it seems largely motivated in its inception to push disappointment off the creator we love onto some nameless staffers.
Not to say editorial is blameless, but It seems much more likely they didn't question set up early in the arc that inevitably divided focus or went nowhere. Even an older editor was likely Oda's junior and read One Piece growing up. It's hard to express when you think something is not working in a relationship like that; not as drastic, but in a similar fashion to much of Jack Kirby's late period works.
Only speculating, but if any outside force compelled him to rush the ending, my money is on Kentaro Miura's death.
While Miura was a generation older, their both old guard in the industry that have worked on their singular fantasy epic for decades.
The reality that Miura will never pen the end of his life's work is pretty stark wakeup call.
In his month off much was made of Oda streamlining the remainder of the series, setting deadlines and sticking to them.
The last stretch of chapters have convinced me that that time was not wasted. I was a bit crestfallen at the conclusion of Wano, but since they've left the island he's been in rare form.
Even down to the paneling, top of mind, this last stretch is the best his composition has consistently been post timeskip. Still capturing moments with crowded panels that are a part of the series charm, without teetering over to cluttered.
How Wano wrapped had me worried that the series might also fumble its conclusion but the output since has quelled that concern.
perfectly well put, i pretty much feel the same man
10/10 arc for me (might change when I binge read it)
It became a bottom 5 arc for me upon re read. Hype moments but a lack luster story.
i m so happy we already got additional info on wano immediatly. The Yamato flashback really helped put the ending of wano in context)
and i m sure there are several more of those lined up before Wano 2 Samurai Boogaloo
I completely agree with you, we're coming back to Wano at some point to reopen the borders, deal with Pluton, etc. And at that point everything will be fully resolved in a satisfying way. Heck we might have another round with Big Mom and Kaido because I just cant believe that they're dead right now.
God i hope my expectations arent too high lol.
Odens flashback is not only my favorite part of Wano, but one of my favorite sections of the entire story so far.
Other than that, I echo pretty much all your sentiments about Wano. Solid A-tier arc with numerous S-tier moments.
It might change with a re-read sometime in the future though
I see you're slowly showing more and more manga panels... nice and good luck
Also, quick, if Big Mom isn't there, Law and Kid help Luffy fight Kaido, potentially Luffy doesn't even figure out Conqueror's Haki, and DEFINITELY no Gear 5. Plus, what was her purpose, how about Law and Kid awakening, how about the start of other methods to reading poneglyphs other than just Robin (3-eyed tribe), how about Zeus now officially with Nami, I mean her showcase of her devil fruit is amazing. The scene where she applied her soul to her bones to heal themselves and sing out Mama! Are you kidding me!? 🐐🐐🐐
Oh God, Merphy, you're making me cry just by recapping all these best and emotional scenes in Wano. Their suffering is really heavy 😭
"He laughed" brings tears to my eyes just looking at it. One of the best moments in my 20 years of consuming the media of One Piece. Also, the Yasuie death and aftermath is so well done. The righteous anger of Zoro seems to just radiate off the page when he learns the secret of SMILE.
My favorite part was Kaido being a dragon. Reading those panels are etched into my brain. My least favorite part was the straw hats fights. They seemed way too scattered and rather quick for how long the story was. I was really hoping this could be an enis lobby part 2 with each straw hat getting their own fight and really showing the entire crew at a new level of combat but I don’t think that quite happened.
One more thing I like to mention is the Kabuki structure. Everyone was so dead set on Wano using the structure, but haven't seen any OP you tubers talk about it. I saw an amazing twitter thread that addressed this and showed that it did in fact operate under the kabuki structure. It was just in a more unorthodox way. Also, according to the thread, kabuki plays have abrupt endings that are fast. So, if this is the case, Oda may have had a reason for making the and of the arc so short.
Oh I hope so!
Most of your criticism is valid. But as you said yourself that it is mostly comes from the raid.
I think it is also the curse of catching up. Ofcourse every reader has 2-3 things in every arc that he doesn't like but by reading week to week and reading problems of other readers, it adds to frustration.
Wano has highest highs as you mentioned. Fake out deaths and BM pirates are my major criticism.
Regarding your point of lack of focus on Strawhats is also valid. But Oda put himself in lose lose situation by having that major of cast. Doesn't matter if you give more focus to Strawhats or Vassals, it will always be underwhelming.
That's why Marineford and Dressrosa worked well. As in Dressrosa half of the crew is absent to give focus to Grand Fleet and in Marineford where Impel Down escapees which are strawhats equivalent for that arc have one objective.
Also, it would be nice if Ashura Doji died after seeing the defeat of Kaido.
Luffy already put his flag down in a couple of places, Wano is not the first. He marked Fishman Island as his territory and took down big mom’s flag. And don’t forget when you first enter the grand line you’ll see a giant whale with the strawhat’s mark.
I believe Toki wasn't looking for Oden (otherwise she wouldn't have attempted to time travel at the beach before they met). She was interested in either the present time or 1 year after, but changed her mind due to how much that time period meant to her (she married, had two kids, and return to the place her ancestors were from).
Regarding the "1 year after": It is a theory of mine that we are getting a "natural" time skip (organic passage of time) since that would result in both Luffy's 20 birthday and the 25th anniversary of Roger's death.
Man, I love Vagabond, but its been such a long time since I read it that I've forgotten it
Another thing that was left abruptly for me was Zoro's meeting with Grim Reaper
For what I loved- Sun God Nika's appearance
Disappointment- I really wanted Luffy to fight Big Mom and Zoro to defeat Kaido. Zoro hasnt had a super cool moment for a while but even in Wano he didnt get to do something amazing and we all thought it would be his arc. With Ryuma connection it would've been more poetic if he saved Wano from the dragon
Ah the “this is how dinosaurs hunted” gag is probably one of my favorite jokes in the series lol
I have a lot of favourite parts in Wano Arc, but I have one favourite panel which really high panel for me in this arc. It's not some fighting panel, not plot or history reveal panel. It's the panel where you see how much the boys grow and how long and big journey they come. It's when Jinbei, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy are relaxing and chilling while watching how Momo, Yamato and Scabbars fighting Admiral. This panel made me happy, proud and exciting for future events. I was staring 5-10 minutes when it came and still time to time I open this panel and fell happiness.
I think Kidd getting what he wanted was the Road Poneglyph. Seems like it was confirmed at the end of Wano that he has two of them now. Could be something else too though
The only thing we know about Croco-boys background is that he’s actually Croco-mom.
I think Wano is in my top 3 favorite arcs. It had some lows but I loved it overall
My favorite points about Wano:
-Oden/Roger/Whiteboard backstory
-Luffy/Kid/Law fighting together
-Toki's Blank Century Revelation
-Pluton & Wano's Walls
-The Scabbards opening up Kaido's old scar with Oden's technique
-Luffy declaring himself as Pirate King to two emperors (also ignoring them as he walked to Kinemon)
-Luffy's gear fifth
-Luffy's Prison fight (poison part)
-sanji's body enhancement during the raid & his turmoil
-robin's devil form
My least favourite points about Wano:
-Sanji's perv scenes (again...)
-dead but not really dead (I cried when Kinemon "died" only to find out he was already in half)
-when did they die??? (Ashura, izo etc deaths were so rushed and had lesser impact than Kinemon and kiku's fake death scenes)
-agree with Kaido's lack of backstory (he doesn't feel as compelling as other villains)
-why is big mom even there
-carrot losing over candy guy in like one panel and never again
-greenbull came and was like "the vibes are not great" and dipped?????
The big mom inclusion still left a bitter taste. I think oda wrote himself into a corner with her. I feel like he didnt have an established plan for her in the main plot hence his left with no other choice but to bring her to wano and just lean on the RoX reunion with kaidou and retrieval of zeus for it to make sense and just feed her to law and kidd. I think that was odas best option for big mom rather than have her be a bystander in succeeding arcs .
It was imperative to really deal with kaido amd bigmom before final saga wherein the focus now shifts to the most important yonkos shanks and bb.
As someone who is a fan of big mom i was fairly disappointed how she was handled but i guess oda really didnt account for her until it was time to giver her moment. All other yonkos have a clear purpose of the story. WB re affirming the existence of OP. Kaido being luffys stepping stone to be a yonko. Shanks and BB as the final saga main figures. Big mom was just a bystander.
As someone who watched all her reviews up to this point. Idk what happened, maybe the fanbase influenced Merphy's opinion, but despite some criticisms remaining the same (bad use of Big Mom's crew and too many fake-out deaths) the rest just seems completely out of nowhere. Too rushed? Spotlight in the wrong places? She never mentioned any of these criticisms earlier.
But also her evaluation of the arc seems very weird. Like she's complaining about Oda not revealing Toki's past, or about Aramaki; some things that will clearly be explored later. She never complained about that, that's like complaining about Kuzan's first appearance (which she got excited for). I love her reviews, I just felt this was different from the others. Very weird.
I think straw hats will return to take Yamato to the war or Yamato with the samurai comes to attend the war under straw hats' flag.
Come to think of it, Luffy's fleet is made of;
1. Alabasta Alliance, Rebels (Ofc they will help after sabo-vivi incident)
2. Fishmen alliance
3. Minks
4. Wano
The Oden flashback was an amazing journey especially with the panel of Roger laughing as he found the Onepiece. It was really jaw dropping.
I was looking forward to a fleshed out post arc wrap up, and the end of wano definitely left a sour taste in my mouth. That said, I was ready to get back to the sea with our crew, so I'm not TOO mad at the rapid departure.
Luffy laughing manically while in Gear 5 after he sends back Kaidos Blast Breath is definitely my most favorite panel in Wano. Also Sanjis dialog in 1031, where he asked himself what Luffy would need in his Crew and later asking Zoro to put him down if needed.
My biggest disappointments are Izous and Ashuras deaths as well as Yamato not joining. At no point in time ,until it was confirmed, was i ever thinking that these two died at those moments.
But as with many other scenes so far, the Anime did a much better job with Ashuras death, so i hope Izous will get a similar treatment.
The thing with Yamato isn't so much about her not joining (not anymore at least), but the way Oda handled the whole situation. Yamato states multiple times that she leaves Wano with Luffy, introduces herself to the crew as a new member, then we get a "fake" reason why she stays and finally have her real reason in a flashback. While it makes kind of sense story wise, i can't come up with any good reason why we couldn't have had that flashback just before she explains herself to Momonuske.
Well, at least it leaves room for speculation on who'll fill the spot as the 10th member when Luffy fights Blackbeard.
It's my favorite arc, but it has a lot of smaller issues. It has my favourite fights and HYPE moments (so many I loved). My biggest disappointment was kin'emon and how he was handled honestly. I think generally how oda handled wano country characters was rough around the edges. There were exceptions of course. My favourite scene/reveal was probably Gear 5, chapter 1043(?). Kaido is probably my favourite villain. I loved how big mom was handled personally, a lot of people hate the amnesia stuff and how she was built in. I for one loved it as it shows big mom's child like persona on the screen once again. She's super fascinating, glad we got that. I was really satisfied overall with the arc's ending, despite it feeling rather fast paced, some say rushed, which fair enough, oda definitely did.
Here is my thoughts about the general reception. I think most disappointment from some of the fans (trying not to generalise) stems from setting own expectations with headcanon rather than letting it play out. I've seen this a lot in the past few years since actively reading the series. People will call every latest arc the best or the worst, they try to make their opinions overly dramatic for the sake of it. Happened with punk hazard, dressrosa, zou, whole cake island and now wano. But since the community increased in numbers its just gotten more louder, wouldn't give all that too much attention in the future if I were you.
Anyway that sums up my thoughts. Great video, lots of things you've mentioned made me remember some great scenes even before onigashima.
my favorite part of wano was the reveal of advanced conquerors haki. i always thought it was the coolest power but it had the worst utility… i’m glad it’s extremely important now
the most disappointing part to me was how quickly the tension in 1043 was. i was excited to see kaido catching (fodder) bodies and being threatening again… wish it lasted another chapter or two
Omg yes!! Also can"t wait for you to watch/read Attack on Titan you're going to absolutely love it.
I believe we'll see Kaido return a shell of his former self at one point, as well as Big Mom return (perhaps at Elbaf) looking for revenge against Law, Kidd, and Luffy.
Awesome review
Kids hand got cutoff by Shanks Not BIG MOM
godamnit youre making me cry over the people of wano all over again
I still believe they did Big Mom dirty.
Great review
One of my favorite Wano scenes is when Killer takes out Hawkins. They both know that Hawkins has a voodoo doll of Kid and Hawkins is trying to use Killers bond with his captain against him. But then Killer uses that same close bond, knowing to cut off the arm Kid already lost, defeating Hawkins while reflecting insignificant damage into Kid. And the little panel where Kids prosthetic arm pops off is a nice little cherry on top
Hawkins with his Jojo power is so rediculously OP that he needs to activately tell his opponents the nature of how to defeat him on a case-by-case basis that it deflates a lot of the tension with him.
It would've been great if he did not give away who's souls he had so something involving deception could've been the fight, and calling his bluff.
It's still fine, but it could've been so much better... also Killer has little to indicate how strong he is.
To me it feels rushed after the break Oda took, before that I was mostly okay with how things played out although I do believe that there is some very valid criticism(like deaths). At the end of they day I believe Oda tried to go so big that it backfired a little and having the film red pressure ended up messing his plans
Having not finished it yet in the anime but knowing what happens in the Manga. Just hearing you talk about the major scenes that took place and how massive Wano was and what all Oda had to get done for this to be a complete story let alone good, I have to say it goes at the bottom of S tier and can rise up with everything that comes after it. Can't wait for Wano 2 electric boogaloo.
So crazy how much I wanted from Kaido. Never liked a villain so much just off the prospect that they were much deeper than what was being shown. GODDDD!!!!!! Still a great arc.
my main disappointment with Wano was that we didn't get a proper flashback for Kaido
ngl, If it wasn't for the Ace flashback, I feel like Yamato could've been completely removed from Wano and it would've flown better.
Probably my hottest take on the matter.
A bit cruel but I felt this from our first encounter with her (completely biased bc I wasn't caught up and got annoyed with fans obsession. Made me dislike them and feel annoyed 😅) mostly bc it felt like it took away from my favorite characters meaningful backstory with ace *table flips* that is my whole biased reason. For me I don't need them to go into the next arc to feel they had meaning or to like their existence, so taking out my bias I do feel that she did have meaning in being there it was just more for Momo then the crew. At the same time I agree she could of been cut a bit more and that time given to the straw hats.
I think Oda was just distracting with the Yonko's Power, so much so that we didn't notice that they are absolutely incompetent, these two are so incompetent they make Buggy look genius.
Lmao
One of the best fights in this arc for me was Law and Kid vs. Big Mom. It pushes both of them to higher heights and the moment of her defeat was EPIC.
Other moments that Ioved were:
- Jimbei’s return
- Luffy’ promise to Kin’emon
- Gear 5!!!!
- Orochi getting what he deserves
- Sanji getting emasculated by Zoro 😂
There’s so much more! Wano challenges so many of the characters in creative ways and I think, as a whole, it works as the climax Oda intended, even if he didn’t follow through with everything he set up.
My favorite moment of the fight was that Corazon’s “useless” devil fruit power was a key part in taking down an Emperor of the Sea for good
@@AlmightySmorg Oh hey, I completely missed that!
Mine is still seeing Zoro's super peaceful sleeping face while Sanji is carrying him lmao
I still get major Goku and Piccolo vs. Raditz vibes from that fight. Two people who on their own have no chance in taking out an opponent way beyond their strength are able to do so through ingenuity, teamwork, and strategizing.
I still think the fruit awakening is a bit hokey and out-of-nowhere, but in the end it led to some really stunning moments, so I can't complain too much. Piccolo DID pull the Makankosappo out of nowhere as well, after all...
@@Woodenfan Great points! I can see the parallels, too.
Favorite part was the panel where Luffy knew about green bull and saying na Momo got this . In contrast to sabody island where they were completely wiped out by single admiral. That was a yonko level flex as excepted of a yonko .
Favorite part..... that is rough... I caught up just as the Raid was starting so hard to separate out what is from the binge and what feelings are from being at week to week, plus this arc had so many epic moments. Though the two that just always stick in my head for how hard they hit me at the time are Jimbei officially and finally joining the crew, and "He laughed."
Disappointments..... I really do not have any, I loved this arc, and the few things that I would have liked to see are things that can still be addressed later on, like more on Kaido's backstory, who Yamato's mom is, etc...
I hope you're well after your short break Merphy
I would love for you to rereview the Reverie Arc, Levely Arc. There are a couple things you missed to talk about, and One thing in particular. There's a moment where we see the kings and queens at the meeting and Shirahoshi is about to be enslaved by our most hated celestial dragon, only to be saved by another celestial dragon... The same celestial dragon from Fishman Island that the queen saved all those years ago.. And, I think that its a bit surprising that you never talked about a moment like that when it meant the queens actions impacted such an evil person. I'd also love to hear you talk about the connection between this and Fishman Island, Thank you!
Cliche as it may be, the Oden flashback and Gear 5th reveal I think are the definitive moments of the arc, but one that isn't one of my top favorites but is still underrated IMO is Killer VS Hawkins, I love Oda's ability to make great moments out of characters I previously didn't care too much for and that chapter has stuck in my mind a lot more than I expected it to
What held this arc back for me is how Oda handles death. Asura's and Izo's death was not impactful because we don't know if they actually died or not. Kinemon and other scabbards seemed like they would die but didn't. I can't be bothered to care about characters survival if I don't know if a "death" I'm seeing is real or not.