Thoughts on one piece (ch83 - ch150)

Aaand, here we are again, about 60 chapters later!
So, whatd i think of it?
Well, Ive updated my opinion on Arlong, for one.
I do still think hes not exactly the most exciting villain, but it feels like thats kind of the point. Hes a pathetic idiot who believes hes superior to everyone just because of his race. So, I think it at least makes sense to have him look kind of generic. He believes himself to be this superior, exceptional being but in the end, hes just some guy. Would I have preferred someone with a more interesting design? Yeah, probably. But I can see why Arlong ended up looking the way that he does.

I also did not expect Arlong Park to hit as hard emotionally as it did. What suprised me the most was Genzo, just because Oda did a really fun subversion of expectations with his character. He has a fairly serious sort of sea captain looking outfit he wears, with the exception of a bright pink pinwheel thats stuck to the top of his hat. And, I never really thought anything of that initially. I mean, sure, it looks silly, but its one piece, right? Everyone looks kinda weird. The later reveal that the reason he was wearing that pinwheel was because it cheered up nami when she was little was just a really cool reveal, and a fun way to play around with the expectations for character designs here.

In general, I loved the whole speech Luffy does when they fight. I think, again, its a really cool moment showing off his characters motivation. He admits he isnt good at everything, hes not some exceptional hero, theres a lot of stuff he really sucks at - and he accepts that. He has his own strenghts, and his crewmates have theirs, and they all compliment each other. Its the whole power of friendship trope, but for once its done in a way that doesnt suck. Because, well, they show it off in the fight. Everyone contributes to taking down Arlong. Like how Sanji breaks Luffy free thanks to his kicks being able to break the rock hes stuck in. Or how Nami is the reason they were even able to find their way to Arlong Park in the first place. Often when this sort of Power of Friendship thing gets called on it rings kind of hollow because in a lot of these shounen the side characters genuinely dont contribute anything. But in one piece, it absolutely works.

I loved the Drum Kingdom arc as well. I dont especially love Wapol - hes kind of forgettable, but all the side characters were awesome. Obviously we get introduced to chopper there, who ends up joining the crew, but Dr Hiriluk was also awesome. His character design is genuinely really cool, and the idea of a vigilante doctor is just fun. We also get to see a different kind of inspirational story with him than we did with the rest of the cast. Objectively, he is really, really bad at being a doctor. He continues to suck at being a doctor for the entirety of his life, but he keeps going no matter how many times he fails. Because this is what he wants to do, and no amount of failure is going to stop him, talent be damned. In general I’m really fond of these sorts of stubborn characters, that try to achieve their goals no matter what. The SBS corners were also really fun. Oda dropping random, mostly unrelated worldbuilding details and cut panels is just kind of neat, and some nice downtime from the main story. Speaking of, I’ve also really come to appreciate the sort intermissions where its just Luffy and the crew sailing to the next island. I kind of wish those chapters that consist of just getting to the next island were a bit longer, because the character interactions in them are really fun, and well, half the fantasy of being a pirate is sailing the sea after all. Maybe I’ll get that wish as the manga goes on, who knows. For now, I’ll just keep reading. I’ll probably do the next one of these once I reach Chapter 250 so I have a decent amount of stuff to talk about. Thanks for reading!