Oda goes all the way to make Sanji look bad and to put Zoro in the spotlight. Take Dressrosa where Zoro wants to go the Sunny-Go where Nami Brook and Chopper are, instead Oda led Sanji go so that he has to fight Doflamingo and loses terribly instead of Zoro.
While I agree that zoro is kinda one dimensional, I think that he occupies the incredibly important role of being luffys foil. Oda lets luffy be whimsical and free most of the time, but having zoro to reign him in when it matters is HUGE. A great example is when in water 7 zoro doesn’t let luffy go see ussop until he apologizes. He refuses to let his captain bend the knee to a defector, even if it’s a close friend. Zoro brings the grit and maturity to a crew that sometimes forgets the seas they sail aren’t the kindest.
I agree completely zoro is the realistic counter part to Luffy. He keeps him in check if he's being unrealistic/ soft. He's the perfect right hand man.... does everything for his captain that tends to go unnoticed and unpraised. And he mirrors the dark and dangerous Rayleigh as a great example of the brutality of a pirate In comparison to their captains Rodger and Luffy...we also might see him in more of a enforcer role should we see the crew leading a larger force.
this is probably what i wouldve said, couldnt have written in better lol. maturity definitely looks one dimensional sometimes, while making us believe through that maturity the depths of that person.
As a fan of One Piece and long time viewer of Masked my mindset for most of this video was “Mhm, Mhm, Ok, yeah, when does the trolling start?” But this was actually great review and I’m happy to finally know your actual opinion of the series, feels like a subplot for the channel has finally been resolved
I agree that backstories can make characters far deeper, complex and likeable. Robin, doffy and law are great examples of that. However I think it's a bit of a reach to say Zoro is a bad character due to him having a relatively weak one. I think Zoro is a good character, just not a super deep one, and that's ok. You don't always need multilayered or complex character writing to make a good character, sometimes making a cool character and letting them do cool shit is enough.
I love Zoro too, and you've got a good point, he doesn't have to be terribly complex but you gotta admit at this point there are several dozen side characters with more emotionally rousing backstories than him. I just wish there was just a *little* more to him than just cool feats.
Yes, a good character can just be badass. But that's the limit. A GREAT character is someone that can bring an emotional reaction other than "damn that's cool"
@@thatonenoob7854 his encounter with Kuma, post Thriller Bark Arc, where NOTHING HAPPENED, really solidified him as one of the GREAT characters in the story. And Oda hasn't given him a second backstory yet.
@@musikalora Nothing Happened was a cool moment. But Sanji was just as willing to take it as Zoro. Zoro forced it on himself. It doesn't solidify him since it isn't something only he would do.
Think a good character can be made through actions. That’s what I like about zoro. Nothing happened and his moment in water 7 are really good examples.
One thing that makes one piece stand out to me compared to the other 2 of the big three is that oda doesn't leave behind cool characters. Even after he introduces new ones he finds a way to reintroduce characters into the story and build on them where as side characters in bleach and naruto always feel like they they just got left behind and wasted.
I mean, is not like Brook could defeat a top tier villain or something, he just a side character like most of the others, I think that aspect of one piece is overrated
@@arkex449 I honestly hope the reappearance of old villains (if you know, you know) can bring this kind of thing into it, like I could see Robin, Usopp or Franky pulling something open in the current arc
Honestly out of the big 3 naruto has the worst use of its side characters. They all get forgotten rather quickly or become irrelevant because of the power Gap or because of the narrative shift. Honestly I feel like even fairy tale is better at handling side character than naruto.
Brook has the saddest backstory of all the Strawhats. Imagine spending 50 years trap in an unsailable ship with your whole crew's dead bodies and all hallucinations he had.
@@Ramzan69 I don't mean to compare the characters sad backstory. But being alone for decades is wayy better than living under pressure and fear that someone will betrayed you and sold you to the world government who annihilated not only your friends (what Brook experienced) but your entire island (people you know for your whole life at that point). Being bullied because she has powers as a child, called as monster when she was at least 8 years old. Her parents left and she lived with abusive aunts who not only abuse her but also low-key enslaved her. Finally meet her mom, her mom refused to acknowledge her for a while, but when they finally came back together for like only 10 seconds, they got separated again, not understand why her mom choose to not be with her at that time. Knowing that the government purposely blame her innocent people as not only just criminals but as devils when they discovered who's the devil one. Being told that she wasn't supposed/worth to live after lost her entire life. Not even time to mourn for her family and friends because constant fear and being chased. And not to mentioned she has to continue her friends and mom's dream about the blank history knowing fully well that that's what caused them and your entire island was annihilated. Robin has to live that life for 20+ years and doing so, she stop caring about her own emotions. And at least Brook and his crew knows their goal are to come back to Laboon while Robin has no purpose in life when the buster call happened. She just wants to survive after that Yeah all of that makes watching your friends who are pirates, and all of you know full well that you could die by doing so, died. While trying to keep your last moment to be a happy one
I hard disagree when it comes to Zou as an arc. Zou was literally a mini arc at 23 chapters, and start to finish it had stakes, conflict, buildup, amazing crew interactions, zunesha, road poneglyph, Sanji's departure and exceptional world building. Zou is an incredibly creative burst of the essence of One Piece. Great arc in my opinion.
The road poneglyph, “raizo is safe” and sanji parts were the only interesting things in Zou. That arc is highly overrated imo. It’s good for what it is, but ppl act like it’s a top 5 OP arc when it’s just not.
@@Jon155mt Zou arc is a masterpiece. What it accomplishes in its short few chapters are more than what you will do in your entire life. Your oversimplification is the epitome of pure ignorance and stupidity. "Raizo is safe" was a series of build ups and plot twists while simultaneously showcasing rich world building and lore while simultaneously leading us, setting up foundations and hyping us up for the next arcs to come WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY giving us more questions than answers. From a storytelling perspective its plot twists rivals that of other famous works such as Gone Girl, Rebecca, Hidden Bodies, and Deep Water (which are one of my favourite works of fiction) while giving readers an incredibly unique feeling I have never experienced before (the closest word I can describe that feeling is awe) Calling it overrated is an insult to fiction as a whole
Easily one of the best One Piece review videos on RUclips. Very eloquent & detailed. Respect! And although I often joke about One Piece on this channel. It genuinely is my favorite story along with Berserk, Oyasumi Punpun & Hunter x Hunter. So I'm glad to finally hear your real thoughts on it.
@@krishbohra5536 It's a romance, slice of life with psychological drama. Go check it out. It's light hearted and a good relaxing read especially when you read all the depressing and gore stuffs, oyasumi punpun really cleanses your mind.
I think Week to week experience is only fun for those who love the theory part of One Piece, I'm a guy that has been reading this series for about 12 years. Week to week. There has been lows but what always kept me entertained is the possibility of outcomes. Oda's world has so many stringes attached to eachother, that one move could move the whole story. Also theorizing what could happen in the future and looking out for simple foreshadowings is really fun but I can understand people that wait and read the arcs when they are finished
I don’t understand why people don’t like Zoro’s backstory. Kuina was Zoro’s idol and goal and she could have been a great swprdsperson, but all of that was taken away by an unfortunate accident. It’d be like if Shanks died from some disease right after he gave Luffy the strawhat. I think it’s beautiful that Zoro wants to become the world’s greatest swordsman so that his name can reach her in the afterlife and so that at least one of them can accomplish their goal. It’s also beautiful that no matter what grade swords he gets, he’s never gonna swap out her sword for a “better” one.
Zoro has a good backstory in a vacuum. The problem is that, as the story progressed, Oda began writing backstories that were much more detailed, usually over the course of several chapters. Zoro's backstory isn't bad, but it's certainly overshadowed by every other Strawhat's (except Usopp's) as well other non-Strawhat characters like Oden and Law. I think that's why so many of us were disappointed when Zoro didn't get an extension to his backstory in Wano. While I loved Luffy's and Sanji's second backstories, I don't think they were as necessary as Zoro's would have been since Luffy and Sanji had more detailed first backstories. Still, I like Zoro's flashback a lot and I bet Oda would have probably extended it if Zoro was introduced later than the first arc.
I like that zoro’s backstory is so simple compared to the rest of the cast. It shows his insane dedication, that merely a friend’s death pushed him to become a top tier. It just works imo, ofc could be better but it’s not as bad as people make it seem
Zoro also shows another side at the end of enes lobby, in a single side story episode they have him basically get adopted by an old woman and he basically becomes a big brother for the episode. He shows his caring and protective side
I'd say the only real character progression that Zoro gets through out the series is his loyalty. When he first joins he says he will abandon Luffy if following him gets in the way of his dream. Then in Alabasta when speaking with Chopper he says "another purpose" has started to emerge that makes him follow Luffy, although he can't quite tell what it is. This culminates with the nothing happened moment in thriller bark. Zoro chooses to protect Luffy over the pursuit of his dream, and faces death head on. There's also the hanging thread of Zoro's and Tashigi's interactions that was planted in Loguetown. The thread was revisited and complicated in punk hazard when they meet again. Not sure what it's leading to, but there's definitely something there for Zoro's character. Hoping Zoro still has a whole cake level flashback in him.
I dont if you are caught up with the manga, but as of now, is very mysterious that Zoro stayed with Brook somewhere and is very mature about having to protect and being a line of defense of sorts.
We literally got a Zoro flashback in Wano and y’all still aren’t satisfied 😂 Oda wont ever give Zoro a WCI type focus like he did Sanji. Y’all are the same type of ppl who complained about sanji not getting a serious 1v1 in WCI. Oda clearly PRIMARILY focuses on strength for Zoro and character for Sanji. Neither of them will ever have 100% of both.
One thing i note is that of the big 3 protagonists (ichigo, naruto, and Luffy) luffy is the oldest, and i think because of that we dont focus as much on his emotional journey especially at the beginning, Luffy has grown up experiencing hardship, he's made his decision and is grappled with the idea that he could die chasing his dream and still does it. Compare that to prank happy naruto who lived a sad but comfortable life in the village until he was like 12 and then suddenly had murder and responsibilities thrust upon him and you understand why he might be emotionally unstable. Ichigo is living a normal life (aside from seeing some ghosts) till the age of 15 when suddenly he has to fight against monsters and government from another world. These characters are being thrust suddenly into a new world and go through a more traditional hero's journey. Luffy on the otherhand has been seeing people get killed since he was like 6 and training all his life fighting giant beasts and punches out a sea monster in his first chapter. The kid has moved past his anxiety and self doubt stage. Strangely enough Luffy is very mature, he's aware of how the world works and chosen to give it a middle finger and a gut punch.
@@Based4045 at the start of the series ichigo is 15 theirs a 2 year jump that makes him 17 and then by the final chapter hes a full adult. by that same logic, Naruto is in his 30s now maybe older
One of my Favorite part in reading Shonen battle Manga, is seeing the unique powers the writer creates and the cool ways characters Use those powers. One piece isn’t really praised for its fights, and thats completely fair. But I’d be capping if I said wasn’t hyped when Oda reveals a new devil fruit or expands upon Haki. Cause just wanna the crazy sh*t this man can come up with. Luffy, King, Doflamingo, Katakuri, Enel, Rob Lucci, Law The way these characters use seemingly ‘weak’ abilities always has me hyped
Finally! Masked caught up to the GOAT PIECE! This series really is in my personal honest opinion one of the best works of fiction I’ve ever read/watched 👍
dude, I've never seen any one piece or naruto fans giving props like this to Bleach, (just my opinion, I don't wanna create any fandomtard wars, but, for many reasons I can't caught up to naruto and one piece compared to bleach...)
i dont really get why so many people dont like reading one piece weekly, at least for me, reading it weekly and seeing everyone talking about the chapter week after week has made me love the series so much more than i did when i catched up, most of the problems i had with it dissapeared also the gear 5 reveal was probably the craziest experience ive ever had while reading weekly manga
I understand why people hate week to week, but idk. Even without the community aspect, it’s just fun to have the manga progress as you progress through life, and you can look back at those chapters and associate them with that time in your life. I’ve only been week to week for around 2 years (I’ve been a fan for 8), and it’s given me something to look forward to on most Sundays. I agree too, the reveals can be awesome to read. I’m a newbie, but reading Chapters 1010, 1053, and especially 1043 and 1044 as they came out were some of my experiences with fiction. Despite some of my problems with Gear 5 (My problems are lorewise only, I fucking love the design and toonforce abilities), it has a special place in my heart for the magical experience I had when reading the reveal chapter. Overall, week to week ain’t that bad if you ignore the fandom.
Because Onigashima, specifically from Roof Piece to Gear 5 was a fucking dreadful experience, the pacing was godawful, and it felt like nothing was happening. Post-Onigashima was way too rushed, but Egghead rn has been a really good week to week. But yeah Wano was getting hard to read week to week
I don't really get it too tbh, especially because I've practically been reading it weekly since....2008? lmaooo Anyways, I understand that some parts could feel a somewhat draggy, but I do feel that the slow buildup is what makes One Piece so fun and engaging. It doesn't instantly give you the answer you're looking for and keeps everyone on their toes.
To me it's like watching someting live or later on. Following manga weekly/monthly is completely different experience. I like my fantasy shounen/seinen, last year i binge read Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw man, Demon Slayer, Gantz, Fire Punch and i enjoyed all of them but it's not the same feeling when you are able to see in real time what author is doing with his art. I understand that every manga takes time, finished series wasn't released at once. Maybe it's just me but reading completed story or big part of the story makes me forget about the time authors spends doing this. Following weekly/monthly reminds me of that.
What I like most about One Piece is that no matter the arc, even the transitional ones, you can feel that the author is trying to convey something, whether information about the world, or deep life lessons. Oda really loves his creation and it is very palpable. Sometimes he has the occasion to do some fan-service which would probably be better rated by most fans, but he sticks to his storytelling and rarely leaves any loose ends in terms of his plots.
I wonder if Masked is watching the Bleach TYBW. Imo they doing great adapting the manga and even giving extra insight on it by adding some important scenes especially with Uryu i hope they can fix Division 0 by making the characters less disappointing.
Im not gonna give the whole video essay, but Fishman Island is one of the most important and best arcs in One PIece. Oda focused on the idea of "inherited will" throughout all of One Piece but was heavy with its focus during Marineford so before continuing his story he takes a step back to clarify. Oda shows the difference between inheriting an emotion and inheriting a dream. Hody is a weak villain because he isnt the villain, its the duality of Fisher Tiger, Fisher TIger wanted to make a world were the fishman and humans could live in peace, but he couldnt reconcile his on hatred which led to his death. Arlong carried that Hatred and passed it on to Hody. This is why i loved the line where its revealed that Hody has no reason to hate humans its showing us what happens when you only pass on the emotion, the hatred without a more concrete goal.
Yea merphy had a great video expanding on your thoughts that I feel like anyone who dislikes FMI should watch because it really is about the overall conflict of discrimination and hatred towards fishmen and how you can move forward from that.
@@TyandOnGoing Merphy's video was good, the part that i think alot of people missed (and again not gonna give the full essay) Fishman Island is Oda's answer to how you tackle a really difficult question of how to fight for racial equality, the first point Oda makes is that violence is necessary, Fisher Tiger didnt slaughter people but he definitely got people killed and caused tons of property damage he became a legendary pirate and a Jimbe would continue being a large enough threat that eventually a deal was offered. HOWEVER Oda also has Otohime who represents the time to step away from violence, she even sacrifices herself to keep harm from being done to someone who completely deserves it. Her actions are why Jimbe took the deal and began the process of now working within the system and having a powerful connection. The second and most powerful point Oda makes is that despite the anger of the Fishman being justified and despite the humans being the one's to have really started all of this racial violence, it had to be the fishman to put away their hatred first. was the fair no, did they have every right to hate humans, yes , should the humans have come looking for forgiveness first, absolutely in a perfect world. But the world isnt perfect and sometimes the person who gets hurt the most has to also be the bigger man if they want change.
Tbf the reading experience isn’t really that amazing, but the moment, Hody gets asked what they have done to him and he‘s just like „nothing“, but I’m still the biggest racist ever was so powerful. This one came incredibly unexpected for me, because Oda always has something tragic happen especially to the really irredeemable villains. In my memory it‘s an amazing arc, but I remember not liking it while reading it
To add on to this point, the final fate of Hody is perfect due to the same reason, his old and obsolete ideas and will are left behind, and he and those that follow him end up old and withered just like those ideas.
One piece is truly one of the best stories ever told. I’ve been following one piece back in 2016 and it always keep me entertain. I just love the world of OP and how Beautiful it is, every island is different from each other. I also love how some arcs are made so it can touch a lot of topics that anyone can relate to or have strong feelings for
Though analysing isn't the same as writing, I really like how you talk about story structures, characters and other aspects. While following weakly for four years, I have also seen a one piece theorist, joy boy theories, talking about writing a book and seeing that come to fruition was really nice, and so is hearing you talk about stories, I wish you luck.
Man was beefing the community for years just to give it a generous review 😂. Good analysis btw. Great job catching up since it can’t be easy, especially with the amount of series you consume + ur own writing. You’ve pretty much echoed most of my sentiments. I really began to look at OP differently when I caught up AND did a re read/watch from the beginning and saw all the cogs move into place from a different perspective. Yes it’s not perfect and the weekly experience can be draining and immensely frustrating at times but it’s given me a better appreciation to creative fantasy storytelling, something I once thought would fade as I got older. Much respect Oda for writing the story he wants as well as all the authors who pump out these stories on such an unforgiving schedule. ✌🏾
if ace is one of your favorite characters (hes my personal favorite) you gotta reread chapter 808 then the ace noveld, the last panel in 588 is something ill never forget i love Aces character so much and have over the years appreciated him more than I ever thought I wouldve the most appealing part of his character for me is his conclusion where he died happy knowing it was ok for him to have been born but that his greatest regret was seeing luffy not accomplish his second dream, Aces main reason for dying happy was brother in arms and whitebeard stating the mark on his back is his pride but whenever I see the way he used the back where his pride was to save Luffy it always tears me up knowing the man he looked up to and tried to be like the most never let his back be wounded but and neither did Ace till he died his death basically said “this mark is my pride but you Luffy mean more than that ever will” his death was seemingly perfect and his character doesn’t end there his contrast and parallels with Blackbeard are numerous both being false sun gods Whitebeard bet on Ace and Shanks bet on Luffy when they met in Jaya Shanks most likely told him that, thats why in marineford Wb said to back up Luffy at all cost I could quite literally write a whole essay on Ace not only has his character been undermined severely in recent years but his strength and potenial has been extremely downplayed too for those who dont know yes Ace does beat Katakuri, read the Ace novels (Boichi illustrated them no need to read a literal book)
Foreshadowing happens, but people overestimate the planning. Oda is also just very good at finding open ends in the story and attaching new things to them. The way he makes it feel like it’s all planned is super impressive though.
I feel like Zoro is deeper than what you're giving him credit for, but at the same time I very much see how you can think that way as his characterization is super subtle. We ultimately see after every time that he etches out a tough win, he takes it super hard and has to train like hell in the scenes after. He takes it upon himself to protect everyone, even Luffy, when the going gets tough. Ultimately, he doesn't want to lose someone again like he did kuina, and will go to hell and back for each of the crew mates (even Sanji). To Zoro, he has anxiety in his strength and has to prove to himself and to kuina that he's got what it takes. Zoro isn't the deepest character, but he doesn't have to be for us to love this moss haired himbo.
Hearing Mask talk about one piece with such high regard and praise makes me so happy as a huge OP fan, I really appreciate you putting your problems with the fandom aside to give an honest review. Thank you..
In the case of zoro I recommend you watch "why there is no fictional character like zoro" by Mr Morj he does a really good analysis of his character what he represents
Luffy is more or less a static character. As the story goes on we see more of Luffy's impact on the world than the world's impact on Luffy. This is different from Berserk or Naruto where we see our protagonist grow in different ways.
Luffy definitely isn’t a static character. Static is a strong word if you know the definitions of it in writing. A lot of character development in one piece is subtle. It is not something explicitly shown like Berserk or Naruto. Luffy as a character has grown a lot even up till Wano, if you notice the subtle changes in his character.
One Piece has flaws. But my god are the highs the highest I've seen in manga. Nothing makes me full blown cry like One Piece or jump out of my chair with lore reveals. The characters are amazing and the most recent Momo chapter(1051) being one of my favorite character moments in the entire series. I love reading it weekly. It makes every week better for me. One Piece days are the best!
Dude exactly. One piece can lag in some areas, but its lows are still higher than some highs in other anime. 😱some arcs have drawn out parts , but are followed up with GOLDEN episodes that not only tie up loose ends, shift the tide of the monotony, or make up for the draggy-ness (I know there’s a word for this but my brain can’t word today lol) , but make you shout “THIS IS WHY I LOVE ONE PIECE!!” 😭😭 SPOILERS: dressrosa dragged in the middle (I know this was only an anime problem, I hear the manga was perfect pacing), but holy crap did some of the most pivotal moments in that arc make it shoot to the #1 spot for me (close tie with water 7/ennies lobby)…Sabo coming back, Bellamy seeing Luffy’s shadow in Skypiea, fujitora being a Badass blind admiral that wants to abolish the warlords system, ace’s devil fruit being a prize, sabo eating said devil fruit, god ussop, Bartolomeo being luffy’s fan, the bird cage closing, law’s backstory, senior pink’s backstory, everyone from the colosseum eventually siding together to take down Doffy, everyone including the Navy working together with pirates to push back the cafe, fujitora pretty much saying he wishes he’d undo blinding himself just to witness the man Luffy is, and the freaking straw hat fleet where everyone is ready to pledge loyalty to Luffy and he’s basically like “do whatever you want, all I care about is freedom 💖🥰” and they still drink to set it in stone anyway 🥹 absolutely worth it!!
Since you didn't rank One Piece in your top 100 manga video (which was very confusing especially after watching the top 10 manga video), I was just wondering where you would rank One Piece after catching up.
Dope review bro. Been along time coming. Personally one piece is my favorite shonen and berserk is my favorite seinin. I understand the Op fandom can be toxic af (honestly almost every big series has a terrible fan base) but there are a lot of chill fans as well
I think One Piece has the most enjoyable weekly reading experience and I can't imagine enjoying reading any other series as much this. The amount of information Oda puts into a chapter every week and having things that either go back to an earlier point in the story or setting up something important in the future is mind-blowing. But I think people will only truly appreciate One Piece when it's all completely put together.
Yeah for me personally one piece has one of the greatest binging experiences but a poor weekly for its major arcs because it takes a while to build things up and its easy to forget alot.
Just finished the anime. And am Reading through berserk, I think it’s interesting how you discuss some of the similarities between them. You’d believe they’re polar opposites but in character building and themes like family and struggle it resonates the same. Weird,
One Piece Character Backstory: >Depressing childhood that impacted the character. Zoro: >His rival fell down a staircase and dies. >Becomes one of the strongest characters in One Piece.
I think Zoro is intended to be more mythic than his crewmates, someone who was just kinda born different in the same way Luffy is. The two have always been portrayed as like-minded from the very beginning. In fact, I think as we learn more about Luffy’s life and all the little “extras” he’s picked up on the way as a protagonist it makes Zoro stand out even more. Because Luffy has all this wild shit going on putting him in the right place at the right time, yet the closest thing he has to an equal is still just…some fucking dude from some fucking village. He’s everything he needs to be. As for Nami, she actually does go through a few little growth moments I find notable, particularly growing out of her cowardice. She chooses to fight for the first time in Alabasta for Vivi’s sake and when she joins Enel in Skypeia she’s scolded by Luffy for being pathetic. After that? She stands up to Enel himself, doesn’t hesitate against Aokiji, spearsheads the Rocketman plot, and takes on CP9 all right in a row. There’s also her growing love of children and orphans, though I’m not sure I’d classify that as linear growth. All that said, I think it’s true what you said. Most of these characters are “fully formed” after their backstories, but they do get little things here and there.
Agreed, and to add a little bit, I think not everyone needs a tragic backstory like Law or Robin, but everybody should have a dream of sorts and determination to accomplish it. Zoro and Usopp fit that mold, while Zoro is one dimensional in his dream, his determination and character is multi-dimensional since we have seen time and time again that he was kind of selfish and said to Luffy he will leave if he could fulfill his dream, but as time went on he started being more empathic and culminated with the "nothing happened" moment, and from there is always being the first crewmate, acting as the cold common sense but without being too harsh sometimes and even going into action for others, as we saw in Wano with the smile village, and the rare instances he co-op with Sanji to take down someone. Also I find it extremely interesting that Zoro has cried like only twice in the whole series, once for Kuina and the other after his defeat against Mihawk, showing that his emotions are at a peak when his dream could be snuff out or he was directly involved in said dream being crushed but all other instances he is stoic, worry or excited in the most dire of situations but never afraid or crying, which shows that he has full confidence in himself and the crew that they will come on top.
Zoro “The Minority Hunter” Roronoa is a cool character in my head seeing him as the serious foil to Luffy’s goofiness, works for each other. But I think at this point Oda keeps making characters to fight Zoro, thinks up a cool character and just for some reason, in the end 75% of the time it’s a black person.
I'm gonna assume that Sanji take is regarding post time skip or even post thriller bark Sanji. Because a lot of Sanji fans would agree that his character has been on a downward spiral since then. WCI really did redeem his character a lot. I don't think WCI was necessary but it definitely explored his character a lot more. Sanji's been my favorite for a while and even I will agree that he's been flanderized to perv gag character for a while now, sadly. But if you think Sanji as a whole since his debut in Baratie is boiled down to just "perv gag character", even after his peaks in Arlong Park, Skypiea, and Water 7, that almost feels like you just simply don't like the character because that's just egregious. I strongly disagree but hey, an opinion is an opinion and I still respect it. Overall, nice watch, enjoyed the review!
Kind of why I stopped reading is because everything feels too safe and you know the outcome. They always win! So nothing is a threat EVER. Nothing is at stake.
@@sajalghosh9309 bruh that was 10 years ago, talking about weekly reading. wano was the largest scale arc yet and there was no tension, Kaido didn’t get a single kill. The only ones were Ashura and Izo who no one even thought was dead. Kiku didn’t mourn Izo at all and apparently no one like Shuten. That’s the consequence of treating death like a joke. Kinemon, Kiku, Kanjuro, blue scarf, Luffy all had fake out deaths, obviously *on Luffy. There was no tension in Wano. Even the characters themselves never had any doubt except for half a chapter which was executed poorly
I wonder if Zoro's backstory could have been made stronger if we got more flashbacks or nods to it. We just had it told to us through a dream basically. Maybe someone trips down the stairs or maybe we learn more about Kuina. To be honest, I feel Zoro has just become an OP character after the timeskip and nothing else.
Congratulations for catching up. Dude. No problems if you don't like parts of the story or even all of it. Not every story is for everyone. I started Naruto and just cannot go further. I might give second chance to it, but still don't want to do so. P.S. As much as I like OP I do have complaints towards it.
9:17 moria is an excellent antag looking back because moria is the bad timeline version of luffy. he went into the new world already thinking he was strong enough to then have his crew and all those he cared for stripped away from him. just like luffy in sabaody and marineford but luffy had 1 last friend. jinbe without jinbe luffy would have been just another failed pirate king contender like crocodile or moria. the only thing that stopped luffy from becoming like them was that he still had his friends to rely on
i think that zoro is simply zoro and never changes or weaves because its what the straw hats needs the most, with an ever-changing capitan that has all the freedom in the world, they need a strong and unweaving pole to attach in the moment of need, and that one is zoro and that went clear to me after thriller bark and the kuma event outside of that, ive noticed that he is like raileight, as he is the same always as zoro, when he was young and meet roger, in his adventures with him and even when he meets luffy and trains him, i have that impression, he was the unchanging weapon roger needed as support and 2nd hand man
Manga-only spoilers: Feel like Zoro's character arc is the least completed out of the strawhats tbh. Same way I'm holding off my verdict on Yamato after whatever the fuck happened with Yamato at the end of wano. Oda's shown enough at this point for me not to underestimate characters, when we might get returns expositions etc for them
His world building is so great cause it's almost a direct copy of the real world with a cartoonist spin on it. All themes characters and events that take place are based on a real life situation with a twist or play on the words I love the world of one piece even tho I dislike the way oda tells the story sometimes the world and over arcing story is why I keep up on it.
I lowkey cried when ace died bruh, whenever they bring it up during the wano arc it just plucks my heart strings so beautifully, the way this story is orchestrated is amazing. It’s no wonder this show is so popular, when I visited Korea there was one piece stuff every where. Even soda in 7 11. Made me happy to call myself a fan
I actually liked thriller bark. I think it's a great arc focusing mostly on the strawhats. The chemistry between them all and seeing franky in action for the first time as a proper strawhat was fun. Brook's backstory was great and the "nothing happened" moment was perfect. Kuma teleporting perona to mihawks island also foreshadowed him teleporting all the strawhats away in sabaody.
Exactly! I People hate it because they think it’s too funny or the humor is misplaced, but the thing is it came after such a serious arc (water 7/ennies lobby), and is followed up by even more serious arcs in which they go on a downhill battle that lasts for hundreds of episodes (the straw hats separating, marineford, then 2 years of not seeing one another), so it was like the much needed comedic relief calm before the storm arc. But I say this as someone who has binge watched back to back in 2021, so I do see while watching it weekly and not knowing the absolute chaos that is coming next would make someone go “…?” You’re right too that it mostly focuses on the straw hats, which i love because in retrospect, the next few arcs theyre either completely away from one another or always splitting up (other than fish man island and punk hazard ) I loved thrilled bark cuz I absolutely loved that kind of humor, but I can acknowledge too that it had some extremely poignant moments like the ones you mentioned and is incredibly important to the story!! And Laboon omf especially Laboon 😱
It’s still a bummer that Zoro didn’t get a well fleshed out story for Wano. He did get some character progression during his fight with King but everyone assumed that Wano was going to be Zoro’s arc because of the samurai theme.
@@subtleprelude2400 I mean Zoro is probably gonna get a few flashbacks to Wano, like him returning Ryuma's sword. But I think Oda is keeping alot about Zoro mysterious for the reunion with him and Mihawk, like how he lost his eye and of course Zoro turning enma into a black blade (if that is whats going to happen)
To me what made One Piece great too is how different it kinda is from the regular Shonen archetypes with stuff that happens in the series in my opinion but seriously the world building is phenomenal. I did find it unique how we didn’t learn about his backstory until later which is kinda uncommon to do for your main character. I found it very different for a Shonen to do whenever Luffy literally went unconscious, instead of getting a power up like most protagonist, whenever his loved one died which never really happens. One of my favorite things of the series overall is how every single thing Oda mentions or character that appears are all important to the world in some way whether it’s like a tool that will be useful for later or a character that will effect the world or just fight the straw hats later in the future are all being mentioned so many chapters ago and it even depends on the readers to remember all this information when we tend to forget after so many years
Zoro is a character like Whitebeard or Mihawk. Their actions and code of honor are what define them. Even though Whitebeard was given a "humanity" arc where he loses his son - we have no idea where his dreams, principles, wisdom, fighting skills, etc. came from. Not to mention his life as a member of ROCKS, even his childhood is unknown to us. Same with Dracule. We got a little bit of Zoro in Wano, at least we know his homeland and saw his father/grandfather. But it's not an exploration of him as a person - because his personality is all about cold-blooded actions. In general - Ivankov, Dragon, Cobra, Crocodile, Roger, Enel, Oden and many others fall into the same category. I would even say that for a character like Zoro we've gotten too much, his motivations are at least not that flat. We don't know why Whitebeard wanted a family, we only know that he wanted one for a long time. With Zoro, we understand the roots of his dream as the promise and weight death and unfulfilled ambitions of another human. For Mihawk or Crocodile - we don't even know that little.
Zoro's life or death ambition for his dream of becoming the strongest and at the same time his life or death loyalty for his crew should actually lead to some of the most complex character writing in the story (which would he chose over the other? it's truly complete opposites of a extreme individualist desire vs extreme collectivist duty). This is why Nothing Happened is such a beloved moment because it was one of the few times where Zoro truly got challenged on this internal dichotomy and then revealed his choice in a beautifully poignant way through his farewell to Sanji, the one he pretends he dislikes but truly considers a brother. Now in Wano the expectation was he would have another moment like this because of his heritage as bushido and his admiration of samurai. But ultimately what we got was him getting a cool sword, fighting a cool villain and winning in a contrived but cool way, that's it, it left a lot to be desired to say the least. This is why people feel Zoro has become more one dimensional in post timeskip because we saw a glimpse of that great complexity a lot in pre timeskip that could be explored in many ways without fundamentally changing his character.
One piece is a story that managed to draw me into it so deep that I am willing to accept a lot of its flaws. I dont think there are that many flaws with it but one thing that really bothers me is oda seemingly not willing to kill of some of his characters. He showcased that he can do it with a few of his biggest characters (ace and whitebeard) but than he just lets other characters survive. With that I often look at "death scenes" in one piece very skeptical because I dont know for sure if they are dead or not. If there is something I wish for for the final saga that it would be that oda starts killing some major characters again
regarding your feelings with zoro, I remember a while that you've watched avatar as a kid if so then what's your opinion on toph beifong? cause I dunno if its me but i kinda feel they're similiar in the sense that toph doesn't change a whole lot or has the most memorable backstory out of the team but she is just consistently badass and likable with cool moments such as the time when she took on the earth bending wrestlers on her own, when she invented metalbending, etc. Zoro is kinda like that as well and thats why i like him. sure complex characters like zuko and guts are interesting as well but there is an appeal of a character that just simple, likable, loyal, that just have so much cool moments through its entire runtime but that's just me I respect your opinion
I think that tophs character design is what makes her stand out Like being blind and being the youngest in the avatar crew yet still being the secind strongest is such a contrast Compared to zoro who already looks badass and is the second strongest in the crew would just be an obvious thing
Although I heavily disagree with your take on Sanjis pre whole cake character (especially thriller bark) I enjoyed hearing your overall thoughts on the series. Good video.
My biggest problem with One Piece rn is the paneling! It’s so bad in the latest chapter 1065 that on the final page of chapter 1065 I didn’t know where to start reading!
Here's a take: What makes Zoro interesting for me and to many people as well is not because his backstory, but how he develops as a character as the story goes on. You don't always need a backstory to a character to make them compelling but how he presents himself and his role to the story. Who knows, maybe we'll find out more about him soon.
His time to shine is definitely coming. Mihawk vs Zoro is definitely gonna bring back kuina into the story, whether that be flashbacks or a plot twist with them turning out to be alive.
Zoro can be very very 1D some times but his srenghts as a characters are his loyalty to Luffy and how well he fits the Vice-captain role Zoro being as serious as he is, is needed if Luffy steps out of line. The fight with Usopp best demonstrights this by pulling a Zangetsu saying "if your weaker then me, you are not my captain". He's a great counterbalance to the rest of the crew, making sure the Straw Hats get the street cred they deserve, a great example would be a recent chapter when Dr. Vegapunk underestimates the crew because most of them were freaking out. So while no he's not the greatest character in OP I think he deserves a little more credit then you give him. He just feels like a flat character when put up against the rest of the ever changing cast and world of OP. (also based Sanji enjoyed)
I fully agree with you on Zoro, he is a power stick in any sense, his highlight for me was the Punk Hazard moment of him slicing Monet kinda showing him as a vicious pirate that's not happy go lucky like the rest of the crew
The intersesting aspect of zoros past was his bloodline, being the descendant of God of blade shimutsuki ryuma. But for some reason oda decided to reveal that in sbs. This is was a big moment for zoro as a character, because his strong will, perseverance and mastery over blades is not just for the sake of being a right-hand man. He was built like that.
Zoro is not meant to be funny and goofy like the other characters, because whilst they are his friends, they are pirates and need to take things seriously. Zoro himself says this in water 7 when Ussop gets into a fight with luffy and leaves the straw hats for a little bit. The reason why he was goofy and fun before time skip is because with water 7 and enies lobby happening Zoro realized they have to take pirating more seriously and when they all got defeated because they were weak in sabaody zoro comes back more serious and fulfills his role as a member of the straw hats perfectly. He and Sanji have their disagreements and he trains, stays by the ship to protect it and helps in battle when he is needed. His role is the swordsman of the straw hats and the right hand man of the pirate king. He has to take it seriously. So in being more serious than the other characters he automatically becomes more than one dimensional by fulfilling an important role of the straw hats whilst maintaining his bond with his friends he shows depth and importance in the story. He feels alive, he feels important, and like you said, that is the ultimate goal for a writer.
Wait...sanji had really great moments in thriller bark, sabaody. I agree with the post timeskip sanji being a mess but pre timeskip sanji was like a trump card of strawhats. He had big brain moments throughout pretimskip.
Pre timeskip, I would have prolly ranked One Piece in my top 5, the story and pacing were perfectly executed. Post timeskip is when things start to get uneven, and you realize that there might be too many characters and subplots. Dressrosa is the perfect example of an arc that was hyped up a lot, and it kinda fell flat on its face by the end. Zou was a 10/10 and I have yet to meet an OP fan that dislikes it. Overall One Piece still manages to be interesting, especially when it comes to world building, but the more long winded arcs can fall short of being top tier. As many have pointed out, Zoro's entire shtick if you will is that he's supposed to keep Luffy and sometimes even the other SHs in check, he's also smarter than their own captain so it kinda falls on him to play the stoic guy, while the others are being a bunch of kids. Even Robin can sometimes get sidetracked by something cute.
I think One Pieces biggest flaw is that I feel the individual arcs either end up being too short like Marineford where I feel there was so much potential to what ended up being a big fight (And the fights weren't even that good) or it ends up being dragged out especially at the climaxes such as fisherman Island when it spends way to long on Noah falling imo. I also honestly find the setup arcs such as water 7 way better than the big climax arcs like enies lobby partially because the climax arcs are always a lot of fighting and the fights in one piece are mostly boring.
I agree on the setup arcs being better than the climax arcs, though one big reason for me that the climax arcs tend to drag on too long where as the setup arcs tend to get straight to the point.
@@djmeagaaim17 Yeah, like so much shit goes down in water 7 and it has phenomenal character moments especially for Robin and Usopp but then Enies Lobby spends an eternity on shit like the train ride there.
@@retroburst155 I have, the issues still stand, I actually like how the anime handles certain aspects a lot more but the abysmal pacing definitely makes the manga better
I think everyone needs to watch Mr Morj's video on zoro way too many people are getting away with either calling his character flat, one dimensional or boring so many people including masked don't understand the complexity of his character and its kinda sad same with sanji
I understand not liking the fan base (or any any shonen fanbase for that matter) but god 🤦♂️ i have been waiting for you to actually give your opinion on one piece 😂. It’s my favorite manga of all time and I really respect your opinion when it comes to manga so this video was really really appreciated. But I do have a question. Where would you put it on your top 100 list since you didn’t give an answer in that video?
@@Hmm-x5t yeah I remember that but since he made this video he finished wano and formed new opinions and might rate it higher so I was wondering where he would put it in his new top 100.
Zoro is a great character there is some character development in him throughout the story and we still don't know why Zoro want to be Strongest Swordsman Ever "Why There Is No Fictional Character Like Zoro" ~ Mr Morj "You Will Never See Zoro The Same After This" ~ Ohara Maybe in future Nux will finally make "No One Understands Zoro" video 😭
Skypia is my favorite arc in the story, it has everything that i love! Either way, reading One Piece week-to-week is a unique experience when you add how active you are in the community. It's something you wont be able to experience again once One Piece is finished. Although im glad i had it on hiatus from 2011 after i caught up with the anime on Fishman Island and towards Punk Hazard (Imo the worst arcs in the story). One Piece has its weak points such as lack of tension by not killing off characters (even death baiting) and too long arcs imo in the latter half of the story (could've been told a lot shorter). Overall though since its a long running story it obviously gonna have some setbacks, it's an amazing and unique experience. Can't wait for how the final stretch is gonna turn out!
finally someone took about it zoro is my favorite character in one piece but he is nothing to the story he is just that cool man i need to see more of him in wano i really think oda wronged zoro we all expected him to show more aboat his past and his family and that he is from wano
In western( Especially art discourse) we tend to see one-dimensional as a flaw, and we’ve kind of been spooked by a lot of 2010s work in subtle character, multi-layered villains etc. that we like expect as such to believe that’s what’s needed for effective character. But any writer would tell you that isn’t true. I don’t think Zoro is one dimensional, but it’s his one dimension that’s so compelling. ( His shows of having a big heart and understanding such as after the end of Wano, the Usopp vs Luffy fight, him saving Tashigi show this. ) He’s this stoic samurai with no sense of direction, which is irony because he has the strongest sense of direction in terms of where he needs to be arguably in the series after Luffy. In real life, not everyone will have multiple layers, or change completely themselves as they grow. Some people are simpletons, and some are relatively one dimensional. And that’s okay.
sanji take is very cold btw. wci explained his perv behavior, his love for food and his dream. he became the best written character in one piece in that arc. he was pretty mid before then. i don't think anyone would disagree with that take tbh
![Let's rank all of the One Piece arcs (Tier List) [SPOILERS]](/img/1.gif)
GET THE MERCH!!!
Black Logo: www.bonfire.com/the-masked-man-black/
Red Logo: www.bonfire.com/the-masked-man-red/
One Piece love it, one of my all time favorite series even if it's a few issues.
Read hajime no ippo
You need to try read twin star exorcists
Oda goes all the way to make Sanji look bad and to put Zoro in the spotlight. Take Dressrosa where Zoro wants to go the Sunny-Go where Nami Brook and Chopper are, instead Oda led Sanji go so that he has to fight Doflamingo and loses terribly instead of Zoro.
Mask the first person to agree with me on zoro post time skip he lacks all character depth just hype
While I agree that zoro is kinda one dimensional, I think that he occupies the incredibly important role of being luffys foil. Oda lets luffy be whimsical and free most of the time, but having zoro to reign him in when it matters is HUGE. A great example is when in water 7 zoro doesn’t let luffy go see ussop until he apologizes. He refuses to let his captain bend the knee to a defector, even if it’s a close friend. Zoro brings the grit and maturity to a crew that sometimes forgets the seas they sail aren’t the kindest.
🤝
Couldn’t have said it better! 👍👍👍
I agree completely zoro is the realistic counter part to Luffy. He keeps him in check if he's being unrealistic/ soft. He's the perfect right hand man.... does everything for his captain that tends to go unnoticed and unpraised. And he mirrors the dark and dangerous Rayleigh as a great example of the brutality of a pirate In comparison to their captains Rodger and Luffy...we also might see him in more of a enforcer role should we see the crew leading a larger force.
I mean yeah, but that still doesn't make it non one dimensional
this is probably what i wouldve said, couldnt have written in better lol. maturity definitely looks one dimensional sometimes, while making us believe through that maturity the depths of that person.
As a fan of One Piece and long time viewer of Masked my mindset for most of this video was “Mhm, Mhm, Ok, yeah, when does the trolling start?” But this was actually great review and I’m happy to finally know your actual opinion of the series, feels like a subplot for the channel has finally been resolved
Fr I was waiting to get tricked any second 💀
I agree that backstories can make characters far deeper, complex and likeable. Robin, doffy and law are great examples of that. However I think it's a bit of a reach to say Zoro is a bad character due to him having a relatively weak one. I think Zoro is a good character, just not a super deep one, and that's ok. You don't always need multilayered or complex character writing to make a good character, sometimes making a cool character and letting them do cool shit is enough.
I love Zoro too, and you've got a good point, he doesn't have to be terribly complex but you gotta admit at this point there are several dozen side characters with more emotionally rousing backstories than him. I just wish there was just a *little* more to him than just cool feats.
Yes, a good character can just be badass. But that's the limit. A GREAT character is someone that can bring an emotional reaction other than "damn that's cool"
@@thatonenoob7854 his encounter with Kuma, post Thriller Bark Arc, where NOTHING HAPPENED, really solidified him as one of the GREAT characters in the story. And Oda hasn't given him a second backstory yet.
@@musikalora Nothing Happened was a cool moment. But Sanji was just as willing to take it as Zoro. Zoro forced it on himself. It doesn't solidify him since it isn't something only he would do.
Think a good character can be made through actions. That’s what I like about zoro. Nothing happened and his moment in water 7 are really good examples.
One thing that makes one piece stand out to me compared to the other 2 of the big three is that oda doesn't leave behind cool characters. Even after he introduces new ones he finds a way to reintroduce characters into the story and build on them where as side characters in bleach and naruto always feel like they they just got left behind and wasted.
I mean, is not like Brook could defeat a top tier villain or something, he just a side character like most of the others, I think that aspect of one piece is overrated
@@arkex449 does a character need to be able to defeat a top tier villain to be enjoyable?
@@arkex449 So what? Why does that matter lol I don't see Chad from Bleach beating any top tier villains or Kiba from Naruto
@@arkex449 I honestly hope the reappearance of old villains (if you know, you know) can bring this kind of thing into it, like I could see Robin, Usopp or Franky pulling something open in the current arc
Honestly out of the big 3 naruto has the worst use of its side characters. They all get forgotten rather quickly or become irrelevant because of the power Gap or because of the narrative shift. Honestly I feel like even fairy tale is better at handling side character than naruto.
Brook has the saddest backstory of all the Strawhats. Imagine spending 50 years trap in an unsailable ship with your whole crew's dead bodies and all hallucinations he had.
Very true cuz of how tragic that really is
agreed
robin still the saddest imo, alone since kid and people around you keep betrayin you is more deep than old man alone
@@Farisss11 Yea but in my opinion I think that not even having anyone to be BETRAYED BY is even sadder
@@Ramzan69 I don't mean to compare the characters sad backstory. But being alone for decades is wayy better than living under pressure and fear that someone will betrayed you and sold you to the world government who annihilated not only your friends (what Brook experienced) but your entire island (people you know for your whole life at that point). Being bullied because she has powers as a child, called as monster when she was at least 8 years old. Her parents left and she lived with abusive aunts who not only abuse her but also low-key enslaved her. Finally meet her mom, her mom refused to acknowledge her for a while, but when they finally came back together for like only 10 seconds, they got separated again, not understand why her mom choose to not be with her at that time. Knowing that the government purposely blame her innocent people as not only just criminals but as devils when they discovered who's the devil one. Being told that she wasn't supposed/worth to live after lost her entire life. Not even time to mourn for her family and friends because constant fear and being chased. And not to mentioned she has to continue her friends and mom's dream about the blank history knowing fully well that that's what caused them and your entire island was annihilated. Robin has to live that life for 20+ years and doing so, she stop caring about her own emotions. And at least Brook and his crew knows their goal are to come back to Laboon while Robin has no purpose in life when the buster call happened. She just wants to survive after that
Yeah all of that makes watching your friends who are pirates, and all of you know full well that you could die by doing so, died. While trying to keep your last moment to be a happy one
I hard disagree when it comes to Zou as an arc. Zou was literally a mini arc at 23 chapters, and start to finish it had stakes, conflict, buildup, amazing crew interactions, zunesha, road poneglyph, Sanji's departure and exceptional world building. Zou is an incredibly creative burst of the essence of One Piece. Great arc in my opinion.
The road poneglyph, “raizo is safe” and sanji parts were the only interesting things in Zou. That arc is highly overrated imo. It’s good for what it is, but ppl act like it’s a top 5 OP arc when it’s just not.
Imo Zou arc is eh...
@@Jon155mt ive never heard anyone even try to claim zou is top 10, let alone top 5
@@Jon155mt Zou arc is a masterpiece. What it accomplishes in its short few chapters are more than what you will do in your entire life. Your oversimplification is the epitome of pure ignorance and stupidity. "Raizo is safe" was a series of build ups and plot twists while simultaneously showcasing rich world building and lore while simultaneously leading us, setting up foundations and hyping us up for the next arcs to come WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY giving us more questions than answers.
From a storytelling perspective its plot twists rivals that of other famous works such as Gone Girl, Rebecca, Hidden Bodies, and Deep Water (which are one of my favourite works of fiction) while giving readers an incredibly unique feeling I have never experienced before (the closest word I can describe that feeling is awe)
Calling it overrated is an insult to fiction as a whole
@@katipunan4212 I get the feeling u seem kinda offended bruh chill
Easily one of the best One Piece review videos on RUclips. Very eloquent & detailed. Respect! And although I often joke about One Piece on this channel. It genuinely is my favorite story along with Berserk, Oyasumi Punpun & Hunter x Hunter. So I'm glad to finally hear your real thoughts on it.
easy.
What's Oyasumi Punpun? I've read the other three, not this one. In fact, never even heard of it
@@krishbohra5536 a psychological story
@@krishbohra5536 It's a romance, slice of life with psychological drama. Go check it out. It's light hearted and a good relaxing read especially when you read all the depressing and gore stuffs, oyasumi punpun really cleanses your mind.
The person above me wants to see the world burn lmao
The one piece is real.
Can we get much higher?
so high
Fr.
@@Name_Pending- oh oh oh, oh oh oh-oh
I think Week to week experience is only fun for those who love the theory part of One Piece, I'm a guy that has been reading this series for about 12 years. Week to week. There has been lows but what always kept me entertained is the possibility of outcomes. Oda's world has so many stringes attached to eachother, that one move could move the whole story.
Also theorizing what could happen in the future and looking out for simple foreshadowings is really fun but I can understand people that wait and read the arcs when they are finished
I only enjoy week to week because I have some ppl who I geek out about every ch. I don't go insane over the ch, but I love to discuss it
I don’t understand why people don’t like Zoro’s backstory. Kuina was Zoro’s idol and goal and she could have been a great swprdsperson, but all of that was taken away by an unfortunate accident. It’d be like if Shanks died from some disease right after he gave Luffy the strawhat.
I think it’s beautiful that Zoro wants to become the world’s greatest swordsman so that his name can reach her in the afterlife and so that at least one of them can accomplish their goal. It’s also beautiful that no matter what grade swords he gets, he’s never gonna swap out her sword for a “better” one.
Zoro has a good backstory in a vacuum. The problem is that, as the story progressed, Oda began writing backstories that were much more detailed, usually over the course of several chapters. Zoro's backstory isn't bad, but it's certainly overshadowed by every other Strawhat's (except Usopp's) as well other non-Strawhat characters like Oden and Law.
I think that's why so many of us were disappointed when Zoro didn't get an extension to his backstory in Wano. While I loved Luffy's and Sanji's second backstories, I don't think they were as necessary as Zoro's would have been since Luffy and Sanji had more detailed first backstories.
Still, I like Zoro's flashback a lot and I bet Oda would have probably extended it if Zoro was introduced later than the first arc.
It's that Zoro's backstory is weaker than the others.
I like that zoro’s backstory is so simple compared to the rest of the cast. It shows his insane dedication, that merely a friend’s death pushed him to become a top tier. It just works imo, ofc could be better but it’s not as bad as people make it seem
It might have been an accident, but in Japan "fell down the stairs" usually means "took their own life".
It's just a theory though.
Zoro also shows another side at the end of enes lobby, in a single side story episode they have him basically get adopted by an old woman and he basically becomes a big brother for the episode. He shows his caring and protective side
I'd say the only real character progression that Zoro gets through out the series is his loyalty. When he first joins he says he will abandon Luffy if following him gets in the way of his dream. Then in Alabasta when speaking with Chopper he says "another purpose" has started to emerge that makes him follow Luffy, although he can't quite tell what it is. This culminates with the nothing happened moment in thriller bark. Zoro chooses to protect Luffy over the pursuit of his dream, and faces death head on.
There's also the hanging thread of Zoro's and Tashigi's interactions that was planted in Loguetown. The thread was revisited and complicated in punk hazard when they meet again. Not sure what it's leading to, but there's definitely something there for Zoro's character.
Hoping Zoro still has a whole cake level flashback in him.
I dont if you are caught up with the manga, but as of now, is very mysterious that Zoro stayed with Brook somewhere and is very mature about having to protect and being a line of defense of sorts.
We literally got a Zoro flashback in Wano and y’all still aren’t satisfied 😂
Oda wont ever give Zoro a WCI type focus like he did Sanji. Y’all are the same type of ppl who complained about sanji not getting a serious 1v1 in WCI. Oda clearly PRIMARILY focuses on strength for Zoro and character for Sanji. Neither of them will ever have 100% of both.
One thing i note is that of the big 3 protagonists (ichigo, naruto, and Luffy) luffy is the oldest, and i think because of that we dont focus as much on his emotional journey especially at the beginning, Luffy has grown up experiencing hardship, he's made his decision and is grappled with the idea that he could die chasing his dream and still does it. Compare that to prank happy naruto who lived a sad but comfortable life in the village until he was like 12 and then suddenly had murder and responsibilities thrust upon him and you understand why he might be emotionally unstable. Ichigo is living a normal life (aside from seeing some ghosts) till the age of 15 when suddenly he has to fight against monsters and government from another world. These characters are being thrust suddenly into a new world and go through a more traditional hero's journey. Luffy on the otherhand has been seeing people get killed since he was like 6 and training all his life fighting giant beasts and punches out a sea monster in his first chapter. The kid has moved past his anxiety and self doubt stage. Strangely enough Luffy is very mature, he's aware of how the world works and chosen to give it a middle finger and a gut punch.
Well said I suppose.
Nah its its Ichigo..
He is now 27 years old..
@@Based4045 at the start of the series ichigo is 15 theirs a 2 year jump that makes him 17 and then by the final chapter hes a full adult. by that same logic, Naruto is in his 30s now maybe older
@@Based4045 if we're going by now then naruto beats everyone in experience
That’s such a stupid reason to not have an emotional journey or growth.
Guts is an adult and still develops emotionally lol.
One of my Favorite part in reading Shonen battle Manga, is seeing the unique powers the writer creates and the cool ways characters
Use those powers.
One piece isn’t really praised for its fights, and thats completely fair. But I’d be capping if I said wasn’t hyped when Oda reveals a new devil fruit or expands upon Haki. Cause just wanna the crazy sh*t this man can come up with.
Luffy, King, Doflamingo, Katakuri, Enel, Rob Lucci, Law
The way these characters use seemingly ‘weak’ abilities always has me hyped
That's so true! Only Oda could have come up with a man made of mochi and made his fight one of the best, while doing amazing character work too.
Funny since Law's fruit is OP, pun intended
Lucci got a regular ass zoan but made it work so well with his martial arts!
This is probably why I like usopp and nami fights so much as it basically weak characters using their skills to the absolute fullest to compete
Man really called Law and Enel’s abilities weak
Finally! Masked caught up to the GOAT PIECE! This series really is in my personal honest opinion one of the best works of fiction I’ve ever read/watched 👍
dude, I've never seen any one piece or naruto fans giving props like this to Bleach, (just my opinion, I don't wanna create any fandomtard wars, but, for many reasons I can't caught up to naruto and one piece compared to bleach...)
@@strongstateofmind5420 its all personal taste my boy. Personally I love all three, although Bleach is my favorite of the three 👍
@@NinthShinigami yeah, at the end, it's always good to see some people respecting all three beside all these toxic fans XD
if all anime fans could think like you, we would live in an utopia
i dont really get why so many people dont like reading one piece weekly, at least for me, reading it weekly and seeing everyone talking about the chapter week after week has made me love the series so much more than i did when i catched up, most of the problems i had with it dissapeared
also the gear 5 reveal was probably the craziest experience ive ever had while reading weekly manga
I understand why people hate week to week, but idk. Even without the community aspect, it’s just fun to have the manga progress as you progress through life, and you can look back at those chapters and associate them with that time in your life. I’ve only been week to week for around 2 years (I’ve been a fan for 8), and it’s given me something to look forward to on most Sundays. I agree too, the reveals can be awesome to read. I’m a newbie, but reading Chapters 1010, 1053, and especially 1043 and 1044 as they came out were some of my experiences with fiction. Despite some of my problems with Gear 5 (My problems are lorewise only, I fucking love the design and toonforce abilities), it has a special place in my heart for the magical experience I had when reading the reveal chapter. Overall, week to week ain’t that bad if you ignore the fandom.
Because Onigashima, specifically from Roof Piece to Gear 5 was a fucking dreadful experience, the pacing was godawful, and it felt like nothing was happening. Post-Onigashima was way too rushed, but Egghead rn has been a really good week to week. But yeah Wano was getting hard to read week to week
I don't really get it too tbh, especially because I've practically been reading it weekly since....2008? lmaooo Anyways, I understand that some parts could feel a somewhat draggy, but I do feel that the slow buildup is what makes One Piece so fun and engaging. It doesn't instantly give you the answer you're looking for and keeps everyone on their toes.
I guess bc ppl are desesperate and cant wait for smth to get a conclusion
To me it's like watching someting live or later on. Following manga weekly/monthly is completely different experience. I like my fantasy shounen/seinen, last year i binge read Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw man, Demon Slayer, Gantz, Fire Punch and i enjoyed all of them but it's not the same feeling when you are able to see in real time what author is doing with his art. I understand that every manga takes time, finished series wasn't released at once. Maybe it's just me but reading completed story or big part of the story makes me forget about the time authors spends doing this. Following weekly/monthly reminds me of that.
What I like most about One Piece is that no matter the arc, even the transitional ones, you can feel that the author is trying to convey something, whether information about the world, or deep life lessons. Oda really loves his creation and it is very palpable. Sometimes he has the occasion to do some fan-service which would probably be better rated by most fans, but he sticks to his storytelling and rarely leaves any loose ends in terms of his plots.
I think a RUclipsr by the name of MelonTee has the most interesting look on zoro as a character. Really recommend that video.
I think Oda is a master at leaving himself room to expand upon of flesh out minor details from sometimes hundreds of chapters previous.
I wonder if Masked is watching the Bleach TYBW. Imo they doing great adapting the manga and even giving extra insight on it by adding some important scenes especially with Uryu i hope they can fix Division 0 by making the characters less disappointing.
Kill the captain that was suppose to die
TYBW is my pick for anime of the year 👍 they’re doing a phenomenal job imo
the animation is sad tbh... Couldve been much better
@@NinthShinigami let’s just hope that this quality sticks throughout to the end because I truly hope for the best for Bleach
@@alextihor1190 The episodes are setups the big fights are coming in ep 5 and beyond that have some absolutely insane stuff animate with these fights.
Im not gonna give the whole video essay, but Fishman Island is one of the most important and best arcs in One PIece. Oda focused on the idea of "inherited will" throughout all of One Piece but was heavy with its focus during Marineford so before continuing his story he takes a step back to clarify. Oda shows the difference between inheriting an emotion and inheriting a dream. Hody is a weak villain because he isnt the villain, its the duality of Fisher Tiger, Fisher TIger wanted to make a world were the fishman and humans could live in peace, but he couldnt reconcile his on hatred which led to his death. Arlong carried that Hatred and passed it on to Hody. This is why i loved the line where its revealed that Hody has no reason to hate humans its showing us what happens when you only pass on the emotion, the hatred without a more concrete goal.
Yea merphy had a great video expanding on your thoughts that I feel like anyone who dislikes FMI should watch because it really is about the overall conflict of discrimination and hatred towards fishmen and how you can move forward from that.
@@TyandOnGoing Merphy's video was good, the part that i think alot of people missed (and again not gonna give the full essay) Fishman Island is Oda's answer to how you tackle a really difficult question of how to fight for racial equality, the first point Oda makes is that violence is necessary, Fisher Tiger didnt slaughter people but he definitely got people killed and caused tons of property damage he became a legendary pirate and a Jimbe would continue being a large enough threat that eventually a deal was offered. HOWEVER Oda also has Otohime who represents the time to step away from violence, she even sacrifices herself to keep harm from being done to someone who completely deserves it. Her actions are why Jimbe took the deal and began the process of now working within the system and having a powerful connection. The second and most powerful point Oda makes is that despite the anger of the Fishman being justified and despite the humans being the one's to have really started all of this racial violence, it had to be the fishman to put away their hatred first. was the fair no, did they have every right to hate humans, yes , should the humans have come looking for forgiveness first, absolutely in a perfect world. But the world isnt perfect and sometimes the person who gets hurt the most has to also be the bigger man if they want change.
Tbf the reading experience isn’t really that amazing, but the moment, Hody gets asked what they have done to him and he‘s just like „nothing“, but I’m still the biggest racist ever was so powerful. This one came incredibly unexpected for me, because Oda always has something tragic happen especially to the really irredeemable villains. In my memory it‘s an amazing arc, but I remember not liking it while reading it
It may just be that the anime makes the ark more enjoyable to watch, because I've had a fun time with FMI.
To add on to this point, the final fate of Hody is perfect due to the same reason, his old and obsolete ideas and will are left behind, and he and those that follow him end up old and withered just like those ideas.
One piece is truly one of the best stories ever told. I’ve been following one piece back in 2016 and it always keep me entertain. I just love the world of OP and how Beautiful it is, every island is different from each other. I also love how some arcs are made so it can touch a lot of topics that anyone can relate to or have strong feelings for
Though analysing isn't the same as writing, I really like how you talk about story structures, characters and other aspects. While following weakly for four years, I have also seen a one piece theorist, joy boy theories, talking about writing a book and seeing that come to fruition was really nice, and so is hearing you talk about stories, I wish you luck.
9:42 YOU AINT FOOLIN NO ONE MY GUY!
Man was beefing the community for years just to give it a generous review 😂.
Good analysis btw. Great job catching up since it can’t be easy, especially with the amount of series you consume + ur own writing.
You’ve pretty much echoed most of my sentiments. I really began to look at OP differently when I caught up AND did a re read/watch from the beginning and saw all the cogs move into place from a different perspective.
Yes it’s not perfect and the weekly experience can be draining and immensely frustrating at times but it’s given me a better appreciation to creative fantasy storytelling, something I once thought would fade as I got older.
Much respect Oda for writing the story he wants as well as all the authors who pump out these stories on such an unforgiving schedule. ✌🏾
if ace is one of your favorite characters (hes my personal favorite) you gotta reread chapter 808 then the ace noveld, the last panel in 588 is something ill never forget i love Aces character so much and have over the years appreciated him more than I ever thought I wouldve the most appealing part of his character for me is his conclusion where he died happy knowing it was ok for him to have been born but that his greatest regret was seeing luffy not accomplish his second dream, Aces main reason for dying happy was brother in arms and whitebeard stating the mark on his back is his pride but whenever I see the way he used the back where his pride was to save Luffy it always tears me up knowing the man he looked up to and tried to be like the most never let his back be wounded but and neither did Ace till he died his death basically said “this mark is my pride but you Luffy mean more than that ever will”
his death was seemingly perfect and his character doesn’t end there his contrast and parallels with Blackbeard are numerous both being false sun gods Whitebeard bet on Ace and Shanks bet on Luffy when they met in Jaya Shanks most likely told him that, thats why in marineford Wb said to back up Luffy at all cost
I could quite literally write a whole essay on Ace not only has his character been undermined severely in recent years but his strength and potenial has been extremely downplayed too for those who dont know yes Ace does beat Katakuri, read the Ace novels (Boichi illustrated them no need to read a literal book)
i meant 588 not 808 💀 i was thinking of something else when i wrote 808
Ace will and always be my favorite fictional character ever man I love him so much
Foreshadowing happens, but people overestimate the planning. Oda is also just very good at finding open ends in the story and attaching new things to them. The way he makes it feel like it’s all planned is super impressive though.
I feel like Zoro is deeper than what you're giving him credit for, but at the same time I very much see how you can think that way as his characterization is super subtle. We ultimately see after every time that he etches out a tough win, he takes it super hard and has to train like hell in the scenes after. He takes it upon himself to protect everyone, even Luffy, when the going gets tough. Ultimately, he doesn't want to lose someone again like he did kuina, and will go to hell and back for each of the crew mates (even Sanji). To Zoro, he has anxiety in his strength and has to prove to himself and to kuina that he's got what it takes. Zoro isn't the deepest character, but he doesn't have to be for us to love this moss haired himbo.
you are correct but thats characterization , masked is not talking about that
Hearing Mask talk about one piece with such high regard and praise makes me so happy as a huge OP fan, I really appreciate you putting your problems with the fandom aside to give an honest review. Thank you..
In the case of zoro I recommend you watch "why there is no fictional character like zoro" by Mr Morj he does a really good analysis of his character what he represents
i was going to recommend the vid too 😂
Luffy is more or less a static character. As the story goes on we see more of Luffy's impact on the world than the world's impact on Luffy. This is different from Berserk or Naruto where we see our protagonist grow in different ways.
Luffy has most definitely changed a lot
Luffy definitely isn’t a static character. Static is a strong word if you know the definitions of it in writing. A lot of character development in one piece is subtle. It is not something explicitly shown like Berserk or Naruto. Luffy as a character has grown a lot even up till Wano, if you notice the subtle changes in his character.
Blink twice if you were being held at gunpoint to make this video
Something that heavily increases my enjoyment of one piece week to week is community engagement be it theories, conversations with people or analysis
One Piece has flaws. But my god are the highs the highest I've seen in manga. Nothing makes me full blown cry like One Piece or jump out of my chair with lore reveals. The characters are amazing and the most recent Momo chapter(1051) being one of my favorite character moments in the entire series. I love reading it weekly. It makes every week better for me. One Piece days are the best!
Dude exactly. One piece can lag in some areas, but its lows are still higher than some highs in other anime. 😱some arcs have drawn out parts , but are followed up with GOLDEN episodes that not only tie up loose ends, shift the tide of the monotony, or make up for the draggy-ness (I know there’s a word for this but my brain can’t word today lol) , but make you shout “THIS IS WHY I LOVE ONE PIECE!!” 😭😭 SPOILERS: dressrosa dragged in the middle (I know this was only an anime problem, I hear the manga was perfect pacing), but holy crap did some of the most pivotal moments in that arc make it shoot to the #1 spot for me (close tie with water 7/ennies lobby)…Sabo coming back, Bellamy seeing Luffy’s shadow in Skypiea, fujitora being a Badass blind admiral that wants to abolish the warlords system, ace’s devil fruit being a prize, sabo eating said devil fruit, god ussop, Bartolomeo being luffy’s fan, the bird cage closing, law’s backstory, senior pink’s backstory, everyone from the colosseum eventually siding together to take down Doffy, everyone including the Navy working together with pirates to push back the cafe, fujitora pretty much saying he wishes he’d undo blinding himself just to witness the man Luffy is, and the freaking straw hat fleet where everyone is ready to pledge loyalty to Luffy and he’s basically like “do whatever you want, all I care about is freedom 💖🥰” and they still drink to set it in stone anyway 🥹 absolutely worth it!!
Since you didn't rank One Piece in your top 100 manga video (which was very confusing especially after watching the top 10 manga video), I was just wondering where you would rank One Piece after catching up.
i think it was no 20 or 19
Nico Robin does have an amazing back....story 😌
10/10 video, didn’t agree with your Zoro take as much but I can 100% understand what you mean
Spent my summer reading One Piece & its one of my favorites now.
Dope review bro. Been along time coming. Personally one piece is my favorite shonen and berserk is my favorite seinin. I understand the Op fandom can be toxic af (honestly almost every big series has a terrible fan base) but there are a lot of chill fans as well
I think One Piece has the most enjoyable weekly reading experience and I can't imagine enjoying reading any other series as much this.
The amount of information Oda puts into a chapter every week and having things that either go back to an earlier point in the story or setting up something important in the future is mind-blowing.
But I think people will only truly appreciate One Piece when it's all completely put together.
Yeah for me personally one piece has one of the greatest binging experiences but a poor weekly for its major arcs because it takes a while to build things up and its easy to forget alot.
But The Experience Of Reading Chapters is in heat when they release
Just finished the anime. And am Reading through berserk, I think it’s interesting how you discuss some of the similarities between them. You’d believe they’re polar opposites but in character building and themes like family and struggle it resonates the same. Weird,
One Piece Character Backstory:
>Depressing childhood that impacted the character.
Zoro:
>His rival fell down a staircase and dies.
>Becomes one of the strongest characters in One Piece.
you lost me when you reduced pre WCI Sanji to mid. He is objectively the best written strawhat irrespective of the timeline.
I think Zoro is intended to be more mythic than his crewmates, someone who was just kinda born different in the same way Luffy is. The two have always been portrayed as like-minded from the very beginning. In fact, I think as we learn more about Luffy’s life and all the little “extras” he’s picked up on the way as a protagonist it makes Zoro stand out even more. Because Luffy has all this wild shit going on putting him in the right place at the right time, yet the closest thing he has to an equal is still just…some fucking dude from some fucking village. He’s everything he needs to be.
As for Nami, she actually does go through a few little growth moments I find notable, particularly growing out of her cowardice. She chooses to fight for the first time in Alabasta for Vivi’s sake and when she joins Enel in Skypeia she’s scolded by Luffy for being pathetic. After that? She stands up to Enel himself, doesn’t hesitate against Aokiji, spearsheads the Rocketman plot, and takes on CP9 all right in a row. There’s also her growing love of children and orphans, though I’m not sure I’d classify that as linear growth.
All that said, I think it’s true what you said. Most of these characters are “fully formed” after their backstories, but they do get little things here and there.
Agreed, and to add a little bit, I think not everyone needs a tragic backstory like Law or Robin, but everybody should have a dream of sorts and determination to accomplish it.
Zoro and Usopp fit that mold, while Zoro is one dimensional in his dream, his determination and character is multi-dimensional since we have seen time and time again that he was kind of selfish and said to Luffy he will leave if he could fulfill his dream, but as time went on he started being more empathic and culminated with the "nothing happened" moment, and from there is always being the first crewmate, acting as the cold common sense but without being too harsh sometimes and even going into action for others, as we saw in Wano with the smile village, and the rare instances he co-op with Sanji to take down someone. Also I find it extremely interesting that Zoro has cried like only twice in the whole series, once for Kuina and the other after his defeat against Mihawk, showing that his emotions are at a peak when his dream could be snuff out or he was directly involved in said dream being crushed but all other instances he is stoic, worry or excited in the most dire of situations but never afraid or crying, which shows that he has full confidence in himself and the crew that they will come on top.
Zoro “The Minority Hunter” Roronoa is a cool character in my head seeing him as the serious foil to Luffy’s goofiness, works for each other. But I think at this point Oda keeps making characters to fight Zoro, thinks up a cool character and just for some reason, in the end 75% of the time it’s a black person.
I'm gonna assume that Sanji take is regarding post time skip or even post thriller bark Sanji. Because a lot of Sanji fans would agree that his character has been on a downward spiral since then. WCI really did redeem his character a lot. I don't think WCI was necessary but it definitely explored his character a lot more. Sanji's been my favorite for a while and even I will agree that he's been flanderized to perv gag character for a while now, sadly.
But if you think Sanji as a whole since his debut in Baratie is boiled down to just "perv gag character", even after his peaks in Arlong Park, Skypiea, and Water 7, that almost feels like you just simply don't like the character because that's just egregious. I strongly disagree but hey, an opinion is an opinion and I still respect it.
Overall, nice watch, enjoyed the review!
Yea post thriller, he cool before that
Im in Dressrosa but his attitude towards Jimbei dueing fishmen island arc really urked me. Cant wait for the Whole Cake Saga.
@@TheMaskedMan I still miss big brain sanji
@@nou2097 we all do 😩
Kind of why I stopped reading is because everything feels too safe and you know the outcome. They always win! So nothing is a threat EVER. Nothing is at stake.
"They always win"! Bro read Summit war saga again, don't talk random BS!
@@sajalghosh9309 bruh that was 10 years ago, talking about weekly reading. wano was the largest scale arc yet and there was no tension, Kaido didn’t get a single kill. The only ones were Ashura and Izo who no one even thought was dead. Kiku didn’t mourn Izo at all and apparently no one like Shuten. That’s the consequence of treating death like a joke. Kinemon, Kiku, Kanjuro, blue scarf, Luffy all had fake out deaths, obviously *on Luffy. There was no tension in Wano. Even the characters themselves never had any doubt except for half a chapter which was executed poorly
@@jadenbbbruh5227 then mention it that you're talking about wano!
That can be said about most shonen however OP I think luffy has a lot of Ls in this series even in wano he lost to kaido three times.
@@sajalghosh9309 Yeah just read 500+ chapters to get to the only arc where characters actually face consequences. LMAO
"I don't care what gender Yamato is. My answer is yes."
Spoken like a true man.
I wonder if Zoro's backstory could have been made stronger if we got more flashbacks or nods to it. We just had it told to us through a dream basically. Maybe someone trips down the stairs or maybe we learn more about Kuina.
To be honest, I feel Zoro has just become an OP character after the timeskip and nothing else.
So happy to finally see an amazing and authentic One Piece review after all the trolling 😭😭😍😍
The side characters in One Piece doesn't feel like NPCs who just follow their assigned roles.
Congratulations for catching up.
Dude. No problems if you don't like parts of the story or even all of it. Not every story is for everyone.
I started Naruto and just cannot go further. I might give second chance to it, but still don't want to do so.
P.S. As much as I like OP I do have complaints towards it.
one piece has good world building because it has a lot of good characters.
jjk cant do this because all of them are dead
9:17 moria is an excellent antag looking back because moria is the bad timeline version of luffy. he went into the new world already thinking he was strong enough to then have his crew and all those he cared for stripped away from him. just like luffy in sabaody and marineford but luffy had 1 last friend. jinbe without jinbe luffy would have been just another failed pirate king contender like crocodile or moria. the only thing that stopped luffy from becoming like them was that he still had his friends to rely on
i think that zoro is simply zoro and never changes or weaves because its what the straw hats needs the most, with an ever-changing capitan that has all the freedom in the world, they need a strong and unweaving pole to attach in the moment of need, and that one is zoro
and that went clear to me after thriller bark and the kuma event
outside of that, ive noticed that he is like raileight, as he is the same always as zoro, when he was young and meet roger, in his adventures with him and even when he meets luffy and trains him, i have that impression, he was the unchanging weapon roger needed as support and 2nd hand man
Manga-only spoilers:
Feel like Zoro's character arc is the least completed out of the strawhats tbh. Same way I'm holding off my verdict on Yamato after whatever the fuck happened with Yamato at the end of wano. Oda's shown enough at this point for me not to underestimate characters, when we might get returns expositions etc for them
Great Review
His world building is so great cause it's almost a direct copy of the real world with a cartoonist spin on it. All themes characters and events that take place are based on a real life situation with a twist or play on the words I love the world of one piece even tho I dislike the way oda tells the story sometimes the world and over arcing story is why I keep up on it.
I lowkey cried when ace died bruh, whenever they bring it up during the wano arc it just plucks my heart strings so beautifully, the way this story is orchestrated is amazing.
It’s no wonder this show is so popular, when I visited Korea there was one piece stuff every where. Even soda in 7 11. Made me happy to call myself a fan
I actually liked thriller bark. I think it's a great arc focusing mostly on the strawhats. The chemistry between them all and seeing franky in action for the first time as a proper strawhat was fun. Brook's backstory was great and the "nothing happened" moment was perfect. Kuma teleporting perona to mihawks island also foreshadowed him teleporting all the strawhats away in sabaody.
Exactly! I People hate it because they think it’s too funny or the humor is misplaced, but the thing is it came after such a serious arc (water 7/ennies lobby), and is followed up by even more serious arcs in which they go on a downhill battle that lasts for hundreds of episodes (the straw hats separating, marineford, then 2 years of not seeing one another), so it was like the much needed comedic relief calm before the storm arc. But I say this as someone who has binge watched back to back in 2021, so I do see while watching it weekly and not knowing the absolute chaos that is coming next would make someone go “…?” You’re right too that it mostly focuses on the straw hats, which i love because in retrospect, the next few arcs theyre either completely away from one another or always splitting up (other than fish man island and punk hazard ) I loved thrilled bark cuz I absolutely loved that kind of humor, but I can acknowledge too that it had some extremely poignant moments like the ones you mentioned and is incredibly important to the story!! And Laboon omf especially Laboon 😱
Some of the moments are dragged
Your already at 313 btw keep it up👍🏻
I think we are going to get more about Zoro when Mihawk is reintroduced as well as some flashbacks to events after the battle in Wano
It’s still a bummer that Zoro didn’t get a well fleshed out story for Wano. He did get some character progression during his fight with King but everyone assumed that Wano was going to be Zoro’s arc because of the samurai theme.
@@subtleprelude2400 I mean Zoro is probably gonna get a few flashbacks to Wano, like him returning Ryuma's sword. But I think Oda is keeping alot about Zoro mysterious for the reunion with him and Mihawk, like how he lost his eye and of course Zoro turning enma into a black blade (if that is whats going to happen)
To me what made One Piece great too is how different it kinda is from the regular Shonen archetypes with stuff that happens in the series in my opinion but seriously the world building is phenomenal. I did find it unique how we didn’t learn about his backstory until later which is kinda uncommon to do for your main character. I found it very different for a Shonen to do whenever Luffy literally went unconscious, instead of getting a power up like most protagonist, whenever his loved one died which never really happens.
One of my favorite things of the series overall is how every single thing Oda mentions or character that appears are all important to the world in some way whether it’s like a tool that will be useful for later or a character that will effect the world or just fight the straw hats later in the future are all being mentioned so many chapters ago and it even depends on the readers to remember all this information when we tend to forget after so many years
I'm about to start reading One Piece for real tomorrow. The 1,000 chapter voyage begins
take breaks
Zoro is a character like Whitebeard or Mihawk. Their actions and code of honor are what define them. Even though Whitebeard was given a "humanity" arc where he loses his son - we have no idea where his dreams, principles, wisdom, fighting skills, etc. came from. Not to mention his life as a member of ROCKS, even his childhood is unknown to us. Same with Dracule.
We got a little bit of Zoro in Wano, at least we know his homeland and saw his father/grandfather. But it's not an exploration of him as a person - because his personality is all about cold-blooded actions.
In general - Ivankov, Dragon, Cobra, Crocodile, Roger, Enel, Oden and many others fall into the same category. I would even say that for a character like Zoro we've gotten too much, his motivations are at least not that flat. We don't know why Whitebeard wanted a family, we only know that he wanted one for a long time. With Zoro, we understand the roots of his dream as the promise and weight death and unfulfilled ambitions of another human. For Mihawk or Crocodile - we don't even know that little.
One piece weekly now is the best experience. Every chapter is so good.
Zoro's life or death ambition for his dream of becoming the strongest and at the same time his life or death loyalty for his crew should actually lead to some of the most complex character writing in the story (which would he chose over the other? it's truly complete opposites of a extreme individualist desire vs extreme collectivist duty). This is why Nothing Happened is such a beloved moment because it was one of the few times where Zoro truly got challenged on this internal dichotomy and then revealed his choice in a beautifully poignant way through his farewell to Sanji, the one he pretends he dislikes but truly considers a brother.
Now in Wano the expectation was he would have another moment like this because of his heritage as bushido and his admiration of samurai. But ultimately what we got was him getting a cool sword, fighting a cool villain and winning in a contrived but cool way, that's it, it left a lot to be desired to say the least. This is why people feel Zoro has become more one dimensional in post timeskip because we saw a glimpse of that great complexity a lot in pre timeskip that could be explored in many ways without fundamentally changing his character.
CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER?!
Berserk is the goat of seinen and One Piece is the goat of shonen in my opinion. Both are my favorite manga.
One piece is a story that managed to draw me into it so deep that I am willing to accept a lot of its flaws. I dont think there are that many flaws with it but one thing that really bothers me is oda seemingly not willing to kill of some of his characters. He showcased that he can do it with a few of his biggest characters (ace and whitebeard) but than he just lets other characters survive. With that I often look at "death scenes" in one piece very skeptical because I dont know for sure if they are dead or not. If there is something I wish for for the final saga that it would be that oda starts killing some major characters again
regarding your feelings with zoro, I remember a while that you've watched avatar as a kid if so then what's your opinion on toph beifong? cause I dunno if its me but i kinda feel they're similiar in the sense that toph doesn't change a whole lot or has the most memorable backstory out of the team but she is just consistently badass and likable with cool moments such as the time when she took on the earth bending wrestlers on her own, when she invented metalbending, etc. Zoro is kinda like that as well and thats why i like him. sure complex characters like zuko and guts are interesting as well but there is an appeal of a character that just simple, likable, loyal, that just have so much cool moments through its entire runtime but that's just me I respect your opinion
I think that tophs character design is what makes her stand out
Like being blind and being the youngest in the avatar crew yet still being the secind strongest is such a contrast
Compared to zoro who already looks badass and is the second strongest in the crew would just be an obvious thing
Although I heavily disagree with your take on Sanjis pre whole cake character (especially thriller bark) I enjoyed hearing your overall thoughts on the series. Good video.
Honestly I feel like sanji is underrated now days right?
@@crocoboi7936 by the toxic crybaby insecure zorotards
@@rajeshwar9329 sometimes
bro i love whatever u speak like u spoke almost everything i feel bout this sttory
I really love One Piece. But is so long that reading all again seems like an impossible task for me. I really would like to re-read the Wano arc
My biggest problem with One Piece rn is the paneling! It’s so bad in the latest chapter 1065 that on the final page of chapter 1065 I didn’t know where to start reading!
Here's a take:
What makes Zoro interesting for me and to many people as well is not because his backstory, but how he develops as a character as the story goes on. You don't always need a backstory to a character to make them compelling but how he presents himself and his role to the story. Who knows, maybe we'll find out more about him soon.
His time to shine is definitely coming. Mihawk vs Zoro is definitely gonna bring back kuina into the story, whether that be flashbacks or a plot twist with them turning out to be alive.
‘An amazing back’😭
Damn nigga, ur doing 100x better than me, I'm still on episode 31
11:02 Gintama
Zoro can be very very 1D some times
but his srenghts as a characters are his loyalty to Luffy and how well he fits the Vice-captain role
Zoro being as serious as he is, is needed if Luffy steps out of line. The fight with Usopp best demonstrights this by pulling a Zangetsu saying "if your weaker then me, you are not my captain". He's a great counterbalance to the rest of the crew, making sure the Straw Hats get the street cred they deserve, a great example would be a recent chapter when Dr. Vegapunk underestimates the crew because most of them were freaking out.
So while no he's not the greatest character in OP I think he deserves a little more credit then you give him. He just feels like a flat character when put up against the rest of the ever changing cast and world of OP.
(also based Sanji enjoyed)
I think I just developed panic attacks everytime I see these clips 9:42 & 9:47 oh God those memes really got me good
I fully agree with you on Zoro, he is a power stick in any sense, his highlight for me was the Punk Hazard moment of him slicing Monet kinda showing him as a vicious pirate that's not happy go lucky like the rest of the crew
The intersesting aspect of zoros past was his bloodline, being the descendant of God of blade shimutsuki ryuma. But for some reason oda decided to reveal that in sbs. This is was a big moment for zoro as a character, because his strong will, perseverance and mastery over blades is not just for the sake of being a right-hand man. He was built like that.
If done correctly, this next one piece arc will be the best in the series.
Zoro is not meant to be funny and goofy like the other characters, because whilst they are his friends, they are pirates and need to take things seriously. Zoro himself says this in water 7 when Ussop gets into a fight with luffy and leaves the straw hats for a little bit. The reason why he was goofy and fun before time skip is because with water 7 and enies lobby happening Zoro realized they have to take pirating more seriously and when they all got defeated because they were weak in sabaody zoro comes back more serious and fulfills his role as a member of the straw hats perfectly. He and Sanji have their disagreements and he trains, stays by the ship to protect it and helps in battle when he is needed. His role is the swordsman of the straw hats and the right hand man of the pirate king. He has to take it seriously. So in being more serious than the other characters he automatically becomes more than one dimensional by fulfilling an important role of the straw hats whilst maintaining his bond with his friends he shows depth and importance in the story. He feels alive, he feels important, and like you said, that is the ultimate goal for a writer.
I can agree with the Sanji take. Sanji pre Thriller Bark was one of my favorites. Sanji from Thriller Bark to Punk Hazard brought me pain.
Wait...sanji had really great moments in thriller bark, sabaody.
I agree with the post timeskip sanji being a mess but pre timeskip sanji was like a trump card of strawhats. He had big brain moments throughout pretimskip.
@@307nishchay8 thriller bark was the start of perv Sanji. Hell nah
They're all one dimensional Oda himself said he sucks at that. It's annoying but the community forgives it though because "GODA" am I right...🙄
Pre timeskip, I would have prolly ranked One Piece in my top 5, the story and pacing were perfectly executed. Post timeskip is when things start to get uneven, and you realize that there might be too many characters and subplots. Dressrosa is the perfect example of an arc that was hyped up a lot, and it kinda fell flat on its face by the end. Zou was a 10/10 and I have yet to meet an OP fan that dislikes it. Overall One Piece still manages to be interesting, especially when it comes to world building, but the more long winded arcs can fall short of being top tier.
As many have pointed out, Zoro's entire shtick if you will is that he's supposed to keep Luffy and sometimes even the other SHs in check, he's also smarter than their own captain so it kinda falls on him to play the stoic guy, while the others are being a bunch of kids. Even Robin can sometimes get sidetracked by something cute.
An amazing video as always as well as a brilliant dissection of the story but still i was wondering where would you place it on your top 100?
I think One Pieces biggest flaw is that I feel the individual arcs either end up being too short like Marineford where I feel there was so much potential to what ended up being a big fight (And the fights weren't even that good) or it ends up being dragged out especially at the climaxes such as fisherman Island when it spends way to long on Noah falling imo. I also honestly find the setup arcs such as water 7 way better than the big climax arcs like enies lobby partially because the climax arcs are always a lot of fighting and the fights in one piece are mostly boring.
I agree on the setup arcs being better than the climax arcs, though one big reason for me that the climax arcs tend to drag on too long where as the setup arcs tend to get straight to the point.
@@djmeagaaim17 Yeah, like so much shit goes down in water 7 and it has phenomenal character moments especially for Robin and Usopp but then Enies Lobby spends an eternity on shit like the train ride there.
Just read the manga lmao
@@retroburst155 I have, the issues still stand, I actually like how the anime handles certain aspects a lot more but the abysmal pacing definitely makes the manga better
@@projectmessiah most of the points for me disappear except for the marineford thing
I think everyone needs to watch Mr Morj's video on zoro way too many people are getting away with either calling his character flat, one dimensional or boring so many people including masked don't understand the complexity of his character and its kinda sad same with sanji
I understand not liking the fan base (or any any shonen fanbase for that matter) but god 🤦♂️ i have been waiting for you to actually give your opinion on one piece 😂. It’s my favorite manga of all time and I really respect your opinion when it comes to manga so this video was really really appreciated. But I do have a question. Where would you put it on your top 100 list since you didn’t give an answer in that video?
he said in some video that he will put it at 25 or below 25 but he was not caught up with the story
@@Hmm-x5t yeah I remember that but since he made this video he finished wano and formed new opinions and might rate it higher so I was wondering where he would put it in his new top 100.
7:50 caught me so off guard, bro was doing a character essay then brought in the zoro the minority hunter joke
Zoro is a great character there is some character development in him throughout the story and we still don't know why Zoro want to be Strongest Swordsman Ever
"Why There Is No Fictional Character Like Zoro" ~ Mr Morj
"You Will Never See Zoro The Same After This" ~ Ohara
Maybe in future Nux will finally make "No One Understands Zoro" video 😭
Skypia is my favorite arc in the story, it has everything that i love! Either way, reading One Piece week-to-week is a unique experience when you add how active you are in the community. It's something you wont be able to experience again once One Piece is finished. Although im glad i had it on hiatus from 2011 after i caught up with the anime on Fishman Island and towards Punk Hazard (Imo the worst arcs in the story).
One Piece has its weak points such as lack of tension by not killing off characters (even death baiting) and too long arcs imo in the latter half of the story (could've been told a lot shorter). Overall though since its a long running story it obviously gonna have some setbacks, it's an amazing and unique experience. Can't wait for how the final stretch is gonna turn out!
Impressive, now read Ravages of Time
Agreed. RoT is such an under appreciated masterpiece.
finally someone took about it
zoro is my favorite character in one piece
but he is nothing to the story he is just that cool man i need to see more of him in wano i really think oda wronged zoro
we all expected him to show more aboat his past and his family and that he is from wano
In western( Especially art discourse) we tend to see one-dimensional as a flaw, and we’ve kind of been spooked by a lot of 2010s work in subtle character, multi-layered villains etc. that we like expect as such to believe that’s what’s needed for effective character. But any writer would tell you that isn’t true. I don’t think Zoro is one dimensional, but it’s his one dimension that’s so compelling. ( His shows of having a big heart and understanding such as after the end of Wano, the Usopp vs Luffy fight, him saving Tashigi show this. ) He’s this stoic samurai with no sense of direction, which is irony because he has the strongest sense of direction in terms of where he needs to be arguably in the series after Luffy. In real life, not everyone will have multiple layers, or change completely themselves as they grow. Some people are simpletons, and some are relatively one dimensional. And that’s okay.
im currently writing a essay on one piece for my intro to comp class and you nailed every part of what im going for in the review
sanji take is very cold btw. wci explained his perv behavior, his love for food and his dream. he became the best written character in one piece in that arc. he was pretty mid before then. i don't think anyone would disagree with that take tbh