One Piece

Please iterate if you can.

Zolo has the same "mean eye" power that Shanks displayed in chapter 1, and it's not a particularly original power: scaring animal/humans because you are a huge badass appear in Naruto and Medaka Box for instance.

Haki wasn't really mentioned until the sky island arc, and the Conqueror Haki is demonstrated by making the victim fainted, not scared.

So the page is wrong? Originally I thought it was just because Shanks is a major badass but somehow doesn't it make sense if it was haki...yeah your probably right. I don't remember anyone being intimidated by haki so badassery it is. But still I just can't help but think of it differently, it could have just been intimidation but what's stopping it from being another form of haki/non there of or what's stopping Oda from thinking ahead.

So I'm looking at the Character Popularity Poll and shit, I didn't realize Law was so popular in Japan. He booted Zoro out of second place.

I'm also loving that Crocodile is rightfully the highest rated villain this go around.

edited 22nd Dec '14 6:49:56 PM by Lionheart0

I was specifically thinking of Ace vs. BB, where the fact that BB can actually hit Logias is presented as a big deal and the main selling point of the fruit BB went pretty far out of his way to get, despite the fact that they both spent lots of time in the New World and should therefore be well aware of Armament Haki being a thing.

Well, these's a bunch of stuff really.

And I feel that the fact that once Haki was actually mentioned references to it started coming up really often makes it obvious that Oda decided pretty late what it would be and just dropped in on us.

I went to Jump Festa ONE PIECE and Dragon Ball collaboration stage yesterday. There was no interesting information about ONE PIECE since they were talking about Dragon Ball almost all along... Kureha after the time skip will appear in the anime that will be broadcasted on 31 December. Sanji's voice actor asked the audience not to forget Sanji despite the long absence. Oda appeared for a few moments in Jump festa in spite of his statement last year. According to Oda, Dressrosa arc will be more exciting next year. That's all he mentioned ONE PIECE Manga in Jump Festa 2015. There was a special movie that introduced Oda's workplace about for 10 minutes. That was worth watching! There were a lot of funny goods in his workplace. (Ex. a very large models of Terminator, R2-D2 and a big skull-shaped chair) Oda has more than 15 notebooks that include his ideas about Dressrosa arc. There will be a ONE PIECE Theme Park in Tokyo Tower in March. As for ONE PIECE Super Kabuki, Oda started planning it about 5 years ago. - Sandman, AP Forums

Inb4 "Are they still on Dressrosa?"

@Gilphon, Blackbeard's line about Ace not being hit could have more about Blackbeard saying that Ace is so badass he's just been able to avoid ever since being in the crew.

It's still most likely a retcon considering haki, but that's a way of looking at it, at least.

Oda may have had ideas about Conqueror's from the start. I'm not sure either way if he planned for wide-spread Observation in Skypeia or if it was initially a unique ability which he then retconned into a common type. But Armament was very clearly not planned out the way it turned out.

I still think he just realized a lot of the standard badass tropes, like "Intimidation," Jedi Reflexes/Spider Sense, and super-hits, and just decided to codify them rather than making them mere random badass power.

The problem is that he already had a long standing manga in which people just happen to be fucking tough and thus superstrength is for everybody. Armament was only needed to hit Logias when you don't have an elemental advantage.

He must've realised that if he's going to have more Logias and have them as big players, he'll need a backup in case a good vulnerability isn't logically pullable. Thus, the Armament being introduced and widely available.
It solved the problem of Logias being flipping invincible, but not without side effects.

edited 23rd Dec '14 11:45:30 AM by adannor

I think it's also suggested that Armament Haki increases the power of attacks. Luffy stated he was surprised that Hody could stand up after getting hit with a haki infused punch. Remember this wasn't a Gear 2nd attack, it was a normal Gum-Gum Bullet infused with haki.

Yeah but when everybody can hit super hard just because, an incredibly common power to hit even harder is kinda pointless.

edited 23rd Dec '14 12:57:54 PM by adannor

That wasn't just suggested, it was stated, along with increased defensive power, the primary use for armament haki. The hitting logias is just a bonus.

edited 23rd Dec '14 1:32:07 PM by LSBK

I think at least some things were planned far in advance - the Arlong Arc indirectly references Hyouzou, for instance, and some other things that wouldn't pay off until FI.

It would be interesting to know when exactly Oda discarded his original plans for the series to last five years. At the very least, we know of several early concepts, like Usopp being First Mate and Zoro working for Buggy, that would have to have been changed very early on.

edited 23rd Dec '14 9:57:44 PM by HamburgerTime

The thing is that people tend to make Oda's planning out to be a lot impressive than it is. Like, it's entirely possible that Oda planned for the FI arc to happen ever since Arlong. But- so what? That's not actually impressive, by itself. All it really requires is for Oda to think to himself 'y'know, I think I like this Fishman concept. Maybe I should revisit it later.' and then not get around to actually following through on that thought until a decade later.

Oda could have planned every single panel of the series since before he penned chapter 1. And that still wouldn't be impressive by itself.

I wouldn't go that far. Planning that extensive totally would be impressive. It wouldn't necessarily be an enjoyable read, which is I think what you were getting at, but it would be an impressive accomplishment.

I was getting at both. Doesn't necessarily make for an enjoyable read and doesn't mean anything impressive either.

Well he did plan the ending and you can see Yorki in Laboon's flashback.

A lot of people seem to mistake good planning and good writing for the same thing. One is (usually) apart of the other but they aren't synonyms. Not that I'm saying Oda's a poor writer, but a lot of people are still under the impression he plans everything out even though he's apparently admitted to doing basically the opposite, and using that as a reason he's this amazing writer.

Now, I do like how he can take things mentioned years earlier and find a nice way to incorporate them, but that doesn't mean he planned it, he could have just made notes to himself that he wants to do such and such later and then found a good time to do it.

I think it's impressive that he can do that, but again, a lot of people make him out to be some unique genius for it, which gets annoying. Many people also praise him for adding Japanese references and history into his work when basically ever Mangaka does that to some extent, and that too is annoying.

Basically, some of the more overzealous One Piece fans either praise Oda for everything, or for things that aren't really praise worthy, are really obnoxious about it, and it diminishes how much I can enjoy the series to an extent.

edited 24th Dec '14 1:43:57 PM by LSBK

Someone once said that he made a reference to Oscar Wilde. I think.

Oda definitely does a lot of research into lore, fairy tales, myths, etc., but he doesn't really do a lot of planning. It's very obvious that since the beginning, huge changes have been made to extend the story. People have this illogical assumption that just because there's a connection between chapter 100 and chapter 500, that all 400 chapters in between must have also been planned beforehand. I think this poor logic has a name, but I can't remember it off hand, but One Piece fans suffer badly from it.

I think Oda is a great writer but he's got lots of problems and doesn't deserve praise for really basic things.

It seems to come down to our own personal opinions. Do the positive aspects you've concluded about the story so far outweigh the negatives? And if so how did you come to these conclusions? Do you feel your conclusions are 'better' than someone else's? Why? Where are these questions coming from?

Our minds work like minds, discerning bullshit in a story like its nothing or the opposite. One Piece is a good manga. I do not really mind if Oda doesn't plan for shit cause that would make it even more exciting in my opinion, all I know is I've been reading One Piece and I'm not stopping. For some manga we try to grab a hold of them and keep a tight grip like a prisoner in the prison baths holding a bar of soap. Cause we all know if you drop it you'll get fucked. Or maybe not.