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REVIEW: One Piece DVD Season 2 Part 6

I like how you completely ignore my post. Are you only able to go on about how Luffy has obvious inspirations from Goku? That you insist Oda "borrow[s] every single trait of a character as well as his facial appearance" shows that you're either going for exaggeration or else misunderstand the two characters.

One Piece fandom grew IMMENSLY by late 2005 or early 2006, the episodes that aired during that period were where One Piece became more focused on super natural combat and began using every possible thing as some sort of element or fighting style.

Also, I'm well aware of One Piece's merits, it was a really good show between 1999 to 2004 or so. I noticed the One Piece fandom grew IMMENSLY by late 2005 or early 2006, the episodes that aired during that period were where One Piece became more focused on super natural combat and began using every possible thing as some sort of element or fighting style. To me (and to many hardcore OP fans), the series lost its style by that point, it was almost as if there was a deliberate intent to increase the action in order to compete with Naruto and Bleach.

I have been carefully observing the anime fandom since 2000, and One Piece (a show that came out in 1999), would only begin to draw comparison with other fighting animes by 2005-2006, that's seven years after its debut, I assure you that prior to 2006, no one would compare One Piece to Naruto or Bleach.

Also, I'm well aware of One Piece's merits, it was a really good show between 1999 to 2004 or so. I noticed the One Piece fandom grew IMMENSLY by late 2005 or early 2006, the episodes that aired during that period were where One Piece became more focused on super natural combat and began using every possible thing as some sort of element or fighting style.

the shift occured in 2005-2006 and all of the sudden we see the infamous trilogy that is Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.

This made me chuckle. One of the first fights Luffy deals with is a clown who can separate his appendages at will and then connect them together again. By episode 100 or so, he has fought a guy who is basically nothing but smoke and someone else who is basically nothing but sand. I don't see how these could be considered anything but supernatural fights.

Water 7 (that arc that happened in 2005 or early 2006) was an extremely well executed arc. From Franky's back story with Iceberg and Tom to the Mugiwara vs CP9 fights, everything worked magnificently.

And that's why it rose in popularity. Because it was really good.

The question was always why was OP so huge everywhere except the US? As I recall before Bleach was ever animated I saw ref to the fact one store in Japan had devoted an entire floor to OP merchandise. So I'm wondering if the "hardcore" fans you are talking about were US or world-at-large.

Bleach started airing 10-2004 so yeah, around 2005 it would be compared to OP. It started airing on CN 9-2006. Naruto started its Toonami run 9-2005.
OP was always that to which Naruto & Bleach aspired to equal, if not replace. As is typical, something flashy & new may distract for a bit, but tried & true will still be there when the newness wears off.

I'm not sure if people would consider me a "hardcore fan," but I've been following the manga since 2003, and have only see the sheer imagination of the world and characters become greater with time.

Believe it or not, not all OP fans were pleased with seeing Luffy getting his face violently smashed and getting back on his feet like a typical "determined" shonen hero, or moving at light quick speed (as I mentioned previously, pure Kaioken or general DBZ esque), the fight between Luffy and Lucci for instance, was text book chereography of a DBZ fight (and notice I said chereography), I'm sure everyone saw that.

And as you already mentioned, this arc was the point where OP became popular with the fans (aside from Japan since I'm naturally referring to none Japanese fans).

Oh you don't have to worry about being regarded as a hardcore OP fan cause you are . Unlike CCSYueh, you hardly attested to a single fact in this thread that points towards One Piece borrowing from DB, you seem to think that OP owes nothing to DB for receiving the status it has now? Well here is a fun fact, I'll give you a list of the most notable shonen fighting animes from the mid 80's and up until before OP came out (since this was the advent of such genre in the form we recognize):
please observe carefully and do away with your One Piece biasness if u got one,

The answer would be none other than One Piece, if you really look into this example closely, you'll realize One Piece is not only influenced by DB genre and main character wise, but rather it is thematically similar to Dragonball.

Even the sheer length of the OP anime (come on.. It doesn't take an eternity to find a lousy treasure and become king)...

The Water 7 Arc was the departure I've been talking about, sure OP was supernatural from the begining, but the intensity of the fights rose excessively during that arc, and it's been excessive ever since.

I mean fans other than Japan, you could say North America and UK for the most part, with all do respect to all countries in the world, it's those "english speaking" nations that determine the popularity of the anime, Detective Conan for instance, was a huge hit in many outside Japan, yet it wasn't until 2005 that it became even known to North American and english fans, much less popular. So yeah when I say fans I'm generally referring to North America and UK, it might seem like an unfair way to judge, but we all know an anime's popularity worldwide is never complete without being popular in the US!

I guess they've always been a trilogy in Japan by the time Bleach came out (since that's when they became the big three and since One Piece has always been popular since its inception). but it wasn't until 2006 that One Piece was acknowledged as something that could compete with Naruto and Bleach by fans other than Japanese.

Fist of the North Star, Dragonball, Saint Seiya, Shurato, Ronin Warriors, Dragon Quest: Abel Yusha, Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken, Yuyu Hakusho, Zenki, Rurouni Kenshin, Flame of Recca, Shadow Skill. please observe carefully and do away with your One Piece biasness if u got one, have you noticed that Dragonball is the only one among them that focused on dumb looking goofy villains with hilarious and weird traits?

Consider how every villain in DB before King Piccolo (roughly the first 90 episodes or so) had this thing about him where he just HAS TO HAVE a funny or stupid trait and the fights have to turn out goofy one way or another.

I assure you I wouldn't bring up this point if I haven't carefully studied it. In fact, I once read in a translated article in one of the old Beckett Anime magazines that when OP first came out, most critics and pundits hailed it as the successor to Dragonball because of the huge similarities between the two shows.

One Piece borrows from DB a lot more than the members and reviewers of ANN seem to realize.

I'm not seeing how this determination is different than previous comebacks that Luffy had. I don't know how the anime team handled it -- it may very well evoke DBZ -- but the manga does not create the comparison.

... Do you know what a MacGuffin is? Because you seem to be lost on the point of the series.

Inu hit the US 8-2002 & wasn't it like one of the newest titles we got on tv that wasn't heavily butchered by 4Kids? It looked so incredible compared to so much else we were getting at the time.

I was going thru some boxes & found some Anime Insiders-the one dated 4-2003 has best fight of 2002 as one from End of Eva, Best Romance His & Her Circumstances, Best dvd features Excel Saga's pop-up facts (they were fun.) Best Hero-Alucard/Hellsing, Best Villain-Buu/DBZ, Best Dressed Spike/Bebop, Best Dub FLCL, Best Movie-Spirited Away, Best Death-Hyatt/Excel Saga & best tv-InuYasha. This is a pretty good picture of what we had back then. Their On The Air section has Tokyo Pig, Beyblade & Medabots on ABC Family; Zoids, G-Gundam, DB, DBZ, Reign (god, bad memories), Lupin III, YuYu Hakusho, Bebop, .hack//SIGN, Hamtaro & Pokemon on CN; Fighting Foodons, Kirby, Ultimate Muscle & Ultraman Tiga on Fox Box; DBGT, El Hazard, Fushigi Yugi, Slayers, & Soul Hunter on International; YuGiOh & Pokemon on Kids WB & told readers to check out the listings for Tech TV & Action themselves.
It was rather slim pickings, wasn't it?

You've never seen Zenki, have you? I love it. It's so much fun, but the monsters run to having "traits".
What you're missing is the whole of Japanese pop culture. You have to consider stuff like Power Rangers as an influence on OP. I know the preschools my daughter attended banned Power Rangers toys & videos because the kids got too hyper. And in Japan those 5-or-so hero teams are pretty popular & run to funky monsters.
You've also missed Go Nagai whose Devilman fought some pretty strange demons. Tezuka. Not all the robots in Astro looked human/normal & many had particular traits/quirks. Ishinomori. In fact, there are any number of strange monsters in various anime titles that could have been an influence on Oda. Maybe he liked some shojo titles like Sailor Moon.

Bulma started out using Goku. Yamucha. Krillin. Tenshinhan. Yajirobe. Tao Pai was pretty much just a martial artist as well as the Crane Master's brother.
In YuYu Hakusho most all of the demons possess particular skills/traits. Oh god. I just saw a mental image of that freak that kidnapped Hiei's sister.
Pokemon. Monster city, isn't it? Bastard-full of sword & sorcery monsters. Apocalypse Zero...we won't go there.
Hentai & tentacles. In face, we get a decent amount of tentavles in shonen.
So the whole Japanese pop culture thing is full of monsters. It's really hard to say what manga or anime Oda might have followed.

I never put too much stock in Beckett. I found errors in some of the few I read.

I think it's more this site had posters & contributors from around the world so they don't just look at things from an American perspective. For me, OP blends what it steals from many titles well enough that it works. There really is nothing new under the sun--it's how well one mixes the ingredients that makes the dish turn out incredibly or horrendously.

he difference is that the comebacks in Water 7 and onwards felt as though the "seriousness" scale was doubled. It was just not "One Piece." I got that from many OP fans, a great deal of them still think the Arlong fight is the best fight in OP cause it didn't take itself too seriously as opposed to later on where for some instances it feels ur watching something else and not the usual OP...

I honestly don't know what you're talking about. But I'm talking statistics here so there is little you can do to prove this point wrong

(P.S if ur name has anything to do with the band KoRN, I'm lookin forward to KoRN III: Remember who you are!)

I think differences such as that are why One Piece has now overtaken Dragonball as Japan's #1 shounen franchise. Because Oda can write better and has more interesting characters.

This is a MacGuffin. Think about how it would apply to One Piece. It's even in the blog post I linked to in my first post of this thread!

Anyways, the people here are too caught up in their love for One Piece to realize it's lack of originality, there is no point in continuing this debate any longer.

One Piece is still the second shonen action anime after DBZ to go beyond 200+ episodes and it's incorporation of "by the book" DBZ chereographed battles should make a person wonder if it's this "MacGuffin" plot device that drives it or the simple desire to emulate DB/Z's long run. Toei's use of Dragonball's outdated 1986 sound effects on One Piece (1999), along with most of the DB/Z voice cast also says a lot about their desire to recreate DB/Z's impact.

The difference is that the comebacks in Water 7 and onwards felt as though the "seriousness" scale was doubled.

So how could they not have DB/Z in mind when they decided to create a long manga?

It's still not hard to guess that many pundits and critics would label OP as the successor to the throne.

Quote:

I think differences such as that are why One Piece has now overtaken Dragonball as Japan's #1 shounen franchise. Because Oda can write better and has more interesting characters.

A currently running shonen series overtaking a series that ended 14 years ago in sales and franchise, and that's supposed to be a fair comparison huh?