The Energon Pub

Forgive me if there's already a One Piece thread, I looked but couldn't find one.

I have been watching through One Piece for the first time, so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts as a first time viewer with almost no prior knowledge.

The few things I did know going in:
- The main character, Luffy, can stretch
- I'd seen pictures of the main cast of Strawhats, so I know what all the team members look like
- I'd heard the names of some arcs like Alabasta, Sky Island, Wano, etc. but have no context
- Its pirates and the one piece is something they're looking for

And that's about it. As of now, I'm at the beginning of the Alabasta arc, so I know a little more than that. I thought that here I could share some brief thoughts on each arc and some overall thoughts on the series so far.

First up, the arcs:
1. Romance Dawn: As far as introductions go, this is a pretty great one. We get a pretty solid backstory for our main character and general premise, meet some great side characters in Zoro, Nami, and Shanks, and we meet a pretty solid first big antagonist in Axe-Hand Morgan. Some small complaints: I didn't really care for Coby or Iron Mace Alvida as characters.

2. Orange Town: This arc was solid but nothing special. Buggy is a pretty solid antagonist and Nami gets some good development here, but again the arc doesn't really do anything special here. One thing I do really like about this arc is that it doesn't overstay its welcome, a problem that some later arcs have.

3. Syrup Village: This arc was pretty good. In general (especially as the series has gone on), I don't love Usopp as a character, but his introduction isn't bad. Captain Kuro was a pretty good villain too. Unlike Orange Town, this arc does somewhat overstay its welcome, and introduces a reoccurring trope that I really dislike: Having Buffy be knocked out, stuck, or otherwise incapacitated to give the side character a chance to shine. This arc does it twice, and this is a recurring issue I'll have with some later arcs too

4. Baratie: This is one of my favorite arcs so far. I really like Don Krieg as an antagonist, Sanji’s backstory is great (although he becomes a bit one-note in consecutive arcs), and this arc has one of my favorite moments in the show so far: Zoro’s duel with Mihawk. This is the arc that really hooked me on the show.

5. Arlong Park: This is going to be my hot take, but I did not care for Arlong Park. I was surprised to hear after finishing it that it was such a fan-favorite. Arlong was a pretty good villain and I liked Nami’s backstory, but this arc had a few big problems for me. First of all, this arc majorly overstayed its welcome. While the story was good, the pacing was terrible. Secondly, this arc was the worst offender of the trope I mentioned earlier: Buffy getting stuck somewhere so that the side characters have a chance to shine before he shows up to save the day. Lastly, Arlong was supposed to seem like he was a much bigger threat than our main characters had faced before, but I didn’t feel like he was any more of a threat than Don Krieg was in the arc before.

6. Loguetown: This was a very good arc. I really like Captain Smoker, and it was cool to see previous antagonists return and visit such an important place in the story: the place that Gold Roger was executed.

7. Reverse Mountain: It feels strange to call this an arc as it was only two episodes, but its considered one, so here it is: These episodes were pretty good, but they didn’t really feel necessary or important, either plot-wise or character wise.

8. Whiskey Town: This is probably my least favorite arc yet. I like Mr. 5 as an antagonist, but that’s really the only positive thing I have to say here. I didn’t really care for the conflict, Luffy once again becomes incapacitated, and his conflict with Zoro was pretty frustrating to watch.

9. Little Garden: This would have been a pretty good one, but this is an arc that majorly overstayed its welcome and didn’t feel all that important for the plot or our characters. I liked Brogy and Dorry well enough. Again, Mr. 5 is a good antagonist, Miss Valentine and Miss Golden Week are pretty solid. I didn’t really care for Mr. 3, either in personality or ability.

10. Drum Island: This is my favorite arc to date. Firstly, I love Chopper as a character and his backstory is really tragic. This arc has a slew of other great characters too, like Dalton, Kureha, and Wapol, who is a perfectly-hatable antagonist. The setting is also really unique compared to what we’ve seen before, which was refreshing. Finally, Luffy’s flag moment is another of my favorites in the series, behind Zoro’s fight with Mihawk.

As I mentioned, I'm at the beginning of the Alabasta arc, so I'll share some thoughts when I finish it.

Lastly, some overall favorites/least favorites:

Favorite protagonists:
1. Chopper (This may just be recency bias, time will tell)
2. Luffy
3. Zoro
4. Vivi
5. Nami
(Sanji would have made this list during the East Blue saga, but my opinion of him has really dropped during the second saga)

Favorite antagonists:
1. Captain Smoker
2. Don Krieg
3. Mr. 5
4. Arlong
5. Wapol

Favorite arcs:
1. Drum Island
2. Baratie
3. Loguetown
4. Romance Dawn
5. Reverse Mountain

Least favorite characters:
1. Mr. 3
2. Coby
3. Alvida
4. Karoo
5. Usopp

I just finished the Alabasta arc. Oh boy, this arc was a huge mixed bag for me. Some of the highest points in the show so far without a doubt, BUT there’s a lot I didn’t like about it too. I love the climactic culmination of so much buildup through Boroque Works. Crocodile was a great antagonist, and I loved the personal stakes for Vivi, and we have some great side characters through Kobra, Pell, Chaka, and Kona, but I really hated most of the Boroque Works agents like Mr. 2, Mr. 7, and Miss Merry Christmas. On that note, while I mostly loved the climax of the story and Luffy’s repeated conflicts with Crocodile, the individual matches between the straw hats and the number agents was a bit of a slog (with the exception of Zoro vs Mr. 1, which I really enjoyed) and I found it hard to be invested in the cannon/bomb portion of the story. Lastly, this arc had a big problem with characters having death fake-outs (Mr. 3, Nico Robin, Igaram, Kona, Pell) All that to say, generally I really liked the story of the arc, but there’s a lot of details that I didn’t like that made it difficult to watch through at times.

Favorite characters from this arc in particular:
1. Vivi
2. Captain Smoker
3. Crocodile
4. Zoro
5. Sanji

Updated favorite overall characters:
1. Captain Smoker
2. Chopper
3. Vivi
4. Zoro
5. Sanji

Least favorite overall characters:
1. Miss Merry Christmas
2. Mr. 4
3. Mr. 3
4. Coby
5. Usopp

Arc ranking so far:
1. Baratie
2. Drum Island
3. Loguetown
4. Alabasta
5. Romance Dawn