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You guys remember how Nami is able to punch all the guys in a comically-fashioned way on screen? When she tried doing it in the Punk Hazard arc when she was in Franky's body and Sanji was in her body, it had to shown off screen.

It irks me that Oda can't supposedly joke around with women like that. The segregation in the way he treats his women in comparison to men even in gag situations is disappointing.

 

Now that I am thinking harder about it...could it be something more imputable to the editor, instead of Oda (the "not showing females getting hurt" part)? I mean, I'm no expert about this stuff, but if the editor goes no no on stuff like that, Oda must obey, right?

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I am trying to get back into the series, what happened to Oda's wife?

 

Nothing. Oda just doesn't spend much time with her, you know he sleeps only three hours a day and mostly spends it out of the house. So he probably doesn't spend as much time with her as he would want.

 

 

Now that I am thinking harder about it...could it be something more imputable to the editor, instead of Oda? I mean, I'm no expert about this stuff, but if the editor goes no no on stuff like that, Oda must obey, right?

 
That's always a possibility, but Oda has always had a bit of chivalry with his women... sort of. 
 
I remember hearing on the One Piece podcast that Oda was going to make a really dirty pun which had to be changed by his editors. It was during the scene when Robin was being checked out by the Tontatta's. Make that out what you will.
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I know Sanji has DBZ superpowers or something now, but I never understood why he was supposed to be stronger than Usopp or Nami in the earlier parts of the story. Like, he's really super good at kicking, but Nami can control goddamn lightning and Usopp is pretty much straight-up using a gun. Those seem like they'd be just a teeny bit more effective.

 

(although considering Eneru's total inability to actually kill people with electricity and that time Iceburg got 50 Cented, maybe lightning and bullets are both just considerably weaker in One Piece or something?)

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I know Sanji has DBZ superpowers or something now, but I never understood why he was supposed to be stronger than Usopp or Nami in the earlier parts of the story. Like, he's really super good at kicking, but Nami can control goddamn lightning and Usopp is pretty much straight-up using a gun. Those seem like they'd be just a teeny bit more effective.

 

(although considering Eneru's total inability to actually kill people with electricity and that time Iceburg got 50 Cented, maybe lightning and bullets are both just considerably weaker in One Piece or something?)

 

That's the power of fiction mate. Anything goes.

Nah, in all seriousness. Ussop's weakness was through his sheer cowardice keeping him from being affected. Nami's early weakness was that she wasn't very effective with her Climatact yet. 

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I know Sanji has DBZ superpowers or something now, but I never understood why he was supposed to be stronger than Usopp or Nami in the earlier parts of the story. Like, he's really super good at kicking, but Nami can control goddamn lightning and Usopp is pretty much straight-up using a gun. Those seem like they'd be just a teeny bit more effective.

 

(although considering Eneru's total inability to actually kill people with electricity and that time Iceburg got 50 Cented, maybe lightning and bullets are both just considerably weaker in One Piece or something?)

 

Well remember Usopp only had a plain slingshot at the beginning, which was only about as effective as an average gun, which doesn't do shit against One Piece folk. It took him until he got his Kabuto until he could do some real damage. But yeah I honestly have no idea why Oda thought that was a good idea. I think he just has a hard-on for Sanji because his leg-fire is totally nonsensical and random, even for One Piece.

 

Also Nami didn't have shit in the beginning, she had a goddamn pole until Usopp made her her clima-tact.

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I know Sanji has DBZ superpowers or something now, but I never understood why he was supposed to be stronger than Usopp or Nami in the earlier parts of the story. Like, he's really super good at kicking, but Nami can control goddamn lightning and Usopp is pretty much straight-up using a gun. Those seem like they'd be just a teeny bit more effective.

Sanji was raised around a bunch of tough guys his whole life. I'm sure they taught him how to fight too. Nami and Usopp only use weapons and don't rely on physical strength, unlike Sanji. But even then, in One Piece, if someone is physically strong, they're usually at least on-par with bullets/cannon balls/etc.

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I doubt Oda cares for Sanji that much considering all the shit that's been done to him

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I doubt Oda cares for Sanji that much considering all the shit that's been done to him

 

?

 

He's the third most important Straw Hat. He went from a cook to a fire-leg-flying-demon man. Sanji's been handed all these new powers on a silver platter (ha) for no reason but to keep up with Zoro and Luffy

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Gotta admit though, despite his shortcomings with female characters Oda is a good writer in many other ways. He's great at delivering such dark themes in a way that is just so simple to understand and follow that you are just sucked in. It isn't like other manga which go so far out of their way to make everything complex to deliver some half baked message. He's just very blunt in showing horrible things to their most effective point and having our protagonist have the balls to stand out of the norm. 

 

For starters, when Luffy sucker punched that celestial Dragon was easily one of the most satisfying moments, despite bringing huge consequences. I feel if it was another manga, Luffy would've been held back by his friends or something, and he makes some declaration that he will change the world or something, but not in this manga, he just lets those emotions out without a care. I love that about Luffy.

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?

He's the third most important Straw Hat. He went from a cook to a fire-leg-flying-demon man. Sanji's been handed all these new powers on a silver platter (ha) for no reason but to keep up with Zoro and Luffy

I think he means that despite Sanji's importance to the crew, Oda treats Sanji like he's a shell of his former self. He's always having bad luck, like allowing female baddies to embarrassingly beat him, his bounty poster, landing at Kamabakka Kingdom, cross dressing, and having ridiculous nose-bleeds around women, turning him into a borderline gag character.
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For starters, when Luffy sucker punched that celestial Dragon was easily one of the most satisfying moments, despite bringing huge consequences. I feel if it was another manga, Luffy would've been held back by his friends or something, and he makes some declaration that he will change the world or something, but not in this manga, he just lets those emotions out without a care. I love that about Luffy.

 

Yeah I remember that clearly because the anime decided it was a good idea to show it to you 5 times. /bitching

 

And at a non-combative level, Oda does great at sharing screen-time among the Straw Hats, leading to all the characters being dynamic. In most works, even in my favorite series (my avi), writers have problems putting equal spotlight/development on all characters with a large main cast. It always leads to one character being obviously flat compared to the rest of the lead ensemble

 

 

I think he means that despite Sanji's importance to the crew, Oda treats Sanji like he's a shell of his former self. He's always having bad luck, like allowing female baddies to embarrassingly beat him, his bounty poster, landing at Kamabakka Kingdom, cross dressing, and having ridiculous nose-bleeds around women, turning him into a borderline gag character.

 

Well that's true. He was always chivalrous, but it's become weird recently. I never really noticed a change in his character since yknow he always loved the ladies, but thinking back it has gotten extreme recently. The giant instant nosebleed stuff in FI was ridiculous, for one.

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Yeah I remember that clearly because the anime decided it was a good idea to show it to you 5 times. /bitching

 

And at a non-combative level, Oda does great at sharing screen-time among the Straw Hats, leading to all the characters being dynamic. In most works, even in my favorite series (my avi), writers have problems putting equal spotlight/development on all characters with a large main cast. It always leads to one character being obviously flat compared to the rest of the lead ensemble

 

I only remember that scene once in the anime. I don't even remember a flashback.

 

But if they did, then I guess they may as well show that movie 6 punch.

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No doubt Oda is a great writer especially in terms of sheer scale, creativity and structure. One Piece is heavily original with a massively over-arcing plot that's not really like any other longrunning anime out there, almost every detail is important and that's something that will always impress me. It's the little things like how he treats certain characters (females and Sanji) that get on my nerves, but they don't put me off the series as a whole.

 

While on the subject of resenting what's become of certain character, I have to echo (again) the annoyance of what's become with Sanji. I sound like I hate him, but I really used to like him a lot. Especially when he cared about cooking.. and cared about hunger regardless of whether they were friend or foe. That was true chivalry. He's become more of a comedy character who revolves around female characters, even with cooking, and his fighting style is considerably less inspired than it used to be, I loved the times he used his knowledge as a cook in battle.

 

Ironically, even though the "monster 3" get the most battles, I think Usopp consistently gets the most character development. Which is downright lovely. But boy does it often seem like Brook and Robin are totally sidelined when they aren't "necessary".

 

I guess I just really hope that Oda has big plans for every StrawHat, and I can see why he doesn't add new crew members very often because it is really hard to balance an ensemble cast. I mean like, for all the screentime he gets, Zoro's always had very little in terms of character development. Robin on the other hand has had tons of development despite how little screentime she usually gets.. writing One Piece must be tough, especially with how little that guy takes care of himself.

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Since I'm out of the loop since... maybe 7 years ago, any episodes of filler I need to skip?

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They're all gonna have one great final battle with Blackbeard's crew if you ask me. The writing is just on the wall. It will be the culmination of their experiences. 

 

I'm mostly looking forward to the battle with Ussop and Van Auger. 

 

 

Since I'm out of the loop since... maybe 7 years ago, any episodes of filler I need to skip?

 
Where did you last leave off?
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I only remember that scene once in the anime. I don't even remember a flashback.

 

But if they did, then I guess they may as well show that movie 6 punch.

 

Really now? It was shown on the beginning recap a whole bunch of times. I remember actually saying "really?" at some point.

 

 

Big Fat Quote

 

Well that was enlightening. I never really ranked Sanji high on my Straw Hat list, but I do remember him being a fair bit nicer. And yeah cooking as well. I see it now.

 

And I think Zoro's problem is that all his development was done at the beginning of the series, when Oda thought One Piece was a five year ride. His most defining moments are always when he's showing his devotion to Luffy.

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They're all gonna have one great final battle with Blackbeard's crew if you ask me. The writing is just on the wall. It will be the culmination of their experiences. 

 

I'm mostly looking forward to the battle with Ussop and Van Auger. 

 

 
 
Where did you last leave off?

 

I think it was after Nami revealed the origin of her tattoo.

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Really now? It was shown on the beginning recap a whole bunch of times. I remember actually saying "really?" at some point.

 

I just skip the recaps. That's sort of the point of them to be a redundant plot device reminding you what's going on.

 

Well that was enlightening. I never really ranked Sanji high on my Straw Hat list, but I do remember him being a fair bit nicer. And yeah cooking as well. I see it now.

 

And I think Zoro's problem is that all his development was done at the beginning of the series, when Oda thought One Piece was a five year ride. His most defining moments are always when he's showing his devotion to Luffy.

 

 

Once a character's development is done, the most you can do with them is give them cool moments. And I guess the good thing about One Piece having an ensemble cast is that you bounce around so many characters you won't get tired of them, at least in theory.

 

 

I think it was after Nami revealed the origin of her tattoo.

 
Oh wow... you've got a ways to go.
 
 
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Since I'm out of the loop since... maybe 7 years ago, any episodes of filler I need to skip?

I've been using this One Piece Wiki page to help with navigating the arcs and filler since I started watching it, it's pretty handy http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_Guide

 

 

They're all gonna have one great final battle with Blackbeard's crew if you ask me. The writing is just on the wall. It will be the culmination of their experiences. 

 

I'm mostly looking forward to the battle with Ussop and Van Auger. 

I've been wondering for a while what I think the "final battle" will be and Blackbeard's a great contender, but honestly I think One Piece has too many considerably huge plot points and factions for it to be easy to boil down to one final battle. At this point, the final battle could be Blackbeard, it could be a high ranked World Govt. member, it could be Dragon if his and Luffy's ideologies don't match, it could even be a character or faction we don't know about yet, something from the Void Century for example.

 

And I think Zoro's problem is that all his development was done at the beginning of the series, when Oda thought One Piece was a five year ride. His most defining moments are always when he's showing his devotion to Luffy.

I dunno, I think Zoro still has a lot to go, like his beef with Tashigi is obviously meant to be leading somewhere, his training with Mihawk is very much unexplored (like his scar I think?) and more.

 

Also I don't really agree with the notion that once a character's development arc is over, they no longer get development. Usopp and Robin for example have been getting development dotted throughout the series, and I really really hope that Sanji's frankly worse-than-ever behaviour is leading up to some kind of "eureka!" moment where he gets his head out of his ass. Maybe finding "All-Blue" will be remind him of why he was travelling in the first place. Basically I think even Straw Hat completely still has development potential. I don't think Oda would plan a ~20 year series where the major characters' development is limited to the first half afterall. He wouldn't introduce a StrawHat if he didn't have big plans for them down the line, that's what I believe, and we're already seeing this with Robin. She's quiet and barely ever gets to battle, but she's the only lead we have on one of the series' biggest mysteries.

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I've been using this One Piece Wiki page to help with navigating the arcs and filler since I started watching it, it's pretty handy http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_Guide

 

I've been wondering for a while what I think the "final battle" will be and Blackbeard's a great contender, but honestly I think One Piece has too many considerably huge plot points and factions for it to be easy to boil down to one final battle. At this point, the final battle could be Blackbeard, it could be a high ranked World Govt. member, it could be Dragon if his and Luffy's ideologies don't match, it could even be a character or faction we don't know about yet, something from the Void Century for example.

 

I dunno, I think Zoro still has a lot to go, like his beef with Tashigi is obviously meant to be leading somewhere, his training with Mihawk is very much unexplored (like his scar I think?) and more.

 

Also I don't really agree with the notion that once a character's development arc is over, they no longer get development. Usopp and Robin for example have been getting development dotted throughout the series, and I really really hope that Sanji's frankly worse-than-ever behaviour is leading up to some kind of "eureka!" moment where he gets his head out of his ass. Maybe finding "All-Blue" will be remind him of why he was travelling in the first place. Basically I think even Straw Hat completely still has development potential. I don't think Oda would plan a ~20 year series where the major characters' development is limited to the first half afterall. He wouldn't introduce a StrawHat if he didn't have big plans for them down the line, that's what I believe, and we're already seeing this with Robin. She's quiet and barely ever gets to battle, but she's the only lead we have on one of the series' biggest mysteries.

 

Fair point, totally forgot about those two. Although those were recent developments and Zoro spent a majority of pre-timeskip just chillin there. The last point where there was major development was when Zoro lost to Mihawk. While yes, I agree a character's development doesn't have to cease, it does seem like Oda did what he wanted to do with Zoro's character in the first 20 episodes.

 

Don't you remember Super Link, mermaid island is his All Blue now unsure.png That line from Sanji was terrible.

 

And Blackbeard has been set up as the big bad since he was introduced, I'm pretty positive once it's all done he'll be the final boss

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Yeah all this and more has been bugging me more and more lately. Sanji's character has gone to shit because of it, degraded to his lone character trait being "CAN'T HURT CUTE GIRLS LEL" "CAN'T BE EVIL CAUSE CUTE GIRLS LEL" "HAPPY TO VALUE THE SAFETY OF CUTE GIRLS OVER MY CAPTAIN LEL", Zoro not attacking Monet was fricking ridiculous, every woman who isn't evil is drawn the same, "pretty" women are never really evil but just ~pretending~ to be evil, or are being controlled, or are secretly good or some other cop out.

 

And the only actually "evil" lady characters? Are purposefully shown as "ugly".

 

That's not to mention how Nami and Robin barely get any lines, character development or battles anymore. Every battle is just saved for Luffy, Zoro or Sanji. I love the overall plot of One Piece but the way he treats female characters is getting increasingly frustrated and difficult to ignore.

 

Maybe Oda just misses his wife, but I all the time wish that he would make female characters like he used to, or even go one better and actually improve over the past rather than make it worse. Sigh. :c

 

There are plenty of villains who are attractive or at least not ugly like Alvida, Kalifa, Miss Double Finger, Miss Valentine, Baby 5, Sugar and Perona.

 

We have a bunch of "ugly" good women in the series, too, like Miss Monday, Kokoro, Lola, Kuleha, Sandersonia, Marigold, Gloriosa, Dadan etc.

 

I think he means that despite Sanji's importance to the crew, Oda treats Sanji like he's a shell of his former self. He's always having bad luck, like allowing female baddies to embarrassingly beat him, his bounty poster, landing at Kamabakka Kingdom, cross dressing, and having ridiculous nose-bleeds around women, turning him into a borderline gag character.

I don't really have a big problem with that. Sometimes it could be dialled back a bit, but since Punk Hazard I think Sanji has pretty much gone back to normal.

 

I love his bad luck runner.

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I think the thing right now is that different characters require different attention depending on their situation. I'm certain that we're going to go to the Wano kingdom eventually and have that arc be heavily focused on Zoro and his desire to be the best swordsman, but we have to go through many other arcs that have very little to do with Zoro. So far, Dressrosa, Punk Hazard, and Fishman Island were all arcs that were more focused on the world around the Strawhats instead of the strawhats themselves. They were really thrust into these situations that they didn't expect to be a part of, and now much of the attention isn't even on them anymore, it's more on the characters like Law and Rebecca who actually have ties to the current events. 

So I think the big problem is that after Enies Lobby, Thriller Bark, and Saobaody, which were arcs all about the Strawhats, we now have arcs that aren't about them at all. I guess you could say that's part of the adventure, and it is fun, but it does make you frustrated for more attention on our characters. 

And think about it; if every arc had something that developed the characters, eventually Oda would have to start pulling things out of his ass to show how the character benefited from the arc at all. 

I'm sure that in hindsight this will all be so much easier to deal with, because right now we are going through this week by week agony of waiting for some more things to happen to the strawhats, but we love what is going on with the world too. In the end, it's just hard to find a balance. 

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There are plenty of villains who are attractive or at least not ugly like Alvida, Kalifa, Miss Double Finger, Miss Valentine, Baby 5, Sugar and Perona.

I wouldn't say that's plenty, especially considering most of them are from very early in OP's run, or turned good (Perona) or are Kalifa. Kalifa is pretty much the only example of a "good pretty female villain" in "modern" One Piece (it's hard to consider CP-9 saga modern, but she's the last good example of a female villain sticking to her guns that we even have, not the best sign.)

 

It's not that it's impossible for Oda to write good female villains, it's that the ratio of "female villains secretly being controlled or good" compared to female villains actually being villains is kinda concerning. It doesn't instil much faith that his female characters are very strong when they are typically the first to waver or be presented as weak where most male villains wouldn't at all.

 

Oda's problem isn't that he hates women or anything, he just way way over-romanticises them. It's a very old-fashioned kind of "chivalry". Maybe it is because he misses his wife, and cares about her so much that he reflects the romantic feelings she gives him in his writing, or finds it hard to "hurt" women. Idk.

 

Also yeah I agree with Visionary, One Piece is huge and so are its arcs, there's a lot of World Expansion and introduction of new elements going on right now, and as a result we're seeing less development for the StrawHats. I'm sure we'll get StrawHat development eventually.

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No doubt Oda is a great writer especially in terms of sheer scale, creativity and structure. One Piece is heavily original with a massively over-arcing plot that's not really like any other longrunning anime out there, almost every detail is important and that's something that will always impress me. It's the little things like how he treats certain characters (females and Sanji) that get on my nerves, but they don't put me off the series as a whole.

 

While on the subject of resenting what's become of certain character, I have to echo (again) the annoyance of what's become with Sanji. I sound like I hate him, but I really used to like him a lot. Especially when he cared about cooking.. and cared about hunger regardless of whether they were friend or foe. That was true chivalry. He's become more of a comedy character who revolves around female characters, even with cooking, and his fighting style is considerably less inspired than it used to be, I loved the times he used his knowledge as a cook in battle.

 

Definitely. Even though Sanji has changed, I still quite like the guy. I still have respect for him because he is one of the most, if not the most, important crew member there is. Without him, everyone starves. Sanji is a culinary genius and he knows how to feed everyone a healthy, balanced meal that also tastes amazing. Even when he decides to give everyone besides Nami and Robin scraps and lesser portions, he's still feeding his crew very well.

 

Even though he appears to be a misandrist on the outside, I think it's just a show. Keep in mind he only grew up around a bunch of manly men and had no prominent female figures in his life, or at least that's what's implied given what we were shown on his backstory. I think the men he grew up around glorified women because there were no women on board. They were all cooks and chefs that were constantly in rooms full of pure testosterone. They thought the best way to treat a woman was by putting them on a pedestal since women were absent in their world. You could say having women in their lives was somewhat of a dream. Remember that Sanji said that chivalry was something that was pounded into his head as a kid? It had to have been the Baratie guys and their unrealistic, sheltered views of women. I don't think it's Sanji's fault as the first woman that came into his life and formed a relationship with him was Nami. Imagine how awkward that must be, having the first important female figure come into your life when you're 19 years old. He doesn't know how to act around women because he wasn't raised around women. Sanji thinks he knows how to treat the opposite sex and that's okay because he wasn't raised under any other philosophy. It's a character flaw but I think he will one day learn. He knows this as he even admitted his chivalry is a stupid obstacle after his fight with Kalifa.

 

Like I said, I don't think he hates men. He has an unmeasurable amount of respect for Zeff and the other guys at Baratie. He also largely respects and cares for his crew, and this was shown when Kuma started blasting them all away to different parts of the world. He first and foremost tried protecting Usopp and Brook, and was devastated once they were gone. He even felt immense guilt after Zoro disappeared. Ultimately, he has a large amount of respect for Luffy too, as it was Luffy that helped open the doors to his dreams. Plus, he's one of the characters that dives in first after Luffy falls overboard.

 

So yes, he's flawed, but he's still a really good character that's awaiting some amazing character development. Sometimes you just have to pity the guy... Except sometimes he is a total dick and disrespects food, like when he fed Zoro razorblades.

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