Board 8 > Anime & Manga Discussion Topic 283: Zhuge Liang has a waifu too

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been gone a long time, hopefully there's no problem with me making the new topic.

For the poll, I just sorted Spring 2022 by score on MAL and picked what looked like the main girl from the first nine that weren't new seasons of old shows. I haven't seen all of those shows so maybe I missed a best girl somewhere

I want to go out and adopt a daughter of my own

Ushiooooooooo

However she is not best girl.

Sensei #1

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/2/7/AAeolZAADKeP.jpg

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/6/5/AAB6RfAADKe1.jpg

Pleased with how the new bookshelf turned out. Threw some other things in there for now but it'll soon fill out with all those Berserks and future JoJo's

A fellow Jojonium collector I see

I like Eiko quite a bit of the poll options. I'm also fond of Menou though. Some of the side characters in Executioner can be a bit tiresome, but Menou's cool.

It's a good season for the girls.

After making that poll forced me to realize it existed, I checked out Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness. It's a pretty nice anime! Slice-of-life with funny moments but without being pure comedy, and small bits of drama that don't detract from the comfy vibes. I enjoyed catching up on it

time for One Piece Chapter 1000 but in the anime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYqPCDhadY0

More effort put into those 2 and a half minutes than the last 50 episodes.

hmmm I'd have to compare it to episode 1000

I rewatched the first season of Laid-Back Camp today. I missed a few new seasons in SoL shows over the last few years, and for ones Non Non Biyori or Is the Order a Rabbit, I didn't feel the need to rewatch the earlier seasons. It's not like there's some big plot to follow. LBC is in my top 10 anime of all time, however, so rewatching it was a pleasure rather than an obligation! It's still the comfiest anime of all time, and Nadeshiko and Rin were as great as I remembered. I'll probably watch season two tomorrow, and I hope it stands up to the first.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/7/5/AAB6RfAADKoX.jpg

feeling the energy Jinbei is putting out

I played Arknights every day for over a year, I hope the anime is good.

bro I love nami

Best girl is Eve from Birdie Wing, but there are a lot of good candidates, including Godai from Dance Dance Danseur. If you decide to watch that show, though, know that a kid gets bullied really hard in episode 3

when did momo join the crew before yamato

UshiromiyaEva posted...

More effort put into those 2 and a half minutes than the last 50 episodes.

It's still soooo much better now than it was in Dressrosa

The animation honestly bothers me less than the pacing.

I can barely even stomach the idea anymore of a show that covers 1 or less chapters of a weekly manga on average per episode and still has filler arcs.

I've seen enough clips though to know the show does look better than it has in a long time in general, though.

Fisherman Island is also quite possibly the worst arc in all of Shounen Jump history. That wait of a month long break for the manga to return from break, that first chapter you read leading you to this magical new island the crew hyped since the beginning of the manga... and it turns out to be worse than fucking Fullbringer Bleach arc. At least in Bleach you can read a chapter in 2 minutes. There was 51, that's right 51 chapters in Fisherman Island. A whole year of shit before you leave that sorry ass fucking place behind.

Dressrosa on the other hand is just boring.

I don't remember anything that happened during Fishman Island. I barely remember what the dude even looked like.

....I actually don't even remember when it happened? Like between what arcs?? Was Dressrosa before or after???

Honestly the entirety of post timeskip One Piece means so little to me. I figured out where I left off when I stopped reading a couple years ago but haven't even been able to get myself to read a single chapter yet.

And it's not an issue of getting tired of One Piece. I watch Skypiea movie after I stopped reading the manga and literally cried.

Return from break > a few chapters reintroducing the crew > Racistman Island > Punk Hazard > Snoozerosa

UshiromiyaEva posted...

I can barely even stomach the idea anymore of a show that covers 1 or less chapters of a weekly manga on average per episode and still has filler arcs

The only filler episodes One Piece has anymore are movie tie in ones made to hype a new movie. They haven't had a normal filler arc since before the time skip.

Also Dressrosa is one of my favorite arcs in all of One Piece and my wife's overall favorite and I didnt mind Fishman Island (it wasnt great but it was fine) so I'm just not going to agree on that stuff. I'm still loving the series just as much as pre timeskip.

...

...

*Googles Punk Hazard*

Oh right this happened.

At least I remembered Fishman Island existed off the top of my head!

Dressrosa did go on too long and Gear 4th was really weird compared to previous gears (although now makes perfect sense why it was like that after what's happened in Wano)

it did have the best flashback in the entire series in the middle of that arc though

and granted now Wano is even longer than Dressrosa was, but it hasn't felt like it's gone on for too long because it's been so good for the majority of it.

I actually like the worldbuilding elements of fishman island (prophecies about luffy, shirahoshi, etc.). it's literally just hody jones being meh that drop it down a peg for me.

I really need to re-read Dressrosa because it was a real slog reading that weekly and I feel like it would be much, much better to binge read.

loving wano for sure although it hasn't topped enies lobby for me

UshiromiyaEva posted...

...

...

*Googles Punk Hazard*

Oh right this happened.

At least I remembered Fishman Island existed off the top of my head!

Racistman Island villain was weakass Hody Jones and 90% useless flashbacks

I would say the only dip in quality Wano has had was early Act 2 when Luffy was in prison, but things weren't popping off yet.

Punk Hazard redeeming quality is the fact is set up so many things that are still in play today, Momo and Law to name a few

GranzonEx posted...

Racistman Island villain was weakass Hody Jones and 90% useless flashbacks

also you're calling it racistman island derogatorily as if the fisher tiger storyline wasn't actually good and central to jimbei's character development

Yeah really Punk Hazard to Wano is just one big connected Saga that's gone on for a decade

ninkendo posted...

I would say the only dip in quality Wano has had was early Act 2 when Luffy was in prison, but things weren't popping off yet.

Oh hey this is exactly when I quit!

I was literally incapable if getting though a chapter in a single reading around this time. It was too boring to read front to back, usually took 2 or 3 gos.

GranzonEx posted...

Punk Hazard redeeming quality is the fact is set up so many things that are still in play today, Momo and Law to name a few

I feel like all the weak arcs post east blue are like this. Skypeia, Thriller Bark, Fishmen, Punk Hazard, Zou. All are either big for set up or world building.

GranzonEx posted...

Racistman Island villain was weakass Hody Jones and 90% useless flashbacks

That was actually me saying Fishman was better, I literally don't remember anything that happens in Punk Hazard besides it took place on a fire ice island and the crew body swapped.

In fact that even more damming to Fishman, because the only reason I remember it at all was that it was hyped for years and then was really bad.

changmas posted...

also you're calling it racistman island derogatorily as if the fisher tiger storyline wasn't actually good and central to jimbei's character development

Jinbei is a worse character than Brooke and that's quite an achievement. Jinbei has been in the "crew" for a decade and has done literal jack shit. He's so one dimensional. I hope he sacrifices himself to save Luffy in a future arc so we never have to see his fat ass again.

:(

GranzonEx posted...

Jinbei is a worse character than Brooke and that's quite an achievement. Jinbei has been in the "crew" for a decade and has done literal jack shit. He's so one dimensional. I hope he sacrifices himself to save Luffy in a future arc so we never have to see his fat ass again.

actual clown take

Anyway this new chapter sure seems like it could be the final attack of this fight. Not sure how Kaido's gonna handle a fist from the heavens as big as the entirety of Onigashima

(granted it probably isn't because we're still not over where the Fire Fesitival is happening yet)

I like Jinbei, but I understand the take that he doesn't feel like a "real member". It's the same issue as Brooke. The character in a vacum is good/fun, but they came in so late in the series that One Piece had already moved last the small scale moments and being able to give equal attention to the entire crew. Unless an arc is ABOUT crew member like Whole Cake, the Straw hats don't really feel like a group of individuals anymore. They "The Straw Hats", a force of nature. Brook and Jinbei didn't get the advantage of being there when it was a family first and a crew second. Most of their big emotional moments are from flashbacks long before their actual inclusion in the group.

Franky almost gets this too, but he got so much during Ennies Lobby and Water 7 that I think he flies.

The timeskip is what I usually attribute to the point where I think One Piece started to decline, but to be honest I think the moment where "My One Piece" ended is with the Going Merry. After that I just lost the attachment to the series (not BECAUSE that happened, that scene was fantastic, that's just the timing).

I'm sure that this being around the time the actual anime as an adaptation declined in quality after moving to an HD production is a factor, covering less per episode and feeling a lot slower and stiffer, ironically feeling cheaper now that it was in 16:9. But even on the manga side of things I felt it.

In general there's just less space for any member of the straw hats to have a particularly emotional moment in any given arc. I really did feel this in Dressrosa (+ was also really feeling the slog of reading weekly then), but I feel like the emotional moments for side/main characters in Zou, Whole Cake, and Wano has been back to the top tier One Piece standard (Raizo is safe, Sanji in Whole Cake, Oden's flashback/death, Yamato/Momo).

In particular I absolutely love Oda's persistent theme of inherited will and how Yamato and Momo have inherited each other's father's will. Yamato idolizes Oden and wants nothing more than to be free and sail the seas like Momo has been doing with the Straw Hats. While Momo feels his duty is to be the Shogun of Wano, which is currently occupied by Kaidou (and intended to be passed down to Yamato).

As we move towards the Final War, I think all of the straw hats will each get their moment in the sun. I really do have high hopes for the final arcs and the end of the series, and if anyone can nail it, it would be Oda.

In terms of "dips in quality" I think it's important to note that One Piece is still far better than most other shonen in this regard. Like it's too busy and the Straw Hats don't get enough screen time, but it hasn't devolved into rushed nonsense yet (although a lot of fans seem to think Luffy's recent developments fit that bill - I disagree).

For me, the decline is largely due to how Nami is a nothing character now. To me, Nami is the second most important crew member besides Luffy due to her intelligence and attitude. Her terrible redesign aside, she just hasn't had a good moment in a long while. Even Usopp and Brook had their moments in Dressrosa and Whole Cake. Nami is just being used as fanservice basically.

Nami refusing to give in to Ulti's demands that Luffy won't be the pirate king I thought was a pretty good moment for her.

Nami and Robin have both basically stopped being characters post time skip.

(and it's still unfortunate that there's a character named Ulti in One Piece)

ninkendo posted...

(and it's still unfortunate that there's a character named Ulti in One Piece)

they're both hard headed at least

Where I'm at in the manga, Usopp just left the group, so seems like he's not a real member at all!!!!

colliding posted...

they're both hard headed at least

zing