I’ve been watching One Piece with my kid for a long time now and we’ve bonded over it. So far, no other Anime has captured their attention and love like it. But we’re episode 700-something and this shit will not end.
I enjoyed most of the show up until now.
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The storytelling has become straight garbage. There’s more drama and ridiculous backstory than actual story. We spent 30% of the episodes watching depressing backstory (or old clips) that ultimately just serves as filler. It’s just an absolutely ridiculous world where nothing makes sense even within its own rules.
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Each episode drags and drags and drags. There’s no resolution to most of the fights until 12+ episodes after they began.
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Devil fruit powers seem to just be reality warping in whatever way the writer decides. No limits, do whatever you want and it just is. I can understand some of it, but it just becomes too much in this arc.
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All the characters are stupid. They behave stupidly and make the dumbest decisions. If it was entertaining, that would be something. It’s just egregiously painful to watch it unfold.
Does it get better? Because this whole arc is an exercise in bad storytelling and terrible Anime.
There’s known to be a pacing problem in this section of the series. Honestly that stays true for even through a lot of wano which is still one of the best arcs, but you’re about 200 episodes from where that arc starts. That being said, dressrosa is also pretty highly rated because of some big moments that happen within it, and implications for the world they inhabit. It’s a big stepping stone. For the devil fruit powers, the reality warping does not stop. I personally enjoy how the powers are set up and how oda gives the characters the ability to be creative with how they’re used, but to each their own.