Apr 16, 11:28 PM
One Piece Log #01: Alabasta Arc Concluded!
Anime Relations:
One Piece
My first ever blog post, very exciting!
I didn't really know what to write for my first blog because I don't really have anything interesting to blab about with the recent animes i've watched, but since i just finished the Alabasta arc in One Piece, why not make a blog post about my feelings for it?
Also, I'm going to do this everytime i make a One Piece blog post:
Watch Point: S 07 EP 39 (EP 130)
Okay, well. To start, i'm going to be transparent and admit that between me dropping the anime because i found things more engaging and picking One Piece again at EP 111, there's like, a one year gap. This series has been a really hard one for me to be committed to despite the promises my friends make of "it gets really good i swear" followed by a quiet "...after 500+ episodes" and "...you should also read the manga" just so they could trap me into spending half my already short lifespan just trying to catch up. But weirdly enough, every few years, it's like i got enchanted by some siren OP fan to come back~~ come back and watch more episodes~~ and so i always do. This time i managed to actually finish an arc!
Alabasta arc, what a journey. I don't really remember but i think this is OP's first semi-big arc? Well i think helping a princess save her dying desert nation from a civil war set up by an evil third party is at least a little bit of a big arc. It's not a perfect one, that's for sure, because one of the main problems i have with it was the reason i dropped it a year ago. To just blurt it out: the beginning really drags. It had the pacing of a snail, and said snail also likes to stop every few minutes because it made friends with a frog, but then, said frog /goes away/ never to be seen again until like a hundred episodes later. But i guess, complaining about bad pacing in OP at this point is just screaming into a void because deep down i understand why the pacing was that slow. If i wake up one day and find out i'm immortal maybe i would start watching OP the way TV intended it, one episode a week. But i only see myself living until like, 40, before my body starts breaking down from all the boba i consumed.
Second problem i had with the whole arc is a bit of a nitpick, but to be vulnerable: For a group, specifically a princess--who's been planning for awhile i assume--trying to save her nation from an impending civil war set up by colonizer pirates, Vivi was very underprepared. It was already frustrating that it took so long to even get to the main part, when they did, Vivi's actions always felt very, i don't know, naively stupid? Understandable because i assume she's a teenager (?) and she grew up in a peaceful Alabasta so everything was new to her, but stopping a rebellion army from attacking a palace by standing in front of the gates /alone/ in hopes that screaming at them and their leader could stop it? It was kind of embarrassing to watch and the outcome was very predictable, and actually i think i'd be more pissed off if it did work so thank you Oda. Vivi just kind of ended up being swayed along as the plot went and I kind of wished she was given a stronger role than what she got.
Other than that, it was a pretty fun arc with the crew! You really see Luffy's "leadership" and care towards his crewmates shine as it always does, going over and beyond too help a friend just so that they could smile once again without any worries. The individual fights they all had with the Baroque Works members were pretty fun, Luffy vs. Crocodile is in it's own entire league with it's goofiness but also coolness, but my favorite has to be Zoro's this time, he almost always has the cooler-looking fights lol. It's also in this fight he realized that he could go into some sort of "focus mode" and enhance his skills, all the way that he could even cut steel, very cool very cool. The other fights were fine, Sanji vs. weird dude, Usopp and Chopper vs. weird dude and gal, and lastly Nami vs. weird gal. A small rant about Nami's fight: it's the only fight where i feel like the win wasn't that deserved. Now, i love Nami with all my being, but it was obvious that she only won because of her plot armor. She's underprepared with a weapon she has no idea how it works, inferior combat skills, less experienced, and also, she's a normal human. It also didn't help that Nami's opponent were weirdly really lenient, not constantly attacking, always giving Nami her weapon back, even gave comments on Nami's weird misplaced gag comedy with her magic trick weapon, it's just kind of a bitter feeling seeing her win like that, but it was one of the more minor fights and i think the drive and message behind it is more important so we move.
Honestly i'm surprised at how bleak this arc felt at times, Crocodile was truly a menacing guy and the characters we're rooting for were constantly faced with situations where they are helpless and aren't able to do much but watch Crocodile have his way with destroying Alabasta. Even if you know that everything would be alright, you couldn't help but be confused at how, just how is it going to become better?
Overall, very fun, i liked it, and also!! Robin has joined the crew!! I saw what the next season was and i guess it's more or less a prep season? Like, a season of mostly character-driven episodes or fillers. I'm trying to commit to finishing at least 500 episodes of this humongous monster of a franchise, but i also don't like and don't want to skip any episodes, even if they're forgettable mindless fillers. I don't trust some people out there, they call any episode that's not plot-focused filler, it could've been a beautiful character development episode and they'd tell me to skip it. As a fan of character-driven stories, no thanks. if i would give it a rating, i guess Alabasta arc would be 2.5 out of 5 for me. Not anything groundbreaking, and the pacing really got me, but it was still a very emotional and heartfelt story of a princess that loves and wants to save her country and the friends she made helping her unconditionally.
I didn't really know what to write for my first blog because I don't really have anything interesting to blab about with the recent animes i've watched, but since i just finished the Alabasta arc in One Piece, why not make a blog post about my feelings for it?
Also, I'm going to do this everytime i make a One Piece blog post:
Watch Point: S 07 EP 39 (EP 130)
Okay, well. To start, i'm going to be transparent and admit that between me dropping the anime because i found things more engaging and picking One Piece again at EP 111, there's like, a one year gap. This series has been a really hard one for me to be committed to despite the promises my friends make of "it gets really good i swear" followed by a quiet "...after 500+ episodes" and "...you should also read the manga" just so they could trap me into spending half my already short lifespan just trying to catch up. But weirdly enough, every few years, it's like i got enchanted by some siren OP fan to come back~~ come back and watch more episodes~~ and so i always do. This time i managed to actually finish an arc!
Alabasta arc, what a journey. I don't really remember but i think this is OP's first semi-big arc? Well i think helping a princess save her dying desert nation from a civil war set up by an evil third party is at least a little bit of a big arc. It's not a perfect one, that's for sure, because one of the main problems i have with it was the reason i dropped it a year ago. To just blurt it out: the beginning really drags. It had the pacing of a snail, and said snail also likes to stop every few minutes because it made friends with a frog, but then, said frog /goes away/ never to be seen again until like a hundred episodes later. But i guess, complaining about bad pacing in OP at this point is just screaming into a void because deep down i understand why the pacing was that slow. If i wake up one day and find out i'm immortal maybe i would start watching OP the way TV intended it, one episode a week. But i only see myself living until like, 40, before my body starts breaking down from all the boba i consumed.
Second problem i had with the whole arc is a bit of a nitpick, but to be vulnerable: For a group, specifically a princess--who's been planning for awhile i assume--trying to save her nation from an impending civil war set up by colonizer pirates, Vivi was very underprepared. It was already frustrating that it took so long to even get to the main part, when they did, Vivi's actions always felt very, i don't know, naively stupid? Understandable because i assume she's a teenager (?) and she grew up in a peaceful Alabasta so everything was new to her, but stopping a rebellion army from attacking a palace by standing in front of the gates /alone/ in hopes that screaming at them and their leader could stop it? It was kind of embarrassing to watch and the outcome was very predictable, and actually i think i'd be more pissed off if it did work so thank you Oda. Vivi just kind of ended up being swayed along as the plot went and I kind of wished she was given a stronger role than what she got.
Other than that, it was a pretty fun arc with the crew! You really see Luffy's "leadership" and care towards his crewmates shine as it always does, going over and beyond too help a friend just so that they could smile once again without any worries. The individual fights they all had with the Baroque Works members were pretty fun, Luffy vs. Crocodile is in it's own entire league with it's goofiness but also coolness, but my favorite has to be Zoro's this time, he almost always has the cooler-looking fights lol. It's also in this fight he realized that he could go into some sort of "focus mode" and enhance his skills, all the way that he could even cut steel, very cool very cool. The other fights were fine, Sanji vs. weird dude, Usopp and Chopper vs. weird dude and gal, and lastly Nami vs. weird gal. A small rant about Nami's fight: it's the only fight where i feel like the win wasn't that deserved. Now, i love Nami with all my being, but it was obvious that she only won because of her plot armor. She's underprepared with a weapon she has no idea how it works, inferior combat skills, less experienced, and also, she's a normal human. It also didn't help that Nami's opponent were weirdly really lenient, not constantly attacking, always giving Nami her weapon back, even gave comments on Nami's weird misplaced gag comedy with her magic trick weapon, it's just kind of a bitter feeling seeing her win like that, but it was one of the more minor fights and i think the drive and message behind it is more important so we move.
Honestly i'm surprised at how bleak this arc felt at times, Crocodile was truly a menacing guy and the characters we're rooting for were constantly faced with situations where they are helpless and aren't able to do much but watch Crocodile have his way with destroying Alabasta. Even if you know that everything would be alright, you couldn't help but be confused at how, just how is it going to become better?
Overall, very fun, i liked it, and also!! Robin has joined the crew!! I saw what the next season was and i guess it's more or less a prep season? Like, a season of mostly character-driven episodes or fillers. I'm trying to commit to finishing at least 500 episodes of this humongous monster of a franchise, but i also don't like and don't want to skip any episodes, even if they're forgettable mindless fillers. I don't trust some people out there, they call any episode that's not plot-focused filler, it could've been a beautiful character development episode and they'd tell me to skip it. As a fan of character-driven stories, no thanks. if i would give it a rating, i guess Alabasta arc would be 2.5 out of 5 for me. Not anything groundbreaking, and the pacing really got me, but it was still a very emotional and heartfelt story of a princess that loves and wants to save her country and the friends she made helping her unconditionally.
Posted by
kejora
| Apr 16, 11:28 PM |
Add a comment