One Piece Progress: Skypiea Saga

[C4 Karura]

The old thread I used for the first two Sagas was entirely dead, and the first post (with all the comments) was way too long, so I decided to make a new thread as I reached the third Saga. For those who didn't see the first thread, I'm going through the One Piece anime from the very beginning, and writing some comments on each episode after I finish them. The first thread for this was here. I'd appreciate it if people read through it, too. Sometimes the comments are complaints or things I liked about the episode. Sometimes they're pointing out the symbolism in certain events, good scenes or speeches made by characters, or an anylsis of the significance of something that happened. I'll point out the level of animation quality, or how good that new opening or ending is. It really depends on what I'm thinking of after I've watched the episode, so the things I contemplate go beyond the list above. I'd appreciate it if people left comments on the quality of my reviews. Thanks! I hope you enjoy this thread!

Progress Per Week

Week 8 (Continued from the first thread): Episodes 136-150
Week 9: Episodes 151-162
Week 10: Episode 163
Week 11: None
Week 12: Episodes 164-167
Week 13: None
Week 14: None

My One Piece Progress!

Episode 206: Well. I suppose that whole sequence with the Merry Go getting to fly was dramatic enough to end an 11-episode arc. It was certainly better than most of the episodes so far. I just hope this filler means that the next arc isn't gonna be as painfully stretched out as the Skypiea Saga was at times.

Of course, the fact that the Straw Hats can now just fly over all the drama-filled islands and skip directly to the Red Line at the end of Paradise, and maybe even the end of the Grand Line is almost certainly gonna get ignored by the characters, the same way the Jaya Bird who always faces south somehow isn't highly sought after as a workable compass on the Grand Line.

The problem with the Grand Line is that the more they reveal about it, the more loopholes they show the audience. After all, if the One Piece is at the very end of the Grand Line, wouldn't it be near the very bottom of Reverse Mountain? Thousands of pirates and Marines have sailed east from the mountain over the past few decades trying to sail all the way around the globe. Why hasn't anyone ever tried climbing down the west side of the mountain and sailing out that way? *sigh* Maybe a return to canon will get me interested enough in the story again that I won't spend all my time picking at plot holes.

(Hey! I just realized that I am technically finished with the Skypiea Saga! It wasn't as good as Baroque Works, due to some pretty one-dimensional characters and slow-moving, predictable plots, but it definitely had its moments. I'm hoping this Nico Robin-centric CP9 Saga captivates me more. See you in the new thread! )




Episode 205: Why do the Marines keep firing guns and cannon balls at the Straw Hats, right in the area the Luffy's in? They're all fully aware of his Gum-Gum Powers, and he's been bouncing those weapons back at the Marines since the second arc. How does it never occur to them to try a different weapon? And as glad as I was to see Nami (kind of) fighting some Marines, I had to call BS on them just standing looking curious for two minutes while she prepared a thunder cloud to attack them. Every single one of them was holding guns - and yet not one of them fired at the "dangerous" pirate waving around strange sticks as clouds form inside the room. I'm so glad this arc is over next episode...




Episode 204: Ok, I know we're supposed to find the Head Marine From Marie Jois arrogant and hateable, but he seems to be the only character so far willing to call G8's leaders on how terribly every single one of their plans turns out. Seriously, this is the third 200 Marines v. 4 Straw Hats battle that's ended with NO INJURIES WHATSOEVER to the Straw Hats. Maybe it's time to switch strategies? The Straw Hats are hardly any better, repeatedly walking into obvious traps and then escaping only because they're the main characters and they're not allowed to die in a filler arc.

And I had to laugh at the Marine's Ultimate Safe that can be cracked by any old pirate in about a minute, and is completely deconstructed every time it's opened. I wonder what poor Marine got the job of reconstructing that every time it was opened, just so a pirate who invaded one time who could get freaked out by the gears falling off?




Episode 203: Yep, that animation upgrade was only for one episode. *sigh* I guess I'll reach that legendary HD eventually. Anyways, for a Clip Show Episode, this was actually pretty good, and definitely better than some of the generic, poorly thought out battles this arc has had so far. The flashbacks were all about how the Going Merry has helped the characters throughout the various arcs, and it was a little fun to see some classic One Piece moments I hadn't thought about in years. Plus, this all set up the Straw Hats deciding they need to find a shipwright and save money to repair the Going Merry, something I know due to spoilers is used in the main storyline a few arcs from now. I love that this arc is going out of its way to foreshadow some things way earlier than they appeared in the original story. It's a nice little bonus for anime-only viewers like me.




So. I lost my reviews for episodes 198-202. And I'm definitely not going to suffer through that filler arc again. Suffice it to say that while there were a few good points, especially the hilarious Doctor Lady, it was mostly a contrived, poorly animated mess. The only "great" episode in the batch was 202, where the animation suddenly recieved an upgrade to a level almost as good as the current stuff, before suddenly dropping again in 203.




Episode 197: The story was still good (except for Sanji pontificating about the evil of not using fish bones as part of a meal), but the animation experienced an abrupt and distracting drop in quality. I'd heard that the G8 was one of the first times that legendary animation quality from the later episodes showed up, so this was definitely a dissapointment. Also, I found it pretty laughable that new cook Jessica's breasts were literally twice the size of her head. On this show, it's hard to tell if that's supposed to be ironic or not.




Episode 196: Wow. I loved the decision to tell the first 15 minutes of the episode from the Navy's point of view. After all, unlike Enel and all the other antagonists faced recently, the Navy aren't really bad guys. They may have a few corrupt leaders, but for the most part it's people who genuinely want to keep the seas safe for civilians. Their bitter anger toward pirates is justified given what they've seen the other pirates besides the Straw Hats doing. Why would they think the Straw Hats are any different from the rest? In fact, if you'd just started watching this episode from the beginning, with no prior knowledge of the show, it'd be easy to think the Navy were the heroes and the Straw Hats were some new villain. Kudos to the filler writers for that.




(Yeah, so apparently 45 entries is more than this forum can handle in one post. The end of this post kept getting deleted when I entered new stuff, so I've moved the reviews for Episodes 136-180 to Posts #32-35 in this thread. Enjoy!)

(Aaaand I ran out of space again. Episodes 181-195 are now in Post #42.)

[Vatanui AKA Pride]

You make nice reviews, and one other thing:

-You spelled villain wrong. xDD

[C4 Karura]

Thanks! (And, villain is spelled an i? O.o... I did not know that...)

[C4 Karura]

*sigh* I kept waiting for someone else to bump this, but no one did, so...

[Lone Wolf]

Nice reviews.

[brunz]

yes, very good reviews...im up to ep 145 so im almost where your at lol

[Tobi65]

hi C4, u make really good reviews but i got lazy at like 2/3 of the way up so i stopped...i don't watch one piece that often so it's nice to know wht happens...

off-topic: your moon thread iz dying and well that's it, it'z just dying...

edit: omg, we're on at the same time!...

[C4 Karura]

Originally Posted by Lone Wolf

Nice reviews.

Originally Posted by brunz

yes, very good reviews...im up to ep 145 so im almost where your at lol

Originally Posted by Tobi65

hi C4, u make really good reviews but i got lazy at like 2/3 of the way up so i stopped...i don't watch one piece that often so it's nice to know wht happens...

off-topic: your moon thread iz dying and well that's it, it'z just dying...

edit: omg, we're on at the same time!...

Thanks!
@Tobi-chan: Yeah!

[Vatanui AKA Pride]

Nice, you're catching up quick.

[Tobi65]

kay so i justed finished the rest of them...u r doing a very good job...


how long iz this gonna take anyways?...

[C4 Karura]

Probably a few more months...

[C4 Karura]

*bump* Sorry I didn't have an update for so long!

[C4 Karura]

Huh. So I'm finally back and putting these up again. It seemed like people enjoyed these reviews three years ago, and I certainly had fun doing them, so I'll take up the habit again. If you like these, please give me feedback!

[Wooster]

Holy crap. it's C4. Hiya.

I did not like this arc. BOOOOring.

[Larry01239]

This is an old thread

[Bacon]

You got a lot of work to do,but I look forward to readin it.

[Devroux]

*cough*
Hooooly crap. What Bacon said.

[Kakashi Hatake_Yamato]

Wow. Nice reviews though. About 410 eps to go.

[C4 Karura]

One of my constant complaints in the current arc is the low quality of the animation. However, I've seen some clips from the current anime and know that at some point, their animation gets really good. Can anyone tell me when that point is? Thanks!

[Devroux]

I think it's right around the beginning of the Water 7 arc.