Oke so if it is allowed, I would like to talk in english. I haven't spoken or written German in quite some while and it would take too long for me to spell correctly and use grammar in correct way. Also with such a specialistic topic I would not remember all the correct translations. You can all respond in german, I can still understand and read german near perfectly and else I will just ask haha. So I hope you guys allow this and don't mind it. I couldn't find another good forum for one piece and I know this one is the biggest and I remember it as one of the best. Thanks in advance.
What I want to talk about is the development of the powers of the characters in One Piece, especially the ones from the Mugiwara's. In my opinion Oda is going in the wrong direction with this. I like One Piece alot, one of my favourite animes and sure there were always small things I would have done or seen differently but overall I find the story superb and well thought through. But the whole evolution of the powers just rubs me the wrong way. I really don't like this of One Piece and it makes it for me difficult to watch. Bytheway I just ended the arc with Punk Hazard so if you guys could not spoil or section certain opinions of with spoilers I would really appreciate it. So if for example some power gets explained or changes severly in the arc that is airing now, I would understand if you guys want to use that in your argumentation or opinion but plz warn me so I can skip that part and read it after I caught up ^^.
So okey now I will finally start:
I always liked how Oda was creative with powers and made it believable. For example the power of buggy was really nice and especially the relation to Luffy (luffy can't really take damage from blunt attacks but is vulnerable to sharp things while buggy is the complete opposite you could say). How when I saw Doflamingo for first time, I though he had some psychic power and was really suprised that he used strings like a puppet and could use them to slice stuff with, I really liked this. Or just the way a power was used or visualized, was many times really creative and well thought through, like the earthquake power of Whitebeard. But what really shows how good and creative Oda is with powers is how he made luffy cooler and more powerfull by giving him gear third and gear second. Something that is plausible and explainable, especially in the physics of the One Piece world. He really found new way to use powers and give people powers in a movie and anime world where the whole thing has been reinvented and used so many times.
I also like the Haki stuff, how it is counter to logia fruits and how it not magically appeared but was slowly intoduced and again it not really unbelievable or too strong or too weird.
But slowly I feel like Oda is going into the wrong way, especially after the time skip.. I am really crinching sometimes or just dissapointed in the direction some powers take..
Luffy: gear second and gear third are very cool and can be explained with physics even within our world. Especially gear second: bloodpressure and speed of the bloodflow being increased so much by him dilliberately pumping blood faster-> faster exchange of oxygen and nuitricians-> more heat due to overworking and more friction due to higher speed and how that turns him more red due to heat and due to blood that is shown more due to expending vessels and the steam cuz of the increaded heat.
But now the hawkfirst or something, where his fist turns into fire... just doesn't fit the fruit at all, can't really be explained and makes the fruit of Ace seem even less unique and powerfull. Like I get that due to rapid expansion and contraction he could make his fist even hotter, but to turn to actual fire.... especially when rubber rather melts than goes up into flames.
Really don't like that.
Zoro: I really liked him in the beginning, how everything was more like actual swordfights and actuall clashes of swords, but I do get that the whole swordfighting needed to evolve and become stronger to be in same league as fruit powers. So being able to cut steel and stuff was next step and not weird and then the ability to send a cut flying (that how they call it atleast). I don't mind it that much and it is also sometimes cool and can be explained as how the air is being pushed away very fast and is almost like super strong gust or maybe it is like a powerfull implosion/explosion of air (like the pistol shrimp haha). But now the attacks get a bit too strong and unbelievable in my opinion and I really dont like when he fought Kaku, how he got all demon like and extra arms and shit.... it cant be explained at all.
Robin: nothing wrong with her powers, can all be explained. And how it seems is that she can now fully make herself and not just limbs, which is not weird because it just next step in her power or in her mastering her power.
Nami: Really liked how in beginning, when One Piece had this old skool vibe to it, she was using stick to fight with. After that I did not like her fighting style at all, the suprise stick that evolved into climate stick..... Don't like it one bit, her fight against the cp9 woman was just ridicilous. But ow well nothing that isn't super unbelievable, she just using science to controll weather. Sure it is bit unbelievable how fast and in what scale she can do it but even after time skip it nothing I can't buy. Don't like it but it is not unbelievable.
Ussop: His sniping was nice and it developped nicely. Especially his fight against luffy was cool, he used cool stuff and techniques and it was really about markmanship. His fight at enies lobbies was bit less cool and the stuff he used were less cool like the flaming bird that destroyed the flag, but it was not that bad and it was still about markmanship.
His powers after the time skip, in my opinion are god awfull. Seriously he is one of the worst developments, the plants and seeds are ridicilous and how he magically has a plant for every situation. The plants do all the work and it not even about markmanship, the plants are either super huge so he cannot miss or the plants follow the opponent or he just fires randonmly many seeds all around and they do the job. It has nothing to do with accuracy or markmanship. Seriously hate it and makes me dislike One Piece even when I talk about it, really in my opinion ruins it.
Franky: as cyborg, it can be explained and is again using science. So nothing unbelievable and nothing wrong. Don't like his form after the time skip but that just really about taste and again nothing unbelievable, so i can live with it and it might grow on me haha :p
Chopper: Likes his power and his forms where explained by the drugs, but after time skip the forms got super weird and in my opinion stupid. His few forms were within the spectrum of believable, like he had something unique without overdoing it, they should not put more forms in it. They should have focused on him getting stronger and more buff and develop the forms that he has more and to more powerfull extend rather than making new weird stuff like the kungfu point -_-'. Also don't like how he does not need a medicine for it anymore because that made it more believable.
Brook: Think it can all be explained with his fruit, just hope that the ice he can produce will only be with people who he has contact with. I mean the death are ascociated with cold so I get that he can make his body and the sword he touches very cold due to his aura and that what touched with it will become cold aswell and will freeze. Just hope that will be his limit. Really like really don't want him to be able to shoot or produce ice, this should be his limit, almost like a paramecia version of Aokiji!
Sanji: Like how he did everything with just fighting, would have been cool if he put gloves on so he could fight with his hands aswell after time skip. He didnt fight with his hands because for a cook the hands are everything but that would be more dynamic and less predictable. The jamble or however it is called when he spins rapidly to create friction and becomes super hot is not that unbelievable, maybe he has special rubber shoes that allow him to not feel the heat and he has super leg strength so it becoming super hot due to friction is understandable. But how it now evolved, how he can basically become rapped around in flames and how his foot can become involved with flames without spinning is just super stupid. It should be super hot and not flames to begin with and I his evolvement is one that I get least they could so easily give him more believable and cool powers. They freaking even showed them before: the powers of cp9. I know he can now kick the air and 'fly', but there were other kicking powers he could obtain like the 'rankyaku' and 'soru' and maybe even tekkai and kami-e.
And I don't get why Buggy during Impel down got so many hard counters and limitations. They explained how cannot make his feet loose contact to ground and only has small sphere which he can move in. Leaving almost no room for him to master his fruit in cooler way or leave room for unique and creative possibilities. Don't get why such a fruit gets hard limitations while not being overpowered, even tho the power of Law has almost no limitations, funny how it called op-op fruit... his power seems really OP.
What I want to talk about is the development of the powers of the characters in One Piece, especially the ones from the Mugiwara's. In my opinion Oda is going in the wrong direction with this. I like One Piece alot, one of my favourite animes and sure there were always small things I would have done or seen differently but overall I find the story superb and well thought through. But the whole evolution of the powers just rubs me the wrong way. I really don't like this of One Piece and it makes it for me difficult to watch. Bytheway I just ended the arc with Punk Hazard so if you guys could not spoil or section certain opinions of with spoilers I would really appreciate it. So if for example some power gets explained or changes severly in the arc that is airing now, I would understand if you guys want to use that in your argumentation or opinion but plz warn me so I can skip that part and read it after I caught up ^^.
So okey now I will finally start:
I always liked how Oda was creative with powers and made it believable. For example the power of buggy was really nice and especially the relation to Luffy (luffy can't really take damage from blunt attacks but is vulnerable to sharp things while buggy is the complete opposite you could say). How when I saw Doflamingo for first time, I though he had some psychic power and was really suprised that he used strings like a puppet and could use them to slice stuff with, I really liked this. Or just the way a power was used or visualized, was many times really creative and well thought through, like the earthquake power of Whitebeard. But what really shows how good and creative Oda is with powers is how he made luffy cooler and more powerfull by giving him gear third and gear second. Something that is plausible and explainable, especially in the physics of the One Piece world. He really found new way to use powers and give people powers in a movie and anime world where the whole thing has been reinvented and used so many times.
I also like the Haki stuff, how it is counter to logia fruits and how it not magically appeared but was slowly intoduced and again it not really unbelievable or too strong or too weird.
But slowly I feel like Oda is going into the wrong way, especially after the time skip.. I am really crinching sometimes or just dissapointed in the direction some powers take..
Luffy: gear second and gear third are very cool and can be explained with physics even within our world. Especially gear second: bloodpressure and speed of the bloodflow being increased so much by him dilliberately pumping blood faster-> faster exchange of oxygen and nuitricians-> more heat due to overworking and more friction due to higher speed and how that turns him more red due to heat and due to blood that is shown more due to expending vessels and the steam cuz of the increaded heat.
But now the hawkfirst or something, where his fist turns into fire... just doesn't fit the fruit at all, can't really be explained and makes the fruit of Ace seem even less unique and powerfull. Like I get that due to rapid expansion and contraction he could make his fist even hotter, but to turn to actual fire.... especially when rubber rather melts than goes up into flames.
Really don't like that.
Zoro: I really liked him in the beginning, how everything was more like actual swordfights and actuall clashes of swords, but I do get that the whole swordfighting needed to evolve and become stronger to be in same league as fruit powers. So being able to cut steel and stuff was next step and not weird and then the ability to send a cut flying (that how they call it atleast). I don't mind it that much and it is also sometimes cool and can be explained as how the air is being pushed away very fast and is almost like super strong gust or maybe it is like a powerfull implosion/explosion of air (like the pistol shrimp haha). But now the attacks get a bit too strong and unbelievable in my opinion and I really dont like when he fought Kaku, how he got all demon like and extra arms and shit.... it cant be explained at all.
Robin: nothing wrong with her powers, can all be explained. And how it seems is that she can now fully make herself and not just limbs, which is not weird because it just next step in her power or in her mastering her power.
Nami: Really liked how in beginning, when One Piece had this old skool vibe to it, she was using stick to fight with. After that I did not like her fighting style at all, the suprise stick that evolved into climate stick..... Don't like it one bit, her fight against the cp9 woman was just ridicilous. But ow well nothing that isn't super unbelievable, she just using science to controll weather. Sure it is bit unbelievable how fast and in what scale she can do it but even after time skip it nothing I can't buy. Don't like it but it is not unbelievable.
Ussop: His sniping was nice and it developped nicely. Especially his fight against luffy was cool, he used cool stuff and techniques and it was really about markmanship. His fight at enies lobbies was bit less cool and the stuff he used were less cool like the flaming bird that destroyed the flag, but it was not that bad and it was still about markmanship.
His powers after the time skip, in my opinion are god awfull. Seriously he is one of the worst developments, the plants and seeds are ridicilous and how he magically has a plant for every situation. The plants do all the work and it not even about markmanship, the plants are either super huge so he cannot miss or the plants follow the opponent or he just fires randonmly many seeds all around and they do the job. It has nothing to do with accuracy or markmanship. Seriously hate it and makes me dislike One Piece even when I talk about it, really in my opinion ruins it.
Franky: as cyborg, it can be explained and is again using science. So nothing unbelievable and nothing wrong. Don't like his form after the time skip but that just really about taste and again nothing unbelievable, so i can live with it and it might grow on me haha :p
Chopper: Likes his power and his forms where explained by the drugs, but after time skip the forms got super weird and in my opinion stupid. His few forms were within the spectrum of believable, like he had something unique without overdoing it, they should not put more forms in it. They should have focused on him getting stronger and more buff and develop the forms that he has more and to more powerfull extend rather than making new weird stuff like the kungfu point -_-'. Also don't like how he does not need a medicine for it anymore because that made it more believable.
Brook: Think it can all be explained with his fruit, just hope that the ice he can produce will only be with people who he has contact with. I mean the death are ascociated with cold so I get that he can make his body and the sword he touches very cold due to his aura and that what touched with it will become cold aswell and will freeze. Just hope that will be his limit. Really like really don't want him to be able to shoot or produce ice, this should be his limit, almost like a paramecia version of Aokiji!
Sanji: Like how he did everything with just fighting, would have been cool if he put gloves on so he could fight with his hands aswell after time skip. He didnt fight with his hands because for a cook the hands are everything but that would be more dynamic and less predictable. The jamble or however it is called when he spins rapidly to create friction and becomes super hot is not that unbelievable, maybe he has special rubber shoes that allow him to not feel the heat and he has super leg strength so it becoming super hot due to friction is understandable. But how it now evolved, how he can basically become rapped around in flames and how his foot can become involved with flames without spinning is just super stupid. It should be super hot and not flames to begin with and I his evolvement is one that I get least they could so easily give him more believable and cool powers. They freaking even showed them before: the powers of cp9. I know he can now kick the air and 'fly', but there were other kicking powers he could obtain like the 'rankyaku' and 'soru' and maybe even tekkai and kami-e.
And I don't get why Buggy during Impel down got so many hard counters and limitations. They explained how cannot make his feet loose contact to ground and only has small sphere which he can move in. Leaving almost no room for him to master his fruit in cooler way or leave room for unique and creative possibilities. Don't get why such a fruit gets hard limitations while not being overpowered, even tho the power of Law has almost no limitations, funny how it called op-op fruit... his power seems really OP.