Everything GREAT About: One Piece | Part 34 | Eps 209-214

So excited to watch half of this on my break and the other half at home! Happy OP Saturdays everyone!

This arc has a lot of anime/manga difference shenanigans. You really really should read the manga version of this arc for comparison. It’s not a long arc and gives you a lot of context.

Also the whole scene with "getting" shelly back from the foxy crew does not happen in the manga. the rounds are:
round 1 - lose chopper
round 2 - get chopper back
round 3 - foxy vs luffy

The Zoro asking Sanji to help him for ten seconds and everything that comes after is probably my second or third favorite moment from this arc just for what comes long after it.

Honestly the scene with sanji and zoro fighting together is a really important thing with their characters and its sad that so many people skip this

Oh, so we are doing this filler arc instead of going to water 7....

Long ring Long Island is great in its own way. Classic one piece really just have a good time with it

Picking Shelley and the next 2 games after the Zoro & Sanji fight were non-canon, in the manga he picked Chopper right away and then we got the final match. The anime just tried to stretch out the arc and that's the main reason why they arc is hated in the anime, in the manga it's a lot shorter and doesn't overstay its welcome.

I'm surprised you didn't mention when rean did a no sword style at the end of trails of cold steel

Stop wasting your time on trash anime.

Ah Long Ring Long Land. It does get too much flack to be honest, even with anime extending it a fair bit. It is just silly fun.

RIP Benny, I may not of heard of you but I am glad to see you spread joy to others.
Hopefully your passing was peaceful and your family and friends recover as quickly as they need to.

Zoro and Sanji are the wings of Captain Luffy. It was this Saga that showed that despite their constant bickering, they have a great deal of respect for one another. That trust shows in these games.
Sanji doesn't want to be seen playing second fiddle to Zoro but Zoro showing he sees Sanji as an equal. P.S. I don't think a lot of people realize this, but when Luffy picked Shelly for however long or short it was. The horse was a member of the Strawhat Pirates.

Foxy might be cringe but he has that charisma stat at max level. A lot of people dislike this arc for being canon filler but I'm just happy to see everyone have fun in low stakes competitions.

they changed this arc so much for the anime. i didn't really care for the anime version.

Honestly, the "picking Shelly" scene is one of the dumbest decisions the anime could've made. It undermines Luffy's character and loyalty towards his crew and would quite honestly give Chopper a legit reason to leave them. There's no way he could have trusted Luffy after this. I'd personally say Zoro and other crew members might've had seconds thoughts about being Straw Hats as well. And all that just for a filler arc (from a production perspective). It's one thing to ask strange people like the guy in the box to join the crew, it's quite another to forsake a crewmate for a gag moment (Shelly was never part of the Foxy pirates, so she wouldn't have been a possible choice either way, and if it had just been about that, the Straw Hats would've just stolen her back, as fellow pirates. The whole Davy Back Fight was not about her being shot, that was just an excuse to start it).

I think you can tell that I hate this part of the anime, including the moment that starts it^^

Hurray for more One Piece!

I acknowledge how often you win has given me a new appreciation for this show. Thank you for all you do.

I've said it before, but I'll gladly say it again.

Robin really is the best!

that is all.

yeah, i cant really say i am a fan of this arc, but it wasnt really until you put it into words for me by talking about how they treat the loss of chopper in the first round. It creates a tonal whiplash. Sure, in the moment they give it all the due respect needed, but on a much broader scale, that "respect" doesnt quite hold up. The arc wants to be zany fun with very little influence on the rest of the show, but the stakes create a whiplash. They do a brilliant job making us hate the villains, meanwhile pretty much ignoring the implications that most of their members came from such a contest in the past left off screen. This arc could have done so much more than it did. I understand WHY the straw hats didnt gain a new member on a meta level, but their most recent, robin, came from a very similar situation: a "villain" who's "loyalty contract" expired. In trying to be the next "wacky racers", it stops being "one piece" for the duration of the arc. Foxy's crew are exactly what they are presented as, with no show of tension within the crew from those that still hold resentment for being "stolen" from their past crews, and they remain pointless caricatures since we dont get any of them developed in a context of working alongside the strawhats, even in the short term. Foxy as a character is great, in part because he is the only one who really considers the idea of turning coat against his own crew, however briefly, but the rest of his crew is nothing more than an obstacle to overcome. Heck, if i want to get even more pedantic, the implications are that Foxy built his crew through the games, and picked long-term members specifically based off their ability to break games centered around them (jaguar fruit for a speed contest, wall to hinder opponent's movements, etc.), meaning they had to beat the walking cheat before, yet they are surprised when anyone (the straw hats) get close to beating them with the aid of their cheats. The straw hats not having any say over the ref's cheating calls works in isolation, but the implication is that foxy never challenged crews with a size big enough to stop such a one-sided ref for the implications of war that would arise after?

There is just a lot of whiplash, not just in tone but in implications. Too many things have to align perfectly for those implications to believably fit into suspension of disbelief.

Love this arc

Wow, this comment section is split, just like Foxy's hair huh?

Ultimately I understand people's big gripes with this arc, especially in the anime version, but ultimately I think people overhate the arc to an absurd degree. Sure, the extra games might be a bit much, and the second half of the show is much slower than the first, but I still think there are some good moments, and the ending is just made better with Foxy being more of a pain throughout the arc. And stuff like getting Shelly back and not getting Chopper back seem odd, but I think it's far from the character assassination that some people here are treating it as. Luffy is nothing if not a very confident and caring person, and both of those aspects make sense there. He gets the horse first because he cares, and he is certain he'll get chopper back because he's confident. And that confidence hits harder in the end with Foxy and Luffy's fight for reasons Im not gonna go into because of spoilers.

And also, saying that it being wacky races ruins the tone of one piece? How? One piece has action, but also it has plenty of comedy bits. And after Skypeia, a bit of levity and low-stakes fun should be appreciated.

Could there have been more done with this arc canonically? Maybe, but to say it serves no purpose in theong run I think is a dumb argument. 1. It gives more background on Zoro and Sanji's rivalry and gives them a reason to work past it and 2. People also said you can skip Skypeia because it contributes nothing to the story, and those people are beyond wrong at this point. 3. It gives Luffy reasons to be a better captain because of his reckless desicions, and ties into what happens later with Water 7 and Enies Lobby.

Lastly, I just say this; just because its non-canon to the story doesn't mean it's bad. Your feelings on something aren't universal, and people should be allowed to form their own opinions on this show. Anime Wins is enjoying the Foxy arc well enough right now, so I would appreciate not soiling his opinions with rampant negativity.

With all that out if the way, I do hope you don't skip the filler ending of this arc and go straight to the actual one, because the Foxy Return filler arc has, in my opinion, Foxy at his finest. Plus I honestly like how they resolved the Old stilt man's story in the anime better than in the manga.

I know that games 3, 4, and 5 are not in the manga, but is it fair to call them "filler"? Did Oda really have nothing to do with them? Because if that's true, congradulations to whomever came up with the story for them. I cannot tell it's not cannon.

The anime is full of character and fun

Half this arc is anime filler

Man, they really expanded this arc...

Bump

That slap is from a Japanese comedy thing that got really popular and thus was copied a lot.

Person 1: Says something that can be misunderstood
Person 2: Takes it the wrong way.
Person 3: *Slaps and corrects person 2.

Was not expecting to see a message about Benny, but it was a welcome one.

One of the reasons why this Arc is so hated, is because of how much the Anime stretched it.
This arc is pretty much more Anime Filler than Canon.

I miss the kinda bean-pole design that Sanji had early in the series like this, I always though it leaned itself really well to good fight choreography

If the anime was going to have Luffy ‘rescue’ Shelly, I don’t know why they didn’t include a scene of Foxy actually stealing her. Made it see a bit odd and would have taken less than a minute of all the filler they added

Well the is another word for a villain and for me it is the softer version of a villain and that is the antagonist.

Another awesome episode. And I agree with you about Robin being the best girl. The combination of elegance, guts, and sheer intelligence makes her one of (if not the top) favorite characters of mine in this series. And I also agree about Robin’s devil fruit. The fandom has a saying: “there are no useless devil fruits. Only useless devil fruit users.” And the sheer versatility that Oda put into the flower flower fruit’s application is something to behold.

Oh, the Ball Game and Skate Race was soo good! But the best is just to come! Dear me, I am so hyped!!

A little spoiler:







Anyone else notice Vivi's bird companion flying through the top of that shot? Win # 6755. I forgot what they're called.

Loooooong Kiwi

Only arc anime did better

Usopp's slap gag came from when he and Luffy were overhearing Kuro's plan and got found out, Luffy stood up and told them they heard everything while Usopp tried to lie.

This arc was massively changed and extend with filler in the anime, with things such as:
1. In the manga was straight up shot and not netted & captured, which in turn means Luffy did not pick her in the 2nd round, instead the crew immediately got Chopper back

2. Making multiple crew members participate in the barrel race, where in the manga it was only Nami, Usopp & Robin vs Porche, the Fishman and the shark

3. Adding a 2nd Davy Back Fight, in the manga it was only the barrel boat race, the ball game the fight between the captains, the roller skate race, volley ball game and the green light red light game are all anime original.

I feel like Luffy choosing Shelly was also a way to make sure they wouldn't try take her again later. Honour bound and all that

I actually really dislike this arc. Even in the manga it is such a departure from the rest of the tone of the work. I half think, though i have no proof, that Oda had a bit of writers block on how to fully introduce robin. All of the chapters involved with the davy back fight really feel stretched to me. Do they end up connecting and influencing the next couple arcs? Yes. Is Aokiji freaking amazing? One of the best Marines in the series next to . . . Well, you all know which one. Is Aqua Laguna the tide that comes from long ring long land? Probably! Do i like this arc as much as either Sky Island or Water 7? No.

Totally worth the money spent to make the RIP for comic storian he was a goat may he rest in peace

Happy One Piece Saturday everyone!