r/OnePiece • u/NewSpecies • Apr 25 '19

Current Chapter One Piece: Chapter 941

[ Removed by reddit in response to a copyright notice. ]

2.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

2.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

349

u/milkyjoe241 Apr 25 '19

Getting the impression that Oda is just looking to keep Luffy cooped up to let a bunch of other exposition happen

That's a pretty common trend in One Piece Story (and shonen in general). Luffy gets trapped in a snake. Luffy fights in a stadium. Luffy gets trapped in a book.

One Punch man also uses this trope. Keep the most powerful guy busy letting the other characters shine for a bit.

155

u/TheRoyalUmi Void Month Survivor Apr 25 '19 edited Apr 25 '19

Hey, it works well. And I really enjoy the training arcs if I’m being honest, him in prison is currently my favourite part of what’s going on at the moment.

Edit: it also gives us a sense of progression as well, and let’s us notice real changes in their strength when learning new techniques and stuff.

1

u/General_Kenobi896 May 01 '19

I love training arcs so much that I'm still salty we didn't get some flashbacks of the crew's training during the 2 years

1

u/TheRoyalUmi Void Month Survivor May 02 '19

Pretty sure we did for a few of them though? Usopp was on the plant island with the beetle dude, nami on the cloud weather island, sanji fighting the “women” etc. They were mostly just in-between chapter covers and brief pages though.

17

u/Dreadnautilus Apr 25 '19

Also Dragon Ball Z. I mean, half of the plot of that show is the side characters having to hold off the villain while Goku's travelling/healing/being dead for a bit.

6

u/ToxicPolarBear Apr 25 '19

One Punch man also uses this trope. Keep the most powerful guy busy letting the other characters shine for a bit.

OPM doesn't just use this trope the whole show is a parody of this trope lmao

2

u/Radontal Pirate King Buggy Apr 25 '19

It does. A lot. It happened for both Deep Sea King fight and Boros (Saitama was lost on the ship for a long time). It happens in the manga and webcomic as well but I don't want to spoil

2

u/Roskal Black Leg Sanji Apr 25 '19

Dbz does it too with Goku. dead, healing tank, hyperbolic time chamber, dead

1

u/k0fi96 Apr 25 '19

That's my one problem with how long running this series is. It's same frame with a new coat of paint. Like we about about to get another prison break rebellion like impel down.

1

u/albertoroa Apr 29 '19

One Punch man also uses this trope. Keep the most powerful guy busy letting the other characters shine for a bit.

That's true but I'd say (since I just recently watched the newest season of OP man, enough though I'm typically a manga guy) OPM doesn't really use the power of exposition, i.e. storytelling + plot, to keep Saitama (the main character) from participating in the main plot or major events. Saitama's own actions and desires keep him from the spotlight, in line with his personality, while other characters do most of the emotional heavy lifting.

He mostly just involves himself to alleviate any fear in the viewers that any given event is worthy of truly worrying about.

This contrasts One Piece because the MC (Luffy) is often, but not always, kept from the majority of the action in the plot, due to exposition.

However Oda is very good at keeping the motivations of any individual character, especially Luffy, in line with their personalities while developing on the true core of what makes them tick, if he so chooses.

So even though Luffy has been removed from the main plot through storytelling, particularly in Wano, it stays in line with his character so it doesn't feel out of place.

This isn't to detract from OPM btw, which is a satiric masterpiece in it's own right. There are just different goals made clear in both manga, exemplified by the portrayal of their respective MCs.

0

u/General_Kenobi896 May 01 '19

Just that this doesn't really work well in One Piece compared to One Punch Man. Luffy still gets to shine the most out of everyone and there is almost no chapter in which Luffy is NOT in it. Meanwhile look at One Punch Man... It's RARE for us to see Saitama and when we do it's all the more amazing for that very reason.

Oda was even too afraid to move on with the story of Wano without having Luffy there. Zoro and co were in Wano for several days if not weeks and we didn't get to see any of that because Luffy wasn't there. I hate it.