(Scans by Binktopia)
Chapter 553:
There are some moments in One Piece that stand out not because they were unpredictable, but because the reader knew they were coming for months or sometimes years and the final delivery, while usually not exactly what you were expecting, was so satisfying simply because it finally happened. Oda isn’t one to pander, but at the end of every arc, he knows that the best course of action is not to often not to throw in one big twist, but to have that one awesome defining moment that resolved everything in the chapters prior.
Even less frequently do we get hyped up for the start of an arc. It does happen, occasionally, with things like heading to Arlong Park, landing at Impel Down and, if we ever go there, the long awaited Fishman Island, but those were heading into something we couldn’t predict and weren’t entirely sure how intense or memorable it would get. We knew that it would be exciting in some way, but we couldn’t really have had the hype we have now. The amount of buildup for this war has been unprecedented; Oda has thrown nearly every relevant character we knew and a few ones we knew of into one giant brawl, not to mention throwing a whole load of new characters into the mix, too. The fights here are loaded with unmatched expectation, and never before have readers simultaneously felt like they knew what was coming and yet could not guess what would happen on the next panel. In the long term, I can unashamedly say that I have no idea what will happen at the end of this war, whether the Marines or Whitebeard will win and who, if anyone, will die. In the short term, I know even less. Will Oda go down the path of Kubo and illustrate the entirety of major fights or just continue his path of exchanging attacks and having everyone attack everyone?
Both have their pros and cons. The random exchange of attacks moves faster and really highlights how One Piece doesn’t have linear power-levels, one of the best things about the series in comparison to other shonen. He can fit in way more action this way while still letting people learn about the character in little chunks. It’s also more “realistic” in that, in real war, rarely do combatants square off with each other and have an isolated fight. The problem is that it lacks suspense. If Oda had any two of the major fighters engage in a one-on-one duel, I’d have no idea who would win. Unlike previous arcs, where you always had somewhat of a sense of how the whole thing would play out in the end – even if you were proven wrong – with this war, it can go any way, which I think would make for some very exciting fights. With the jumping in and out attack style that this chapter had, there’s surprises, but no suspense. When Jozu jumped in to block Mihawk’s attack, there wasn’t even time for you to wonder if he’d resist it, not to mention how shonen storytelling convention practically dictates every gambit like this to be successful.
Well, no matter what style Oda chooses to run with, this chapter proves that whatever he does will be non-stop excitement. This chapter is a total visual overload. Almost entirely spreads, with three of them devoted to simply cramming in as many awesome new characters as possible and the others cramming in as many awesome attacks, this was all 100% exhilaration. Every time I read it, I notice more details, more cool-looking characters in the background, and I start thinking of more and more potential fights and possible outcomes. I have no idea how Oda can use all of the characters he’s introduced here and not take hundreds and hundreds of chapters, and that’d be straying too far into the
***
No comments:
Post a Comment