Media One Piece (spoilers!)

1. Enies Lobby/Water 7
2. Marineford
3. Thriller Bark(read it every Holloween)
4. Impel Down
5. Alabasta

Refuse to seperate Water 7 and Enies Lobby. I can separate Impel Down and Marineford though. They were just so different imo. The atmosphere was day and night. It may have been all part of the WB war but whatever.



Skypiea
Alabasta
Baratie
Enies Lobby
Drum Island

You only say Skypiea to piss everyone off.
 
Enies Lobby
Alabasta
Thriller Bark
Marineford War
Baratie

This was honestly hard as hell for me to decide lol. Even though Skypiea doesn't make top 5 for me I still appreciate all the set up it gave for the series, it introduced Haki. I also really enjoyed the Davyback fights but dammit top 5 just isn't enough room for One Piece.
 
Enies Lobby
Alabasta
Impel Down
Sabaody Archipelago
Arlong Park

okay after more thought and seeing some other posts, I'm gonna redo this

1. Enies Lobby/Water 7
2. Alabasta
3. Sabaody Archipelago
4. Marineford
5. Impel Down

I really like Drum Island but there were a few things that kept it from being on the list (lame as fuck bad guy with lame as fuck evil plot being the biggest one), and Arlong Park is really close to #5 but Arlong is also a comically dumb bad guy. I also really like the Amazon Lily arc, but I think part of the reason is because it was right after SPOILERS all the strawhats get separated in dramatic fashion END SPOILERS so that impact kinda bled over into that arc.

Skypiea isn't really a bad arc and it has a few really funny parts and some fairly important parts (Haki introduction, the Poneglyph at the end), but it really just dragged on way too long for the amount of impact it had on the story. Same can be said for Thriller Bark, at least for me. Both just felt too separated from the main storyline and too long for their importance for me to really enjoy.
 
WHAAAATT-- I prefer your earlier list pope, and Arlong is not a dumb bad guy. He's not as epic as Croc or Luci, but then, THEY CAN'T ALL BE. Arlong did a lot for building the personality of the series, and I actually really like him as a character for being multi-dimensional, and while having a goofy side, being menacing in his own right.

Eh, I might put Fishman island over Arlong Park just because, while the villains were pretty crappy, the revival of the Strawhat Pirates was epic.

Enies Lobby
Alabasta
Impel Down
Sabaody Archipelago
Arlong Park

Here's a man who read the series. Marineforde belongs nowhere near this fucking list (shame on EVERYONE who put it in there)-- for being the most fucked up arc in plot, in power, in making no sense (in that zero characters who should have had Haki used it), and for being a chaotic mess.

Impel Down I have my reservations just because it connects to Marineforde but... Impel Down is just too great to be held down.

Impel Down introduces Jinbe and Invakov, two of the most awesome epic characters-- and Mr. 2 Bon Clay and Luffy are soooo fucking amazing that there is no way Impel Down can miss a best-of-all-time-arcs list. There is just too many laughs, tears, and epic in this arc-- until Marine Forde shits on it.

And really, Marine Forde would have been great as long as:
-Ace and Luffy's back story was told before and not after, and Ace got a bigger role in the main story before it.
-WB did something relevant
-Characters who should have had Haki used Haki (ie. someone needs to explain Haki fully before Marine Forde)
-Except that the Kuja arc kinda-sorta-already-did that, therefore, there's basically no excuse for Haki not being incorporated into Marine Forde thoroughly.
-If every other inconsistency and BS that happened in the course of the Marine Forde battle was ironed-out before it.
-ie. Marine Forde needed to happen, but it happened WAAAYY to pre-maturely, making this arc as disappointing as 12-second-sex.

Impel Down however, is consistent and has none of these problems. It's not the fault of Impel down that Marine Forde had all these flaws, so I'm trying to judge it without being influenced by the crap that is the connecting arc.

But yeah, I cannot agree more with popemobile's list here-- every arc is awesome, and in the right place too. Good job.

edit:

Also, there is absolutely no way anyway anyone can rank any of these over Ernies Lobby/Water Seven-- this is benchmark to which all other series should be compared. Lucci and his gang as villains, Robin and Franky's back stories, the death of Merry Go, the birth of Sunny Go-- it goes on and on, and no other arc comes close yet. But then, it seems we all agree on this so lol
 
we've had this discussion with marineford quite a bit in the past and disagreed quite a bit on it. That said, I would probably switch Impel Down and Marineford because of Ivankov and Bon Clay parts. Marineford still stays at #5 though for reasons I've mentioned in the past. It does have its problems, but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as you make it out to be.

Either way, I don't think Sabaody arc gets anywhere near enough love. Introduction of supernovas and another admiral, tenryubito, etc as kind of a lead in to the big WB war arc, the whole fight with kizaru, rayleigh, strawhats and the pacifista, and overall just being an awesome arc. Luffy punching the tenryubito is awesome, albeit expected, and the Strawhats getting stomped and separated was imo crucial to the story and their development, not to mention a pretty powerful scene. Up to that point Luffy and everyone seemed pretty much unstoppable except for the one small part with Aokiji, and it was a huge wakeup for them and the series in general realizing just how powerful the WG was compared to them.

damn I wanna rewatch this whole series now
 
Alabasta>Skypiea IMO, Croc was one of those villains that made you go HOLY CRAP! This is one scary dude! I certainly wouldn't want this guy in my world. Enel on the other hand is the high school jock with a wannabe entourage, except with a lightining fruit.

Agreed

1) Water 7 / Enies Lobby
2) Marineford :naughty:
3) Alabasta
4) Impel Down
5) Sabaody Archipelago

Honourable mentions to Arlong Park and Punk Hazard (if Punk Hazard had less emphasis on the kids it'd probably make top 5).
 
Either way, I don't think Sabaody arc gets anywhere near enough love. Introduction of supernovas and another admiral, tenryubito, etc as kind of a lead in to the big WB war arc, the whole fight with kizaru, rayleigh, strawhats and the pacifista, and overall just being an awesome arc. Luffy punching the tenryubito is awesome, albeit expected, and the Strawhats getting stomped and separated was imo crucial to the story and their development, not to mention a pretty powerful scene. Up to that point Luffy and everyone seemed pretty much unstoppable except for the one small part with Aokiji, and it was a huge wakeup for them and the series in general realizing just how powerful the WG was compared to them.

damn I wanna rewatch this whole series now

^This

Specifically this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbeKpYWFk2Q

Gotta love the few scenes where it looks like they actually have a budget for the anime.
 
Thriller Bark (I'm just a sucker for supernatural/mythological stuff, and Punk Hazard was a bit disappointing for a "mythology theme", hopefully Elbaf will be better :D)
Alabasta/Enies Lobby tied (no explanation needed)
Marineford (simply because it was a teaser for the "final battle")
Sabaody Archipelago (Trafalgar Law and Scratchman Apoo, that is all)
 
Marine Ford (Come on guys...admirals getting pwned, celebrities, boobs, explosions!)
Enies Lobby
Impel Down
Arlong Park
Skypia (I loved the uniqueness of the place, Enel was just beastly and the art was one of the best)
 
Water 7 / Enies Lobby
Alabasta
Shabaody Archipelago
Arlong Park
Thriller Bark or Punk Hazard

The number one shouldn't be surprising, the Enies Lobby arc was a masterpiece, and Robin's story just cracked me up.

Then we have the Alabasta arc, the first really important adventure of the SHs, and the first opponent that Luffy actually almost died before beating. Crocodile was a cool villain, even if he was annoyingly overconfident and stupidly careless sometimes, and his whole Baroque Works organization story was very well built.

Shabaody Archipelago was short, but epic, as so much important stuff happened there. A bunch of cool and important pirates were introduced, Luffy spat to the face of the world's most influencial power, we saw Kizaru, and the SHs got completely anihilated. So much fun, action, and emotionial tension!

My 4th favorite arc was Nami's arc, because it was very touching and well done, and had a pretty good villain. Even the fights were good for that time, and the SH's walk to Arlong Park still gives me chills!

I am torn about my 5th favorite... Thriller Bark was ok overall, and was kinda boring sometimes, but it really peaked at its end. Zoro VS Kuma and Brook's past were just awesome, and made up for a few boring moments during the arc. Also the start of the arc was fun and adventurous too, with zombies and a constant mysterious atmosphere. But Punk Hazard was very good as well. Lot of action, awesome adventure feeling, and cool new characters. My only complaints about this arc is that we didn't see any major fight, and that the plot was a tad more focused on Law than it should be. But both arcs are amazing and i can't really choose, so i am leaving them both at the 5th position.

As for Marineford, Chou i can see where you are coming from. The arc left some pretty big plot holes, and it felt kind of forced. Why did nobody in the war use Haki, especially when Luffy came from an island were every single pawn could do it? Why didn't WB kick more ass and why did it feel that some characters was just scratching their balls at some moments (especially the Admirals, who acted only when they felt like). Finally, as Kizaru said, why was WB leading his attack with Luffy? Freaking Luffy, who was just an ant compared to WB's forces. I still can't get over the fact that without Luffy, WB wouldn't even have managed to free Ace. This is just pathetic. I get it that Luffy is the main character and that he must do whatever he can in order to save his brother, but not at the expense of making the WB pirates look so damn weak. After all the whole point of this arc, was to make Luffy realize how weak he was, so what's the problem with him getting his ass kicked in the War?

Even though this may have looked like a rant (and it probably was), i still think you are exaggerating, and the Marineford Arc was still a good one in my eyes. Many cool characters were introduced, the action was nice, the plot advanced tremendously, and the arc was generally entertaining and interesting, simply because of the importance of the events that happened. Finally, even though Oda handled some things very poorly (nobody using Haki and Luffy leading WB's attack), i don't blame him for many of the things that happened, such as the War seeming forced, and the fact that many important characters were doing nothing most of the time. Let's not forget that it is not easy at all to put a butload of strong and versatile fictional characters with vague power levels into a huge brawl, and expect it to feel completely normal and good flawing.
 
Alabasta
Ennies Lobby/Water 7
Skypiea
Impel Down/Marineford
Thriller Bark


Yeah, I'm cheating. And frankly, Skypiea wouldn't even be in my top 5 if it weren't for Enel. Also, honorable mention to Fishmen Island. The fights were horrible (they were there just to show off the Strawhats' after-timeskip power), but the serious business ethnic issues and mysterious old-world weapon made it amazing to me.

ChouToshio said:
And really, Marine Forde would have been great as long as:
-WB did something relevant

Kinda difficult, when you are impaled right before you do your first move.

Which reminds me I still want to see that maelstrom pirate being of any relevancy to the series. Maybe he tries to avenge/excuse himself for WB's death by dealing with Blackbeard?
 
Of course the guy who could own Ace from being asleep, has mastered every form of Haki, and is the strongest man in the world, should get impaled by one of his guys when fully awake and facing a battle field. Sure, ok.

Also, Alex Wolf's list works for me, but I'm not a big fan of thriller (sorry).

No OP until the 25th sucks...
 
Of course the guy who could own Ace from being asleep, has mastered every form of Haki, and is the strongest man in the world, should get impaled by one of his guys when fully awake and facing a battle field. Sure, ok.

Also, Alex Wolf's list works for me, but I'm not a big fan of thriller (sorry).

No OP until the 25th sucks...

I really don't want to start another "Chou tl;drs about marineford" in this topic but I have to address a few factual things you seem to be glossing over.

Uhhh...did you miss the whole part where Marco says "He would always be able to dodge that normally, but now he is so sick he can't."

Meaning, Oda, through Marco, is specifically telling us that WB came to this war a literal shell of his former self. No idea why you keep criticizing Marineford assuming WB was even close to his peak (peak in old age mind you) when Oda directly tells us through Marco that WB wasn't. Marco specifically says he was afraid of this and that WB would normally dodge that easily.

And I have no idea why you keep saying Whitebeard didn't do anything. He broke Marineford in half. He literally broke it (BB just put the finishing touches on it)...to the point where Akainu decided to move the marine HQ. He also drastically injured Akainu (note the front cover panels where Akainu is bandaged on his entire body) AND pulled a Roger...namely inspiring the current age of pirates to continue to look for One Piece.

Don't mention anything else...just address these two FACTS.

A.) Marco SPECIFICALLY says WB is too sick and HE (marco) was afraid of this, meaning WB wasn't close to his former self.

B.) Whitebeard DID destroy Marineford (again, BB just put the finishing touches on it), DID injure the jesus out of Akainu and a ton of Marines, and DID inspire a ton of pirates to keep looking for One Piece.

To ignore both of these FACTS (meaning there is no "debate" here) is really questionable...
 
I was going to let it slide, but you asked for it aldy

A.) Marco SPECIFICALLY says WB is too sick and HE (marco) was afraid of this, meaning WB wasn't close to his former self.

Right, 'cause that makes it all better. We're supposed to be inspired by a character because "he was great" supposedly, without a demonstration of that greatness, who makes his first appearance as a shell of his former self.

I don't like people making excuses for WB's ineptitude because his character is supposed to be beyond those limitations on the battlefield.

B.) Whitebeard DID destroy Marineford (again, BB just put the finishing touches on it),

To which Sengoku says, "Don't worry, it don't matter-- we can always fix a building; derp."

DID injure the jesus out of Akainu and a ton of Marines,

One who comes out with no lasting injuries, and the rest a bunch of no-names.

and DID inspire a ton of pirates to keep looking for One Piece.

I guess... this scene was well written, it's impact was pretty good; but you know it could have been a lot better. Like, had WB actually been amazing, and had he been a more developed character, the scene could have been many times more epic.

To ignore both of these FACTS (meaning there is no "debate" here) is really questionable...
You are putting way too much emphasis on minor details that barely patch up real story telling problems.


WB's Speech was an incredibly inspiring scene, as were his reflections with Roger, and his comment to BB about the will of D. These were absolute gems of epic; but WB's weakness and lack of development prevent them from ranking up the most epic moments of the series which it should have matched.

edit: Meh, let's take it to VM and let the discussion go on to something else. Thank you pope.
 
AndHereWeGo.gif
 
also the whole "-Ace and Luffy's back story was told before and not after, and Ace got a bigger role in the main story before it." is kinda irrelevant because the story is about the strawhats. And even then, Luffy's main motivating factor for going after any of the other strawhats in the first place is "because they're my friends", so "because he's my brother" should be more than enough story consistency for any one piece fan

i.e., we don't learn about nami's or robin's backstory until luffy has already made a complete commitment to rescuing them
 
^Alright, that actually helps. There's something to be said about Luff's devotioin; and Luffy's simple devotion is certainly one of his endearing qualities, and part of what defines his character.

Still it doesn't sit right with me
 
I was going to let it slide, but you asked for it aldy

I didn't ask for anything, as your responses that don't amount to anything other than "I disagree with facts" show.

Right, 'cause that makes it all better. We're supposed to be inspired by a character because "he was great" supposedly, without a demonstration of that greatness, who makes his first appearance as a shell of his former self.
Of course we are supposed to be inspired. As Law said in this recent arc, Whitebeard just ended his era in Marineford. We were supposed to inspired by his entire body of work (post Roger era was essentially his era). And, since Oda specifically tells us through Marco that WB was a shell of his former self, we're supposed to acknowledge that as well. In fact, this isn't just some minor point. This was repeated throughout the arc...Crocodile mentions it, Whitebeard himself mentions it. Hell, even Akainu mentions it.

I don't like people making excuses for WB's ineptitude because his character is supposed to be beyond those limitations on the battlefield.
Says who? Your specific interpretations of what WB was supposed to be? Yea thanks, that's all this response is. It ignores what Oda tells us (through Marco, through Crocodile, through freaking WB and Akainu themselves) and tries to shove down our throats what YOU think Whitebeard should be, not what was actually shown. If you want to criticize something, be sure to remember the difference between criticizing what is there and what you want something to be.

You are putting way too much emphasis on minor details that barely patch up real story telling problems.
I'm pretty sure putting emphasis on "minor" details that repeated from various characters is much more legitimate than criticizing something because it isn't the way you want to be lmao.

WB's Speech was an incredibly inspiring scene, as were his reflections with Roger, and his comment to BB about the will of D. These were absolute gems of epic; but WB's weakness and lack of development prevent them from ranking up the most epic moments of the series which it should have matched.
Glad we agree on something.
 
How awesome were the things that WB stood for... Such a golden speech that's for sure!

And don't worry guys, you can argue all you want, it's not like we will have anything more interesting to do for the next weeks, so we may as well start the quote war! Get prepared, I AM READY TO HOP IN!!!!
 
I say we keep the discussion here. I have a feeling that this is the time where Chou's arguments will finally fall and he will embrace Marineford as a solid arc
 
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