How much does it drag?


So I just started watching One Piece the other day and I absolutely love it so far. However, the pacing is already starting to bother me. Only a couple of episodes in, it already starts taking multiple episodes to defeat villains. I've heard that the pacing in this show gets really bad later on. Does it ever go full on Dragon Ball Z mode though where people stare at each other for endless episodes and it takes between 40 and 80 episodes just to defeat one villain?

Speaking of Dragon Ball, does it keep following the whole "Luffy can't fight for some reason, so everybody else fights until Luffy can re-join" thing that Dragon Ball did with Goku all the time?

For reference, I just finished the Captain Kuro story, where Usopp is introduced.

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Hey there, I'll try my best to give you an honest answer:

Only a couple of episodes in, it already starts taking multiple episodes to defeat villains.


Well, if at this point you've just finished Kuro's story, you have to understand that from here on out the bad guys will always be tougher, and of course you just can't have them defeated in a couple of episodes. Trust me, there will be more to the fights (well, some of them), some will even reach 1h our even more (even taking out all the "filler"), so there's that, but those will feel more like "epic" rather than being dragged out.

Does it ever go full on Dragon Ball Z mode though where people stare at each other for endless episodes and it takes between 40 and 80 episodes just to defeat one villain?


There's maybe one arc when it gets that bad, but otherwise I'd say no.


Speaking of Dragon Ball, does it keep following the whole "Luffy can't fight for some reason, so everybody else fights until Luffy can re-join" thing that Dragon Ball did with Goku all the time?


Not really, I don't think so. I mean, this is his story, and it's mainly about growth, so of course you're gonna see him getting his ass kicked time and time again, he has to be put in his place, but he always comes back stronger. That's just how his character is, "reckless", he has to learn the hard way.

I understand that for someone who's barely just started, like you, it can be really overwhelming, which is why you should watch the episodes in bulks. I had to stop at episode 726 because I wanted to see the whole "sequence" in one go, I didn't want to have to wait months for it (episode 733 comes out today and I might resume then).

The problem now is that 1 One Piece episode covers only 1 manga chapter, which is like nothing. I believe it wasn't always like this, which is why I think early One Piece (where you're at) covered a lot more chapters by episode, and I think it's a lot more enjoyable that way.

And here, this might be useful to you:
http://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/one-piece

It basically lists all the fillers that are in One Piece (up to date), and look what it says:
One Piece is an ongoing anime series that started in 1999. So far 733 episodes of One Piece have been aired. With a total of 97 reported filler episodes, One Piece has a low filler percentage of 13%.


For a show that's been on the air for 17 years or so I think it's damn impressive, and trust me when I say that the big majority of those fillers are easily watchable (especially the early ones). Only the "small filler arcs" come off as unnecessary sometimes.

I mean, just compare it to Bleach: 366 episodes, out of which 165 were fillers, that's 45% of the whole show.
Or even Naruto:

Naruto was an anime series that ran from 2002 to 2007. In total 220 episodes of Naruto were aired. With a total of 93 reported filler episodes, Naruto has a high filler percentage of 42%.

Naruto: Shippuden is an ongoing anime series that started in 2007. So far 455 episodes of Naruto: Shippuden have been aired. With a total of 202 reported filler episodes, Naruto: Shippuden has a high filler percentage of 44%.


That's just terrible. So yeah, whatever you decide to do, try to stick with it. You can use that list to skip the fillers and watch them at a later time, for example, but remember that it's best to watch a certain amount of episodes in one go, or else you'll find yourself in the same position a lot of us who follow the anime end up in; waiting for certain stuff to wrap up before binge-watching the whole thing.

And if you look at the Canon Episodes listing, it should give you a fair idea of how many episodes are in a "bulk" (although that doesn't necessarily mean it's the whole arc) and with that you can work out how many episodes you should watch in one sitting to be remotely satisfied.

Hope this was helpful.


Fine, fine, I'll leave! But first I'm going to bother these peanuts! Hmm? Yes? Hmm? HMM?

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Well, if at this point you've just finished Kuro's story, you have to understand that from here on out the bad guys will always be tougher, and of course you just can't have them defeated in a couple of episodes. Trust me, there will be more to the fights (well, some of them), some will even reach 1h our even more (even taking out all the "filler"), so there's that, but those will feel more like "epic" rather than being dragged out.


Of course, and I'm hoping that the enemies do get stronger and the fights do get longer.

Not really, I don't think so. I mean, this is his story, and it's mainly about growth, so of course you're gonna see him getting his ass kicked time and time again, he has to be put in his place, but he always comes back stronger. That's just how his character is, "reckless", he has to learn the hard way.


The thing is that there was a trend in Dragon Ball where for lots of major fights, Goku would be out of commission for some reason and couldn't join the fight, so everybody else would just be getting their ass kicked until he showed up. He was dead during the Vegeta fight, travelling to Namek for the Ginyu fight, in the healing chamber for the Frieza fight, poisoned during the androids fight. Everybody else just got beat on until Goku could finally show up again. Now in One Piece, Luffy was in a cage for a lot of the clown fight and underneath the cat face for a majority of the Kuro fight...but once he was back in action, he beat on the enemy and won. I'm just wondering if this becomes a regular thing, because it got tiring in Dragon Ball.


And it's not so much that i'm anti-filler. I just sometimes get sick of shows when it takes too long to do stuff. By the time I finished DBZ I had stopped caring because I was so sick of Buu.

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The thing is that there was a trend in Dragon Ball where for lots of major fights, Goku would be out of commission for some reason and couldn't join the fight, so everybody else would just be getting their ass kicked until he showed up. He was dead during the Vegeta fight, travelling to Namek for the Ginyu fight, in the healing chamber for the Frieza fight, poisoned during the androids fight. Everybody else just got beat on until Goku could finally show up again. Now in One Piece, Luffy was in a cage for a lot of the clown fight and underneath the cat face for a majority of the Kuro fight...but once he was back in action, he beat on the enemy and won. I'm just wondering if this becomes a regular thing, because it got tiring in Dragon Ball.


And it's not so much that i'm anti-filler. I just sometimes get sick of shows when it takes too long to do stuff. By the time I finished DBZ I had stopped caring because I was so sick of Buu.


Well, I'll put it this way; when it happens, there's a valid reason for it.
Does it happen all the time? No, that's for sure.

Usually everyone gets to fight a certain enemy, while Luffy gets to take on the bad boss, that's the general rule but there are some exceptions.


Fine, fine, I'll leave! But first I'm going to bother these peanuts! Hmm? Yes? Hmm? HMM?

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That's cool. Mostly I just want to see the rest of the crew take on actual opponents and have a chance of winning. Unlike in DBZ where everybody except for Goku (and Gohan once) is just there to waste time.

As for the filler, like I said I'm not anti-filler. I guess I just want to know what to expect.

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In One Piece typically everybody in the crew participates in the fight in some way.

Rant over. You can all return to your normal lives.

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The thing about "One Piece": While there are no huge, long filler arcs like in "Naruto", the material itself is stretched over a higher number of episodes. Often this means a lot of running, staring and name-chanting, as well as a rather long opening sequence consisting of the intro, the "previously on One Piece" and the "that's where we are now". It's gotten better, lately, but there was a time, where new episodes barely contained 10-15 minutes of new material.
This is obviously due to the fact that they don't want to stop airing new episodes while waiting for more material. It's understandable (as is not going the "Naruto route"), but it causes the show to be a second-rate adaption of the tremendous source material. The story is great, the characters are great, the voice acting is extraordinary, but the overall presentation could be much besser.

Still, it's absolutely worth it.

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