I've been thinking and honestly One Piece seems superior to Dragon Ball?

[Doctor.]

I dropped One Piece back at Dressrosa, so I don't know anything about current developments. It's an enjoyable series, with a fine story and interesting lore, and charming enough characters, but it's far too repetitive and plays too seriously into its own melodrama for me. Artistically speaking, poses are far too stiff and panels are too cluttered compared to Toriyama. Is it better than Dragon Ball? It's more consistent, characters serve more of a purpose rather than being dropped at a hat, and they have more coherent arcs. The plot is more complex and the world is better realized. I don't necessarily think any of this makes it better than Dragon Ball, though. Dragon Ball's charm lies in its unplanned nature.

[MasenkoHA]

. You know how unnatural the fight between Freeza and Goku was in Z ? imagine that applied to every fight and every moment in One Piece.

Yeah that sounds horrible. I might give the manga the ol token effort someday but no way in hell am I putting any effort into the cartoon.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

I can’t imagine a series with over 900 episodes is any good to be honest. Especially one that is supposedly serialized. It’s why I can’t fathom people wanting more Dragon Ball after Super has ended. And even the series was allowed to die for a good 20 years before being dug up from its grave.

TO BE FAIR, Dragon Ball is not near 900 episodes yet. And with Super, we don't have filler. We also have Kai to cut the episode count down even further. Not to mention it's fun. I loved the Future Trunks arc and the Tournament of Power. And Broly was fucking amazing even just on an animation level. It's not like Toei is churning out shit like GT. We're getting good stuff and it's fun!

Read it you'll see. One Piece is unlike anything else. It's remained consistent the entire time. There's a reason it's the number one sold manga of all time.

Because it has been going nonstop for 20+ years. If it were a person, it could drink by now even in the U.S. If Dragon Ball had never stopped and continued since Tori first started it, I believe it would be #1. This is if Toriyama stayed writing it the entire time, not Toei with GT or anything.

[MasenkoHA]

^
Regardless if Super is good, great, okay, or awful it had the decency to come 20 years later as a totally optional revival series. One Piece hasn’t stopped. Setting Kai aside, since it’s a recut, but with all 4 Dragon Ball series you got like 639 episodes (and GT and Super are totally optional imo) that’s a lot but its not whatever 900+ episodes non-stop One Piece has.

We also have Kai to cut the episode count down even further.

Sounds like One Piece needs its own Super Ultra Mega Kai

Because it has been going nonstop for 20+ years. If it were a person, it could drink by now even in the U.S. If Dragon Ball had never stopped and continued since Tori first started it, I believe it would be #1. This is if Toriyama stayed writing it the entire time, not Toei with GT or anything.

True. If Toriyama didn’t have the good sense to end the series if probably would still be popular and a bestseller. Maybe not good but popular.

[kemuri07]

I dropped One Piece back at Dressrosa, so I don't know anything about current developments. It's an enjoyable series, with a fine story and interesting lore, and charming enough characters, but it's far too repetitive and plays too seriously into its own melodrama for me. Artistically speaking, poses are far too stiff and panels are too cluttered compared to Toriyama. Is it better than Dragon Ball? It's more consistent, characters serve more of a purpose rather than being dropped at a hat, and they have more coherent arcs. The plot is more complex and the world is better realized. I don't necessarily think any of this makes it better than Dragon Ball, though. Dragon Ball's charm lies in its unplanned nature.

I dropped it a bit earlier than you, but you got it on the mark. I remember I used to devour One Piece, like 10 episodes a fucking day. But at some point the filler, and the flashback episodes, and the glacial pacing of the story in the later arcs made it far worse than DB imo. I just couldn't handle it, and the fact that One Piece is still going on makes me wondering where the show is actually going.

It's a good show that probably should have known when to quit.

[JulieYBM]

One Piece is three-to-four-times longer than it needs to be and completely lacks romance, two things that drive me up the wall. I stopped following the series during Fishman Island when I realized I wasn't reading a comic, I was reading a story outline and character notes copy-pasted into JUMP.

The fact that the cartoon only covers one chapter at most per episode now is simply horrifying. They should be covering three chapters per episode and that doesn't even cover making story changes that they should make.

[10gigtriforce]

You know how unnatural the fight between Freeza and Goku was in Z ? imagine that applied to every fight and every moment in One Piece.

Thats why i stopped one piece after the white beard vs marine war thing in the anime. I tried switching to the manga but its really not any better. it has a lot of neat ideas and i get why its so popular but... i cant take 20 years of freeza v goku levels of crap man.

[Matches Malone]

I just couldn't handle it, and the fact that One Piece is still going on makes me wondering where the show is actually going.

According to Oda, it will end by 2023-2024. The anime however will probably end in 2030 at the pace they're going.

The fact that the cartoon only covers one chapter at most per episode now is simply horrifying.

That's what it was covering where you stopped at. Now it covers two thirds to half a chapter. Unlike DB where things could be stretched due to Toriyama's fast pace writing, One Piece's manga is already very slow paced, so the anime slowing down even more is just over kill.

[10gigtriforce]

I mean if you like it better thats fine, but they seem a bit different to me to compare like that. one piece is a detailed drawing of a novel series at this point telling the tale of how luffy becomes king.

db is a comedy action series that while it has some adventures isnt a grand epic like one piece. not exactly the same genre outside of targeting similar age groups

[MasenkoHA]

at this point telling the tale of how luffy becomes king.

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end. It’s like Pokemon. The premise of “catching them all and being a Pokemon master” stopped being a believable endgame back in like I dunno 2002.

db is a comedy action series that while it has some adventures isnt a grand epic like one piece. not exactly the same genre outside of targeting similar age groups

True Dragon Ball’s genre is martial arts serial. One Piece is more swashbuckling adventure.

Saying they’re in the same genre because they target the same demographic and were published in the same magazine is like saying Buffy and 7th Heaven are the same genre because they both aired on the WB

[kemuri07]

I'd argue that One Piece and DB are similar in style, especially in regards to OG DB But us the tropes are all intact despite One Piece being more adventure focused.

[Matches Malone]

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end. It’s like Pokemon. The premise of “catching them all and being a Pokemon master” stopped being a believable endgame back in like I dunno 2002.

The difference is that One Piece is getting to its endgame (despite taking a long time), unlike Pokemon which has been in the same place it started at for 20+ years.

[ABED]

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end. It’s like Pokemon. The premise of “catching them all and being a Pokemon master” stopped being a believable endgame back in like I dunno 2002.

The difference is that One Piece is getting to its endgame (despite taking a long time), unlike Pokemon which has been in the same place it started at for 20+ years.

Pokémon is a video game first and foremost. The anime is a promotional tool.

And there is no good narrative reason for any series that supposedly has an ending in mind to go for 1500 episodes. It doesn't take that long to develop the characters and the world.

[Kokonoe]

One Piece is three-to-four-times longer than it needs to be and completely lacks romance, two things that drive me up the wall. I stopped following the series during Fishman Island when I realized I wasn't reading a comic, I was reading a story outline and character notes copy-pasted into JUMP.

The fact that the cartoon only covers one chapter at most per episode now is simply horrifying. They should be covering three chapters per episode and that doesn't even cover making story changes that they should make.

You go to shonen for romance? Thank god they don't put that in, not even Naruto and Dragon Ball does that despite having pairings. Romance is ill-fitting.

Also shame you stopped on Fishman Island when that arc literally is about the various layers of racism and how hatred is developed. You missed out on one of the most socially progressive arcs in the series.

Also read the manga no one cares about the anime. Manga is always better.

[Kokonoe]

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end.

You do know Oda wrote the ending from the very start right? Unlike Toriyama he actually plans things out.

Try actually reading the series and complete Water 7 and see why it's good.

[Polyphase Avatron]

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end. It’s like Pokemon. The premise of “catching them all and being a Pokemon master” stopped being a believable endgame back in like I dunno 2002.

The difference is that One Piece is getting to its endgame (despite taking a long time), unlike Pokemon which has been in the same place it started at for 20+ years.

Pokémon is a video game first and foremost. The anime is a promotional tool.

And there is no good narrative reason for any series that supposedly has an ending in mind to go for 1500 episodes. It doesn't take that long to develop the characters and the world.

There are novel series that total millions of words and are considered classics.

[It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips]

Because it has been going nonstop for 20+ years. If it were a person, it could drink by now even in the U.S. If Dragon Ball had never stopped and continued since Tori first started it, I believe it would be #1. This is if Toriyama stayed writing it the entire time, not Toei with GT or anything.

True. If Toriyama didn’t have the good sense to end the series if probably would still be popular and a bestseller. Maybe not good but popular.

That's assuming a lot. Dragon Ball had a very vocal backlash at one point and if the series had never ended those critics likely would have gotten louder. One Piece has been ticking along smoothly without so much as a sizable blip.

EDIT: All you people complaining about authors not finishing their stories are weak! If you aren't in love with at least one series where the author kicks it and his son has to step in to finish, are you really living?

[Kokonoe]

I feel like that would imply One Piece understands the concept of a beginning, middle, end. It’s like Pokemon. The premise of “catching them all and being a Pokemon master” stopped being a believable endgame back in like I dunno 2002.

The difference is that One Piece is getting to its endgame (despite taking a long time), unlike Pokemon which has been in the same place it started at for 20+ years.

Pokémon is a video game first and foremost. The anime is a promotional tool.

And there is no good narrative reason for any series that supposedly has an ending in mind to go for 1500 episodes. It doesn't take that long to develop the characters and the world.

There is.

Because unlike what you're accustomed to, Oda is a master of world building and giving more than just the main character the spotlight.

Essentially one of the biggest appeal is how the world feels alive and fleshed out, this requires many chapters to properly express in a realistic way. There is not a single shonen out there that has a world as fleshed out and diverse like One Piece.

If you aren't in the mood to read that many chapters that's fine but it's hella good.

[JulieYBM]

You go to shonen for romance? Thank god they don't put that in, not even Naruto and Dragon Ball does that despite having pairings. Romance is ill-fitting.

I expect works--especially long works--to have well rounded elements, that means some romance to them. Naruto has it's issues in beating around the bush for too long but at least its romantic arcs are satisfying.

Also shame you stopped on Fishman Island when that arc literally is about the various layers of racism and how hatred is developed. You missed out on one of the most socially progressive arcs in the series.

I read the arc up to its ending. Oda's messy art is hard on my eyes and and I find him completely unrelatable and annoying as a personality as reflected in his comic and his interviews. Hence, I stopped following the franchise.

Also read the manga no one cares about the anime. Manga is always better.

What, in general? A lot of directors are better directors than the comic creators are comic creators.

[Zephyr]

It's remained consistent the entire time.

Wait, so it stays this bad the whole way through?