 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece, and today we are going to get a bit controversial, or at least as controversial as a channel based around one, particular anime among can be, which we are going to be achieving by airing some unpopular opinions about One Piece. But there is a twist here because here's the thing, after making close to 700 videos based solely on One Piece, which, wow, that's a lot, I'm fairly certain that all of my unpopular opinions have already well and truly been aired. Some even on multiple occasions to you the long-suffering Grand Fleet. So in this particular instance, I have decided to give all of you the floor to state your own unpopular opinions, and I'm just going to sit here and judge you for them, which is of course a joke mostly. So let's jump straight into things with our first unpopular opinion, which is, Ace's death was overrated. This may be because I was spoiled about all of Marine Ford, but it didn't have an impact on me. So I feel like you're definitely not alone in this. The really weird thing about Ace is that for such a startlingly popular character, we really didn't actually get to know him until well after he died. All he had was that brief interaction on alabaster, a comical cover story, and then he spent most of his time in chains. So I completely understand not being able to really connect with the character at the point of his death anyway. However, I think what really sells it for most people isn't so much the sympathy towards Ace, but the empathy with Luffy. When Ace died, it kind of put me into a state of narrative shock more so than sadness because I just couldn't believe that this thing had happened in One Piece. But when I saw Luffy, that's what made the event emotionally impactful. Seeing our strong, infinitely optimistic protagonist fall apart like never before and never since. But look all in all, despite being one of the most important deaths in the series, I think that in the grand scheme of things, almost every other case of death is sadder than that of Ace. Usopp's fights are the best in the series. All right, might disagree, but hey, that's the nature of holding unpopular opinions. Still, let's try and get into the mind of this grand fleet member. And I think this argument could hold quite a lot of merit. Usopp and his fights probably get written off a lot because quite frankly, he doesn't have anywhere near enough of them. And when he does, they're always against these less than noteworthy opponents. You know, he gets stuck with Chu during the Arlong arc, Mr. Four and Miss Merry Christmas on Alabasta and Pirona on Thriller Bark. So with the exception of Pirona, they all tend to be like the leftovers of the antagonistic crew. So there's not a lot of innate hype in seeing him take them on. However, despite the rarity and the riffraff he has to work with, these fights are all pretty incredible when you think about it. And they each result in Usopp making a massive mental breakthrough towards his ultimate dream. With Chu, he proves to himself that he can defeat opponents stronger than him. On Alabasta, he fights for the pride of his captain, abandoning all of his selfishness for the first time in the series. And on Thriller Bark, he overcomes so much just to beat Pirona. And you know what, how's this? I didn't even think of Luffy versus Usopp actually. So while Usopp really doesn't fight all that much, they're all pretty groundbreaking events. So you know, I disagreed at first but I'm slowly coming around to this idea of Usopp's fights being the best in the series. Unpopular opinion. The subscribe button is harder to hit than Khadakuri. All right, let's meet this with a popular opinion. The subscribe button is easy to hit, just not by you. So I want all of you right now who have not yet subscribed to show this full what's what by casually pressing that beautiful, gorgeous red button and becoming members of the Grand Fleet which will result in regular lumpy's content being uploaded straight into your YouTube feed. And really never before in your life have you been asked to do so little in order to gain so much. But moving on. Chopper developed into a boring mascot character. And I don't like the sentiment of this opinion but in the post-timeskip era, it's quite hard to argue with. Chopper had a lot going for him in the pre-timeskip with all of the struggles of being a monster and becoming a monster stuff. But Chopper really seems to have conquered all of that off-screen during the timeskip. And after that, he doesn't really have any inner turmoil anymore. So he does just kind of sit there and look cute. Which to be fair is what he does best. So I'm not complaining. Sanji is stronger than most of the supernovas. Ah, power scaling, eh? I mean, maybe. It's very hard to tell, but I suppose that by virtue of that statement that kind of maybe makes it true. And you know what? Why shouldn't it be? He isn't a supernova or a member of the worst generation. They're different things. But we all know he was a powerhouse during the Saapiti day as it just took him a lot longer to get recognized. Still, I don't know. There's a whole ton of them that I don't see Sanji topping in terms of strength, like, say, Rouge. Then there's ones where he has horrible, horrible matchups of power, like Lore. And somewhere he would almost certainly come out on top like Capone, but there's just too many question marks. All I'll say is that I don't care if he is. It makes sense that he is as strong, if not stronger than most of them. So, meh. The manga has gone downhill in terms of paneling. Everything is so damn small. There seems to be no good close-ups of characters anymore. And this is an interesting discussion, actually. I find myself on the very opposite end of the spectrum, though. I really love the small panels, and I think they used quite masterfully to compress incredible amounts of information into a weekly 18-page product. Without this choice in play, I just don't think we'd be able to tell the story, at least not without another, I don't know, 1,000 chapters. So, no, it's not what One Piece used to be, but at the same time, One Piece used to be a boy in a dinghy. The story and the world have grown ever so slightly more complex since then, and I think the paneling very well reflects that. Oda has built up the One Piece for far too long. But there to possibly be a physical object that could ever live up to be the treasure they find. And so the only suitable way to win the series would be a friends-on-the-way style of reward, rather than a physical object. Lots of agree here, and yet, lots of disagree. I do think that this 23-year mystery is going to be nigh on impossible to solve without disappointing probably a lot of people after this kind of historic build-up. That's just the nature of mysteries in general, though. Solving them is almost never satisfying beyond the initial shock of the moment in which you do. And it's because it gives our brains permission to stop thinking, which is very disengaging, obviously. However, the One Piece is definitely not going to be along the friendship lines or any of that crap. Oda has confirmed that the One Piece is indeed a tangible thing, and regardless of how satisfying it is, that's what we're gonna get. And also, I don't think the series is going to end with finding the One Piece. Rather finding the One Piece is probably going to trigger the end events of the series. I still hate Hachi. Never forget that he is the one who told Arlong about Nami's maps and tormented her village for years and years. Dude is a monster. Yeah, Hachan is a bit of a tough one. Although look, the whole map thing wasn't him intentionally targeting and enslaving Nami. It's more like a derpy octopus who found some paper and went, who maps? But looking back on Hachan, he's responsible for a hell of a lot of pain, even if he wasn't the one directly inflicting it. He was still facilitating it and quite willingly at that. It's not as if he didn't know who Arlong was and what he was doing. He's definitely not as dumb as he looks. So that's why that whole scene on Sabati when Nami is eating his takoyaki always hits me so hard. Hachan is a lovable guy in general, but there's no excusing his actions or inactions. And I don't know, he's trying, he feels guilty. And I guess that Nami's moved past it. So, so can I. And so can we or not. Up to you. Pacing can be absolutely atrocious, especially post-timescape. Atrocious and not always worth it. Edit, anime and manga. All right, that second distinction is actually pretty important. I'm not going to address the anime here because look, I agree. And most of you know my many, many issues, but pacing with the manga, well, that's a fairly fresh discussion. And in my opinion, it can be great and it can be awful. Especially post-timescape with the advent of all the mega arcs. Dressroser is the obvious example, but more recently, the pacing of Act 2 of Wano started to get really quite grindy for me. But that's only from the perspective of reading weekly. And for example, when I reread Dressroser, I don't see any pacing issues whatsoever. I just enjoy a giant adventure, which is something that manga is really good at because it allows you to effectively set your own pacing. So if you think things are taking too long, then you just speed up reading. And if you think things are going too quickly, then you slow down. That's an advantage that the anime doesn't really have. But in the end, I guess, feeling the grind is just a harsh reality of reading or watching a mammoth series like this weekly. I like Frank's post-timescape design more than his pre-timescape. I'm assuming Frankie. If you're talking about Frank, let me know. But in regards to Frankie, yes, me too. I've never, ever, ever understood the people who hate on post-timescape Frankie. I love him. I love it so much that I find it really difficult to go back to arcs like any Slobby and see what he used to be because it just feels so underwhelming. But this is definitely an unpopular opinion. I know that there are a massive legion of pre-timescape Frankie fanatics, but here's the thing about that. No matter what those people say, we win because post-timescape Frankie is here to stay. Unpopular? I don't like Law that much and I think people treat him like a better character than he really is. And you know what? I actually kind of did a whole video on this. Law is the most popular non-straw hat character in the series according to official popularity polls. And I think that most people's anecdotal evidence would go on to suggest that as well. But that's what's going to happen when you have a sleekly designed brooding cool guy. It's a guaranteed formula for success. Under these circumstances, Law doesn't need to actually do anything to achieve mass popularity as I explored and proved in my video. However, after diving into his backstory, that is what has solidified him as an established pillar of One Piece popularity. And yeah, I don't quite see it myself. I like Law. I like Law a lot, but I like other characters more. The fights are easily the worst part of the series. Now this might seem like a controversial statement, but I don't disagree at all. The fights are the worst part of One Piece because they're the only times where the story isn't moving forward and the world isn't building, which are the two crowning strengths of One Piece in my opinion. But that doesn't mean the fights are bad, very different. There are far too many people who conflate the words worst and bad. But seriously, the fights are by and large, pretty fantastic. However, when I compare them to everything else One Piece does, so incredibly right, then yeah, I guess by default, the fights do become technically the worst part of the series, which is amazing because if that is the worst thing that One Piece has to offer, then its best is going to be off the charts. Magellan is arguably capable of fighting with admirals. The man literally guards thousands of infamous criminals. Yeah, I guess, here's the thing, the statement, it isn't technically wrong. Magellan is capable of fighting with the admirals, so is Woopsap though. He's very capable. I just don't think it would go particularly well for him. Although when you think about it, Woopsap actually has the advantage of not being stuck on the toilet for the large majority of a day. So Magellan may do even worse in a fight against an admiral than Woopsap would with that in mind. I'm not a big fan of the no romance rule amongst straw hats. So just amongst the straw hats, I thought it was a general rule for One Piece. Actually, I guess there are one-sided exceptions like Boa Hancock and super rare couples like Capone and Chiffon, who are adorable, but those things are mostly played for comedy. And adding romance on top of everything that One Piece already needs to accomplish would extend this series into infinity. I mean, shippers gonna ship, but the reality of a romance story is needing to add turmoil. It's not like Luffy and Nami would just get together and stay that way for the rest of the series because when romance is an element, then it needs development, which means that we'll need to be constantly exploring, updating and even breaking relationships. And oh, it's just exhausting to think about it, which is probably why in non-romance focused stories that stuff always gets used as a full stop at the end of the series. You know, these people get together and live happily ever after. I think Mihawk isn't really cool. And the only thing making him interesting is that he is Zoro's final enemy, probably. This probably goes back to the law discussion. It's the standard outcome of creating a character whose aesthetic is just so sharp in a sea of mainly goofy figures. Mihawk also has the supreme advantage of status though. He holds the title of the world's greatest swordsman, which means that even if we never see him do anything ever, he still plays on the imagination. And all right, let's do one more unpopular opinion. Treble is a good character. You're wrong. But what do you guys think? Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below or even join my Discord server. And if you'd like to see more videos like this, then please do go and check out some of my other content or even subscribe to the channel for more glorious One Piece business uploaded straight until YouTube feeds. But for now, this has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.