Did y’all think I got tired of praising how subtly wonderful One Piece looks? The precise compositons and the genius paneling? That how anyone saying that it’s “”ugly”” probably either read it in Braille or just got fucked by Toei in general?
Well the evidence speaks for itself:
Exhibiton A:
There is just so much joy in this picture! You don’t even have to know the context to feel how happy Luffy and Ace are to be able to finally stand side by side, because it makes you feel that too. The way Oda draws fire is amazing. It’s so fun and kind-looking, it totally fits for the moment and the whole manga. (It’s a cleaned up version, the og panel looks like this, but this gets the point better across.)
Exhibiton B:
It’s such a simple, classic staredown that it has no right looking this cool, but maybe that’s it. It’s simple, the lines are clear, only black and white without any grey tones, it’s no-bullshit, it’s good.
The divider in this case doesn’t mark the time, as it’d in most panels, like the next one, it just shows the same moment from a different angle. Like the Doflamingo-Luffy-Law scene in part. 1. You just know that it’s not “first Crocodile is staring at Luffy, THEN Luffy is staring back at Crocodile” no, they are looking at each other at the same moment here. It’s funny that how same technique can be used different ways.
There’s so many variations to it. Like this one, it’s just some 3rd rate small, unimportant pre-fight panel, right?
For one, yes, but look at how brilliant even a panel like this is! It’s Law at Punk Hazard, about to slice shit up, activating his power.
It’s the same picture, which would usually make it just one still scene, but here, his abilities are not active on the first half, but active on the second. His SWORD literally acts like a panel divider, that makes it separate in time.
!!! Literally a part of the picture!!! How fucking cool is that, utilizing the drawing itself in the paneling??
It’d be waaay less smooth if it was just two pictures drawn separetely, one with inactive then active Room. It’s amazing, but it’s such a little subtle thing that you barely even notice it.
Or look how he sometimes just straigt up draws two movements in one panel:
It’s so nice an quick, isn’t it? It’s like in real life, when a sudden movement is already over before you even notice it.
Look how it would look drawn separetely:
Not bad, sure, the movements are still nice with those lines, but it just doesn’t give the same vibe. It’s just slower, more deliberate, instead of a quick smack on the head.
But sometimes no actual movemnet is drawn while you, the reader still feel and see it
Look at this! It’s round three of Crocodile vs. Luffy, and Crocodile is just starting to realise that whatever he does to Luffy, he just won’t stay down.
Even out of context and without movement lines, you see how he just practically rose from the dead, and that how impossible it should be. How Crocodile stops and starts to turn, unbelieveing.
It’s a simple division by the 3rds, very balaced. The shading is marvelous, all these delicate little cross hatches. Usually the more of these used, the more powerful a panel looks like, the more ragged, the more raw. It’s beautiful, and it’s so rare to see them on bigger parts, instead of just a little shading around the eyes.
Look at Crocodile’s expression! How he can’t believe his eyes as he turns back! And you can basically hear Luffy’s breathing, his chets moving up and down, see his effort! How Crocodile’s face slowly becomes distorted mid-movement as he realises that whatever he does, it just doesn’t seem to work on this kid. The way Oda draws expressions is just amazing.
You know sloppy-reading, right? When you read mang so fast that you don’t let yourself read and look it sloowly, panel by panel, in the right order, you just kinda look at it? Well, it totally works with this one, you can view these as one, and you still get the vibe. But if you just slow it down a bit:
You can pinpoint the moment he truly realises that Luffy’s standing yet again, how he rethinks the decisions in his life that got him to this point.
It’s almost like you don’t even see, but rather hear and feel this picture. His chest rising up and down, his deep, ragged breathing, how he’s practically beyond thinking, he’s just moving.
AKA. the classic “The Moment the Enemy Isn’t Even Suprised at Luffy’s Inability to Die Aymore and Is Just Mad About It at This Point™.” Awh. A classic that never gets old. RIP in pieces, idiot.
Reading it panel by panel is awesome, isn’t?
Look at the blood vessels he’s about to pop, poor guy’s about to have the Luffy-only experience, you almost feel sorry for him. Also, you have any idea how much time it takes to do so many little lines in the shading? Real MVP, Oda.
Anways I’ll be doing a full post on expressions at some point because the way Oda draw them is just freaking insane. Amazing. Unparalleled. Etc. Probs on impact fight panels too.
Visual storytelling, however, is not just about the movements the charaters make, sometimes it’s the question of a close-up or a wider shot. Using empty space instead of a detalied background can change the context and the meaning of something.
The best example I can suddenly think of is Luffy in ch 901:
Just a beaten up, soaked wet kid wapped in a blanket, on the run from a whole fleet, right? Having an argument with his helmsman.
But then.
Jinbei decides to stay behind, to join them later again.
And this panel happens:
He’s suddenly isn’t a soaked wet kid wrapped in a blanket anymore.
We are looking at the future Pirate King now, giving an order.
What happened? It’s the same kid, it’s the same blanket, but the composition, the pose, the lack of background, the shading gives weight to him. It makes the kid a man. It makes the blanket look something glorious, a cape or an elaborate pirate-stlye overcoat, fittng for the man in the crown.
Also, it’s much larger than the other two panels, it takes up a full 3rd of a page.
We all remember how he said “I’m your captain now” to Jinbei here, right?
Well, we are wrong, and not.
When I was looking for the cape panel, I was 100% sure that he said this on that one, but turns out, he says that on the PAGE before, on the close up of that one.
This is how this part starts:
We star off with a wilder shot, when Luffy looks like he just stood now - but he didn’t. He was already standing. Yet, metaforically, as far as the conversation goes, this is the moment he really takes charge, and it’s supported visually too. Also, the blanket already looks like a cape on him.
He says these lines here, while we’re looking at them from the distance. This is a good way to establish volume - if it was a closer shot, in their face, like the next one, you might think that he only says it so loud that only Jinbei can hear it. And while he’s the one adressed, that’s not true here - he says it before the whole crew. It’s something that concernes them too.
Look at the colors! Usually Luffy’s colorless while Jinbei sometimes gets a neutral grey tone due to his skin being blue. Here however, Luffy gets some minor shadowing, so the whites of eyes pop more, making his stare even more piercing.
Especially compered to Jinbei, who’s drawn without that here.
(This is literally the reason us humans have such a large white part in our eyes, something that is unheard of in the animel kingdom, so that we know what the other members of our species are looking at.)
That’s true to all panels, usually the darker it is, the more dynamic and striking it looks.
Also, in this case the divider also doesn’t mark the passage of time, it’s just so that we can see both their faces upfront, something that’d be impossible in real life.
So, this is where he says those lines, after these and before the cape panel.
Yet the reader connets this and the cape panel together, and no wonder. The words here and the visuality of this one hold the same meaning, even if they are technically seperate. That he’s in charge, and Jinbei better save his sorry ass if his captain orders him to.
This is how Oda tricks your brain.
Remember Zoro’s vow?
He’s pratcically cut in half, barely fished out of the water, and we’re prepeared to ignore him for the next few chapters to come, because he’ll be out for a while, right?
But then!
What is this moron doing with his sword, after getting cut practically in half?? Just try on to die!!!
We’re just like Yosaku and Johnny.
It’s the only vertical panel amongst the horizontal ones on the page, the background is empty, makes the sword pop even more.
Then there is, of course, a close up of him, so that we can actually see his expression, even if Mihawk and Luffy probably can’t:
And then we see Mihawk’s and Luffy’s reaction, those who really matter here, the ones adressed:
How both are grinning, how his sword’s still up in the air.
But these in itself woudn’t make that much of an impact now, would it? Sure, it’s superb, but they could just talk it out at a normal volume so far.
THIS is what makes it feel like it rings through the world, that it’s more than just a promise between friends:
WOW, It’s a wild perspective, and it’s not the point of view of any of the other charaters either, a plan view. It’s like looking right down from the sky, as if we are watching from the heavens! Even as if we were Kuina, the whole world, looking at him!
The impact lines make this effect even stronger - you feel how important this declaration is, the power behind it, the sheer volume. That he’s not afraid to be held accountable for his words before the whole world.
And, he finishes off with this:
How fucking NUTS this perspective and pose is??? Holy shit. The way his dark legs frame Mihawk, his oringial aim since day one, and Luffy, his new aim together!!! How he still wants to be the best in the world, but now it’s also connected to his vow to his captain!! How Luffy’ll be Pirate King, and how he better be! While the bounty hunters, his past, are literally behind him. Just wow.
Who even thinks of drawing a crazy angle like this? This is just freaking insane. (Also, ironically this wierdass postion Zoro’s in is the medically correct first aid position to put someone in with a huge bloodloss.)
With pulling back the perspective like this to Zoro’s POV at the end, he grounds the whole scene, doesn’t just let it “fly away”, as if everything would have been a wild shot.
Tldr: One Piece is gorgeous as FUCK. Can’t change my mind.
Special thanks to @vvanpiss and @zorobae for pointing me at a manga site with HQ old chapters and their stuff giving me ideas for examples.
A lot of people shit on One Piece for “having and ugly art style” but almost all panels have such an easy grace and cool composition/perspective that most people don’t even notice it anymore.
Look how this cool this pose is:
There’s a lot of swordfighting in manga, but when was the last time you saw a perspective like this? It’s very unusual, with spottyhat’s hand pretty much in our face, pulled back, but pointing forward.
Just look at these perspecitves!
A beautiful low angle, showing the moment when the guy forward cut the other in the back. It’s 2 moves in 1, one when the forward guy stops and puts his katana away, and two when the other falls to his knees.
But even if he wasn’t, the angle and the composition, hell, their size itself would tell us who’s victorious.
Or this! Guy finds a cursed sword, and decides he likes it, despite the long list of its previous dead owners.
The way the sword looks large from this angle, they are almost the same size! It’s basically in our face, we can see the pattern on the blade. It feels dangerous.
And the way we see the guy looking upwards! It could mean a power imbalance, if not for the grin, since this angle usually makes the subject more “innocent and puppy eyed” (remember the emo trend?) but it’s this way it’s a challage.
Who is the stronger, the man or the sword?
Or look at this:
It’s no less than 3 moves in 1 panel, which is insane, but it’s so natural that you dont even notice it.
1) the two marines swinging their swords to cut Luffy, 2) Ace jumping in to push him down, + Luffy crouching down as a result 3) and the sword going through Ace (because he made of fire, but that’s not relevant here.)
Sometimes the panels can feel a bit overcrowded, but they make the conversation’s flow feel more easy and more like as if you were really there in the room with them:
(read everything right to left)
Now look at the version where I put in some extra panel dividers:
It just doesn’t feel the same, does it?
Or, one of my current favourites. Let’s break down this (pre-)fight scene:
It’s sunglasses guy trying to stomp on the spotty pants, mainly because he is an asshole, but it’s mostly the past grudges. Here he is, moving his leg, spotty pants desperate and doesn’t want to die.
But.
But!
THE FUCK!
The cavalry is here! HOLY HELL!
Stunned silence. Snot guy is shocked. Bird guy and strawhat guy are motionless, lookin at each other standing over the saved man; the tension in the air is tangible between them.
Spotty pants is pretty fucking unhappy that he has failed and had to be saved, but being alive is still better than dead, so.
And yes!
You felt the tension of the other panel right!
It’s a close-up of that one; they are still motionless and in the same position, but now we see their eyes and faces, confirming what we thought was going on.
There was so much raw force in that movement, yet since strawhat’s drawn completely motionless in every picture, instead of him jumping in, the way it’s stopped seem so effortless on his part. (Also this is where the anime adaptation failed - they showed stawhat guy looking up only now, instead of keeping the scene motionless. It’s a shame.)
Even if I didn’t know a thing about them, I’d sill be hyped for what happens next after this, but one thing is for sure.
An ass is about to be kicked, the question is whose it will be.
It’s pretty fucking awesome, have a look at it in whole:
(Also, this is where one page ends, and you gotta spend those extra seconds to find out wheather he’d live. The rest in one huge page.)
Oda is really brilliant when it comes to doing the panels and layouts. Look at this character introduction, which is arguably one of the best in the whole series.
First, out of nowhere, there is a huge-ass explosion on an island. It’s a pirate’s base that we know but we haven’t heard of him for hundreds of chapters. We don’t know wheather he’s dead or alive.
The next is a narration bubble.
The is never any narration in One Piece.
Pretty cold, isn’t it?
Then again, it’s a manga about pirates. The weak fail all the time.
We are also shown that the impact came from a man-shaped hole in the ground.
W-what? Who is that? Isn’t it the weak that die? Will he jump?
It’s still the same moment frozen in time, but from a different angle while we are told more about this man.
Who the hell is still alive after all of these, and more importantly, why would he want to throw away the life he miracoulasly managed to keep so far?
Why is no one stopping him?
So he’s jumping down from the island in the sky. That seems definitely too extra for a suicide.
You really feel like you’re too falling while reading a long panel like this.
Also, it’s divided 3 times at the top, breaking the continuity. It’s not a sudden, quick drop; it takes a long time to fall through 10 km of clouds.
We “jump in time” with these, the exact same mechanism as in the group panel, where the divders broke the flow.
And the end is the long panel of the impact, the one we started out with.
Yet all of these panels the same, lagre picture, not seperate ones, so it’s still nice to look at.
It’s also the same moment from two angles, the first from the point of view of others(as all the other ones before), but then, we are suddenly see the world as this mystery (dead) madman who’s just jumped from the sky.
Also, what the fuck is the narrator saying? Has the writer gone mad? How is this possible? The is never any narration, what can possibly be so important that suddenly a “voice from above” is telling us all this?
We see a huge shockwave again, probably coming from the hole, with the other man scattering and voicing the readers’ thoughts aloud.
But we also see what the narrator is saying.
And it can’t be, right?
No one can survive that. And yet, we start to wonder…
And fuck!! We’re right. The man who’s just fallen 10kms from the sky is not only pulling himself up from the hole, but has already took out some others.
The original quistion still stands, as in who the fuck this might possibly be??
SO.
BASICALLY.
He knew he woud not die, just hurled himself down from the sky for fun?? And all he got is a headache??
HOLY SHIT!
IT’S THE GUY WE’VE BEEN HEARING ABOUT FOR HUNDREADS OF CHAPTERS!!!
AND HE DEFINITELY LIVES UP TO THE HYPE.
Remember, we started at “the weak die” and we progressed to “this guy is trying to die so he must be weak” to “he’s definitely dead” to “this guy can’t even kill himself he’s so strong and he finds it funny”.
Wow.
What a ride. And all of this, only in a few pages.
Or my other favourite, the end of the Katakuri fight (chapter 896
is basically just one huge fantastic ticking bomb, but that’s a different, brilliant matter), or more precisely these few panels:
Not a word exchanged, yet it show us so much about the quiet, but all-encompassing, deep kindness Luffy has. He’s standing above an unconsicous enemy who spent the better half of the day trying to put an end to Luffy’s attemt to join with his crew again, and what does he do?
He puts a hat to his face, to hide his fanged mouth he’s been trying to hide from the world for decades.
And leaves without a word.
We don’t see his expression, but actions speak louder that that.
Anyway, I just wanted to say how I liked the first Law-Hawkins panel, but you know what? Let’s show some appreciation to the insane skills that made One Piece the brilliant manga that it is today.
