Has One Piece been formulaic?

[LordGoku]

I was talking to someone about how even though Dressrosa is pretty good it has been feeling pretty much the same as other One Piece arcs. He said that One Piece has no formula and one arc is different from the other. So I wanted to see what others think. Is One Piece following a formula or no?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

You know, you could've just asked about this on the One Piece thread that's already there.

I have actually been saying this for quite a while in the "currently reading" discussion thread. Oda really shook things up with the Whitebeard saga, so seeing him go back to  a derivative formula after that was really disappointing for me. The series hasn't become piss-awful like Naruto and Bleach got, but it is becoming harder and harder for me to stay interested enough in keeping up with it on a weekly basis.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I only read up to just after Skypeia, but yeah. It's more noticeable if you're not enjoying the arc since you can point out the things that bug you much more easily. Since I hated Skypeia, that was the point for me.

But, see, there's nothing wrong with a formula when it works. Most everything has a formula if you look hard enough. The important thing is that there is an effort behind it that leads to quality. Oda, if anything else, is a master at drama and stakes, but not so much at character development for the most part. But he knows that, and uses his strengths to cover for his weaknesses. All the best writers can do that.

One Piece is very formulaic, but for a long time that was its strength. From what I've been hearing though, the problem is Oda's storytelling hasn't been as sharp as it once was and it blunts a lot of the current material. I can't peer into the man's head, but if the formula isn't working it's probably because his heart's not into it in some way.

Take my opinion for what it's worth as a casual acquaintance of the series.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I still think that you should have read upto the end of Marineford. Skypeia and the Davy Backfight arcs are the only real lackluster arcs in the first part of the series, and you never even got to the golden years of the series with everything from CP9 to Whitebeard, where Oda clearly puts out his best material and, IMO, some of the strongest story-lines in battle shonen manga.

It was after the time-skip where Oda's writing started to feel flat, and a big part of that was because after taking such a huge deviation from the old formula for years, going back to it felt like such a serious downgrade, and on that end Oda couldn't even make the stakes feel as big or dangerous as he did in older arcs that used the classic formula.

[Daikun]

Yes, One Piece is formulaic. Thankfully, it's not formulaic in the sense that the hero just fights increasingly stronger foes like in other shonen. It's what makes OP stand out amongst other long-running anime and why it has lasted for so long.

This is One Piece's formula for each arc:

-Conflict happens, new characters are introduced (they may not necessarily be a new crew member).
-The Straw Hats arrive on a new island, the crew is split up.
-Most of the Straw Hats discover the mysteries behind the conflict, although one crew member is left out of the loop, and thus remains safe from the bad guys for most of the arc.
-Occasional flashback episodes detailing the driving force of the conflict, as well as important characters who may or may not be dead.
-Most of the Straw Hats reunite and encounter the bad guy. They're in trouble until the remaining crew member winds up being their trump card to save them.
-The Straw Hats get in even more trouble, but the new characters of the arc wind up saving them.
-The Straw Hats finally beat up the bad guys.
-Tearful goodbyes, onward to the next island.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I still plan on experiencing them someday, I just got other things ahead of me on the list right now.

But like I said before, I hated Skypiea but it wasn't because of the formula that I didn't like it. It was the quality of the arc I found to be substandard. This was after really enjoying everything from Arlong Park on and it felt like such a step back. So it wasn't the formula that was the problem. I think One Piece had a good formula, it's just that Oda had seemingly ended up painting himself into a corner. At that point in the story he would either have to leave the old formula behind, or begin to end the story. He couldn't just coast. Unfortunately, he chose the safest route possible and fans are feeling the effect.

Every story has that moment where things need to change because things can never be the way they were again. The only times they don't is when they deliberately miss them (Naruto) or go out of their way to have no plot progression (Bleach) which ends up hurting in the long run.

I think the best example would be Obata and Ohba who had a formula that was very good (twice!) yet were never afraid to go into the endgame of the story when they needed to (the end of Bakuman goes out of its way to point this out with Reversi) to the point that it positively effected the stories in the long run. Sure you can complain that Death Note went on too long, but that wasn't fully in their control, and still, it had an excellent ending that worked with the story.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

My problem is that Oda eventually did break out of the formula with a real game-changer set of arcs....and then completely ignored it to go back to the old way of doing things.

Daikun mentioned the regular formula, but from Sabaody Archipelago to Marineford, Oda actually did something really creative and different, and for just over two years it was excellent. After that, going back to the normal routine just didn't cut it for me, personally.

[LordGoku]

I like One Pieces formula, but there are people who believe that it isn't. But that leads into another question: We agree that One Piece is formulaic, but would you say One Piece is repetitive, or is repetitive and formulaic the same thing?

[Spark Of Spirit]

One Piece was very good about keeping the formula fresh. Arlong Park and Alabasta, for instance, have many similar elements because of the formula Oda uses, but the execution changes the whole game. It makes what should be predictable, very entertaining and fun to read/watch.

I think that was his strength.

My problem is that Oda eventually did break out of the formula with a real game-changer set of arcs....and then completely ignored it to go back to the old way of doing things.

Daikun mentioned the regular formula, but from Sabaody Archipelago to Marineford, Oda actually did something really creative and different, and for just over two years it was excellent. After that, going back to the normal routine just didn't cut it for me, personally.

Well, I have heard other people complaining about it not just here. The post-time skip material has not been anyone's favorite stuff.

Whether that's because he's forcing it, or because he doesn't want to bring the story to an end, I don't know. But I do know that he hasn't been doing his best work for a while now from what fans seem to be saying.

[LordGoku]

From what I heard One Piece was at the half way point at chapter 600. But the problem I have with formulas for a long running series is that you risk a lack of risk. That is why I can't get into Fairy Tail; there is no risk. One Piece, while good, has had the problem of not presenting any real risk. Even secondary characters will get out alive. One of the reasons I liked the Marineford arc was because it presented a real risk, and at the end there was a loss. Same with Shabondy, there was a risk, and in the end Luffy lost the battle. One thing I'm hoping Oda will do is kill off one of the crew members. It will present a real risk, and defy the formula of "No one dies in One Piece". That's what I want to see Oda giving a real sense of threat to the Straw Hats.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I pretty much agree with all of that. We actually had major risks presented in those arcs, and for once it wasn't a perfectly happy ending. That's not to say that I'm against happy endings, but when every single arc is like that, it gets stale, and the story loses any sense of tension.