Special One Piece: Episode Ace by Boichi

[Nie Li]

​

Title : One Piece episode A
Genre : Shonen
Serialized in : One Piece Magazine
Author and Artist : Ryo Ishiyama and Boichi
Publisher : Shueisha
Status : Ongoing

Synopsis: Manga adaptation of One Piece novel A, an official two-part novel series about Portgas D. Ace's journey as a pirate before his first appeareance in the main story.

First Chapter: https://mangadex.org/chapter/1053199/1

 

[Hermit]

Boichi's art looks stunning, in One Piece fashion. There was a one shot he did recently about Zoro meeting Mihawk (Very good, would recommend), and his art translated well into the story there as well.

My favorite panel of the chapter was the bit where Ace scared off the large bird with Haoshoku. He had only one Haki related feat in the main story (Gray Terminal), so here's to hoping we see more of them in this story

 

[hokageji]

wow, that artwork was insane... it doesn't feel like an OP book at all, with so many zoomed in shots... that was a wonderful read.

Ace's story is capable of so much more... Deuce is cool too, but doesn't look like a combatant...

 

[goldb]

It's great to be able to finally visualise the beginning of Ace's adventure. What I really enjoyed was seeing Ace's personality; his perseverance when the first boat they built was destroyed, not letting the hunger stop him from getting on with his adventure. I think just that initial encounter, distrusting Ace initially and then finding out the sort of person he was, shaped Deuce's decision to follow him.

I can't wait to see the 2nd chapter of this with more of the journey and meeting more of Ace's crew.

I'm conflicted about the art if I'm being honest and it's one of the reasons why I never got into Dr Stone. I love Boichi's art as it pertains to Sun Ken Rock but here it's very hit and miss for me. I think his style is better suited for seinen and more realistic adaptions; in moments where characters expressions needed to be serious (or just generally convey a dramatic scene) he did a great job and then also the comical pages were also good but then it's everything else in between that fell short, as if he were trying to combine 2 styles of art into one.

The way in which he drew Ace was inconsistent and I would've preferred to see Whitebeard in his comical moustache rather than the choice he went for. Generally though the lack of smoothness in the art is kinda off-putting for me.

 

[TitaniumOxide]

Wow that was a great intro chapter. That art is much more...serious in style. Makes me fear for the amount of comedy we may not get hahahaha. That was a tremendous read and I am looking forward to seeing Ace's crew get dismantled by the WB pirates. Wait did they do that? Damn I forgot.

 

[Organizized]

It's great to be able to finally visualise the beginning of Ace's adventure. What I really enjoyed was seeing Ace's personality; his perseverance when the first boat they built was destroyed, not letting the hunger stop him from getting on with his adventure. I think just that initial encounter, distrusting Ace initially and then finding out the sort of person he was, shaped Deuce's decision to follow him.

I can't wait to see the 2nd chapter of this with more of the journey and meeting more of Ace's crew.

I'm conflicted about the art if I'm being honest and it's one of the reasons why I never got into Dr Stone. I love Boichi's art as it pertains to Sun Ken Rock but here it's very hit and miss for me. I think his style is better suited for seinen and more realistic adaptions; in moments where characters expressions needed to be serious (or just generally convey a dramatic scene) he did a great job and then also the comical pages were also good but then it's everything else in between that fell short, as if he were trying to combine 2 styles of art into one.

The way in which he drew Ace was inconsistent and I would've preferred to see Whitebeard in his comical moustache rather than the choice he went for. Generally though the lack of smoothness in the art is kinda off-putting for me.

^ Sums up my feelings very accurately. I enjoyed the dramaturgy of the storytelling, the pacing and comedy was great but I had the same issues with the art as you did. Still looking forward to the next because gripes with the art aside, I do like seeing this story play out in manga form (the light novels vol. 1 and 2 were alright but slightly underwhelming in their writing, imo).

 

[hokageji]

I didnt even notice that about Whitebeard till i saw it here, yea the crescent should be exaggerated further...

 

[Grandmaster Woro]

am i the only who doesn't like boichi's art? It fails on delivering the big moment properly
I also think his art looks weird, it's like he couldn't decide if he wants to go for realistic portrait (like western comicbooks) or cartoonish

 

[TitaniumOxide]

I think you guys should just enjoy the manga and worry less about the art. I mean it isn't the best thing ever like he wants to do a blend of Vinland Saga and One Piece but damn with all the critisizm no one here ever mentions that Boichi's art is bad. I never read any Boichi works so this is the first time I've seen it and I can learn to enjoy it.

What is important to realize is that they are different artists Oda and Boichi. If he is making this Ace gaiden/spinoff then Oda has approved it. If it is good enough for Oda it is good enough for me. In fact now, I think I wanna read Dr Stone. Also, this is free so enjoy it.

 

[animeangryfan4]

it is a fascinating story. I jsut find it a shame we likely will never see them in cannon.

 

[Freid]

Is there a chance of ever getting a 'what if' story in which Ace never joins the Whitebeard pirates and/or never dies at Marineford? It instead follows Ace and his crew while we only hear about what Luffy's getting up to in newspapers. I think the Strawhats would be good rivals and would make for a great final enemy in such a story.

 

[goldb]

I think you guys should just enjoy the manga and worry less about the art. I mean it isn't the best thing ever like he wants to do a blend of Vinland Saga and One Piece but damn with all the critisizm no one here ever mentions that Boichi's art is bad. I never read any Boichi works so this is the first time I've seen it and I can learn to enjoy it.

What is important to realize is that they are different artists Oda and Boichi. If he is making this Ace gaiden/spinoff then Oda has approved it. If it is good enough for Oda it is good enough for me. In fact now, I think I wanna read Dr Stone. Also, this is free so enjoy it.

Part of enjoying the manga as a whole is also enjoying the art, so criticising the art is fine as long as one is constructive and not bashing the artist needlessly. I actually wish people did comment on Oda's art more, because it's definitely not the greatest even among shonen but the focal point of the series is the story itself so the art takes backseat to it and not analysed with as much scrutiny. Here at least.

Similarly Boichi's art isn't going to stop me from reading the next chapter of this special since I want to see how the novel is visualised but I'll be critical of even the story itself if I don't enjoy parts of it.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 11, 2020, Original Post Date: Oct 11, 2020 ---

Is there a chance of ever getting a 'what if' story in which Ace never joins the Whitebeard pirates and/or never dies at Marineford? It instead follows Ace and his crew while we only hear about what Luffy's getting up to in newspapers. I think the Strawhats would be good rivals and would make for a great final enemy in such a story.

I think you're talking about the drawings that Oda did of Ace (and I think Sabo too) but I doubt we'd get anything like this; that was more for fun and rather trivial than anything. Whereas Ace's backstory is something that can loosely be tied to the ongoing series and hugely marketable (as was Law's novel).

 

[Grandmaster Woro]

Part of enjoying the manga as a whole is also enjoying the art, so criticising the art is fine as long as one is constructive and not bashing the artist needlessly. I actually wish people did comment on Oda's art more, because it's definitely not the greatest even among shonen but the focal point of the series is the story itself so the art takes backseat to it and not analysed with as much scrutiny. Here at least.

Similarly Boichi's art isn't going to stop me from reading the next chapter of this special since I want to see how the novel is visualised but I'll be critical of even the story itself if I don't enjoy parts of it.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 11, 2020, Original Post Date: Oct 11, 2020 ---

I think you're talking about the drawings that Oda did of Ace (and I think Sabo too) but I doubt we'd get anything like this; that was more for fun and rather trivial than anything. Whereas Ace's backstory is something that can loosely be tied to the ongoing series and hugely marketable (as was Law's novel).

This. Thank you for clearing up.
I didn't mean to insult boichi, but i just don't like his art style. That's all.

 

[goldb]

credits: ScotchInformer@AP

ch2 of Ace's novel will contain 67 pages.

 

[goldb]

Jinbe, Shanks and Rayleigh as shown in ch2. Credits: @redon (that's your watermark right?) / gyrozepp95@reddit

 

[HereNThere]

That's an aggressive Jinbe...

 

[Nie Li]

Rayleigh looks really cool in his artwork.

 

[goldb]

That's an aggressive Jinbe...

He looks Hawaian/Samoan for some reason...Like the rugby players.

 

[HereNThere]

He looks Hawaian/Samoan for some reason...Like the rugby players.

Damn, I definitely see it now. He looks Samoan for sure. At least, the general design/look they tend to have in most forms of media.

 

[goldb]

That's exactly what I mean, yes. Boichi has made him look more human/realistic than he probably should be. Shanks and Rayleigh on the other hand look amazing. I can't wait to see the rest of the chapter and what other characters appear in it.