His birth infused him with madness, his fate brought him rage. These things solidified him as a demon!
One Piece, Dressrosa Saga
by Eiichiro Oda
Genre: Fantasy
About: The city of Dressrosa seems like a quaint little place where toys and humans co-exist, but appearances are deceiving. Luffy's crew soon discover that a darkness lies beneath the surface and at it's heart, is Doflamigo.
The Good
A chunk of this saga is spent in a gladiator tournament which is fun and full of lots of crazy characters. I liked one of Blackbeard's crew being thrown into the mix to remind us of Blackbeard's growing power and future threat. I also of course enjoyed the not so surprising reveal of Sabo. The best part of this saga though was its villain. Doflamigo is a fantastically menacing character, extremely powerful, extremely evil and I enjoyed that through him we learn more about how far reaching Devil Fruit powers can grow.
The Bad
It's so long! This saga felt never-ending. The battles were drawn out far too much (Franky was destroying the factory for what seemed like the entire saga and Zolo's fight with Pica became quickly repetitive). It also felt long because it reminded me so much of Alabaster. Rebecca was in my opinion too similar to Vivi and although both villains stand on their own, Crocodile and Doflamigo enacted virtually the same plan - sweep into a country, claim to be the hero saving it from an unworthy king, and then take over for their own nefarious purposes. I couldn't feel the heartbreak of Dressrosa's citizens because we'd already been through those exact same emotions in Alabaster.
The Somewhat Iffy
Robin had some really cool moments which I love to see but I'm getting pretty fed up of her not being given proper battles. She's strong. Her powers are awesome. This whole saga put the spotlight on so many fighters. Franky gets a fight, Cavendish, Kid, Rebecca's father, Zolo, Usopp (though his admitted is for shits and giggles), Sabo, Law and Luffy - all of them have pages and pages of action. Robin is given the task of protecting Rebecca. I just think she could and should have taken down single-handedly (or Manos Fleurs) one of Doflamigo's family.
Overall
I liked a lot of the characters in this saga, both the good and bad, so it was interesting in places, it just dragged too much for me. This is a much more drawn out version of Alabaster with not enough new elements to make it worth the extra chapters.
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