For many decades, One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto have been revered as the incontestable Big Three; they have amassed a large following and are widely responsible for growing the anime community into what it is today. These three series elevated anime to international acclaim, and while Naruto and Bleach have concluded, One Piece continues to stay the course.
Unfortunately, one problem has plagued the Big Three for a long time: the pacing and the rushed nature of their endings. Naruto and Bleach, for one, featured unsatisfying conclusions that failed to maximize their full potential.
Thankfully, One Piece dissociates from this underwhelming endemic. Oda has done good work and hopefully will continue to do so to prevent One Piece from swaying from the path of excellence.
The Big Three’s Shared Struggle With Pacing And Endings Comes From Industry Pressures
One of the harshest systems in the manga industry is undoubtedly weekly serialization. While releasing chapters and episodes every week builds engagement, anticipation, and momentum, it’s extremely demanding on creators.
It creates a dangerous cycle of rushed writing and exhaustion with little room for producers to breathe. Consequently, stories aren’t allowed to evolve naturally; authors need to keep the story ball rolling. What does this breed? Unrefined storylines, predictable narratives, bloated plots, and underutilization of a manga’s potential.
The cost of this industry model, “weekly serialization,” prioritizes engagement over careful storytelling. While Oda might be criticized for taking too many breaks too often, he does it to preserve the authenticity and quality of his story.
After all, the best shonen finales should be an earned conclusion, not a victim of time. For Naruto and Bleach, the issues of industry pressure and rushed pacing are primarily seen in their conclusions, even though they exhibit this setback differently.
The Pacing Of Naruto’s War Arc Was Seriously Off
Naruto’s Fourth Great Ninja War arc was the ultimate conclusive battle. With villain after villain, the war was an epic spectacle with one major snag: uneven pacing. With Naruto’s robust villain lineup, non-fans would assume the series’ conclusion suffered from being more dragged out than rushed. But the reality is that it suffered from both.
From the commencement of the war to the eventual showdown with Madara, the war continued efficiently. However, Kaguya’s sudden involvement altered the momentum. Her involvement in the story had a jarring effect; the Naruto story took a swift, surprising turn.
Naruto’s concluding war arc then quickly went from a marathon to a sprint. Kaguya’s appearance undermined years of foreshadowing around Madara while also making the story feel like someone suddenly and rapidly pressed a fast-forward button, leaving fans lost and in awe for the wrong reasons.
Bleach, on the other hand, didn’t suffer from being overly prolonged, but it did suffer from underutilizing powerful characters that it quickly introduced and then discarded soon. Too many powerful characters were introduced in too short a time, with little exploration of their full powers, backgrounds, and motivations.
Bleach’s Thousand-Year Blood War arc was to answer long-standing mysteries and explore epic showdowns, but it left much of that unexplored. The recent anime adaptation has further underpinned how much was lost in the original manga’s conclusion.
One Piece’s Story Progression Keeps The Narrative Tied Together
One Piece is not immune to slow pacing. However, it has and is still largely avoiding a catastrophe because Oda has built his story on many supporting or inferential details over a long time. As the anime is quickly entering its final phase, many powerful characters are introduced masterfully.
However, rather than such characters feeling alien and disconnected from the story, their foreshadowed introductions add impeccable flavor to the narrative they bring to One Piece’s overarching themes. Such intricate additions elevate One Piece’s novelty in a manner incomparable to Bleach and Naruto.
It makes fans feel more relief and anticipation than confusion about their origins and motivations. Revelations like Imu, Imu’s powers, Loki, and the whole island of Elbaf have been foreshadowed for decades now and are finally coming into the light.
By following a roadmap and constantly taking breaks, despite widespread criticism and displeasure, Oda has managed to keep One Piece’s storytelling quality intact. By linking characters and plot devices much earlier than they were needed, many introductions and story “deviations” feel intentional rather than due to pressure to deliver or conclude.
From time to time, Oda has admitted that concepts such as the Laughtale, the mysteries of the Void Century, and the One Piece treasure itself weren’t written in a strict step-by-step script. Many of these details were used as a guide for how the story could potentially evolve. Ultimately, Oda’s strategy balances flexibility with structure.
A foundation was set, but Oda allowed the “building” to evolve as it was built, as long as it followed the original foundational design. In this way, when plot threads like the Will of D, Blackbeard’s unusual body, or the Poneglyphs reappeared and became a central part of the story’s progression and conclusion, they were rewarding realizations.
Despite One Piece’s Success, The Franchise Is Still Susceptible To The Big Three’s Failings
Despite all of Oda’s planning and foreshadowing, the One Piece series hasn’t concluded. With that, the possibility of a rushed or cut-short ending is never entirely out of the picture. Both Naruto and Bleach looked like they were going strong until they weren’t.
Moreover, the expectations for One Piece’s finale are immense. After all, Oda has left fans waiting for over two decades to spill some secrets. Being able to meet those expectations and explore plot holes like the One Piece treasure itself, without rushing the story or dragging it past its breaking point, would be a daunting challenge.
Until One Piece’s end curtain falls, fans can only hope it finishes as strong as it sailed. If Oda succeeds, the series will avoid becoming another cautionary tale of Shonen Jump’s greatest era.
