Luffy vs. Katakuri and the Art of Paneling

One Piece's paneling is fantastic and underrated. But what exactly is good paneling? What makes a scene well-paneled, beyond just nice-looking wide shots? To answer that question, let's take Chapter 895 from Luffy vs. Katakuri, the best fight in One Piece, and use it to break down the Eight Rules of Paneling — eight principles for how paneling works, and why you should care about them.

This video was edited by McIce.

Channel Memberships: Look above this lmao

0:00 Intro
1:11 Rule 1
2:39 Chapter Recap
3:50 Rule 2
5:28 Rule 3
7:09 Rule 4
10:17 Rule 5
12:03 Rule 6a
14:49 Rule 6b
18:11 Rule 6c
19:20 Rule 6d
22:25 Rule 7
25:06 Rule 8
28:50 some yapping
29:43 Finale
31:34 Outro

This video is a transformative analysis of the piece of media in question. This video is not a replacement for reading One Piece, and removes nearly all dialogue in order to be unusable as such. Please recognize this video's nature as fair use.

MUSIC CREDITS:
Gerudo Valley from Ocarina of Time
Forsaken City - Sever the Skyline Mix from Celeste
Beyond the Heart from Celeste: Farewell
Field of Hopes and Dreams from Deltarune Chapter 1
Stickerbrush Symphony from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Dark World from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Greenpath from Hollow Knight
It's Raining Somewhere Else from Undertale

I really hope this video does well.

[Werb]

I forgot to tell people to subscribe in the video. Uh please do that. Thanks. I really care about this video and I want more people to find it and enjoy it.

[Cook_A_Burra]

I didn't realize how much thought goes into paneling that I just took for granted as I read

[yazid]

Stretch arm for line and armament haki for contrasts
Man oda is truly a genius on simplicity

[maticmdv]

This channel is criminally underrated at this point

[otterfire]

One of my favorite transitions I discovered in reading One Piece that I was proud of discovering was when Luffy was talking with Zoro for the first time. After Luffy agreed to get Zoro's swords, he walks off and in the manga, Luffy walks to the left at the bottom of the page, prompting the reader to turn the page. It absolutely floored me the brilliance of such a simple transition.

[Gearmond]

"Rules are just tools" and I knew I was in for a Serious Video. Great breakdown

[jikan]

Arguably one of the best art analyses I've ever seen in my life. You can learn literal years of art theory within this one single video. I'll be recommending it to everyone I can, fans of One Piece or not.

[hakimalam]

My favorite panel from this chapter was when Katakuri realized what's going on, we can feel the time stopped

[hermanrichardsen]

I gotta be honest, I did not click on this video with a favorable mindset, but man was my expectations subverted. I discovered this channel today, and I've binged all the videos dissecting previous fights. What a competent way of analyzing that just oozes quality. If you ever get the time, I would love to see an analysis of the Luffy v. Blueno fight. There's just visually something about that fight, and the way it presents Gear 2nd that has had me captured ever since I read it as a kid, and I cannot put my finger on what it is that makes it so great for me. Keep making amazing videos, I will be here for every single one you'll drop in the future

[fireblaze]

Yes please. I rarely hate ppl appreciating the paneling in manga and how important it is to the story. Page turns are also extremely helpful to impact in these scenes. It’s real nice to hear that break down cuz it’s one of my favourite things about this medium.

[orbboom]

Damn bro, just like Oda, you really stepped up with the editing on this one, clean editing.
Edit: oh lol well props to mcice he did great
And yeah this is definitely one of the best chapters Oda ever did, really feels like the culmination of decades worth of experience drawing manga, he has the science of it down.

[lordlook]

Paneling and visual stroytelling is such an underappreciated aspect of One Piece and I’m so glad you’re talking about it! This video was truly enlightening and I wanna reread my favorite OP fights now with these rules in mind. I hope you get the recognition you deserve for your hard work!

[puffthepirate]

This lived up to the hype. Easily the best One Piece Video I’ve watched in a good while.

[zetaroko]

I thought I was going to hear some shallow praises and basic panelling stuff I already knew, but I genuinely learned a lot with this video. Your script is sharp and ties everything together very nicely, and the editing helps a lot in visualizing what you're saying! Thanks for recommending me this, algorithm

[piratasgoblin]

Dayum boye. This is some fine editing and writing!

[beeegman]

This was an amazing video and the topic itself is very interesting but this is the first time i realized Luffy never has a thought bubble, that's so cool

[elianramos]

As someone who'd like to make a comic, I find great solace and appreciation for your content as it allows me to visualize aspects of my medium that will greatly increase the quality of my own product whilst also increasing my understanding and perceived value of works of others, for this I thank you

[Jarvis]

I love what you've done in this video. Manga art isn't only cool shots and double spread pages. It's mainly paneling and guiding eyes, everything else is just a skin.

First time I learned about this, was by totally not mark when he talks about dragon ball and shows how Akira toriyama use manga. I was impresed, that smoething i read many times has even more deep tham just drawing. Since then i started to read manga "properly" and thanks to this a fall in love in manga even more.

I lack a content like this and im really happpy that i found your channel. I want to do something like this, but in my native language, but i cant even start so im happy that theres is someone that do this and show people that manga isnt only boring black and white comic and exist only to have material for an anime.

Thank you so much for your work :D

[delfinbalor]

¡¡WOW!! I haven't read the manga before and i was expecting the final panel would be a masterclass of all the rules in the video with an ultra epic panel, but instead oda just leave that panel to your imagination, and you can see it easily in your mind thanks to the previous panels. Its just amazing

[georgehart]

Woah dude you just gave me a whole new appreciation for my favorite fight in OP