Think another example of ludicrous power escalation was when in Loki they just had a drawer of assorted infinity stones. Yes, played for laughs but the problem of escalation suggested is real.

That’s fair lol. One Piece is I think one of the best tests of if someone actually likes shonen. It’s got a plot, it’s got characters that are likable, and character growth isn’t just getting stronger, but yeah it’s also deeply in the genre and contains lots of the shonen plot loop: meet new op villain who wants to do bad things, get rekt, explore/train/character development/make friends, fight again, learn more about the villain and protagonist, protagonist ekes out a victory, story advances towards new villain…

I like good shonen, but it’s definitely a genre with clear formulaic plots for the most part, and it’s the story that happens between and beyond those plots, the execution of the loop, and character design and power interactions and such that make it good or bad. I personally think that Dragonball sucks because it’s very “and then, and then, and then…” without much of a plan or a story outside the loop, as compared to One Piece being the story of Luffy trying to build a crew, sail to the end of the world, become king of pirates, and take on the government.

Formulaic genres are ultimately all about execution, message, and just the general comfort of the fact that a lot of these genres tend to allow themselves to be media junk food. A whodunnit is unlikely to surprise you in plot, you know the first suspect didn’t do it, you’re trying to figure out why and who’s being set up to actually have done it. This is why BBC Sherlock sucks in retrospect but so many people loved it at the time.