One Piece

One of the first "long running" series I've read, never wanted to watch the anime so I started the manga...I'm blown away! Oda is master when it comes to world building, hands down one of the best written in all of fiction, how does this man can create such a massive world with its own countries, economy, politics even religions, so many great distinctive characters with their own ideologies and motives. Seriously this man is a pure genius storyteller world...builder...is that a word? Art style wise I fell in love with it even though when I first started reading it I purely hated it. In terms of quality, Oda really knows how to fill background either with the characters telling jokes or fighting each other or doing funny poses e.c.t... also the
background cities buildings are such beautifully drawn! Many people may not like Oda's style that much but quality wise it's super good, shows how much passion author has for the series. Anyways...such a fantastic series, go read it, have a fun. It's aaah I love it's...pure magic!

First of all, this review will be written in spanish so, if you don't speak spanish, you can leave.

One Piece es un manga que claramente depende del lector para ser calificado. Para comenzar, voy a decir que One Piece fue el primer manga que leí, y que gracias a él estoy en el mundo de los mangas y animes. Tengan eso en cuenta dentro de mi review.

A mi me encanta One Piece. Ya desde el principio nos muestra la magia del mangaka, Eiichiro Oda, dentro de todos los aspectos. La historia es increíble, no por lo que sucede, que también está muy bien pensado, sino por cómo se cuenta. Eiichiro Oda tiene una gran manera de contar la historia. Entrelaza todo lo que sucede, y puede ser que algo que no pareciera tan importante, termina siendo algo que no deberíamos haber dejado pasar. Eso sucede mucho en One Piece, puesto que Oda hace que algo suceda, y luego, cuando ya nos olvidamos de ello, lo vuelve a sacar mostrándonos todo lo que eso significa.

También, la forma que tiene él de entender e identificarnos con los personajes es impresionante. Cómo nos muestra y enseña la historia de ellos, sus poderes, y hasta cómo los consiguieron, todo, tiene un significado en One Piece. Hasta los personajes secundarios tienen una historia impresionante que hace que nos identifiquemos con ellos.

Estas son las mejores dos partes de One Piece en mi opinión, la historia y los persones. Pero One Piece tiene tanto para darnos que no creo que sea suficiente, con solo contarles esto.

Voy a hablarles de un punto que en cierto punto es negativo, y esto es la longitud de One Piece.

Mucha gente dice que no quiere comenzar a leer el manga o a ver el anime de One Piece por su longitud, me ha pasado con muchos amigos. Pero, ¿Es que Oda alarga One Piece por gusto, o por necesidad?

Son muchas las personas que dicen que Oda sigue alargando One Piece solo por el dinero, pero esto a mí me parece totalmente estúpido y no, no es porque sea fan de One Piece, sino porque las personas envidiosas no pensaron antes de decirlo.
Oda podría retirarse ahora, sin haber terminado One Piece, y podría vivir con lo que tiene por el resto de su vida. Y no se si lo saben, pero el ya ha tenido muchos problemas de salud, y aún así, duerme solo 3 horas para hacer el manga de One Piece. Está adelantado 3 capitulos del manga, y aunque hace todo esto, el manga de One Piece suele subirse todas las semanas menos una, en la que Oda me imagino que descansará, espero.

¿A ustedes les parece que Oda lo hace solo por el dinero?
Puede ser que el dinero sea necesario, todos lo necesitamos, pero con todo el sacrificio que Oda hace día a día, me parece más claro que el agua que Oda ama lo que hace, y también lo hace por nosotros, sus fans.

Por eso, otro punto que me parece increíble de One Piece, es su creador.

One Piece es una maravilla de manga, por eso, a todo el que esté dudando de leerlo se lo digo fuerte y claro, ¡LEELO!

The reason I came over to the Manga version of One Piece to write a review, rather than over on the animé page is because Oda's manga is worthy of receiving a high score in all aspects. The animé only scores high in (1) nostalgia and (2) comic relief.

ANY action scene in the animé is shit. Oda knows how to keep these pretty concise in the manga though. Of course some fights take a few many chapters, but most panels are there for a reason. It's not a billion punches going back and forth, mixed with some staring at eachother and panting while the bad guy says how annoying the strawhats are and luffy tells him to shut up because he's going to ぶっとばせて!!

All the work that Oda has been doing over the past 20 years to make such a coherent world, fleshed out characters with moving backstories, a goal for our adventurers to strive to, plottwists, foreshadowing and a great sense of humor should be celebrated as the groundwork for all modern Shounen manga.

[draws X on the back of left arm and punches fist into the sky]

If you are even remotely into anime and/or manga, "One Piece" is definitely a series you have heard of. I could not stumble upon a person who said they disliked the series and as apart of the "Big Three," I knew it must be a pretty good watch/read. But, as many people seem to be, I was initially intimidated by the length of the story. But, deciding to gather some courage and free a lot of my time, I began to read. Now, I am extremely grateful for my determination.

Eiichiro Oda has done an amazing job creating the world that "One Piece" is set in. For as many characters as there are, each one of them is unique and interesting. The Straw Hats are shown to be strong and a force to be reckoned with, but the villains are actually intimidating and a real threat to the main cast. It is amazing that a story that has been running for over 20 years has remained as great as it was when it began.

The King of Shonen manga One Piece is called and damn right it's. One Piece is really the epitome of modern Shonen manga alongside with Death Note and Hunter x Hunter. But with Death Note bad ending and Hunter x Hunter (please kill me) pace and moody story line, this manga is without doubt the best Shonen Manga alongside Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star.

The biggest main point of One Piece is story. Simple yet powerful, it's simply the best main selling of the story. It's a story about boy trying to get his dream and although it's simple like that, it's full of human's feeling and so fleshed out to the point that we can say that they are alive at this point.

The art is a bit weird, but the background is astounding and really detail to the point there is a hidden character each chapter and it's really astounding.

The character is also likeable and the villain is complete jerk so you can hate it.

So overall this is fun manga and i really recommend it despite it's long story.

Eichiro Oda is a genius.
Quick Summary; One Piece is a story about a pirate named Monkey D. Luffy who travels the world in search of the legendary treasure, One Piece. Such a simple premise, but Oda is able to keep it interesting in every chapter, every volume, and every arc.

The world building of One Piece is just peerless. There is no manga bigger than One Piece in terms of scale and lore running right now. Oda somehow made it possible for islands floating in the sky, islands made of cakes and candy, and an island on top of a gigantic elephant to coexist in the same world seamlessly without making them feel out of place. Despite the sheer size of this world, it is without any empty space; complex politics, centuries worth of history, diverse imaginative creatures, and diverse cultures are sprinkled generously all over this world.

The characters are just so full of personality and well written. They are not just fictional characters, long time readers like myself consider them like real people we share a deep connection with. This might sound cheesy but I truly feel like grew up "with" them, not just grew up reading them.

Do not overlook the art just because it looks cartoonish. The visuals storytelling and paneling are clear. The fights are truly moving and nail-biting. All of Luffy's punches, Zoro's sword swings, Sanji's kicks, and Usopp's bullet shots are drawn in the flashiest way. The comedic moments are enhanced by the expressions and visual cues. The background and geography are beautiful and comprehensive.

You most certainly can binge read the whole series, almost 900 chapters, effortlessly. My second and third times rereading this manga is better than the last. I kept finding new details that Oda prepared beforehand and seeing the iconic memorable moments in a new light. When seeing Coby from chapter 2, I feel so much anticipation and hype for his upcoming growth- His reunion with Luffy after Water7 Arc and his speech from Marineford war are just too good - and this is only a side character from chapter 2. My feelings when seeing Ace, Mihawk, and Robin in their first appearance are all the more overwhelming.

10/10, wish I can give it a higher score.

First of all, I started One Piece in 2014 after finishing Naruto which was the first Manga/Anime I got into. One Piece for me at first cartoonish as if I was watching a cartoon on a Saturday morning when I was a kid. It didn't have the serious Story line Naruto had at first or any cool aspects about it. The only thing that kept me watching/reading One Piece was out of curiosity of what randomness was gonna happen next. I took it as a comedy series more than anything. But the more and more you read/watch it starts getting more serious and an actual story line sets in over time that lasts multiple arcs and possibly is the final story line of what One Piece is. A lot of people got hooked on One Piece during the first 40 episodes but for me it took me a long while, more like 400 episodes...and people always ask me why I still continued reading/watching after it took so long to get hooked...most people would of given up I assume. For me though I just continued out of being bored mixed with the funny stuff happening in the story.

*****************SPOILERS BELOW***********************

What really finally got me hooked to One Piece was the moment after Thriller Bark when Kuma appears and Zoro takes all of Luffy's pain, I thought this was for sure the most intense moment so far for me watching/reading the series....and after that I really loved One Piece and started considering it better than Naruto, at that time I thought Naruto was amazing. But after I watched many other series I started seeing Naruto as pretty average. Anyway, now One Piece is my favorite manga and I'm caught up reading weekly and occasionally I re read a lot of arcs and a few chapters. I really enjoyed the Summit War saga which was the Sabaody, Amazon Lily, Impel Down, Marineford and the post War arcs... This stretch of Arcs are probably the climax of One Piece so far.

Now the World Building in One Piece is the best in any manga and possibly any fictional work. There are so many Islands they have been to and so much World Building so often that it feels like One Piece is a real world. I love how Oda does the cover stories to show what a few other characters are up to and it makes it feel even more real cause it shows how other characters are doing their own thing while we follow the main cast too.

Have you ever wondered why this series is so popular? Why the manga is rated so highly on so many websites that give ratings? How is this series still so popular even though it is already 20 years old? Have you ever wondered why the anime isn't rated as highly as the manga, apart from its sub-par animation? Why is One Piece so huge? If you ever wanted the answers to these questions, continue to read.

I have been a fan of the series since 2005. Back then I was just 12 years old when I was first exposed to the anime of One Piece. My first thoughts were: "What the fuck is this shit? A guy who can extend his body limbs? What is this is silly artstyle? What the hell?"

I was only exposed to shows like Dragonball Z, Digimon and Pokemon, among some others before. Then I discovered One Piece and as I had nothing better to do I watched the anime on the TV canal where it ran on. And I still follow the series today.

Now, 12 years later, I have finished so many things in my life. I'm an adult. I earned my first money and I'm soon attending a University to study. I finished school a long while back. And in all this time I have read the manga as I transitioned from the anime to the manga at one point. Why am I still reading it?

Because and this is also the reason why One Piece is held so highly throughout the fans and manga community in general:

One Piece is one of these rare series that actually got better the longer they went on. You won't realize this by just "reading" it. You won't realize it by just reading the first 300 chapters. And you will never realize it if you decide to burst through pages at some points just because they feel rather boring to you. Oda's story-telling is simply masterful. There is no other way to describe it. He manages a consistent form of foreshadowing that you will not witness in any other manga or work of fiction in a very long time. Clocking up at 851 chapters at the moment, he has been carefully planting hints and foreshadowed events throughout the entire series. There are still so many people who don't realize this because they simply don't bother with it. In the beginning, it's not that clear, as the manga was relatively "small" in its start, back in 1997. The anime fails to adapt it correctly as it buries many things under annoying repetitions and fillers. It sometimes even contradicts with the content of the manga, pacing is horrible, it borrows sound design from DBZ and Toei doesn't even get the proportions of characters right. The manga however doesn't have these issues. Oda offers the best kind of writing in this regard. It can be compared to a movie that gives the audience the normal stuff like action, dialogue and other scenes in the foreground. But when you, as a viewer, decide to dig a bit deeper into it, examining dialogue a bit more or looking for hidden imagery in the background, you will be rewarded. It gives the whole movie a deeper meaning and it leads to a bigger picture. This is what Eichiro Oda does with One Piece. One Piece becomes this bigger picture, if you decide to look beyond the stuff in the foreground. What happens in general is, of course, important too and very good. But you will only realize the actual amount of depth of One Piece if you ever decide to create links between situations and scenes. Of course, the manga itself is huge even without that background stuff. But the additional planning and careful placement of hints and evidence adds an additional layer to everything that happens in One Piece. Things and events are foreshadowed, sometimes even hundreds of chapters before they occur while the main stuff happens in the front. And he has been doing it consistently in the past 20 years as the series has been made. Just search for "One Piece foreshadowing" online and you will be flooded with confirmed theories, evidence and massive throwbacks in terms of hidden background details, imagery and hidden dialogue meanings in thousands of forums. This is One Piece. Things like Ace's tattoo that seemed to be a misspelling by the tattoo artist got a whole new meaning when we saw Sabo's pirate flag. Usopp's funny lies that he tells and the made up stories that he told Kaya actually became real as they happened in the story. Back then they were played for laughs but then, if you remember it or re-read the manga, it simply makes click. This is the foreshadowing that I'm talking about. And this is just the tip of the iceberg that One Piece offers. The world and depth it has is just humongous. This may sound very pretentious what I'm writing here but it's simply the truth. You don't have to look everything up online to make a connection but it does help. Of course you can make all these links by yourself, even if it takes a bit time. While other artists simply fill out background just for the sake of filling them out, Oda plans it.

And don't imagine Oda being like: "Oh, I will just put this thing here and then I will come back to it 600 chapters later". This isn't what he does. What he actually does is, he creates characters and scenes in the way, that he can use them as a link point for a future reference or connection and then later he simply picks it up as he feels it as most appropriately. This is what he has been doing with characters, items, scenes, story moments and more throughout this entire time. Everything feels connected. Character re-appearances never feel forced, they all become logical. They actually feel like actual characters in an actual functioning world and they don’t just behave the way the plot demands them to like in many other manga. This is what sets One Piece apart from so many other shonen manga and this is one of the main reasons why it's held so high by fans. Some say: "It's the humour", other say: "it's the action". But these are subjective. The foreshadowing is an objective strength of One Piece and there isn't a single manga that can keep up with One Piece. And I love this aspect of it. And back then I didn’t even realize it. I just paid attention to the stuff in the foreground. And when I re-read everything back then and followed some discussions on online forums I was blown away about how much I have simply missed by not paying entirely attention. How is he (Oda) able to do it? Well, he simply devoted his entire life to the creation of the manga and he simply loves writing for it. Yes. He simply loves One Piece. It's that easy. One could argue: "Oh, he is just after the money, it's the most successful manga series of all time after all". Ask again: This is a man who has been working 90 hours (125 when he works on a movie) every week since 1997. Working conditions of mangakas are among the worst in the world but he takes the lead. His breaks only serve for further story writing and are never used for vacation and he only sleeps 3-4 hours a day. Since 1997. He doesn't have any time or room to spend his money on anything. I read every interview about him as I find him simply fascinating. This guy breathes the manga and the level of dedication to the manga is reflected by the quality of the manga. Even at its weakest moments, One Piece still stands higher than many other manga at their weakest times in terms. Oda's dedication is reflected in his art as well. Just look and compare the amount of detail that is put into panels and pages of One Piece with other manga. I adore his style and I know many think his style feels childish, silly and I used to think this too but the amount of work that he puts into his creatively made pages is impressive and I have great respect for him. Look up "One Piece colorspreads" to have an idea about it. And even in black and white it's just beautiful whenever he showcases his islands. And even the smallest panels are filled with rich background details. It's the embodiment of the joy in adventuring a mysterious world.

The series is unpredictable while retaining a basic formula but also offers a lot of variety. And the sense of awe. (Some spoilers here)

From character design, to abilities and motivations. Every manga and artist behind it has a formula. Even writers like Stephen King have found their formula how to make their stories. Oda has a formula too. While being very focused and rather small compared to what happens currently, the beginning of One Piece already had these kinds of aspects of story that Oda would continuously improve upon and further flesh out. The great idea of Devil Fruits that offers an endless set of interesting villains and interesting abilities is just one of the great aspects of the series.

The formula boils down to this: The strawhats appear on an island, they are in awe as they don’t understand what is going on on this weird island. They find out the population has problems or is oppressed. They try to help them while maintaining their actual goals. They beat the arc antagonist in the end. Quite simple, isn’t it? One could say that Dressrosa is a re-skinned Alabasta formula and they are kind of right but Oda switches things up a lot throughout the series. While this formula is Oda‘s basic formula on how to create arcs, he divides it often to offer more variety. Sometimes the strawhats have to interfere in a civil war that is under control of a Warlord (Alabasta). Sometimes they have to do a rescue-mission as they suffer a betrayal (Enies Lobby), sometimes they have to fight a giant on a huge island-ship before the morning sun burns them alive (Thriller Bark), sometimes they have to take action when a racist person shoots down one of the Strawhats friends and their actions lead to the call of an Admiral and a force too big for them to handle. And even taking part in an All Out War where one of the characters suffers a major loss is in. Oda has his core formula but he switches things up so often that it barely feels stale. One of the aspects on why the series is unpredictable in its core content is that Oda doesn’t write for the next cliffhanger but always has the bigger picture in mind. He takes risks. And he pulls them through. One of these risks was the death of Portgas D. Ace, Luffy’s brother and a favorite among fans, despite not being a core character of the series. Until that point it was an unspoken rule that no characters actually die in the series. And then it happened and it was a shock but also brilliant writing as nobody expected it, with amazing build up. Oda pulls his risks through, opposed to many others who make big cliffhangers and then go back to what they have always been doing. And if anybody who has read the series ever wondered why Peru (the falcon guy from Alabasta) survived his sacrifice where he flew the bomb into the sky: Back then 9/11 happened in the USA and out of respect for the people that died that day, Oda let him live. Originally he was supposed to die. Additionally to all of this, the story of the series is written like a path from A to B. It always moves forward. There are many shows and manga where everything just happens in the same place but in One Piece the characters always move forward, giving the entire series a feeling of progress.

Another aspect for the unpredictability and Oda’s knowledge of his own series and his understanding for the characters is the understandable power level system in One Piece. There isn’t a character that can literally destroy planets. There isn‘t one that seems to be the strongest in the entire galaxy. Every character has their limit. And while the main characters, the strawhats, win the majority of their fights (they are the main characters after all), they still lose some fights. In the beginning we get introduced to Zoro, a skilled swordsman who seems to be almost on par with Luffy. Then later we meet Hawkeye, the man that Zoro wants to beat to become the best swordsman in the world. And he doesn’t stand a single chance. Hawkeye beats him with ease. We learn that the strawhats are not the strongest. Later we get to meet Aokiji, one of the Admirals and he singlehandedly beats the entire crew. Oda understands his characters and he knows it’s boring if the main characters win every single fight. It also takes away the excitement if it’s done like that. Not in One Piece. Luffy must have lost about 6 fights so far. The power level system is well done in terms that it offers unpredictability in guessing how strong a character is but also enough evidence to kind of know and learn about the strength of a character and their limits. And one of the main aspects why the series still feels fresh is the amount of creativity that Oda has in terms of world and ability creation. There is a sense of awe as you read One Piece that is also reflected by the main characters reactions as they stumble upon creatively created islands with their own unique eco systems. My best comparison I can make is that this is a world that you want to fall into. Live in it. The best kind of fantasy worlds. Similar worlds that I have experienced in this level are the Harry Potter books and Lord of the Rings. Next point: the story and the world of One Piece.

Oda understands his characters, his series and his writing. And he looks upon our world as well.

From the very first chapter, Oda has made the goal of the series clear. Finding One Piece. This is the ultimate goal and it still is, after 850 chapters. The world of One Piece is a huge, functional world, filled with so many diverse mysteries, islands, characters, all with different motivations and it could actually work in real life too. Oda understands them all. He has created over 800 characters that populate the series and they all feel distinct enough to not be mistaken for others and remarkable enough to at least remind you that you have seen the character before if they re-appear. While some people think that his artstyle is kind of silly, because characters look so vastly different, it helps with this aspect of creating so many characters and making them look very distinguished from each other in the long run.

Apart from the ultimate goal, he gives each of his main characters an ultimate goal as well. Luffy wants to become the pirate king, Zoro the best swordsman, Sanji wants to find the All-Blue (an ocean in which all kinds of sea creatures live) and the others have their „dreams“ as well. While character development is not the main focus of the series (Luffy still behaves a lot like he did in chapter 1) it is not completely absent and some characters like Zoro or Robin behave different than they did back then. Characterization is done well, you understand their motivations, their flashbacks are tragic while not feeling completely forced and they are well done and well implemented. Where One Piece also shines is the depiction of various themes and subjects that exist in our world as well. It deals with racism, slavery, drug-tests, oppression and even depression at one point. It does these themes so flawlessly and barely they feel out of place or forced. Like I said, the world in One Piece feels like an actual functioning world with all its problems that plague our world as well. Tyrannical warlords exist, children get used for drug tests, racism happens between humans and fishmen and vice versa, slavery is used upon those that are deemed as the lower race by those who think that they stand higher (Celestial Dragons). The thing is, Oda inserts these subjects into the series without making a huge fuss about it. He doesn’t necessarily write them in for us to hate those characters for the sake of hating them but he takes neutral points. Characters like the Celestial Dragons have actual reasons why they behave like that and you can actually understand them up to a certain point. This is something that many mangaka don’t understand when they create characters like that. We want to understand them at least slightly. In the end it’s a shonen manga and is aimed at 13-17 year old boys but the amount of subject tackling, depth it offers is simply impressive. And all of these things is part of something bigger. The bigger picture. At its core, The Dark Knight by Nolan is just an adaption of a comic book series that is created to the appeal of young people, as comics were very huge back then. But it offers entertainment and depth for both, young and adult people. The best kind of writing. Entertainment in the front. Depth in the background.

The Will of D., the ancient weapons, One Piece, the revolutionaries, the poneglyphs, the final island Raftel. There are many mysteries that still have to be answered and Oda has given many answers throughout the series while never doing it in a painful, obscure way as done with the sci-fi series Lost where, if you get the answer to something, five new questions pop up. Oda gives us the answers where it feels most appropriately. Because he doesn’t write a series for the next cliffhanger. He writes a story that feels connected and builds upon itself since chapter 1 and while I know that Oda’s original plan in 1997 was to work on it for 5 years, he has found the right ways to make the world bigger and create more interesting mysteries and turned One Piece rightfully in the best selling series in the world. And it deserves it. I hope my „essay“ here gave you the answers on why so many people rate it so highly. For the most part I gave objective answers in terms of planning, foreshadowing and world building that Oda has consistently created throughout the series. I never talked about the negative aspects of the series and to not make it even longer, I’ll keep it short as I only intended this review to be the answer to the question why One Piece is still so popular even after such a long time.

The negatives:

- Not enough pirate ship battles in a series about pirates
- Pacing can be an issue at times but barely gets a problem. Biggest pacing problem was the overly long Dressrosa arc but even then OP still held a good level of entertainment
- Some characters like Zoro behave different than back then and while it’s entirely understandable, I still prefer the old Zoro
- A few hiccups in terms story telling in the first half
- Some of the villains motivations are a bit lackluster
- Not enough female villains
- Some of the later female characters suffer from same-face shape syndrome but he has noticed it as well and offers now more variety.

I hope you enjoyed my review. Thanks for reading. If you want additional thoughtful analysis of One Piece, look up SupereyepatchWolfs video "The Appeal of One Piece". It's a good watch.

one piece is the story about journey. one piece story is the biggest story in anime because it is wold scale story, literally. it is bigger than Game of throne scale.

so journey to every side of this world that in control of one big organisation "world government". gain ally and facing so many great character. there is so many strong people and pirate that even rival the world government in the search of one great legendary treasure call onepiece.

overall, the story have everything, like super power, mermaid, zombie, robot, ninja, just imagine it, it is there. the politic is so deep, many sad moment, funny moment, bad ass battle, plot twist, everything along the journey. and the art is unique.

one piece has everything that long running series has fail to over, that why it is so popular and the fans keep coming.