One Piece
| One Piece | |
|---|---|
 Monkey D. Luffy, the hero of the show. | |
| Original Manga | Eiichiro Oda |
| Director/Artist | Konosuke Uda Munehisa Sakai |
| Format | Anime (TV), Manga |
| Made By | Toei Animation |
| Episode Length | 25 Mins |
| # of Eps/Volumes | 550+ (Anime)
62+ (Manga) |
Contents
Genre
Sum it up in a Sentence
"Wealth, fame, power. The man who had acquired everything in this world, the Pirate King, Gold Roger. The final words that were said at his execution, sent people to the seas. 'My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Look for it, I left it all at that place!' Men now, chasing their dreams, head towards the Grand Line. The world now enters a Great Age of Pirates!"
Description
A boy in a barrel, and his dreams. 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of the show, aims to become the new Pirate King in light of the death of the previous Pirate King Gold Roger, and find his exclusive and sought after treasure; One Piece! One Piece begins with Luffy building his crew to pursue his dreams, as well as aiding them in their own on the way. In typical shounen style, Luffy either fights them, or someone else with them to convince them to join him. A good majority of the initial fights in the show revolve around Luffy's enemies vastly underestimating him, mocking him, and then getting the hell beaten out of them. The enemies the crew face start out being fairly small-fry run of the mill pirate thugs, but as the Straw Hat pirates progress further and further though the Great Blue the battles change to all out wars of epic proportion.
A lot of the powers that the heroes and villains of the show have come from fruits apparently enchanted by the sea devil called Devil Fruits. The powers they grant range from a little unusual, to plain fucking weird. Luffy's power, for example, is drawn from the Gomu Gomu Fruit, or rubber fruit. It enables his body to stretch giant lengths, become much durable, and take a great deal of blunt force. The Ushi Ushi fruit, one of the previously mentioned "What the fuck" fruits, imbues the user with the power of a giraffe. Yes, a giraffe. It has to be seen to fully appriciate how ridiculous it is.
If You Liked This, You Might Like...
- Bleach
- Naruto
- Houshin Engi
- Irresponsible Captain Tylor
- Most other stuff in the Shounen category.
List of Filler (Non-Canon) Episodes
- 50-51
- 54-60,
- 93
- 98-99
- 101-102
- 131-143
- 196-206 (G8 arc considered by some to be of higher quality than usual)
- 213-216
- 220-226
- 279-283
- 317-319
- 326-336
- 382-384
- 406-407
- 426-429
- 453-458
- 426-429
- 453-456 (Expands canon material)
Personal Opinions
Samuel Q. Boxman
For me, this is without a doubt the best anime I've ever seen. After almost 300 episodes it has (ignoring the filler) remained consistantly amazing and continues to better itself. Every fight is edge-of-your-seat stuff, the comedy is hilarious, the drama is emotional and the characters are all fantastic. As you learn of the characters' pasts, and watch them develop from nothing into the bad ass crew of pirates they become, you can't help but get attatched to them. Watching them overcome new enemies and progress together is a great experience, and personally the characters are one of the main features that makes the show. Each one has their own entertaining quirks and mannerisms that are interspersed through out the entire series bringing it alive. The fights are really well done, and each one leaves you with a sense of triumph after watching the crew struggle and emerge victorious against the wide array of villians they face, ranging from the evil bastards you will just plain hate, to the ones that you can't help but think are a little bit awesome.
One Piece isn't for everyone however; it's long. Like, really long. And there are times when sections are clearly dragged out just too far. It's weird too. Both plot wise, and in the art work. There is literally no hint of realism, and from the guy that fights with a sword in his mouth, to assassins that transform into giraffes, many people may find it to be too much. The art style takes some getting used to as well. I still hate Ussop and his stupidly long nose.
The plot is great. The music is great. The characters, the action, the comedy, the relationships. It's all great. Great isn't a good enough word. It's incredible. Superb. Brilliant, wonderful, hilarious. Staggeringly spectacular and intense. It's a masterpiece; it's animated gold. I could write forever about this, and still not cover everything about the show, it's that damn good. Just watch it. And not just the first 3 episodes, but the first 30. It takes a little while to get into it, and for the story to show you where it's going and introduce you properly to the characters.
p.s watch sub not dub
clearacell
One Piece isn't a show that an anime newbie could appreciate right off the bat. The art style is so different and the main character seems to only have the same boring/crappy power Mr. Fantastic has from the Fantastic Four. First impressions of this show will NOT do it justice.
Indeed, it takes a while to really get into the show. The premise of it isn't really about Luffy becoming the pirate king, as he states so confidently in the very first episode that it is what he wants to become. It's really about the relationship between the crewmates (nakama...get familiar with this term because it doesn't have an English equivalent that does the word justice) and what they stand for. The bonding between them doesn't REALLY happen until the Arlong Park arc(which starts on episode 31), so it is recommended that you should ignore the "3 episode test" and watch until the end of that arc. If you don't like it by that point, it's safe to say this isn't something you should continue to watch. If you DID like it, then you're in for a treat because it only gets better and more epic from that point on.
The question "Why are they called pirates if they aren't raping and pillaging villages?" often comes up because this is a show about pirates. Well, Luffy and the gang are simply a different kind of pirate. They bring their own sense of order in a world where there is only one ruling faction, the World Government, so enforcing their own ideals upon the many nations is actually more dangerous than the petty thievery most other pirates are involved in.
Between the top 3 Shounen Jump shows currently (Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece), to me One Piece outclasses them by far. The music, the story, the fighting, and the overall badassness of Monkey D. Luffy makes watching 280 or so episodes completely worth the watch.
Nate RFB
I'll go against the norm a bit and say that the One Piece anime, actually, is not that great. Like so many other Shounen Fighting anime based on long-running manga series, there's an excessive amount of filler and in general the pacing of the series is decidedly off from the manga's way of doing things. Fights that were short in the manga might be stretched longer, or vice versa. If you simply must watch the anime of One Piece, I would only watch until episode 130. I wouldn't be writing this, however, if I didn't have something positive to say in regards to One Piece.
The manga of One Piece is spectacular. It is my recommendation that, to get a more "pure" exposure to the wonderful world that Eiichiro Oda created, you would be better off reading the manga from the start. There is probably no other manga or anime out there that simply is as "fun" as One Piece. Because it is more about the adventure than the destination, it's the type of story that works no matter how long the story gets dragged out. Currently the manga is over 440 chapters long and it still manages to stay unique and true to its roots: letting the reader become a kid again. It doesn't take itself very seriously, and thus Oda gives the story a breath of creative life. I consider One Piece to be heads and shoulders above other Shounen series because of this, as well as the characters. Despite having 8 (and counting) main characters, the story never forgets about any particular one and all get equal time in the limelight in each arc. This is a stark contrast to Naruto, for example, which boasts a plethora of characters who easily are forgotten. You will be hard pressed to find an anime or manga with the type of character synergy that One Piece has.
Zorak
The anime isn't very good, but the manga is amazing. Rather than make a giant huge essay here, I'm going to link a blog post I made about One Piece and just say "this again". This again.
Mo_Steel
Probably one of the best manga I've read so far. The characters change and grow as the chapters progress, the goal clear but the obstacles in their way changing over time. Villains are well articulated with important character traits and history behind their motivations; the relative power of the protagonists and their foes varies wildly in some instances helping to contribute to the aforementioned character growth; the artwork is superb and consistent. The stories the author weaves play off of each other and weave together in unexpected ways that make it seem like everything was planned in meticulous detail across all these chapters from the beginning. If you haven't read this manga, read it.
