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Oh, I can tell I am getting my full of Battle Shounens for the day. And maybe for the week. So it's time to put away revisiting Hitman Reborn for a while and review an anime I watched recently.

One Piece...oh boy. This is a difficult one to review. So let me just say this outright. There are two ways to review something. One, you compare it with its peers and see how it stands. And the other you test it on it's own merits. And you are probably going to say, "Oh test it on it's own merits that is good!" Well, I tend ... to do the former because that is the more Capitalistic of the two. Comparing it with it's peers to see whether or not you should take your time and money elsewhere. And in the end, the former fits more with the dictionary definition of a consumer review.

And here's the "but". But One Piece's peers are all Battle Shounens, and One Piece is an Action Adventure (Shounen is implied here because Action Adventure is usually aimed at a younger audience). Now, One Piece is an Action Adventure who is competing with other Battle Shounens...so you see my predicament. How can I compare something to other things outside of its genre? It just doesn't work. And that is just not plain fair.

But I must compare it to it's peers because it is competing with Naruto, and Bleach, and even smaller ones like Medaka Box, and the aforementioned Hitman Reborn. I must also do this because I have not seen any Action Adventure animes, and I can't compare it to stuff I haven't seen! So, I must grade it as if it were a Battle Shounen.

Story:

Usually Battle Shounens have bad stories, but this one takes the cake. This is the vaguest plot I have ever seen. And that is because there is no plot. There is no structure. You can look at Naruto and say that there is an overall plot and story line that adds up when you add in all of the arcs. But One Piece doesn't have that. The only plot that is in the show is when the characters are arrive at a new Island. Story: 1/10

Characters:

Now before you stop reading this review and hit the "Not Helpful" button out of rage. Or God-forbid begin hate commenting on my profile or even sending me death threats because your favorite animu doesn't have a plot; let me get onto the characters.

The characters in One Piece are surprisingly well written...To an extent. They all have their own goals and their own struggles which make them all grow together as a team. As a character story this anime does fairly well. Most of the arcs are there for the sole purpose of characterizing one of the characters more.

And that is fine, but my question is as follows: Why have none of the characters have had lives outside of seven years old?

Let me explain, whenever a character has a flashback to their past they are always seven years old, or a similar age. What, have they been stuck in the hyperbolic time chamber for their entire lives? I mean seriously all of these characters are in their early to late twenties....

What? They are in their teens? No way, those ages are arbitrary, there is no way Sanji is nineteen. And Luffy is seventeen. No way, Sanji is obviously in his late twenties. Maybe 28 or 29. But not Nineteen. And Luffy looks like he is 21. Who are they trying to fool? Seriously. And after the timeskip, Sanji looks like he is in his early thirties. I mean, he even has his Italian porno stache going on.

But I am digressing.

I am sure that these characters have had some other life changing conflicts outside of a very young age. I mean, the characters get more substance as they go on, it's just I feel that they could have done their initial characterization differently. Characters: 7/10

Sound:

I have had no problems with the sound, there are no tracks that particularly stood out to me or ones that I just hated. Sound 7/10

Art:

The art is definitely at the beginning of the series a 4/10. But over the years One Piece has gotten with the times and upgraded it's art to a 8/10. So I met it halfway and it is a 6/10.

Length:

This is a special criteria that will be added into the overall score because I feel that this needs to be mentioned. This show is 600+ episodes long. I love my long running series, Dragonball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho come to mind. But those were all 200-300 episodes long. And there is definitely a point where a show gets too long. Yes, Naruto is reaching it's 600th episode as well, if it has not already gotten there (I read the manga). But with Naruto you have the break between the original and Shippuden to break up the monotony.

So, I think that One Piece being as long as it is is detrimental to the series. It makes it intimidating for the newcomers to the series, like me, to get into the show. It's like, "Well, where do I start?" And beginning at the beginning is a long and hard road to get through, man. And you can't begin somewhere after the beginning because the characters are consistent in their characterization. It's not like Bleach where events happen and they are never mentioned again. One Piece is consistent to the point where the characters are constantly referring to past events. And after their characters get going, this becomes more frequent later on down the road. The time skip is an example.

So I am going to rate length like this. 10 being the perfect length for the show, like Madoka Magica. And 1 being so long, or so short, that there is no time to tell the story or characterize the characters, think Angel Beats.

So the Length gets a, 4/10.

Fights:

After giving length it's own special criteria in this review. I hesitate to add another special criteria. But since a lot of peopl- fanboys talk about the fights and compare it to Bleach; I feel they would not be justified if I don't put this in here.

For the fights I have not seen with getting as far as I did; I have looked up on YouTube and watched.

So, the fights are short. Like, really short. Most of the fights are below 15 minutes with all of the bull edited out. Bull being talking and scene transitioning to see what all of the other characters are doing for a couple of episodes. And this just does not compare when the same thing is done to other shows like Dragonball Z where if all of the bull is edited, the fights go on for 2:40:37 straight. Don't believe me?

Citation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB45FE6y_wg

So these are the shortest fights, but length shouldn't really matter, shouldn't it? And it wouldn't matter if the fights were sweet. And they are for the most part. I just wish that some fights were longer, like the fight between Luffy and the "Door Door" guy with the bull horns. I forget his name. But unfortunately the fight was wasted because the entire point of it was to show off Luffy's new ability.

And that is not to mention that some of the fights completely break my willing suspension of disbelief. Like the fight between Zoro and Kaku. I can't explain this with words. Just here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6WtrRogy_w

And the joke is that this is supposed to be taken seriously.

I saw a similar post in the comments. And that person was bombarded with One Piece sales figures to try and justify this. But I noticed that in doing so the One Piece fanboys dodged the question: How can anyone take this seriously? I'm sorry, but I can't. Fights: 3/10

Edit: Oops It appears I forgot the enjoyment criteria, forgive me. Please.

Enjoyment:

Personally I don't like Action Adventure shows. 2/10


Overall:

I guess I should end this with a miraculous conclusion that summs up everything and wraps it all up with a nice bow to boot. But I don't have the energy. Overall 6/10. Edited with Enjoyment this makes the Overall score 5.8/10 rounded up is a 6/10...wow.

Today I will be reviewing the longest yaoi ever created.

Character:

Don't you love reused bull? Well seeing as though I loved Bleach, which is a testament that I love my reused bull! Now, I for the first few volumes the story was very good, refreshing even. The shounen genre suffers from a plethora of bad storytelling. But the first few volumes of Naruto shove a giant purple dildo in the face of its entire genre by showing a more sentimental, and human, approach to it's characters.

That is for the first few volumes. See, Naruto falls short where some other shounens did as well. I can't ... say the names of these shows, but one of them rhymes with detergent. And where it fell short is that once it found a formula that worked they stuck to it and subsequently beat it to death! "Well, if it's broke why fix it?" says Naruto. "Because that is literary suicide." says the ambiguous sage in the corner smoking a Cuban cigar!

"Okay Callacas, what is this formula the infallible Naruto beats to death?" You ask. I am not trying to bash the manga when I say this but, whenever any character in the manga (any, of them) needs characterization, all the manga does is make a flashback to their childhood. Showcasing their "struggle" to put it informally. It wouldn't be half bad if it all didn't boil down to the same general information, "X had a hard childhood, and because of it grew up into the person he is today." That kind of thing. Again, I did not mind the flashback, at the beginning. But having them told over and over and over again makes it lose its intended affect and comes off as melodramatic. Which is the opposite affect.

Also, another problem of this is that the flashbacks are the only use of characterization. Tell me this, those of you who have seen anything Naruto, take out the flashbacks and what are you left with? A generic shounen.

Actually, let me ask you a better question, take out the flashbacks and try to describe the characters in as many words as possible. Let me tell you now, you are not going to get past one or two. And that is almost as bad as Bleach. 4/10

Story:

The story starts before the time when Naruto and his best friend Sausuke wanted to take off their shirts and kiss. It begins in their early tween/teenage years. The story begins with a love triangle between the all important main character Naruto who has fallen in love with a girl in his class Sakura. Sakura, on the other hand loves the most popular boy in school, Sausuke. While Sausuke secretly loves Naruto. Oh, we have come full circle have we?

Now, Naruto and Sakura and Sasuke are all ninja. In a land of ninja. In a world of ninja. In a universe of ninja. Which is hopefully in a taco or something, damn I'm hungry.... Where was I? Oh, yeah. Ninjas.

Naruto as the main plot continues Naruto and his triangle buddies find themselves all on the same ninja team conveniently enough. And they all go on adventures with their instructor and from there the tale unfolds.

The plot itself is nothing to write home about. It is essentially an epic retelling of the classic Japanese piece of Literature, "A Tale of a Gutsy Ninja Jiraiya" that is about a ninja Jiraiya who summons magic from toads going on adventures trying to win over his love Tsunade, who is a kunoichi who summons magic from slugs, all the while fighting with his arch rival Orochimaru, who is a ninja who summons magic from snakes.

Again, it's nothing to write home about. Generic shounen stuff. 5/10

Art:

I'll be the first to say this, I don't like the artist's designs. Yeah, the clothes are cool and all, but the character designs are just god-awful and just plain boring. With uninteresting faces, or in the case of some characters, no faces at all. Hmm, I wonder how much time that saved the artist when trying to rush the chapters out of the door?

The environments get much better as the series begins to close, but nothing jumps out of the page at you. It just seems like the environments were just shoved to the back of the author's mind. Furthermore, the author seems to love the ever loving troll face out of surrealist artwork. Which depicts strange and sometimes disturbing pictures. I cannot recommend this for too young of an audience.

Enjoyment:

Believe it! I was certainly not board reading this manga that is for sure. Just like i cannot describe the Xbox One past box; I cannot describe this manga past the word fun. It was a genuinely fun read. But I am not sure if it is good enough for a second read through. It is LONG! 7/10

Overall:

Like every long running shounen out there, it has it's flaws. What is bothersome is that it is not aware of its flaws, and that is Naruto's greatest weakness. 6/10

EDIT: Wait a second! I forgot to include the secret criteria! Action!

Action:

I have not seen One Piece yet so I cannot compare it to that. But I have seen Bleach as you no doubt know by now. So, I will compare it to Bleach. The action in Naruto is much slower paced than Bleach. But it gets the job done very well. The action makes sense and all of the enemies actually feel like they are legitimate threats. Also, the fights are long and drawn out, which I like by the way. So that is fine. 7/10

so this bumps my final score up to a...6/10.... Well that was anticlimactic.

Blue Exorcist...wow, what a series. You know you've read good manga when the entire day melts away right before your eyes. Now, where to begin. Let's start with the bad.

Characters overall plot are taken from tried and true (and almost cliche at this point) tropes. The angsty teenager main character who sets out to be the best [insert super powerful being here]. You have the regular love interest, whom may never end up with the main character. There are the Tsundere's and the rivals. It's nothing we haven't seen before.

The story also relies on Deus Ex Machina writing to finish off boss battles. DEM ... writing can be good when used in context, but almost directly conflicts with the style of a shounen battle series. So unfortunately I must call it out on that.

But what the series does well, is its characters and design. Now, I will be the first to say it.... All the characters in Blue Exorcist are hipsters. There, it's all out in the open now. In real life hipsters are obnoxious, but in anime and manga, I will give it a pass since the characters are supposed to be hyper-stylized.

The characters simply look great. The author has gone to lengths and bounds to make the characters unique and interesting in regards to their design. The best designs are with the demon characters, in which the artist unleashes all of his creativity upon.

The overall artwork just blew me away while reading it. The environments are up there with Rurouni Kenshin. Simply eye candy. On some pages I had to just stop reading and stare at the artwork just to soak it in. It truly makes me wonder just how long and how much work went into the art of this manga. Everything about it's aesthetics is simply heaven.

Personality wise, most of the characters you can describe with one word. But others, mostly the main three that he plot revolves around, cannot be described with one word. Which is a God-send. The shounen genre is terrible when it comes to characterization. But, for the three main characters they progressed quite nicely. The three main characters really surprised me. Now, the other characters are not so surprising as they can all be described in one word. As mentioned above, there's the tsundere and then there's the pervert and the weak monk kid. So, I must deduct points for that.

The overall story itself draws parallels with Naruto. So much so that I can recommend you read Blue Exorcist if you liked Naruto.But where the similarities end is where the manga stands out. The plot picks itself up where the anime commits suicide. Everything else is just an introduction to the setting of Blue Exorcist, and if you have already watched the anime I strongly recommend you to begin at volume 4. Because the anime up to volume four sticks closely to the manga.

The ratings I give this manga are Story: 9, Art: 10, Character: 8, Enjoyment: 10, and Overall: 9. I cannot recommend this manga enough for fans of the shounen genre. It was a treat to read and is worth reading once at the very least.

Edit: As I sat on my opinions of BE, I seemed to have more to say. And instead of providing a general consumer review I will use this edit to touch upon the literary elements of the series. I will be examining some of the characters which delves into their personalities quite a bit. Which walks the line between spoilers and no spoilers. I must say that here I do not put any spoilers at all, which s true. But I will be examining the character's personalities. Which can make some people uneasy. So, if that makes you uneasy I recommend that you go no further. But If you don't mind knowing some of the character's personalities continue on, by all means!

Blue Exorcist is a beautiful coming of age story. It reminds the reader of what it is like to be a teenager again. The author takes his reader back to his or her youth using brilliant fantastical storytelling.

The characters of Satan and Father Fujimoto being the most compelling and brilliant of all. Where in the series the father of the main character (Rin) is Satan and the priest Father Fujimoto has taken Rin in and raised him as his son. The Character of Satan is symbolic of the distorted views we have of our parents when we are teenagers. Versus Father Fujimoto who is how our parents really are.

The main character was also well written. He embodies all it is to be a teenager. He is fifteen (15) years old and is going through all of the changes that come with being a teenager. He is beginning to get interested in girls and, like all teenagers, develops a crush on the most attractive girl he sees who happens to be close to him as well.

Also, at the same time he is trying to find out who he is as a person, and is unsure of himself. Which is how many teenagers feel. Sometimes in the normal teenage period, some teenagers in their search for themselves may feel like they may be the child of Satan as well!

Rin's fraternal twin brother, Yukio, is also heavily themed and literary. But unlike Rin, who is a template for the average teenager, Yukio is the template for the not so average teenager. The character of Yukio is one who is heavily traumatized. He is fifteen (15) years old as well, but because of his traumatic childhood, it forces him to grow up. So be becomes a really strong character. BUT! No matter how "grown up" he is, Yukio is still only fifteen years old. And he naively tries to shoulder everyone's burdens upon himself. And there are many teenagers out there who have experienced something similar and try the same thing. Unfortunately all of their efforts will be futile because as teenagers they lack the experience and wisdom necessary to successfully shoulder those burdens. So almost 100% of the time they will collapse.

Again, as I sat and thought about it. The literary elements just came to light. And for any literary elements to be in a SHOUNEN MANGA, it is very rare. Blue Exorcist is highly underrated and deserves to be more known.

For starters, I believe that I should say that I haven't seen Bleach since it's final episode. I watched the entire series up to the final episode, it just has been a while. But the memories I do have of it are fond. And accounting for the entire show it was a great shounen. I don't really believe in giving anything a score because a complex opinion cannot be placed on a value between 1 and 10. But MAL is forcing me to rate it's aspects and it doesn't seem to want to share any of them except for the overall score. So since I ... am pretty much forced to...here goes.

Story 3/10:

The worst part of Bleach was its storytelling and flat characters. Bleach's story seems to encompass all that is bad and flawed in the shounen genre.

After watching 366 episodes, I cannot tell you a single thing about Ichigo. Other than he loves his friends, which is an observation the anime had to point out to me in the final arc. And that is just the main character.

There are loads of characters in this anime, like every other shounen, but almost all of them don't get any screen time. All of them do have their moment, at least once in the show, even if it is only for two or three episodes. So I guess that's good.

But we don't go to the shounen genre for it's story telling. We go for it's action!

Action 8.7/10

I wanted to give this a nine (9) but I just felt that it didn't deserve it. The action is fast paced and the fights are long and drawn out. Which I like.

The fights rarely rely on Deus Ex Machina writing and mostly consisting of Ichigo fighting some enemy while relying on his various transformations (think Dragonball Z).

But what's action if it doesn't look cool?

Art 7/10:

The art is not bad, but it is not good either. The characters are human like and the backgrounds are fine. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary when it comes to the art.

The fight scenes look great but the art seems only styled towards fight scenes. So the characters look a little awkward when their standing around and talking.

But that is fine since there is not much standing around and talking in this anime.

Sound 8/10:

The sound is very good. It has it's own urban beat it likes to appropriately play when Ichigo does something cool.

But other than the cinematography of the music in relation to the fight scenes it is just a bunch of catchy jpop songs. And nothing to special or unique.

Character 4/10:

We don't talk about Bleach's characters....

Enjoyment 9/10:

I was pleasantly thrilled while watching this anime. It kept me glued to my seat with its fast paced (if somewhat brutal at times) battles.

Yes the characters and story are garbage but the fighting and the setting which is the stage for it's fighting is very well done.

A lot of people will say that Bleach is the weakest of all of the big three (Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece.) And since I haven't seen One Piece at the time of my writing this, I can't say that Bleach is better than OP.

But, after seeing Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, all I can say is...at least Bleach doesn't pretend to have a good story. In my opinion...(perfect flame shield).

Overall, I give this anime a 6/10.

And the only reason this is so high is because the fight scenes carry it and entire two (2) points.